The Storm Water
Problem
When bad storms hit we see flooding, road washouts, erosion,
turbidity, and increased pollution due to toxins in the runoff.
Public and private
expenditures increase.
Storm water impacts land use planning
and review, construction and development, highway maintenance,
and local
infrastructure
maintenance, and private landowners.
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In
2003 NYS DEC storm water regulations went into effect that
require communities to develop storm
water management plans and a storm water permitting process
for builders and contractors. Our community, like every
other, has to comply by January 2008.
Abatement projects are costly and numerous.
Funding may be available from a variety of sources depending
on the nature |
and urgency
of the problem. Most funding sources require matching dollars
or in-kind service. Usually, the town must be prepared to
commit to our
share at the time applications are prepared.
The Abatement Process
Each public project goes through four stages – determining
its priority, engineering design, funding, and implementation.
While many run-off
problems have existed for several years,
others can occur overnight. Or a longstanding problem can
become an emergency. Priorities can change as time, development,
and
nature take their toll.
The town board should review the list of projects and their
priority each year as part of the budget process.
While
the public should
have input to the priority listing, decisions must be
made based on the impact of the problems. That priority list
should serve
as a guide, with the understanding that an emergency
situation or the
availability of funding for a particular type of project
may impact the order of projects.
A specific capital fund should be designated for abatement
projects.
Prevention
New development needs
to be carefully reviewed by the planning committee
to ensure storm water run-off can be handled appropriately.
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