opened up amazing new Low Country vistas! "When a piece of property north of Goose Creek wouldn’t allow developers to use a traditional septic system, they worked with engineers to use the site’s natural characteristics and find a wastewater treatment solution rather than force the site to adapt to a design that would have allowed fewer homes. Wassamassaw Plantation, the 352-acre development at the end of Jedburg Road, has about as many soil characteristics as can be found in the Lowcountry landscape. The terrain, which descends 33 feet across half a mile, offers not only diverse topography but also a variety of soil types.
A soil assessment made by Land Management Group of S.C., which furnished data to BP Barber & Associates, an engineering firm working with developers on conceptual layout, permitting and construction, found some of the soil types were not suitable for traditional septic drain fields.
'That made the design of each site very unique,' said Frank Iwanicki, an engineer with BP Barber.
Each home site at Wassamassaw Plantation had to be evaluated for an individual water treatment system, something that would not have been allowed until fairly recently, Iwanicki
said.
A relatively new S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control design standard allows a licensed soil classifier to evaluate the soil on individual lots and report findings to an engineer, who then designs the treatment and disposal system. Homeowners who purchase lots in Wassamassaw will be required to purchase their individual water treatment system for about $15,000 as part of their home site package. There will be no tap fees or capacity reservation fees such as those required by municipal water treatment systems.
'It opened up a tremendous amount of land that was undeveloped. A lot of that was in coastal areas where there really were no other options. So a lot of premium land became available for development,' Iwanicki said. 'Previously, if you could not get your soil approved by DHEC for a septic system, that was the end of it. They would not allow you to build a house.'"
A soil assessment made by Land Management Group of S.C., which furnished data to BP Barber & Associates, an engineering firm working with developers on conceptual layout, permitting and construction, found some of the soil types were not suitable for traditional septic drain fields.
'That made the design of each site very unique,' said Frank Iwanicki, an engineer with BP Barber.
Each home site at Wassamassaw Plantation had to be evaluated for an individual water treatment system, something that would not have been allowed until fairly recently, Iwanicki
said.
A relatively new S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control design standard allows a licensed soil classifier to evaluate the soil on individual lots and report findings to an engineer, who then designs the treatment and disposal system. Homeowners who purchase lots in Wassamassaw will be required to purchase their individual water treatment system for about $15,000 as part of their home site package. There will be no tap fees or capacity reservation fees such as those required by municipal water treatment systems.
'It opened up a tremendous amount of land that was undeveloped. A lot of that was in coastal areas where there really were no other options. So a lot of premium land became available for development,' Iwanicki said. 'Previously, if you could not get your soil approved by DHEC for a septic system, that was the end of it. They would not allow you to build a house.'"
For the full Charleston Regional Business Journal article: http://www.charlestonbusiness.com/pub/13_25/news/10946-1.html
For Wassamassaw Plantation: http://www.wassamassaw.com/
For the Land Management Group: http://www.lmgroup.net/index.html
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