Council approves fees to offset impact of development
on stormwater runoff
The Town Council on Nov. 5 approved a set of fees for developers to compensate
for the impacts their developments will have on stormwater runoff.
The first fee system applies to development in the Trout Brook Water Shed,
a 1,700 acre area on the Cape Elizabeth/South Portland border.
The second fee system, based monetarily on the first, applies to development
in the rest of the town.
The difference between the two is that revenue generated by the Trout Brook
Watershed fee would go toward state-approved projects for stormwater mitigation.
Revenue generated from the fee in other parts of town would go toward stormwater
projects developed by the Town.
The town fee system is in answer to the Trout Brook Watershed Fee system,
which the council adopted as an alternative way for developers in the watershed
to comply with new state regulations designed to protect and improve water
quality there. Trout Brook has been classified as an "urban-impaired" watershed,
and developers generating enough new impervious surface, such as pavement
and roofing, to trigger DEP review will need to either pay the new fee, or
find a way of improving stormwater runoff problems elsewhere in the watershed.
By approving the Trout Brook Watershed Community Fee Utilization Plan on
Monday night, the council gave developers in the watershed the opportunity
to pay the fee, rather than find a mitigation project elsewhere in the watershed.
Suggested uses for the fee, as outlined in the approved utilization plan,
have generally been considered favorably by the DEP, said Town Planner Maureen
O'Meara. One use of the fee might be to purchase a conservation easement
along the edge of the brook to help restore natural buffers, which act to
cleanse stormwater of pollutants before it enters the brook.
One currently under Planning Board review, the proposed 46-unit "Eastman
Meadows" condominium project, is located in the Trout Brook Watershed. The
stormwater fee for that project, based on DEP formula, would be approximately
$19,000, O'Meara told the council.
Councilors voted unanimously to establish the Trout Brook Watershed fee and
utilization plan. Expanding that fee to development in the rest of Cape
Elizabeth, however, was only approved 6-1, with Town Councilor David Backer
dissenting and other councilors struggling with the idea.
"I don't like the idea of creating a new tax, or a new fee, whatever you
want to call it," Backer said of the town stormwater fee. "I don't see this
as an independent rationale that stands alone - it can't be separated from
the fact that there's a fee that will exist for developers in the Trout Brook
Watershed," he said.
Councilor Mary Ann Lynch said she also disapproves of impact fees, but that
after much thought she could see how adding impervious surface to all parts
of Cape Elizabeth affects water quality. "I have been able to distinguish
it, in my mind, from some of the major flaws that I see in impact fees
generally," she said.
Paul McKenney, council chairman, said he appreciated Backer's comments about
fairness, but believed that establishing the fee only for the Trout Brook
Watershed would, as suggested by town staff, undermine land-use policies
established by the town.
A portion of the areas targeted for growth by the town's current, and newly
adopted, comprehensive plan lies in the Trout Brook Watershed. Having a
stormwater impact fee only for that watershed would likely discourage, rather
than encourage, development in the target area.
"I think it would have the impact of pushing development toward areas that
have not been designated growth areas," said Town Councilor Anne Swift-Kayatta.
Previous stories:
