New Slate Initiatives 



Recommendarions to the General Assembly 



***1. (a) Amend Chapter 12, Rhode Island General Laws to provide a 

 statutory basis for a coordinated state-local program which would protect 

 the state's waters via integrated management of stormwater runoff and 

 control of erosion and sedimentation, building upon the strengths of 

 existing programs. 



The purpose of the amendment would be to protect, maintain, and enhance the public 

 health, safety, and general welfare by establishing minimum requirements and procedures 

 to control the adverse impacts associated with increased stormwater runoff and 

 sedimentation. Proper management of stormwater runoff and control of sedimentation will: 

 minimize damage to public and private property; reduce the adverse effects of development 

 on land resources, reduce stream channel erosion and erosion of coastal lands and features; 

 and reduce local flooding and storm damage. Proper management wiU maintain after 

 development, as nearly as possible, the site's pre-development runoff levels, soil retention 

 and hydrologic and geologic characteristics, and, where possible, will reduce existing site 

 runoff and sedimentation levels. 



The amendment would be designed to ensure a basic level of consistency among all state 

 and local regulatory programs and to provide municipalities the authority to develop 

 additional controls as necessary to meet local needs. Terms of the amendment would 

 itemize state program requirements which would be applicable in all cases. Whether or not 

 towns eleaed to develop programs exceeding the stringency of the basic state program, 

 certain inspection and maintenance responsibilities would fall to the towns. Town 

 implementation responsibilities would be supported jointiy by permit and inspection fees, 

 by a stormwater utility fee structiu^, and by state pass-through funding. 



Necessary minimum provisions for local ordinances would also be provided as a model, 

 but each local jurisdiction could tailor its stormwater and erosion control program to local 

 needs, if those needs indicated cause for implementation of a program more stringent than 

 that devised and enforced by the state. In that respect, rural jurisdictions facing strong 

 development pressure might incorporate the requirements in developing an entire ordinance 

 supponing implementation of an effective program, while urbanizing or heavily developed 

 jurisdictions might focus on retrofitting of existing structures and controls. 



Local ordinances developed or amended to meet the requirements of the legislation 

 should be subject to approval by a review group representing the Division of Planning, the 

 DEM Office of Environmental Coordination, CRMC, and the Conservation Districts. 



***(b) Designate Sensitive Areas and Critical Areas in which special 

 standards will apply, based on resource vulnerability. This study proposes a 

 two-tiered sensitive area definition, identifying Sensitive Areas on the basis of soil 

 characteristics, slope, hydrologic and geologic characteristics and potential water supply 

 resource availability, and Critical Areas on the basis of (in addition to these factors) current 

 water supply utilization, and location in geographic zones influencing coastal resources. 



The two-tiered definition is based upon the precept that escalating development 

 occurring and anticipated in the state demands that all soils presenting significant erosion 

 potential (in the natural state of the soil strata prior to draining, excavation, or other 

 alteration) and all stormwater must be considered as presenting potential risk to watershed 



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