City to update stormwater plan

The city is updating its Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan and is seeking input from the public.

The stormwater plan is a requirement of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Permit to Discharge Stormwater. The updates have been mandated by the EPA, according to Sky Schelle, the city’s stormwater coordinator.

The city will hold a public meeting at 10 a.m. on Oct. 29 at the National Trail Parks and Recreation District’s administration building, 1301 Mitchell Blvd.

The plan outlines the city’s current and proposed efforts for six requirements, including public education, participation, managing stormwater on construction sites during and after completion, detection and elimination of unauthorized discharges to the stormwater systems and good housekeeping at city-owned facilities.

Schelle said the updates will affect the overall goals of the long-term stormwater policy. The city has had the permit for over a decade, and while the requirements have not changed, the way they’re meeting the requirements need to be updated.

“(The EPA) want us to get it done this year,” Schelle said.

The updated plan will have no effect on the city’s combined sewer overflow policy or stormwater utility charges.

“It doesn’t affect it in any way,” Schelle said.

Some of the major changes of the plan deal with increased public education opportunities provided by the city. Education was previously handled by folks outside of Springfield.

“We’re trying to do more things in Springfield that the community can relate to, specific to the topics and water quality issues we have here,” Schelle said.

The goal, Schelle said, is to show citizens how affordable techniques can be implemented in their homes to help reduce the stormwater flowing into combined sewers.

“They’re not overly complicated things,” Schelle said.

The changes are beneficial because it outlines exactly what the city will do and what schedule they’ll do it on. The plan is a draft right now, and could be updated after the public meeting.

“The whole point is to describe to the public how the city is managing stormwater and what they can do to help us manage stormwater,” Schelle said. “It’s a better plan if we get public participation.”

There will likely be no changes to stormwater fines, but the city plans to rework some of the codified ordinances, which includes stormwater fines, next year.

The plan can be viewed online at www.ci.springfield.oh.us/swu/index.htm. For more information, call Schelle at 324-7739 or e-mail sschelle@ci.springfield.oh.us.

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