The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutAugust 10, 2004 Agenda AGENDA CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL August 10, 2004 After determining that a quorum is presem, the City of DeNon City Council will convene on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 at 4:00 p.m. in the City Council Work Session Room at City Hall, 215 E. McKinney, Denton, Texas. The City Council will convene in a Special Called Meeting to consider the following: Consider approval of a resolution of the City Council of DeNon Texas placing a proposal on the September 7, 2004, City Council Public Meeting Agenda to adopt a 2003 tax rate that will exceed the lower of the rollback rate or 103 percent of the effective tax rate; calling a public hearing on a tax increase to be held on August 24, 2004, requiring publication of a Notice of Public Hearing on a tax increase in accordance with the law; and providing an effective date. Following the completion of the Special Called Meeting, the City Council will convene in a Planning Work Session, at which the following items will be considered: NOTE: A Planning Work Session is used to explore matters of interest to one or more City Council Members or the City Manager for the purpose of giving staff direction imo whether or not such matters should be placed on a future regular or special meeting of the Council for citizen input, City Council deliberation and formal City action. At a Planning Work Session, the City Council generally receives informal and preliminary reports and information from City staff, officials, members of City committees, and the individual or organization proposing council action, if invited by City Council or City Manager to participate in the session. Participation by individuals and members of organizations invited to speak ceases when the Mayor announces the session is being closed to public input. Although Planning Work Sessions are public meetings, and citizens have a legal right to attend, they are not public hearings, so citizens are not allowed to participate in the session unless invited to do so by the Mayor. Any citizen may supply to the City Council, prior to the beginning of the session, a written report regarding the citizen's opinion on the matter being explored. Should the Council direct the matter be placed on a regular meeting agenda, the staff will generally prepare a final report defining the proposed action, which will be made available to all citizens prior to the regular meeting at which citizen input is sought. The purpose of this procedure is to allow citizens attending the regular meeting the opportunity to hear the views of their fellow citizens without having to attend two meetings. 1. Receive outcome statemems and hold a discussion regarding Neighborhoods. 2. Receive a report and hold a discussion regarding Environmem. o Suggestions for Agenda Committee on future agenda items and/or placement of items for upcoming agendas. City of Denton City Council Agenda August 10, 2004 Page 2 CERTIFICATE I certify that the above notice of meeting was posted on the bulletin board at the City Hall of the City of Denton, Texas, on the day of ,2004 o'clock (a.m.) (p.m.) CITY SECRETARY NOTE: THE CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION ROOM IS ACCESSIBLE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT. THE CITY WILL PROVIDE SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED IF REQUESTED AT LEAST 48 HOURS IN ADVANCE OF THE SCHEDULED MEETING. PLEASE CALL THE CITY SECRETARY'S OFFICE AT 349-8309 OR USE TELECOMMUNICATIONS DEVICES FOR THE DEAF (TDD) BY CALLING 1-800-RELAY- TX SO THAT A SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETER CAN BE SCHEDULED THROUGH THE CITY SECRETARY'S OFFICE. AGENDA DATE: DEPARTMENT: ACM: AGENDA INFORMATION SHEET August 10, 2004 Fiscal Operations, Tax Department Kathy DuBose ~ SUBJECT Consider approval of a resolution of the City Council of the City of DeNon, Texas placing a proposal on the September 7, 2004, City Council Public Meeting Agenda to adopt a 2004 tax rate that will exceed the lower of the rollback rate or 103 percent of the effective tax rate; calling a public hearing on a tax increase to be held on August 24, 2004, requiring publication of a Notice of Public Hearing on a tax increase in accordance with the law; and providing an effective date. BACKGROUND In the Friday, July 30, 2004, Reading File, staff provided Council with a copy of the required notice of effective tax rate calculation to be published in the Sunday, August 1 newspaper. Municipalities are required to publish their rollback tax rates in the newspaper, along with the effective tax rate and other required schedules. The rollback tax rate divides the overall property taxes into two categories--maimenance and operations (M&O) taxes and debt service taxes. By law, the rollback rate for taxing units are set at an eight percem (8%) increase in operating (M&O) taxes. The effective tax rate is generally the property taxes divided by the current year's taxable value of properties that were on the tax roll in both years. This rate excludes taxes on properties no longer in the taxing unit and also excludes the currem taxable value of new properties (growth). The City of DeMon's effective rate is $.54070/$100 valuation and the rollback rate is $.58155/$100 valuation. The Property Tax Code specifies that "if a taxing unit (other than a school district or small taxing unit) proposes a tax rate that exceeds the lower of the rollback rate or 103 percent of the effective tax rate, the taxing unit's governing body must vote to place the proposal to adopt the tax rate on the agenda of a future meeting as an action item". The proposed 2004-05 budget is partially funded with a proposed tax rate of .57765. Although this proposed rate is below the rollback rate, it is 106.8% of the effective tax rate and requires a public hearing. ESTIMATED SCHEDULE 08/10/04 08/15/04 08/24/04 08/29/04 09/07/04 Vote to Place Proposal on Future Agenda Publish Required Notice for Public Hearing Hold Public Hearing Publish Second Required Notice for Vote on Tax Rate Adopt Tax Rate Agenda Information Sheet August 10, 2004 Page 2 PRIOR ACTION/REVIEW City Council was provided information regarding the proposed tax rate in the August 6, 2004, Reading File. FISCAL INFORMATION The proposed property tax rate is included in the 2004-05 proposed budget. Respectfully submitted: Diana G. Ortiz Director of Fiscal Operations S:\Our DocumentsLResolutions\04\tax public hearing.doc RESOLUTION NO. A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS PLACING A PROPOSAL ON THE SEPTEMBER 7, 2004 CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC MEETING AGENDA TO ADOPT A 2004 TAX RATE THAT WILL EXCEED THE LOWER OF THE ROLLBACK RATE OR 103 PERCENT OF THE EFFECTIVE TAX RATE; CALLING A PUBLIC HEARING ON A TAX INCREASE TO BE HELD ON AUGUST 24, 2004; REQUIRING PUBLICATION OF A NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON A TAX INCREASE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAW; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTWE DATE. WHEREAS, the City Council desires to adopt a tax rate of $0.57765 per $100 valuation, which will exceed the lower of the rollback rate or 103 percent of the effective tax rate, in accordance with the requirements of the Tex. Tax Code ch. 26 and to schedule a public hearing on the proposed tax increase; NOW, THEREFORE, THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON HEREBY RESOLVES SECTION 1. The City Council desires to adopt a tax rate for the 2004 tax year of $0.57765 per $100 per valuation that will exceed the lower of the rollback rate or 103 percent of the effective tax rate. SECTION 2. The City Council hereby approves the placement of an item on the September 7, 2004 City Council public meeting agenda to vote on a proposed tax rate of $0.57765 per $100 valuation that will exceed the lower of the rollback rate or 103 percent of the effective tax rate. SECTION 3. The City Council hereby calls a public hearing on the proposed tax increase to be held in the City Council Chambers at City Hall located at 215 East McKinney Street in Denton, Texas 76201 on August 24, 2004 at 6:30 p.m. The public hearing will not be held until at least seven days after notice of this public heating has been pubhshed in the Denton Record- Chronicle, a newspaper having general circulation within the City, in the form of the attached Notice of Pubhc Heating on a Tax Increase, which is made a part of this resolution for ali purposes. The City Manager and the Assistant City Manager are hereby directed to publish said notice in accordance with this resolution and in accordance with Tex. Tax Code §26.06. At the public hearing, the City Council will afford adequate oppOmmity for both proponents and opponents of the tax increase to present their views. SECTION 4. This resolution shall become effective immediately upon its passage and approval at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Denton, Texas on this the l0th day of August, 2004, at which meeting a quorum was present and the meeting was held in accordance with the provisions of Tex. Gov't Code §551.001, et seq. The City Secretary is hereby directed to record this resolution and the vote on the proposal to place the item for a tax increase on the September 7, 2004 City Council agenda. S:\Our DocumentskResolutions\04\tax public hearing.doc PASSED AND APPROVED this the day of ,2004. EULINE BROCK, MAYOR ATTEST: JENNIFER WALTERS, CITY SECRETARY BY: APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM: HERBERT L. PROUTY, CITY ATTORNEY BY: Councilmember Euline Brock, Mayor Pete Kamp Perry McNeill, Mayor Pro Tem Bob Montgomery Joe Mukoy Jack Thomson Raymond Redmon Voted For Voted Against Page 2 Notice of Public Hearing on Tax Increase The City of Denton, Texas will hold a public hearing on'a proposal to increase total-tax revenues from properties on the tax roll in the preceding year by 6.8 percent. Your individual taxes may increase at a gre~ater or lesser rate, or even decrease, depending on the change in the taxable value of your property in relation to the change in taxable value of all other property