In order to expand their urban service area boundaries, communities in Dane County must first request an amendment to the State’s Areawide Water Quality Management Plan. An important component of these proposals is demonstrating how the development will mitigate potential impacts on water resources, particularly in the area of stormwater management. While all development within Dane County must meet the stormwater management requirements in the Wisconsin Administrative Code NR 151, Dane County Ordinance Chapter 14, and the local municipal ordinance, the use of Developer Agreements can allow communities to be even more protective.
A major concern for the City of Stoughton in their consideration of a proposed 90-acre mixed-use development known as 51 West was the potential impact it could have on water levels in a number of downstream closed basins. To address this concern, the development team agreed to meet the pre-development peak rates and volumes of stormwater runoff for this development for all rainfall events through the 200-year, 24-hour storm. This agreement greatly exceeds current state, county, and local requirements for volume control.
Similarly, when the Village of Oregon considered a proposed 20-acre residential development known as the 1st Addition to Autumn Ridge, the initial proposal was met with concerns by the neighboring Town of Oregon. The concerns were primarily over the potential effects of stormwater runoff from the development on properties within the Town. Rather than push ahead, the Village appropriately took the time to first work through these concerns with the Town.
To address these concerns, the Village and the developer agreed to control the volume of stormwater runoff to match “pre-development” levels for all rainfall events through the 50-year, 24-hour storm, which exceeds current state, county, and local requirements for volume control. In addition, the Village and developer agreed to phase the development so the effectiveness of the stormwater management plan could be better evaluated prior to full buildout.
Kudos to both of these communities and everyone involved for going above and beyond the minimum requirements, improving relations with their neighboring communities as well as strengthening the approach to stormwater management in these developments.
