Land Development

IDS assists land developers in successfully completing hundreds of projects ranging from single-family residential, business and industrial parks, to master planned communities. Many of these private developments utilize utility district or tax increment districts for the financing and long-term operations of public water, wastewater, stormwater, roadway, and recreational facilities.

Real estate development is a local business and every client and project has unique aspects. Accordingly, our approach to land development services is based on an understanding of our client’s needs, responsiveness to our client’s budget and schedule, teamwork, and advocacy for our client’s project with regulatory agencies.

Our professionals begin each project by carefully listening to the client. We listen to understand both our client’s needs and their customer’s needs – the future property owners or tenants of the building. Listening to our client and developing an appropriate plan of service is the core step in providing engineering solutions to achieve our client’s needs as opposed to engineering driving solutions independent of the client’s goals. Our land development services include:

• Municipal Utility Districts (MUDs) – We provide all types of utility districts (MUDs, FWSDs, WCIDs, etc.) with a complete range of engineering services from initial development to long-term management and rehabilitation of a mature district’s facilities. We currently represent more than 70 utility districts and work with the Board of Directors, the district’s consultants, and the district’s land developer(s) to plan, design, and construct utility systems that will meet the current and future needs in a phased and cost-effective manner.

• District Creation Reports and Annexation Feasibility Studies – We use our extensive land development and utility district experience to assist developers and land owners in analyzing the feasibility of creating a new utility district on a particular tract of land. Developers are usually planning to begin development immediately, whereas land owners may consider creating a utility district along with other land entitlements in order to better position their property for sale or development in the future. The availability, cost, and timing of water supply, wastewater treatment, and drainage outfall(s) are critical to the potential success of a land development project. IDS evaluates alternatives to onsite facilities as well as innovative approaches to the phasing and financing of the water supply and wastewater treatment plants. The internal water, wastewater, and drainage systems are evaluated and conceptual costs are developed to assist the developer in determining if the project would likely achieve economic feasibility given the projected market demand in the area. If a district is created through the TCEQ, then we will prepare a District Creation Report.

• Water Supply and Distribution Systems – IDS plans, designs, and implements water supply, distribution lines, and storage tank facilities for municipalities, counties, utility districts, land developers, and regional agencies and institutions. We have provided engineering services for more than 50 miles of urban and cross country waterlines (ranging in size from 6-inches to 66-inches in diameter) and more than 300 ground storage and elevated tanks (ranging in size from 25,000 gallons to 12.5 million gallons). Through this experience, we understand the critical challenges associated with designing and constructing utilities serving the built environment.

• Wastewater Collection and Treatment Systems – Our extensive experience in planning, designing, and managing the construction of wastewater collection, pumping, and treatment systems places us in a premier position to traverse the regulatory framework and advocate on the owner’s behalf. We have designed collection systems and treatment facilities for public and private clients in a heavily urbanized environment as well as cross country. Therefore, we are familiar with the specific phases of work that must be accomplished to maximize a project’s benefit and manage to a coordinated and predictable outcome.

• Stormwater Collection, Detention, Treatment, and Outfall Systems – IDS can determine the existing and developed drainage conditions, and evaluate the alternatives for stormwater discharge consistent with local drainage regulations, including requirements for stormwater treatment and detention. We can also delineate the existing floodplain and determine the alternatives for modifying the existing and documenting such changes through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) process.

• Parks, Trails, and Open Space – IDS offers specialized planning and impact analyses in order to blend educational and recreational values into park facilities that serve communities as well as the environment. Through our community participation efforts, we have learned the critical factors of the open space framework that shapes future growth and enhances the owner’s identity while preserving key natural assets. Our experience includes designs for regional parks, joint-use facilities, amateur sports parks, intramural athletic fields, water gardens and splash pads, playground and pavilion facilities, skate parks, and hike and bike trails.

• TCEQ Bond Application Reports – IDS has extensive experience in the timely preparation and processing of TCEQ district bond applications for both developer reimbursement and the financing of facility improvements and replacement in mature districts.