and the tax rate that is adopted. The public hearing will be held on August 24, 2004, at 6:30 p.m. at the City Council Chambers in City Hall located at 215 E. McKirmey Denton, Texas 76201. FOR the proposal: AGAINST the proposal: PRESENT and not voting: ABSENT: The following table compares taxes on an average home in this taxing unit last year to taxes proposed on the average home this year. Again, your individual taxes may be higher or lower, depending on the taxable value of your property. Average residence homestead value Last Year This Year $117,730 $120,498 General exemptions available (mount available on the average homestead, not including senior citizen's or disabled person's exemptions) $5,000 $5,000 Average taxable value $112,730 $115,498 Tax Rate .54815/$100 .57765/$100 Tax $617.92 $667.17 Under this proposal, taxes on the average homestead would increase by $49.25 or 7.9 percent compared with last year's taxes. Comparing tax rates without adjusting for changes in property value, the tax rate would increase by $2.95¢ per $100 of taxable value or 5.3 percent compared to last year's tax rate. These tax rate figures are not adjusted for changes in the taxable value of property. Environmental Management White Paper August 10, 2004 Draft Created by K. Banks May 2004 Final Version created August 2004, with input from P.S. Arora, Katherine Barnett, Jim Coulter, Tim Fisher, Howard Martin, Bill McCullough, and David Wachal Environmental Management White Paper Draft Created by K. Banks May 2004 Final Version created August 2004, with input from P.S. Arora, Katherine Barnett, Jim Coulter, Tim Fisher, Howard Martin, Bill McCullough, and David Wachal EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - ENVIRONMENTAL WHITE PAPER One of the basic tenets of civilization is that human communities cannot be created and maintained without modifications of the environment. The nature and extent of modification is almost always directly linked to the size of the population contained within the community. Thus, once communities reach a certain size, the need and desire for environmental management becomes more pronounced. The issue of municipal environmental management, therefore, must be directed towards determining how much modification is desirable. However, when exploring this issue, it is inevitable that conflicting values will be encountered and reasonable compromises will have to be made. Consequently, environmental management activities become central to the debate of balancing the protection of natural resources with the economic and social realities of resource utilization. Although proper environmental management is crucial, such management cannot be accomplished without a thorough understanding of the issues and problems that will be encountered, and will not be effective without a comprehensive plan. The purpose of this white paper is to begin the process of forming such a plan. A well-formed comprehensive plan will help the community anticipate environmental problems, plan ahead to minimize these problems, and prioritize solutions to solve problems that have occurred. Since no two communities will face exactly the same environmental issues, with the same constraints and resources, it is up to the elements within the City of Denton to decide how to best handle our own unique environmental challenges. Given that most environmental problems originate as local issues, it makes sense that local efforts should be the primary means of determining ways to manage environmental resources. The first chapter of the paper is dedicated to the environmental visioning process, and outlines in general terms the perceptions of municipalities as custodians of the environment within their respective jurisdictions of regulatory control. An environmental vision in its simplest form is a picture or description of a preferred future state of the community, chosen from several alternative futures. Once a vision is formed, environmental management becomes the overall process of developing and implementing that vision and moving the community towards that preferred state. The chapter outlines some of the issues to consider when forming an environmental vision and ends with a discussion on the issue of sustainable development and how this paradigm may be applied to municipal environmental management problems. Chapter 2 describes the historical context of environmental management within the City of Denton, and presents a brief synopsis of the regulatory challenges that have been met by Denton over the years. Later sections of Chapter 2 address the general shifting of the wastewater regulatory paradigm from emphasis on point source discharges to more regulatory focus on non- point source pollution control. The chapter ends with a general discussion of how Denton has responded to the shifting regulatory focus through water and wastewater oriented environmental research projects, the development of analytical capabilities at the water testing lab, the formation of the industrial pretreatment program, the formation of the watershed protection program, the development of the beneficial reuse program, and other initiatives. Chapter 3 outlines the current regulatory requirements faced by the City of Denton concerning drinking water, wastewater, sludge management, landfill operations, and storm water requirements. From a water and wastewater perspective, management of point sources is no longer the only environmemal managemem challenge faced by the City. As regulations have become more stringent and far reaching, the current regulatory programs have had to expand and change focus. Although much of the initial environmental management activities at Denton have centered on the regulatory requirements of the Clean Water Act and the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, the desire to cominually improve the quality of our drinking water and wastewater coupled with the need to be more anticipatory in our regulatory compliance strategies has prompted an increased focus on environmental research activities. Chapter 4 describes the evolution of environmemal research at the City of Demon. Although past research activities focused almost exclusively on drinking water and wastewater issues, more recem research has expanded to include surface water resources, watershed analyses, biosolids, stormwater, and analyses examining the relationship between landuse and water quality. An outline of the evolution of Demon's watershed protection program is provided, along with an in-depth discussion concerning the implications of new watershed and stormwater regulations for Demon. The chapter ends with a discussion of the use of the concept of the watershed as a logical framework for water resource planning, water quality comrol, and overall ecosystem management. Chapter 5 examines the current environmental management strategies within Denton and discusses in general terms how environmemal issues have become an economic, social, and in some cases political reality. Many citizens expect a municipality to have an active role in environmental management and, to an extent, environmental protection activities. Because of the current population size and projected growth, Denton is entering into a critical development period with regards to environmental issues. A theory is introduced that outlines the concept of three different environmental management models, termed the "Regulatory Compliance", "Quality of Life" and "Holistic Managemem" models, and discusses the applications of these models within a municipal setting. Although the current environmental management structure within the City of DeNon is very adept at addressing "Regulatory Compliance" issues, the infrastructure necessary to address "Quality of Life" and "Holistic Managemem" issues is often rudimentary or lacking completely. Chapter 6 outlines future environmemal managemem strategies for Demon. In general, the chapter puts forth the argumem that Demon's limited environmemal resources will be increasingly impacted by developmem and population growth. This has curremly created situations where making either / or decisions concerning the environmem resources is no longer possible. As populations grow, there is a pervasive phenomenon of decreasing per capita environmemal resources due to an increasing number of people utilizing finite resources. For these reasons, it is suggested that environmemal considerations should become an imegral componem of policies concerning economic growth and community developmem. The challenge will be to idemify common grounds where citizens, developers, environmemalists, local officials, transportation designers, planners, and other stakeholders can find ways to accommodate resources utilization while maimaining adequate environmemal quality. The chapter outlines some of the challenges that will be faced when trying to accomplish these goals for a wide variety of differem environmemal issues, and discusses the role of a municipality and the citizenry in dealing with these challenges. The chapter ends with a discussion concerning the need for a centralized environmental management department, the institutional commitment needed to maintain such an organization, and some of the reasons for citizen frustration with the current environmental management structure. Chapters 7 and 8 discuss new environmental management paradigms within a municipal context. The need for environmemal considerations to be a componem of many municipal decisions is discussed, along with a discussion of the need for a more formal municipal environmemal management system. The need for scientific research and the proper use of scientific data for environmental decision making is covered extensively. It is important to realize that the nature of environmental issues, by definition, creates situations where decisions must be made with little or no scientific information. While research can alleviate this problem to an extent, it is unrealistic to expect the City of Denton to be able to conduct enough research to lessen environmental uncertainty. Since it is expected that decisions will have to be made without complete information, a framework for decision-making is