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4a3 9-1-07 Town Council comments to NCEMC <br />Page 1 of 2 <br />AGENDA #4a3 <br />Comments to the NC Environmental Management Commission <br />from the Chapel Hill Town Council on the proposed Jordan Lake <br />Nutrient Management rules <br />Adopted September 10, 2007 <br />We thank the Environmental Management Commission for the opportunity to comment on this <br />very important regulatory proposal, and in particular for extension of the comment period as Town <br />Council members requested in public hearing. <br />In recent years, the Chapel Hill Town Council has made one of its highest priorities the protection <br />of water resources in our jurisdiction. <br />We are all aware that every water body in Chapel Hill's jurisdiction drains to the Jordan Lake <br />Reservoir, a significant regional water supply source and popular recreation destination for over <br />1,000,000 visitors each year. <br />We are aware the Jordan Lake Reservoir is on the EPA 303(4) list of impaired waters due to <br />excessive nutrients from wastewater effluents and non-point source pollution. And we are well <br />aware that several named streams in Chapel Hill are on the same list, some for similar causes. <br />We know that the State of North Carolina first directed local governments to reduce nitrogen <br />levels from wastewater treatment plant effluent into the Jordan Lake Reservoir in 1997 under the <br />"Clean Water Responsibility Act"; and we understand that those nitrogen levels have not been <br />reduced. <br />Almost alone among affected governments, we are not taking a negative position on the proposed <br />rules. This would be contrary to the direction of this Council and this government over the past <br />several years. <br />Our most significant actions to protect water resources have included: <br />Active Town participation - by staff and, at times, two Council Members -- in the Morgan and <br />Little Creeks Local Watershed Planning Initiative. These are major tributaries to the Upper Arm of <br />Jordan Lake. This was a project of the NC Wetlands Restoration Program in cooperation with the <br />Cape Fear River Assembly. NCDWQ carried out the Little Creek Biological Impairment Study as <br />part of this project. This report prioritized stream restoration sites and significant riparian land <br />purchases- making Chapel Hill far better informed about nutrient-related restoration opportunities <br />than almost anywhere else in the State. <br />Creation of a Stormwater Utility -- before full implementation of Phase II programming -and <br />immediate commencement of a comprehensive Stormwater Master Plan, being produced by <br />consultants, several Town staff, and ahighly-qualify Utility Advisory Board. <br />Above all, an in-depth revision of our development regulations to produce the Land Use <br />Management Ordinance (LUMO), with profoundly upgraded stream protection provisions. <br />We ask for clarification that we can continue to use all of the strongly protective <br />ordinance provisions and procedures which we have put into place over the past several <br />years. <br />The Town of Chapel Hill has, in its Land Use Management Ordinance, stream buffer protection <br />provisions -for areas included in our Resource Conservation Districts (RCD). Most notable is the <br />requirement for 150-foot vegetated buffers on all perennial streams. Our RCD requirements are <br />based on stream classification procedures which we believe are more stringent than the State's: <br />http://townhall.townofchapelhill.org/agendas/2009/03/26/4/a/4a3-2007_sept_1 O~jordan_la... 3/25/2009 <br />