Over the past six years, we have seen the unprecedented imposition of regulations, many under the banner of environmental protection and many without legislative approval or oversight.
This could not be clearer than what is happening with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation mandating that more than 70 municipalities in Tennessee adopt ordinances to regulate the first one-inch of every rainfall. If adopted, this proposal will require individual homeowners to create and maintain “rain gardens” or similar structures to prevent rainwater from running off their property.
How did we get to this point? In 2010, TDEC, under regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency, issued permits to large municipalities which required them to develop regulations to reduce the amount of rainwater that flows into rivers and streams. Since then, several court cases have removed that authority from the EPA, however TDEC is still requiring the regulation.
Engineers and landscape architects tell us that as the law progresses, homeowners will be required to pay a stormwater maintenance fee, either through yearly taxes or through a monthly fee on their utility bill. This bill will also affect developers and new homebuyers through a dramatic cost increase, as current zoning and development codes don’t provide the correct mechanisms to retain an inch of water. This will also take away developable land that will now be reserved for reservation basins.
At the end of the day, we all want clean air, clean water and a healthy environment. But at the same time, we all have to eat, which requires farmers to produce crops, and we all want a place to live, which requires developers and builders to disturb land. The real question is, how can we get this done in a reasonable manner without causing the cost of food and housing to significantly increase?
David Goodwin Jr.
President of the West Tennessee Home Builders Association and Goodwin Homes