needed. Chapter 7 outlines some of the issues to consider when designing such a framework and Chapter 8 further develops these issues within a municipal framework. Several differem environmemally oriemed municipal management areas are discussed in light of the concepts outlined in previous chapters. Chapter 9 is devoted to future directions for environmental management and general steps are suggested for furthering the concepts introduced in previous chapters. It is important to note that the traditional approach to environmental management has tended to treat the environment as a series of unrelated components, e.g., how to protect water resources, how to protect the air, how to preserve open spaces. More modern environmental management stems from the realization that environmental management cannot work efficiently unless we consider the environment as an integrated whole. The basic steps outlined in Chapter 9 are designed with the understanding that organizations tasked with managing the environment cannot carry out these responsibilities without considering resources, economy, public opinions, and other needs of a community. Thus, the only way to accomplish true, meaningful environmental management is through a comprehensive strategy that promotes interaction and overlap between environmental protection and community needs. This paper is intended to outline the beginning steps needed to form a more comprehensive approach to environmental management within the City of Denton. It is important to note that the current resources available to the City of Denton will be insufficient to address many of the more complex environmental concerns. One of the critical issues to consider is that the current regulatory requiremems of DeNon should not be marginalized by spreading presemly available environmemal resources over too many new areas of responsibility. Therefore, adding additional capacity to deal with environmemal issues outside of our currem areas of responsibility will only be possible by allocating additional resources and will necessitate a real institutional commitment. Another critical management issue is the management of expectations. Since people have different views, perceptions, and concerns related to environmemal issues, a full spectrum of expectations is a reality that must be addressed. Since addressing all issues and concerns is not economically viable, some groups or individuals may be disappoimed or dissatisfied with the process. Overall, the coordination of environmental activities through more active environmental management offers many attractive benefits. However, such a program must constantly be evaluated to determine if the program is creating the optimal level of environmental performance. The word "optimal" is crucial, since this level of performance will be representative of a combination of regulatory, social, political, and economic considerations. While municipalities should take a very proactive role to ensure that residents benefit from the highest possible level of ecosystem / environmental services, municipalities are also responsible for expanding economic opportunities and non-environmental municipal services. Consequently, municipalities are often faced with balancing a myriad of non-parallel goals. The argument can be put forward that the most successful municipalities are those that establish the goals of improving environmental performance in the most economically and socially viable manner possible. This document is intended to start the process towards accomplishing these goals. Environmental White Paper Table of Contents 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 Environmental Visioning: Definitions, traditional management approaches, and the visioning process 1.1 Environmental visioning - The first step to achieving environmental results 1.2 Environmental protection and the responsibility of Municipalities 1.3 Environmental management vision for Denton Denton's History of Environmental Management Activities - Where we have been 2.1 l/Vater Regulation History 2.2 Past and Current NPDES / TPDES Requirements and shifting regulatory paradigms 2.3 Environmental research and programs at the City of Denton Utilities Department 2.4 Industrial pretreatment 2.5 Stormwater 2.6 Construction of wetland and living stream systems 2.7 Composting Current regulatory requirements of the City of Denton Utilities Department 3.1 Drinking water 3.2 I/Vastewater 3.3 Sludge management 3.4 Landfill 3.5 Air 3.6 Stormwater The evolution 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 of Water Quality Research at the City of Denton The origin of the watershed protection program l/Vatersheds as a management unit Initial components of Denton's l/Vatershed Protection Program EMPACT and 10463 The l/Vatershed Protection Approach - design considerations 5.0 Current environmental management at Denton - Understanding the issues 5.1 Differing environmental paradigms 5.1.1 Regulatory Compliance paradigm 5.1.2 Quality of Life paradigm 5.1.3 A New Environmental Management paradigm - combining the Regulatory Compliance and Quality of Life paradigms 5.2 Where are we currently? 5.3 Do we understand the nature of the problem ? 6.0 7.0 Where do we want to be? Future environmental management strategies for Denton 6.1 Water Resources - TMDLs, Regulatory opportunities and operational challenges 6.2 Land- Usage strategies for protecting environmental resources 6.2.1 Land Acquisition 6.2.2 Conservation Easements 6.2.3 Riparian Buf/brs 6.2.4 Floodplain Protection Air 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 The role of a municipality: What should the city of Denton do the manage the environment? Public Participation: The Role of the Citizen in Environmental Management The needJbr a central agency for environmental management Reasons for frustration with environmental regulation New Environmental paradigms - the importance of the environment in the municipal decision making process: 7.1 Sustainability 7.2 Serving as an example - the need~/br a municipal Environmental Management System (EMS) 7.2.1 Urban forests 7.2.2 Pesticide Reduction 7.2.3 Promoting environmental stewardship and environmental justice 7.2.4 Leading by example - Green City Government 7.2.5 Healthy urban environments 7.3 Research needs - we cannot provide the answers if we cannot formulate the questions 7. 4 The use of scientific data 7. 5 Views of environmental impacts in light of~/hture growth and development 7. 6 Alternatives assessment 7. 7 Inclusiveness and Integration for Environmental Management 8.0 9.0 Municipal 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Suggested 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Environmental Management Land use planning Water and Wastewater Solid waste management Environmentally Sensitive Areas - a special landuse management future directions Ten Future Goals Vulnerability issues associated with an Environmental Department Complexity Denton's Uniqueness is strength - Reasons for optimism Mission for Environmental Management in Denton 10. References The beginning is the most important part of the work - Plato, The Republic 1.0 Environmental Visioning: Definitions, traditional management approaches, and the visioning process Human settlements cannot be created and maintained without modifications of the environment. The issue of municipal environmental management, therefore, must be directed towards determining how much modification is desirable. When exploring this issue, it is inevitable that conflicting values will be encountered and reasonable compromises will have to be made. Environmental managers are central to the debate of balancing the protection of natural resources along with the economic and social benefits of resource use. Before beginning a discussion of environmental management, it is important to define what is meant by the term "environment" since the term "environment" can mean different things to different people. Within the context of this paper, environment refers to the conditions and influences under which an individual or thing exists, lives, or develops. These conditions and influences include: · The natural environment, including renewable and non-renewable natural resources such as air, water, land, and living organisms; · The social, political, cultural, and economic factors that determine peoples influence on the environment; and · The natural and constructed spatial surroundings, including urban and rural landscapes, ecosystems, and the aspects of these systems that contribute to their value. The traditional approach to environmental management has tended to treat the environment as a series of unrelated components, e.g., how to protect water resources, how to protect the air, how to preserve open spaces. More modern environmental management stems from the realization that environmental management cannot work efficiently unless we treat the environment as an integrated whole. Organizations that are tasked with managing the environment cannot carry out this responsibility without considering the resources, economy, public opinions, and other needs of a community. Thus, the only way to accomplish true, meaningful environmental management is through a comprehensive environmental program that promotes the interaction and overlap between environmental protection and community needs. This paper is intended to outline the beginning steps needed to form such a program. The approach used in this paper is somewhat analogous to a road map that shows you where you are and where you are going, as well as providing some guidance on how to get there. Without implementing a comprehensive program, it is likely that the City of Denton will not be able to efficiently accomplish the environmental management that should be expected by Denton's citizens. This statement is particularly true when considering the phenomenal growth, and associated environmental challenges, that will be faced by Denton over the next 20-30 years. A well-formed comprehensive plan will help the community anticipate environmental problems, plan ahead to minimize these problems, and prioritize solutions to solve problems that have occurred. Since no two communities will face exactly the same environmental issues, with the same constraints and resources, it is up to the elements within the City of Denton to decide how to best handle our own unique environmental challenges. Given that most environmental problems originate as local issues, it makes sense that local efforts should be the primary means of determining ways to manage environmental resources. 