ACEC-SC / SCSPE Speakers at Annual SC Council of Engineering & Surveying Societies Joint Meeting
Gave Good Advice

ACEC-SC and SCSPE sponsored three speakers at the Annual SCCESS Joint Meeting held at the Citadel March 29; their topics and information were good and timely.

John McCarthy, a registered professional archaeologist and architectural historian, illustrated pertinent sections of the laws governing site inspection for new construction. His personal experience dealing with various sites in South Carolina and other areas gave good illustrations on the work and careful documentation to stay within the law and protect archeological sites and artifacts.

He said getting SC DHEC Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) permits are difficult without archeological reviews.

Mr. McCarthy is with S&ME’s Charleston office.

Bill Wilder, Life Cycle Engineering Inc.’s Education Director gave a presentation on “Learning is Change.” Engineers are constantly learning, and often find themselves needing to teach subordinates, clients and others they work with.

Wilder said learning is a performance issue, and effective learning produces results by changing behavior.  Like other projects, getting individuals to learn should have specific measurable objectives. According to the objectives, instruction takes different methods and time allocations.

When faced with the need for individuals to learn new equipment, procedures, techniques or applications to perform their tasks, engineers should research and plan appropriately for the outcome to be successful and realize not every person learns in the same manner.

Judd Goff, a principal in Red Bay Environmental, lead a discussion on “The Current Regulatory Program Regarding Wetlands and its Impact on Planning for Public and Private Projects.”

Goff’s presentation drew numerous questions from the engineers. They were interested in issues from regulatory timelines, definitions and working with the regulatory staffs that have jurisdiction over wetlands.

He said, “Beginning April 15, 2008, OCRM will be requiring wetland delineation plat and jurisdictional determination letter from the US Army Corps of Engineers for placing projects seeking stormwater and coastal zone consistency certifications on public notice. Jurisdictional Determination Request packages will no longer be accepted.”

Goff explained the differences between nationwide permits and individual permits, when one is used and how and when given the choice, one permit should be used over the other.

About 100 engineers and a dozen exhibitors attended the Charleston meeting.  Most of the participants were members of the American Society of Civil Engineers that offered 20 sessions.

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley gave the keynote speech during lunch. He told about plans to introduce passenger rail service to and from the peninsula from Moncks Corner and Summerville. His plan would use existing rail that would be used in conjunction with the railroads providing service to these areas.  He said this program is not a new, light rail service; it uses the existing infrastructure.