Beware developers claiming they’re out to protect the little guy by undermining environmental protections. Paved farmland and a dirty Chesapeake Bay won’t help anyone. But they will erode everyone’s quality of life, which will hurt our economy in the long run.
The most recent example is in Maryland. State Delegate Marvin E. Holmes Jr. of Prince George's County recently introduced legislation favored by the development industry, House Bill 1125, which would gut stormwater pollution control regulations passed overwhelmingly by the General Assembly in 2007.
The claim by developers trying to weaken these stormwater pollution control regulations is that they will raise costs for homebuilders, which could boost the prices of homes and discourage the creation of jobs in the construction industry.
The problem with this assertion is that it has no basis in fact. The U.S. Environmental Protection has estimated that low-impact building designs similar to those in Maryland’s stormwater rules actually lower the cost of building by at least 15 percent.
Even in urban and suburban redevelopment projects (which have been a focus of complaints about the stormwater control rules), improving the handling of stormwater does not have to raise the cost of a project, if the developer is given several options, as is the case in Maryland’s new stormwater control regulations.
To get the facts about the new stormwater control regulations and their impact on development, I urge you to read this article published in the blog Center Maryland.
Why does it matter? Because sprawl is gobbling up forests and farmland at a rate much faster than population growth. Between 1990 and 2000 alone, our region’s population grew by 8%, but the amount of land paved or covered with buildings and concrete increased by 41%, according to the article. All those hard surfaces have created the stormwater pollution problem we face today. In fact, urban and suburban development is the only source of nutrient and sediment pollution that is increasing.
There should be careful steps taken for the betterment of the area.keeping the macro land in view the micro steps should not hurt anyway.
Posted by: NYC Air Conditioning & Vent Cleaning | 06/29/2010 at 10:36 PM