Stormwater Partners Network

Here is a posting from the Chesapeake Bay Trust site:

Deadline: September 25, 2010

The Chesapeake Bay Trust and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Maryland Department of the Environment are partnering with the United States Environmental Protection Agency for a special funding opportunity for green streets and other urban green infrastructure projects.  This partnership is soliciting proposals for urban green infrastructure-driven technical planning and design assistance associated with watershed restoration projects.  The highest quality projects will be part of an overall integrated community or watershed plan with the aims to improve local and Bay water quality in the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays whilecreating green jobs in urban areas. 

Local governments and non-profit organizations in urbanized watersheds located in the Chesapeake Bay region of Maryland and the Anacostia Watershed within Washington, D.C. are invited to submit requests for consideration. Those interested in projects within the Atlantic Coastal Bays watershed should consider the regular Watershed Assistance Grant Program RFP issued separately

For the full Request for Proposals and detail for this special opportunity, please click here. 

Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 6:30 to 9 p.m.;
Audubon Naturalist Society - Woodend
Social hour - 6:30 to 7:30 pm (refreshments will be served.)
Meeting 7:30 to 9:00 pm.
Location: Audubon Naturalist Society - Woodend
8940 Jones Mill Road
Chevy Chase, Maryland

please RSVP: dcameron@audubonnaturalist.org (301) 652-9188 X22

Stormwater Partner group members and interested citizens are invited to attend. We’ll discuss MDE’s draft Stormwater permit for  Montgomery County, key strengths in the draft and gaps still to fill, and our plan for the hearing and for supporting the most important programs, including the Trash Treaty, TMDL implementation plans and the code changes necessary to institute Environmental Site Design as the new norm for both greenfield projects and urban redevelopment. We will also plan our next steps to support Forest Conservation Law reforms and on the Road Code revisions, including “Green Streets.”   

 
 - Diane

Montgomery County recently released draft regulations that would be the first in the country to mandate use of “green streets” techniques to reduce roadway runoff.  The green streets approach uses specially-designed planting areas to capture and treat polluted rainwater that runs off our roadways.  Green streets techniques have long been used on a demonstration basis, but Montgomery would be the first to require that they be used in all roadway projects. 

Take Action:  Applaud Montgomery County officials for supporting this nation-leading move, while emphasizing that the numeric standards used to enforce the rules must be tightened in the future.  The draft regulations only require that a small percentage of our roadway runoff be managed using green streets techniques.  Thank the Executive for requiring all roads to include green streets techniques, but ask him to work hard to enforce the draft standards and to work towards strengthening them in the years ahead. 

Written comments must be submitted by September 30, 2008, to  Wanda Whorton, DOT/Division of Transportation Engineering, 101 Monroe Street, 9th Floor, Rockville, MD 20850; 240/777/7222, wanda.whorton@montgomerycountymd.gov (more…)

The green streets provisions of the new Road Code, which passed the County Council unanimously in July, may be the best thing since sliced bread. Then again it may not be. Time will tell.

(more…)

The Montgomery County Council voted July 3, 2007, to enact Bill 48-06, Streets and Roads - Comprehensive Revisions (the “Road Code bill”). The road code was updated to include a “Green Streets” provision. The new law mandates that a minimum quantity of stormwater from new and reconstructed county roads be retained and treated on-site, within the road right-of-way, preferably using vegetation-based stormwater management techniques. The new law’s emphasis on “context sensitive design” to meet the needs of all users, not just car and truck drivers, along with its Green Street features, brings Montgomery County into the forefront of the “Complete and Green Streets” movement. (more…)