Stormwater Workgroup meeting minutes

March 16, 2010 at 2:00 pm

printable file  

City Hall - 82877 Spruce St. , Westlake , OR 97439

 

1.     Call to Order  

The Stormwater Workgroup meeting was called to order by Chairman Gerald Wasserburg at 2:00 p.m.  

2.     Roll Call  

Roll Call was taken by Chairman Gerald Wasserburg .  

Present:    David Bellemore , Lee Riechel , John Stead , and Gerald Wasserburg .  

Absent:     Vice-Chair, George Burke (excused).  

Also Present:  Planning Secretary, Lisa Ekelund and one (1) citizen.           

3.      Review of Workgroup Draft Document  

Gerald Wasserburg explained the role of the Vice-chair.  Gerald explained the charge of the group.  Gerald said there would be another meeting on March 30 at 2:00 p.m.   Gerald said there were no objections from the workgroup members.  

Gerald Wasserburg said he had difficulty emailing the agenda to the City staff.  Gerald directed staff to investigate the email problems.  

Gerald Wasserburg explained the assignments given to Lee Riechel , David Bellemore , and John Stead .  

John Stead said the items in the erosion control ordinance is mostly housekeeping.  John said Lisa suggested calling it erosion and sediment control.  John said the "and sediment" could be left out of the title.   

David Bellemore said he believes it works either way, with or without sediment.

  Lee Riechel said he would leave it as erosion only.   

  Lee Riechel said the content is fine with these changes but he still has a problem with trying to get this committee to have within its Charter, requirement integration.  Lee said the City needs to decide that these are type 1 changes.  Lee said there are methods to doing this but he is not familiar with the process.

  Gerald Wasserburg said he respects staffs input. Gerald said he sees nothing that staff is suggesting in the erosion ordinance that will effect what they will do. 

  David Bellemore said he has a list of the City streets and a copy of the Master Road Plan (MRP).  David said he looked for the word "stormwater" in the MRP.  David said the City code has one single reference to stormwater.  David said the only place it is listed is in 155.3.4.4 under storm drainage improvements.  David read 155.3.4.4 and explained that it gives the City the charge of completing what they are doing.

  Lee said there are many policies of the Comprehensive Plan that can be referenced.  Lee said the most compelling is A5 (the controlling of runoff).  Lee said he has five items to point to in the Comprehensive Plan as being compatible with some form of runoff control.   

David said in going through the MRP, they have technical specifications but they do not address stormwater best management practices (BMP's).  David said before the group is done with this, the may have to get the Road Commission involved.  

John Stead said the EPA states that maintenance has to be part of the Ordinance.  

Gerald Wasserburg said he would recommend they write as full a document as they can and then they can dice it up later.  

Lee Riechel agreed that what is written needs to be repeated in the Master Road Plan.  

Gerald Wasserburg asked David if he has the maps as a hard copy file.   

Lee Riechel said when they did the MRP and the wetland inventory, the maps were placed on disks and they also got a copy of the graphics program (Auto-cad) that can read those files but it has never been used by the City.  Lee said he has been going to LCOG for maps.  

Gerald Wasserburg charged David Bellemore to provide an assessment as to where the documents are and how they are put on digital files to be accessible.  Gerald said at the last meeting, Gordon Robertson spoke of an unbalanced view of the issue.  Gerald said with respect to these comments, they cannot be ignored.  Gerald said he felt the financial burden placed on the City or the Road Commission is more than they can handle.  

Lee Riechel spoke in regards to the requirements and standards for driveways and requirements and standards for roads.  Lee said they keep talking about one acre and land disturbance and what it boils down to is if land use or development requirements require a DEQ 1200C permit.  Lee said all they have to do is specify a minimum size.  Lee said he split it into two sections, driveways that require a DEQ 1200C permit and those driveways that are outside the DEQ 1200C permit guideline.  Lee said they do not care about the portions of driveways that are not in, or crossing setbacks, if they have a portion of driveway that is on the buildable property, it is handled as a normal impervious surface.  Lee said once you are in the setback area, if you have drainage and point source discharges then you need to require minimization, provide for sediment and velocity reduction.  

Gerald Wasserburg suggested changing the road approach.   Gerald said he thinks they have a strong obligation for making a general statement so that people can figure out what it is they are trying to do.  Gerald said Lee 's comments are good and explicit but they need general guidance.  

Lee Riechel said what they need is the purpose and introduction of this whole thing.   

Gerald Wasserburg said yes, so people would know what they are doing.  

