StanN
09-13-2004, 10:06 AM
Published: Sep 13, 2004
Modified: Sep 13, 2004 7:16 AM
Builders change the rules
Group works system to get stormwater compromise
By RICHARD STRADLING, Staff Writer
State regulators spent nearly five years drafting a set of rules to keep rainwater from washing mud and pollution from streets, parking lots and buildings into streams.
But some developers who will turn rural parts of the Triangle into suburbs in coming years won't have to worry about the rules, thanks largely to the N.C. Home Builders Association.
The association, a trade group based in Raleigh, thought the rules went too far. In less than a year, it persuaded a state panel called the Rules Review Commission to block them, then used its clout in the General Assembly to get a version it liked.
When the rules take effect during the next few years, they won't apply to developers in some of the fastest-growing parts of metro areas, including much of Chatham, Franklin and eastern Wake counties. They also leave out special protections for shellfishing areas along the coast.
Curbing the stormwater rules was the latest legislative triumph for the home builders association. The organization is aggressive, savvy and has the resources to leave its mark on nearly any bill that would make home building more difficult or expensive.
"They pack a lot of muscle, and they're very well-respected," said Dave Simpson, North Carolina building director for Carolinas AGC, a trade group for general contractors. "They are there around the clock, and they do their homework."
About 16,000 companies belong to the home builders association, including lenders, cabinet makers and landscapers, contributing money and manpower to a political powerhouse in Raleigh. The association's political action committee has given more than $429,000 to legislative candidates since 1999, more than any other interest group.
Building homes and apartments is a $5 billion business in North Carolina, and activities such as mortgage lending, appraisals and inspections add billions more, said Mark Vitner, an economist with Wachovia Securities in Charlotte. Unlike tobacco farmers or furniture makers, home builders are found in every legislative district.
Home builders say they must deal with a morass of regulations, including labor laws, worker's compensation rules and environmental regulations. Dan Tingen, head of Tingen Construction in Raleigh, said the association is vital.
"The system has become so complex and so demanding, there's no way we could get along without the people in our state office down in the legislature for us," Tingen said. "We just couldn't survive."
In the past 20 years, sprawl and development have replaced factory-generated pollution as the state's top environmental issue. This has led to regulations such as the stormwater rules, which require developers to build expensive systems of pipes and ponds to hold rainwater so it soaks into the ground rather than rushes into waterways.
Scaling back the newest set of stormwater rules was the association's top priority in the General Assembly this year, and it worked closely with a frequent ally, the N.C. Association of Realtors.
Their opponents, those backing a bill that would have enacted the original rules, included groups representing cities, towns and counties, as well as environmental groups.
"You would think looking at the list of supporters that the bill is a done deal," Anita Watkins, a lobbyist for the N.C. League of Municipalities, said in June. "But it's not. We've got formidable opposition."
Federal goal-setting
Stormwater has become the state's top water-quality problem. It fouls nearly every creek and stream in urban areas such as the Triangle before flowing into rivers such as the Neuse and Cape Fear.
The stormwater rules began with the federal government.
Federal regulations already required the state's largest cities, including Durham and Raleigh, to take steps to filter stormwater. In 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency extended the requirement to 33 counties and 123 smaller cities and towns in urbanizing areas, including most Triangle towns.
The EPA set the goals but left it up to states to write the specific rules.
The state's Environmental Management Commission adopted the rules last summer and decided they should be enforced throughout the 33 counties identified by the EPA. After all, commission members said, development on the fringe of metro areas, such as Chatham and Franklin counties, also contributes to stormwater pollution.
The Home Builders Association found little to like in the stormwater rules. It said they were unnecessary, heavy-handed and riddled with vague terms and phrases.
But the association's biggest gripe was that state regulators went beyond the letter of federal law by trying to enforce the rules in rural areas.
The EPA requirements called for regulations only in counties that own roads, as they do in nearly every state. In North Carolina, though, the state -- not counties -- owns the roads in unincorporated areas.
Home builders argued that the federal wording meant the state had no authority to require stormwater controls beyond city boundaries.
They took their case to the state's Rules Review Commission, which agreed and rejected the stormwater regulations twice, in October and January. The Environmental Management Commission responded in March by filing a lawsuit, which is pending in Wake County Superior Court.
Legislative lobbying
The stalemate between the two commissions meant local governments had no authority to regulate stormwater as federal law required. So the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources, along with groups representing cities and counties, asked legislators to write the rules into law.
