Spokane County is appealing a Superior Court judges ruling that invalidated two storm-water control ordinances it had adopted in 1999 and 2002 and which had broad development-related implications here.


The appeal seeks to overturn Judge Linda G. Tompkins finding last October that the county used the wrong process in adopting the ordinances for large, urbanizing areas southeast and north of Spokane.


Siding with two Spokane development companies, Moran Prairie Properties Inc. and North Division Complex LLC, Tompkins held that the county erred by adopting the ordinances under building-code criteria rather than as land-use regulations. In so doing, it circumvented the normal public review and comment process, Tompkins ruled.


One of the ordinances imposed storm-water runoff controls across a sweeping North Side area that includes a big chunk of Five Mile Prairie, but also stretches west to Nine Mile and east to Mead.


The other ordinance imposed similar controls within a large combined Glenrose-Central Park area, extending north and west from the peak of Browne Mountain. That defined area stretched west to the bluff overlooking Latah Creek and north as far as about Eighth Avenue.


Brenda Sims, manager of the countys storm-water utility section, says that rather than wait for a ruling on its appeal, the county is moving forward with stakeholder meetings as the first step to re-adopting storm-water regulations through the land-use planning process. Developers and their legal and trade-group representatives have said, though, that they will oppose any effort to adopt controls that they regard as overkill.


Sims says the voided ordinances sought to reduce basement flooding, which she describes as a significant problem in poor-drainage areas, and to provide some predictability to the handling of storm-water runoff concerns during the countys review process.


Developers contend, though, the ordinances were overreaching. For example, they say, the new rules restricted surface storm-water runoff from new development sites to pre-development levelsin other words, prohibiting absolutely any added runoff to adjoining land that might be caused by new impermeable surfacesunless the developer obtained a variance.


If were trying to protect every citizen from not getting a drop of water in their basement, its not going to be feasible, asserted Mark Richard, government affairs director for both the Spokane Home Builders Association and the Spokane Association of Realtors, in an interview late last year, before the judge tossed out the ordinances.


He and other critics said the controversial regulations forced developers to set aside large portions of developable land for evaporation pondsmonstrous mosquito-haven ponds, he called themand raised per-lot costs to the point that some projects were financially unfeasible.


Its a very real business concern. This does not affect just single-family housing. It affects multifamily and commercial projects as well, he said.


The bottom line is that the ordinance is overzealous, Richard asserted. Its not based on more site-specific science; its based on science of broad generalities. They have declared entire basins as high-risk drainage areas . The application has been taking 30 to 50 percent of the development land (in the ordinance areas) off the table.


Also, he said, It mandates title notification, so that every home will have a stigma attached to it that says this property is built in an area designated as a high-risk drainage area that is subject to high ground water.


Richard said, Our hope is (for the county) to come back with a reasonable solution for how we look at storm water, not to throw the whole thing out. Our approach has been, Lets look at each site specifically.


George Paras, owner of Spokane-based Paras Construction, which is involved in home development in the Glenrose-Central Park ordinance area, also slammed the ordinances in an interview before the judge threw them out, saying they already had begun driving up costs dramatically.


What they are is a solution looking for a problem, he said. The whole thing of it is, people have complained about having water in basements, but a lot of those things dont have anything to do with this being a solution.


He said, You cant do things on small plats with these ordinances and come out. The only way you can do it is have huge, huge parcels of land. Were seeing the immediate impact, with the ordinances driving up lot prices in some cases by up to 45 percent.


Meg Arpin, an attorneys for Moran Prairie Properties, said, There is a consensus among the engineering community, at least in Spokane County, that the ordinance is not based on sound science, the presumption that infiltration is not appropriate in these areas.


She added, Nobody believes there shouldnt be any regulations. We just want a responsible regulation that doesnt overregulate.


Sims, at the county, defends the science underlying the ordinances, and says, There seems to be a perception that the storm-water control ordinances were the regulations that required the evaporation ponds. People in the community sometimes forget that evaporation ponds are required on some of the areas of the West Plains under storm-water management guidelines that have been in effect here since 1981.


She says, I am not a fan of evaporation pondsnever have been, never will be, but she refers to them as perhaps the best crude way of imitating nature until a regional system for conveying storm-water runoff can be developed here.


Storm-water system coming?


In 1999, Spokane County commissioners rejected a proposal to raise storm-water fees to help pay for initial development of such a system, but Sims says she broached the subject with them again recently and now is seeking input from a county development task force.


I think it will happen, she says, but, I couldnt begin to tell you when.


The recent court judgment aside, runoff control appears certain to become a more frequent topic of public debate due to stiffening regulations nationally prompted by urban growth.


Storm-water runoff drains off the land after rainstorms or when snow melts.


Even though Eastern Washington is relatively arid, as developers are quick to point out, storm-water runoff still poses problems for human health and the environment, regulators contend. The runoff picks up pollutants such as gasoline and motor oil, toxic metals, animal waste, and pesticides before discharging into creeks, rivers, and lakes, they say.


The Washington state Department of Ecology calls storm-water runoff the states fastest-growing water quality problem, due to growth of the states urban areas. To comply with expanded federal regulations, it has begun developing municipal storm-water permits for Eastern and Western Washington. It expects to have draft permits available for review and comment late this year or early next year and to begin requiring them later in 2005.


Aside from the permits, the agency also will require municipalities of a certain size to implement storm-water programs that provide public education and outreach, regulate run-off from construction sites, and perform other tasks.


Storm-water management-planning efforts date back decades. The impetus for the most recent regulatory escalation, however, came in 1990 when the U.S. Environment Protection Agency, responding to congressional changes to the federal Clean Air Act, implemented Phase I of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) rules. That initial phase required storm-water permits for discharges from certain industries, construction sites disturbing five or more acres, and metropolitan areas with populations greater than 100,000.


Phase II regulations, passed in 1999, expanded the permit requirements to all municipalities located in urbanized areas and to construction sites that disturb one acre or more. Those regulations will apply to as many as 30 municipalities in Eastern Washington and 90 statewide.


To help cities and counties on this side of the Cascades comply with the new federal laws, Ecology has been working with a group of leaders and officials to develop a Stormwater Management Manual and a Model Stormwater Program. Those documents are expected to be published this spring.


Representatives from Spokane County and the cities of Spokane and Spokane Valley, meanwhile, have been working together to coordinate how best to meet the new federal storm-water mandates.