Working on this project, we were challenged by high regulations at the state, county, and city government levels. For example, the permitting process in Florida is extremely time-intensive and difficult because it requires a full land-use attorney. From the construction perspective, the single most challenging aspect of the project was the relocation of a FEMA-regulated tributary/canal to the St. Johns River Basin, which eventually flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The canal had to be designed with a zero change in flow, requiring intensive design modeling to obtain agreement and approval from the federal and county governments.

Once relocations began, the existing flowing canal had to be diverted with no sediment added to its flow. We installed huge diesel engines and water pumps to dewater the area and lower the water table to excavate and line the new channel at $25,000 per week.

After we relocated the canal, we fully excavated and removed unsuitable soil from the old canal location, backfilled structural material, and tested compaction and settlement for construction of a new building on top of the old canal.

To date, we have designed and constructed the building pad in preparation for a national tenant who will have construction of their building begin on this site. After being enormously challenged by the canal relocation, our standard road construction, site paving/landscaping, site lighting and pylons were easy!