Groups suggest ways for Charlottesville to reduce effects of stormwater

Stormwater leads to increased erosion due to rapid flow of runoff

A coalition of three area environmental groups has made several recommendations to the City of Charlottesville on ways to reduce the amount of stormwater runoff that enters into the watershed. City Planning Commission Chairman Jason Pearson said a work session will be scheduled in the near future to take up the recommendations in detail.

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The University of Virginia School of Law’s Environmental and Conservation Clinic, the Rivanna Conservation Society and the Southern Environmental Law Center collaborated on the report, which features a combination of zoning ordinance changes, new incentives and suggestions for further study. The general goal is to limit the amount of impervious surfaces, which channel storm water into fast moving streams that pick up oil and other pollutants along the way. When these impromptu streams enter existing waterways, they move rapidly, increasing the forces that cause erosion.

Ridge Schuyler, the Director of the Nature Conservancy’s Piedmont Program, said the recommendations are in line with the City Council’s Green Cities Initiative. Schuyler was invited to the meeting to provide feedback and said sedimentation caused by runoff is the biggest threat to the health of the Rivanna River ecosystem, and applauded any efforts that would allow for development that has a lighter footprint.
Morgan Butler, an SELC attorney, presented the recommendations to the City Planning Commission and City Council on May 13, 2008. They fall into five general categories:

• Amend City Code provisions to reduce impervious surface: This might include giving developers more flexibility by allowing smaller street width, driveways and cul-de-sacs. Butler also said  the City should require large cul-de-sacs to have landscaped islands in the middle to collect and filter rainwater.  
• Promote on-site filtration and low impact development features:  Require parking lots to set aside 10% for landscaping (currently 5%), and that the landscaping should be designed to filter runoff. City should also adopt a tree conservation ordinance and explore incentives to increase the tree canopy
• Limit erosion from construction sites: Butler said City should tighten up its erosion and sediment control ordinance to require developers to stabilize denuded lots
• Update and expand City’s stormwater manual: Butler said additional diagrams and technical guidance could be provided to help developers with periodic curb cuts, as well as additional information on rainwater harvesting
• Explore new initiatives to enhance stream buffers: This would include having the City apply for grants to pay for shrubs and landscaping for property owners along streams to expand stream buffers

The recommendations got a fairly positive response from the Commission and City Council, and are now before City staff for review. A Planning Commission work session will sift through the details later this year.

Sean Tubbs