Clark County has the rainy season to figure out how it will work the new Department of Ecology stormwater management mandates into its ordinances. An overall stormwater management program must be filed by March 31.
Not surprisingly, the development community is up in arms about new National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit issued to Clark County requiring the county to update its stormwater management rules to meet the guidelines in the DOE’s new Stormwater Management Manual for Western Washington.
DOE could change its tune – it has succumbed to some degree to pressure from Seattle and Tacoma – and we think it’s important to point out just some of the problems the new mandates pose for Southwest Washington.
Redevelopment. Where 10,000 square feet of existing impervious surface is disturbed, a new DOE standard requires engineers to model a site’s predeveloped condition as forested. This puts undue pressure on developers to shy away from infill and downtown areas currently experiencing a renaissance of development and new business. Creating density has long been a tool of developers and government officials to revitalize urban areas and mitigate sprawl. This amount of mitigation would put a stop to efforts already in play in areas like Vancouver’s Highway 99.
Flooding. In addition to controlling pollution, the DOE says that controlling flooding and increasing streamflow is the other half of the problem. But flooding in Clark County isn’t nearly the issue it is in the Northwest corner of the state, where rivers and streams run through larger more populated areas. We’ve got the Columbia, yes, but it’s never going to topple the town. This is an area where a payment-in-lieu solution proposed by the Building Industry Association may work: mitigate at current rates and help pay for research and stream restoration where its needed.
Comprehensive Plan. The county’s recently adopted Comprehensive Growth Management Plan did not account for loss of area, and the new stormwater management rules could render the plan inadequate.
On the whole, the mandates seem a bit scattershot and focused on a small portion of the community when a larger stormwater system could be investigated and benefit the whole community. The benefits that would arise from these mandates may not get the most bang for the buck it’s going to cost developers.
The recession question
How is your business dealing with the prospect of a recession? Do you think there will be enough of a downturn to affect your bottom line or your employees’ pay and benefits? How will you be mitigating any adverse effects of a weakening economy? Write and tell us what you think. Send an email to Jessica Swanson at jswanson@vbjusa.com.
