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 any site shall be landscaped.” (Note: no additional landscaping requirements are being proposed for the Downtown Commerce District.)
Using the 5% standard; a 6,000 square foot lot would need 300 square feet of landscaping, a one acre lot would need 2,178 square feet of landscaping and a five acre lot would need 10,890 square feet of landscaping. Any landscaping required for screening, parking lots or for stormwater facilities would count towards meeting the 5% requirement.
Other recommended code changes provide for the use of use permeable pavements and pavers as well as landscaping areas in parking lots to manage stormwater, clarification that required open space can be utilized for stormwater management through LID practices such as dispersion and infiltration, and a new requirement that all subdivision applicants complete a preapplication conference with City staff to discuss their design proposals
At their May 3 meeting, the Planning Commission was presented with the staff recommendations and then agreed to set a public hearing. On May 31, the Planning Commission held a public hearing on the proposed code changes. No one from the public spoke. Following the public hearing the Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of the amendments.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Motion to accept the Planning Commission recommendation and direct the City Attorney to prepare an ordinance for Council review and approval
STAFF CONTACT:
Steve Haubner, Stormwater Manager
Steve Langdon, Planning Manager