Town Council agrees to storm water analysis
By Frank Ruggiero

Storm water management soaked a portion of the Boone Town Council’s agenda at last Thursday’s regular meeting.

Council member Lynne Mason wanted to follow up on the storm water discussion from last spring, when council amended Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) regulations on storm water retention to bring the UDO into compliance with state regulations and the impending NPDES Phase II program requirements.

According to the N.C. Division of Water Quality Web site, NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) Phase II was signed into law in December 1999, requiring small communities to obtain a permit for storm water discharge and adhere to new storm water regulations.

Implementation for the program has been moving on a river basin to river basin basis, and has not yet reached the New River Basin, to which Boone belongs. Town manager Greg Young said he didn’t expect the program to be implemented in Boone for a year-and-a-half to two years.

Once a municipality is designated by the Environmental Management Commission as an NPDES Phase II city, the city must comply, Young said.

“As we all realize by now, storm water management is a complex issue involving both detention, the water quantity or the prevention and abatement of flooding- and runoff-related property damage, and retention, water quality or the reduction of water quality degradation that results from various pollutants,” Mason explained.

“While the intent of the town to address storm water management through the UDO is laudable, the consultant retained by the town identified a number of concerns and recommended that the town temporarily take a step back to evaluate the land development process and storm water management approaches.”

Mason told how the consultant recommended the town to conduct an overall assessment of its storm water management program, including performing a program audit, addressing storm water maintenance, researching low impact development, performing a storm water funding assessment and preparing for NPDES Phase II.

“The UDO was amended, removing retention requirements pending the development of a storm water management plan to address storm water quality for implementation in April of 2006,” Mason continued. “Before we can address retention, we must complete an overall assessment of the town’s storm water management program, including our detention policies.”

Mason said while numerous storm water management efforts have been directed at new development or redevelopment, the town needs to address storm water issues for existing development, as well.

“Given the relevancy of these issues to our community in light of recent flooding and the likelihood that we will be drinking our storm water, we must continue to work towards a comprehensive storm water management plan, integrating best storm water management practices,” she said.

To that end, Mason moved that council perform a storm water assessment, as recommended by the consultant, by utilizing funds previously designated for NPDES Phase II preparation.

She said there are several different forces at work, and that council must modify the UDO, as “detention and retention go hand-in-hand.” It may involve a storm water ordinance and utility fee, she added. Before any of this can be done, however, the town needs to complete an assessment.

“We need to keep moving forward,” Mason said, adding the town cannot afford to wait on the state for direction.

Council member Dempsey Wilcox seconded the motion, agreeing that the town needs to move forward, saying, “What we have now is unacceptable ... I support this.”

He said the town needs to be moving towards lower impact detention and retention methods, saying many of the current methods “just fly in the face of common sense.”

Mayor pro tem Loretta Clawson asked Young if the town has a consultant in place who could move forward with the assessment. Young told how the town formerly employed the services of engineer Tim Lormand, but said that Lormand had retired from the engineering business. However, he said the town is looking at four different firms now to find an appropriate engineer for the job.

“We have so much more that we have to assess before we make any recommendations,” Mason said, adding she doesn’t know when the state’s model ordinance is coming, but that it was supposed to be ready this month.

A model ordinance draft is now available at the N.C. Division of Water Quality Web site at h2o.enr.state.nc.us/su/phase_2_mod_ord.htm.

Young said the NPDES Phase II program is a full-fledged and rather expensive endeavor that will have a significant impact on Boone.

Council member Graydon Eggers said that in his opinion, there are serious inconsistencies to the application of storm water management for single-family development.

“If we continue down this road, actions will be mandated that are counter-productive and inconsistent,” he said, adding that the UDO says single-family construction, such as a single house or duplex, is exempt from storm water management. However, if such a structure is in a subdivision, it becomes subject to the requirements.

Eggers championed a UDO amendment to address this situation earlier this year, but it was not adopted. He called this a “serious problem,” saying time and money is not effectively spent when developers must adhere to the storm water regulations for a single-family structure.

“If we continue without taking some minor measures against that situation ... I think we’ve only compounded that mistake,” he said. “And it’s a mistake we should try to stop, at least in this area, before we go forward with it.”

Young asked if Mason intended to include both retention and detention in the assessment, and she said yes, that it should include both. Council member Bunk Spann said Eggers has a legitimate concern that needs to be addressed. He said the state is likely to offer the town a considerable number of best management practices, and that the town should determine what they are and move forward.

Young said part of the assessment would have to include what the state is mandating in terms of NPDES Phase II. Clawson asked Young if he’d heard anything from the state about NPDES Phase II recently, and Young said he hadn’t heard anything recently.

With Mason’s motion and a second already on the floor, council unanimously agreed to conduct a storm water management assessment.