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- Info
Ordinances for the protection of surface water bodies: Septic systems, docks and other structures, wildlife corridors, sensitive aquatic habitats, vegetative buffer zones, and bank/shoreline stabilization
| Author: |
Kelly, Martin; Phillips, Nancy |
| Date: |
1995 |
| Periodical: |
In: Enhancing Urban Watershed Management at the Local, County, and State Levels: National Conference on Urban Runoff Management; 1993; Chicago, IL: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development,Center for Environmental Research |
| Abstract: |
Local government can substantially protect surface water bodies by enacting and enforcing appropriate ordinances. As part of its Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) Program. the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) in consultation with advisory committees developed a list of seven Issues that needed ordinance models. As a result, the SWFWMD outlined and funded a project for model ordinance development. The scope of the project included preparing model ordinance language to address seven specific issues, drafting individual papers addressing the ecological and legal significance of each issue, and developing a decision model for local government planners to use in determining the applicability or need for ordinance adoption. The private consulting firm Renigar and Ray, Inc., of coastal Florida, developed under contract the model ordinances, issue papers, and decision model. This paper highlights the results of and recommendations for ordinances addressing six of the seven project issues: Placement and maintenance of individual septic systems, regulation of docks and other appurtenance structures, establishment of wildlife corridors, protection of environmentally sensitive habitats vegetative buffer zones, erosion control and bank stabilization. The seventh Issue, "Stormwater Management and Treatment," is covered in other papers in this publication. Because any ordinance is likely to face challenges, often from a number of opposing camps, issue papers were drafted to support an ecologically and legally defensible argument. While legal information contained in the detailed issue papers focuses on the Florida experience, the ecological arguments are valid over a much larger geographic area. It is not possible to consider in detail the products of this project; however, this paper attempts to transfer the flavor and scope of information available on each of the issues. The paper provides an overview on the need/justification for a particular ordinance, mentions some of the technical issues that should be considered, and recommends necessary components of a viable ordinance. |
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