Bellingham officials discuss how to pay for stormwater mandate

By Joe O'Connell

Milford Daily News, Tuesday, December 7, 2010

BELLINGHAM — A fee and enterprise fund might be the town's best option to fund maintenance and capital improvements related to new federal stormwater management regulations, regional planners told selectmen last night.

Representatives from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council spoke with selectmen as part of an informational tour to the three local towns, Milford, Franklin and Bellingham, affected by the Environmental Protection Agency's stormwater management regulations. The agency believes the new regulations will help decrease the phosphorus level in the Charles River basin.

The representatives presented their information in Franklin yesterday afternoon, and will give the same presentation to Milford officials today.

"This evening's presentation is not so much about the regulations themselves, but about some of the funding tools the town can use in the future," said Manager of Regional Planning Services Martin Pillsbury.

The new regulations require owners of developed properties with two acres or more of impervious surface (roofs or blacktop) to intensify stormwater management practices to decrease phosphorous levels by 65 percent.

Business owners and towns could pay between $6,000 and $120,000 per acre to meet the regulations.

Pillsbury and Regional Planner Barry Keppard agreed the best option for the town would be to implement a stormwater utility and enterprise fund to help offset costs associated with improved stormwater management practices.

"It is something that we own and it is something that has been mandated," said Selectman Skip Goodnow, who acted as chairman last night. "We have to figure out how to finance it."

In a utility, fee assessments would be based on the amount of impervious surface an area has.

The fees would also be directly related to the amount of runoff a site would have. The regional planners also said the fund could help offset the cost of stormwater maintenance towns are already undertaking, such as street sweeping and catch basin cleaning.

"It is not something that is easy and it is not something that we should throw together," said Director of Public Works Donald DiMartino. "It is an awful lot of money being thrown out there and it is not as if anyone has it hanging on a tree somewhere."

Selectman Michael Connor stressed that residents may not support a new utility fee. He pointed to the October Town Meeting, where voters defeated measures that would allow the town to go for a "Green Community" designation.

"I can't imagine we are going to get a utility based in the town," said Connor.

Selectman Mary Chaves suggested the town look at its bylaws and take measures such as lowering the number of parking spaces a business can have to make sure it would not be affected by the new mandates.

"I can't even wrap my brain around where this money is going to come from," said Chaves. "You can't squeeze blood out of a rock."

If the mandates do not decrease the phosphorus levels once they are in place, local commercial owner Rick Kaplan said all three towns will look like fools because no other community would want to pay the hefty price tag.

"We are going to be the suckers," said Kaplan. "You are going to have a lot of people fighting it and we don't have that option."

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