Rain, Rain, Go Away.......

Looks like rain is in the news alot lately. First off, every snowstorm has turned over to rain so far this year. Second, the City wants to start taxing the rain that falls on your property. I cant do much on the first, short of asking the guys over at Haliburton to reprogram that weather machine they have. On the second thing, well, I can speak to that. The City has determined that the good folks of Bangor are in violation of the Clean Water Act, mostly due to lack of clean-up efforts on several "impaired" urban streams. I know, I know, its hard to get your head around WTF that means. Well, in a nutshell..The City has several local streams that drain neighborhoods. These streams are part of the overall watershed of the City. By understanding the effects of rain water runoff within the watershed, the City can develop measures to control pollution, siltation of streams, and possible flooding. We've all seen the kids from the Middle School marking the catch basins near our homes. This effort works to keep unwanted pollutants from going into the streams, killing off the fish, etc. Same type deal with the run-off. The proponents of the law claim that your car is leaking oil and gas on your driveway, and rainwater flushes that into the streams. They also put forth the notion that the rain that falls on your house runs directly into the City's system. Neither one of these is even close to being true at my house. Let's look at the two major impaired streams in the City. The one at the mall, and the one at the mall. See a pattern? Hell, one of them even has the airport and the Air National Guard base drainage flowing into it. So that's the big picture, we're being asked to pay for sins of the past, that was condoned by the City (at the time), and helped the US Govt. and private developers. OK, I get it now.....??? But the City is asking me to pay for this. Isn't that a little, ex post facto? All right now, that sounds fair!!! The ANG dumps fuel on the ground, the developers pave over 95% of a marsh and cow pasture, and somehow (keep in mind I was around 5 at the time) I am responsible for the clean-up efforts. That's just the beginning kids, lets look at how the "stormwater fee" has been set up....

"No charge for residence or business that have less than 500 SF of impervious surfaces (roof or driveways for this explanation)" I cant think of a single developed lot in the City that qualifies for this exception.

" A $22 annual fee for those with impervious surfaces of 501 to 1000 SF" Again, that's a small home with driveway and garage, not as many of those as you would think. Art Morgan says its 74% of the housing stock, but I really doubt that number. Did someone from the City go over old aerial photos and measure all the lots up? Really?

"After 3000 SF, add an additional $11 for each 1000 SF"

So that's the fee structure. But how was it derived?? My house sits on a large lot. The run-off from my roof area never leaves my property. Its a good 30 feet to the street, and the gutters control the runoff and directs it across my lawn. Not to mention my rain barrels. No harm to the watershed there. So that leaves just my driveway. It falls into the 500 SF category, does that give me some sort of rebate? What if it doesnt rain? What if we get a flood? This is very confusing to your average Joe. I got a kick out of Andy Hamilton being quoted in the BDN concerning the City's need to follow this Federal mandate (or is it a mandate Andy?). He'll be the same guy representing 20 locals that will sue the City over this, mark my words. I'm sure he knows plenty about the hydrology and methodology in defining small urban watersheds, and the shortcomings of the Federal and State program models. This is something that should be squashed before this voodoo science gets traction and rolls right over us.

Someone throw me a life jacket.