NAHB Provides Agency Official Inside Look to Inform Changes to Stormwater Permitting

NAHB members and staff provided a tour of several residential subdivisions in Northern Virginia to an official from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Advocacy, which was created by Congress to advocate on behalf of small businesses during the federal rulemaking process.

The tour offered an opportunity to show the official how NAHB members comply with construction stormwater requirements. It also helped facilitate discussion regarding the federal construction general permit (CGP) for stormwater discharges from active residential land development and construction sites following the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recently proposal to reauthorize the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) CGP for another five-year period. 

EPA’s NPDES CGP is an important environmental permit for developers and builders. Operators must obtain CGP coverage prior to commencing any land clearing or construction activities disturbing five acres or more (or less than one acre if the activity is part of a “common plan of development” — for example, an individual building lot within a larger residential subdivision).

Tom Marable, senior vice president of land development at Van Metre Land Company, and Nick Goldstien, SBA Office of Advocacy senior counsel, toured two residential subdivisions being built by Van Metre Homes in Loudoun County, Va. Goldstein was among the agency officials who participated in the Regulatory Agency Townhalls during NAHB’s Spring Leadership Meeting.

During the tour, Marable and his staff:

• Spotlighted how residential developers and builders comply with existing construction stormwater requirements.
• Explained how developers and builders design their residential development projects with various erosion and sediment control features, sediment basins, and stormwater perimeter controls to effectively manage stormwater runoff during the active phase of construction.
• Highlighted several elements of EPA’s proposed CGP, including a proposal that would require all sediment basins to be fully stabilized prior to receiving stormwater runoff and a proposed change by EPA to existing dewatering turbidity monitoring recordkeeping requirements for activities like pumping out accumulated stormwater or groundwater out of trenches and building foundations
• Discussed the potential impacts of EPA’s proposed changes.

NAHB will be submitting comments for EPA’s proposed NPDES Stormwater CGP. The comment period ends Sept. 17.