LAREPrep Section 2 Study Guide Flashcards
List the 7 primary goals of site planning:
- Preserve open space, farmland and scenic areas
- Direct new development toward existing communities
- Encouraging mixed land use
- Foster sense of place
- Create walkable communities
- Be cost effective
- Encourage community stakeholder involvement
List the 5 sustainable design goals:
- Protect existing environmental resources
- Restore degraded environmental resources
- Re-use previously developed sites
- Build compact, walkable communities
- Conserve resources at all scales
Describe the 7 development process steps: (flow chart graphic)
- Programming and site selection
- Site inventory (physical, biological, cultural)
- Site analysis
- Concept design
- Design development
- Construction docs
- Design implementation
List the 3 components of a project program:
- Goals and objectives
- Design Elements
- Special requirements for the design to fulfill
What’s the difference between goals and objectives in the context of Section 2 LARE?
Goals: Universal principles that do not change from project to project (health safety and welfare)
Objectives: Project specific outcomes (build a playgbround)
List the 7 elements that programming studies are guided by:
- Market analysis
- Literature reviews
- User demand studies
- Stakeholder interviews/surveys
- Analysis of relevant precedence
- Client objectives
- Project budget
List the 3 elements that site selection is guided by:
- Project objectives
- Project requirements
- The general location/area/region for the desired end use
List the 6 benefits of a thorough site selection:
- Improved site function
- Greater convenience and access for users
- Reduced construction costs
- Reduced maintenance and operational costs
- Improved aesthetics
- Reduced environmental impacts
List the 7 steps of the site selection process:
- Determine the project objectives and requirements
- Establish the site selection criteria
- Identify potential sites
- Evaluate each potential site against the project requirements
- Rank the potential sites against one another
- Select the ideal site
- Test the projects feasibility
The redevelopment or re use of brownfield/infill sites promote what 5 benefits?
- Economic revitalization
- Providing housing near jobs and services
- Decreasing automobile use
- Creating a TOD / walkable neighborhood
- Creates a grater sense of community
What is a community resource inventory?
An inventory of wetlands, archaeological sites, scenic views and significant wildlife habitats, forests, floodplains, farmlands, aquifers, and historic structures
What is included in a base map?
- Property boundary
- Public rights-of-way
- Easements
- Topography
- Existing buildings
- Existing utilities
- Flood zones
- Adjacent properties and land uses
What 6 elements are included in a 7.5 minute or quadrangle topographic map?
- 1:24,000 scale
- 40’ contour lines
- Township, range, and sectional info
- Transportation infrastructure
- Rivers, floodplains, wetlands and physiographic data
- Buildings and new construction
List the 4 Public Land Survey System sizes:
- Quadrangle - 24x24 sq miles
- Township - 6x6 sq miles
- Sections - 1x1 sq mile OR 640 acres
- Quater sections - 160 acres
How do the Principal Meridian, Base Line, Range Line and Township Line divide up a quadrangle?
- Principal Meridian: N/S middle
- Base Line: E/W middle
- Range Line: N/S on the sides of the Prime Meridian
- Township Line: E/W above and below the Base Line
What is contained in an ALTA Survey?
Property Boundary, public rights-of-way, easements, topography, existing Buildings, existing utilities, flood zones, adjacent property uses
What is included in a topographic survey?
Contours, spot elevations, vegetation and physical attributes, utilities
How is a backsight used?
A point used to determine the elevation and/or angular orientation on the surveying instrument
How do you solve a bearing question?
Use the straight line to subtract from the arched line, then add in cardinal directions based on where the line is traveling
What is chaining in surveying?
basic surveying with linear measurements. Used in small, flat areas.
What are infrared aerials used for?
To track the growth of vegetation over time. Color infrared can be used to track tree diseases.
What is leveling in surveying?
The process of determining the height of one level relative to another. Used to establish the elevation point relative to a datum.
What is a datum in surveying?
A known arbitrary horizontal plane.
What is LIDAR in surveying?
Light Detection and Ranging. Can see through vegetation to provide more complete topo surveys. Lower cost than a field survey.
What is a stadia measurement in surveying?
A technique that uses the observed height of a 6’ tall object to infer horizontal distance.
What is traversing in surveying?
A technique that maps an area of land using a series of interconnected lines. A traverse is considered open if it does not form an enclosed area. Lines have both a bearing and distance.
What are the 5 elements included in abiotic systems?
Soils, topography, geology, hydrology, climate
What are the 2 elements included in biotic systems?
Vegetation and wildlife
What are the 6 elements included in cultural and human systems?
- Land use and regulations
- Legal and financial
- Utilities
- Transportation
- Historic resources
- Sensory data
Describe a soil series.
A group of soils originating from the same parent material. The way to differentiate them is from the texture.
Describe a soil horizon.
A layer of soil whose physical, chemical and biological characteristics differ from the layers above or beneath.
Describe a soil profile.
A vertical section of soil extending through all soil horizons and extending into the parent material.
List the 3 components of soil:
Sand, silt, clay
What is the diameter of sand?
What is the diameter of silt?
What is the diameter of clay?
- From bigger than 2 mm to 0.05 mm
- From 0.05mm to 0.002 mm
- Smaller than 0.002 mm
What’s in well-graded soil?
A wide range and even distribution of soil particle sizes, with the smaller diameter particles filling the voids created by the larger diameter particles.
What’s in gap-graded soil?
