The southern U.S. has become ground zero for climate change
Hurricane Harvey hit Houston hard! Several days of excessive rain and wind flooded the city with four feet of rain in places where residents never before worried.
City fathers admitted the storm surge didn’t lead to heavy flooding, but instead an obsolete stormwater drainage system with lack of green space for drainage, too much concrete, and too little stormwater regulation.
It’s a lesson flood-prone Chattanooga should heed. Despite climate change guaranteeing more frequent, intense and wetter storms, the Homebuilders Association of Greater Chattanooga has asked Chattanooga City Council to reduce South Chickamauga Creek stormwater regulations. That’s a senseless and threatening step backwards.
This is the statement in the ordinance the Homebuilders Association wishes to eliminate: for new developments greater than one (1) acre of disturbance or part of a larger plan of common development that will exceed one (1) acre of disturbance in the South Chickamauga Creek Watershed (as delineated by the City), the first one and six-tenths (1.6) inches of SOV is the required minimum design standard used to manage (infiltrate, evapotranspire, harvest and/or use) stormwater.
So, you ask, what is SOV? That stands for stay-on-volume meaning that during any rainfall, the homebuilder must have arranged property in order to hold a certain designated amount of rainwater with no runoff.
For South Chickamauga Creek Watershed, it’s 1.6 inches. Now 1.6” SOV is above state requirements, but South Chickamauga Creek has two endangered species, is on the state threatened and impaired streams list, is polluted primarily due to sediment and habitat alteration, and is highly floodable. It’s also part of sewer consent decree work.
For these reasons, city water quality people determined that homebuilders in the South Chickamauga Creek watershed should adhere to this higher standard to protect water quality, wetlands, wildlife, plants and the environment. And by the way, a large percentage of Chattanooga’s drinking water comes from South Chickamauga Creek.
Why is this 1.6” SOV requirement critical? With increasing rainfall during catastrophic storms, property where homebuilders have put in green water-holding infrastructure (e.g. bioswales, rain gardens, green roofs, and natural landscaping) prevents excessive flooding and sediment runoff into neighbors’ yards. It keeps the creek and tributaries from carrying sediment to the Tennessee River or covering creek bottom dwellers.
Further, taxpayers won’t absorb higher stormwater fees just to pay for city repair and restoration caused by property runoff that doesn’t meet the requirement. Adjacent homeowners are spared the expense of repairing damage too.
When Chattanooga’s stormwater regulations came up for review in 2014, the Stormwater Regulations Board held a public meeting. Representatives from South Chickamauga Creek Greenway Alliance (SCCGA) and homebuilders participated in discussions as regulations came to final form.
Since then, unbeknownst to citizen watershed advocacy group SCCGA, the Homebuilders Association leaders held behind-the-scenes meetings with state and local decision makers insisting on relaxing regulations. The Stormwater Regulations Board has recommended acceptance of all the newly proposed regulations except the 1.6” SOV requirement for South Chickamauga Creek. That section goes to the City Council with no recommendation.
Now it is up to citizens to raise voices supporting strong regulations. The Council will likely consider approval this month. Despite Homebuilders Association’s wringing of hands over how much higher costs are going to be and how there won’t be affordable housing, data shows that is not the case. In fact, some member homebuilders say they have not yet been asked their opinions.
Bill Payne, Chattanooga City Engineer, told the Stormwater Regulations Board that when he was hired, he was asked if he favored fish or jobs. An answer is not simple. Jobs and fish depend on a healthy ecosystem. We are interdependent on that complex natural system.
We all, including homebuilders, bear the burden and responsibility of doing our part and not passing the risk and cost to others in these changing times.
It’s fall. Invite a homebuilder to walk on the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway. See the colorful beauty as well as the sediment and banks eroded from runoff and floods. Surely homebuilders can figure out how to build affordable homes and be water-smart too.
Sandra Kurtz is an environmental community activist, chair of the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway Alliance, and is presently working through the Urban Century Institute. You can visit her website to learn more at enviroedu.net