Environment

From the Town web site:

A public information meeting will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20, on new riparian buffer regulations for Chapel Hill. A riparian buffer is a vegetated area near a stream that helps protect waterways from the impact of adjacent land uses and pollution. The meeting will be held in the Council Chamber of Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Town of Chapel Hill stormwater management and planning staff members will describe the process for adopting changes to the Town's Land Use Management Ordinance to comply with new state and federal rules that aim to reduce pollution flowing into streams and Jordan Lake. The lake is a major drinking water supply to Wake and Chatham Counties, and a popular recreation area and wildlife habitat.

The new rules necessitate text amendments in Chapel Hill’s Land Use Management Ordinance regarding protection of riparian buffers. Staff will discuss what the rules will mean to property owners and how they will affect maintenance and development near riparian buffers.

The Town has riparian buffer protection requirements contained in its Resource Conservation District (RCD) provisions of the Land Use Management Ordinance. However, the current provisions do not address all of the Jordan Lake buffer protection criteria. The local program must consist of ordinances, policies, and procedures for protecting the riparian buffer, determining variances, record keeping, and enforcement.

All waterways in Chapel Hill and its planning jurisdiction flow into the Upper New Hope Arm of Jordan Lake. This area of the lake experiences frequent algal blooms due to overloads of nitrogen and phosphorous. The algal blooms can cause taste and odor problems in drinking water, kill or stress aquatic life, and release toxins into the water. Riparian buffers are important in providing vegetation to filter stormwater runoff and to stabilize streambanks. They reduce erosion and sedimentation and the corresponding pollutants that flow into the lake.

There will be opportunity for additional public input during a Town Council public hearing tentatively scheduled for Feb. 15. If you are unable to attend the public information meeting, please submit comments to Sue Burke, stormwater management engineer, at sburke@townofchapelhill.org or Kendal Brown, principal planner, at kbrown@townofchapelhill.org. These comments will receive the same consideration as those from the public session. For more information, call Sue Burke at 919-969-7266 or visit www.jordanlake.org/home.