Who own's the rain?
The City already held a workshop for design professionals (landscape architects, geotechnical engineers, architects, builders, etc) who will have to deal with new stormwater regulations. This is unusual since the new codes have not been approved and won't go to Council for a final vote until at least January 19, 2017.
It appears the Engineering Department is confident that nothing the public, the Planning Commission or the City Council has to say will change anything. Why the confidence?
Given that the Waters of the U.S. Clean Water Rule has an injunction against its implementation, it would be wise to halt any regulation dependent upon this rule for now. If strict regulations go into effect now, it is very likely that even if the Clean Water Rule is thrown out, Lake Oswego will be left with the more restrictive regulations because of the state DEQ's "no rollback" rule.
Review the materials linked below and attend this Open House. Come prepared with questions.
Stormwater Management Plan Open House:
Thursday, October 22, 6:30 to 9:30 at City Hall
This Manual, and related amendments to the City’s drainage and surface water utility codes, is a requirement of our current NPDES stormwater permit. The Manual emphasizes the use of infiltration-based approaches to stormwater management where possible, along with other low-impact development (LID) techniques to minimize runoff from roofs, streets, driveways, and other impervious surfaces. The manual will apply to the design of newly developing and re-developing sites, and has requirements based on different thresholds of impervious surface area.
Comments on the Public Review Draft Lake Oswego Stormwater Management Manual can be sent to the City here. Comments on the manual received by October 31, 2015, will be addressed in the Staff Report for the upcoming Planning Commission hearing on accompanying code amendments.
Some of the code amendments require concurrence of the Planning Commission, and all code changes require approval by the City Council. the current schedule for these actions is:
Links to the proposed code amendments and supporting documents can be found after October 16, 2015 here as part of the agenda for the October 26th Planning Commission meeting.
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