Brilliant sunshine greeted nearly 4,000 urban redevelopment professionals including planners, designers, developers, environmental professionals, contractors and financial professionals, from across the country at the ULI Spring Meeting, held in downtown Detroit in early May.  A large portion of the attendees were in town for the first time in many years, if at all, and were impressed by the forward momentum.  “As Detroit goes, so goes the nation,” it has been said.  Certainly, our visitors were intensely interested in sharing creative ideas and lessons learned in the course of Detroit’s recent transformation, to the benefit of post-industrial cities and struggling neighborhoods everywhere.

The conference was a wonderful opportunity for us at NTH to help showcase the Detroit metro area, to hear from the best and brightest minds in urban redevelopment and to network with other city builders and urban infrastructure professionals far and wide. Ashley Lesser, P.E., an engineer in NTH’s Environmental Group who has been involved with ULI Michigan for several years, and Bhushan Modi, P.E., Vice President of Environmental Services were in attendance. The general sessions focused on industry trends and transformative developments in Detroit and Las Vegas, with a keynote by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.  Various panels highlighted special topics such as parks, public-private partnerships, neighborhood revitalization, historic preservation and adaptive reuse, and the impact of innovations in manufacturing and mobility on real estate.

The transformative development projects highlighted during the conference underscored the idea that the built environment is a key driver of Detroit’s rebirth. Forward-thinking developers have transformed the streetscape of Detroit not only by pursuing ambitious projects, but by filling them with people—the lifeblood of a city.  Toward this end, there’s been a focus on rehabilitating iconic structures and creating inspiring new public spaces. Given the unique challenges presented by Detroit’s long industrial history and dynamic waterfront, these visions could not be realized without engineering expertise; and NTH has helped to fulfill many of these visions over the years.
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“NTH has been a part of the transformation of Detroit for more than two decades and we’ve had a hand in many of the projects that were on display,” said Modi. “It was great to see attendees and presenters point to projects on which we’ve collaborated, such as Little Caesar’s Arena and other the other Downtown sports stadiums, and to hear the excitement about the West Riverfront Park project on which we will begin work this summer. We are proud to be an integral part of restoration and rejuvenation of the entire Detroit area.”

NTH is committed to giving back to the communities in which we live and work through supporting our employees’ desire to make the world a better place and collaborating on volunteer initiatives with clients who share this same passion. NTH’s Volunteer Time Off (VTO) program gives staff members time off to pursue their passions and to help our clients achieve their community outreach goals. 

We are proud of the work we do in the community - you can see it in the extensive work we have done to help revitalize Detroit, in the pro-bono work we've done to rehabilitate natural habitats and in our community service activities throughout the year. Some of the initiatives we’ve been involved with are Adopt-a-Highway, Lansing River Clean Up, ESD's Future City and SMArT competitions, DTE Thaw and many more. 

Two recent initiatives have been documented by our staff members who participated. 

2018 Flint River Stewardship Day for the Flint River Watershed Coalition
On April 28, Hunter Riley, an NTH Environmental Technician, volunteered at the Thread Lake location (one of 12 volunteer sites). He was part of a small team that helped removed a boating dock and to pick up trash along Thread Lake. This year would mark the 8th year that the locals had volunteered to clean up Thread Lake. One of the locals mentioned that the river water level was extremely low due to the Thread Lake Dam being damaged. Historically, the Thread Lake Dam and the river was very important to the community because ice would be cut from the river and would be stored in ice houses in the early 1900s. 

Since the water level was so low, debris that was normally underwater was visible and removed. During the clean-up, volunteers not only encountered the “normal” findings (like plastic or glass bottles, fishing lines, and general trash) but unusual findings as well. They removed a buried bowling bowl, an old cash register machine, a 55-gallon drum, shot gun, various car parts (large & small), and even a 5 foot stuffed gorilla! 

Holland Drug Take Back - Holland Board of Public Works and Holland Department of Public Safety
Also in April, Chris Occhipinti, an NTH Project Professional, volunteered for the Holland Drug Take Back Program. Chris worked with representatives from Holland Board of Public Works and Holland Department of Public Safety to gather expired medications from the public. The activity helps prevent old prescriptions from being abused, accidently taken, or flushed down the toilet into HBPW’s sewer system. They recovered enough pills to fill several trash bins, several Rubbermaid boxes of liquid medicines, and a couple of trash bins full of pill bottles for recycling.

You can read more on the VTO program here: http://www.nthconsultants.com/vto.html and if you have a community event that you would like NTH consider for our VTO program, you can contact VTO@nthconsultants.com. 

NTH Consultants, Ltd. (NTH) today announced that that Rob Bates will join the Energy Market Team as a Senior Project Scientist. Mr. Bates is a seasoned executive with 16 years of experience in environmental consulting, wildlife biology, habitat restoration, and project management. Prior to joining NTH, Mr. Bates served as a Senior Biologist for an environmental consulting firm in California and working on water resources in SE Michigan. In that role he managed capital utility and renewable energy projects, including NEPA compliance, habitat restoration, threatened and endangered species studies, habitat and vegetation mapping, and project management.
 
“As the energy market evolves from a large centralized system primarily based on coal to a decentralized system focused on cleaner, lower carbon and renewable sources, we want to be poised to assist our clients as they contemplate their future strategies. Therefore, we are expanding our expertise and technical capabilities to support these initiatives,” said Jeffrey P. Jaros, COO and EVP at NTH Consultants. “Rob is an important strategic hire for us due to his extensive background in renewable energy projects, including NEPA compliance, habitat restoration and more. We look forward to his help in strengthening our renewable energy initiatives.”
 
Mr. Bates is a graduate of Ohio State University with a degree in Wildlife Biology and he is currently a member of the Wildlife Society and a past Chair of The Wildlife and Habitat Restoration Working Group; he is also a member of the Association of Environmental Professionals, the Society of Ecological Restoration, the Society for Ecological Restoration and the Michigan Wetland Association.
 
Bates joins our team of professionals that specialize in providing sustainable solutions to complex problems. Our specific services include environmental assessments, ecological studies, EA / EIS assistance, NEPA Assistance, habitat mitigation, wetland delineations for new combustion turbine plants, renewable energy, and transmission and distribution (linear facilities).

You can connect with Rob this week at the ​WINDPOWER 2018 conference at (949) 375-2373.

About NTH Consultants, Ltd.
NTH Consultants, Ltd. (NTH) has been providing professional engineering consulting services to the energy, urban renewal, water resources and infrastructure markets since 1968. From a small, Detroit-based, geotechnical engineering firm, our company has grown significantly providing a wide range of services in geotechnical engineering, environmental engineering, and facilities engineering. For the past 50 years, NTH has helped our clients address some of the most challenging and complex issues facing our environment today and provides innovative and creative approaches for each project it undertakes. NTH is constantly exploring new technologies and solutions that are safe, well-developed, and cost effective for its clients. NTH is headquartered in Northville, MI and serves its diverse client base from five offices throughout Michigan and Ohio.  ​