The North Carolina State Senate agreed yesterday on rules governing how small- and medium-sized communities will regulate storm water runoff caused by new home development and other construction.
Legislators hope the rules, hammered out by environmentalists, local governments and developers, will resolve years of legal and regulatory battles. They will affect 123 municipalities and portions of 33 counties.
"If this bill passes, we will hopefully bring to a close a chapter of confusion," Sen. Dan Clodfelter, D-Mecklenburg, before the bill passed 48-1 and was sent to the House for consideration.
The rules are mandated by the federal government, but the state had to work out the details.
The bill would require subdivisions and other home developers to install storm water controls if they build near shellfish waters.
Developers would have to set up retention ponds or vegetation to control rainwater runoff in coastal areas where more than 12% of the land is covered by buildings, pavement, gravel or athletic courts. Homebuilders and real estate agents had wanted the threshold at 24%, in line with the rules in non-coastal areas.
Rules for six large cities in the state went in place in 1990.
Source: State of N.C.
