The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has recently proposed new stormwater regulations. Aimed at bolstering resilience to flooding and incentivizing the use of nature-based solutions, the regulatory changes will have significant impact on new and redevelopment projects in the Bay State. Here are five critical elements of the new regulations that we believe our clients should pay particular attention to and which we are monitoring to ensure that they remain in compliance.

When building on parcels of land featuring slopes or other challenging topography, owner, developer, and contractor concerns must extend beyond getting the site foundation-ready. We offer some broad guidelines for effective early construction project erosion control and stormwater measures, as well as some unfortunate examples of what occurs when these measures are not properly put in place.

By properly understanding site conditions, solar developers can achieve a responsible construction sequence while minimizing unwanted and costly impacts. Here are some key guideposts for effective, successful solar power project construction sequencing.

Many owners, developers, and their engineers still take the traditional “gray” infrastructure approach when it comes to stormwater management, thinking of green infrastructure as more expensive, complicated, or little more than an industry trend. Such thinking may be short sighted and lead to missed opportunities.

With New England’s canopy now open, winds generally calm, and before snow covers the terrain, conditions are ideal for securing topographic surveys of your larger acreage PV sites in due diligence or development through aerial Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR).

Challenging occupant-related restrictions and demanding schedules result in rigid project constraints placed on the Survey team by the owner, architect, or design team. Under these conditions, traditional surveying often falls short.

To navigate the morass that can be permitting and site development, you often need experts able to decipher and uncover hidden legal information and secure the public records documentation required to prove your development project meets municipal and other legal requirements.

LiDAR, which uses laser technology to produce extraordinarily robust point cloud site data models, can help solve some of the most common problems developers encounter during site selection, design, permitting, and community acceptance.

Stormwater issues nearly put a client's 2.5 MW solar PV project in Western Massachusetts on life support. Rather than leading to a dead end, we were able to afford them the time and information the developer required to find a new path to a cost-effective, profitable solution.

Meridian can perform initial site due diligence services to uncover and expose the high-level issues for you, allowing you to spend less time and money after-the-fact going back to the drawing board, or struggling to dig yourself out of one hidden pitfall or another.

BEVERLY, Mass., May 1, 2023 – In a long-planned evolution of the firm, Meridian Associates, Inc. is pleased to announce that John M. Ings, PE has been promoted to President and CEO of the Beverly-based, employee-owned firm. John joined Meridian in 2011. He most recently has served as Meridian’s Vice President of Engineering.