The Legislative & Ordinance Committee voted to continue its review of the stormwater management ordinance and associated fees.
The committee discussed the issue at length Monday night before deciding to invite a number of city officials to participate in further discussion. Ward 2 Councilor James E. Brown Jr., L&O chairman, said he plans to request representatives from Auditing, Law, Public Works, Planning and the Engineering departments to participate in that discussion.
At-large Councilor John J. Beltrandi III has raised a number of issues pertaining to the stormwater management fee. Both residents and business are assessed a fee, with residents paying $20 a year in four $5 assessments, while businesses pay 4.5 cents per square foot. with a minimum of $100 and a maximum of $640 (Ordinance #1518, Section 18-193, EXHIBIT A).
“There’s a double whack for people living in the newer subdivisions and for business, any project with a stormwater management plan accepted by the city,” Beltrandi said.
The Planning Board requires new residential and commercial development to submit a stormwater management plan as part of the special permit and site plan review. The stormwater plans are designed to comply with federal law that restricts discharge of stormwater from a developed site to more than the flow from that site in its natural state, that the development does not increase the level of discharge.
Beltrandi said that residents of subdivisions pay a higher cost for lots because developers are now required to use land that would have been designated as a building lot, for retention ponds as part of the stormwater management plan. Developers recoup that cost by increasing the price of the remaining building lots, and then residents of those lots have to pay a stormwater management fee.
“I don’t know if it’s legal,” Beltrandi said. “We have the ability to go back and fix it for everybody.”
One of the issues discussed is that the ordinance was established in response to federal and state mandates, which may limit amendments. The purpose of the ordinance is to reduce single-point pollution caused by stormwater collection and drainage systems which carry an array of pollutants, including oil, gasoline, lawn chemicals such as herbicides and fertilizers, and nitrogen rich materials into wetlands, brooks and streams at the terminus of drainage pipes.
“We want a lot of answers,” Brown said. “Where has the money collected been spent, what are the stormwater management projects planned over the next year, what is the breakout of the revenue and expenses.”
Brown said there is abatement language in the current ordinance, but that it is too restrictive because it applies only to fee calculation errors. (Section 18-203. Stormwater Utility Fee Billing, Delinquencies, Collections, and Abatement).
The ordinance also requires residents and business owners to pay the fee before requesting an abatement review.
“We need to get the big picture to determine if there should be an exemption for folks with a (stormwater management) system built as a requirement of a city permit,” Brown said. “What we need is a prepayment abatement process for any parcel with an approved stormwater management plan as part of a city permit.”
