City Council is considering asking staff to review some of the city’s environmental regulations this week. This is to protect the city against the increasing threat of flooding, industrial discharges, and heat island effect that are all too common in large cities. Luke Metzger, Environment Texas’ executive director. TweetHe looks forward to the passage regulation that was proposed almost five year ago but lost the way with the passing of the RewriteThe Code of Land Development for Cities.
Kathie Tovo, a Council Member, is sponsoring this event resolutionTogether with her colleagues, Councilmembers Vanessa Fuentes Ann Kitchen and Pio renteria, Paige Ellis, Council Member, inquired Tuesday during the work session if Environment Texas was supporting Tovos’ proposal. Metzger explained to the Austin MonitorLater, he would address Council in support of the resolution on Wednesday.
Metzger stated that the most important regulation is the functional green program. This would require properties to have 80 percent or greater impervious cover when redeveloping in order to meet infrastructure-based requirements like green roofs, landscaping, and controlling stormwater runoff.
He said that while the resolution does not contain all the items in the proposed Land Development Code but his group still supports the resolution in its entirety.
According to the resolution staff from several departments spent considerable effort creating draft ordinances for consideration by the Planning Commission and Council to further the city’s goals of significantly increasing stormwater infiltration on-site. This included, among others, requiring all subdivisions or site plans in urban watersheds to comply with steep slope protections.
Staff are also directed to submit a plan to address equitable protection of the environment in Austin by Nov. 1, with an emphasis on Blackland Prairie.
The resolution directs the city manager to create procedures by Sept. 15 to do water quality sampling of creeks “located immediately downstream from semiconducter manufacturing plants, concrete batch plants, automobile manufacturers, battery manufacturing plants, fuel storage tanks, and other industrial businesses.
The resolution also directs the city manager, to conduct a financial analysis for each code modification and to determine the estimated costs of doing nothing. This includes stabilizing creeks after scouring and erosive flooding; mitigating bacteria in creeks, lakes, and increasing stormwater infrastructure throughout city.
Council Member Leslie Pool requested to be added co-sponsor along with Mayor Pro Tem Alison Alter. Alter stated to her colleagues that it was important and long overdue for some of these issues to be addressed. Alter noted that there had been discussions in the Council water oversight committee about the issues and added that staff needed to present some amendments to Wildland-Urban Interface Code.
Mayor Steve Adler appeared reluctant to proceed with the resolution on Thursday. He suggested putting off the item until June 9, but it wasn’t clear if Tovo and her cosponsors would agree.
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