Manhard Consulting provided full civil engineering design on this 18-acre garden style Multifamily development consisting of 326 units across 14 buildings. Construction and design was completed in a single phase. Services including detailed grading and drainage design, utility design and coordination, and paving and ADA compliance grading design.
Windmill Ranch was very unique due to the drainage design necessitated by the flat grades common in Odessa. The entire site was surface drained which allowed the client to realize a large cost savings in storm infrastructure but resulted in an extremely challenging grading design that was implemented with the project. A proposed detention pond was oversized to generate enough dirt volume across the project to allow the site to maintain a dirt balance. An existing Gas line traversed the property, and challenges arose when navigating surface drainage across the proposed pipeline. A detailed cost estimate was performed to determine if large box culverts would be more effective in crossing the pipeline, or if removal of the pipeline would be the best scenario. In this case, removal of the pipeline was the most cost-effective option as it was no longer in service.
Overall, this project was a great exercise in staff training due to the atypical design that was required. We provided the client with significant cost savings with the grading and drainage design by eliminating all on-site storm infrastructure.