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Flooding off Blake Boulevard in Pinehurst on May 29, 2020.
Flooding off Blake Boulevard in Pinehurst on May 29, 2020.
In legal parlance, heavy rainfall is considered an act of God. But when that rainfall contributes to localized flooding in basements, roads and backyards, it’s up to someone else to deal with it.
Pinehurst is reevaluating its approach to managing how that water moves through the village — and it looks like the village’s new stormwater management plan could introduce new fees for property owners and regulations for small residential building and redevelopment projects.
“Sometimes there’s a misconception. People think that we, as the village of Pinehurst, are responsible for managing every drop of water that falls from the sky within our village limits, and that's simply not the case,” Mike Apke, Pinehurst’s public services and engineering director, told the village’s Neighborhood Advisory Committee on Monday.
“Property owners are the ones that are ultimately responsible for managing stormwater across their land. That includes residential lots.”
The confusion may stem from the village’s current lack of regulations on how, or even if, residential property owners manage runoff.
The village itself completes about 25 small drainage projects every year on village-owned properties and roadside rights-of-way. The Village Council allocated $350,000 to that purpose in Pinehurst’s current budget.
The village’s network of drainage pipes, installed in various developmental phases over the years, are made of everything from metal and corrugated plastic to terra cotta. Day-to-day issues primarily involve clogged pipes and the occasional break — sometimes caused by stress from growing tree roots.
But the village’s drainage improvements focus entirely on keeping stormwater from collecting on public property, namely roads and parking areas. Officially, its stormwater drainage policies favor yard flooding — and allowing water to slowly seep into the ground rather than run downhill into a lake or sewer — to a certain extent.
“We get a lot of our drinking water from groundwater,” said Apke. “Moore County provides the majority of Pinehurst with drinking water and they maintain 17 wells through the village, so we rely on that stormwater infiltration to recharge the aquifer and supply us with our drinking water.”
A year ago, the Village Council contracted with the McGill Associates engineering firm to develop a comprehensive stormwater management and master plan. Pinehurst’s 2019 comprehensive land use plan called for the village to evaluate the creation of a new utility to coordinate stormwater infrastructure village-wide.
“Really what that is would be a separate funding source that would come into the village and we would use whatever money comes in for that to spend strictly on stormwater expenditure,” said Apke.
This month the Village Council and its Neighborhood Advisory Committee reviewed the progress so far. The plan likely won’t be ready for the council’s consideration before the end of the year, but some recommendations have emerged.
They include consolidating regulations in a single manual, and creating a new employee position dedicated exclusively to stormwater measures.
As it stands, the village’s stormwater management regulations are interspersed among the Planned Development Ordinance, engineering standards manual and drainage policies and procedures. Similarly, no Pinehurst staffer is formally responsible for oversight.
When it comes to adding new stormwater measures, Pinehurst’s existing regulations primarily apply to developers putting in new subdivisions and commercial properties.
Developers are required to install stormwater control measures — such as retention basins or underground infiltration systems in compliance with the state’s stormwater control standards — to maintain the existing runoff rate over the property in the event of what’s known as a 10-year storm.
“For the brand-new subdivision, those conversations are already taking place,” said Village Manager Jeff Sanborn. “When you’re having infill on existing lots, that’s not currently taking place.”
So far, recommendations from the McGill study of the village’s existing rules include adding similar standards for two-year and 25-year storms: meaning that stormwater measures should be sufficient to deal with both more routine rainfall and more significant storm events.
Beyond that, once those subdivided lots are sold to private homeowners, the rules get murky. Pinehurst’s engineering standards manual technically requires property owners to maintain any stormwater control measures on their properties, but doesn’t outline standards.
Engineers are also recommending that stormwater management be part of the permitting process for individual residential projects: either new homes or expansions adding more than 2,000 square feet of built area. Village staff would likely deal with those projects on a case-by-case basis.
The Village Council will next consider authorizing McGill to proceed with the second phase of planning. That will focus on problem areas around the village and analyze the feasibility of establishing a new stormwater utility as well as identifying alternative funding mechanisms.
Once the plan is complete, the Village Council will consider acting on the resulting recommendations.
“This master plan, the management of stormwater, fits into the overall planning of the village in important infrastructure ways and very basic ways that affect us everyday,” Mayor John Strickland told the neighborhood advisory group.
“It’s really important and we’ve seen the evidence of this need for some time. … So this sort of plan, with your input, will help us manage this process.”
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Unless something has recently changed, still not a dime budgeted in the next five-year stormwater plan for downtown, one of the worse stormwater issues in the village - every other area continues to get the attention of Council and Admin except actionable improvement plans and resource allocation (with a reasonable timeline) for the Central Downtown Village.
Great point. Any ideas as to why this is so?
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