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Stormwater program staff brief council on MS4 annual report, potential state law changes
Summary
City stormwater staff presented the annual MS4 report, noting upcoming IDEM audit, proposed state bills that may limit local construction stormwater requirements, and planned updates to city stormwater ordinances and mapping.
John Goetz, a staff member who presented the annual Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) report, told the Columbia City Common Council on March 25 that Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) will audit the city's stormwater programs this year.
"We were contacted by IDEM's stormwater coordinator for MS4s, and we're going to be audited again this year," Goetz said, listing education, participation, illicit-discharge detection and municipal-operations programs as areas to be reviewed.
Goetz said the city is in the third year of its current MS4 permit and that the next permit cycle would likely start in 2026. He reported the city conducted 13 construction-site inspections last year and expects the post-construction inspection program to include about 17 sites this year, each required to perform an annual checklist for basins or water-quality structures.
"We did inspections at 13 sites last year ... and the post construction program continues to grow. I think we're up to about 17 sites that we're gonna be participating in the post construction inspection program this year," Goetz said.
Goetz also described proposed state legislation that could limit local stormwater regulation. He referenced language described in the meeting as a "no more stringent" provision and a separate bill (identified in the presentation as Bill 1460) which would require local governments to use FEMA floodplain data and NOAA precipitation values in subdivision ordinances.
"There's 1 hospital, 10 37, that would say that any community...can't have construction stormwater requirements more stringent than the construction stormwater general permit, by IDEM," Goetz said, adding that it was unclear whether such measures could affect local permit review fees.
Councilmembers asked for copies of the updated water characterization report that Goetz said he intends to post on the city website. Goetz said some public-education efforts will be stepped up, and the city needs to complete an updated MS4 map and finalize proposed ordinance changes that slipped past an original 2024 target.
No formal action was taken; Goetz asked councilmembers to raise further questions and said he would follow up with additional documentation.
