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Rising Sun introduces land-development code update to require water-quality improvements in new developments
Summary
Town staff introduced ordinance 2024-05 to rename and update the subdivision and land-development code, add flexible appendices, and require developers to identify and implement water-quality and environmental restoration projects (NPDES/MS4 alignment); planning commission review and a public hearing will follow.
The town introduced ordinance 2024-05 to update the subdivision and land-development code and direct developers to address water-quality improvements as part of the land-development process.
The town administrator told the board the draft changes would rename the document to a "subdivision and land development code," add clarified definitions and appendices that staff or the town engineer can update without amending the code, and include a new section titled "Water Quality Improvement and Environmental Restoration." "In accordance with the town's National Pollution Discharge Elimination System, NPDES, Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems, MS4 Permit, the town is committed to ensuring that new developments contribute positively to the environmental health and water quality within the town," the town administrator said.
The administrator said the draft requires developers who disturb more than 5,000 square feet to account for stormwater management and, where applicable, evaluate streams or wetlands on the property and implement restoration or mitigation. "If they disturb more than 5,000 square feet, they have to do something to make sure that that disturbance doesn't have more rainwater run off the property and affect other properties," the town administrator said.
Staff further said the town faces a larger, unfunded MS4 obligation: "If we don't get grant money to do this, the town is looking at $2,750,000 is the estimated price to reduce our nutrient footprint by 2025," the town administrator warned, characterizing the MS4 requirements as an unfunded mandate absent external grants. The planning commission will review the draft and, after receiving feedback, the board will schedule a public hearing for adoption.
The administrator emphasized that appendices are intended to provide updatable technical guidance (for example, engineering specifications) and are not intended to remove required checks; "nobody's getting through the process without checking all the boxes," he said. The board did not take a vote on this introduction; next steps are planning-commission review and a public hearing.
