An Aesop's Fable for our times

Aesop's Fables

by Aesop

“THE MAN AND THE WOOD”

A Man came into a Wood one day with an axe in his hand, and begged all the Trees to give him a small branch which he wanted for a particular purpose. The Trees were good-natured and gave him one of their branches. What did the Man do but fix it into the axe head, and soon set to work cutting down tree after tree. Then the Trees saw how foolish they had been in giving their enemy the means of destroying themselves.

The City of Lake Oswego is proposing new regulations that will require stormwater infiltration on all new construction AND some remodeling (driveway replacement or adding a second story to a one-story house), even if the footprint of impervious surfaces has not changed, or unless adding more than 200 sf to a home.  The new infiltration systems will need a O/M Plan and a restriction on the deed

Ok you think.  This won't really affect me.  It's sort of like the Sensitive Lands program - even if there are good intentions, I don't think it will work, and I wouldn't want to deal with the regulations on my property anyway!  Dodged that bullet!

Then maybe the City Engineers decide that all properties in the city need to be covered by the same rules.  You weren't thinking about that - that wasn't the deal.  You thought They would leave your house alone and you could ignore the intrusive and expensive stormwater codes.  The stormwater rules are part of the regulatory creep of government.  More government control, less freedom, more bureaucrats to administer, and rules to enforce, more unhappiness about where you live and wonder a out how it all got so bad.

When City Engineers filed the TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) last year, the stage was set for what we see now.  But we don't have to accept what is being proposed in the current Stormwater Management Manual / Plan.  Much of the extreme regulation that is being suggested is not required by DEQ - it appears to be a construct of staff thinking.

Don't give government the means to destroy your city and your home.