Developers in Clarkston will have to abide by storm water facility standards, since the City Council adopted Oakland County’s design standards on September 10. Violators of the Oakland County Water Resources Commission’s (OCWRC) standards could incur a $500 fine.
Laura Gruzwalski of Hubbell, Roth, and Clark Inc. points out, ‘The county standards have been administered for a while now.? While the City was referring to the OCWRC standards, they weren’t officially adopted at the time of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) audit.
Because there is little new development in Clarkston, Gruzwalski feels adopting the OCWRC standards is in the city’s best interest. Councilman Mike Sabol agrees. ‘This is all about development and redevelopment, which we’re not going to see a bunch of anyway,? he said.
The OCWRC standards only apply to development or redevelopment projects, and they require developers to provide storm water retention basins and supply materials such as drainage maps and schemes in their applications.
Along with adopting the OCWRC’s standards, the DEQ required other corrective actions after their audit. For example, Martin Hendges, who conducted the audit, said he ‘visibly verified? a pile of street sweeper waste in Depot Park. However, since the audit, DPW Director Bob Pursley said street sweeper waste is deposited in a dumpster. Unloading the sediment into the dumpster is an acceptable way to dispose of the street sweeper waste, according to Hendges.
The city is also required to ‘confirm the connection of the inside floor drain at the 3 E. Church Street garage? too. Gruzwalski said the city will be ‘doing a dye test within the next month or so? to determine where the drain leads.
Mayor Joe Luginski has asked Councilman Bisio to assemble a storm water committee. According to Gruzwalski the committee could identify goals and promote change to encourage property owners to ‘think about their impact on the environment.?