I just received the final version of the Bay Area Stormwater Management Agencies Association (BASMAA) MRP 2.0 Provision C.3 White Paper, including some final edits from my coauthor Jill Bicknell.
The “White Paper” provides technical data, analysis, and rationales to support some key changes to the California Regional Water Quality Control Board’s (RWQCB’s) stormwater requirements for land development projects in the Bay Area.
At BASMAA’s monthly Board meeting yesterday, as Chair Matt Fabry accepted a motion to forward the White Paper to RWQCB staff, he thanked us for our work, and he noted how difficult the process of preparation and review had been.
I seconded that thought silently. With 76 BASMAA member agencies in the review loop, it wasn’t possible to get consensus to propose a top-to-bottom overhaul of the requirements.
Many of the current requirements (in MRP 1.0) are vague, outdated, or wrong technically. Municipal staff lament this, and they lament the time they waste figuring out how to apply this regulatory mess to real-world development project proposals.
However, by now each of the 76 agencies has developed their own interpretations and ways of doing things, and the staff of each doesn’t want to change that for regional consistency.
There’s a more broadly applicable lesson there, I’m sure.
Anyway, I’m proud of the stuff that stayed in.