August 17, 2009 Stormwater Committee Meeting

Attendees

Ann Hoffnar

Diane Cameron

Kit Gage

Ed Murtagh

Elaine Lamirande

Chris Victoria

Jenny Reed

Kathy Michels

Rain Garden Update

Before the whole committee met, Diane, Ed, Kit, Elaine and Jenny discussed ongoing work on the grants. The FOSC Rain Garden Team is doing a mid-project evaluation with funding from DEP ($5000 shared equally between FOSC and ANS). The evaluation includes a short survey that all 13 homeowners who’ve gotten rain gardens thus far, are asked to fill out. Other project partners including CASA de Maryland workers are also being surveyed. The results of the evaluation will be shared with DEP, FOSC board and members, and the broader Anacostia community once they are complete; a written report and powerpoint presentation will be prepared and finalized in September for broad-based sharing of lessons learned.

The lessons learned and refined through this mid-project evaluation will be applied to the remaining rain gardens we will do this fall.

As others arrived, the broader issues involved in these projects were discussed. We noted that we need to

• make sure the demonstration rain gardens are spread throughout the Sligo watershed

• make sure the final rain gardens under the grant are completed

• the group discussed a range of rain garden candidate yards based on our prior outreach and assessment work.

• remind Pam Rowe that we need a Homeowner’s Manual

• complete the brochure “What is a Raingarden” in Spanish. Kit volunteered to insert the latest edits

• work with the County to help us prepare outreach tools. Homeowners have agreed to do outreach and they need tools: signage, which the County promised, and brochures.

 Stormwater Partners Update

Diane reported on the work of the Stormwater Partners. There are two committees working on suggestions for improving the Stormwater Regulation. They will prepare suggestions for improvement. These suggestions have to be made soon and are on a fast track.

• Bruce Gilmore heads up a committee to update and improve the stormwater code for the County. The County has to present an environmental site design requirement to the State. Diane is working with Bruce.

• Steve Dryden heads up a committee working on the requirement for erosion and sediment control and enforcement.

Evaluation of the Rainscapes Program

The county is using two areas to evaluate the program. One of them is Breewood. Ed explained his concerns about Breewood. He believes the County is setting itself up for failure. For various reasons, only a very small part (about 20 %) of the area is being addressed with raingardens and other LID. Most is either private property, school-owned and difficult to work with, or State roads. It is likely that the area will show little improvement. The County is also reportedly planning to do a stream channel restoration project as part of the Breewood project, thus raising the question of what the core focus of this project is, since it doesn’t have a strong LID core focus as we were originally told. The county has already installed two monitoring sites to gauge water flow. We need to get more land into the LID program or explain the reasons why there is so little improvement. Ed and Diane will draft a memo to send from the FOSC Stormwater Committee to DEP expressing our concerns and requests for the Breewood Project, and offering our assistance in community outreach.

Schools and LID

Kathy has been following the MCPS response to the stormwater permit requirements and finds that it is questionable whether they are going to comply properly. So what are our next steps? We encouraged the County to include the schools in the code so we are somewhat involved already. Diane suggested that we repeat what we did with the original permit. We can develop a list of suggested requirements such as: de-mythologize the supposed negative effects of LID; move to more green roofs; more permeable pavers; plant trees....

Schools and Artificial Turf

Kathy also told us about the schools’ intent to go toward use of artificial turf. There are already several sites where it has been installed. This turf is an environmental disaster. Perhaps we could write a letter to Leggett or someone lower in the ranks with a copy to Leggett, explaining that this moves the County in the wrong direction--using the Anacostia as example. Anne Ambler with Neighbors of the Northwest Branch may be able to help. Perhaps the letter could ask the person in charge what his environmental goals are for the schools.

Minutes by Ann Hoffnar and Ed Murtagh