Stormwater Partners Network

Here is the most recent version of the Core Environmental Site Design Principles for Implementation of the Maryland Stormwater Management Act of 2007.

Dear Stormwater Partners,

In keeping with our plan to hold quarterly meetings at different locations around the County, the next Montgomery County Stormwater Partners Network meeting will be on Thursday, May 8, 2008, from 6 to 9 pm at the Dayspring Retreat Center in Germantown.  For more information and directions, please go to:
www.dayspringretreat.org/contact. 

Dayspring Retreat Center
11301 Neelsville Church Road
Germantown, MD 20876

Draft Agenda:

6 - 7:30 - tour of the grounds led by Margaret Schoap of Day Spring, and informal light meal
7:30 - 9 - Stormwater Partners meeting, including:
     * a brief presentation/ discussion on the proposed M-83 highway;
    * an update on the Montgomery County NPDES stormwater permit
        (expected to be proposed by MDE “any day now”; if it is released by the time of our meeting we will have a more detailed discussion on our top issues of TMDLs, Trash and LID). 
plus -
    * The Montgomery County DEP Rainscapes Program;
    * Parks Department issues including Sligo Creek Golf Course; Northwood 4 Corners;
    * Forest Conservation Law and new Tree Ordinance proposals.
    * Environmental Site Design virtual and real tour of ESD sites - project of the MD SW Consortium.
 
Please mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information on this meeting.  Please also forward this meeting notice to your respective lists.  Thanks!

About the venue:  The site is comprised of 210 rural acres, and two buildings, a Lodge and an Inn, that are used for silent retreats as well as events serving the broader community.  The members of Dayspring are active on environmental protection issues. 

- Diane

There will be a public meeting regarding the Anacostia Watershed Restoration Plan on Tuesday May 13th at the M-NCPPC building in Silver Spring at 8787 Georgia Avenue.  According to the meeting flyer, it will be an opportunity for residents of the watershed to discuss target areas for future watershed restoration and provide an overview of study methods.  There will be a display session from 7:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m., and the meeting will take place from 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

I’m perplexed by the Maryland Department of the Environment.  It seems to me that by avoiding action on stormwater, they are creating more work for themselves. 

The MDE has the obligation under the Clean Water Act to create a plan to help impaired Maryland streams.  While the MDE has acknowledged that the likely cause of biologically impaired streams is stormwater from impervious surfaces, their plan to solve the problem hasn’t yet been released. 

In 2006, the urgency of the stormwater problem to Montgomery County streams caused environmentally concerned citizens to come together as the Stormwater Partners and lobby the MDE to design a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer (MS4) permit with stricter stormwater controls.   The permit for Montgomery County is now almost two years behind schedule. 

The Maryland state legislature last year passed the Maryland Stormwater Act of 2007.   The MDE is now being lobbied by citizen environmentalists to write stormwater regulations for this Act in a way that will help urban streams.

It isn’t clear whether the MDE is working on these projects separately or in tandem.  But in each of them, they are being asked to work on the same thing — create a plan to control the stormwater going into local streams. 

Good background for the Forest Conservation Law can be found in Montgomery County’s Forest Preservation Strategy 2000 and Forest Preservation Strategy Update 2004.  (They are located on the Department of Environmental Protection’s Tree Program page)