Sunday, November 08, 2009
A $60 million problem demands attention
From the RoundTable blog
Read the latest entries
Dave Trinkle and Rupert Cutler
Trinkle and Cutler are members of Roanoke City Council.
One of the sharpest barbs a citizen can level at an official is the accusation that he or she puts tax dollars down the drain. In Roanoke, that's one transgression of which we are clearly not guilty, and it has created a problem we must address. For too long we have failed to invest in our storm drain infrastructure.
More than a generation has passed since any significant investment has been made in our storm water system. Demands have grown exponentially over the past decade. Each new rooftop and parking lot creates new stresses on our overburdened maze of drains, culverts and pipes that have been cobbled together over the past century.
Water that cannot be efficiently drained presents problems. In addition to puddling in your basement or backyard, there is a danger that a driver hitting standing water can hydroplane and lose control of the vehicle. Improperly handled storm water contributes to potholes and accelerates street maintenance needs.
Runoff from rain and snow melt has become a serious issue. You probably have seen the City Market Building and downtown businesses sandbagged to prevent flooding. The City of Roanoke Engineering Division has identified a backlog of more than 200 high-priority storm water projects with a construction price tag of about $60 million. They range from repairing crumbling pipes to installing new drainage facilities
Runoff picks up oil, grease and dirt, and this contamination flows unabated into the storm drains and discharges directly into our waterways. Of our valley's 13 major rivers and streams, nine are listed as impaired for water quality by the state Department of Environmental Quality.
Federal and state governments are expanding their role in water quality, and new regulations are continuously being enforced. Our current approach of dealing with just the most critical issues will not allow Roanoke to meet minimum water quality standards, which ultimately could lead to fines and loss of state and federal funding.
We have been using Band-Aid fixes to address a critical situation. To this point, improvements to our storm water system have been funded through our general budget, but the funding of storm water projects has almost always been put aside in favor of more visible concerns.
The time has come to consider adoption of a designated storm water fee to allow for the necessary investments in storm drain infrastructure we will inevitably be forced to make in the near future.
A comprehensive study recommended a fee of $3 per month for residential users and $3 for each 1,920 square feet of impervious surface or rooftop for nonresidential users. (1,920 square feet is the average amount of impervious surface on a residential unit in our city; it is also known as an Equivalent Rate Unit.) By implementing improvements in storm water handling procedures and infrastructure, property owners could earn credits. By employing green solutions that maintain more storm water onsite, the demand on the system would be less and the fees reduced.
This fee would generate more than $3 million per year to invest in our storm water system. It is a plan that is funded based on the demands each property places on the storm drain system. Under this plan, all developed properties pay a fee, spreading the cost across the community and keeping the fee relatively low.
Hundreds of communities across the country have instituted a storm water fee. Several Virginia communities, including Richmond, have imposed storm water fees, and many other Virginia communities are considering them. The purposed rate in Roanoke would be one of the lowest in the state.
There are those who would argue that a time when business is struggling is not the time to implement a new fee. We would argue there is never a good time, but if no storm water fee is instituted, the problems will not go away. They will be funded by higher taxes. But because there is always a higher-profile need than storm water, the taxes are likely to continue to be diverted and create an ongoing battle for storm drain funding.
There is a proverb that the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago and the second best time to plant a tree is today. By taking action today, we can begin addressing the problems decades of neglect have caused our storm water system.
