The Villas at the River - Sodus, MI

Wightman & Associates, Inc. provided surveying, site engineering and condominium drawings for this planned unit development near the St. Joseph River in Benton Township, Berrien County, MI. The site includes 92 condominiums and a clubhouse with paved roads, parking areas and nature trails.

The site has municipal sanitary sewer and water, the latter of which required a bore and jack under a roadway for connection. Also included is a man-made pond incorporated into the landscaping.

The condominiums are all ranch-home designs and are available in four sizes ranging from 1,325 to 1,856 square feet. Amenities include a clubhouse with fireplace, large-screen television, a kitchen, an exercise room, indoor golf ball driving and putting areas, a heated outdoor pool, woodland walking trails, and a private boat launch on the river.

Great property features create great challenges. The plateau area adjacent to the River is an extremely desirable asset which needed to be crossed and built upon. We had to incorporate into our design wetland limitations, floodplain area and a flood-way channel. A Joint Permit from MDEQ/ACOE was acquired for the roadway we built down from a 60 foot high bluff, mitigation of the wetlands impacted, release of regulated storm water runoff, a roadway profile which accommodated the passing of a 100 year storm and the installation of a boat ramp/fishing pier on the river. Detention ponds were built to hold and slowly release the storm water runoff. Two ponds were created as features to the property and we had to line these ponds with a liner and install wells to feed the ponds. An overflow structure was also built to regulate the water elevation.