TCE has a long history with the Fife/Bever family beginning in 2008 when we obtained a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the existing house site, which removed the Federal requirement for flood insurance.

The family came back to TCE in 2014 after a positive initial experience when they wanted to demolish the existing home, construct a new home, add an accessory cottage, abandon an existing drinking water well and on-site leechfield and connect the new houses to the public utility system.

The project had several hurdles that had to be worked through. First, the house site was surrounded by existing wetlands so TCE conducted a wetland delineation then mapped the wetland and buffers. TCE used this data to place the footprints of the home in a manor that minimized the wetland buffer impacts and avoided hefty impact fees as much as possible.

Second,the large pond and associated wetland also proved challenging for traversing across the lot to the public water and wastewater utilities located in the adjacent subdivision. TCE designed the force main and water service to be constructed via directional drilling, which allowed us to avoid impacts in that area. Third, TCE had to work closely with the City of South Burlington to resolve local permitting challenges and work with the Public Works Department to coordinate the connection to the existing City pump station.

Overall, the client was happy with our product as well as working as an advocate on the family’s behalf as they moved through the sometimes daunting permitting process. The new homes are absolutely beautiful, and we are glad TCE could help this family make their vision become a reality!