Agenda #5, 6 and 7
TO: Chapel Hill Town Council
UNC-CH Trustees/Chancellor
FROM: David Owens
RE: Background on Topics for Discussion
DATE: February 11, 2009
The Town/University Joint Staff Work Group (JSWG) has prepared background information for your discussion of the Town and University interests in transportation and the stormwater utility as they related to Carolina North.
It is anticipated that each of these topics will need to be addressed in plan refinements and provisions in a development agreement for Carolina North. It would be useful at this point for you to discuss Town and University policy perspectives and any policy guidance you want to provide staff on these topics. This can take the form of policy directives on which there is consensus, identification of alternatives you would like to see developed, or additional information or analysis you would like to receive on these topics.
For the transportation topic, a staff PowerPoint presentation will be made at the meeting to provide an update on transportation studies and process. For the stormwater utility topic, information initially distributed at the January meeting is reprinted below.
Stormwater
Policy statements in past reports: The HWCC recommended that the Town ensure that development of Carolina North results in no net increase in stormwater discharge. The HWCC also recommended establishing the stormwater requirements that were adopted for the main campus by the Town Council on July 2, 2001 as the minimum standards for the development of Carolina North.
In the LAC process, the University agreed that the stormwater requirements for the main campus adopted by the Town Council on July 2, 2001, will be adopted as the minimum standards for the development of Carolina North. The University has also suggested that development at Carolina North meet the most stringent of the Jordan Lake TMDL’s, the LUMO OI-4 Stormwater regulations, or any applicable NPDS permit.
University proposal: With regard to stormwater management UNC-Chapel Hill is different from other land owners in Chapel Hill in that the University is required by Federal and State law to have its own stormwater management permit. The University owns, operates, and maintains an extensive stormwater system, and has a program in place to achieve compliance with the requirements of that permit which applies to all University-owned property.
Joining the Town’s stormwater utility would not relieve the University of the requirements of its own permit. Maintaining compliance with that permit should meet the Town’s interest in the management of stormwater on University property. Since we are doing that without participation in the Town’s utility, it is difficult to see a performance gain that would follow from joining the utility.
University faculty conducts research on stormwater management using the University’s facilities – flexibility to pursue this research while maintaining the required level of compliance is necessary.
While the North Carolina Attorney General has taken the position that municipalities cannot require State agencies to join local stormwater utilities, that opinion also provides that State agencies should pay for services provided by a city or county. To the extent that both the University and the Town depend upon each other’s infrastructure for their respective stormwater management activities, the net burden could be evaluated and an appropriate accommodation negotiated. The University’s recurring costs for stormwater management in 2008-09 will total nearly $450,000 and accumulated one-time expenditures for compliance are in the tens of millions.
Key Questions on Stormwater: