Each year during National Surveyors Week, we recognize the professionals who define the land beneath our feet and provide the critical data that shapes every successful project. Surveying is one of the oldest professions, yet it remains one of the most essential, supporting land ownership, infrastructure development, and community growth.
Surveyors Week is a reflection of the work we are proud to deliver every day, helping clients move forward with clarity, confidence, and precision.
Defining the Foundation of Every Project
Before design begins, before construction starts, and before decisions are finalized, surveying lays the groundwork. From boundary surveys that establish property lines to topographic surveys that reveal the character of the land, our team provides the accurate, reliable data that projects depend on.
Every survey represents more than measurements. It provides:
Confidence in property ownership and boundaries
Critical insight for planning and design
Reduced risk during development and construction
A clear path forward for projects of every scale
Whether confirming where a property begins and ends or mapping elevation, drainage, and existing features, our surveyors ensure that every project starts with the right information.
Turning Data Into Direction
Surveying is both a science and a skill. Our team combines advanced technology, such as GPS-enabled instruments, 3D laser scanning, and drone mapping, with deep expertise and local knowledge.
This allows us to deliver:
Precise boundary surveys that stand up to legal and regulatory standards
Detailed topographic surveys that guide smart, efficient design
Data-driven insights that help uncover opportunities and avoid costly surprises
We don’t just collect data, we interpret it, providing context that helps clients, engineers, and designers make informed decisions.
The People Behind the Precision
Behind every accurate map and reliable dataset is a team committed to excellence.
Our surveyors bring together technical expertise, field experience, and problem-solving to support increasingly complex projects. As communities grow and infrastructure evolves, the need for precise, dependable surveying continues to expand.
We are proud to play a role in that process, supporting development, protecting property rights, and helping bring projects to life from the ground up.
This Surveyors Week, we celebrate the professionals who define the starting point of every project and the lasting impact their work has on the communities we serve.
Women in STEAM: Designing Places That Serve Real People
In engineering, architecture, and land surveying, we often talk about success in technical terms, such as square footage, schedules, budgets, load calculations, and compliance. And yes, those things matter. But they aren’t the whole story.
The truth is, this work is deeply human.
Every technical decision connects back to real life in some way:
A safer intersection means fewer crashes—and more confidence for families crossing the street.
A well-designed public space makes it easier for people to gather, connect, and stay awhile.
A resilient utility or stormwater system quietly protects homes, businesses, and essential services.
A thoughtfully planned building supports wellness, accessibility, and safety from day one.
These impacts aren’t abstract. They’re things our teams see and feel once a project moves off the page and into the world.
Senior Landscape Architect Kathy Burczak describes that moment clearly. “Each time I attend a ribbon cutting or grand opening for a project we’ve worked on, it’s a reminder of why we do this.” Seeing cyclists on the Marquette Trail, people using Canal Plaza, or golfers at the Wee Course brings the purpose into focus.
That realization also shows up in smaller, everyday moments. Staff Engineer Lara Brown mentions that “driving through residential subdivisions I’ve worked on… reminds me that real people live in the places I’ve designed.” Roads and utilities may fade into the background, but people rely on them every day. CAD Technician Keri Van Antwerp captures it simply: “One day you look at them and realize, people are using this.”
Some projects make that connection impossible to ignore.
Project Manager Miranda Bishop recalls an accessible boardwalk project where the contractor shared that his daughter, who is quadriplegic, would be coming to experience it. “Knowing this project allows her, and so many others, to access and enjoy the lake is something I’ll never forget.” It’s a reminder that accessibility isn’t just a requirement; it’s personal.
Staff Engineer Maghan Homan points to projects like affordable housing, recovery support housing, and senior living communities, work that helps people stay safely housed. “Being part of that work is incredibly rewarding,” she says, and it’s easy to understand why.
More Perspectives Create Better Outcomes
If our work is about people, then who is involved in designing it matters.
Having women in STEAM isn’t just about representation; it’s about how problems get solved. Complex projects require collaboration, communication, and a willingness to look at challenges from more than one angle. When teams bring different perspectives to the table early, they tend to ask better questions and land on better solutions.
Project Engineer Liz Roberson puts it honestly: “Having a variety of perspectives on a team can be frustrating… but it always makes the project turn out better.” Our sites are used by people of all abilities and life stages, and teams that reflect that reality tend to design better outcomes.
