Stormwater Partners Network

ESD Citizen Training Workshops Set for May in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties

Audubon Naturalist Society is co-hosting with Anacostia Watershed Society, a training workshop for citizens on Environmental Site Design (ESD) on three evenings in May.  The free, two-hour workshop, entitled “ESD Training for Citizens,” was first piloted on April 26, and will be repeated on the following dates and places:

May 10, 7 to 9 pm    —   Audubon Naturalist Society, 8940 Jones Mill Road, Chevy Chase, MD 20815

May 19 and May 24, 7 to 9 pm — Anacostia Watershed Society, 4302 Baltimore Avenue, Bladensburg, MD 20710

The Workshop’s subtitle is, “Learn How to Review Proposed Site Plans for Projects in Your Neighborhood…To Make Sure That they Fully Comply with Environmental Site Design Requirements.” The workshop will introduce citizens to Environmental Site Design, which is the new norm for stormwater management in Maryland — and will empower them to work for the success of this stream-friendly approach in development projects slated for their own neighborhoods and watersheds.   ANS Conservation Program Director Diane Cameron, and Anacostia Watershed Society consultant Bruce Gilmore are the co-presenters.  To register, contact Bruce at bgilmore@anacostiaws.org.

More details:
The first half of the workshop is a powerpoint presentation on Environmental Site Design, beginning with the requirements in the law (The Stormwater Management Act of 2007), photos of new development and redevelopment projects in Maryland and elsewhere that incorporated natural area set-asides; rain gardens; green roofs; and bioswales; and ending with a run-down on the changes to the regulations from the just-concluded 2010 General Assembly.

The second half of the workshop is a hands-on exercise in “Citizen Review of Site Plans for ESD Compliance,” using two real-world, recent development project site plans as our teaching examples.  Our main objective is that by the end of this workshop, citizens will emerge with the basic knowledge and confidence they need to ask the right questions of their local government plan review officials in order to effectively advocate for maximum use of Environmental Site Design features and stormwater retention at each site.

ANS Conservation Program Director Diane Cameron, and Anacostia Watershed Society consultant Bruce Gilmore are the co-presenters.  To register, contact Bruce at bgilmore@anacostiaws.org.

Dear Stormwater Partners,

You are invited to take a 2-hour workshop to learn how to review a site development proposal for a project in your watershed or neighborhood - a workshop is being offered to citizens:

Citizens’ Training in Environmental Site Design - How to Review Site Plans for ESD Compliance
Monday, April 26 and Monday, May 10
7 -9 pm
(identical workshop being offered twice at ANS)
ANS - Woodend
8940 Jones Mill Road
Chevy Chase, MD 20815

Lead Instructor:  Bruce Gilmore, Anacostia Watershed Society
Co-Instructor:  Diane Cameron for Audubon Naturalist Society and Natural Resources Defense Council

Spaces are left in both workshops - email Bruce Gilmore at bgilmore@anacostiaws.org today to reserve your space in this important workshop.  Come learn about the Stormwater Management Act ESD requirements - and how to advocate for them to be maximized at development projects in your own neighborhood!

Note on the Stormwater Debates in the 2010 General Assembly
Now that the General Assembly 2010 Session is over, we can return to the work of applying the Stormwater Management Act of 2007, and its Environmental Site Design requirements, to real-world development and redevelopment sites.  We will incorporate into our workshop, Montgomery County’s own ESD ordinance, soon to be reviewed and approved by the County Council, along with any changes.  Despite developers’ demands and responses by parts of the General Assembly, the approval of local ordinances, and specifically the granting of waivers and exemptions, are still up to the discretion of local governments, and we are urging Montgomery County to maintain its strong stormwater requirements — and not to expand the number of waivers and exemptions.

At yesterday’s unveiling of the Anacostia Restoration Plan in Bladensburg, one highlight was Governor Martin O’Malley citing the willingness of Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett to embrace higher stormwater standards as an example of what will be needed to restore the Anacostia. It is hoped that Prince George’s County and the State of Maryland will follow County Executive Leggett’s lead so that the Anacostia and other regional waterways may be restored.

You may remember that last December, the Stormwater Partners sent a letter to Governor O’Malley that noted that the Intercounty Connector has resulted in a net loss of 320 acres of forest in the Anacostia Watershed, despite Maryland’s pledge in the 2001 Anacostia Restoration Agreement to protect and expand forests in the Anacostia.   The Stormwater Partners’ letter asks for the State’s plan to make up for the 320 acre deficit of forest it has caused, in addition to beginning to actively protect and expand the Anacostia Watershed’s forests.

I have gotten my hands on a scan of the Governor’s reply to the Stormwater Partner’s letter.  It seems either to be an expression of contempt, or some sort of mistake.  The Governor’s reply makes no mention about anything related to Anacostia forests, but instead seems to be some sort of form letter that notes the challenges facing Maryland with the global economic downturn.   I have to hope that the State sent out the wrong letter by mistake.

 
From the Baltimore Sun:

“An O’Malley administration proposal to ease Maryland’s stringent new storm-water pollution rules won legislative approval Tuesday night, capping a fierce debate over whether the Chesapeake Bay would suffer from giving developers more time and leeway in having to clamp down on rainfall washing off their building projects.

After a three-hour hearing, the House-Senate Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review overwhelmingly endorsed emergency changes to state storm-water pollution regulations that are scheduled to take effect in a month. The revisions were proposed by the Maryland Department of the Environment after an outcry from developers and local officials had prompted lawmakers to move to roll back the regulations by legislation.”

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