Ann Hoffnar
Ed Murtagh
Kathy Michels
Jenny Reed
Diane Cameron (guest)
Raingarden in Takoma Park
The neighborhood meeting attracted a small number of neighbors but they were the active ones, the leaders. All heartily approved the plan. We held a work event to dig the garden on November 5 and had many volunteers, including several people from the neighborhood. Because the ground was so compacted, and the stones we thought were being donated by the City of Takoma Park were not free, we ask for and received authorization from the Board to spend up to $350. That money was used to hire workers for the heavy digging and to install drain boxes and ADS pipes. Clair Garman hired and supervised the men who did the digging before the November event. We hope the planting event that is set for tomorrow will finish this part of the project. We still plan to put in another smaller raingarden uphill from this one in the spring.
More details:
Pat Howell wrote an article about our raingarden efforts for the Voice and plans a follow-up.
We will follow up to confirm if DEP is still committed to providing the signage this fall, to put a link to our web page from the Rainscapes website, and provide a workshop in the spring.
Green Matters Symposium
This symposium is held every year and the upcoming symposium (Friday February 24, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) is on LID landscaping. Brookside Gardens is the host. We need to get as many people out as possible—using our listserv, the newsletter and targeted emails to groups within Friends
Clean Water Act NPDES Permit
Diane Cameron came to talk to us about this permit. She is working with the NRDC to draft comments on it. She and others, we hope Friends of Sligo Creek, will be making verbal comments at the hearing set for the 29th of November. Diane is looking for suggestions from us and will work with everyone to help focus the issues. Some background:
The permit is issued/renewed by the State every 5 years. However, the State asks Montgomery County to draft the permit.
At first the permit drafters were just concerned with flood control; then the concern expanded to ponds to catch sediment and improve water quality; now the language puts more emphasis on LID. But it is still written to correct problems after development has created them.
Some staffers are ready to move to setting code to prevent problems, but they need support.
Katherine Kelly, who works for the City of Rockville, tells us that Rockville is very forward thinking. Diane will check into what they have done.
The current stormwater permit and stormwater annual report are on the DEP website.
With present budget cuts, water quality monitoring is actually being reduced.
Montgomery County is not asking for any substantive changes in the next permit.
Diane suggests they need to ask for public comment.
DEP is the lead for the county in protecting our waterways and in preparing the Stormwater Permit, but they are not involved with the stormwater approval/permit process (a Dept. of Permitting Services responsibility). We need a lobby to match the developer lobby!
Other Items Addresses by the Group and Diane
The Floreen Stormwater Bill has no teeth. Diane is thinking of drafting a revision to include prevent; reduce; capture and treat; retain. We could all write letters based on Diane’s draft.
We discussed the possibility of a Cross-Watershed Summit. It would be a very large undertaking, one for which we would need a large grant and paid staff. We will discuss further at a later date.