A soil that contains multiple particle sizes, but gradation is missing a few diameter sizes.
What’s in uniformly graded soil?
A soil containing one range of particle size.
What is permeability?
The rate that water runs through soil.
What is infiltration?
The rate of speed at which water flows into soil through small pores.
What is percolation?
The downward movement of water in soil.
What are hydric soils?
Characterized by being highly saturated with water for prolonged periods of time, it renders the soil anaerobic and gives it a blueish color.
Describe soil bearing capacity.
The measure of a soils decrease in volume under pressure of a given weight. Used in determining what kind of foundations can be built.
Describe angle of repose.
The maximum slope at which a loose material can be piled while remaining stable.
Describe soil elasticity.
The ability of a soil to return to its original shape after being subjected to a load condition.
Describe soil plasticity.
The ability of a soil to deformed under pressure without breaking apart.
Describe liquid limit.
The minimum moisture content at which a soil will flow under its own weight.
What are the 7 practices used to reduce soil erosion?
- Preserve existing vegetation
- Reduce the total land disturbance
- Stabilize excavated areas with seeding, matting or mulching and divert runoff away from those areas
- Minimize disturbance to steep slopes
- Schedule clearing and grading activities during the dry season and suspend them before precipitation events.
- Locate non-point pollution sources (construction roads) in areas that do not drain directly into bodies of water.
- Introduce erosion control fencing, blankets and stabilize drainage channels with erosion resistant materials (riprap).
Describe gully erosion.
The widening, deepening, and headcutting of small channels and waterways due to erosion.
Describe rill erosion.
When runoff water forms small channels as it concentrates down a slope.
Describe sheet erosion.
The removal of a fairly uniform layer of materials or soil from a land surface by the act of rainfall and surface runoff.
What does NPK stand for?
Nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium.
What parts NPK is fertilizer?
20 N, 10 P, 20K
What does nitrogen do for a plant?
Supports rapid plant growth.
What does phosphorus do for a plant?
Helps a plant convert other nutrients into useful building blocks to grown.
What does potassium do for aplant?
Helps strengthen a plants abilities to resist diseases and plays an important part in crop yields.
What is prime soil?
A USDA classification of a soil that requires the least amount of inputs for productive agriculture.
Describe the pH scale, what is neutral and what pH plants prefer.
Scale of 0-14, 7 is neutral, plants prefer 5.5-7.5
What end of the pH scale are acidic soils on?
0-7
What end of the pH scale are alkaline soils located on?
7-14
What do you add to overly acidic soils?
Lime
What do you add to overly alkaline soils?
Sulfur
How are ridges identified on a topo map?
Contour lines pointing downhill. (spot a is higher that spot b)
How are valleys identified on a topo map?
Contour lines pointing uphill. (spot a is lower than spot b)
Where do watershed edges occur?
Ridgelines.
Describe the characters of slope and their percentages.
- 0-3% - nearly level
- 3-7% - gently sloping
- 7-12% moderately sloping
- 12-25% - strongly sloping
- 25-40% - steeply sloping
- 40-70% - very steeply sloping
- 70%+ - extremely sloping
Describe the 5 slope aspects and their characteristics:
- Southern slopes receive the most sun during the winter months
- Southeastern slopes offer the most desirable microclimates
- North-facing slopes are colder than south-facing slopes
- Northwestern slopes receive colder winter winds
- Western slopes are hottest in the summer
What 3 factors does geology take into consideration?
Landforms, seismic hazards, depth to bedrock.
What is a karst?
landscape underlain by limestone that has been eroded by dissolution, producing ridges, towers, fissures, and sinkholes.
What is glacial erratic?
A glacially deposited rock native to the area where it rests.
What is a moraine?
A mass of rocks and sediment carried down and deposited by a glacier, typically as edges in a ridge.
What are the 7 negative impacts of land development?
- Increase runoff volume and rate
- Increased frequency and severity of flooding
- Reduced water quality
- Reduced infiltration and aquifer recharge
- Reduced stream flow during dry weather
- Ecological degradation
- Reduced recreational opportunities on the water
Describe time of concentration.
The time needed for water to flow to the most remote point in a watershed to the watershed outlet.
Describe Q=ciA
Q - Peak discharge rate in cubic feet per second
c - runoff coefficient (how permeable a surface is)
i - rainfall intensity in inches per hour
A - Drainage area measured in acres
List the 7 benefits that a riparian zone offers:
- Groundwater recharge and discharge
- Sediment stabilization
- Flood attenuation
- Water quality maintenance
- Wildlife habitat
- Climate moderation
- Shoreline protection
Describe the difference between first order and second order streams
First order - stream beginning at the source of the watershed
Second order - joined later downstream
Describe ephemeral, intermittent, and perennial streams:
Ephemeral: flows only in response to precipitation
intermittent: flows only part of the time or through only part of its reach
Perennial: flows constantly
What percent chance does a 100 year floodplain have in flooding?
1%
Describe the 3 areas that compose a floodplain:
Channel - Area where the stream flows under normal conditions
Floodway - Area that floods during the 100-year flood
Flood fringe - Area outside of the floodway that does not contain floodwaters and usually contains slow-moving or standing waters (this is still in the 100yr floodplain)
What is Base Flood Elevation (BFE)?
Whole-foot elevations of the 100yr floodplain that have been studied in certain intervals. Usually used in determining what height a building must be constructed at to be considered safe from flooding.