Legislation to control stormwater advances

Regulations that take effect in 2014 would give most of the responsibility to localities

By Alex Bridges -- abridges@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- Bills aimed at controlling stormwater runoff and protecting the Chesapeake Bay through local monitoring continue to move forward in the General Assembly.

Regulations that take effect in 2014 would give most of the responsibility for permitting and monitoring stormwater management to localities. But, as Joe Wilder, deputy director of public works for Frederick County, the localities also receive most of the money from permitting fees.

"Really, I can sum up the bill in one little sentence here," Wilder told panel members. "It basically says that 'any locality shall be required to adopt a Virginia stormwater management program.' It's real clear."

The county would review a developer's stormwater management plan for a project using new standards for water quality and quantity.

As Wilder explained, the localities would charge a fee for such stormwater permits, and the state would get 28 percent of the revenue.

The Environmental Protection Agency still requires the state to issue stormwater permits and would not let Virginia give that responsibility to localities, Wilder said.

The state will develop a training program and create a model ordinance for localities to adopt and use in future permitting and monitoring, according to Wilder. The Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board must then approve local programs. All that has to happen by July 1, 2014, he said.

Wilder began warning local officials more than a year ago about the effect the new, more stringent regulations could have on county staff and developers. Now the General Assembly is considering legislation needed to implement the state programs.

Del. Beverly J. Sherwood, R-Winchester, patroned a bill in the House of Delegates that seeks to integrate elements of the Erosion and Sediment Control Act and the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act so the state can implement the regulatory programs "in a consolidated and consistent manner, resulting in greater efficiencies [one-stop shopping]for those being regulated." Sherwood chairs the committee on agriculture, the Chesapeake and natural resources.

The Senate on Tuesday was engrossed in an amended version of the proposed legislation patroned by Sen. Emmett W. Hanger Jr., R-Mount Solon.

"The bottom line is the state had to require local adoption of stormwater programs," Wilder said. "They had to get there."

But Frederick County has an advantage over some localities in that it already enforces an erosion and sediment control program while other communities do not, Wilder said. More than 100 localities have no such programs in place, he said. Also, the county has continued to keep up with the regulations.

Regulations will require localities to monitor stormwater management practices and best management programs as implemented by developers in perpetuity, Wilder said.

"We could do the program with a lot of change but we could do it with our staff if we had the accompanying legislation and the ability to develop this program so it benefits us and we could manage it," Wilder said.