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| DATE:
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4/19/2016 7:00:00 PM |
| SUBJECT: |
| An Ordinance Amending Chapter Seven of the Gillette City Code Regulating Stormwater Runoff and Drainage Within the City of Gillette. |
| BACKGROUND: |
Ordinance first reading: 7/0
Ordinance second reading: 7/0 (4/12/16 Special Meeting)
This ordinance establishes a local Stormwater Permit to be administered by the City Engineering and Building Divisions of the Development Services Department. The new local permit is similar to that administered by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WYDEQ). The WYDEQ permit is applicable to land-disturbing projects of one acre or larger. The new local permit will be applicable to projects that disturb 2,500 square feet of land or greater, and that are also required to operate under a City Building Permit, City Engineering Permit-to-Construct, or City Engineering Grading Permit. These target thresholds were designed to achieve permitting of construction sites down to the individual residential lot level, while not applying to smaller miscellaneous construction activity that may still disturb 2,500 square feet (such as landscaping, trenching, or utility boring related projects). The majority of the permit requirements are related to the proper management of stormwater runoff from a construction or development site and are similar to the requirements of the WYDEQ permits. The local permit will allow for local reviews, approvals, inspections, enforcement, and improved efficiencies in preventing sediment issues to mitigate costly impairments, maintenance, and repairs to the City’s stormwater infrastructure and receiving waters.
This ordinance establishes water quality and quantity policies for the City of Gillette to provide reasonable guidance for the regulation of stormwater runoff for the purpose of protecting local surface water resources from degradation.
Regulation of stormwater runoff discharges from land development projects, construction activities, and existing urban activities is necessary to control and minimize stormwater runoff rates and volumes. The regulation of soil erosion, stream channel erosion, and non-point source pollution associated with stormwater runoff is in the public interest to help prevent threats to public health and safety and to reduce public infrastructure maintenance and repairs.
Stormwater runoff contributes to increased quantities of water-borne/non-point source pollutants, as the City has had to mitigate as recently as the Gillette Fishing Lake improvements projects. Land disturbing activities and associated increases in impervious cover alter the hydrologic response of local watersheds and increase stormwater runoff rates and volumes, flooding, stream channel erosion, and sediment transport and deposition. Stormwater runoff from commercial, industrial and residential activities further contributes to this problem. These impacts on water quality, soil erosion and nonpoint source pollution can be controlled and minimized through the regulation of stormwater runoff, as directed by this ordinance.
This ordinance also accomplishes several components of the implementation plan that were outlined in the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s 2013 Gillette Fishing Lake Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Report to control the phosphorus and sediment impairments to that waterbody. As outlined in the TMDL report, the City was to establish a stormwater management program including: develop an inspection and maintenance program, develop comprehensive stormwater design and construction criteria and standards, develop erosion and sediment management policy and criteria, develop a Best Management Practices (BMP) inventory, develop a proactive Erosion and Sediment Control and BMP inspection program. |
| SUGGESTED MOTION: |
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I move for the approval of an Ordinance Amending Chapter 7 of the Gillette City Code Regulating Stormwater Runoff and Drainage within the City of Gillette on third and final reading.
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| STAFF REFERENCE: |
Dustin Hamilton, P.E., Development Services Director
Heath VonEye, City Engineer
Charlie Anderson, City Attorney |
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