1.1 Environmental visioning - The first step to achieving environmental results An environmental vision in its simplest form is a picture or description of a preferred future state of the community, chosen from several alternative futures. Once a vision is formed, environmental management becomes the overall process of developing and implementing that vision and moving the community towards that preferred state. A central theme to the environmental visioning process should be attempting to formulate a valid answer to the question "where do we want to be". Formulating a valid answer to this question is not a trivial task. Throughout the visioning process, it is imperative that interested community members express their shared values to establish future goals. It is therefore important to focus the visioning process on specific timeframes, i.e., 5, 10, or 20 years into the future. Ultimately, the visioning process will likely result in environmental vision statements composed of several alternative futures. All of these futures, however, should represent variations on the theme of achieving sustainable solutions for the environment, economy, and social well-being. Once environmental visions are created, a set of rigorous measures for evaluating these commitments to the future should be established and monitored through time. Goals should be continually redefined as progress continues. If more stakeholders express a desire to join the visioning process, or if forecasts prove to be inaccurate, the community may need to go through the goal development exercise on a regular basis. This reevaluation will provide an opportunity to determine whether the community is meeting its goals and whether these goals do indeed represent the priorities of the community, are still relevant, and are currently realistic. 1.2 Environmental protections and the responsibility of Municipalities Environmental protection encompasses water quality, air quality, soil erosion, habitat preservation, public health, conservation, wetlands protection, management of urban forests, floodplain protection, open space management, etc. The management of all of these issues is interrelated and extraordinarily challenging. Because of the interrelated nature of environmental management, a holistic approach must be used to balance the wide variety of values and interests that are associated with these complex issues. Often, municipalities are the only entities capable of such interrelated management at local scales. Citizens often consider municipalities as the custodians of the environment within the municipality's jurisdiction. However, good environmental governance can only be assured if it is based on a sound socio-economic framework that is both environmentally and economically sustainable. It is also important to consider that people are part of the environment and should be at the center of concerns for environmental protection. Since people are inextricably linked to their environment, protecting the environment and protecting public health are almost always mutually reinforcing goals. Protecting public health and efficiemly managing resources are the overarching goals of any successful municipality. To accomplish these goals, there is a need to establish decision-making processes that consider environmental resources as an integral part of both public health and resource management. By using appropriate decision-making processes, areas of greatest ecological value can be idemified, protected and preserved, ultimately minimizing further losses of environmental resources. Considering the growth trends of Denton and the nature of environmemal issues, our environmemal concerns should extend well beyond our city limits. Since environmemal issues know no boundaries, policies addressing these issues should consider our local community, our regional community, and our global community. In a very real sense, environmental degradation is indicative of institutional failure from the citizen level to the municipal government level. To prevent failures, the interaction between policies and actions of the City of DeNon towards conservation, developmem, and environmemal resources should be an open and transparem process, since these policies and actions will shape future development patterns. Development patterns, in turn, will influence the landscape, land usage, and the ability of our environmem to provide ecological services. The purpose of the environmemal policies of the City of DeNon should therefore always be to inform the citizens of Denton about what the environmental objectives of Denton are and how these objectives will be accomplished in order to facilitate appropriate imeractions between policies and actions. Goals should also include an institutional commitment to enhance coordination efforts between various departments within Denton's municipal structure to allow more efficient environmental management. 1.3 Environmental Management Vision for Denton The purpose of this paper is to begin the process of shaping a vision for environmemal managemem in the City of Demon. This vision will be based on an imegrated and holistic environmental management system, with the overall goal of achieving sustainable development that is locally defined and both environmemally and economically achievable. If currem growth projections for the City of DeNon are accurate, the City is at a pivotal poim in developmem. Over the next 20 years, DeNon will make the transition from a medium to a large municipality. This growth will produce a tremendous amount of strain on existing environmental resources. The management strategies used to deal with these strains will define the environmental benefits and ecological services that will be available to residents of Denton through time. Environmental management strategies will also influence Denton's ability to meet current and future water, wastewater, solid waste, and air quality regulations. Denton's municipal government should expect that greater environmental management will be demanded by an increasingly larger population. Providing a constam level of environmemal managemem, maintaining ecological services, protecting environmental resources, and facilitating population growth will be difficult under the current management strategy. We can only realistically achieve environmental goals through a new model or paradigm that is based on the concepts of sustainable development. Environmental management at the municipal level must therefore become more imegrated, more coordinated, and must address: · Peoples quality of life; · The equitable access to open spaces and recreational opportunities; · The integration of economic development and environmental sustainability; · The more efficient use of energy resources; and · Public participation in environmental governance. In this context, sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The management strategy of sustainable development emphasizes the consideration of environmental concerns in all aspects of development plans, municipal programs, and municipal activities. It is important to realize that sustainable development is not a policy geared towards stifling economic development. Rather, the policy focuses on win-win solutions to promote both economic and environmental gains by integrating environmental concerns in the decision- making process. The overall goal is to promote growth through processes that ensure that the growth does not degrade the environment. 2.0 Denton's History of Environmental Management Activities - Where we have been In order to establish a direction for the future, it is important to understand the past. Environmental research activities at the City of Denton have historically centered on environmental issues related to surface water resources. Surface waters are vital resources for municipal water supplies, as well as providing other ecological services such as waste assimilation. Research centering on surface water resources has been a natural outgrowth of the monitoring and reporting requirements established by both federal and state regulations for water and wastewater utilities. Since federal and state regulations have somewhat driven or influenced environmental research in Denton, it is important to understand both the evolution of these regulations and how the discharge of pollutants to the environment has been influenced by regulatory changes. The following paragraphs provide a brief synopsis of pertinent environmental regulations. 