David Bellemore said at the last CCI, the group discussed if they are going to have stormwater control for individuals then they should require it of the city streets.   David said they should indicate that the future streets will be held to the appropriate standard and that the existing streets will be upgraded eventually during maintenance and repairs.  

Gerald Wasserburg asked if the 2009 document is good for using as the statement for the Mayor.  The workgroup agreed that the 2009 document is good to use.  

Gerald said what is written down on the first page defines what stormwater is and they need to add the statement from Lee , long term maintenance, and roads.  Gerald said then this tells people with what they are doing.  

Lee Riechel said he would like the statement to be written by Gerald Wasserburg and he would accept it.   

Gerald Wasserburg called for a recess at 2:58 p.m.  

Gerald Wasserburg reconvened the meeting at 3:04 p.m.  

Lee Riechel said he would like to add one more comment.  Lee said the document he put together on surface water management was just to identify a series of placeholders.  Lee said he did put some items in on driveways and roads.  Lee said it is a place to start but it is far from being complete.  

A gentleman spoke from the audience stating his concern for the ordinance being understandable by everyone. 

Gerald Wasserburg said that is why he wrote that item in the agenda.   

David Bellemore suggested that they could come up with a "how to" pamphlet.  

Lee Riechel said there is a lot of work that has to be done when a person builds a home.  Lee said there is a lot in the building code that the homeowner does not necessarily understand but local builders would.  Lee said if they could keep the requirements at the same kind of level then he thinks they are a step ahead in the whole process.  Lee said it is nice to have something that the homeowner could understand, but that would be in the introduction. Lee said the details belong to be understood by the professionals.  

Lee Riechel said that quite a few years ago he took a class on erosion control and runoff management up at Oregon State .  Lee said the thing that surprised him was that in all facilities that are opened up, they dump the water, it circulates, and it is controlled.  Lee said this is all fine but you will always end up with a storm that overflows it so they design this so that it flushes.  Lee said it would be great not to have material movement but this idea is not reasonable.  

Gerald Wasserburg said regarding material movement that zero is not a good number.  Gerald said he would come up with a revised draft that includes reference to the roads.  

David Bellemore said regarding Lee 's draft, he speaks of minimized drainage.  David said this is not specific and that it lets developers find a loophole.  David said he would like to use historical flows.   

Gerald Wasserburg said he would try to give his best professional opinion.  

Lee Riechel said he would provide Gerald Wasserburg with the documents he has.  

Gerald Wasserburg asked if anyone has any suggestions for the next agenda.  Gerald said he thinks they should look at the DEQ 1200C permit business and write out some specifics for existing properties such as developments.  Gerald said there were efforts made three years ago that has certain virtues and certain vices.  Gerald suggested that the group look at the previous documents to figure out how to handle the larger areas.   

John Stead said he would write a specific statement about new development.  

Gerald Wasserburg directed Lee Riechel and John Stead to write out a draft of the code for new development.  

David Bellemore said they should leave the DEQ 1200C permit alone.   

Gerald Wasserburg asked what a DEQ 1200C permit covers.  

David Bellemore said the DEQ 1200C permit covers erosion measures and stormwater.  David said the permit runs until the completion of the as built.  

John Stead said in one of Lee 's documents, Lee speaks of following the law.  John said he sees this as the City needs to have ordinances in place.  John said he would put together a one-page handout that speaks of how the Comprehensive Plan interfaces with the Oregon Supreme Court and also what Dunes City Code says about it.  

David Bellemore said he would see if he could get the Woahink Ridge DEQ 1200C permit as an example so they can see how it is supposed to work.  

4.     Adjournment  

There being no further business to come before the Stormwater Workgroup ,  

John Stead made the motion to adjourn the meeting.  Lee Riechel seconded the motion.  The motion passed by unanimous vote.  

The meeting of the Dunes City Stormwater Workgroup adjourned at 3:40 p.m.  

The proceedings of the Dunes City Stormwater Workgroup meeting were recorded on tape, and are on file at Dunes City Hall .  Upon approval by the CCI Workgroup , these minutes will be available online at www.dunescity.com.  

 

APPROVED BY THE DUNES CITY CCI STORMWATER WORKGROUP ON THE 30th DAY OF MARCH, 2010.  

Signed copy available at Dunes City Hall

Gerald Wasserburg , Chairman  

ATTEST:  

Signed copy available at Dunes City Hall

Lisa Ekelund , Planning Secretary

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