Category: Project

Crafting a Vision for Troy, Montana: The Completion of the Growth Policy

Posted on by Burian & Associates

At Burian & Associates, we are pleased to announce the completion of a transformative Growth Policy for the City of Troy, Montana. Nestled at the gateway to the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness, Troy is often described as a “last frontier” with its serene nights, hidden hiking trails, and some of the most breathtaking landscapes in North America. This project marked an exciting opportunity to collaborate with the community and shape a vision for its future.

The Project at a Glance

The Growth Policy was designed as a comprehensive framework to guide Troy’s growth in a way that balances economic opportunities with the preservation of its unique natural and cultural character. The policy provides direction for addressing key areas such as:

  • Tourism Management: Preparing Troy to handle the increasing popularity of its natural attractions while maintaining the City’s charm
  • Service Delivery Enhancements: Ensuring that infrastructure and services keep pace with the community’s evolving needs
  • Strategic Planning for Public Improvements: Conceptualizing and planning development projects that align with the community’s vision

In collaboration with BSPARK Architecture, our team worked to integrate innovative design ideas and detailed renderings that visualize how Troy can grow while maintaining its sense of place and connection to nature.

Engaging the Community

The success of this project hinged on community involvement. Over several months, we facilitated public workshops, conducted stakeholder interviews, and engaged with residents through a booth at the Troy Farmers Market, providing valuable opportunities to gather diverse perspectives and insights.

The community’s input was instrumental in shaping priorities and identifying opportunities for growth, including revitalizing downtown areas, enhancing outdoor recreation, and addressing housing needs.

Delivering the Vision

The final Growth Policy offers a clear roadmap for Troy’s future, featuring:

  • Actionable strategies to guide sustainable growth
  • Recommendations to protect and promote local industries
  • A framework for future infrastructure and development projects
  • Visual renderings of potential improvements along key streets, including Highway 2, Yaak Avenue, Kootenai Avenue, and 3rd Street

Looking Ahead

As Troy embarks on implementing this Growth Policy, we are excited to see how the City transforms while preserving the natural beauty and community spirit that make it so special. At Burian & Associates, we’re honored to have been a part of this journey and look forward to supporting similar communities in achieving their visions for sustainable growth.

Want to Learn More?

For more details about this project or to discuss how we can help your community prepare for future growth, contact us at 701-478-7999.

 

Project Spotlight: North Dakota Lead Service Line Inventory

Posted on by Burian & Associates

03/18/2024

Project Importance

Lead, once common in pipes delivering drinking water into homes, was banned for this purpose by Congress in 1986. Despite the prohibition, the legacy of lead service lines remains a significant public health concern, particularly for children. Recognizing the urgency, the federal government took substantial steps in 2021, introducing the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) to the Safe Water Drinking Act. A key element of The Biden-Harris Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan, the LCRR mandates that all public water systems create, submit, and maintain an inventory of lead service lines, playing a crucial role in replacement plans and securing potential funding for initiatives.

B&A’s Role

Burian & Associates is leading North Dakota communities in this crucial initiative to remove lead from drinking water. We provide guidance on the associated issues and are actively involved in developing compliant lead service line inventories for 34 public water systems across the state. Our LCRR compliance approach aims to assist communities in conducting precise inventories using methods that are not only cost-effective and minimally intrusive, but also community centric.

Our approach commences with city staff meetings and a thorough examination of accessible historical records. Following this, we actively involve the public, encouraging their participation in identifying their respective service lines. Our dedicated team employs a user-friendly approach by disseminating educational “do-it-yourself” customized notices, aiding individuals in determining whether lead is a concern in their homes or businesses. This step-by-step method facilitates the collection of critical information and establishes an efficient process for sharing it, which enables our team to confidently assess the accuracy of self-performed analyses and ensure the creation of a comprehensive and precise inventory.

Beyond saving utility operators and managers time, our strategy builds trust between the public and the water utility, raising awareness of a complex and nationwide public health concern. Ultimately, this lays the foundation for ongoing and effective lead service line removal initiatives.

What You Can Do

Interested in your own service line? Use the following link to assist in identifying your service line material: Find the lead pipes in your home (npr.org).

