Civil and Soils Engineering Meeting 12/2/14: Meeting notes

[Liwen Cheung]

Following is a summary of our meeting today with Mitch and Jim over the outstanding items related to civil and soils engineering:

1. Widening of the switchback per Fire Department requirement  - Team decision to proceed with widening the turn at the uphill, outer radius (i.e. cutting into the slope next to DeHerrera's gate) Team agrees that this would be the least expensive option given the soils condition on the downhill side as indicated by the easement.

 --> Action Item (Jim): Complete drawing for Mitch's review. Inform Geoff Monk of decision

2. Cut and Fill  - Team decision to move most of the 6,000+ cu.yd. of soils from the top to the north side of the lot, to the are between the road and the property line and as far away from the creek as possible. Team feels this is the best location given landslide issues elsewhere in the lot, and can serve to support the road that is continuing to slide downward

--> Action Item (Jim): Propose area to be filled given cut & fill calculation and contact Geoff

Monk to clarify areas to avoid to mitigate any run-off concerns. Mitch to review and confirm. 

3. Utility trenches - Decision remains the same to string all utilities from base of the hill up to switchback, per straight-line utility easement granted by DeHerrera. Then from outside DeHerrera's gate up to the house.

--> Action Item (Jim): Complete drawing of utility path and confirm with Geoff Monk (may need staking) so that Monk can cover said areas in completing his analysis. 

4. Additional borings - Mitch identified ~10 additional spots for additional boring work, with priority focus on the South-East corners of the house plus guest park spaces outside side entrance and the road up to the house. Mitch has started the permit process. He needs 7-10 days of dry weather to properly do the boring. The permit is good for 6 months.

 --> Action Item (Mitch): Send Liwen and Vince the estimate for remaining road and boring work. 

5. Retaining walls around the house - Need to confirm details on retaining walls with Mitch especially toward the north (near family room) and southeast side (near landslide area)

--> Action Item (Jim): Confirm current thinking on retaining walls with Tim; Review drawings with Mitch

6. Water tanks - Team agreement on revised location of tanks on the south/west side of the house

--> Action Item (Jim): Send latest drawings to Ian (Fire Department) and David Crompton (Town) for their feedback/approval

Timing for completion: Complete all action items above by week of 12/15, as agreed upon by all in attendance.

[Liwen Cheung]

Update on 12/10:

Jim, Geoff and Vince spoke and outlined next steps:

1) Geoff to determine limits to federal and state jurisdictions over proposed fill area based on CAD file provided by Jim

2) Vince to capture a few photos of tree hat may be impacted as part of the turn widening.

With respect to the turn widening outside DeHerrera's gate, and potential impact to one of the trees, I was able to go out to the lot and took some photos just now. The trees are set back quite a bit, so it really depends on how far we push with the widening, and starting from where on the up-slope side.

Unfortunately the slope was too steep for me to get all the way up, but from eyeballing the tree trunk from about 30 ft away, I'm guessing that the diameter would be between 10-12 inches (looking up-slope)

Here are a few photos (will post this note and photos on AllyLocal as well). The tree in question would be the first one from the left in the first photo. Second photo is a close-up from where I stood, the third photo is another view of the turn coming down the road, with the tree in question again being the first one from the left on the upper-left corner (only trunk is visible)

image.jpg

[H. Ross Wells]

We did do what you asked by keeping the walls 3' and under but this was not working with Jim Diggen's grading plans which could change wall heights.

[Tim Haley]

If possible let's try to have walls under 3ft (to reduce the amount of engineered walls) but those that are over 3ft will have to be engineered.  Brad (eng.) is aware of this. 

H. Ross Wells said:

Tim-

I saw Item number 5 and this will need to be coordinated with the structural engineer when we go into working drawings.

Ross

[H. Ross Wells]

Tim-

I saw Item number 5 and this will need to be coordinated with the structural engineer when we go into working drawings.

Ross