Elkins Kalt Weintraub Reuben Gartside LLP的动态

Here are some great resources for people thinking about how to better regulate development in floodplains and future floodplains!

"Statewide media outlets have taken note of the 13 NPDES?permit violations and formal compliance actions?MAEDA incurred up through July 2024. By August 6th, MAEDA incurred five more, and EGLE found that none of the previous violations had been remedied. Over the summer to date, there have been a minimum of?four documented instances where sediment-laden stormwater unlawfully exited MAEDA’s construction site, traveled over 303 designated wetlands, and entered the Kalamazoo River. Dating back to fall of 2023, MAEDA (and its network of at least five contractors) has demonstrated a consistent pattern of: - failure to provide a timeline for site stabilization (first noted October 2023) - failure to properly document on-site progress in weekly logs (first noted October 2023) - providing inadequate SESC plans (first noted November 2023) - failure to follow, properly implement, and maintain existing SESC plans (first noted June 2024) Yet since fall of 2023, EGLE has renewed MAEDA’s NPDES permits three times–in some cases directly after violations have occurred (see attached timeline for detail). More urgently: it’s clear that further regulatory protections are necessary to mitigate damage to adjacent wetlands and streams. In January 2024, EGLE determined that no Part 301 and 303 permits would be required because MAEDA’s stormwater management plan is?to capture and infiltrate all runoff from up to the 100-year storm, in both temporary and permanent stabilized conditions. However, in the minimum of four instances of polluted stormwater leaving the MAJOR site and entering the Kalamazoo River, the stormwater traveled through wetlands, as noted in four on-site inspections conducted by EGLE’s local quality analysis team. It’s clear that the plan MAEDA and its contractors have designed to capture and infiltrate all runoff is not feasible. Given both the apparent inadequacy of the site plan and the pattern of noncompliance demonstrated by MAEDA’s team, it’s extremely likely that unfiltered stormwater will continue to contaminate these protected bodies of water."

Why were the fire hydrants dry? Why was the Pacific Palisades reservoir empty? Why did Karen Bass and the LA City Council cut the Fire Department’s budget by $17.6 million? Why does LA County’s “Community Forest Management Plan” from April 2024 begin with a “Land Acknowledgement,” include an Anti-Racism, Diversity, and Inclusion (ARDI) Initiative, and mention “equity” or “equitable” 64 times? Why are the forests badly managed? Why is there a firefighter staffing shortage? Why did Gavin Newsom say that the state conducted fuel reduction work on 690% more acreage than it did? In 2014, California voters approved a $7.5 billion bond to construct new reservoirs and water capture systems. Why have zero been built? Why did LA Fire Department Assistant Chief Kristine Larson say, “You want to see somebody that responds to your house … that looks like you.”? My article in Jewish Journal, link in comments.

Stormwater is in the news quite a bit nowadays. Every time I turn around it seems to be getting more and more attention. Population growth and stormwater issues go hand in hand, and our region has plenty of both. From the Carolinas coast to the hills of Appalachia, stormwater management is all the buzz after two named storms and one un-named storm dropped extraordinarily heavy rain across our state these last two months. As new rules get adopted in rapidly growing areas like Brunswick County, NC, the teams from Foster Lake & Pond Management and Bland Landscaping Company are ready to assist with a multi-disciplinary approach to managing these tough issues. As the most capable provider of commercial grounds management and stormwater management in the Carolinas, we can provide cradle to grave lifecycle management for any issues related to landscaping, stormwater, and irrigation management, from consultative services and planting design to construction and ongoing maintenance.

#dailychew Fox Corporation -an option would be to green-light the creation of opportunity homes; in opportunity zones similar to what Corey Brooks is doing in Chicago but with a twist where the first floor of every home supports a business. This concept isn’t new at all; it’s actually thousands of years old, where the first floor of the home supports a small business; and the upper floors are the actual homes where people live, just like in Europe and the Orient. Also; I would guess we’ll see upgraded zoning laws to be similar to hurricane resistant homes with a “CAT 5” type of certificate, but with the addition of a high-heat signature. Look for ceramic hybrid; cement honeycomb, or cement backed exterior products instead of dried cedar and redwood which lights like a match.

