B — September 28 - October 11, 2012 — Fall Preview — Mid Atlantic Real Estate Journal
www.marejournal.com
E ngineer
By Steve Johns, PE, PLS, VanDemark & Lynch, Inc. Consulting Engineering in 2013
T
he fact that business has been difficult for the last few years is
expertise, related to site and building system designs and obtaining regulatory approv-
engineers have had to make many adjustments and re- think the way they do busi-
Firms have reduced staff due to decreased workload over the past few years.
employees. On the upside, firms are now right-sized, and have developed more efficient procedures. Con- sulting engineering firms have learned to maximize their production capacity, making more efficient use of their staff ’s skills and technological improvements. Employees have developed more diverse skill sets, and are now able to pitch in to help work within multiple disciplines and specialties. These adjustments will ben- efit our clients as we are able to complete projects more quickly and efficiently. Regardless of the health of the economy, obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals for construction is still required. While public concerns about environmen- tal impacts, preservation of open space, and traffic congestion, still impact the approval process, we have seen regulatory agencies much more willing to help resolve regulatory issues, especially if the project will have a positive economic im- pact. Still, obtaining approv- als can take a significant amount of time, and it is im- portant to start the process as soon as possible. Simple projects may only take one month to design, but obtain- ing the necessary approvals may take another four to ten months; and, depending on project particulars, larger projects can take well over a year. A positive impact of the slow economy was an easing of the speed of regulatory changes. This is now chang- ing. In Delaware, as well as in all of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, stormwa- ter regulations are being revised to meet new EPA rules. TMDL’s (Total Maxi- mum Daily Loads) will soon become a term with which everyone will be familiar, as new regulations limit TM- DL’s in watersheds. Also in Delaware, the Department of Transportation is work- ing to revise Traffic Impact Study requirements. The new paradigm will be area- wide studies and Transpor- tation Improvement Dis- tricts. Traffic Impact Studies will be partially replaced with impact fees to be used to fund these larger area continued on page 12B
no t news . B u t t h e marke t i s slowly show- ing signs of improving, and it’s now time to reap the rewards from all of
Regardless of the health of the economy, obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals for construction is still required. While public concerns about environmental impacts, preservation of open space, and traffic congestion, still impact the approval process, we have seen regulatory agencies much more willing to help resolve regulatory issues, especially if the project will have a positive economic impact.
Steve Johns
als, is critical when our cli- ents prepare for expansions and other improvements required to maintain suc- cessful businesses. Over the past few years, consulting
ness. These changes have covered a wide spectrum of issues, and have reshaped what is considered ‘business as usual’ in the consulting community.
Letting talented staff go has been difficult for ev- eryone involved, and firms have lost their investment in the training and devel- opment of those valuable
the efficiency enhancements implemented to survive the sluggish economy. Consult- ing engineering firms’ proj- ect planning and technical
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