That value shows up in both big picture decisions and small details. Maghan Homan notes that “sometimes it really helps to reach out and ask someone else for input, even if you aren’t sure they’ll have insight.” Miranda Bishop shares how a woman’s perspective made a real difference on a restroom project, details like changing stations, hooks, benches, and managing small children don’t always surface unless someone brings that lived experience to the table.
And sometimes, a different perspective changes the direction of a project entirely.
On the Five Mile Hill project, the original plan was to replace an old wooden deck with another wooden deck. Kathy Burczak and her team proposed a low retaining wall with seating and landscaping instead, more attractive and lower maintenance. That shift led to an award-winning project, reinforcing her belief that “when our teams reflect the people our projects serve, the solutions benefit everyone.”
Visibility Changes the Pipeline
Seeing someone like yourself in a role can make all the difference.
When young women see engineers, architects, surveyors, and project managers leading meaningful work, it sends a powerful message: there’s a place for you here.
Miranda Bishop speaks directly to that reality. “You may be in the minority in these fields, but that doesn’t mean you don’t belong.” She points to the organizational, leadership, and project management strengths women bring to every phase of a project.
Maghan Homan echoes that encouragement: “Be bold. Be brave. Find other women to connect with, ask questions, and absorb as much knowledge as you can.” Representation doesn’t just inspire, it helps sustain the future of the profession.
Leadership Takes Intention
Progress in STEAM doesn’t happen by accident. It takes intention, through mentorship, sponsorship, opportunity, and trust.
Kathy Burczak’s advice is refreshingly simple: “Go for it, there are no limits to what you can do.” CAD Technician Keri Van Antwerp reminds us that the payoff often comes later: “One day you’ll look at a project and be able to say, ‘I helped create that.’” And Project Manager Leah Bectel points to the breadth of opportunity available today, noting that “the opportunities, from scholarships and internships to full-time careers, are endless.”
The Future Is Better When More People Shape It
Women in STEAM aren’t waiting for their turn. They are leading teams, shaping communities, and delivering meaningful work right now.
Women in STEAM Day is a moment to celebrate that, but it’s also a reminder. When we make room for more voices and perspectives, we don’t just strengthen our industry. We strengthen the places and people our work is meant to serve.
Because at the end of the day, the built environment is a people business.
Linking South Bend: Delivering the Link Trail Through Collaboration and Innovation
South Bend just got a whole lot more connected. Completed in April 2025, the Link Trail is a 1.5-mile, multi-use corridor linking the University of Notre Dame to downtown. Designed with pedestrians and cyclists in mind, this trail turns everyday streets into safe, vibrant, and inviting spaces, without disrupting vehicular traffic. Beyond its physical improvements, the Link Trail is also a case study in collaboration under pressure, showcasing how municipalities, academic institutions, and engineering consultants can deliver complex projects on accelerated schedules.
A Design That Puts People First Built entirely within the existing right-of-way, the Link Trail demonstrates the power of thoughtful urban planning and adaptable, solution-oriented design. The project stretches along LaSalle Avenue, Hill Street, South Bend Avenue, Notre Dame Avenue, and Angela Boulevard, featuring:
Wide multi-use path with raised crosswalks and separate sidewalks
Enhanced lighting and traffic-calming features
Thoughtful landscaping and signature wayfinding signage
Upgrades to underground infrastructure, including storm sewer, sanitary sewer, and water main improvements
These improvements create a safer, more attractive route while maintaining smooth traffic flow with a proper Complete Streets approach. Early coordination with stakeholders, including AEP on high-voltage transmission line crossings, ensured the project remained on schedule and safe for the community.
Meeting the Community’s Needs Before the trail, students and residents had limited options for non-vehicular travel between the campus and downtown. The Link Trail now:
Reduces traffic congestion, especially during Notre Dame football weekends
The project highlights the unique role of Notre Dame students, who supported research, community engagement, and project planning. Their involvement added valuable insight and reinforced the trail’s connection to local learning and civic participation.
More Than a Trail: A Placemaking Triumph Robust public engagement shaped the project from day one. Residents influenced key design choices, ensuring the trail reflects the community’s vision. Signature branding and landscaping make it instantly recognizable, while programming led by Visit South Bend and the University of Notre Dame, including community walks and student activities, keeps the space active and welcoming. To help measure this success, MACOG received a grant to install a trail counter. The data collected will track trail usage, giving planners and community leaders valuable insight into how the Link Trail supports mobility, recreation, and economic vitality.
