Chamber requests Staunton taskforce

The Greater Augusta Regional Chamber of Commerce wants Staunton officials to create a task force to study the city’s stormwater utility, a call that might have come too late.

The City Council adopted a revised stormwater ordinance in May, and a new, 18-tiered utility rate structure in July after more than two years of debating the subject. The new rate structure goes into effect Feb. 1.

City Manager Steve Owen said he received the chamber’s letter – dated Aug. 28 – Tuesday afternoon. He declined to comment.

The city has a more than $15-million backlog of stormwater projects it has not been able to complete and has been seeking the money to pay for the work.

Under the tiered rate structure, the average homeowner and business would pay $3.20 per month. The previous rate was a flat, $2.70 for nearly all residents and businesses. Larger businesses and churches would pay more under the rate structure.

The letter, signed by chamber Chairman Greg Godsey, asks that the city maintain a balance between tax growth, population growth and economic activity.

“The Chamber appreciates the Staunton City Council’s efforts to begin addressing the issue of stormwater runoff in the city of Staunton,” Godsey said in the letter.

Godsey called the city’s stormwater program “a step in the right direction,” though in a position statement from the chamber, the organization “opposes the proposed stormwater regulations in its current form.”

The statement, adopted by the chamber’s Board of Directors on Aug. 27, says the regulations will “create rules that will needlessly encourage sprawl by encouraging low, instead of high, density development.”

He said the task force should study the utility, as well as available alternatives.

“It is very important to the business community to carefully analyze the impact on the local economy, as well as potential alternatives to creating another level of taxation,” Godsey said.

Godsey said the task force should be made up of City Council members, city staff and members of the business community “that have a vested interest in the final proposal.”

“The Chamber, along with members of the business community,” Godsey wrote, “is committed to being part of a well-reasoned and equitable solution and is available to participate in the dialogue.”

The call for a task force echoes one the chamber made in 2007, when Waynesboro was debating whether to form a stormwater utility division.

Local stormwater managers said in July that tighter statewide stormwater regulations would put tighter controls on water quality and quantity standards while forcing higher costs on developers.