Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
Rain water rushes down toward the sewer in downtown Homewood. With an aging storm water system and an increase in large home construction resulting in smaller yards, the city of Homewood has been experiencing flash flooding.
The city of Homewood has more work to do in preventing stormwater runoff, Homewood Environmental Commission Chair Amy Milam says.
Flooding and erosion issues have been a persistent problem throughout Homewood during heavy storms due to a number of factors, including old and undersized drains, hard surfaces that prevent absorption into the ground and the loss of trees.
The city has funded drainage studies in particularly prone areas in Edgewood and Hollywood, such as Mecca Avenue, Lancaster Road and Bonita Drive. Several changes, including a new drainage pipe on Mecca and adjustments to the inlets that connect to drains around Lancaster and Huntington roads, have been made as a result of those studies.
Homewood adopted new standard regulations for stormwater from the Stormwater Management Authority (SWMA) in June 2018. They include rules about sediment and runoff control methods, inspections, permits for land disturbances and penalties for violating any of the stormwater regulations. If a landowner is found to be in violation of the stormwater ordinances, they can appeal to the Homewood City Council.
However, Milam said most of the regulations apply to qualifying sites over 1 acre, while Homewood has very few properties of that size. She asked the Homewood City Council’s public works committee on May 20 to consider removing the qualifying site definition, instead requiring any new or redevelopment that disturbs land to meet SWMA regulations.
The goal, Milam said in an interview prior to the council meeting, is to retain the first inch of rainfall on a property, as that contains most of the erosion and pollutants. Using retention ponds or other methods to keep that water on-site allows it to seep into the ground and be filtered, rather than running into the drains to empty directly into waterways, with pollutants in tow.
“You want that to percolate through the ground because that's your natural filtration system," Milam said. "… It helps to lessen these crazy floods that we get if you're retaining that water."
Even though Homewood’s lots are small, Milam said heavy rains still cause the same issues and if sites under an acre are exempt, "that rules out most of Homewood."
During Milam’s presentation on May 20, Ward 1 Councilor Andy Gwaltney said he wanted to have better controls on stormwater runoff precisely because of situations like Mecca Avenue, where home builders have cleared and graded lots without erosion prevention in place.
“It forced our hand into a bad situation,” Gwaltney said.
The public works committee will continue to discuss possible amendments to its stormwater ordinance.