2.1 V~ater Regulation History The principal law governing pollution of the Nation's waterways is the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, currently known as the Clean Water Act (CWA). Although the Federal Water Pollution Control Act was originally enacted in 1948, growing public concern for controlling water pollution led to a total revision of the Act Federal during 1972. The objectives of the newly amended Federal Water Pollution Act were based on restoring and maintaining the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters. Amendments in 1977 added a significant amount of new regulatory and programmatic material to the Water Pollution Control Act, and ultimately resulted in the Federal Water Pollution Control Act becoming commonly known under a new name: the Clean Water Act (CWA). The CWA established the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and rapidly became the cornerstone of surface water quality protection in the United States. The reauthorization of the Clean Water Act created the Water Quality Act of 1987 (WQA), reinforcing both the technology-based and water quality-based approaches to point source control established in the CWA. Substantive changes in the 1987 amendments included increased funding of state runoff control, strengthening of the toxics control program by issuance of more stringent National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits, funding to encourage states to accelerate efforts to control nonpoint source pollution, and a phase out of the construction grants program in favor of a State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund, more commonly known as the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. During the earlier years of the CWA, regulations tended to focus on discharges from traditional "point source" facilities, such as municipal sewage plants and industrial facilities. In this context "point source" is defined very broadly to include any "discernible, confined and discrete conveyance", including, for example, any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, or container from which pollutants are or may be discharged. However, as programs related to the CWA matured, regulators increasingly recognized the need for planning to address the critical problems posed by non point sources of pollution. Non-point sources include agricultural run-off from fields, urban run-off from residemial property, runoff from streets and parking areas, inputs from industrial activities, and atmospheric deposition. As a result of this realization, efforts to address non-point source pollution have increased significantly in the last 15 to 20 years. 2.2 Past and Current NPDES / TPDES Requirements and shifting regulatory paradigms Under the current CWA and associated regulations, the State of Texas has the primary responsibility for setting, reviewing, revising and enforcing water quality standards. EPA develops regulations, policies, and guidance to help the State implement the program and has oversight authority to ensure that State standards are consistent with the requirements of the CWA and the Water Quality Standards regulation. EPA also has authority to review and approve or disapprove State standards and, if needed, to promulgate Federal water quality standards. The current CWA also authorizes the State to directly issue discharge permits to industries and municipalities through the Texas Pollution Discharge Elimination System (TPDES). The TPDES system has been relatively successful in comrolling discharges from industries and sewage treatment plants. However, additional programs that are more focused on NPS pollution have been developed to ensure that the goals of the CWA are met. For example, in response to the 1987 amendments to the Clean Water Act the USEPA and State agencies created the NPDES Storm water Program in 1990. The evolution of CWA programs over the last decade has also included something of a shift from a program-by-program, source-by-source, pollutam-by- pollutant approach to more holistic watershed-based strategies. In this context, a watershed is generally defined as a water drainage area, or land areas bounded by ridges that catch precipitation and drain to rivers, lakes and groundwater within the drainage area. Watersheds thus represent a natural management unit that encompasses aspects of land uses, water quality impacts, hydrology, biology, etc. One of the great strengths of the watershed approach is a more comprehensive management approach must be employed. The involvement of stakeholder groups in the development and implementation of strategies for achieving and maintaining state water quality and other environmemal goals is another hallmark of this approach. Under the watershed paradigm, a full array of environmemal issues are addressed, not just those subject to CWA regulatory authority. The watershed approach thus gives EPA, state regulators and local citizens a better view of local pollution problems and the flexibility to design and implemem remedies to address specific local conditions. 2.3 Environmental research and programs at the City of Denton Utilities Department The City of DeNon has a long history of environmemal research and environmemal programs. The NPDES / TPDES requirements outlined above required significant amounts of environmental monitoring to ensure that the municipal effluent produced by the City of Denton's Pecan Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant met or exceeded all regulatory requirements. Ultimately, this monitoring activity led to the creation of Denton's municipal water quality laboratory in 1982. The initial goal of the laboratory was to provide environmental monitoring capabilities to rapidly and cost-effectively monitor the City of Denton's effluent. However, as additional regulatory programs were added to the original CWA requirements through various amendments, the need for environmental analyses increased. For example, the increasing numbers of industries that were regulated under the Industrial Pretreatment Program and the creation of the NPDES Storm Water Program greatly increased the scope of environmental regulation in the City of Denton. The formation of the experimental wetland system and the composting operation also increased the need for environmental analyses. Since these programs have become important elements of the City of Denton's environmental management approach, each program will be considered briefly below. 2.4 Industrial pretreatment The Industrial Pretreatment Program is a cooperative effort of federal, state, and local regulatory environmental agencies established to protect water quality. The program is designed to reduce the level of pollutants discharged by industry and other non-domestic wastewater sources into municipal sewer systems, thereby reducing the amount of pollutants released into the environment through wastewater. The goal of the pretreatment program is to protect the Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) from pollutants that may interfere with plant operation and to prevent the introduction of pollutants that may pass through the POTW untreated. Preventing contaminants from entering the POTW also improves opportunities for the POTW to reuse wastewater and sludges that are generated during normal plant operation. The term "pretreatment" refers to the requirement that non-domestic sources discharging wastewater to POTWs meet water quality limits established by EPA, the State, or local authority on the amount of pollutants that can be discharged. Depending on the types of pollutants and their concentrations, control may require treatment prior to discharge to the POTW (therefore the term "pretreatmem"). In this comext, pretreatmem is any physical, chemical, or biological process or any industry process change that removes, reduces or eliminates pollutants in wastewater prior to discharging into the POTW. Limits may be met by the non-domestic source through pollution prevention techniques (product substitution, recycling, and reuse of materials) or treatment of the wastewater. The CWA of 1977 and subsequent reauthorization established the Industrial Pretreatment Program. 2.5 Storm water In response to the 1987 Amendmems to the Clean Water Act (CWA), the USEPA developed Phase I of the NPDES Storm Water Program in 1990. The Phase I program was designed to address sources of storm water runoff that had the greatest potential to negatively impact water quality. Under Phase I, EPA required NPDES permit coverage for storm water discharges from medium to large municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s) located in incorporated places or counties with populations of 100,000 or more. Eleven categories of industrial activities, including construction activities that disturb five or more acres of land, were also required to obtain permit coverage. Phase II of the program was published in the Federal Register on December 8, 1999, and required NPDES permit coverage for storm water discharges from small MS4s located in urbanized areas and construction activities disturbing between 1 to 5 acres of land (i.e., small construction activities). In addition to expanding the NPDES Storm Water Program, the Phase II Final Rule revised the temporary exemption that had been granted for certain industrial facilities under Phase I of the NPDES Storm Water Program and certain exemptions relating to Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). Under the Phase II rule, storm water pollution prevention plans and associated activities were required for DeMon's Pecan Creek Water Reclamation Facility, Landfill, and Airport. The City itself must also create and implement a Storm Water Management Plan for the municipal separate storm water system. 2.6 Construction of wetland and living stream systems During the late 1980s to early 1990s, the WWTP began experiencing periodic failures of NPDES toxicity requirements. Subsequent research indicated that organophosphate insecticides, commonly used on lawns and gardens, were likely causing the toxicity problems. The City launched an extensive public education campaign in an attempt to educate homeowners about the proper use and disposal of these materials. The City also constructed a small experimemal wetland system at the wastewater plant in the early 1990s to examine the wetland's ability to break down organophosphates through natural processes. The wetland system became a great research tool, and fostered numerous City of DeNon and University of North Texas research projects aimed at examining wastewater effluents and the interaction ofwastewater and natural system. Some of the current research being conducted in the wetland system and on wastewater effluent at Pecan Creek concerns cutting edge regulatory issues such as endocrine disrupting compounds and pharmaceuticals and personal care products in wastewater. The construction of the wetland system at the WWTP, and the associated research promoted by this system, led to a continually strengthened research partnership between the City of Denton and the University of North Texas. During the late 1990s, the research capabilities at the WWTP were expanded through this partnership via the creating of a living stream facility at the plant site. This system has several structures designed to mimic natural stream systems. However, these natural systems can be experimentally manipulated to perform research on the effects ofwastewater effluent on the natural environment. Many experiments have been done on this system, resulting in numerous publications in sciemific journals and a greater overall understanding of the effects ofwastewater on receiving streams. 