Our Mission

To explore, enjoy and protect the wild places of the earth; to practice and promote the responsible use of the earth's ecosystems and resources; to educate and enlist humanity; to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment and to use all lawful means to carry out these objectives.

Stormwater letter 1

March, 2008

Mr. Greg Turner
Assistant City Manager
P.O. Box 2511
Winston-Salem, NC 27102

Dear Mr. Turner,

As the spokesperson for the Foothills Group of the Sierra Club, I wish to comment on the Stormwater Post-Construction Ordinance that is being prepared. As I read the documents from the Public Works Committee website, I can see the thought and work that has gone into the ordinance. Your efforts and those of the members of the committee are much welcome by city residents that are concerned about clean water and sensible development practices.

Anyone who has seen the rainbow sheen on parking lots and streets knows that it is the beginning of rainfall that washes pollutants from them. We believe that provisions to manage this first one inch of rain are indeed critical in terms of water quality. Furthermore, if you consider the increasing area of impervious surfaces as more properties are developed, such as streets, parking lots and roof tops, it makes sense to use the 25 year storm event rather than the 10 year event in planning flood control.

The decision to have private entities, including home owners associations, to be responsible for maintenance of detention ponds as required is a practical one if low impact development (LID) practices are required wherever possible. These would include diverting runoff from parking lots, streets and rooftops to rain gardens and grassed swales as well as the use of permeable pavers. Here is an opportunity to preserve open green and forested spaces. Where buffers are required, and considering the best water retention and erosion control possibilities, we believe that buffers 50 feet in width would be preferable to one of only 30 feet, and a portion of the buffer should be forested. The entire buffer should be maintained undisturbed.

We want to emphasize that the ordinance needs to be implemented as soon as possible. We think that the five members of the Stormwater Advisory Board should be representative of the entire community with members drawn from the environmental representatives, neighborhood associations, home owners, stormwater professionals, realtors and developers. It is important that there should be adequate staff to ensure that the ordinance is enforced, timely permitting of projects and inspections being equally important. Any fines for violations should be significant enough to prevent them from simply being factored in as a cost of doing business.

Thank you for your consideration,

Henry Fansler
Conservation Co-Chair, Foothills Group of the Sierra Club
919 Williams Road
Lewisville, NC 27023