Building support for a stormwater master plan

by Sheila Gardner

sgardner@recordcourier.com

If Douglas County is to successfully implement a stormwater management program, officials will have to convince people like Jim Hansen that it's a good idea.

Hansen was one of a dozen people who attended a workshop Wednesday hosted by County Engineer Mahmood Azad and Jeff House, national director of water resources for Manhard Consulting Ltd., in charge of putting the plan together.

Hansen lives on Glenwood Drive in the Gardnerville Ranchos, one of the hardest hit neighborhoods in the 1997 flood.

"I've lived in Douglas County for the past 30 years," Hansen said. "If you throw out the two floods, there's been no stormwater at all. Why put together this big bureaucracy?"

Floods like the 1997 deluge are a small part of a stormwater master plan, Azad said.

"It's a way of us figuring out what's going to happen in Carson Valley before we get up to our waists in water," Azad said.

Acknowledging Hansen's concern, Azad said it would be residents' decision whether to adopt a master plan, much like the county's land use and transportation plans.

"It's going to be the citizens who decide if they want something like this, or can we live with what we have," Azad said. "Eight inches of rainfall is all we get. Do we need a stormwater master plan or can we live without it?"

After a PowerPoint presentation that spelled out the pros and cons of stormwater master plans and how to fund them, Azad said creating a utility seemed to be the most equitable way to pay.

A utility also offers the most protection against lawsuits, House said.

"We're going to copycat a tried and true way rather than make ourselves subject to a lawsuit," he said.

Azad estimated residents would pay $2.50-$4 a month to fund the stormwater master plan, a proposal, he said, that is long overdue.

"Fixing flooding doesn't mean preventing it," he said.

But, in the long run, a stormwater master plan will satisfy any federal mandates and result in lower expenses if the infrastructure is regularly maintained by a sustainable financial stream.

He said the county might have avoided the flood plain insurance map controversy with federal officials if a stormwater master plan were in place.

"FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) sees we don't have a mechanism of keeping the culverts clean," Azad said. "If you want some semblance of control where your stormwater goes, you need a plan.

"We're very lucky someone isn't breathing down our neck," he said.

The stormwater plan would promote dialogue with farmers, ranchers and other large landowners whose property encompasses the county's ditch system.

"If just 50 percent of that property were to be developed, Cradlebaugh Bridge won't hold if we have another flood like 1997," he said. "The farm land holds water in the Valley longer and moves it slower downstream."

Azad said he expects to present a proposal to Douglas County commissioners by next spring, with an eye toward implementation in June.

He and House are proposing a three-phase plan.

"We are approximately 15-30 years behind," Azad said. "It would fail if we take it all on now."

If a plan is adopted, the county plans to hire a superintendent and a grant writer to secure funding.

In the meantime, Azad is enlisting volunteers to report flooding in their neighborhoods - past, present and future.

"There's no way the county knows all the little pieces or pockets of flooding unless you tell us," he said. "Call us, or send us pictures, sketches, whatever you have."