IRVINE, CALIF. — RBF Consulting, a company of Michael Baker Corporation, received a Land Development Project of the Year Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers, Orange County Branch (ASCE OC). TheBlackstone Community project was presented by Jeff Langdon, P.E., and honored at the Annual Awards Dinner on Feb. 21 at the Center Club in Costa Mesa.

RBF provided Shea Homes and Standard Pacific Homes with planning, civil engineering, and surveying services for the 800-acre project site in Brea, Calif. Among the project’s challenges were its location within an active oil field with over 250 operating oil wells and a gas processing/co-generation plant on the site. RBF prepared plans and specifications to accommodate 781 residential units on 115 acres of developed land, leaving nearly 50 active oil wells within the neighborhoods. Planned community features include a 15-acre city park with baseball, football, soccer, and basketball facilities; six community parks; 22 “pocket parks” integrated around vaulted oil wells within the neighborhoods; a 1.7-mile extension of the city’s regional trail system traversing the ridgeline with vistas from Orange County to Tonner Canyon; preservation of 560 acres of open space and renewed habitat; and a comprehensive drainage and water quality system.

Project challenges resolved by RBF included infrastructure improvements in a hillside development, stormwater detention and site water quality. Integrating residential units among the existing oil wells was addressed through vaulting active wells and abandonment of additional wells, methane gas mitigation, rerouting of oil facilities, management of oil-impacted soil and existing, interim and proposed oil field operational mitigation and safety.

“Our team is an innovative, solution-oriented group of experts in the areas of environmental and civil engineering who were dedicated to this project’s success” indicated RBF CEO Bob Kallenbaugh. “We seek solutions that are environmentally sound and best serve the public. Accepting this recognition in Land Development from ASCE during National Engineers Week is a true honor.”