??ICYMI: Daily Herald - Once the work is completed next year, the basin will be added to the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago’s StormStore program. The $6 million flood-prevention project now underway in Wheeling should end decades of soggy suffering for residents of one neighborhood. The work targets the South Dunhurst subdivision, which is south of Dundee Road and east of Elmhurst Road. The neighborhood was built in the 1950s, and it doesn’t have a modern, underground stormwater system to keep its 183 homes dry. That program connects real estate developers who need to meet Cook County stormwater management requirements with landowners in the same watersheds whose properties have preapproved detention areas. Deals between the two parties then can be struck independently. As a result, the basin could have a positive impact for Wheeling beyond the homes that surround it. “The stormwater credits generated by the project can be used to attract and incentivize other projects that benefit our residents,” Village Manager Jon Sfondilis said. The South Dunhurst basin won’t be the village’s last flood-control project. Planning is underway for more improvements in town, including a new culvert beneath a northern stretch of Wheeling Road and bank stabilization along Buffalo Creek. And when they’re done, a new stormwater master plan will be developed, Wheeling Public Works Director Dan Kaup said. ?? https://lnkd.in/dfpYvFgj The Daily Herald #MWRD #CookCounty #Wheeling #WheelingIllinois #StormwaterManagement #WastewaterTreatment MWRD - What We Do: https://lnkd.in/dRwC97wm

Both of my hometowns, Santa Rosa and Lahaina, were devasted in recent years by wildfires. I’ve had many friends and family go through the rebuilding process. It takes 3-5 years at best as there are other factors at play like the clean-up phase, building codes, local zoning, site surveys. ADUs, modular, RVs are all essential in the short-term. I am building a climate-resilient, 100% electric home + ADU in San Diego and started the process almost three years ago and we still don’t have grading or building permits yet. Partnering with developers and experienced homebuilders will be key to understanding how to effectively streamline the rebuild. #LAStrong #CaliforniaWildfires #ClimateResilience

The Board of Commissioners at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) saluted a first-of-its-kind council for their advocacy connecting the MWRD to the surrounding community it serves at its water reclamation plants (WRP). Over the past two years the MWRD’s Calumet Community Partnership Council (CPC) engaged in meaningful discussions surrounding several critical policy concerns, such as improving water quality and enhancing flood management. The success of this initial CPC has led the MWRD to form a similar CPC for its Stickney WRP, set to launch this month. The CPC was an initiative sparked by the MWRD’s Strategic Plan 2021-2025. The goal was to position the MWRD as a critical community asset and to ensure that the MWRD is a responsible neighbor and inclusive business partner. To address pressing issues collaboratively, the CPC emphasized the importance of fostering partnerships among local stakeholders, including government agencies, community organizations, and residents. Among the proposed actions the Council supported were increased green infrastructure opportunities in environmental justice (EJ) neighborhoods, recognizing the unique challenges that underserved communities susceptible to flooding can face. CPC members learned firsthand how implementing solutions like rain gardens and permeable pavements can help absorb stormwater and reduce flooding when one CPC member’s flood reduction application was chosen by the Water Environment Federation (WEF) for a flood mitigation project at a Chicago Public School during an international conference on water hosted by WEF in 2023. The resulting project consisted of a rain garden that has a design retention capacity of 448,000 gallons of stormwater per year. In operation since 1922, the Calumet WRP serves nearly 1 million people living in the far South Side of Chicago and 48 surrounding south suburbs. On the average day, the Calumet WRP treats about 350 million gallons of water, transforming it into clean water to be released back to the environment in the Little Calumet River. Read more and view more photos: https://lnkd.in/dDF9QQBY #MWRD #CookCounty #StormwaterManagement #WastewaterTreatment #Community #Partnership

We recommend reading this recent op-ed from our partners at Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance on several developments and the challenges they pose to groundwater in the #SanAntonio area: "The Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance has no problem with most of Lennar’s developments slated for the San Antonio area. We only ask that Lennar leadership respect the discrepancies in what constitutes good sites for their projects and refrain from proceeding with these two projects on the Edwards Aquifer contributing zone." https://lnkd.in/gvgNB5dt #txwater #waterquality

?? #InsuranceNews from the Insurance Journal ↙? Louisiana Gov. Landry Raises Concerns Over $3B Coastal Restoration Project NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry raised serious objections Thursday to a $3 billion project long hailed as key to restoring the state’s eroding coastline, decrying the growing cost and predicting dire harm to a coastal culture dependent … #PropertyInsurance #PublicAdjuster #InsuranceAdjuster #PropertyClaims https://vist.ly/3mnk8n4