Waukesha County Department of Parks and Land Use is faced with the rehabilitation of pavement at many parks, event spaces, campgrounds, and public works facilities located throughout the County. It can be a challenge to meet the rehabilitation needs for all of these County-owned sites in a given year. Due to the amount of pavement rehabilitation needed for the site and the anticipated cost, the County was unsure of the best way to complete this project.
Waukesha County’s Expo Center faced significant deferred maintenance with its 5 acres of paved surfaces making up the parking lot system. In addition, the deficient storm water drainage system caused significant issues with ponding water which exasperated the deterioration of pavement over time.
To help pay for improvements the City of Greenfield worked with R/M to apply for and receive over $650,000 in funding for this project so far, which is about 30% of the overall project costs. These grants focused on five critical areas of project design and construction completion of design plans, water quality and stream characterization, permitting, public outreach and community engagement, and construction. Those opportunities included the following.
Ruekert & Mielke, Inc. (R/M) teamed with the Village of Brown Deer to plan and design a restoration and naturalization project for a stretch of Beaver Creek and Brown Deer Trail in the heart of the Village. Village officials recognized the need to revitalize a significant portion of the creek and the heavily-used trail that runs parallel to it. R/M set out to transform the entire appearance of the creek and trail by altering the layout and adding natural features to make a pedestrian-friendly corridor that connects the Village’s outer residential neighborhoods to a growing commercial and retail development corridor.
Before AssetAlly®, the Village of Mukwonago’s assets were unorganized and scattered, especially for their sewer utilities. Card files and paper books were everywhere, and it took a lot of steps and time to find information when they needed it. It was not uncommon for Village staff to spend over an hour finding plans for locates, and archiving maps could take even longer. With so many inefficiencies, the Village needed help organizing their assets to save time and money.
Ruekert & Mielke, Inc. (R/M) was hosting the Village’s old GIS mapping application and introduced the Village to AssetAlly. The decision to switch was easy. R/M met with Village staff to address their immediate needs.
In August 2015, the City, in an effort to stimulate commercial and manufacturing growth, created Tax Incremental Financing District (TIF) #4. This District is located 1 mile from the STH 151 and STH 16/60 interchange making it a desirable location due to the transportation corridor on STH 16. Increasing the transportation infrastructure in the TIF proved to be crucial to attracting employers. In 2017, Drexel Building Supply began constructing a showroom and lumberyard on the condition that the existing Hall Road would be extended eastward to Columbus-Fall River Road.
Bollant Farms was running a dairy operation with over 1,300 dairy cows when they contacted Outland Design in order to propose an expansion to their facilities. Having recently changed their animal bedding to sand, the primary redevelopment of the site would be to redevelop the primary waste storage facility on site to a concrete-soil composite lined basin as well as to add a new feed storage area.
Heiman Holsteins reached out to Outland Design (a division of Ruekert & Mielke, Inc.) to help with multiple site expansion for their dairy farm, including: A freestall barn expansion, a new holding area with a dedicated precast auger waste reception channel and 9'X9'X10' precast waste reception tank, a new rotary milking parlor and office building with a dedicated 8'X8'X10' precast waste reception tank, and new waste transfer piping from the proposed holding area and parlor to the existing waste storage facilities.
The Heartland Cooperative proposed a site expansion to their existing facilities to allow for on-site employee parking and improved delivery vehicle access. With the current site located within an area of low elevation and within close proximity to wetlands, a creative design approach had to be taken to properly manage the post-construction stormwater that would be generated from the proposed design.
Scheps Dairy contracted Outland Design (A Division of Ruekert & Mielke, Inc.) to design a site expansion consisting of a new feed storage area, a new waste storage facility, and a new full-site waste transfer system to accommodate an increased dairy herd size along with a new freestall barn.
The Winch Dairy farm was looking to expand their dairy operations by developing open green space within their existing farmlands. Outland Design (A Division of Ruekert & Mielke, Inc.) performed a site analysis with the owner to review site conditions for the selected area. Existing site topography was surveyed to ensure that the proposed barn area was at the highest grade allowable on site.
Abel Dairy Farm was looking to improve their sand separation facilities and contracted Outland Design (a division of Ruekert & Mielke, Inc.) to put together a sand separation system that would maximize efficiency at their site.
To meet internal green initiatives, American Family Insurance proposed a solar array on a portion of their campus located in Madison, Wisconsin. Another company was initially hired to design and permit the ground solar array. The initial company ran into permitting problems when submitting documents to Madison for approval. Due to these permitting challenges, American Family Insurance reached out to Ruekert & Mielke (R/M) to solve the problem and finish the project.
The Columbus Water and Light Utility, located in Columbus, Wisconsin, sought to take advantage of funding opportunities provided by WPPI Energy’s for sustainable initiatives. To take advantage of the funding opportunity, the City planned the construction of a solar array to be positioned on the Department of Public Work’s property.
A large local utility company sought to build a brand-new substation to prepare for anticipated services to fit the needs of a growing southeastern Wisconsin community. R/M was brought in on the project as a full-service survey and civil design firm.
In 2020, Ruekert and Mielke, Inc (R/M) provided surveying services for the siting of a potential solar farm development in a rural Wisconsin community. With an expedited timeline, the R/M survey team worked to offer a comprehensive survey and analysis.
R/M partnered with the Village of Mukwonago to develop an innovative solution that would significantly expedite the planning, design, and construction of the Village’s new business park in order to retain an important local business in Mukwonago.
R/M offered significant time savings across multiple departments for the Village through managing their assets and processes. AssetAlly also includes customer support and unlimited user licenses, which was beneficial for a small community on a tight annual budget. Staff were able to improve utility locates, permit tracking, and access to plans in the field.
The Racine Water & Wastewater Utility (RWWU) partnered with R/M to expand the utility’s water distribution network and provide an average of 5.8 million gallons per day (mgd) for approximately 20 million sq. ft. of new manufacturing space in the Village of Mount Pleasant.
