Firm's plants help condo landscaping
A Chandler company's expertise is helping landscape the roofs and terraces of an 11-building, 700-unit condominium development north of Scottsdale Fashion Square.
Windswept Organix is blowing dirt as high as seven stories using powerful vacuum trucks.
The 13-acre site contains nine seven-story towers and two six-story structures, all stone and glass facades.
"The intent of the architecture is to take that urban context and with the use of garden roof systems to soften it and bring a lot of greenery into the project for the enjoyment of the residents as well as for the benefit of the surrounding community," said Thaddeus Lenick, senior vice president of Phoenix-based Optima, the developer.
The trees, shrubs and ground cover being planted in Scottsdale will benefit the environment, Lenick said. The landscaping counteracts heat, absorbs rainwater and adds oxygen back into the air.
The condos' sizes range from 800 to more than 3,000 square feet, and costs range from the mid-$500,000 range up to $5 million.
The Scottsdale job is only one of the projects under way by Windswept Organix, which works with commercial and home builders, civil engineers and the state Department of Transportation in controlling dust and water runoff at construction sites.
"What (builders) have to do is prevent erosion from happening in the first place," President Kevin Stumpf said. And any water that does run off the site has to be filtered to remove pollutants such as cement or paint.
Stumpf says his firm uses recycled and organic products, including Filtrexx Filter Soxx, a mesh tube (at least 8 inches in diameter) that he fills with ground wood waste and lawn and tree trimmings. He encircles a construction site with the tube so that water flows through it and comes out clean.
To prevent erosion in the first place, he covers the ground with organic composts such as recycled green waste, wood chips and mulch.
Dust control is a major issue in metro Phoenix and can contribute to particulate air pollution.
"The old way was to spray water on everything, but that uses a lot of water and it's not good for our water situation," Stumpf said. "We use several types of polymers, different types of spray-on products to bind the dirt to hold it down, so wind . . . doesn't blow it away."
Besides the Chandler headquarters, the company, which he began in 2003, has offices in Tucson, Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Salt Lake City.
To get clients, Stumpf trains engineers, builders, contractors, subcontractors and DOT designers.
A graduate of Creighton University in Omaha, he used to work as an information-technology professional in Lincoln, Neb., and then started looking for business opportunities.
"By dumb luck, we stumbled into it," he said. "It's a good fit."