2.7 Composting During the mid 1990s, staff at DeMon's WWTP began to examine methods for disposing of the activated sludge byproduct of the sewage treatment process. Prior to this time, activated sludge was disposed of by either dumping the waste in the municipal landfill or plowing the waste imo the ground of specially designated sites. Staff at the WWTP and landfill decided that the best use of the activated sludge was to combine it with lumber and yard wastes that were diverted from the landfill to produce a compost product. This approach is very beneficial because it extends the life of the landfill as well as creating a high quality compost material. Although the composting operation was designed to produce a product that could be sold, the operation has also been utilized for some limited research. Past research has focused on the use of compost as a remediation material for hydrocarbon comaminated soils. Future research will likely focus on the ability of the composting process to break down the pharmaceutical and personal care products that are becoming emerging contaminants of concern in wastewater sludge. 3.0 Current regulatory requirements of the City of Denton Utilities Department The City of DeNon is curreNly responsible for meeting numerous state and federal environmental regulations concerning drinking water standards, wastewater treatment standards, biosolids disposal, solid waste disposal, and air quality. Each of these regulatory issues is considered briefly below. 3.1 Drinking water Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1974 to ensure that public drinking water supplies met minimum public health standards. In 1986, Congress strengthened the Act because of concerns about the growing number of threats to the safety of the nations drinking water. EPA regulates the amouN of substances within the drinking water supply based on substance- specific maximum coNaminaN levels (MCLs). Drinking water suppliers must demonstrate that concentrations of contaminants do not exceed MCLs through periodic testing. Regulations pertaining to the Safe Drinking Water Act may be found in CFR 40, parts 141-143. 3.2 Wastewater Although there are several regulatory programs dealing with wastewater discharges, the Industrial Pretreatment Program and the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) are the two main regulatory programs. The 1977 Clean Water Act established National Pretreatment Standards to control pollutants that might either pass through a wastewater plant or interfere with wastewater treatment plant processes. The National Pretreatment Standards specify the quantities or concentrations of these pollutants that may be discharged to a wastewater treatment plant. Regulations pertaining to the National Pretreatment Standards may be found in CFR 40, part 403. The 1972 amendmeNs to the Water Pollution CoNrol Act, which was later amended and renamed the Clean Water Act in 1977, set federal water quality standards and established the National PollutaN Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). This system established limits on the level ofpollutaNs allowed to be discharged from all wastewater plans, based on the designated use of the water receiving the discharge. The NPDES also requires the wastewater treatmeN plan to meet secondary treatmeN standards, which the treatmeN processes must involve processes that go beyond the settling of solids to remove conveNional pollutaNs and coNrol discharge pH. Regulations pertaining to the NPDES permitting process are in CFR 40, parts 122-125. 3.3 Sludge management Sewage sludge is removed from wastewater during the treatmeN process. Federal regulations require that sludge be handled properly when it is used for beneficial purposes (such as for fertilizer) or when it is disposed of in a landfill or surface disposal site. DiffereN regulations apply to sludge disposal, depending on the type of disposal being considered. Sewage sludge disposal regulations are coNained in CFR 40, parts 122, 123,258,501, and 503. 10 3.4 Landfill Municipal solid waste is defined as non-hazardous waste generated by people in their homes, offices, schools, and other places. Solid waste is typically disposed of by placing it in a municipal solid waste disposal facility (landfill). This method of disposal must be regulated to ensure that the solid waste does not pollute soil or groundwater through improper disposal methods. The regulations affecting landfill operations are found in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Subtitle D, Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Criteria. 3.5 Air The Clean Air Act Amendmems of 1990 gave the USEPA the authority to set national outside (ambient) air quality standards for the purposes of protecting human health and the environment. All areas that do not attain these standards ("non-attainment areas") are required to develop strategies to achieve compliance. Currently, the entire Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, including Denton, is in a non-attainment area. Most air pollution comes from either stationary sources (e.g., factories, power plants, and other industries) or from mobile sources (e.g., cars, buses, planes, and trucks). Regulating air pollution is challenging due to the mobile nature of the environmemal medium (air) and the potential mobile nature of sources. Meteorological conditions also play a significant role in the severity of air pollution. Although regulating air quality is challenging, activities aimed at reducing air pollution are imperative for Denton. Currently, Dallas, Tarrant, Denton and Collin counties are designated as serious non-attainment areas, meaning that these areas have been unable to attain the air quality required under the rules and regulations of the TCEQ or the USEPA. Since this is a pervasive problem that extends over a large geographical area, solutions will require partnerships and a commitment from all areas to take measures to reduce air pollution. Regulations pertaining to the Clean Air Act can be found in CFR 40, parts 1-99. 3.6 Storm water Because of population size, DeNon has been designated as a Phase II storm water City. Under the Phase II program, Denton must obtain permit coverage for eligible municipal industrial operations. Currently, the landfill, Pecan Creek Water Reclamation Facility, and Airport are covered under separate storm water permits, referred to as Multisector General Permits (MSGP). Under the construction component of the Phase II program, all municipal construction projects that are one acre or larger are required to have coverage under a general storm water permit and to create and implemem a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWP3), commonly referred to as an SWP3. Denton is also required to create and implement a Storm Water Management Plan for the municipal separate storm water system (commonly referred to as a S WMP. Municipalities have the option to develop storm water regulations that are more extensive than those required by either the USEPA or the state permitting authority. At the time of the writing of this paper, the Texas Commission on Environmemal Quality has not released the final Municipal Separate Storm Sewer (MS4) general permit for the State of Texas. Once this permit is released, Denton must comply with the provisions in the permit or face potential fines or other legal actions under the NPDES component of the Clean Water Act. 11 4.0 The evolution of Water Quality Research at the City of Denton Through the years, there have been numerous research projects that have been conducted at the WWTP, the wetland system, living streams, composting operations, and Lake Lewisville. Many of these projects have been conducted to fulfill the research requirements of advanced degrees at the University of North Texas, and several theses, dissertations, and scientific journal articles have been produced. Major research projects are summarized in the following table. R. Guinn / J. Coulter Design and Implementation of a Constructed Wetland Patricia Wise The ecological effects of effluent De-Chlorination Stephanie Ramic Toxicity Reduction Evaluation and Wetland Characterization Amy Baerenklau Reduction of Toxicity using Constructed Wetlands and mesocosms Jiahong (Gina) Gu Comparison of Gas Chromatograph methods vs. immunoassay tests for Diazinon Phil Turner Toxicity Reduction Evaluation of Steam Plant discharges Kevin Thuesen Effects of composted biosolids amendments on trees; Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon bioremediation Barbara Miller Nitrate reduction with constructed wetland Ann Lee MTBE in Lake Lewisville Pat Appel Storm water characterization in Pecan Creek Jon Hemming Estrogenicity of effluent and reduction with wetland Ritchie Taylor Load modeling of Pecan Creek Jim Coulter TRE at Pecan Creek Water Reclamation Facility Gerald Mashman Fish survey of Pecan Creek Patricia Brady Residential and commercial solid waste characterization Sam Peacock Combining pretreatment and storm water monitoring efforts Margaret Forbes Phosphorus and nitrogen treatment via wetland systems Bryan Brooks Cadmium exposures in living streams Jessica White Effects of effluent on snail populations Jacob Stanley Effects of silver exposures in living streams Tom Waller / Barney Triclosan in wastewater / microbial resistance Venebles Bryan Brooks Fluoxetine and sertraline concentrations in effluent and fish tissues Research continues to be a vital component of the water and wastewater departments. However, these research activities have been somewhat specific to the regulatory issues associated with the treatment of wastewater, impacts on receiving systems, and the quality of raw water. While research of this nature is vital for understanding regulatory compliance issues under current and future regulatory requirements, this research does not address a fundamental need for understanding the nature of water quality within the surface waters of Denton. A new regulatory dimension was added when the provisions of the Clean Water Act were extended to include storm water under the NPDES storm water program in 1990. Under this new program, the issue of storm water quality and receiving water impacts have become increasingly important as both 12 the USEPA and the TCEQ cominue to shift regulatory focus to non-point source pollution. Non-point source pollution has also become increasingly important to the City of Denton's water and wastewater utilities as development pressures and associated landuse modifications have continued at a rapid rate within the watersheds draining to Lewisville Lake. In this context, controlling non-point source pollution becomes a broader issue that might be more appropriately termed "source water protection" or "watershed protection". 