Two weeks ago past councilman Richard Grubb spoke to council during an "Items from the Audiance talk" about the high costs of stormwater management in Redmond. He was concerned that stormwater fees have increased from $3.00/month in 1988 to $16.56 today.Granted, stormwater treatment helps to remove sediments and pollutants from run-off before it gets into Bear creek and the Sammamish River. In addition, the city uses stormwater fees & grants to pay for stream and wetland restoration projects for new developments and along Bear & Evans Creek and the Sammamish River. Expensive retention ponds have recently be intalled along the Evans Creek industrial basin. In additon, I think fees have been applied to permit approvals and preservation of Keller Farm wetlands. Keller Farm wetlands are vital to aquifer recharge. Our aquifer supplies 40% of our drinking water. Meandering our waterways to control floods and preserve fish habitat is also funded through stormwater fees & grants.
It is clear, the city really does care about flood mitigation, safety of our drinking water, protection of endangered salmon, and the "swimmability" of Lake Sammamish and the slough. But, as Councilman Hank Margeson stated at the last council meeting -- a 452% stormwater rate increase over 20 years is something to look at. Mr. Margeson is Chair of the Planning and Public Works Committee. It meets the 2nd Thursday of the month at 4:30 pm in the room off of city hall chambers. Hank's committee has responsibility for looking at stormwater treatment issues.
Besides protections of our natural resources and environment stormwater fees will be used to help pay for the new $40 million Regional Treatment facility planned for the Downtown. In 2007 our residential stormwater rate increased by $6.58 to $16.56/single family home just to pay for the Regional facility. Did you notice this on your utility bill last year? According to Mr. Spangler in a 7/25/07 King County meeting, stormwater fees are about 2x those of Seattle.
The city's rational for this 40% increase is "everyone benefits" from the regional stormwater system since about 90% of all treated residential stormwater eventially drains into the Sammamish River. Councilman Pat Vache had concerns about maintenence of private facilities . Maintenance of commercial facilities is "code enforced" and paid by rate fees, according to J. Roetemyer, stormwater engineer. Public Works Director Campbell wasn't clear about maintenance by Homeowners Associations' facilities being "code enforced".
According to Mr. Jon Spangler, city Stormwater Manager, the complete facility will be built by 2011 -12 and have the capacity to ultimately treat 500 acres of future downtown development. Presently, 32.5 acres are developed and will be serviced regionally.
Drivers be aware - a major regional trunk-line on Redmond Way will be built by 2009. You can find the regional stormwater facility MAP "here".
I wrote a story on this in 8/30/07. You can find it on this blog's search engine by searching "spangler regional".
If your numbers are accurate, Mr. Margeson should be less concerned with a 452% increase in 20 years, which is less than 9% growth per year, compounded annually, and be more concerned with the 60% increase in the last year.
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