City council members slam stormwater plan

For Vancouver Councilman Tim Leavitt, it all comes down to what he calls the “sniff test.”

The Washington Department of Ecology wants Vancouver and other local governments to adopt tougher stormwater regulations that would require newly developed parcels to drain as efficiently as they did before European settlement.

Back then, much of Vancouver was heavily forested. Ninety percent of precipitation would seep into the ground or evaporate into the air, and only 10 percent would run off toward lakes, creeks and rivers.

Today, large sections of the city are covered with structures, roads, parking lots and other hard surfaces that cause rain to cascade into creeks and streams.

Leavitt, an engineer by profession, doesn’t believe that is a reasonable rule to follow.

“Where do I find a map of pre-European development?” he asked during a Monday city council work session. “Did Lewis and Clark produce a map when they came out this way?”

Leavitt wasn’t the only council member skeptical of the proposed regulations.

Mayor Royce Pollard: “The unreasonableness is amazing.”

Councilwoman Jeanne Stewart: “It’s not very realistic.”

Clark County has reached the same conclusion. County commissioners at one point were talking about using a 1955 standard, essentially that properties, following development, must drain as well as they did 54 years ago. But commissioners appear to have changed their minds and are leaning toward requiring land to drain as well as it currently does, before development takes place.

Brian Carlson, Vancouver public works director, said the county appears ready to butt heads with the Washington State Department of Ecology.

“Ecology has said to the county, ‘We will not accept this,’” Carlson told the council Monday. “What those consequences might be, we have to guess.”

Carlson added the 2009 Legislature could take some type of action to derail or soften the tougher stormwater regulations.

Requiring new development to ensure parcels drain as well as they did centuries ago could require builders to construct much larger stormwater ponds or use pervious concrete, which allows water to seep into the ground. They also could use other low-impact development techniques.

Development representatives sent a long letter to council members last month saying the proposed stormwater revision “directly contradicts the city’s supposed fervent position of being an open and welcome destination for business.”

Vancouver has a legal reason for adopting the tougher regulations before the August 2009 date mandated by the Ecology Department.

In May 2006, the city council approved a settlement with the Rosemere Neighborhood Association and Clark County Natural Resources Council. The two groups sued Vancouver in federal court in 2004 over their contention that the city was violating the federal Clean Water Act by not adequately controlling stormwater.

The 2006 settlement required the city to adopt the tougher stormwater rules by July 17, 2008, which means the city is already almost six months behind schedule.

“My analysis is the Rosemere agreement is valid,” said Linda Marousek, an assistant city attorney. “And we have received a request from Rosemere to comply with it.”

Jeffrey Mize: 360-735-4542 or jeff.mize@columbian.com.