A Model for Collaboration Funded through a public-private partnership, with equal contributions from the City of South Bend, Visit South Bend Mishawaka, and the University of Notre Dame, the Link Trail demonstrates what’s possible when stakeholders unite behind a shared vision. At $11.5 million, South Bend’s most significant transportation-related investment is tied to the university and sets a new standard for urban placemaking. This project illustrates how early coordination, open communication, and adaptable planning can allow complex, multi-phase infrastructure projects to succeed under tight timelines. The Link Trail isn’t just a route between two points; it’s a symbol of community, collaboration, and innovation, showing how infrastructure can connect people, strengthen local economies, and foster a sense of place.
On The Boards | Site Engineering & Surveying at the New Valpo Skate Park – Valparaiso, Indiana
Rendering of the upcoming Flounder & Friends Skatepark in Valparaiso, Indiana. Site engineering and surveying provided by Abonmarche.
What does a community skatepark look like today?
Valparaiso, Indiana is reimagining what’s possible as it brings a modern skatepark experience to a new generation of skate enthusiasts — and a new community gathering place for residents and visitors to enjoy as the city of Valparaiso continues to thrive and expand.
Our team in Valparaiso has served as the engineering force supporting the project, and we’re excited to share that the site’s stormwater improvements kicked off earlier this spring.
This new skate park is such a fantastic development project to be a part of,” notes Matt Keiser, engineering project manager at Abonmarche. “The experience of moving through the process of designing the necessary stormwater improvements and site surveying – it’s extremely rewarding to know that our engineering work beneath this new park is what supports all of the action going on above ground.”
A formal groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday, April 18, kicked off new phases of the project and unveiled the new skatepark’s name – Flounder & Friends Skatepark.
“With purpose, this park will welcome people with adaptive needs, with purpose this park will welcome people of all ages and skill levels, and with purpose this park will welcome residents and friends of Valparaiso,” said Kevin Nuppnau, assistant director of Valpo Parks, during the ceremony. “We’re not just saying it, we are building it, and it starts today.”
Members of the community of Valparaiso and project team members broke ground at the site of the upcoming state-of-the-art Flounder & Friends Skatepark in Valparaiso, Indiana. Abonmarche project team members Lara Brown, Matt Keiser, and Tara Boyanski helped kick off new phases of the skatepark.
Flounder Skatepark — A New Community Experience
As in every community redevelopment project, the City of Valparaiso hosted an in-depth community engagement effort to understand what people wanted from a new skatepark experience, what was important to them in the park’s features and location, and how the park might bring residents and visitors together in a way that most skateparks fail to do. To maintain the project’s vision and ensure the skatepark becomes a reality, a task force was established among the design and engineering teams, Valpo Parks, and local skate enthusiasts.
In contracting a designer for the new skatepark, the City of Valparaiso reached out to Valparaiso native and X Games Course Design Dug Ketterman, of DugOut Design Studio. Ketterman, a venerated skate park and course designer who has designed some of the world’s most beloved skate experiences, has a special connection to his hometown’s original skatepark.
As a 16-year-old in the mid-1990s, Dug and his friends came to the city of Valparaiso to find a way to design a place to skate. They helped the city design and construct the skatepark, piece by piece. The finished design was named Flounder Skatepark in honor of Dug’s friend Ray “Flounder” Wampler, who was killed in a car accident on his way to school one morning. The first Flounder Skatepark stood from 1998 until 2020, when it closed due to its level of disrepair and unsafe conditions.
Valparaiso reconnected with Ketterman after 20 years to lead the design of a new park in a better location. Once built, the new skatepark will again carry the Flounder name — and will inject the same passion that Valparaiso area skaters bring to their art.
Nestled in the Heart of Valparaiso
To host the site of its new skatepark experience, Valparaiso and its design partners conducted a thorough site review and analysis—eventually selecting a section of its existing Fairgrounds Park. This was a significant departure from the old skatepark location, which was nestled deep into a 122-acre hiking park on the city’s north side; in contrast, the new location, in the center of town and along one of the city’s main thorough-fares, was chosen for its visibility and walkability within the community.
As part of Fairgrounds Park, the new skatepark will be enveloped by a 3/4 mile walking track and situated adjacent to 4 softball fields, a playground, a community pavilion, and a Life Trails System, designed to help adults ages 50+ with functional fitness.
Valparaiso’s park and recreation options are ideal; with more than 700 acres of parkland spread across 17 parks, 27 athletic fields, 14 children’s playgrounds, and two golf courses, people in every corner of the city have a unique park experience to call their own.
