Civil
Water Resources
Area of practice · Donald W. Parnell, PE · Florida Stormwater Systems and Site Inspector
Stormwater and drainage design for subdivisions and site development, watershed and wetland delineation, and water, wastewater, and force-main corridor layout.
Subdivision Drainage
Residential subdivision design
At Paton/Zucchino & Associates, a Raleigh land-planning firm, Mr. Parnell worked on a series of subdivision designs, with stormwater and drainage layout carried alongside the lot, street, and grading plans. One of these was a Weyerhaeuser subdivision in Eden, North Carolina, that reused former timberland for residential development, where drainage design had to work with the existing forest hydrology and the cleared and graded lots being laid over it.
Master-Planned Development
Multi-use land development
For Greenhorne & O’Mara, Mr. Parnell worked on Brier Creek, a multi-use land development in northwest Raleigh at the intersection of US 70 and I-540, during its initial development. Brier Creek grew into a 2,000-acre master-planned community of office, retail, and residential districts. Stormwater and drainage design at this scale involved routing runoff across multiple development parcels and coordinating drainage with the roadway network and site grading.
Stormwater Ponds
Interconnected retention and detention layouts
In Titusville, Florida, Mr. Parnell worked on two site-development projects whose stormwater systems used interconnected retention and detention ponds. The ponding layouts had to satisfy Florida stormwater rules for treatment volume and attenuation while fitting the developable area of each site, and both projects required presentation before the Titusville City Council for approval. He holds the State of Florida Stormwater Systems and Site Inspector certification.
Watersheds
Watershed delineation for substation sites
At the City of Austin Electric Utility Department, later Austin Energy, Mr. Parnell delineated watersheds for substation site-development projects. Defining the contributing drainage area for each site established the runoff the substation yard and its access would receive and discharge, and set the basis for the site’s drainage and grading design.
Wetlands
Wetland delineation for roadway projects
For KCI Technologies, Mr. Parnell delineated wetlands on a series of roadway projects at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina. Wetland boundaries governed roadway alignment, drainage crossings, and permitting for each project, and were mapped so that design and environmental review could proceed on a common base. In addition, a number of roadway corridor design projects occurred while working with Hobbs and Upchurch in Cary NC, and with KCI Technologies in Raleigh NC. These corridor projects required significant drainage incorporation.
Utility Corridors
Water, wastewater, and force-main corridors
At Hobbs, Upchurch & Associates in Cary, North Carolina, Mr. Parnell worked on water and wastewater corridor layouts for the Town of Clayton, routing distribution and collection lines through existing rights-of-way and easements. Separately, for Amy Ratliff, PE, in Raleigh, he worked on the corridor design for a sanitary sewer force main, laying out the alignment, profile, and crossings for the pressurized line.
About this record. This site is a working record of professional experience, maintained to verify subject-matter background. Areas of practice are reached from the menu above. The record is expanded as additional work history is documented.
Donald W. Parnell, PE | North Carolina PE No. 33878