VA Cities Slam Runoff Buffer Strips To Protect Chesapeake: Could "Significantly Limit" Development

[hatrack]

Home builders aren't the only ones opposed to tougher state rules intended to cut storm water runoff. Municipal leaders from across Hampton Roads, including Newport News Mayor Joe S. Frank, are criticizing the plan that environmentalists say will reduce pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.

In a letter to the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, Frank stated that he is "very concerned that the regulations, as proposed, will serve to significantly limit development possibilities in highly urbanized areas such as Newport News."

The tighter rules have been in the works for two years, said Michael J. Russell, one of 11 members on the state's Soil and Water Conservation Board. The group was prompted into action by environmental groups, such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, he said.

The new rules would cut phosphorus levels, a lead indicator of other pollutants, by 38 percent. The state would accomplish this primarily by requiring more natural buffers, such as grass and wooded areas, to absorb runoff at new housing and commercial developments. Frank said this places cities with limited space, such as Newport News, at a disadvantage. The rules would unintentionally promote suburban sprawl, he argued.

EDIT

http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-local_stormwater-regs_0908sep08,0,4306098.story

[tularetom]

1. Like gazing out your window at floating turds and dead ducks will be great for development

We're so anxious to fuck up what nature gave us.

[MichellesBFF]

2. Don't you know?

Rich people are owed a beautiful view from their houses, that's why us peons can't own any waterfront property.

[kristopher]

3. These regs target fertilizer runnoff and sediment from construction

It increases the filtering by putting a lot more plant roots between waterways and lawns/construction.

[tularetom]

4. That's precisely my point

With no regulations there will be nothing to impede runoff, the water will become even more contaminated and nobody will want to go anywhere near the waterfront let alone build there.

[kristopher]

6. Then you stated your point inproperly. Raw sewage has nothing to do with it.

[tularetom]

7. I'm sorry my reference to floating turds offended you

Hit a little too close to home, did I?

[kristopher]

8. It has nothing to do with being offended; it was just factually incorrect...

and exhibited complete ignorance of the topic.

[tularetom]

9. You wanna be careful before you start referring to "complete" anything

Just so you know, young man, I was working with wetlands treatment of municipal wastewater while you were in all likelihood, an embryo. I'm not a scientist but I'm far from "completely ignorant" of the situation.

I was part of a group that proposed the first use of wetlands as a tertiary treatment process in CA as far back as 1974. We weren't successful because the concept seemed too radical for the regulatory agencies at the time and we were unable to get the process approved. It is now encouraged by the EPA.

And I have personal knowledge of this situation as well. A close relative of mine lives in a converted summer home on the waterfront in the Chesapeake Bay area. He is on a septic tank which has been grandfathered in because it isn't cost effective to serve the area where he lives with municipal sewer service. He may not expand the footprint of his house and if it falls down, tough, he cannot rebuild. He has many neighbors in the same situation. Leach fields don't function properly there because of the high water table (his finished floor sits at elevation five) so the tanks must be pumped when they fill up. I wouldn't eat any fish I caught anywhere near his home. My guess is that there are still a lot of places like this in the Bay region.

I know these regulations dealt with siltation of shellfish beds from construction induced erosion and excessive amounts of nutrients in urban and agricultural runoff. But it is a totally inaccurate statement to say that the problem has nothing to do with municipal sewage.

You need to loosen up and stop being so judgmental. People will like you better and you may even get more girls,

[kristopher]

11. The world needs a bit more judgmentalism.

Your remark regarding sewage COMPLETELY misrepresented the purposes of and the discussion surrounding the wetlands border issue. Nutrient run off from faulty septics is an issue, but it has nothing to do with raw sewage and turds floating in the creeks. Maybe you should be less willing to sacrifice accuracy for the sake of a crude sophomoric grab at humor.

[XemaSab]

12. So are you, like,

a disembodied head sitting in a tank somewhere? :shrug:

[kristopher]

13. You'll have to decode that for me. nt

[tularetom]

14. I think YOUR world needs a bit less judgmentalism and a bit more humor

Sophomoric or otherwise.

Plus you probably need to get laid more often.

[kristopher]

15. Go back and review the thread.

You mis-informed people and I put out the correct information. There was nothing judgmental, snarky, or rude about my comment.

What was your response?

[tularetom]

16. Sigh. OK Spock you've totally trashed me with your logic

Now go back to your mom's basement and play dungeons and dragons with the other propeller heads.

[kristopher]

17. The posts speak for themselves.

You've several times insulted and attempted to demean me and I've done nothing similar, so save your lectures and your snark.

[pscot]

5. How about we take mayor Joe Frank

out behind the barn and shoot him.

[The River]

10. Buffer Strips

adjacent to streams, ponds, etc are very easy to incorporate
(basically no mowing or cutting of whats already there).
They really do a good job of cleaning runoff water before it
gets back into streams. Developers can be compensated for "lost area"
by allowing greater housing densities in areas without runoff issues.
I've dealt with this for 40 years and silt runoff from
construction sites is easy to control. Fertilizers from
lawns and agricultural areas are much harder to deal with.
Organic farming and an end to decorative expanses of "lawn"
is a start.

[eppur_se_muova]

18. Don't mess with our "dominion over the Earth"! God gave it to us!

And he specifically had strip malls and sprawling subdivisions of MacMansions in mind when he said it!