Homebuilders care about the environment as much as anyone. Clean air and water, healthy rivers and estuaries, thriving wetlands and other natural resources are essential to building and sustaining the residential communities that builders create. However, homebuilders understand better than most that environmental protection sometimes comes at a cost that exceeds its purported benefits.
The Patrick Administration recently announced a proposed new statewide program to reduce stormwater runoff that pollutes rivers and streams, requiring all privately owned developments with large paved surface areas to mitigate the causes of stormwater pollution. Owners of large parcels will have to control pollutants before the stormwater runs off their property.
When it rains, stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces such as roadways, parking lots and roofs, carry pollutants into lakes, rivers and streams. The source of many of these pollutants, such as phosphorus, is acid rain carried from coal-fired energy plants from other parts of the country. Nevertheless, it will be property owners in Massachusetts who will be required to address the problem.
The new stormwater program will require all private property owners of impervious surfaces of five acres or greater to implement so-called “good housekeeping” measures, such as establishing a written plan for stormwater management, training employees and regularly sweeping parking lots.
In addition to implementing these “good housekeeping” measures, new developments and redevelopments with impervious surfaces of five acres or greater will also have to meet new stormwater standards that will require the utilization of “best management practices” to achieve compliance with the new regulations. These practices may involve the installation of rain gardens and infiltration basins that capture runoff, or the use of rain barrels to reuse or recycle rainwater.
Pricey Plans
Within the Charles River watershed area, private property owners of impervious surfaces two acres or greater will not only be required to implement “good housekeeping” measures and utilize “best management practices,” but also install stormwater control systems. These systems, which are designed to reduce pollution, must be installed within 10 years.
The new stormwater program in intended to apply to all types of uses – commercial, industrial, educational, medical, residential and retail. Although in some instances the cost of compliance with this new government mandate may be relatively inexpensive, in many instances it could threaten the economic viability of a proposed development or undermine an existing one.
Those homebuilders who survive the current depression in the housing market could be saddled with additional costs that will make their product even more unaffordable to future homebuyers. Non-profit developers of low and moderate-income housing – especially larger multi-family developments – may find it more difficult to secure financing. Retrofitting a large apartment or condominium complex will likely mean higher rents for tenants and special assessments on unit owners to pay for the installation of infiltration basins and similar capital improvements.
It is not only the housing industry that will be affected by the new stormwater program. Colleges and universities are reeling from the losses incurred by their endowments. Businesses are struggling to find the capital they need to stay open. Retailers suffered their worst holiday shopping period in recent history. Nonetheless, replacing a roof on an existing dormitory, office building or shopping mall will trigger compliance with the proposed regulations. So will repaving a relatively small portion of a hospital parking lot. In each instance, compliance could potentially impose enormous costs without necessarily achieving any meaningful environmental benefit to the commonwealth.
That the proposed stormwater program could harm all sectors of the Massachusetts economy is more than unfortunate. The continuing credit crisis, deepening national recession and falling stock market are pushing many businesses and institutions to the very brink of survival. Imposing a new and costly regime of environmental regulation at this time would be a terrible mistake.â–
