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Home My Public Portal About10-13-2015 Public Works report The Committee on Public Works Monday, September 28 at 5:00 PM Town Council Chambers The Committee met to discuss "the Stormwater Management and Erosion Control ordinance and related data." Attending the meeting were Councilor Lenk, Chair, Councilor Corbett,Vice Chair, Councilor Palomba, Secretary,Town Council President Sideris, Councilor Piccirilli, Councilor Falkoff, DPW Director Gerry Mee, Matt Shuman,Town Engineer/DPW, Dennis Sheehan, Director of Finance and Administration/DPW,Tree Warden Chris Haywood, Stormwater Advisory Committee(SAC) members Ernesta Kraczkiewicz, Nancy Hammett, and David Stokes, representatives from SDE, Inc. Garrett Bersey and Stacey DePasquale, representatives from Stantec John Murpy and Robert Dunn, and a representative from the Concerned Citizens Group Lisa Feltner. SAC member Ernesta Kraczkiewicz made an opening statement (attached)that outlined the negative effects of stormwater on the Charles River, the new Green Infrastructure approach to stormwater management, and the need for the proposed ordinance to meet the requirements of the Town's National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit from the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA). She also provided the Committee a history of the proposed ordinance noting that it is the result of combining two ordinances, the Erosion and Sedimentation Control Ordinance and the Post Construction Stormwater Runoff Ordinance, previously written by SAC and that it benefitted greatly from the expertise of Watertown Town Engineer Matt Schuman. She note that the major change in the proposed ordinance is the removal of the provision on administration, performance standards and enforcement which would be put into a Rules and Regulations document. This would allow for modification of the ordinance when there were changes in standards of practice or federal or state requirements. Mr. Shuman presented an informative power point presentation (attached) about stormwater, its effects on the environment,the challenges faced by Watertown to manage stormwater, and the existing DPW stormwater-related policies and procedures. Councilor Palomba raised a concern about the potential of the ordinance being amended without Town Council approval if the Rules and Regulations,which include the enforcement and performance standards, could be changed at any time. He was assured that changes in the Rules and Regulations would be published in a timely fashion and available for review by the Town Council. Councilor Corbett made the following motion: The Public Works Committee recommends that the Town Council approve the proposed Stormwater Ordinance. The motion was seconded by Councilor Lenk and passed 3-0. Note: These minutes reflect one portion of the meeting and were submitted by Councilor Palomba STORMWATER MANAGEMENT AND EROSION CONTROL ORDINANCE PRESENTATION TO PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE Presented by Ernesta Kraczkiewicz on behalf of the Stormwater Advisory Committee What is Stormwater and why do we need a Stormwater Management and Erosion Control Ordinance? Stormwater is by far the greatest remaining source of pollution in the Charles River, as it is in many water bodies; as the Charles River is a key asset to our community, I think we all agree that we need to reduce the damage to the River and the local ponds caused by stormwater pollution. This is a major challenge for heavily built up areas like Watertown; EPA estimates that 49% of Watertown's land area is impervious. Because of this, water from rain storms and snow melt washes over our rooftops, streets and parking lots,taking chemicals, pet wastes, and a wide variety of pollutants, unfiltered and untreated, straight into the river and ponds. We now know that the previous practice of sending stormwater into drains and straight to the river was short-sighted. The new Green Infrastructure approach to stormwater management works to reverse these effects and emphasizes "keeping rainwater local;" because it soaks into the ground, water gets filtered and cleaned as it moves through the soil.These natural systems can be less expensive than constructing hard infrastructure, and they reduce pollution,flooding and erosion. We have an important opportunity to use these approaches when new development or redevelopment occurs. During construction and reconstruction,there are cost effective methods to design sites in ways that improve stormwater management; various approaches can be used effectively, depending on conditions at the site. With this in mind, the proposed Ordinance requires property owners to retain all stormwater runoff on-site to the maximum extent practicable when development or redevelopment occurs. The Town has been pursuing these policies for some time now but it has not been formalized in writing; it is important to do so to provide clarity and certainty. We need this Ordinance also because under the Town's NPDES permit from EPA,the Town is required to have enacted Ordinances governing erosion control during construction, and management of stormwater post-construction on sites being developed or redeveloped (as well as Prohibition of