The home builders association mobilized again. Through phone calls, letters and personal visits, rank-and-file builders told legislators that the rules would add to the cost of housing and make it harder to attract new businesses and jobs. Tingen, whose construction company employs nine people, met with state Sen. Vernon Malone, state Rep. David Miner and other Wake legislators.
Tim Minton, the association's director of political affairs, and Lisa Martin, its director of regulatory affairs, roamed the halls of the General Assembly, huddling with legislators. They talked about money, namely the fees they said towns and homeowners associations would have to charge property owners to maintain stormwater systems after they were built.
"This is going to cost everybody," Martin said.
Watkins, the League of Municipalities lobbyist, always felt one step behind.
"When we talk to members, it's very apparent that the home builders have already been there," Watkins said. "They're quicker than we are."
The home builders also had what proved to be a winning strategy, said Mike Carpenter, the association's executive vice president.
They took a hard line against the stormwater rules, even though they knew federal law would require them in the 123 cities and towns. They knew legislation often results from cutting a deal, so they took a position that gave them room to negotiate.
They also knew that the General Assembly was unlikely to pass a bill over their objections. So they waited.
Finally, state Sen. Daniel Clodfelter, a Democrat from Charlotte who introduced the stormwater bill, sided with builders on a key point. According to Watkins, Clodfelter told the two sides that he would not support the full county coverage proposed by state regulators and urged a compromise.
Environmentalists refused. But the cities and counties, which needed a bill to comply with federal law, spent two days negotiating with builders and Realtors.
They emerged with a deal: The rules would apply outside cities, but only within one to three miles of city boundaries. In Chatham County, for example, that means the rules won't apply to developments more than three miles from Cary or Chapel Hill.
"It was a step back," said Todd Miller, head of the N.C. Coastal Federation, an environmental group based near Morehead City. "What we got as a result will be more polluted water."
Legislators called the final version a compromise that made no one completely happy, and they passed it overwhelmingly.
But the home builders association called the bill a "major victory," because it got what it had wanted all along.
Staff writer Richard Stradling can be reached at 829-4739 or rstradli@newsobserver.com.
© Copyright 2004, The News & Observer Publishing Company,
a subsidiary of The McClatchy Company
Modified: Sep 13, 2004 7:16 AM
Builders change the rules
Group works system to get stormwater compromise
By RICHARD STRADLING, Staff Writer
State regulators spent nearly five years drafting a set of rules to keep rainwater from washing mud and pollution from streets, parking lots and buildings into streams.
But some developers who will turn rural parts of the Triangle into suburbs in coming years won't have to worry about the rules, thanks largely to the N.C. Home Builders Association.
The association, a trade group based in Raleigh, thought the rules went too far. In less than a year, it persuaded a state panel called the Rules Review Commission to block them, then used its clout in the General Assembly to get a version it liked.
When the rules take effect during the next few years, they won't apply to developers in some of the fastest-growing parts of metro areas, including much of Chatham, Franklin and eastern Wake counties. They also leave out special protections for shellfishing areas along the coast.
Curbing the stormwater rules was the latest legislative triumph for the home builders association. The organization is aggressive, savvy and has the resources to leave its mark on nearly any bill that would make home building more difficult or expensive.
"They pack a lot of muscle, and they're very well-respected," said Dave Simpson, North Carolina building director for Carolinas AGC, a trade group for general contractors. "They are there around the clock, and they do their homework."
About 16,000 companies belong to the home builders association, including lenders, cabinet makers and landscapers, contributing money and manpower to a political powerhouse in Raleigh. The association's political action committee has given more than $429,000 to legislative candidates since 1999, more than any other interest group.
Building homes and apartments is a $5 billion business in North Carolina, and activities such as mortgage lending, appraisals and inspections add billions more, said Mark Vitner, an economist with Wachovia Securities in Charlotte. Unlike tobacco farmers or furniture makers, home builders are found in every legislative district.
Home builders say they must deal with a morass of regulations, including labor laws, worker's compensation rules and environmental regulations. Dan Tingen, head of Tingen Construction in Raleigh, said the association is vital.
"The system has become so complex and so demanding, there's no way we could get along without the people in our state office down in the legislature for us," Tingen said. "We just couldn't survive."
In the past 20 years, sprawl and development have replaced factory-generated pollution as the state's top environmental issue. This has led to regulations such as the stormwater rules, which require developers to build expensive systems of pipes and ponds to hold rainwater so it soaks into the ground rather than rushes into waterways.
