Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutStormwater Management Resinstate 1 Percent Rule AGENDA ITEM (002) MAYOR & COUNCIL COMMUNICATION -- page 1 -- DATE: July 5, 2016 REGULAR ITEM #18 AGENDA ITEM: Stormwater Ordinance Amendment – Consideration to Reinstate the “One Percent” Rule. SUBMITTED BY: Jack Griffin, City Engineer THROUGH: Kristina Handt, City Administrator REVIEWED BY: Stephen Wensman, Planning Director SUGGESTED ORDER OF BUSINESS: - Introduction of Item ...................................................................... City Engineer - Report/Presentation ....................................................................... City Engineer - Questions from Council to Staff ............................................. Mayor Facilitates - Call for Motion ............................................................... Mayor & City Council - Discussion ....................................................................... Mayor & City Council - Action on Motion .................................................................... Mayor Facilitates POLICY RECOMMENDER: Environmental Committee. Council Members Fliflet and Lundgren requested this item be placed on the agenda. ISSUE BEFORE COUNCIL: Should the Council amend the City Code to reinstate the “One Percent” Rule? The rule refers to storm water volume control provisions that were previously within the City Subdivision Ordinance before the City adopted a Storm Water and Erosion Control Ordinance. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY/BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The Storm Water and Erosion Control Ordinance was adopted and incorporated into the City Code on June 16, 2009 to comply with the City’s MS4 Permit requirements. On July 15, 2008, the City of Lake Elmo was issued a mandatory permit by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) establishing the conditions for discharging storm water under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System/State Disposal System (NPDES/SDS) Permit Program. The permit required that a Storm Water and Erosion Control Ordinance be implemented within six months of MPCA issuance of coverage. The City was granted an extension to June 30, 2009 due to the fact that the City was in the process of completing the Village Area AUAR and the Local Surface Water Management Plan. City Council Meeting [Regular Agenda Item 18] July 5, 2016 -- page 2 -- Prior to the adoption of the Storm Water and Erosion Control Ordinance, storm water was regulated by the City through the partner watershed districts (VBWD, BCWD, and SWWD), and through various provisions addressing storm water and erosion control requirements that were scattered throughout the City Code. The “One Percent” Rule for instance was a storm water volume control standard found in the City’s Subdivision Ordinance. The 2009 Ordinance addressed volume control standards by carrying forward provisions necessary to meet the intent of the “One Percent” Rule which states “the volume of storm water runoff discharging from a proposed site shall not be greater than the volume of storm water discharging prior to the site alteration”. Minor revisions were then made to the Storm Water and Erosion Control Ordinance on May 3, 2011 to better clarify the intent of the City Code due to alternative interpretations by the applicants, City and VBWD. The 2011 revisions did not change the intent of the Code. Between January 2010 and June of 2013 the Minnesota Stormwater Steering Committee workgroup was formed to research and develop Minimal Impact Design Standards, or MIDS based on low impact development (LID), an approach to storm water management that mimics a site’s natural hydrology. The Minnesota Stormwater Steering Committee was made up of a large diverse group of storm water professionals, watershed districts, state agencies and stakeholders, and Co-chaired by Jay Riggs from the Washington County Conservation District. The Minnesota Legislature allocated funds to the workgroup to “develop performance standards, design standards and other tools to enable and promote the implementation of low impact development and other storm water management techniques”. In June, 2013, the MIDS work group members agreed on a performance goal that essentially requires projects that create one or more acres of new and/or fully reconstructed impervious surfaces to capture and retain on site 1.1 inches of runoff. This performance goal was found match native runoff volume conditions on an average annual basis while being highly effective in improving water quality. It represents a low impact development approach, where storm water is managed on site and the rate and volume of predevelopment storm water reaching receiving waters is unchanged. The calculation of predevelopment hydrology is based on native soil and vegetation. Therefore, in October 2013 the City adopted what is now the current Storm Water Ordinance provisions (through Ordinance 08-090) to better align the regulation of storm water management in the City with the new MIDS performance goals and standards. The Ordinance amended the storm water volume control standard to meet the new volume control standards that were adopted by MIDS and the VBWD as part of their 2013 Rule changes. Ordinance 08-090 revises Section 150.277 Performance and Design Standards to; • Eliminate the requirement by applicants to prepare and submit for approval by the City a Storm Water Management Plan using storm water modeling design criteria that is different from the State and/or local Watershed District(s). Instead the Stormwater City Council Meeting [Regular Agenda Item 18] July 5, 2016 -- page 3 -- Management Plan must be submitted to the City, but will be the same Stormwater Management Plan already prepared for watershed district and/or State approvals. • Align the storm water rate control requirements by the city with the rate control requirements of the State and local Watershed(s). • Align the water quality control (volume) requirements by the city with the water quality control (volume) requirements of the State and local Watershed(s), both of whom have adopted MIDS. OPTIONS: 1. Take no action. The current City Storm Water and Erosion Control Ordinance, VBWD Rules, and MPCA Storm Water Rules adequately addresses the issues of both rate and volume control for storm water management. 2. Direct staff to conduct further research and analysis in preparation of a future council workshop to present specific findings and recommendations regarding the purpose and effectiveness of the “One Percent” Rule; and to provide recommended language for how the “One Percent” Rule could be reinstated within the context of the new state, watershed and City storm water regulations. FISCAL IMPACT: Unknown. At a minimum, reinstatement of the “One Percent” Rule will result in duplication of detailed engineering design, modeling and review efforts on all projects where the rule is made applicable. The fiscal impact is unknown for each project in regards to whether the requirement results in increased or decreased construction and maintenance costs. RECOMMENDATION: Staff is recommending that the City Council take no action. Staff believes that storm water volume control is being sufficiently addressed by the City’s current Storm Water and Erosion Control Ordinance adopted in 2013, following the MIDS Workgroup performance goals and the new storm water management rules adopted by the VBWD and the MPCA. The new rules are supported by research and development of criteria by a diverse group of storm water professionals. Should the City Council wish to continue pursuing the potential reinstatement of the “One Percent” Rule, staff is recommending that the City Council direct staff to retain a Professional Water Resource Engineer to assist staff with conducting further research and analysis in preparation of a future council workshop to present specific findings and recommendations regarding the purpose and effectiveness of the “One Percent” Rule; and to provide recommended language for how the “One Percent” Rule could be reinstated within the context of the new state, watershed and City storm water regulations. The recommended motion for this action would be as follows: “Move to direct staff to retain Professional Services, as deemed necessary, and to conduct additional research and analysis in preparation of a future council workshop to assist the Council with reviewing the potential reinstatement of the “One Percent” Rule to further regulate storm water volume control.” ATTACHMENT(S): None.