Infrastructure Studies Save Time and Money

Ed Hord, FAIA, an NAHB associate member, says that his company could have saved thousands of dollars and several months of valuable time several years ago if he had had in his hands the series of infrastructure studies that the NAHB Seniors Housing Council has recently started publishing.

During the early stages of designing a 100-bed assisted living complex in Baltimore, Hord and the project’s developer were invited to a community meeting to field questions about the facility. At that meeting, they were astounded by the intensity of emotions that the neighbors focused on one concern.

“Fearful that the new assisted living facility would add traffic to an already congested road, the community’s 150 residents responded as though we were planning to build a nuclear reactor in their backyard,” said Hord.

Those concerns were not allayed by assurances that the facility would generate a low traffic volume, so an engineer had to be commissioned to conduct a quantitative study.

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At January’s International Builders’ Show, Hord said that he was “ecstatic” to find a study on traffic full of statistics validating what professionals in the seniors housing industry know anecdotally: Seniors have a minimal impact on road congestion and make fewer trips during rush hour than other drivers, no matter where they live.

Also currently available, pamphlets on schools and water and sewer services “contain equally compelling data,” says Hord.

BuilderBooks.com will be publishing five additional studies later this year. They will look at the cost of providing public safety courses, parking standards, planning for road improvements, demand on public parks and libraries and the local economic impact of active adult projects.

“Sharing these statistics with communities and land-use authorities can shave months off the approval process and reduce expenses,” noted Hord.

A case in point, says Hord, is a developer his company has been working with who used the council’s water consumption figures to negotiate lower impact fees.

“The infrastructure studies, which are available to Seniors Housing Council members, are an indispensable resource for anyone embarking on a new seniors housing project,” said Hord.

Hord is a senior principal and founder of Hord Coplan Macht, a Baltimore-based architecture and landscape firm that has designed more than 4,000 units of seniors housing, totaling $246 million in construction costs. The firm has expertise in new construction, renovation and additions for multi-housing, health care, education, corporate and municipal projects.

Hord can be reached by e-mail or at 410-837-7311.

For more information on the infrastructure studies and other Seniors Housing Council member benefits, e-mail Jeff Jenkins or call him at 800-368-5242 x8292.

To learn more about the Seniors Housing Council, click here.

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