Commenter:
Gary Earp on behalf of the Tazewell County Planning Commission
Tazewell Counties Concerns
Tazewell County has the following concerns on proposed storm water regulations:
General Requirements - This requires that the water quality meet the “state designated uses”. What this means is that the storm water regulations will be dictated by the current TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) study for that watershed. Therefore, if the current TMDL requirements call for a sediment load reduction in the Upper Clinch River Watershed, the developer must take additional steps to reduce the sediment load which will increase the developer’s cost for the development. The TMDL program is an unfunded mandate within the State Government, which in turn, will place the implementation of the TMDL requirements solely on the local government and on the citizens of Tazewell County.
Water Quality Requirements – Under this section, the State is proposing to lower the water quality standards for phosphorus loads from 0.45 lbs/ac/yr to 0.28 lbs/ac/yr. This change will have a significant impact on development. According to Hanover County’s findings, the impact on the development of a single lot would increase from $1250/lot to $22,000/lot. We realize that the cost of development in Hanover County’s is significantly different from our area, but this is a 17.6% increase for the development. This increase is due to the combination of the reduction of the phosphorus loading and the BMP (Best Management Practices) that must be implemented to control the discharge. The installation of the BMP’s to meet the proposed regulations are going to be 5 to 10 times the cost to construct compared to today’s regulations.
Water Quantity – This section proposes to protect properties and State waters from the changes to runoff volume and reduce the runoff to undeveloped conditions. The proposed requirement will increase the need for underground storage or larger storm water basins or more open space (having to retain some of the developable land to control runoff volume increases). For example, a person wants to develop 10 acres – he may have to retain 2 of these acres to control runoff volume increases and only be allowed to develop 8 acres.
Storm Water management impoundment structures of facilities – This section covers the proposed BMP’s (Best Management Practices). These proposed BMP’s are going to increase the installation cost of by 5 to 10 times the cost compared to today’s regulations. These proposed BMP’s (Best Management Practices) are designed based on infiltration measures. This is okay in the other areas, but Tazewell County is located in Karst Terrain (risk of sinkhole formation). The use of the proposed BMP’s (Best Management Practices) that are designed based on infiltration are not recommended in areas with moderate or high risk of sinkhole formation (specifications for Bioretention 2). Therefore, if this BMP is cannot be used, a combination of other BMP’s must be installed, which increases the price of the project. The efficiency of the BMP, the cost effectiveness of the BMP, and the technical data all must be achievable.
Delegation of the Storm Water Program – The proposed regulations states that the adoption of the Storm Water Program by the some localities is voluntary. We would have to voluntarily adopt the Strom Water Program from DCR. The proposed regulations have set the permit fees and the locality would receive 72% of the permit fees to run the local program. In order to adopt the program the locality must submit an application to DCR containing the following:
·Local Program Ordinance
·Funding and Staffing plan based on projected permitting fees
·Policies and procedures for the administration, inspection and enforcements components of the program
The adoption of the program will require additional staffing and are the permit fees enough to sustain the program with additional staffing or will the State have additional funding to help the localities meet the requirements mandated by DCR if these proposed regulations are adopted? The fees associated with the storm water permits have tripled which will increase the cost of development compared to the existing regulations.
In conclusion, the impact of proposed Storm Water Regulations is going to increase the cost of development to the point that it could impede development in this area, because we believe these regulations are based on the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and are being proposed to be mandated statewide.
