Surveyors plumb for work
They are akin to canaries in the coal mine when it comes to land development.
Well before a building project's first shovel of dirt or structural framing is set in place, land surveyors many equipped with the latest digital and laser- and satellite-guided tools — trace property boundaries, map site topographies and tag all of a landscape's natural and manmade elements.
As demand rises or falls for new and renovated houses, commercial buildings, roads and other public works, so goes the land-survey industry. But after a rocky trek dating back more than a decade, Connecticut's surveyors say they are seeing light at the end of what some describe as a long, dark tunnel, that still has too many of them chasing too few projects for limited fees. Hiring is almost nil.
"It's nothing like it was in 2000, I'll tell you,'' said Enfield's David J. Palmberg, a second-generation surveyor who presides over the Connecticut Association of Land Surveyors. "There's a lot more competition.'' What business exists, said Palmberg, who runs William R. Palmberg & Son LLC, the firm his father started in 1971, is spearheaded largely by commercial development, including neighborhood retail centers, restaurants, medical offices and apartments. All communities in Connecticut and elsewhere typically require a valid survey of a tract before they will allow it to go forward to zoning or wetlands review. Those are followed closely, he and other surveyors say, by growing engagements from mortgage borrowers and lenders in response to new flood-insurance requirements prompted by redrawn federal maps showing more Connecticut shoreline properties prone to deluge. Connecticut surveyors' recent annual meeting at Portland's St. Clement's Castle drew some 400 attendees from as far as New York and Vermont, many of whom shared the same lament.
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Lane Construction Corp. attains environmental certification
The Lane Construction Corporation, a leading U.S. construction company, has attained its first International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001:2004 certification in the United States. The ISO 14001:2004 certification is the most widely recognized and accepted standard for Environmental Management Systems (EMS) in the world. Lane received certification for implementation of an EMS on its I-91 northbound and southbound bridge replacement project over the Mill Brook in Windsor, Vermont. The certification confirms that Lane's EMS on the Vermont project adheres to the comprehensive voluntary international standard, which is based on pollution prevention, compliance with legal and other requirements, and continual improvement. "Throughout the Lane organization, we are committed to operating and conducting business in an environmentally responsible and sustainable way. Earning the ISO 14001:2004 certification is especially significant because it's the first time we've gone after this elite recognition for one of our U.S. projects," said David F. Benton, executive vice president of Lane. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING FULL STORY
Old Glastonbury Mill Site to become park
Cleanup crews have removed the contaminated soil from the old Slocomb Mill site and the town is preparing to open the property to the public by spring. Crews spent much of the late summer and fall removing hazardous materials that had leached into the soil from years of use as an industrial site by the J.T. Slocomb Mill, a company that produced aircraft parts before it was abandoned in the early 2000s and demolished last year. "It was a bit of a challenge," Town Manager Richard J. Johnson said about removing the contaminated soil. "There were a little more of the hydrocarbons than we anticipated." Johnson said the work took longer than expected because crews uncovered more contaminated soil than was expected around the area where the previous owner removed a 12,000-gallon underground oil tank. There were also some polluted areas under building slabs and foundations that went undetected by survey crews using test borings to determine the extent of the pollution. "There was some penetration under the buildings we had to deal with," Johnson said. "Some of the solvents were more widespread than originally thought." Another part of the restoration plan for the historic site is the renovation of the brick smokestack and granite walls that are left over from the site's days as the Hopewell Woolen Mill. The mill once produced clothing and uniforms for both Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. The mill also produced woolen goods for ladies' garments, flannels, meltons, broadcloths, pedestrian, golf and bicycle clothes, along with smoking jackets. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING FULL STORY
Closer look at construction numbers reveals a mixed bag
At first glance, recent statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau on public construction spending offered some surprisingly good news, but a closer look revealed a picture that insiders said remains worrisome — albeit hopeful. A “rare spike” in public construction pushed spending in the third quarter of 2013 to its highest level since May 2009. Much of the increase was attributed to spending on highway and street construction and education construction, said Ken Simonson, chief economist of The Associated General Contractors of America. “Nearly every category of public construction increased in October,” Simonson said. But while public construction spending jumped 3.9 percent for the month of October, the overall spending for public construction still trails 2012 by 2.8 percent.
Meanwhile, residential construction slipped 0.6 percent for the month, but still showed a 17 percent gain over 2012, while nonresidential construction spending was down 0.5 percent for the month, but up 0.8 percent for the year-to-date. “The private residence construction is certainly a mixed bag,” Simonson said. “It’s down because of slow down in single family construction, but multi-family construction continues to race ahead.” Single family construction was up 30 percent compared to the first 10 months of 2012, but that remains low when compared to the historical high. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING FULL STORY