Local Planning

Research and cross-town comparisons around land use planning, policies, and current practices helped us understand the effectiveness of the Mad River Valley's regulatory landscape and opportunities for strengthening it to build resilience and clean water.

RESEARCH

Planning, Policy, and Practice Report by Stone Environmental 

Between September 2015 and May 2016, the Taskforce worked with Stone Environmental to review the five towns’ existing municipal planning landscape (including plans, policies, and on-the-ground practices) related to stormwater runoff. The goal was to identify inconsistencies, gaps, and opportunities for strengthening these controls in order to have a positive impact on water quality and flood resilience.
Picture
Ridge to River Technical Team meeting. Photo by FMR

Town Road & Access White Paper by R2R Planning Technical Team

The significance of runoff from private roads and driveways in our watershed - and the development of Vermont's new Municipal Road General Permit for towns - both pointed to the importance of controlling runoff on roads. We wanted to learn more about how we could address this challenge in municipal planning, so our planning and technical team produced a white paper on the topic. 

KEY FINDINGS

Most Development-Related Runoff is Unregulated 

Most MRV development falls under state and local stormwater runoff permitting thresholds.

State Regulation:
  • Most MRV development consists of one- and two-family structures or slightly larger projects.
  • This kind of development most often does not trigger state or local permitting thresholds.
  • Therefore, most development in the MRV is not required to use erosion controls during construction or longer-term runoff management after construction.
Local Regulations:
  • Local, municipal regulations often address construction site erosion controls. But they are usually limited in considering ways to mitigate the impacts of new impervious surfaces in the long-term (including increases in water volume, velocity and pollutants). 

Minor Land Disturbance is a Major Problem

Small scale activities can have a big cumulative impact. 

On-the-Ground Interviews:
Interviews with people directly involved in MRV municipal planning and management, road construction, farming, and forestry suggest that minor, unregulated land disturbing activities are a major source of erosion, sedimentation, and flooding in the watershed. These activities include:
  • driveway culvert replacement
  • view clearing
  • residential soil  disturbance and moving
  • backyard "quasi" forestry
Across the watershed landscape, these small actions add up to much larger impacts. 

Enforcement is a Challenge

​Regulation effectiveness hinges on the capacity of municipal staff and volunteers to enforce it.

ZA & DRB Roles:
  • Staff Zoning Administrators and volunteer, selectboard-appointed Development Review Boards conduct regulatory review, enforce regulatory documents, and ensure community involvement.
  • Most MRV ZAs are part-time positions.
  • DRBs' quasi-judicial roles require technical expertise and understanding of the law, which many members don't have.
ZA & DRB Training & Resource Needs:
  • In interviews, MRV ZAs and DRB members reported that there's already a need to invest in training and support for staff and board members.
  • Any additional permit review or programmatic changes that would help reduce runoff would require significant additional resources.      
For more detailed information, view the Report by Stone Environmental, the Summary by Ridge to River's Planning Technical Team, or the Memo by Watershed Consulting Associates.

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

Ridge to River's Planning Technical Team worked from June 2016 through April 2017 to address Stone Environmental's findings and advance many of their key recommendations:

Expand Local Regulatory Authority

Support ZAs and DRBs

Develop Reliable Funding for Local Enforcement
In town regulations, reduce the regulatory threshold for construction and post-construction stormwater runoff management standards and consider a land disturbance minimum. See the draft bylaw the Planning Technical Team crafted for the Mad River Valley towns from the Vermont League of Cities and Towns' Model LID/GSI Stormwater Management Bylaw (2015). 
Provide training opportunities to support ZA and DRB enforcement of regulations. 

We've developed program concepts that include technical assistance for municipal planning, development of tools and resources, and training opportunities for administrators and board members. 
Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC) will assist Ridge to River in exploring how a stormwater utility could work in the Mad River Valley to provide a reliable funding source for the MRV towns as they try to address the scattered, incremental development causing stormwater runoff problems for resilience and water quality. 
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