INC NEWS - Summary of First DWQ Public Hearing

[pat carstensen]

I was at the hearing and this is NOT what I heard.

I heard a LOT of pious whining from special interests about how they weren't 
going to continue to make a lot of money building however they wanted (the 
$300,000 houses are not longer going to be affordable, I guess).

The "emotional" environmental groups talked about how yucky it is to roll a 
kayak in parts of the lake, that more and more of us are going to be drawing 
drinking water from the lake, and growth is only going to make the problems 
worse.

What makes sense to me is that when you're in a hole, the first thing to do 
is quit shoveling.  That is, for goodness sake, don't do any more 
development that makes the problem worse.

I will agree with Water Management that all the low-hanging fruit in terms 
of cleaning up our waste water has been picked, eaten, digested, and is 
generally gone.  I don't think Durham should be penalized for having made 
more and earlier investments than most in making sure what we discharge is 
as clean as possible.

I think local government has a legitimate gripe that they are getting an 
unfunded mandate to figure out what to do.  And as I said earlier, when a 
lot of the problem comes from existing residential development, there are 
limits on rules and regulations can do, and we need to realize the potential 
of the informal exchange of ideas among neighbors about rain gardens (talk 
to the Shifletts), better fertilizing methods, terraces and strategically 
placed flower beds.

So what I would advocate if you are sending in comments:
* If you are doing something to reduce run-off from your property (or have 
ideas you want to try to spread in your neighborhood), let them know about 
that.
* We need carrots and sticks to get more low impact development (which 
basically means that the run-off gets dealt with locally rather than down 
the stormwater drain to the lake)

Regards, pat





>From: David Harris <harrisdl2003 at yahoo.com>
>To: INC INC <inc-list at durhaminc.org>
>Subject: INC NEWS - Summary of First DWQ Public Hearing
>Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 05:38:33 -0700 (PDT)
>
>Summary of First Division of Water Quality (DWQ)
>Public Hearing Held Last Week, July 12th in Carrboro
>Jordon Lake Rules
>Background: The Division of Water Quality is holding a series of public 
>hearing hearings regarding the Jordon Lake Rules. On July 12th, DWQ held 
>the first public hearing in Carrboro, NC. The proposed rules would be 
>costly, rigorous to implement, and unfairly place a disproportionate share 
>of the burden of cleaning up Jordon Lake on new development, homeowners and 
>local governments.
>
>What Happen at the First Public Hearing?
>Here’s a quick summary of the meeting:
>• Around 150 people, including DWQ staff, attended the meeting on July 
>12th.
>• Approximately 48 people spoke at the hearing.
>• 25 of the 48 who spoke expressed opposition to the proposed rules; 23 
>spoke in favor of the rules. TCC, The Triad Real Estate Building Coalition, 
>the HBA of Durham Orange and Chatham Counties as well as Lisa Martin, of 
>the NC Home Builders Association all spoke out against the rules as 
>proposed.
>• The environmental activist groups (Haw River Assembly, Environment NC, 
>and the Sierra Club) all spoke in favor of the rules---and asked that the 
>DWQ implement the rules as planned and faster, if possible.
>• All of those in favor of the rules based their arguments on emotions.
>• Chatham County was the only elected board that spoke in FAVOR of the 
>rules.
>• The Town of Graham and the City of Greensboro both spoke AGAISNT the 
>rules.
>• All of the arguments AGAINST the proposed rules were based on logic, 
>data, and facts.
>Next Steps---Speak or Write
>There are two more public hearings on July 17th at Elon University at 1:30 
>PM and 6:00 PM. Also,
>citizens can submit written comments to DWQ by August 14, 2007.
>
>Please send your comments to:
>Rich Gannon or Jason Robinson
>DENR-Division of Water Quality, Planning Section
>1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1617
>Phone (919) 733-5083, ext. 356 or 537, Fax (919) 715-5637
>Rich.Gannon at ncmail.net or Jason.T.Robinson at ncmail.net
>
>  David Harris
>919-906-2023


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