Illicit Discharges to the Storm Drainage System, which the Town enacted in 2011). How did we get to this point? (Previous stormwater Ordinances, and Ordinance update process) As you probably know we previously submitted two ordinances,the Erosion and Sedimentation Control Ordinance and the Post Construction Stormwater Runoff Ordinance,to the Town Council;these were reviewed by the Public Works Committee in the fall of 2013. They were then sent to the Town Lawyers who made some comments, which the SAC found agreeable. However, by that time the Town was in the midst of the hiring process for our Town Engineer and we felt it was worthwhile to wait the short additional time to allow input from the Town Engineer, who would be very involved in the administration of these ordinances. That hiring process turned out to be much longer than we anticipated; but it was indeed a good idea to wait until Matt Shuman appeared on the scene, as he came with some new perspectives, based on extensive experience. The committee,following his lead, deliberated on a number of questions, such as various performance standards, and looked into the coordination of the stormwater permit review process with the planning, zoning, and wetlands reviews. A subcommittee of the SAC composed of Matt, Nancy Hammett and Steve Magoon had meetings with the Mass. DEP Stormwater Director, and the stormwater staff of a number of our neighboring towns: Belmont, Cambridge, and Newton....to get feedback on their past experiences with different ordinance options. Matt will be giving you a much more detailed description of what came out of all these discussions, and resulted in what is now before you. But the most major changes are that: 1) there is now just one Ordinance combining the provisions of the two previous ones;this makes sense, as the two had a great deal of overlap making it difficult to ensure no conflicts or gaps. 2) the detailed provisions on administration, performance standards and enforcement which were included in the previously proposed ordinances have been removed to be put instead into a Rules and Regulations document,which can be promulgated by DPW. This is a much preferable option; it will provide the public with additional technical details and design standards that are beyond the scope of the enabling Ordinance. Also, because the Rules and Regulations can be modified more easily than an Ordinance, it can adapt better to changes in standards of practice or federal or state requirements. And some of these detailed requirements may need tweaking over time with experience; for instance, in the time allowed for DPW review of applications. If these requirements remain in the Ordinance rather than a Rules and Regulations document, then any tiny change would necessitate full review and approval by the Town Council once again. Finally, this proposed Ordinance has already been submitted to the Town lawyers for their review, as opposed to waiting until after your review as was done in the past. The lawyers' comments have been incorporated into this draft. Public Works Subcommittee Presentation September 28, 2015 Flow over the from ground resulting throughprecipitation or snow and ice melt drainage system �4'laarvr•rlip�rat�ll�r, �p9� e�rapalfanspkr�tlon i■ii .i.. .■�. ii'■i .■�. ..�� f ii i i r�lli 8< I�flteati�rl ��ltratian 25°Y6 deep 5°�, �le�p I�If��rd110�1 in�i�trali aA, Natural �round �a�rar TS°1.-�00��mper++J�u 9 ��+�er �curca: u.�. Enr�ironmental Prctecticn Agency, ashii7gton, D.�. 'Protecting 1�ater �ualityfrom Urban Runoff." Document No. EPA 8�1-F-03-003 Watertown Deparhrtenfof Public . ® orks We're all about ...this town.°M HOUSEHOLD f, WASTEWATER ' Will SANITARY STORM SEINER DRAIN CATCH BASIN TREATMENT WATERWAY PLANT IF Watertown .-. r pall n • b, TOWN OF W�TERTOWN Storm Drain Outfall only storm water should flow from this pipe into the river. If you see • cloudy or discolored water, Oils and Gasoline Trash Leaves and Mulch Sediment • oil on the water flowing from Bacteria the pipe, or • water flowing from the pipe during dry weather Call the Nutrients W.RTERTOWN DEPARTMENT Of PUBLIC WORKS at 617.972.6420 Heavy Metals Keeping the Charles River cie�F ps everyones responsuilRy Only Raa Orain Watertown Deparhrtenfof Public . ® orks We're all about ...this town.°M Resistance �f,�.� d O 80 U Q O 60 Maximum rate of m � decline � 40 cn � 24 gExhaustion 0 2a 40 60 $D 'IOD PERCENT URBAN DEVELOPMENT USGS r Mwater iessues in 4" Fish Kill in the Lower Charles River Basin 4" IiARVARD� Eliot fFK 5QUARE bytl eSt g�2g Paul Bridge �* N in Re— Science in Par WATERTOWN Weeks Museum pot SQUARE m Bridge Z z Anderson SL Park 20 Hexer CENTRAL Galen S GPEt o Park Bridge SQUARE dd Fhersol �8nd oP Western Ave. Mamsc Wat� _� gr'endl sr ° x d Sax Field —s'ans ieRs 4�ti�o wenem^ve L I Bridge /// �_ Longiellowsoc { I / 'a Bridge o N.Beacon SC Arsenal St. River St. ARt Es RrvEn R°A ♦ Bridge Bridge LLSTON BridgeQ �E OP\ / CAMBRIDCE °a\px� � 'Hatch Magozitte �, .. 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' Day-to-day Administration of Permit is Deadlines and fees is Application procedures is Stormwater Management Plan requirements is Performance standards is Technical standards 41 Inspections, as-built requirements .7 Watertown Deparbwentof r pall n