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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: .June 27, 2006 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. ~-~~..~. <br />SUBJECT: Amendments to the Orange County Stormwater Ordinance for Lands within the <br />Neuse River Basin <br />DEPARTMENT: Planning and Inspections <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />1. Required Amendments to Orange County <br />Stormwater Ordinance <br />PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Craig Benedict, Planning Director, 245-2592 <br />Ren Ivins, Erosion Control Supervisor, 245- <br />2586 <br />PURPOSE: To incorporate amendments in the Orange County Stormwater Ordinance to <br />conform to requirements of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural <br />Resources (DENR) for counties within the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico River Basins. <br />BACKGROUND: To protect water quality at the local level and provide a higher level of service <br />to citizens and clients, Orange County adopted the State's model stormwater ordinance in <br />March 2001. The title of the ordinance as adopted is, "Stormwater Ordinance for Lands within <br />the Neuse River Basin". The Neuse basin covers most of northern Orange County including the <br />Town of Hillsborough. The Neuse Basin does not include the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area which <br />lies in the Cape Fear River Basin. <br />Hillsborough, which is now under a NPDES Phase II permit, is required to take additional <br />actions as its permit action plan identifies. Orange County Sedimentation and Erasion Control <br />is contracted to help the Town of Hillsborough in many aspects. In year three of the project, the <br />Town of Hillsborough has planned to include "Nutrient Export Reduction Options", but it may <br />request that it be implemented earlier as part of the annual contract work plan. <br />Control of nitrogen runoff, or export, from development projects is a key feature of the program. <br />The Stormwater Ordinance provides Nutrient Export Reduction Options for residential or <br />commercial development contributing mare than 3.6 Ibs/ac/yr of nitrogen, The options include <br />installation of best management practices (BMPs); a one-time offset payment of $330/Ib; or a <br />combination of BMPs and offset payments. Recognizing that costs do not remain static, the <br />State removed the $330 one-time payment (effective March 1, 2006) and inserted a nitrogen <br />offset payment formula to be adjusted annually based on the construction cost index factor <br />published each December in the Engineering News Record. Additionally, the name of the <br />