Scaling back the newest set of stormwater rules was the association's top priority in the General Assembly this year, and it worked closely with a frequent ally, the N.C. Association of Realtors.
Their opponents, those backing a bill that would have enacted the original rules, included groups representing cities, towns and counties, as well as environmental groups.
"You would think looking at the list of supporters that the bill is a done deal," Anita Watkins, a lobbyist for the N.C. League of Municipalities, said in June. "But it's not. We've got formidable opposition."
Federal goal-setting
Stormwater has become the state's top water-quality problem. It fouls nearly every creek and stream in urban areas such as the Triangle before flowing into rivers such as the Neuse and Cape Fear.
The stormwater rules began with the federal government.
Federal regulations already required the state's largest cities, including Durham and Raleigh, to take steps to filter stormwater. In 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency extended the requirement to 33 counties and 123 smaller cities and towns in urbanizing areas, including most Triangle towns.
The EPA set the goals but left it up to states to write the specific rules.
The state's Environmental Management Commission adopted the rules last summer and decided they should be enforced throughout the 33 counties identified by the EPA. After all, commission members said, development on the fringe of metro areas, such as Chatham and Franklin counties, also contributes to stormwater pollution.
The Home Builders Association found little to like in the stormwater rules. It said they were unnecessary, heavy-handed and riddled with vague terms and phrases.
But the association's biggest gripe was that state regulators went beyond the letter of federal law by trying to enforce the rules in rural areas.
The EPA requirements called for regulations only in counties that own roads, as they do in nearly every state. In North Carolina, though, the state -- not counties -- owns the roads in unincorporated areas.
Home builders argued that the federal wording meant the state had no authority to require stormwater controls beyond city boundaries.
They took their case to the state's Rules Review Commission, which agreed and rejected the stormwater regulations twice, in October and January. The Environmental Management Commission responded in March by filing a lawsuit, which is pending in Wake County Superior Court.
Legislative lobbying
The stalemate between the two commissions meant local governments had no authority to regulate stormwater as federal law required. So the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources, along with groups representing cities and counties, asked legislators to write the rules into law.
The home builders association mobilized again. Through phone calls, letters and personal visits, rank-and-file builders told legislators that the rules would add to the cost of housing and make it harder to attract new businesses and jobs. Tingen, whose construction company employs nine people, met with state Sen. Vernon Malone, state Rep. David Miner and other Wake legislators.
Tim Minton, the association's director of political affairs, and Lisa Martin, its director of regulatory affairs, roamed the halls of the General Assembly, huddling with legislators. They talked about money, namely the fees they said towns and homeowners associations would have to charge property owners to maintain stormwater systems after they were built.
"This is going to cost everybody," Martin said.
Watkins, the League of Municipalities lobbyist, always felt one step behind.
"When we talk to members, it's very apparent that the home builders have already been there," Watkins said. "They're quicker than we are."
The home builders also had what proved to be a winning strategy, said Mike Carpenter, the association's executive vice president.
They took a hard line against the stormwater rules, even though they knew federal law would require them in the 123 cities and towns. They knew legislation often results from cutting a deal, so they took a position that gave them room to negotiate.
They also knew that the General Assembly was unlikely to pass a bill over their objections. So they waited.
Finally, state Sen. Daniel Clodfelter, a Democrat from Charlotte who introduced the stormwater bill, sided with builders on a key point. According to Watkins, Clodfelter told the two sides that he would not support the full county coverage proposed by state regulators and urged a compromise.
Environmentalists refused. But the cities and counties, which needed a bill to comply with federal law, spent two days negotiating with builders and Realtors.
They emerged with a deal: The rules would apply outside cities, but only within one to three miles of city boundaries. In Chatham County, for example, that means the rules won't apply to developments more than three miles from Cary or Chapel Hill.
"It was a step back," said Todd Miller, head of the N.C. Coastal Federation, an environmental group based near Morehead City. "What we got as a result will be more polluted water."
Legislators called the final version a compromise that made no one completely happy, and they passed it overwhelmingly.
But the home builders association called the bill a "major victory," because it got what it had wanted all along.
Staff writer Richard Stradling can be reached at 829-4739 or rstradli@newsobserver.com.
© Copyright 2004, The News & Observer Publishing Company,
a subsidiary of The McClatchy Company