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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: June 26, 2007 <br />Action Agen a <br />Item No. °~~. <br />SUBJECT: Draft Comments -Proposed Jordan Lake Nutrient Management Rules <br />DEPARTMENT: ERCD, Planning, NRCS/S&W PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />David Stancil, 245-2590 <br />Proposed Rules Summary Craig Benedict, 245-2585 <br />Public Hearing Notice Brent Bogue, 245-2750 <br />Draft Letter to EMC (with map) Ren Ivins, 245-2585 <br />Terry Hackett, 245-2585 <br />PURPOSE: To consider draft comments on the proposed Jordan Lake Nutrient Management <br />rules, to be presented for public comment this summer, for submittal to the N.C. Environmental <br />Management Commission. <br />BACKGROUND: On May 24, the Board received a presentation on the proposed Nutrient <br />Management Rules for Jordan Lake watershed. The State Environmental Management <br />Commission (EMC) has authorized the Division of Water Quality (DWQ) to publish the <br />proposed rules in the June register and initiate a 60-day window for public comment. This 60- <br />day period began on June 15, and includes public hearings in Carrboro (July 12) and Elon (July <br />17). A copy of the hearing notice is attached. <br />The new rules are proposed to address algal growth and chlorophyll-a levels in Jordan Lake, <br />which has been designated as Nutrient Sensitive Waters. The rules will also set total maximum <br />daily loads (TMDL) for the lake to meet federal Clean Water standards. <br />A special area of emphasis in the rules is the "Upper New Hope Arm" of the lake, which. <br />includes the southern half of Durham County, portions of Wake and Chatham counties, and <br />southeastern Orange County. This encompasses the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro and <br />the Rural Buffer (New Hope Creek basin, University Lake watershed and the "Southern <br />Triangle" area southeast of .Chapel Hill) within County planning jurisdiction. <br />To address nutrient management in this portion of the watershed, DWQ proposes to implement <br />rules designed to effect reductions in nitrogen by 35% and phosphorus by 5%. The measures <br />needed to accomplish these reductions will be significant in terms of cost and other resources <br />for many of the jurisdictions, especially those that have more urban development. <br />In Orange County's case, the ramifications are quite different but no less significant. From and <br />since 1975, when Orange County became the first County in the state to adopt an erosion <br />control ordinance, to 1981, when Orange became the first local government to implement <br />watershed protection zoning, and through the present-day, the County has instituted <br />