Lawmakers Frustrated By Disagreement Over New Stormwater Regulations

Sometime between April 2007 and now, the nearly unanimous political support for tougher stormwater regulations in Maryland evaporated, leaving developers, environmentalists, state lawmakers and administration officials at odds just a few months before the final regulations are set to take effect.

And House Environmental Matters Committee Chairwoman Maggie McIntosh wants answers.

“Somewhere in the next month we need to get back to that position [of agreement]. As close back to it as we can,” McIntosh, a Baltimore Democrat, said Tuesday at a hearing called to address the problem.

Lawmakers called for tougher water runoff regulations in 2007. The regulations, drafted subsequently by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), include strict construction standards for new development and slightly more lenient guidelines for redevelopment projects.

But questions about who would be grandfathered in under the current, more lenient regulations, and whether the proposal would undermine Smart Browth initiatives, have bubbled up with only a few months until they take effect in May.

Some developers have argued that the increased costs associated with redevelopment projects in urban areas would actually encourage them to instead look to build in more far-flung areas, leading to greater sprawl. They also charge that millions of dollars would be lost in projects that have stormwater plans that comply with existing rules already completed, but have not yet received all of their required permits to move ahead with construction.

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