http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/williamsburg/dp-17978sy0jun04.story

Plan created to protect JCC watershed

Yarmouth Creek area under study

By Daphne Sashin
Daily Press

June 4 2003

JAMES CITY -- Every time it rains in the Yarmouth Creek watershed, the water skates off rooftops and roads, down stormwater drains and through pipes. Very soon, a stream in the Kristiansand neighborhood chokes with water, pulling in mud and sediment that smothers fish.

It's one sign that past growth has affected the sensitive region, and why the county should take measures to protect and restore the Yarmouth Creek watershed before more development occurs, said a consultant who is studying the creek.
One step would be to improve some of the older stormwater facilities in the watershed to slow down the time it takes for water to release into streams, said Paul Sturm, a water quality specialist with the Center for Watershed Protection in Ellicott City, Md.

The county hired the center, along with the James River Association, to study ways to protect and improve the quality of the Yarmouth Creek watershed. The watershed covers the 16 square miles that discharge runoff into Yarmouth Creek, which leads into the Chickahominy River and then the James River.

The watershed is an important natural resource that includes one of the two largest relatively undisturbed wetlands on Virginia's lower peninsula and is home to at least one heron rookery and a historic bald eagle nesting site, according to the draft watershed management plan presented Tuesday night.

Sturm ticked off 14 recommendations for the county and residents, based on 18 months of field research and discussions with property owners, local businesses and other interested groups.

Potential improvements could include adopting special stormwater criteria for developers inside the watershed, starting a citizens group to monitor the region, and expanding the county's Purchase of Development Rights program to target such sensitive natural resources. If implemented, the recommendations would cost the county $160,000 a year for four years, plus another $1 million for development rights purchases.

Throughout the planning process, landowners have expressed concerns that the county not restrict their property rights in a watershed protection plan.

About 45 people attended the Tuesday night presentation. No one raised strong objections at the two-hour meeting, though a number of landowners asked questions about how the plan would work.

"If you have a piece of property that has an item identified but the causes of the problem are from outside the property, who's supposed to pay?" asked Virginia Hartmann, whose family owns the Williamsburg Soap & Candle Co. on Richmond Road.

Hartmann was referring to runoff from Richmond Road causing a drainage ditch on her property to erode.

John Horne, the county's development manager, said that in such a case, the county would not ask landowners to pay for stormwater restoration on their property.

Several landowners expressed frustration over the amount of garbage dumped along the roads and said they were interested in joining a citizens group.

While relatively undeveloped, the watershed is coming under greater pressure, particularly in the northern section, Sturm said, referring to U.S. Home Corp.'s soon-to-be built Colonial Heritage project and other properties that are zoned for residential development.

Horne said consultants will draft a final version of the plan and present it to the James City county Board of Supervisors in the next couple of months.

Daphne Sashin can be reached at 223-5684 or by e-mail at dsashin@dailypress.com