This is what the final product will eventually look like
To date they have these foundation columns in place. They are setting up what looks like heavy scaffolding, which will hold up horizontal steel panels that a layer of steel reinforced concrete can be poured on top of. When that concrete hardens (cures) they will take the scaffolding down, add on to the columns to make them another story taller, then reinstall the scaffolding for another layer of concrete, over and over, higher and higher, until the owner runs out of money.
Have you ever noticed these beautiful man-made "water features" inside many new developments? I'll bet you thought it was so nice of the developers to go to such great lengths to beautify their projects, didn't you? You would be wrong.
Here's what they're really for: They're storm water retention ponds. This is what they look like drained ^ . In flat land like we have here, with everything paved over (parking lots, streets, buildings, etc), there is no place for rainwater to soak in. Therefore developers dig these big "ponds" lined with decorative stone walls, then empty all the surrounding storm water collection drains into them. That's what that big pipe just below wall height in the far right/center of the picture is. (There are several more you can't see also dumping water in.) From here the water will drain into a larger city drain, then a creek, then a larger river, and eventually out to somewhere far, far away you'll never see.
They're currently draining our beloved neighborhood "lake" so they can install new storm water pipes into it to drain the new building site. These look to be about 4' in diameter. This is pretty heavy duty civil engineering stuff.
The bottom line is this: developers don't do anything out of the kindness of their hearts. Everything they do makes them money or they don't do it. No "water feature" (storm water retention pond), no pretty landscaping, no zoning approval, no building permit, no payday. Now you know.
S
Funny you explain retention ponds, our homeowners ASS is looking at spending $ 70K to repair / improve ours.
ReplyDeleteGuess that's what you have to do when you destroy all the natural environment.
ReplyDeleteHaha! And that wouldn't be necessary if we all lived in a tree, walked wherever we need to go, and foraged for roots and berries like you do.
DeleteHere in Florida, we do special things with our retention ponds...we watch as they suddenly get sucked up by sinkholes.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen this? It was on CBS (the national news) a couple of days ago. The British geologist in the clip is my former boss!
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/at-least-a-dozen-sinkholes-in-ocala-florida-force-residents-to-evacuate/
I have holy respect for engineers...
WOW! That video.....Is it hard to get homeowners insurance there? Does HO ins cover sinkholes or are they excluded?
DeleteInsurance for sinkholes is a tricky thing in Florida, and it's a long story with a lot of background information required (some day, we will meet and I can explain all the details of it...over a few - over many - beers). Basically, if a big sinkhole opens up and destroys your house, it's covered by insurance. It needs to meet four requirements: (1) there must be a sudden collapse of the ground cover, (2) it must be visible to the naked eye, (3) there must be structural damage, and (4) the house must be condemned by the building official. You can buy sinkhole insurance coverage that covers those cases when one of those requirements isn't met, but you still have sinkhole activity doing damage to your house. But that can be expensive - depending on where you live, it could add a few thousand dollars per year to your premium. Some areas are more prone to sinkholes than others (The Ocala area, where this happened, is one of them, and a few other counties). But even though video like this looks dramatic, those sinkholes are fairly rare.
ReplyDelete