Client: Triway Enterprises, Olympia, WA.

Project Specifications: Cooper Crest was the City of Olympia’s first “low-impact” development. A 140-lot subdivision, the project required a range of professional services from Hatton Godat Pantier, including:

• End product planning
• Site surveying services
• Civil engineering services
• Project coordination and management

Most importantly, Hatton Godat Pantier provided engineering and design of leading-edge, low-impact technologies, such as the use of pervious concrete (which absorbs, rather than resisting rainwater runoff), specialized roadway design, and "green" stormwater dispersal techniques.

Key Challenge: Although Low Impact Development (LID) techniques have a solid academic basis for helping protect watersheds and fish and wildlife habitats, implementing LID in the real world is less well known. There is added complexity and cost associated with deployment; challenges that end users must deal with. These challenges called for an experienced and highly efficient engineering firm to minimize, wherever possible, the additional expenses associated with low-impact development and create techniques that actually work in the “real world.”

The Point of Difference: “Low-impact developments, though cutting-edge, aren’t suited for every project,” said Jeff Pantier. “These projects are more labor intensive and require specific and generally higher margin inputs. That is why using a design and engineering firm with expertise in these kinds of developments is important.”