Rain that falls on impervious surfaces is one of the greatest threats to the wellbeing of communities and waters of NC. We know that 1 inch of rainfall on 1 acre of impervious surface cannot soak into the soil and results in 27,000 gallons of runoff that flows to our streams. That same amount of rainfall on the same area of forested land produces 0 gallons of runoff. This is clearly a dramatic difference that has calamitous impacts on our streams, rivers, lakes, and communities. These degraded streams quickly erode, taking the land of their communities with them downstream and polluting the waters of others.

Prior to 2018, communities across NC had the option to decide if and how they wanted to address the growing amount of impervious surface there was in their communities. On December27, 2018, Senate Bill 469 became law (Session Law 2018-145). Section 26 of this law stripped local communities of the authority to decide whether or not they wanted to require stormwater mitigation controls on redevelopment projects. Section 26 stipulates that redevelopment projects (think an old mill or strip mall being turned into something new) cannot be required to install new or increase existing stormwater controls on the project site.

This means that once concrete or pavement is poured, there is no way for a local community to ever consider removing it or require any sort of stormwater mitigation component be added to an existing site. Our hands are tied.

We write to implore you to remove Section 26 of Session Law 2018-145 from the state statutes and allow local communities, if they so choose, to create stormwater control measures for redevelopment projects. Without this, the state will inadvertently continue to mandate the continued erosion of our communities.