A plan for downstream

~ A three-year effort to reduce the impact of development on runoff is almost complete.

For Richard Combs, the water that overran the banks of Williams Creek into his back yard Aug. 17 brought a sense of foreboding.

Combs and three neighbors in Jackson's Annwood subdivision paid about $16,000 in 2003 to match federal grant funds to stabilize the creek bank, which had eroded 20 to 25 feet of his back yard in 2002.

The rock embankment installed to protect their property has withstood storms since that time. But when Williams Creek went over the top of the bank Aug. 17, Combs said, he began to worry that it wasn't enough.

Water ran through his yard, clogging his fence with debris.

The biggest source of concern for the future, Combs said, is the new East Main Street interchange on Interstate 55. The interchange will bring development. Development will speed up the runoff from strong storms. And the water will flow right by his house.

"As more and more development takes place to the north, the more concentrated you get, the more runoff you get," he said.

A three-year effort to reduce the impact of development on people living downstream is almost complete. A storm-water control committee, with public and private representatives led by Stan Murray of the Cape Girardeau County Soil and Water Conservation District, has readied a final draft of an ordinance.

The committee was formed in response to bigger floods from smaller rains. The culprit, Murray said, is new construction that has been booming in unincorporated areas.

"We are getting close to critical mass," Murray said.

The proposed county ordinance would require a runoff control plan from any developer building a platted subdivision of more than three homes or any new or expanded commercial building larger than 5,000 square feet. For commercial construction, the ordinance kicks in when an existing building is expanded.

And the commercial provision doesn't just cover the building. It also includes parking areas in the size limit if the parking areas don't allow water to soak through.

Under the proposed ordinance, builders would have to include permanent structures on the property to slow down runoff so that water wouldn't escape the property any faster than it did before construction. Agricultural development and construction of homes on isolated lots are exempt.

Every development that meets the rules would need a storm-water management plan and obtain a permit before beginning construction.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources already regulates how developers set up structures to control runoff so large amounts of sediment won't flow off of disturbed land. Despite those rules, Murray said, sediment remains one of the biggest pollutants, choking stream bottoms and ponds.

The ordinance takes the DNR rules a step further, Murray said, by regulating how much water leaves a property.

"We are looking at it not only from a water quality standpoint, but also from a water quantity standpoint," he said.

Faster flows damage stream banks and stream bottoms, Murray said. As the bottom erodes, the stream undermines the banks and causes them to collapse.

The bottom of Williams Creek is 4 to 6 feet lower than it was about 25 years ago, Murray said. "It is chewing up the fields," he said.

The water is moving faster because the slope of the banks is steeper and the banks are filling faster because development is speeding runoff, he said. "Now the water flows will spike, then crash," he said. "And the low flows are even lower than before."

To residents along the county's creeks, getting run off under control isn't just a matter of convenience. Frances Reed, a homeowner along Highway 177 north of Jackson, said she is dealing with flooded roads more frequently. "It used to take 6 inches, now it takes about 3 inches" of rain to flood her road, Reed said.

"It concerns me that in an emergency, nobody could get in," she said.

The Cape Girardeau County Commission met with the storm-water committee in late June to discuss progress on the proposed ordinance. Now, Commissioner Larry Bock said, the commission is waiting for the committee to report its latest version for action.

"They need to give us a report back of what they have come up with," Bock said. "It is something that is badly needed in the county. We've got to try to control runoff around these subdivisions."

Cape Girardeau County residents have been traditionally suspicious of any land-use controls as an infringement on property rights. The storm-water ordinance isn't a restriction on construction, Murray said. Instead, he said views the costs for builders as an investment in being a good neighbor and a hedge against potential lawsuits.

"We are not saying what you can and can't build," he said.

Controlling runoff protects the property rights of people downstream, Combs said.

"It is not just being good neighbors, it is wise conservation," he said. "If you don't stop it someplace, it will all be washed away."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126