The St. Cloud Tech site is unique and presented many challenges from a permitting and design perspective with a DNR protected trout stream, acres of wetlands, and groundwater. The protection of these resources, including the quality, quantity and temperature of water discharged to them, was of the outmost importance during the design and construction process. The School District had visions to consolidate Tech’s athletic facilities and outdoor activities to manage maintenance cost, better support the Physical Education program, provide state of the art facilities, consider student safety and provide connectivity to the school and the natural surroundings.

Over 100 soil borings and several water level piezometers, we used to gain knowledge of the site and the large seasonal fluctuations of the site’s shallow groundwater. To provide the required separation from groundwater, a series of infiltration practices were designed to treat storm water as close to where it falls to minimize storm sewer and depth, in the form of 185,000 square feet of PaveDrain, 1 acre of biofiltration basins and 1.15 acres of infiltration basins for portions of the roof water, entrance roads, stadium and parking lot overflow stormwater. These solutions resulted in a zero discharge from new impervious surfaces to protect and preserve the School’s natural surroundings. For the first time in the 100+ years of St. Cloud Tech, all of Tech’s athletic activities are being held on the Tech campus. The southern 34 acres of the site includes a synthetic turf multi-purpose stadium; JV/practice football field; 9-lane track with all field events; 6.5 acres of sand based multi-purpose green space; varsity and junior varsity baseball fields; varsity, junior varsity and practice softball fields; and eight tennis courts.

At the time of construction, this project was the single largest installation of PaveDrain in the country.