Agenda - 01-27-2009 - 3 - Laserfiche WebLink

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2 of the County (including Mebane) is in the Haw River Arm, where 8% reductions in nitrogen and 5% reductions in phosphorus are proposed. As outlined in the staff report, some key issues, challenges or opportunities to be aware of include: • The potential cost (as yet undetermined) of retrofitting existing development to meet the reductions. • The potential to have to overtreat new development stormwater if existing development reductions are not met. • The potential for nutrient trading and offsets — where an opportunity may exist for the County to use existing programs to offset and/or mitigate nutrient-loading. • The potential difficulty in meeting a 35% nitrogen reduction in the Upper New Hope, which is heavily forested and is expected to have a low loading rate. • The County's long history of watershed protection, on-site infiltration of stormwater and non-structural controls may serve to greatly lessen the impact on the County and citizens in the County's jurisdiction. • Many local governments have made comments to the State that substantial funding assistance is needed to accomplish the implementation of these rules. • The rules may face opposition from several quarters in the General Assembly this spring. The first milestones for implementing the Jordan Lake Rules, assuming their adoption, is still two years distant and the full implementation and nutrient reduction is planned to be accomplished over a decade - or slightly longer. However, the potential costs of implementation are unknown and perhaps substantial, and the potential benefits will require significant further discussion and planning. With these challenges and benefits on the horizon, an early start toward planning for the implementation may be prudent once final action is taken. FINANCIAL IMPACT: The full costs of implementing the Jordan Lake Rules are not presently known, but have been estimated between $230 million - $530 million for all local governments in the watershed over the full term. Orange County's jurisdiction is more rural, and County subdivision regulations have long focused on on-site infiltration and non-structural measures to reduce nutrient loading. This fact should work to reduce the County's potential implementation cost, but the degree to which this is true will not be known until more data is received about existing nutrient loading rates. Future Capital Investment Plans may need to reflect implementation measures during the period 2011-2020 once more is known about the costs of implementing the rules. As the rules progress toward enactment, staff will continue during the coming year to assess and evaluate the actual costs associated with implementation. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends the Board receive the staff report and discuss the implications and related issues and provide feedback and direction as needed.