05-15-08: UNCW housing project moves ahead
The changes, passed by the Environmental Management Commission, an appointed panel, are an effort to strengthen a lax pollution-prevention program and keep waters open to shellfishing and swimming.
Existing regulations allow subdivisions and businesses to be built so densely in coastal areas that they overwhelm the land's capacity to filter oil, mud, fertilizer and chemicals washed during heavy rains from roofs, roads and yards. As a result, the acreage of coastal waters closed to shellfishing has increased about 13 percent in the past two decades, state data show.
"It's become more and more apparent coastal stormwater is the biggest contributor to the degradation of water quality, and our rules have been inadequate," said Ernest Larkin, a member of the Environmental Management Commission.
The rule changes for the 20 coastal counties call for new developments to build wider buffers along waterways. The current requirement is 30 feet, and that is increased to 50 feet for new development. Buffers such as grass, shrubs and other vegetation slow runoff. The new rules also require more projects to go through a review process and builders to install well-designed stormwater controls.
"It's a major step forward to protecting coastal waters," said Jim Stephenson, a representative of the N.C. Coastal Federation, an environmental group that has pushed for the changes.
State stormwater permits would be required for commercial developments that disturb more than a quarter-acre. That's stricter than the current minimum: one acre.
Residential developments that disturb more than 10,000 square feet, about a quarter-acre, would be required to install cisterns, rain barrels, permeable pavement or other measures to prevent stormwater from leaving the lot. Charles Peterson, vice chairman of the commission, said the goal of the measures was to promote more environmentally friendly development at the coast.
Builders opposed
Lisa Martin, director of regulatory affairs for the N.C. Home Builders Association, said the requirements that residential development contain all water on site would be difficult to manage. The builders' group opposed the new regulations.
"It's a lofty goal," Martin said. "The actual implementation is going to be unbelievable."
The state has estimated the stormwater control requirements would tack an extra $3,000 onto the cost of building -- a significant increase for many property owners, Martin said. She said the home builders would continue trying to challenge the rules, which are subject to review by the legislature before they take effect.
For developments that cover more than 12 percent of a tract of land within a half-mile of shellfishing waters, developers would have to add engineer-designed stormwater controls to slow runoff and allow it to seep into the ground.
Now, those requirements kick in when 25 percent of the land area is covered with roofs, driveways and other hard surfaces that prevent rainwater from soaking into the ground. Scientists say that water quality suffers when more than 10 percent of a lot is built upon without having well-designed controls to capture rainwater.
Existing vs. new
Joe Tarascio, a home builder in Carteret County and president of Creative Carpentry and Woodworking, questioned why the new regulations didn't address what had caused the pollution -- existing development. Instead, it focuses only on new development.
"Sometimes, people who write these things don't grasp what it takes to build on a lot, especially to do it with some economy," Tarascio said.
The rule changes were requested by state water quality regulators who found in a 2005 study that the existing rules, written in the mid-1980s, had failed to stop stormwater pollution and the permanent closure of more shellfishing waters. About 76,000 acres of coastal waters are permanently closed because of high pollution levels that make the oysters and clams dangerous to eat, according to the state Division of Shellfish Sanitation.
