Tag: Civil engineering

Project Spotlight: North Dakota Lead Service Line Inventory

Posted on by burianadmin

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).

Burian & Associates New Hire Spotlight: Lower

Posted on by burianadmin

Burian & Associates welcomes Matt Lower as the Director of Planning and Client Development, working in Fargo, North Dakota. Matt is a seasoned consultant with expertise in organizational strategy, particularly in the areas of infrastructure, economic development, and public-private partnerships. As the Director of Planning and Client Development, Matt collaborates with clients to formulate strategies that propel their objectives and yield successful outcomes. With extensive experience, he has provided valuable counsel to communities in the upper Midwest and throughout the nation on their planning, engineering, and construction projects.

Matt has an undergraduate degree in anthropology from the University at Buffalo, a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from Eastern Washington University and attended archaeological field school at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. He is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest academic honor society in the United States.

Before becoming a part of the B&A team, Matt spearheaded consulting projects for telecommunications infrastructure across six states at CTC Technology and Energy. Notably, he played a key role in the $6 billion California Middle Mile Broadband Initiative. Matt also served as an advisor to the Newsom Administration and the California Government Operations Agency, contributing to permitting reform and the facilitation of streamlined infrastructure deployment. His prior experience includes managing a public sector consulting practice at a regional A/E/C firm and holding senior economic and community development positions within municipal and tribal governments.

Matt enjoys working with remote and emerging communities and fostering public-private partnerships. He is also passionate about placemaking, walkability, and transportation choice.

“Burian & Associates represents a unique and exceptional opportunity, seamlessly blending decades of industry leadership with the nimbleness of a startup. I am thrilled to be part of a team that delivers world-class service tailored to each customer’s specific needs,” expressed Matt.

Steve Burian, President and CEO of Burian & Associates, noted, “We are excited to add new leadership and expertise for the planning services provided by Burian & Associates. Matt’s vision, passion, energy, and experience will greatly benefit our clients.”

Outside of the work environment, Matt is a proud two-time winner of the Eastern Washington University Urban and Regional Planning Chili Cook-off, a husband, and a father of an infant son.

Project Spotlight-Memorial Village ll

Posted on by burianadmin

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/

Burian & Associates New Hire Spotlight: Mowat

Posted on by burianadmin

Burian & Associates welcomes Katie Mowat as an engineering assistant working from Lincoln, Nebraska. Katie is passionate about people, enjoys expanding her knowledge, and is excited to be working as a civil engineer after being in higher education for nine years. She brings a unique outlook to Burian & Associates due to her educational background and experiences working in multiple areas of engineering.

Katie has an undergraduate degree in civil engineering, a master’s degree in environmental engineering, and is working towards a doctorate in engineering education research. She is also an engineer-in-training and is working towards becoming a professional engineer.

Over the last nine years, while working on her education, Katie has worked for a city, a run-of-the river hydroelectric project, an educational furniture manufacturer, a concrete and sand quality control lab, and has helped design septic fields in remote areas.

During her graduate education, Katie has studied treatment of hazardous air pollutants from ethanol plants using bio-trickling filters. She has researched self-efficacy of K-12 teachers teaching engineering and looked at faculty emotions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Her dissertation focusses on perceptions of skills needed for engineers to work in the agricultural technology start-up field.

Sarah Sesselman, Director of Development at B & A observed, “To have Katie join our team is very exciting! She brings a unique set of high caliber skills gained from her tireless commitment to her engineering education. We look forward to having the opportunity to work with and support Katie as she finishes up her doctorate degree and transitions to the consulting engineering world.”

“I am excited to work for a company that values commitment, quality, innovation, improvement, and accountability. It is great to be working with fellow employees from all different backgrounds that are all focused on how to best serve our clients,” expressed Katie. She is a great addition to the Burian and Associates team and will make an impact on our work going forward and the world around her.