CNU, EPA join to form "Rainwater Initiative"

A group of CNU members has formed a “Rainwater Initiative” aimed at reforming federal regulations that encourage sprawl. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “has been issuing and promoting new source- and volume-control regulations that are site-based, not watershed-based, and these have the unintended consequence of promoting sprawl rather than fixing it,” declares a statement adopted by the organization.

The group of about 65 individuals from government and the private sector named Paul Crabtree, Lisa Nisenson, Tom Low, and John Jacob to a committee that will attempt to work with EPA and others to change the rules. Crabtree, president of Crabtree Group, a planning, engineering, and project management firm with offices in Colorado and California, said the most urgent need is to intervene in the EPA stormwater regulations process, which is now going through a major revision.

The organizers are gathering anecdotes from practitioners and regulators that show how current regulations have spurred greenfield and low-density development and made it harder to carry out “sprawl repair” and redevelopment.

The evolving rules “require handling and treating rainwater volume on individual development sites,” which encourages larger lots to retain the runoff, the group explains. “Where land is in short supply, developers and municipalities must find or ‘manufacture’ space to hold this rainwater volume, which is an expensive proposition. Because much of the most valuable land was converted with the recent development boom, the remaining urban sites are likely to have fewer resources available for runoff management.”

“Compact development relies on sharing facilities among sites, including rainwater,” the group points out, but regulations and zoning make such sharing difficult. As currently regulated, stormwater management focuses on mitigation, not prevention, the organizers say. Consequently, preventative aspects of smart growth, such as redevelopment and building up rather than out, “are not recognized, and often punished.”

One stratagem involves using the SmartCode’s model form-based code to establish an ideal for rainwater management regulations. Other tactics include reaching out to the US Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Transportation and responding to Texas low-impact development competition that is perpetuating sprawl. To join the listserv, write to pcrabtree@crabtreegroup.net.