Diamond Springs: Stormwater and Utility Planning for a 1,300-Acre Jacksonville Community
Large developments do not operate in isolation. Stormwater, roadways and utilities must work within the site while also accounting for agency requirements, surrounding projects and future development.
Diamond Springs is a 1,300-acre community in Jacksonville with about 2,500 planned homes, part of The Trails Planned Community PUD. ETM coordinated transportation, drainage and utility planning for the project while considering how those systems would connect with development across the surrounding area.
The Development Challenge
The site is located within a basin that restricts both the rate and total volume of stormwater discharged. ETM needed to design a pond system around those limitations while supporting the planned homes and roadways.
Utility planning also extended beyond Diamond Springs. With several developments planned or under construction within the area, JEA required water and sewer modeling that considered demand across the larger PUD.
A Coordinated Engineering Approach
ETM addressed the site’s transportation, drainage and utility needs together during master planning. The pond system was designed around the basin’s discharge requirements and coordinated with the roadway network and development plan.
For the water and sewer systems, ETM completed master utility modeling with JEA that accounted for Diamond Springs and other development expected throughout the area. The team also worked with engineers representing neighboring projects to incorporate their anticipated unit counts and utility flows into the model.
This coordination helped ensure the infrastructure was planned and sized with a broader understanding of the development occurring across the PUD.
The Developer Takeaway
On a community this size, infrastructure doesn’t stop at the property line. Stormwater rules, JEA service and agency permits all have to line up across phases and parcels.
ETM planned the stormwater and utilities for Diamond Springs together, then carried that plan through the District permits and City site plan approvals as each phase moved forward. The developer worked from one consistent plan for the whole community instead of solving each phase separately.
For land developers, the takeaway is to settle the shared infrastructure questions first. Phase-level approvals go more smoothly when the master plan is already in place.
