Law & Policy

PROJECTS

One of the partners in the CCRFR is the Virginia Coastal Policy Center (VCPC) at the William & Mary Law School. The VCPC provides science-based legal and policy analysis of ecological issues affecting the state's coastal resources, providing education and advice to a host of Virginia’s decision-makers, from government officials and legal scholars to non-profit and business leaders.

With two nationally prominent science partners – the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, one of the largest marine research and education centers in the United States, and Virginia Sea Grant, a nationally recognized broker of scientific information – VCPC works with scientists, local and state political figures, community leaders, the military, and others to integrate the latest science with legal and policy analysis to solve coastal resource management issues. VCPC activities are inherently interdisciplinary, drawing on scientific, economic, public policy, sociological, and other expertise from within the College of William & Mary and Old Dominion University and across the country. With access to internationally recognized scientists at VIMS, to Sea Grant’s national network of legal and science scholars, and to elected and appointed officials across the nation, VCPC engages in a host of information exchanges and collaborative partnerships.

The VCPC publishes on its website a number of reports each year analyzing law and policy issues related to sea level rise and recurrent flooding. In addition, the VCPC hosts an annual fall conference to highlight and address a variety of coastal policy issues.

VCPC reports

VCPC Annual Fall Conference

In 2017 the General Assembly passed HB 1774 charging CCRFR with examining opportunities to improve stormwater management in rural localities located in Tidewater Virginia while meeting or exceeding water quality requirements. VCPC convened a stakeholder working group and VIMS and ODU experts provided scientific and engineering support.

As a result of the working groups consensus findings, Delegate Hodges proposed legislation during the 2018 General Assembly session.

HB 1774 Report

HB 1774 (2017)

HB 1774 Report

Key Findings

Recommendations

The Workgroup agreed that all of its recommendations apply to rural Tidewater localities, which it defined as localities within the Northern Neck, Middle Peninsula, and Accomack-Northampton Planning Districts that are eligible to join the Rural Coastal Virginia Community Enhancement Authority established by § 15.2-7600 and are subject to the provisions of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, § 62.1-44.15:67. The Workgroup also noted that, throughout their discussions, they thought of Caroline County as one of the localities that should be covered by these recommendations, and data from Caroline County was used as part of the Workgroup’s decision-making process.

Given the fact that the Chesapeake Bay program is currently reviewing ditch management as an effective stormwater management practice, the Workgroup identified seven possible funding sources that the Governor, General Assembly and others could consider to fund the development of targeted BMPs to reduce agricultural pollutant load in rural Tidewater localities and potentially save money for the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) if private entities improve and assume maintenance of some ditches in VDOT’s drainage network. Such possible funding sources include the creation of a subfund for the Stormwater Local Assistance Fund.
In order to address concerns raised by rural Tidewater localities concerning administration of a stormwater management program, the Workgroup identified the implementation of a tiered approach to the water quantity requirements of the stormwater management program that is based upon the percent of impervious cover in a watershed. Each of the three tiers within this approach would require the application of different water quantity requirements, with varying levels of complexity. This approach may allow rural localities in Tidewater Virginia to implement less complex (yet still protective) water quantity requirements within areas with only a small amount of development and associated impervious cover for development activities disturbing less than one acre. This tiered approach would require increasing levels of protection and regulation with increasing percentage of impervious cover. This approach will also require rural Tidewater localities to develop, by ordinance, watershed maps indicating impervious cover. The Workgroup also noted that a high level of scientific analysis was necessary in order to reach this recommendation, as can be seen in Appendix 11, and a similar level of analysis would be necessary if this proposal were considered for expansion beyond the rural Tidewater localities.
The Workgroup recommends that both a VSMP/VESCP authority and a Tidewater Virginia locality that has opted out of administering a VSMP program be authorized to require and accept stamped/sealed plans and supporting calculations, as well as required inspection/ monitoring reports, from a licensed professional retained by the applicant in lieu of local plan review and the requirement for a local certified plan reviewer/inspector.
Finally, the Workgroup also supports further research into expansion of the use of an Agreement in Lieu of a stormwater Plan (ALP) to non-residential sites between 2,500 square feet and an acre.

For more information, contact the VCPC at P.O. Box 8795, Williamsburg, Virginia 23187 | (757) 221-3783.