A proposed city of Vancouver ordinance mandating that stormwater flows from property shrink to pre-European settlement levels will get a public hearing at a City Council meeting Dec. 22.
Chief among those speaking out against it is the Building Industry Association of Clark County.
“(In) requiring a developer to restore a watershed, you’re requiring him to atone for the sins of the past, not just the impact his own project is creating,” said Steve Madsen, BIA government affairs director.
The ordinance would be in compliance with the city’s Phase II Stormwater Permit for Western Washington issued by the State Department of Ecology.
Brian Carlson, Vancouver’s public works director, said about 60 percent of the city would be unaffected by the ordinance because land near large bodies of water, such as the Columbia River and Vancouver Lake, are exempt from increased stormwater detention rules.
“We are trying to meet what the state is mandating,” Carlson said. “We’re not going beyond that. If (the BIA) can get DOE or state legislators to back down some, we would be happy with that.”
If the ordinance is adopted, some developments in the city would be more costly because builders could be asked to treat water runoff on-site. But Carlson would not say how expensive it could get.
“Ecologists have picked the low-hanging fruit, which is development regulations rather than basin planning,” Madsen said. “You can’t tell a developer that wants to put in a fast food restaurant to pay $20 million for a basin study.”
Aside from that, Madsen posits that the city’s approach in passing the ordinance could be illegal.
The city was sued in 2004 by the Rosemere Neighborhood Association and the Clark County Natural Resources Council with allegations that Vancouver violated the Clean Water Act. The city won the case, but settled in May 2006, agreeing to comply with DOE regulations.
“The city committed to an (ordinance) adoption in a settlement agreement that was approved in a consent agenda in a city council meeting,” Madsen said. “So what’s the point of a public hearing if you already agreed to adopt?”
The agreement was adopted by the city council, Carlson said, emphasizing that it wasn’t a secret agreement.
Dave Roewe, the BIA’s executive director, went so far as to say that the BIA is “about to file a lawsuit against the city,” alleging illegal adoption of the ordinance.
“We’re just stirring the pot. We hold their feet to the fire,” Roewe said of public entities. “We have a good working relationship with them.”
But Madsen was more cautious.
“If we don’t feel like we’ve been given adequate opportunity for input then certainly litigation is an option,” he said.
The BIA is more in favor of Clark County’s proposed approach to stormwater regulations, which involves setting 1955 flow control levels as a benchmark despite state requirements.
Madsen wants to put more energy into promoting “a legislative fix” to state regulations, and the city ordinance would include room for legislative updates. But Carlson said he thinks it is unlikely that looser environmental regulations would get support from legislators outside Southwest and Eastern Washington.
“I don’t know if there’s going be interest by other legislators to deal with this, but best of luck to them,” Carlson said.
Charity Thompson can be reached at cthompson@vbjusa.com.