Client Type: Corporate

Description: Design of a stormwater system to alleviate flooding while improving water quality in a highly industrial area.

Services: Stormwater/flooding modeling and design; site survey; legal records review; government compliance assessment.

Overview

The Stanley Furniture Company plant in West End, North Carolina employs more than three hundred and fifty people. Engineers with Stanley Furniture Company determined the plant was in need of expanded facilities to increase efficiency and output. Unfortunately, the plant was out of compliance with existing government regulations related to industrial building placement. Periodic flooding of roadways and the property of adjoining landowners was also occurring due to previous construction at the plant. Additionally, the plant is located in Moore County's most sensitive water supply watershed, which imparts strict limitations on land development activities. To further complicate the problem, the plant is tightly confined between existing North Carolina Department of Transportation right-of-ways and a railway operated by the Aberdeen, Carolina & Western Railroad. In an attempt to find common ground between Stanley Furniture Company's needs to expand and the government's needs to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public, BLUE: Land, Water, Infrastructure was retained to find a solution which would meet the needs of all parties involved.

BLUE: Land, Water, Infrastructure conducted a study of the problem which included legal records review, government compliance assessment, storm water modeling and background site survey. From this, a plan of action was developed in coordination with government officials, adjoining property owners and Stanley Furniture Company. BLUE: Land, Water, Infrastructure was then able to design a detailed plan which improved the health, safety and welfare of the West End community and the public in general through improvements in water quality, storm water drainage, landscaping, traffic accident prevention as well as plant efficiency and productivity. The plan was so successful that after BLUE: Land, Water, Infrastructure presented the plan for public review, no public opposition to plant expansion was encountered, even though opposition was initially present.

Last updated: 10/22/02 (BLUE: Land, Water, Infrastructure)