Update of Town of Chapel Hill Booker Creek Working Group by Philip Berke, LEHA Board Member 5/28/22

Now is a good time to give an update about the progress made by the Booker Creek Working Group that was created by the Town Council in September 2021. The core elements of the BCWG’s mission are to make recommendations to the Town Council to:

· Reduce flooding.

· Improve water quality.

· Protect and restore natural stream corridors.

Background

The Lower Booker Creek Sub-Watershed Study completed in 2018 identified $22 million in needed capital projects to improve flooding and water quality. The Council approved using the 2015 Stormwater bonds of $5.9 million for the top priority projects identified in the report.

The Town completed constructing the first project identified by the Lower Booker Creek study in 2021. Formerly called Elliott Flood Storage, the Booker Creek Basin Park is located between Eastgate Crossing Shopping Center and South Elliott Road.

In September 2021, the Chapel Hill Town Council withdrew support of the remaining six flood storage projects. One of the disapproved projects involved excavation of bottom land forest running along Booker Creek between the Lake Ellen dam and Piney Mountain Road to install a flood storage detention basin. Disapproval of the projects was due to high costs, negative environmental impacts, and adverse climate effects.

The Town Council did not consider the once-proposed project to create a storm water retention reservoir through structural modifications to Lake Ellen.

Creation of the Booker Creek Working Group (September 2021)

The Town Council approved creation of the Booker Creek Working Group in response to opposition by several neighborhoods directly affected by the impoundments that formed the Booker Creek Neighborhood Preservation Alliance. Membership of the Working Group includes: 11 voting members representing local homeowners and businesses with flooding property, local environmental and environmental justice groups, and residents with expertise water resources, forestry, and hydrology; and 9 non-voting members primarily from local government agencies and an engineering consultant employed by the town.

The Booker Creek Working Group has held nine public meetings between October 2021 and April 2022. The group learned about issues and potential solutions to current and projected future flood damages to homes and businesses, and degradation of water quality and habitats. Presentations were given by hydrologists, environmental scientists and officials from Durham County Soil and Water Conservation District, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Stormwater Services, and the Town of Cary Stormwater Management Program.

Two Major Recommendations (April 2022)

The Working Group concluded that “Chapel Hill now relies mainly on controlling flood waters, partly through regulation of new development and increasingly on flood water detention in the proposed flood storage projects. A better approach to protecting structures from flood damage is to focus on structures at risk and to consider a wide range of mitigation measures to choose the most cost effective one for each structure.” (BCWG meeting minutes, 4/4/22)

On April 4, 2022, the Working Group submitted two recommendations to the Town Council:

Recommendation #1: Shift from preventing flooding to preventing flood damage.

BCWG recommends that the town take a more targeted approach to reduction in flood damages with less cost and less environmental damage. Key objectives related of this recommendation include:

· Identify specific structures at risk of flood damage.

· Evaluate a wide range of flood damage reduction measures for each structure at risk such as floodproofing, raising the building elevations, basement abandonment.

· Use the results of this analysis to set priorities for the Town’s capital budget.

Recommendation II: Protect bottomland forests.

The presentations provided context for why the bottomland forest are beneficial. Key objectives of this recommendation include:

· Increase the permanent protection of town-owned properties through acquisition new properties.

· Establish easements and/or permanent conservation of key properties.

· Require more careful land use planning.

· Develop a natural land inventory.

Concluding Thoughts

There are many unresolved issues that need to be addressed before the Town can move forward. In my opinion, major issues include:

· How will the new initiatives be funded? Implementation of both recommendations will require a dedicated funding source that extends beyond the current budget of the Stormwater Utility.

· How will the new program address the disproportionate costs of flood reduction measures on low-income populations? Prior experience in other communities like Charlotte suggests that this is a real issue.

· Is the Town willing to significantly strengthen land use planning? There is a history of regulating development and buying of flood prone properties in some floodplain areas but allowing more development in the same areas.

· How does all this affect Lake Ellen? The Lake Ellen project is on the back burner but has not been officially abandoned.

For interested residents, the next public meeting of the BCWG is virtual 6-8pm, June 6, 2022. Registration is available via the web link:

https://www.townofchapelhill.org/government/departments-services/public-works/stormwater-management/know-your-watersheds/booker-creek-studies-and-projects