Title
PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT REGULATION CHANGES RELATING TO STORMWATER MANAGEMENT
COUNCIL STRATEGIC INITIATIVE ADDRESSED:
Council Initiative: Provide sustainable water quality & environmental infrastructure, Address quality of place issues
CITY ATTORNEY REVIEW: N/A
SUMMARY STATEMENT:
Per its NPDES Phase II Municipal Stormwater Permit, the City is required to review its development codes and standards to make stormwater management low impact development (LID) methods the preferred and commonly-used approach to development. Community Development and Public Works staff has reviewed the existing development-related codes and produced a set of recommended revisions to code sections in LMC Titles 12 and 19 to incorporate LID principles and allow for the use of LID best management practices. In many cases, the changes are minor and represent a codification of existing practices.
The proposed changes to “Chapter 12.50 Street and Development Standards” are oriented towards reducing the amount of impervious surfaces in street rights-of-way. It includes a provision to allow reduced pavement widths on residential collector streets and provides for design standards for planter strips intended to enhance stormwater infiltration and treatment along sidewalks and roadways.
Proposed changes to landscaping requirements help incorporate stormwater LID methods into the landscaping standards creating efficiencies in land management. The most substantial change is bolstering the landscaping standards for most of the commercial districts that currently have few requirements. In Chapter 19.46 Supplemental Commercial Zoning Standards there are substantial landscaping requirements for Regional Commercial District but few standards for the other commercial districts. Under the proposal, the following would be required in the General Commercial, Office/Commercial, Central Business and Neighborhood Commercial districts: “A minimum of 5% of...
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