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DeKalb County, Illinois |
Minutes of the
Stormwater
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MEETING MINUTES March 10, 2011
The DeKalb County Stormwater Management Planning Committee (SMPC) met on March 10, 2011 at 3:00 p.m. in the DeKalb County Legislative Center, Freedom Room, in Sycamore, Illinois. In attendance were Committee members Ken Andersen, Roger Steimel, Bill Lorence, Joel Maurer, Donna Prain, Pat Vary, Joe Misurelli, Norm Beeh, Bill Nicklas and Paul Miller. Also in attendance was County Assistant Planner Rebecca Von Drasek.
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 Ms. Vary, and the motion carried unanimously.
3. Approval of Minutes -- Ms. Vary noted grammatical errors within the December 2, 2010 minutes which needed to be corrected.
Mr. Andersen moved to approve the minutes as amended, seconded by Mr. Beeh, and the motion carried unanimously.
4. Watershed – Approach to Stormwater Management
Mr. Miller reported that the Committee identified at its December 2, 2010 meeting the need to consider ideas and possible regulations to take a watershed approach to stormwater management. Such an approach is one of the objectives in Phase 2 of the Stormwater Management Plan. The Stormwater Management Ordinance does not include any regulations that overtly mandate or encourage a watershed-based assessment of stormwater management. The Committee discussed at the December meeting developing a program for watershed management which could be recommended to the County and municipalities. Staff agreed to develop the outline of such a program for review by the Committee. Mr. Miller summarized the steps outlined in the staff memo dated March 1, 2011. He also noted that the funding mechanisms that are included within the State legislation, 55/ILCS 5/5-1062.2, which authorizes the collection of fees related to developments or allows for a tax for stormwater projects. The tax can be applied without a voter referendum. Mr. Miller briefed the Committee on the draft approach and noted that it was intended to spark discussion by the Committee on how best to proceed.
Joel Maurer arrived at 3:10 pm
Mr. Misurelli noted that the tax increase option redistributes the amount of tax provided to agencies for capital improvements.
Mr. Miller noted that the watershed approach will be dependent on the funding mechanism and the cooperation of the County’s municipalities. He stressed that the draft approach was created to generate discussion rather than endorse any particular method.
Mr. Nicklas agreed with Mr. Miller that the issue of money was often a determining factor as to how and what a government entity could accomplish. He noted that neither option of a new tax or additional fees were politically or practically possible. However, Mr. Nicklas suggested that municipal councils might consider allowing a portion of existing annexation fees be dedicated to addressing stormwater issues.
Ms. Vary had researched funding methods used by other entities. She pointed out that the use of grants funds would be desirable. Mr. Miller agreed that if a project is specific enough there might be grants available.
Mr. Prain noted that some engineering firms were writing grant requests for projects and then including a stipend within the applications to cover their expenses for submitting the grant.
Ms. Vary also stated that in her research she had found the watershed plans for DuPage County’s eight watersheds.
Mr. Maurer noted that DuPage County had passed the tax increase to cover the watershed plan enactment.
Mr. Lorence stated that grants were often need-specific, and it would be important to first agree on what the Committee would like to address with a grant.
Ms. Prain asserted that the EPA 319 grants cover water quality and at the same time can fund a study to determine water quantity in a given watershed.
Mr. Miller asked the Committee if a study would first need to be conducted to even determine which watershed should be addressed.
Ms. Vary suggested that even without a formal study, the Committee was well enough informed to determine where the greatest area of flooding was in the County.
Mr. Nicklas concurred and proposed that a Sub-Committee could do an initial review of a specific watershed and determine some form of response to stormwater problems.
Following a brief discussion, a consensus was reached that the Committee should focus on the Headwaters of the Kishwaukee River (East Branch of the South Kishwaukee River), where the three union ditches meet (east of Sycamore and north of Cortland). This is the watershed that has seen repeated flooding of the Sycamore Park District land and the Evergreen Village Mobile Home park.
Ms. Prain stated that the process of focusing on one watershed would allow the Committee to test a watershed approach and find out what capacity the Committee has to address stormwater issues.
Mr. Nicklas agreed and asserted that the Sub-Committee would be capable of doing some of the initial research. It could determine what aspects of a watershed approach would require technical expertise. Mr. Nicklas also suggested that some parts of the chosen watershed had been studied by the City of Sycamore. He agreed to contact the engineering firm Wills Burke Kelsey Associates, Ltd. because it had completed the previous study for the City, and request that a representative sit down with the Sub-Committee to discuss an approach to address flooding within the watershed.
Mr. Lorence observed that Baxter & Woodman had done some extensive studies on the southern half of the chosen watershed near Maple Park.
Mr. Nicklas, Ms. Prain, Mr. Miller, Mr. Steimel each offered to be part of the Sub-Committee to review the watershed information already collected and to determine a next step.
The Committee briefly discussed the capacity of the Committee to preform the study and suggested it was necessary to assign a point person. Mr. Nicklas nominated Ms. Prain and she accepted.
Mr. Nicklas offered to organize the Sub-Committee’s first meeting before the next meeting of the full Stormwater Management Planning Committee.
Mr. Andersen left at 3:50 pm
6. Next Meeting:
After a brief discussion the Committee decided to meet June 2, 2011 at 3pm in the Conference Room East.
7. Adjournment -- Mr. Nicklas motioned to adjourn, seconded by Mr. Beeh, and the motion carried unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Paul R. Miller, AICP Chairman, DeKalb County Stormwater Management Planning Committee
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