The Place At Corkscrew

The project includes civil engineering, planning, transportation services, surveying, and hydrogeological services necessary to design and permit a 1,361 acre project located in Lee County, along the north side of Corksrew Road. The subject parcels were previously utilized as farm land sod and watermelon farm. Approximately 736.2 acres will be restored to a natural upland/wetland preserve. Per the project’s zoning approval, the project must provide a plan that incorporates three defined flow-way restoration corridors traversing from north to south through the property. The purpose of the flow-way restoration corridors is to provide a means for restoring flow patterns and to aid in relieving flooding issues for properties located to the west. To properly evaluate the proposed hydrologic and hydraulic conditions of the flow-way restoration areas and the proposed design for those areas, the following analyses were conducted: -Hydrologic Analysis for the Existing Conditions of the property; and -Hydrologic and Hydraulic Analysis for the Proposed Conditions of the Flow-way Basin Design. 

Special consideration was given to all aspects of water management including water quality, floodplain storage, and restoration and maintaining function of proposed restored flow-ways. The project involved creating a integrated model to similuate the surface water management system of the development basins combined with the flow-way restoration basins. The initial step was a major onsite analysis of the contributing watershed that utilizing a hydrologic model to establish the timing and rate of offsite flows from the existing property. Secondly, Inner Connected Pond Routing Model (ICPR) software was used to evaluate flow-way basin staging combined with the development basins to determine level of impact once flows from the north were intorduced into the system. The onsite residential development basins were also modeled and designed to attenuate peak flows to not impact the floodplain storage while also providing additional water quality improvement prior to discharge into the flow-way basins. Within the study, several scenarios with different flows from the north were evaluated in order to determine appropriate weir designs for the north and south structures as well as an operational schedule. The project team worked closely with Lee County in the review of the analyses and development of the operation guidelines for the control structures. The integrated approach of development design, hydrology considerations, and appropriately designed drainage infrastructure created an cohesive development with ecological enhancements, water quality improvements to sensitive ecosystems, while still providing flood protection for the public. The project involved a coordinated effort with input from Lee County Natural Resources, Lee County Department of Transportation (LDOT), and South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), all in partnerhsip with the landowner/developer to meet long term restoration and water supply goals of their respective agencies.