Can the site support the utility plan?

Draw one map before asking for answers.

Start with a current survey or a legible parcel plan. Mark the road, property boundary, known easements, topography, drainage features, flood areas and existing structures. Then add every visible pole, meter, hydrant, valve, cleanout, well and septic component. Label each item as observed, recorded or confirmed.

The labels matter. A utility marker near the property can belong to another owner or serve a different pressure zone. An old meter can be inactive. A pipe shown on a public map may have no practical connection point for the proposal.

Add a simple operating schedule beside the map. State the proposed first-phase units, full buildout concept, shared buildings, food or wellness uses, staff functions and likely laundry arrangement. The utility team needs the operating load, not a marketing description.

Ask the serving utility to review the load.

Call with a site plan and an early load summary. Include heating and cooling, domestic hot water, kitchen or laundry equipment, pumps, site lighting, vehicle charging if planned and the loads needed by shared buildings.

Florida Power & Light asks commercial applicants for detailed site and electrical plans, unit and air-conditioning information, voltage requirements, lighting, schedule, easements and the applicable permits. FPL also states that its project manager defines the work needed to deliver service. The project team can estimate demand; the serving utility confirms its own facilities and connection work.

Ask for the proposed service point, voltage, transformer or equipment area, metering approach and any easement that belongs on private land. Confirm who designs and installs each segment. Temporary construction power needs a separate plan.

Keep the electrical route visible. It must coexist with guest circulation, fire access, trees, drainage, water and wastewater. Moving the route late can move a building or force another redesign.

Confirm the water source and its regulator.

For public water, identify the actual utility and request its service or capacity process. Ask where the connection can occur, which meter arrangement applies, what fire-flow review is separate from domestic demand and which off-site improvements may be assigned to the project. Record the answer and plan version.

If the project may use a well, start with the number of people served, days of operation, service connections and intended uses. The Florida Department of Health explains that the federal public-water threshold includes systems serving at least 25 people for 60 days a year or having at least 15 service connections. Smaller commercial systems can fall under Florida's limited-use water rules. The responsible agency still needs to classify the actual proposal.

Protect the well or meter area, treatment equipment, storage and maintenance access on the concept plan. Leave clear space where the provider or regulator needs it.

Give wastewater its own land test.

Count guest rooms, staff areas, food service, laundry and every other source in the operating brief. Ask the sewer utility or onsite-wastewater authority which design basis and application path apply.

For work in Broward County Water and Wastewater Services territory, the County says its Utility Connection Permit process covers connections to or modifications of potable-water, wastewater and reclaimed-water systems. Water and sewer mains, lift stations, pump stations and sewer laterals almost always require that permit, while some small water-service work may not. A sewer line on a map is an early lead, not connection approval.

Florida DEP says Broward onsite-sewage applications currently go through the local county health department and need a site evaluation. State and local requirements may be stricter. Take the actual operating count and wastewater sources to the permitting authority rather than treating a federal threshold as a design shortcut.

Coordinate every route on the same drawing.

Put electric, communications, potable water, fire water, wastewater and stormwater on one plan. Add delivery and fire access. Conflicts are easier to see when each system stops living in a separate email attachment.

A buried electric route may need clearance from a water main. A gravity sewer needs workable elevations. A pump may need backup power. A drainfield can occupy the only open area left after setbacks and stormwater are drawn. Resolve these relationships while the master plan can still move.

Keep service access in the drawing. Future staff and contractors need to reach meters, panels, treatment equipment and cleanouts without crossing a private guest deck. Guests will notice the maintenance route, so it belongs in the hospitality plan.

Test the first opening against full buildout.

A smaller opening can reduce initial demand. It can also put permanent infrastructure in the wrong place if the full concept is absent from the review. Show both versions to the utility and design team.

Ask which elements can be sized for the first phase and which need the full site in mind. A utility corridor, main extension, transformer area, treatment location or easement can become difficult to enlarge after cabins and landscape are installed.

The budget should separate known work from allowances. Keep application, professional design, connection, owner-side distribution, testing, restoration and operating equipment in distinct lines. Use written quotes and current requirements when they exist. Leave the amount unknown when they do not.

Connect that scope to the project budget and the phase-one plan. The budget needs the whole path from the public or on-site source to each building, not only the cabin hookup.

Keep one dated utility matrix.

For each system, record the serving entity, contact, evidence received, demand basis, connection point, route, easement, permit or agreement, owner-side work, open question and next action. Identify the plan version reviewed.

A phone call can guide the next step. Put any fact that controls land, money or schedule into a written record before relying on it.

Keep the utility matrix beside the first zoning call record. Zoning, water, wastewater, power and site engineering have different decision makers, yet the same drawing must satisfy all of them.