With the old skatepark in disrepair, the decision to design a new one came with new opportunities: to create an accessible state-of-the-art skatepark and to shape a citywide gathering place for people from all walks of life.
Abonmarche’s Lara Brown, Tara Boyanski, and Matt Keiser attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Flounder & Friends Skatepark in Valparaiso, Indiana. The project is engineered by Abonmarche.
A Modern Skate Experience for All
During an extensive community engagement effort, the design team identified the community’s top desires, then created a design that could be implemented in phases as funding becomes available.
The new skatepark will feature spaces for skateboards, bikes, scooters, and skates — with an emphasis on user-friendliness for many ages and abilities, including beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. Future phases of the skatepark design will feature a dedicated beginners area along with adaptive features for athletes in wheelchairs.
Ketterman’s design inspiration is “centered around the Golden Spiral, providing a harmonious aesthetic while encouraging growth and inclusivity around the world. We have designed a park that not only meets the needs of the community, but also redefines what is possible…”.
Space to Gather
Flounder Skatepark’s holistic design will reach beyond the city of Valparaiso to become a regional hub for the skating community — creating space for people of many interests, ages, abilities and locations to gather — to have fun, to be active, to learn, and to share in both failure and success. Building a skatepark as a space that will nurture the community of Valparaiso will spread benefits to many other communities across northern Indiana and beyond.
Design: DugOut Design Studios
Site Engineering & Surveying: Abonmarche
Advocacy: Driftwood Collaborative
The groundbreaking ceremony saw an excellent turnout by Valparaiso community members, sponsors, and other project partners.
Contact Us today to learn more about our practice.
The State Revolving Fund | An Abonmarche Expertise
Wastewater improvement is an expensive, time-consuming investment that does not happen often.
Indiana’s State Revolving Fund (SRF) program provides low-interest loans to Indiana communities for projects that improve wastewater and drinking water infrastructure. This program helps to protect the environment and public health.
Indiana’s State Revolving Fund (SRF) can unlock valuable funding for your large-scale projects, and Abonmarche can help get the ball rolling. Using the SRF is a great way to understand your community’s needs and vulnerabilities, start making changes, and begin to plan for the future. Taking advantage of the SRF is a great way to finance your community’s projects, and Abonmarche can provide the engineering, surveying, architecture, and structural engineering services to support those projects.
About the SRF
Eligible candidates include cities, town counties, regional sewer/water districts, conservancy districts and water authorities. As of recent, nonpoint source projects are also included in this. Specifically, these eligible candidates must apply for this with only projects where there is an existing pollution issue. The money for this program comes from each specific state applying for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency annually for capitalization grants.
Wastewater projects may include:
Treatment plant improvements and upgrades
Sewer line extensions to existing unsewered properties
Combined sewer overflow corrections
Infiltration/inflow projects.
Drinking water projects may include:
Treatment plan improvements and upgrades
Water line extensions to existing unserved properties
Water storage facilities
Nonpoint source projects may include:
Wetland protection and restoration measures
On-site sewage disposal systems
Best Management Practices for agriculture and stormwater runoff
Riparian Buffers and Conservation Easements
Wellhead and Source Water Protection measure.
Projects not eligible for funding:
Private and not-for-profit facilities are only eligible for drinking water SRF Loan Programs. Additionally, projects that are solely intended for economic development, that are primarily for fire suppression, and/or that have no water quality benefits are not to be considered eligible.
How Abonmarche Can Help
The SRF loan is useful for communities that have large projects requiring funding and completion assistance. Abonmarche can service these communities throughout the entire process, including applying for the funds, creating and sealing the required Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) and associated forms completion. We’ll be able to provide solutions, alternatives, and preliminary designs based on the PER findings. Asset management plans for the system are also required to apply for SRF, and the engineering team at Abonmarche is well-equipped to handle the in-depth nature of water asset management plans.
Abonmarche SRF Services Include:
SRF Application Management
Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) and Forms Completion
Asset Management Plans
Surveying & Engineering associated with the project
Construction Inspection
Our SRF Projects Happening Near You:
New Chicago Water Works – System Improvements
Town of Demotte – I-65 Drinking Water & Wastewater Utilities Extension
NORWEJ – East Side Drinking Water Expansion Improvements
Benton Harbor, MI – Pipestone Area CWSRF & DWSRF System Improvements
To learn more about how Abonmarche can help bring vital SRF funding to your community contact our Valparaiso office at (219)850-4624.