4.1 The origin of the watershed protection program As outlined in previous sections, the original provisions of the 1990 NPDES storm water program (Phase I) applied only to storm water discharges from medium to large Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) located in incorporated places or coumies with populations of 100,000 or greater. Since DeMon's population was well under the 100,000 population criterion, the City was not responsible for obtaining permit coverage under the Phase I program. However, utilities staff at Denton were aware that the second phase of the Storm Water Program (Phase II) would affect DeNon. Phase II extends permit requiremems to all operators of MS4s within municipalities containing a total population of 50,000 or more and a population density of 1,000 persons or more per square mile. Emities filing for a general permit must include descriptions of Best Managemem Practices (BMPs) for improving wet weather discharges as well as measurable goals that will be used to meet the following six minimum measures: 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Public Education and Outreach Public Participation and Involvement Elicit Discharge Detection and Elimination Construction Site Runoff and Control Post-Construction Storm Water Management Control Pollution Prevemion and Good Housekeeping While the above six measures are the minimum required by EPA, the rule allows for states with NPDES permitting authority to develop and implement more stringent permits to meet state- designated water quality requirements. In addition, municipalities have the option to develop storm water regulations that are more extensive than those required by either the USEPA or the state permitting authority. Thus, the Phase II rule is designed to encourage storm water control plans specific to local conditions and the requiremems of local officials, planners, and storm water managers. The Phase II program was expected to add an additional regulatory framework to the NPDES / TPDES requirements of the City by considering storm water as a regulated discharge. In anticipation of the Phase II program, staff began to examine creative ways to meet or exceed the anticipated Phase II requirements while simultaneously accomplishing the source water protection and watershed management goals of the City. Ultimately, this planning process resulted in the formation of the Watershed Protection Program at the City of Denton. 13 4.2 Watersheds as a management unit A key step in the environmental management process is to clearly define geographical boundaries of the effort. However, determining these boundaries is not a simple process because most ecosystems are not wholly self-contained. A lake, for example, may be a component of a larger natural system of rivers and streams within a watershed. Runoff, spills, floods, and other problems affecting these components might also affect the lake. Since ecosystems are complicated and are not contained in traditional boundaries, municipalities are faced with trying to balance the desire for environmental management at an environmentally relevant scale with the political realities of corporate city limits. One way to establish natural ecosystem boundaries is to use the concept of a watershed to define areas of concern. In this context, a watershed is an area where rain and other water drain to a common location such as a river, lake, or wetland. Watersheds may range in size from a few acres to thousands of square miles, and typically cut across political boundaries like neighborhoods, subdivisions, city limits, and state lines. Watershed managemem, therefore, often requires coordination among the difference emities within the watershed. Although such coordination is challenging, watershed based efforts can ultimately lead to a network of coordinated environmental protection across large regions. 4.3 Initial components of Denton's Watershed Protection Program EMPACT and 104(b)3 In 1998, the City of Demon and the University of North Texas co-wrote a USEPA EMPACT (Environmemal Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking) gram. The USEPA EMPACT program is a non-regulatory program designed to provide local governments with resources to provide the public with relevam, timely, and useful information about local environmemal conditions. The gram was successful, with almost five hundred thousand dollars being joimly awarded to the City of Demon and the University of North Texas. Researchers at both UNT and COD utilized these resources to create a real-time monitoring network of water quality and water quantity measuring devices at strategic points within the watersheds of Denton. Some of the real-time monitoring stations are capable of measuring precipitation rates and the height of water in streams. Some of these stations are connected to automatic gate systems that trigger road closures when stream levels threaten to overtop roads during large storm events. Two of the original EMPACT stations were designed to measure water quality of both storm water and normal flows approximately every 10 minutes, continuously. Some stations also have a novel real-time biomonitoring system that monitors the responses of a set of living organisms (clams) to changes in water quality. Figure 1 summarizes the EMPACT equipmem distributed around the City of Demon. 14 Figure 1. EMPACT environmental monitoring equipmem within the City of Demon The EMPACT project has been very successful, resulting in numerous professional presemations and publications. However, the most important aspect of the program is the ability to monitor local environmental conditions and provide this information in near real-time to the citizens of DeNon. Funding for the EMPACT project eventually declined as the program was phased out. However, the monitoring infrastructure and associated data that was created by the grant provided a tremendous benefit when forming the watershed protection program. Much of the needed monitoring equipment was in place, and more than a year of continuous monitoring data was available. During 2000, staff in Demon's water and wastewater utilities wrote a gram under the Water Quality Cooperative Agreemem program, typically referred to as the 104(b)3 program. The purpose of this gram was to provide financial resources to create a City Watershed Protection Program. The gram was awarded, resulting in the initiation of Demon's Watershed Protection Program (WPP) in January 2001. Approximately one hundred thousand dollars was provided by the USEPA to accomplish the research outlined in the gram proposal. The goal of this program was to implemem a watershed-based monitoring and assessmem program that met Demon's watershed protection goals while simultaneously addressing the requiremems of the Phase II storm water program. The initial phase of the program included assessing the status of Demon's surface water resources, determining the spatial and temporal dynamics of comaminams, evaluating aquatic ecosystem health, monitoring stream depths, and providing information needed to comply with regulations at both the state and federal level. 15 Pecan Creek / Figure 2. Major watersheds within the corporate limits of the City of Denton Part of the watershed monitoring program under the 104(b)3 program involved incorporating the previously established EMPACT components into a more comprehensive watershed plan. Although the EMPACT stations provide valuable data concerning the integrated effects of cumulative impacts, the stations do not provide information concerning where impacts may be occurring within the watersheds. Within a watershed context, however, downstream effects are caused by upstream impacts. Since information concerning upstream impacts was needed to fully characterize Denton's watersheds, the focus of the watershed protection monitoring program was expanded to include monitoring stations at a much smaller sub-watershed or catchment level. This monitoring was accomplished by dividing our major watersheds into smaller sub-watershed or catchments (Figure 2). Using topographical information and analyses of aerial photographs, a total of 65 sub-watershed and / or catchments were identified within the major watersheds of Denton. A sampling station was established near the drain point of these hydrological features. Figure 3 shows the approximate location of these sampling stations. Since the inception of the watershed program in January 2001, water quality has been assessed at these stations on a monthly basis. 16 Figure 3. Watershed sampling stations within the City of Denton Pollutants of concern include pesticides such as atrazine and diazinon, metals, sediments, nutrients, and bacteriological contamination. Routine parameters such as dissolved oxygen, conductivity, pH, temperature, total dissolved solids, and turbidity are also monitored to ensure water quality. 