Valley County commissioners weigh changes to stormwater design rules after conservation group's request

Valley County commissioners on May 5 held a workshop on proposed stormwater impoundment design criteria after a soil and conservation group submitted a letter asking for stronger design requirements for developments near Lake Cascade.

Dan, Valley County district engineer, said the group wanted a "new resolution" that would require more design features and review for development typically within about "a thousand feet" of the lake. He described the request as aimed at trying "to improve some of the water quality" and said he sought the commission's guidance on how far to press the issue.

The commission did not adopt any policies at the meeting. Commissioners discussed two general approaches: requiring strengthened standards countywide or creating an additional review layer that would apply specifically around Lake Cascade. Several commissioners warned against creating what one called "another layer of government" that could slow development and burden county staff.

Commissioners and staff raised examples for further research. They asked Dan and planning staff to gather information from other resort communities — specifically City of McCall and Coeur d'Alene were named — and to consult the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) about outcomes other jurisdictions have seen. County staff said McCall had adopted updated stormwater rules after a 1997 effort and later modified that approach around 2016 because staff were overwhelmed by case-by-case variance requests.

Speakers said Lake Cascade is different from many natural lakes because it is a shallow irrigation reservoir owned by irrigators, and asked DEQ whether changes in development review would produce measurable long-term water-quality improvements. One commissioner said they wanted to know "what would be the end result" and whether the process would meaningfully reduce algae blooms before creating new permit or review burdens.

Several commissioners suggested alternatives to a permanent new review board: strengthening the county's existing ordinance language to require more engineering detail from developers, limiting enhanced review thresholds to larger subdivisions (for example, triggering at a particular number of lots), or forming a short-term advisory committee to recommend ordinance changes. Planning staff indicated a DEQ presentation by Lance and a Central District Health speaker, Mike, was already planned.

Commissioners also emphasized competing priorities for county staff time and funding. One commissioner said road funding and maintenance were the county's highest priority and cautioned against assigning major new workloads to the road department without new resources.

No vote was taken on the conservation group's resolution. Commissioners instead directed staff to collect example ordinances and implementation experiences from comparable jurisdictions and to coordinate with DEQ and local public-health staff to better understand likely outcomes and technical feasibility. The county will return the topic to the board after that information is gathered.

The workshop included discussion of possible next steps — outreach to McCall and Coeur d'Alene, a DEQ briefing for the board, and review by county consultants — but no formal adoption of new design criteria.