Fuscoe Engineering, Inc. is pleased to announce that two employees from its Irvine office, Debra Schales and Howard Wen, have been promoted to the positions of Senior Project Managers.

Debra is a strong, motivated trailblazer with more than 30 years of experience in all facets of civil engineering. She has overseen numerous residential, commercial and public projects in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Over the course of her career, Debra has earned a reputation for both innovative design and technical accuracy, with a specialty in water, sewer and storm drain design (hydrology/hydraulics). Her expertise includes Sewer Capacity Reports, Low Impact Development Plans (LID), Best Management Practices (BMP) Plans, Water Quality Management Plans and Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPPs) for various new developments. Her experience also includes extensive coordination with public and private agencies and consultants.

In recent years, Debra has become an affordable housing, multi-family and urban infill trusted advisor serving top tier clients. She is currently working on the Jordan Downs affordable mixed-use project in Los Angeles for Jordan Downs Community Partners, which includes the City of Los Angeles Housing Authority, Michael’s Development Company, BRIDGE Housing and Primestor Development. Moreover, Debra has provided services for Via 401 & 425 Apartments in Carson for The Related Companies; Arbor Green Apartments and Bella Vita Senior Mixed-Use development in Carson for Affirmed Housing; Belmar Apartments at The Village in Santa Monica for The Related Companies/City of Santa Monica/CCSM; and Vermont Villas Veterans/Senior Housing in Los Angeles for Affirmed Housing. In addition, Debra has overseen the luxurious Meridian condominiums in Newport Beach for The New Home Company; Park Place III Apartments in Irvine for The Irvine Company; Sausalito Villa Apartments in Playa Vista for The Irvine Company; and Eleven 10 West Apartments for the Picerne Group. Debra is a resident of Huntington Beach.

Howard has 16 years of experience in developing, implementing and innovating stormwater programs. Howard has offered his expertise in NPDES stormwater policies and regulations as a consultant to the Cities of Yorba Linda, Brea, Los Alamitos, Tustin and Anaheim, as well as Phase II MS4 permittees, such as Del Mar Fairgrounds and OC Fair & Event Center. Roles with these permittees include stormwater program administration, technical support for RWQCB audits, WQMP/LID plan checking and MS4 inspection services. Howard and his team have completed hundreds of MS4 inspections for construction sites and commercial/industrial facilities, as well as LID and BMP operations inspections for Cities. He has also led development of database/GIS management tools to track MS4 compliance inspections.

As a QSD, Howard also serves as the head of the Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) Monitoring Team that inspects construction sites for NPDES compliance. The team’s services help mitigate downstream impacts to creeks, rivers, or public drainage facilities. The team also provides on-site resolution for Regional Board inspections and notices of violations for private developers and public agencies. Howard has prepared Municipal Stormwater Program Annual Reports for 15+ years and has developed processes to analyze spatial and temporal data collected by Cities to evaluate program compliance and water quality improvement. Cities can feel confident that the iterative improvements made to their Stormwater Programs are grounded by the results of their inspection, monitoring and enforcement activities. Howard has also assisted Cities in evaluating Trash Amendment TMDL Track 1 impacts through GIS, to identify where full trash capture systems need to be installed. These evaluations allow Cities to financially plan for compliance with this Statewide TMDL. Howard resides in the city of Irvine.