Civil Engineering in Portland, OR

3450 N Williams Ave Ste 7, Portland, OR 97227 · (503) 843-8211

Portland Civil Engineering — Pacific Northwest Office Since 2018

Calichi Design Group is a Portland civil engineering firm. We opened the Portland office in 2018 because we fell in love with the Pacific Northwest — we wanted roots in a place that had always been our summer playground. We work across the metro on multifamily infill, mixed-use, industrial repositioning in the Columbia Corridor, and K-12 modernization. We know the BES stormwater comments before they come in, we've run PBOT ROW requirements block by block, and we schedule around land use review timelines that actually hold.

Portland's regulatory environment has real specificity. BES stormwater compliance plans aren't boilerplate. PBOT right-of-way requirements change block by block. Type II and Type III land use reviews have their own documentation cadence, and a weak Pre-Application Conference submission can cost you a full cycle before design even starts. We know how this works because we've run it repeatedly across the metro.

Some of the Jurisdictions We Work In

Our Portland team regularly manages grading permits, stormwater plans, and utility coordination across the region:

City of Portland
City of Beaverton
City of Hillsboro
City of Lake Oswego
City of Tigard
City of Tualatin
City of Gresham
City of Oregon City
Multnomah County
Washington County
Clackamas County

We coordinate directly with BES, Portland Water Bureau, PBOT, PGE, Pacific Power, ODOT, and Clean Water Services depending on project location and scope.

BES Stormwater & Green Infrastructure

BES compliance plans are not something you can template your way through. Portland's Stormwater Management Manual sets specific thresholds for on-site retention, runoff reduction, and pollution control — and BES reviewers know the difference between a facility that performs and one that just checks a box. Green infrastructure requirements are real: ecoroofs, flow-through planters, vegetated swales, and pervious pavement are standard tools for most Portland infill sites, not optional upgrades.

We design for actual BES review, not the easy version. That means sizing facilities against verified impervious areas, preparing operation and maintenance agreements that satisfy the Bureau, and building in the documentation BES needs to move your plan check forward on the first cycle.

PBOT Right-of-Way & Transportation

Portland Bureau of Transportation requirements go further than most cities. Street improvements, curb extensions, pedestrian connectivity, and bike parking aren't afterthoughts — they're scope items that get determined at Pre-Application or during Type II review, and they have to be designed and permitted alongside the site work. We coordinate PBOT right-of-way improvement plans, half-street construction drawings, bike parking placement per Title 33, and pedestrian path-of-travel upgrades as part of our standard site civil scope.

If your project is near a bike corridor or a planned PBOT improvement, that coordination starts early. Missing it late costs more than doing it right the first time.