Neenah council adopts storm sewer lateral ordinance clarifying roof-runoff limit

The Neenah Common Council on Wednesday unanimously approved an ordinance amending Chapter 25 of the municipal code to regulate storm sewer laterals and limit the amount of roof runoff that may be conveyed to a lateral.

The ordinance specifies that an allowed roof downspout shall not convey more than 50% of a resident's total roof volume to a storm sewer lateral. Council members and staff discussed how the 50% limit is calculated (by roof area contributing to the connected downspout) and confirmed the measurement method is the standard approach.

The planning commission recommended the ordinance, and Alderman Steiner moved the council approve the ordinance; the motion was seconded by Alderman Lundrum. During discussion Alderman Palmeau asked for clarification about whether the 50% cap would be applied uniformly from house to house and how the calculation would operate in practice. A staff member explained: "Basically, what we're looking at there is roof area. The amount of roof that is shedding toward, the downspout that would be connected to the, storm sewer lateral. We want that to be 50% or less."

Alderman Palmeau said he worried the community development block grant program and other federal funds had led to parcels being taken out of the tax roll in previous years; he said he would vote against related CDBG spending but did not oppose the storm sewer ordinance. The council voted 9-0 to adopt the storm sewer lateral ordinance.

The ordinance language appears in the shaded section presented at the meeting and the council confirmed the measurement method is included in that text. No public comments were recorded during the ordinance hearing.