Project Spotlight-Memorial Village ll

Posted on by Burian & Associates

Written by: Katie Mowat, EIT, MS
Date: 9/19/23

Burian and Associates is excited to be part of the Memorial Village II (The Fieldhouse at Memorial Village) project at the University of North Dakota. This is a $49 million combined project that is being made possible through a public/private partnership between the City of Grand Forks, UND Athletics, the UND Alumni Association and Foundation, the Memorial Village Development Group, and donors Dave and Alexa Albrecht. This project includes a mixed-use building (commercial and apartments) and a new 500-seat softball field.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1-Rendering of Memorial Village II provided by Rise Design Group.

The five story, mixed-use building will have commercial space on parts of the first and second floors as well as residential on the other parts of those floors and on the three additional floors. There will be diverse living arrangements with 1, 2, 3, and 4 beds, studios, and ADA studios located throughout the different floors. The tenants will also have access to multiple amenities, lounges, and patios. The Hawk’s Perch (observation deck) is positioned to overlook the new softball field and there will also be a roof top deck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 2- Rendering of Albrecht Field provided by ICON.

Articles by UND Today and Campus Renewal noted that site clearing is already underway (Criswell, 2023; Murphy, 2023). As of the third week of September concrete pouring for the project foundations has also started (Burian, 2023). The groundbreaking was celebrated on October 3, 2023.

Community Contractors has been contacted to build both Memorial Village II and the Softball Field. TL Stroh out of Fargo and Rise Design group are doing the architectural design for the multi-use building and ICON Architectural Group is doing the design for the Softball Field. Burian and Associates is doing the civil engineering for the whole project. This includes the designs for the water service, wastewater service, egress, ingress, stormwater management, parking, and site grading (Burian, 2023).

As an extension of the civil engineering work for the project, Burian and Associates is designing a new regional stormwater pond. This pond will collect all the stormwater for east campus to improve downstream water quality and quantity. Burian and Associates has also designed a new sanitary sewer extension for the City of Grand Forks. This extension was needed since the old line was built at the same time as the old stadium in 1918, was not able to handle the compacity that is needed now, was located in an undesirable spot with all the new projects going on, and was made of old clay material that is no longer used for sanitary sewer lines.

Steve Burian (President and CEO of Burian and Associates) through a sister company of Burian and Associates, Kevin Ritterman through a sister company of Dakota Commercial, and Greg Tweten of Community Contractors are, among other investors, the ones developing and owning the multi-use building (Burian, 2023). All three of the above mentioned are alumni of the University of North Dakota making this project and the ability to provide their skills back to their university unique and special.

UND’s Softball team agrees with how special this project is as stated in the article by UND Today, they “are ‘extremely excited’ and ‘thankful’ to everyone who helped make their new field possible” (Criswell, 2023). Furthermore, in the UND Today article, “UND Athletics director Bill Chaves referred to” the field “as ‘yet another piece of an amazing facilities upgrade for intercollegiate athletics,’” and the field “promises to be a game-changer for the team.”

In a conversation with Steve Burian, he said that he is excited to see Memorial Village ll as an extension of Memorial Village l and that both projects are moving the University of North Dakota to another level (Burian, 2023). He pointed out that the multi-use building will provide some really nice commercial amenities and high-end living spaces on campus. The building will also be located on one of the most prominent corners in Grand Forks.

Memorial Village ll will seamlessly connect to Memorial Village I and the rest of campus. Memorial Village ll will be connected via the Columbia Road skywalk to the UND parking structure on the other side of Columbia Road that is then connected to the University Student Union (Murphy, 2023). Thus, Memorial Village ll will be intimately connected to the UND Campus.

Burian and Associates is thrilled to be part of the Memorial Village ll project. We are already in the middle of working on the civil engineering design. It is exciting to be able to work on a project that will have such an impact on the UND community and landscape.

 

Sources:

Burian, S. (2023, September 18). Personal Conversation.

Criswell, W. (2023, September 12). New diamond in crown of UND Athletics. UND Today. https://blogs.und.edu/und-today/2023/09/new-diamond-in-crown-of-und-athletics/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Sept.+12%2C+2023+issue

Murphy, C. (2023, September 12). Memorial Village II. Campus Renewal. https://blogs.und.edu/campus-renewal/2023/09/memorial-village-ii/