The La Cima project is a 2,031-acre commercial and low-density residential development located in Hays County, within the City of San Marcos, TX, and is located within the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone. Bowman provided professional environmental, engineering, and surveying services for La Cima Developers, including preliminary design, site control, boundary surveys, utility system layout, preliminary design of stormwater facilities, and threatened and endangered species surveys and habitat assessments, wildlife management planning, and wetlands and waters of the US delineations. Bowman also assisted in obtaining a Development Agreement and a Public Improvement District through the City of San Marcos and Hays County.
The master-planned residential development consists of approximately 2,000 single-family lots, a 200-acre commercial area, an elementary school, an amenity center, many wastewater lift stations, a water storage tank, and multiple detention ponds. There are also offsite water and wastewater improvements to serve the development. Bowman performed hydrologic and hydraulic investigations necessary to define flood flow rates and water surface elevations along with drainage areas of 50 acres or more, along with the property’s primary drainage ways, including Purgatory Creek and associated major tributaries. The U.S. Corps of Engineers hydrologic model HEC-HMS was applied on watersheds contributing flows to the subject property to develop 100-year, fully-developed conditions flow rates at locations of interest along the major and intermediate creeks traversing the property, and a comparison to FEMA’s unstudied floodplain delineation for the area. Calculated floodplain delineations were used to verify developable areas, preliminary roadway profiles, and preliminary utility and site amenity locations.
Bowman also examined the two off-site wastewater alignment options provided by another engineer and an evaluation of the work done to date on the proposed connections to the City of San Marcos wastewater collection system. This task also includes coordinating with the engineer to review the existing City of San Marcos wastewater system and any discussions with the City on upgrading existing line capacity or additional future connections. The work included preparation of the design of pump upgrades to two existing lift station facilities and upsizing of off-site wastewater mains. The project includes preparation of the design plans, specifications and costs for 70,320 LF of wastewater lines, 35,330 LF of wastewater forcemains, and 92,303 Lf of water lines.