Storm-water runoff ordinance in works for county commission

A plan to control storm runoff in Cape Girardeau County was expanded Thursday to cover a wider range of commercial development in response to concerns from a woman who lives downhill from recent construction.

Regina Tucker of Pocahontas Drive told members of a committee studying a proposed storm-water ordinance that construction of a convenience store near her home left a ditch 2 feet deep behind her home. The work changed the path of runoff, she said, and caused Meyer's Lake to turn brown from sediment.

"This is what we need, so very, very much," Tucker told the panel during discussions at the Osage Community Centre.

The committee, organized by the Cape Girardeau Soil and Water Conservation District, wrote a proposed county ordinance. The ordinance aims to prevent major increases in storm runoff as development spreads outside the city limits of Jackson and Cape Girardeau.

The committee met to give county commissioners their first look at its work. The commission must approve any ordinance before it takes effect.

Under the proposal, any new housing subdivision of three or more homes and new commercial development covering 5,000 or more square feet with buildings or asphalt would be covered by the proposal. The provision on commercial construction, which originally applied only to the size of buildings, was changed in response to Tucker's concern. The new proposal now includes any work that prevents rainwater from soaking into the ground, such as parking lots around a new building, not just the building itself.

Developments related to agriculture are exempt from the proposed new rules.

"This is something we think may work," said Stan Murray, Hubble Creek project manager for the district.

The committee worked from three main premises, he said. The ordinance is designed to be simple, short and not burdensome to developers. "For somebody used to developing property inside the city limits of Cape Girardeau or Jackson, this will be a chip shot," he said.

Proposed changes

The changes made Thursday, including the rewriting of the size threshold for covering commercial properties, can be quickly incorporated into the draft, Murray said. Other minor changes included a more precise definition of the size of a storm used as a benchmark for the rules.

The committee includes representatives from the Missouri Departments of Natural Resources, Conservation and Transportation, as well as engineers from Cape Girardeau and Jackson and private developers.

When the final draft is ready, there will be an opportunity for public comment, Murray said. A Web site will be established where the public can read the draft and express opinions, he said.

Under the terms of the proposed ordinance, new developments would be required to submit plans for controlling storm-water runoff during and after construction. The plans would deal with silt and erosion during construction and detail how the developer plans to control runoff after work is complete.

The proposed ordinance sets a standard based on a heavy rain event that is likely to recur once every 25 years. During such a storm, the ordinance states, no more water should leave a property after development than before the new construction.

"This is a city storm-water ordinance that has been hacked down," said Jay Stencel of the Cape Girardeau city government. "It is a good start."

A storm water control ordinance has been needed for some time, said Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones. "We asked for this a long time ago and it got sidetracked."

This new effort was spurred by requests from the Missouri Department of Transportation because of concerns about rising levels in county streams. Developments in the Fruitland area are blamed for an increase in flood levels along Hubble Creek, which runs through Jackson toward Gordonville. Torrential rains in November caused flooding that left some residents near Gordonville stranded in their homes for up to 24 hours.

A storm in July 2005 caused street flooding in Jackson near Hubble Creek.

The biggest obstacle to an effective ordinance will be deciding on how to enforce it, Jones said. "One of the problems I see is that we don't have anyone qualified."

Suggestions for enforcement included hiring contract engineers, at the expense of developers, to evaluate finished storm water control structures and using current employees to decide if proposed plans meet requirements of the ordinance.

"The key is, no matter what we do, we have to enforce it," said Roger Arnzen, flood-plain coordinator for Cape Girardeau County.

Growth in housing and commercial development outside city limits means now is the time for action, said Art Grodin of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. "People aren't going to stop building in the county," he said. "Doing it now is only going to stop bad things from happening later."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126