Rivers Landing Condominiums

R ivers Lan ding C on d om in ium s

Rivers Landing is an award-winning land development that provides for harmonic existence of residential development, recreational uses, and many forms of wildlife. Many homes offer a spectacular view of the Ohio River and nearby marina.

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Hinton McGraw Developers Oldham County, Kentucky Engineering Planning

Diamond in the Rough

S H O W C ASE T W O

Years of four-wheeling and camping nearly destroyed Stone Lake, a 33-acre lake northeast of Louisville, Kentucky. The lake’s original function as an industrial sand mine ended years ago, and developers were challenged to revitalize the area into a livable, environmentally friendly community, Rivers Landing. GS&P planners and engineers not only rebuilt the shores of the lake to improve stability, they tied its water flow to nearby sources and effectively improved water quality for the entire area. Recognized for its adaptive re-use and green engineering, the project has given residents and wildlife a reason to enjoy Stone Lake and the Ohio River once again.

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Home Builders Association of Louisville President’s Grand Award Best Patio, Condo, Garden or Town Home Community

Stone Lake exists due to sand mining over a number of years. The perimeter of the site was analyzed for soil stability, and ultimately 20- to 25-foot pylons were installed. The top of the steel perimeter wall is capped with a pedestrian sidewalk, turning an engineered soil stability challenge into a site amenity.

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INTER V IEW /

Chris Dickinson, P.E.

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Mark Sparks, P.E.

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Mark Sparks, P.E. / John Campbell

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Jon Henney, AICP, ASLA

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M a rk Sp a rk s , J o n H e n n e y, J o h n C a m pb e ll

What were your first impressions of the site, and how did you evaluate its viability?

MARK: The first time I ever saw the site with the developer, I thought he was nuts. The area was an old abandoned sand quarry industrial site that had been steadily eroded by fourwheeling and constant dumping. The developer’s vision completely eluded me, and I thought he was crazy, but as it turned out, he wasn’t. The geotech made recommendations, and we realized that we could make it work. We knew we would have to move the road and shift buildings a bit, but it was definitely doable, so it became a team effort to make it work.

Once you determined the site could be developed, what were the first steps?

JON: A lot of it had to do with showing them how the developer’s improvements would actually convert a diamond in the rough into something that was a real positive. We

MARK: Cardinal Harbor is an area in the Ohio River floodplain that had been poorly planned and drained. In fact, one of the main drains from Cardinal Harbor discharged onto our site and eroded a significant portion of the site, leeching material into the lake. Improving Cardinal Harbor was part of the plan from the beginning because we had to correct it to make our site usable.

Part of your design included the creation of a permanent “sea wall.” Why was the wall necessary?

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Knowing that the community had some concerns, how did you convince them the development would improve the quality of life in the area?

An adjacent site, Cardinal Harbor, had some standing water issues. Were improvements to that area part of your initial proposal, or was the area improved by virtue of the Rivers Landing design?

S H O W C ASE T W O

Jon: One of the first hurdles we had to overcome was getting zoning approvals by the planning commission. There were some obstacles that weren’t directly related to our site or our developer. Another residential subdivision had been approved and was putting undue strain on the existing waste water treatment plant, resulting in some water quality issues that had upset the neighbors. Since our site had storm water and erosion issues, some area residents resented any kind of development of the area because they thought the developer was just looking for a way to make money. To the developer’s credit, we became convinced that it was an opportunity to take an industrial eyesore and turn it into a very attractive residential development. In fact, the county judge was one of the first to buy one of the units when the project was completed.

demonstrated how we were going to take a sand quarry pit with standing water in it and make it into a lake. Once you got past all the environmental issues and cleaning up some of the existing mess, they could see the potential. A lot of people still remained skeptical because of empty promises from other developers in the past. But as the project evolved and things actually started happening, they became convinced that we were going to do what we had promised.

The wall was built because the water level from the lake fluctuates seasonally. Based on recent rainfall events, we were concerned that the bank had fallen so rapidly that it might completely erode . Water absorbs into the soil as it rises, and discharges as it falls. If the water rises too fast, the moving water in the soil tries to carry the soil with it.

So we had to figure out how to conserve what we thought the elevation range of the lake was the majority of the time.

Once we did that, we determined where the wall would need to be placed. There will be times when the lake water will be above the wall, and times when it will be below the wall. In the best case scenario, the water level will be right on the wall.

MARK:

converting an unusable area is clearly a benefit to the environment How does your design implement green engineering?

Converting an unusable area such as an old abandoned industrial site into a viable area is clearly a benefit to the environment. In this case, we reused what would normally be considered a less than desirable property rather than building the same development somewhere else.

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S H O W C ASE T W O

JON:

There was abandoned equipment on the site with a lot of overgrowth, and other places with severe erosion.

There were also places where people had dumped waste and old construction materials. We cleaned all of that up and restored the landscape.

Mark:

We were able to take places that weren’t vegetated at all and turn them green.

Jon:

almost one million dollars. It overlooks the lake, and the rear of it overlooks the river. It’s just an amazing place to live. It was very pleasing to see that.

I was excited about the project from day one. The best part of putting together this design was considering the location of the buildings. I appreciate how the developer’s plans took advantage of every possible view. He probably could have placed a lot more units on the property, but he was respectful of the site.

JOHn:

As a planner, this project became a personal challenge because we got turned down twice during the planning process. We continued to believe that our client had an exceptional vision for this piece of property and the development would be beneficial to the community. So we continued to fight for them and work through the system, which included convincing very skeptical residents that this was not the kind of development they were used to seeing. To ultimately see the project succeed and receive all the accolades really makes you feel good as a planner knowing that the right decision ultimately prevailed. ■ Jon:

And now you’ll see blue heron at the lake and a large deer population around the development.

Mark:

What part of this project has been particularly gratifying to you?

MARK: I had the pleasure of seeing a dismal site transformed into a beautiful residential area. The development has beautiful patio homes with two units per building, and also single-family homes. One particular residence sold for

Mark Sparks, P.E., has more than 20 years’ experience in a variety of civil engineering projects from conceptual studies and reports to final design, cost estimating, and construction.

Jon Henney, AICP, ASLA, has nearly 30 years of experience in community planning and design. As project designer for Rivers Landing, Jon oversaw the conceptual site layout and design while leading the effort to obtain all necessary planning and zoning approvals. JoHn Campbell has worked in both the public and private sector as a land planner for over 11 years. His experience includes overseeing development of mixed-use, single- and multifamily residential, office, and commercial projects.

The 33-acre lake sits on 85 acres of land and is breathing new life through Rivers Landing, a gated community that offers a total of 136 condominium units.