OCPB minutes 040313 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Approved 6/5/13 3 108 Maxecine Mitchell: So you’re saying that the cutting of trees is part of the impervious surface? 109 110 Michael Harvey: That would be part of land disturbance, as we discussed at the quarterly public hearing when 111 Commissioner Dorosin asked the same question but the simple act of cutting a tree does not mean you are adding 112 impervious surface area to your property. Once you built a house, you build a driveway (gravel), these actions 113 represent the placement of impervious surface area on your property which for the majority of the County is limited 114 based on your location within a Watershed Protection Overlay District. Say you have a wooded area and you clear 115 that for your septic field, you clear additional area for view shed, to support the development of your house, that is 116 land disturbance activities. What this ordinance amendment does is make reference to existing standards that if 117 you exceed this level of land disturbance, you have to do the formal stormwater plan and we will require the site 118 specific development plan with it. 119 120 Pete Hallenbeck: So what we’re looking at here is these disturbance limits that we’re reviewing on page 18 is that 121 disturbance defined as both the impervious surface and ground that you tear up for some reason. 122 123 Herman Staats: So that I understand, cutting timber is not land disturbance if you don’t dig up the roots or bulldoze? 124 125 Michael Harvey: Cutting timber can be in certain circumstances, as defined by erosion control, can be land 126 disturbance. There are situations where it is exempt because it is either a bona fide farm or if you’re not disturbing 127 the ground cover. In theory yes, that is true but once you disturb the ground cover then it becomes land 128 disturbance. 129 130 Pete Hallenbeck: Commissioner McKee was curious how this would impact someone who wanted to build a house 131 for parents or children on their land and I’ve had some emails and worked through some examples. My take is that 132 there is no simple way to sum up the impact of this and say as long as it’s only this size house, you’re good 133 because the process requires all these different aspects. What does house disturbance footprint, which is going to 134 be an impervious surface plus some area of around it, the driveway footprint, the septic tank, other areas. Also 135 having gone through the process of having built a house in the county, there is a bunch of stuff going on, and my 136 experience was that the sooner you engage the planning department with what you’re doing the better because 137 they can walk you through the rules and this is all part of the process of designing what you’re doing. I think the 138 best you can do to explain it to people is just make them aware of this process. 139 140 Herman Staats: I remember Commissioner McKee was asking about what someone could do if they got a piece of 141 land, the recommendation that we’re making is based on the state law, is that right? 142 143 Michael Harvey: The recommendation you’re making is, instead of having the existing standard which says 144 everybody in University Lake has to give you a professionally prepared site plan no matter what, we are basically 145 linking the submission of that site plan to the stormwater land disturbance thresholds we adopted last year. That to 146 us is a universal standard. No matter what we do this is here. It’s our position, and you have agreed with it, there’s 147 no need to have multiple caveats in the code which is what we have now. 148 149 Tony Blake: The County always has the sufficient cause to ask for one (site plan). 150 151 Michael Harvey: Yes, we do what is called a site assessment now for every project typically before they even apply 152 for a building permit. Site assessment is designed to identify all environmental factors and issues on any given 153 parcel of property. Its main purpose is to identify for health, in advance of their applying for a septic permit, what 154 areas can and cannot support a septic system. We use that process, that document that we produce using aerial 155 photography to identify these types of issues. 156 157 Pete Hallenbeck: My experience has been that if you can get the idea across to people to go talk to the County first 158 you can avoid a lot of headaches and they will help you understand these Ordinances and help you work through 159 the numbers and look at the options. 160 161