As planners, engineers, and landscape architects, TPA can deliver integrated consulting services or provide the expertise of one particular discipline. As project managers, we can coordinate all aspects of a project, such as managing the design team, gaining approvals, negotiating agreements, and handling public outreach.
Our goal is to achieve the best solution to the problems at hand, within a framework of physical and economic realism.
TPA's professional services either singularly or jointly, represent a full complement of capabilities that are customized for the individual needs of each client:
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Comprehensive Planning Urban Planning Economic Development Site Development Public Improvements |
Recreation Facilities Engineering Regulatory Compliance Project Management |
COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING
Understanding physical, demographic and economic forces, forecasting critical issues, and formulating realistic implementation strategies are the backbone of comprehensive planning. The firm's founding principals believed that harnessing the power of the planning process could provide both public and private entities a thoughtful, technically-valid road map to the future. The experience and insight TPA has gained as it enters its sixth decade of planning services will undoubtedly be a considerable asset to clients facing the challenges of the new millenium.|
Strategic and Neighborhood Plans Development and Conservation Plans Open Space and Recreation Plans Economic Development Initiatives Natural Resource Inventories and Mapping |
Environmental Impact Analysis Community Outreach Programs Environmental Impact Analysis Grant Applications/Administration Regulation/Ordinance Preparation Cultural Space and Recreation Plans |
URBAN PLANNING
With the emergence of brownfield initiatives, smart growth policies and efforts to curtail suburban sprawl, there is renewed interest in our urban cores. Although functionally obsolete buildings, blighted neighborhoods, and potential contamination are roadblocks, assets such as location, access, infrastructure, and proximity to skilled workers can place cities at a competitive advantage. What began in the post-war era, TPA's presence as urban planners continues - tackling issues as diverse as neighborhood stabilization, job creation, security, and industrial redevelopment.|
Anti-Blight Strategies Industrial Reuse Plans Socioeconomic Evaluations Downtown/CBD Improvements |
Pedestrian Linkages Signage and Facade Guidelines Transportation Evaluations Renewal Implementation |
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Municipal governments and many non-profit organizations are continually faced with the cycle of business attraction, expansion, and retention. TPA has assisted clients in developing economic development programs, securing implementation funds, working on individualized business plans, creating developer solicitation packages, and establishing public-private partnerships.|
Economic Development Initiatives Business Expansion/Retention Plans Industrial Development Implementation Assistance |
Prospective Developer Searches Land Assembly Employment and Training Strategies |
SITE DEVELOPMENT
TPA's role often begins at site search/acquisition and continues through site plan preparation, permitting and construction administration. Working within physical constraints and the developer's needs and objectives TPA has been responsible for literally hundreds of site development projects ranging from residential subdivisions and health care facilities to schools and large-scale retail centers. The comprehensiveness of TPA's in-house capabilities and its understanding of the developer's perspective provides clients with buildable plans that are financially feasible, aesthetically and environmentally compatible, and publically acceptable. TPA's clients include some of the nation's largest retailers and the firm's personnel are active members of the International Council of Shopping Centers.|
Site Selection Studies Feasibility Studies Raw Land Searches Master Planning Subdivision Layout |
Site Plan Preparation Off-Site Improvements Approvals Cost Estimates Construction Drawings |
PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS
Tree lined streets, sidewalks, pocket parks and sitting areas, pedestrian linkages, and functional signage are all components of public improvements that provide tangible and intangible benefits to a community. Rather than treating these improvements as simply enhancements, TPA considers these as implementation mechanisms for carrying out neighborhood revitalization, public safety and/or economic development initiatives. This functional linkage provides technical validity to the public investment.|
Design Vocabulary Gateways Streetscapes |
Public Spaces Directional Signage Interpretative Graphics |
RECREATION FACILITIES
TPA has been actively involved with parks and recreation facilities, both active and passive, since 1968. Our experience encompasses the full spectrum of projects - neighborhood parks and regional athletic complexes, soft trails for passive interpretive use and hard surface trails for roller blading, boat launches, swimming areas, community pools, and golf courses. We have completed site analyses, site location studies, master plans, feasibility studies, design, bidding and construction monitoring for new construction and rehabilitation of existing facilities. We have worked under a variety of considerations, overcoming the challenges of steep slopes, sensitive natural areas, lack of accessibility, and the need to buffer adjacent land uses.|
Maintenance Evaluations ADA Compliance Needs Assessments Recreation Plans Trails and Greenways Parks and Picnic Areas |
Ballfields Sports Complexes Swimming Pools Master Plans and Design Restoration and Rehabilitation Golf Courses |
ENGINEERING
TPA's in-house capabilities include site, utility and roadway engineering. Our staff of professional engineers, engineering technicians, and designers are supported by a computer network with several drafting stations. The software programs we utilize include AutoCAD, Soft Desk, and Photo Shop. TPA's engineering experience ranges from large-scale retail development and industrial parks to parking lot design and utility relocations. In addition to design and redevelopment capabilities, TPA's engineering staff has provided third-party reviews and assistance to municipalities for reviewing site plan applications.|
Survey and Mapping Access and Circulation Utility Design/Relocation Roadways/Intersections Drainage/Flood Management Water Supply |
Storm Water Management Parking Erosion/Sedimentation Control STC Certificates Off-Site Improvements |
REGULATORY COMPLIANCE
Although compliance can be expensive, non-compliance is costlier both in terms of expense and time. For each client, we anticipate the regulatory climate and develop a number of contingencies so that the project continues to move forward. We specialize in avoiding regulatory pitfalls by knowing specific thresholds that could trigger seemingly endless permits and approvals. We can often minimize the permit process by avoiding impacts through thoughtful site planning. When mitigation is necessary, we never lose sight of our clients' goals, making every effort to contain costs.
Throughout this process, we keep in close contact with jurisdictional agencies. Having good working relationships, initiating the coordination in the early phases of development, and understanding the perspective of the regulation are effective means of keeping the permitting process under control.
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Planning/Zoning Approvals Stormwater Permits Wetland Permits Wetlands Mitigation/Restoration |
Stream Encroachments Water Resource Permits Coastal Zone Approvals |
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
In the last few years, clients have come to rely on us more heavily as their lead consultant, recognizing that it takes more than high quality technical applications to bring a project to successful fruition. In this capacity, we often are required to keep one eye on the larger picture and the other on nitty-gritty details. This can mean we manage a fleet of subconsultants, represent the client at all public meetings and provide strategic management advice all while carrying out the technical aspects of the project.
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Consultant Selection and Management Critical Path Scheduling Cost Estimating Business Assistance |
Presentations Funding Sources Inter-Agency Coordination |