| |
|
Black Mtn. board debates new rules about stormwater |
|
|
|
Tuesday, 24 April 2007 |
By JIM GENARO
BLACK MOUNTAIN — Stormwater runoff was the subject of much debate at the April 16 meeting of the Black Mountain Board of Aldermen, as the board heard an update on efforts by the town’s planning staff to implement new state-mandated standards for runoff control.
Elizabeth Teague of the Planning Board presented the aldermen with a draft version of the ordinance being developed in order to meet new state guidelines by June — the deadline set by the General Assembly for municipalities to do so.
Vice Mayor C. Michael Sobol voiced concerns about the size of the
document — and whether the planning board was doing more than necessary.
“If we were to continually pass this many ordinances, we’d need to
build a new Town Hall just to handle the paperwork,” he said. He asked
whether the draft document reflected the legal minimum, or if
additional elements had been incorporated.
“What you have before you is what the state requires,” Town Manager
Tony Caudle told him. The document, Caudle noted, was based on a model
that was drafted by the state.
Pressing the point, Sobol asked, “So is this the minimum we’re required to do, or is it, as you say, a model?”
Teague replied that the state requires that municipalities “control runoff from a post-construction perspective.”
This varies, she noted, from previous regulations, which mandated that
controls be implemented during construction of new developments, but
not afterward.
The rules will only apply to developments larger than one acre, she added.
Teague noted that, despite the document’s size, several sections had
been eliminated by the planning board from the state model.
For instance, she said, passages that would require pet owners to clean
up their animals’ waste were eliminated because Black Mountain already
offers bags at its parks for this purpose and, furthermore, the
suggested rules would be difficult to enforce.
Other passages were deleted from the state’s model, she said, but not
much more could be cut if the legal requirements are to be met.
“There’s a good bit of wording in there that may not seem necessary,”
Teague told the board. “However, I’d be hesitant to go too much
further.”
Sobol asked how the new rules would affect The Settings, a large Black Mountain development currently under construction.
Caudle replied that The Settings is already meeting the guidelines of the planned second phase of the town’s stormwater plan.
“They’re already meeting requirements that we don’t have in place yet,” he said.
“The reality of where we live is that it’s more complicated when
there’s a narrow valley surrounded by mountains,” Alderman Mary Leonard
White said.
Black Mountain, she added, is “topologically challenged.”
White noted that the ordinance would likely need to be revised over time.
“The minutia is kind of aggravating, but that’s just how it is,” she said.
Sobol then explained that one of his primary objections to the
ordinance is that it holds Black Mountain responsible for cleanup of
stormwater runoff caused by the North Carolina Department of
Transportation, which he called “the biggest polluter in the state.
“If we’re responsible to clean up their mess, then I don’t think it’s responsible to the citizens of our town.”
In other action, the board:
• Passed a resolution supporting a joint initiative with Swannanoa to
bring affordable broadband Internet access to the eastern part of
Buncombe County.
“It’s a very important issue,” Caudle said, “because the businesses in
our area need to be as competitive as the businesses they’re competing
with.”
• Endorsed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, a commitment
by hundreds of U.S. mayors to combat the effects of global warming.
• Heard a report by Caudle on the efforts of the town’s fire and public
works departments to clean up the damage caused by recent wind storms.
The fire department, Caudle noted, answered 37 calls within a 24-hour period, mostly related to fallen trees.
He praised the efforts of the town staff and added, jokingly, that one
of the first trees removed was one blocking the road to Mayor Carl
Bartlett’s house.
“I will note that there are pictures showing the mayor helping pull the
tree out of the road,” Caudle said, prompting laughter in the room.
Earlier, Bartlett had commended the Public Works Department and said,
“I’m 67 years old and I’ve never seen winds like we’ve had in this town
in the past 48 hours.”
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
