STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PLANNING COMMITTEE

MEETING MINUTES

October 22, 2009

The DeKalb County Stormwater Management Planning Committee (SMPC) met on October 22, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. in the DeKalb County Administrative Building, Conference Room East, in Sycamore, Illinois.  In attendance were Committee members Pat Vary,Bill Nicklas, Roger Steimel, Donna Prain, Bill Lorence, Norm Beeh, Ken Andersen, Joel Maurer,  Joe Misurelli, and Paul Miller.

1.         Roll Call -- Mr. Miller noted Tom Thomas and Mark Biernacki were absent.

2.         Approval of Agenda -- Mr. Lorence moved to approve the agenda, seconded by Mr. Andersen, and the motion carried unanimously.

3.         Approval of Minutes:

There was a brief discussion regarding Site Development Permits for agricultural structures.

Mr. Lorence moved to approve the minutes, seconded by Mr. Andersen, and the motion carried unanimously.

4.         Presentation of Contour Mapping Data:

Mr. Miller explained that the countywide contour mapping project is nearly complete and that staff anticipates delivery of the final shape files for the two-foot contour lines for the entire County by the end of 2009.  He explained that this information will eventually be imported to the County GIS as a layer of information.  Mr. Miller introduced Bruce Hamilton from the Information Management Office to present the format of the data.

Mr. Hamilton went over the process of how the contouring information is transferred into the County’s GIS systems.  He provided visual examples of the contouring over Evergreen Village, Afton Forest Preserve, and north First Street in the City of DeKalb. Mr. Hamilton explained that by March 2010 he expected to have the new aerials and contour maps on the GIS system ready for public viewing.

Ms. Vary asked if the contours could be available before the aerials are imported into the GIS system.  Mr. Lorence responded that the new aerials were in color and that they used a large amount of memory.  Mr. Hamilton added that the process would be more efficient if the new aerials and contour data were imported together.

Mr. Miller noted that the amount of topography shown by the contour data proves that the County is not as flat as is often asserted.  He also noted that the information provided by the contour maps would assist homeowners in their conversations with FEMA regarding floodplain on their properties.

Ms. Prain suggested that a landmark would assist individuals in identifying a height so that they would not have to hover over a line with the cursor to find the height.  Mr. Lorence suggested that the 10 ft intervals should have a different color.  Mr. Andersen agreed with this suggestion.  Mr. Hamilton responded that he thought he could identify the 10 ft contours with a color change.

Mr. Hamilton noted that the FEMA contours agree with the contouring shown for Evergreen Village.  He observed that this was not always the case, as in the City of DeKalb example where the LIDAR shows different contours than the FEMA maps.  Mr. Miller observed that this problem was part of the inspiration to produce the two-foot contour maps.

Ms. Vary asked how the Committee could use the information to determine depressional storage. Mr. Miller segued the response to Ms. Vary into a conversation regarding the stormwater maps that the Committee originally envisioned and other projects to be completed during Phase II of the Stormwater Management Committee.

5.         Phase 2 Stormwater Management Plan:

Mr. Miller outlined an e-mail exchange between himself and staff at Baxter & Woodman regarding the cost estimates for the map components that the County had received last year.  Mr. Miller noted that with the contour mapping complete Baxter & Woodman staff thought the contours would decrease other map components’ cost by 30 to 50 percent. 

The Committee then briefly discussed one example component such as wetlands for the stormwater map.  The Committee discussed the various types of wetlands, including farmed, functional, and jurisdictional.  The conversation concluded that, depending on the definition of wetland, the map could display two to 2,000 wetland areas.  Mr. Miller concluded that IDNR may be able to provided  their National Wetlands Inventory maps so that the County would have a starting point.

Ms. Prain also pointed out that the Army Corps would often find wetlands non-jurisdictional.  Mr. Maurer responded that this had happened in the City of DeKalb and by ordinance they had required the developer to compensate for the loss of the volume storage, rather than buy into a wetland bank or mitigate offsite.

Mr. Beeh noted that by setting standards and capacity limits for wetlands creates a Countywide enforcement measure.

Ms. Prain noted that the Land Use Committee of the DeKalb County Community Foundation had some funds available to possibly assist the Stormwater Management Planning Committee.  She also suggested that the contour data could be reviewed by an GIS intern.  Ms. Berkes-Hanson stated that internships were often more complicated to set up than they appear.

Mr. Beeh mentioned that identifying the lowest point would assist in identifying wetlands and depressional storage.

The Committee discussed watershed boundaries and the difficulty of defining size of major and minor watersheds.  Mr. Miller noted that to change the regulations to a watershed approach the County has to first identify watersheds.  Mr. Lorence agreed and asserted that once the watersheds are identified, the County could review a property and make a determination as to how to address problems in the specific watershed.

Mr. Lorence stated that if the ridge lines were identified the watersheds could be delineated.

Mr. Beeh asked Ms. Prain what would need to be done to secure the grant from the Land Use Committee.  Ms. Prain thought that a written expression of interest would constitute an application.

Mr. Miller suggested that the next steps to take in the creation of countywide stormwater management maps, which are called for to be part of Phase 2 of the Countywide Stormwater Management Plan, importing the wetlands inventory from the NRCS and seeking a means of delineating watershed boundaries, perhaps through seeking a grant from the DeKalb Community Foundation, was more than enough to bite off at one time.  He suggested taking a programmatic approach to achieving the pieces of what will constitute Phase 2 of the Plan and the accompanying Stormwater Management Ordinance.

6.         Next Meeting:

After a brief discussion the Committee decided to meet on December 3, 2009 at 3pm in the Conference Room East. 

7.         Adjournment -- Mr. Andersen motioned to adjourn, seconded by Mr. Lorence, and the motion carried unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,

Paul R. Miller, AICP

Chairman, DeKalb County Stormwater Management Planning Committee

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