Label
Remove detention/retention ponds & swales from
Front yards
Zoning & Planning Committee
Title
Amending Toledo Municipal Code (TMC), Part Eleven, Subsection 1108.0206 Removing Detention/Retention Ponds and Sales from Front Yards; and declaring an emergency.
Body
SUMMARY & BACKGROUND:
The Toledo Plan Commission is requesting review of an amendment to remove traditional detention/retention ponds and swales from front yards. Currently, traditional detention/retention ponds are prohibited in the frontage greenbelt per TMC§1108.0206 Bioretention Areas (Rain Gardens). This section was amended in 2016 due to growing concerns over improper installation and lack of maintenance of stormwater treatment facilities. The amendment language was developed in consultation with the Division of Engineering Services, Division of Environmental Services and the Plan Commission. The modifications were designed to bring all three agencies to a consensus when working with developers what is expected in the design, location, installation, maintenance, and overall best management practices in concern to bioretention areas or stormwater treatment facilities.
While there have been improvements in the installation and maintenance of stormwater facilities as a result of the amended regulations, there is still a concern with the aesthetics and maintenance of traditional detention/retention ponds and swales that have been installed. Hence, an amendment is proposed to prohibit traditional detention/retention ponds and swales from the front yard. The front yard is defined by TMC§1116.0137 as the area between the right-of-way and the principal building. This change will ensure that retention/detention facilities and swales will not encroach upon any frontage greenbelts and landscaping. This is important because frontage greenbelts and landscaping provide protection of adjacent land uses and improve visual aesthetics. In addition, the location of detention/retention ponds and swales behind the front building façade will also decrease their visibility and potentially negative impact on views to and from sites.
Engineering Services staff has expressed concern with the proposed amendment in that it may limit the ability of developers to situate stormwater facilities based on the conditions of individual sites. In addition, it was noted that a closer review of conditions of existing stormwater facilities may be warranted to determine what the cause is of the current issues and how best to address them. Following discussions of the proposed amendment, staff is proposing to move forward with the amendment at this time and reassess conditions in the future as needed.
Summary
NOW THEREFORE Be it ordained by the Council of the City of Toledo:
SECTION 1 That Toledo Municipal Code, Part Eleven, Subsection 1108.0206, which read as follows:
1108.0206 Bioretention Areas (Rain Gardens)
A. A Stormwater Treatment Facility is defined by 941.01. In all zoning districts except the Downtown Overlay District (DOD), Stormwater Treatment Facilities may be located within the required landscaping areas, frontage greenbelt area, buffer area, parking lot screening area, or landscape islands provided the following criteria are met:
1. Traditional detention/retention ponds are prohibited in the frontage greenbelt.
2. Facilities must be designed to infiltrate to drain dry or have a bottom slope minimum of 1% to drain dry.
3. Side slopes shall have a maximum side slope no more than 3:1 (three units horizontal to one unit vertical).
4. If located within the frontage greenbelt the stormwater treatment facility may only occupy up to 50% of the actual available green space.
a. Footprint of stormwater treatment facility is defined by the top of any slope that is 5:1 or steeper.
b. Footprint of stormwater treatment facility may cross the greenbelt boundary.
5. Concrete drainage structures must be located to provide maximum benefit for stormwater treatment effectiveness, and must also be mostly concealed within the side slope, and be surrounded by landscape screening rather than visibly protruding into the landscaping.
be amended to read as follows:
1108.0206 Bioretention Areas (Rain Gardens)
A. A Stormwater Treatment Facility is defined by 941.01. In all zoning districts except the Downtown Overlay District (DOD), Stormwater Treatment Facilities may be located within the required landscaping areas, frontage greenbelt area, buffer area, parking lot screening area, or landscape islands provided the following criteria are met:
1. Traditional detention/retention ponds are prohibited in the front yard. For the purpose of this Section, traditional detention/retention ponds are collection areas that are designed to detain or retain water onsite and either allow it to slowly drain through an outlet, or maintain stormwater onsite at a set level without the use of natural infiltration and vegetative filtration systems as their main system of stormwater handling and disbursement.
The Plan Director may waive this requirement if, in consultation with the City of Toledo’s Division of Engineering Services, it is determined that physical site characteristics or constraints cause placement of these facilities elsewhere impractical. In no case shall traditional detention/retention ponds be situated within the frontage greenbelt.
2. Facilities must be designed to infiltrate to drain dry or have a bottom slope minimum of 1% to drain dry.
3. Side slopes shall have a maximum side slope no more than 3:1 (three units horizontal to one unit vertical).
4. If located within the frontage greenbelt the stormwater treatment facility may only occupy up to 50% of the actual available green space.
a. Footprint of stormwater treatment facility is defined by the top of any slope that is 5:1 or steeper.
b. Footprint of stormwater treatment facility may cross the greenbelt boundary.
5. Concrete drainage structures must be located to provide maximum benefit for stormwater treatment effectiveness, and must also be mostly concealed within the side slope, and be surrounded by landscape screening rather than visibly protruding into the landscaping.
SECTION 2. That this Ordinance hereby is declared to be an emergency measure and shall be in force and effect from and after its passage. The reason for the emergency lies in the fact that same is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety and property, and that this Ordinance must be immediately effective in order to provide for the orderly development of the area and to protect the land values in the area.
Vote on emergency clause: yeas 10, nays 0.
Passed: September 25, 2024, as an emergency measure: yeas 10, nays 0.
Attest:
Julie A. Gibbons Carrie Hartman
Clerk of Council President of Council
Approved: September 25, 2024
Wade Kapszukiewicz
Mayor