Stormwater runoff and erosion control are two issues the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission has been concerned about for a number of years.

There is no ordinance in place that deals with either issue. However, at the next plan commission meeting - at 1 p.m. Nov. 3 - the plan commission will hold a public hearing on a stormwater runoff and erosion control ordinance that it hopes will solve the county's problems.

An ordinance amending the zoning ordinance and subdivision control ordinance of the county also will be discussed. Complete copies of both ordinances are available at the plan commission's office in the courthouse.

If the plan commission approves the ordinances Nov. 3, the county commissioners may hear them as early as Nov. 23.

"This (ordinance) is new. We've never had anything like it before. As far as being new - this is it," said assistant planner Matt Sandy.

According to the stormwater runoff and erosion control ordinance, the intent of the ordinance is to reduce the hazard to public health and safety caused by excessive storm water runoff; to enhance the quality of runoff water; to enhance economic objectives; and to protect, conserve and promote the orderly development of land and water resources within the regulated areas of the plan commission.

There are 13 articles to the ordinance and two appendixes. The articles deal with storm water detention, preliminary drainage plans, detention facility design, determination of runoff quantities and storage volume, general detention basin design requirements, open channel design standards, erosion control, erosion and sediment control requirements, requirements for projects that will disturb one acre or more of a site and projects that will disturb less than one acre, inspection, facility financial responsibility, supplemental requirements, storm sewer design standards, and penalties and fines. The ordinance also states the ordinance itself does not create liability on the part of the county, its officers or its employees.

Appendix A of the ordinance is the procedure preferred when determining required storage volume. The other appendix is the "Erosion Control for the Homebuilder" pamphlet. The ordinance requires the methods in the pamphlet to be used when land disturbing activity is involved. The Indiana Handbook for Erosion and Sediment Control may be used, too.

"This is something we have needed for some time," Plan Commission Director Dan Richard told the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission Wednesday.

County Surveyor Richard Kemper said, "If we don't get a handle on storm water and drainage control soon, we'll end up sending it all down the river."

The zoning and subdivision control ordinance amendments aren't as long as the stormwater runoff and erosion control ordinance, but will constitute some major changes in the county's zoning if it passes.

The amendment will redefine a subdivision as three or more parcels, sites or lots. Currently, a subdivision is four lots, sites or parcels.

Currently the subdivision ordinance states that one exemption to the subdivision definition is the division of land into parcels or tracts of 20 acres or more which does not involve any new streets or easements. The amendment, if passed, will change the number of acres from 20 to 40.

Section 3 of the ordinance will raise the filing fee of any plat filed with the area plan commission from $15 to $100. The rise in cost will cover advertising costs.

"With what we'd be doing, we're only proposing a $40 change in fees," Richard said. He said the board wants to hear from the public at the meeting regarding the ordinance and amendments. [[In-content Ad]]