4.4 The Watershed Protection Approach - design considerations and use as a management unit The design of the Watershed Protection Program (WPP) was based on the idea that any successful strategy for managing surface water resources within the City must take into account the immense range of variability that exists within the natural environment. Any attempt to reduce non-point source pollution in large geographical settings should therefore begin by characterizing the spatial and temporal distributions of the pollutants of concern. Such characterization is particularly important for understanding contaminant distributions within highly variable, diverse urban systems. Using information describing the temporal and spatial distributions of contaminants can allow managers to allocate best management practices to receiving waters that consistently fail to reach management goals. By focusing more resources on areas of greatest potential impairment, managers can more cost-effectively influence water quality and increase environmental benefits in receiving waters. The WPP relies on the use of the watershed as a logical framework for water resource planning and management. The term watershed in a strictly hydrological sense refers to a drainage area bounded by lines of high ground. However, watersheds in a broader sense include the water, soils, vegetation, land use, and organisms associated with this drainage area. As such watersheds 17 should be not only considered as receivers, collectors, and conveyors of precipitation that falls within a given boundary, but also as systems of intense activity, where the nature of water is influenced. The term watershed can be used at a variety of scales, ranging from an area as small as a typical urban yard to an area as large as the Mississippi River basin. Watersheds provide a logical conceptual unit for ecosystem management because they are based on the physical, chemical, biological, and geographical characteristics associated with a given ecosystem's hydrology. As such, a watershed includes not only the water resources of an area, but also all the land that drains into that resource. Because many of the problems leading to water pollution are complex and interrelated, piecemeal attempts designed to fix specific problems are many times unsuccessful at improving water quality on larger scales. Using watersheds as a basis for water resource assessment offers a more integrated framework for addressing problems as well as providing a framework for more comprehensive management approaches. Problem solving using this approach may offer a more effective means of determining ways to protect the chemical, physical, and biological components of the aquatic ecosystems, protect human and environmental health, and allow for sustainable economic growth. Benefits include improved water quality and water supply, flood control, sediment control, improved recreational opportunities, and preservation of bio-diversity and habitat. Unfortunately, watersheds are rarely used as a primary management unit because typical decision-making structures are not designed to address the complex biological, sociological, and economic issues that occur at the watershed scale. Although it is generally accepted that energy, elements, soil and pollutants move through a given watershed within the common medium of water, processes affecting these movements are often not well understood. Further, since most watersheds are complex systems with numerous components, the level of understanding of watersheds is often overly simplistic. Thus, the lack of knowledge about watershed processes is one of the key barriers to successful watershed management. Monitoring efforts can provide baseline information for improving the understanding of watershed processes. Data from monitoring activities within a watershed framework allow analyses to identify problems and causes, assess watershed resources, detect trends, and make more informed decisions. To provide these data, the WPP instigated an extensive monitoring program that has been active since program inception. Data are summarized in monthly reports, as well as a comprehensive annual report. Results from monitoring activities are used to document current conditions, understand the variable nature of environmental pollution, and provide recommendations for future program activities. Although the use of watershed based management units has distinct advantages, there are also important limitations to consider. The limitations for using watershed-based management within a municipal setting pertain to the spatial dimensions that are inherent in many municipal approaches to performing land use regulation. Because most land use regulations deal with the legal dimensions of land parcels or planning districts, rather that the ecological dimensions of watersheds, watershed based management units may not be easily conceptualized or incorporated into the regulatory framework. Also, watersheds are often composed of more than one single land use type, which may create a situation where multiple land use regulations are employed. However, by considering the suggested land use changes within the legal dimensions of the 18 parcel, it is possible to associate the various land use regulations that may apply with associated watershed impacts. By using this approach, proper supporting research and a "parcel-based" framework for watershed management can be used to circumvent the limitations inherent in "large" watershed based approaches within a municipal regulatory environmem. Using a "parcel-based" framework for watershed management offers a way to bring together the issue of environmental effects and regulations. This is an important concept, because current regulatory approaches often do not consider both science and policy simultaneously. By focusing on the legal dimensions of a parcel, it is possible to associate directly the various land development regulations that apply and the impacts associated with those decisions. The resulting analysis serves to bridge the gap between the scientific and policy components of the overall management strategy. This approach is currently being partially used in the City of Demon for parcel-by-parcel reviews during ESA assessmems. To fully engender the proposed strategy within day-to-day regulatory practice, however, will require substantially more effort. 19 5.0 Current environmental management at Denton - Understanding the issues Over the last decade, changes have been occurring in the regulatory environment and in the way municipalities are expected to do business. Organizations that want to survive must respond to these changes. It is commonly accepted tenet that many organizations go through long periods of relative stability, punctuated by rare periods of rapid change. While these periods of rapid change can cause anxiety, they offer exciting opportunities for fundamental transformations in organizational procedures. Often, changes force an organization to evaluate the organization's focus and action systems in order to determine if existing functions can be performed more efficiently, as well as evaluate whether new focus or action systems are required. Denton seems to be moving into a time where rapid changes are probable. 5.1 Differing environmental paradigms: 5.1.1 Regulatory Compliance paradigm The current environmental management program at the City of Denton is dichotomous, composed of two different management components that have very different goals, structures, and resources. The first component, which may be termed "Regulatory Compliance", has been formed over a long period of time as departments have worked to comply with state and federal regulations. Since regulatory compliance is usually defined at either the state or federal level, non-local issues often drive this component of the environmental management program. Characteristics of the Regulatory Compliance paradigm include: · Fairly inflexible process · Resources are currently in place to accomplish goals · High level of organization, with well established information flow · Easy implementation - most programs are in place, and Utilities staff members are familiar with activities needed to accomplish goals. Regulatory compliance at the City of Denton has traditionally been accomplished through a decentralized approach. In the decentralized approach, compliance managers within the City of Denton ensure that the regulatory requirements associated with their respective areas of concern are met. From a compliance standpoint, this system is an efficient way to manage the myriad of compliance issues faced by the City. In general, the environmental compliance issues faced by the regulatory compliance sector are complicated, as they are reflective of a body of regulations that have been evolving for some time. In some cases, local ordinances are used to ensure regulatory compliance for broad-scale issues. Most regulatory compliance issues, however, deal with processes that are modified to ensure that compliance is achieved (e.g., wastewater plant, water plant, landfill). In these settings, having a decentralized group of specialized staff members to deal with compliance issues on a day-to-day basis makes sense. In cases of regulatory compliance, there is an obvious link between environmental and economic performance. This is particularly true when considering state and federal regulatory tools, which usually give strong economic incentives for continued improvements in environmental performance. For these regulatory situations, the question as to what level of environmental 20 performance is appropriate is relatively easy to answer. Meeting, or in some cases exceeding regulatory requirements is the overall programmatic goal. Since the cost of achieving a particular level of environmental performance is inherent in the cost to perform a municipal activity or produce a municipal product, allocating these costs becomes a relatively simple business decision. Regulatory compliance is therefore a very linear process that is fairly inflexible. Non-local drivers are characteristic of regulatory comrols, with the possibility of additional support from local ordinances. For regulatory compliance, resources are usually available and internal enforcemem ensures compliance. 5.1.2 Quality of Life paradigm The second componem of the environmemal managemem program may be termed "Quality of Life issues" and is driven mainly by citizen groups, local organizations, businesses, and other imerested parties. This program has been formed over time as citizens became more involved in environmemal decision-making, resulting in local ordinances that address local concerns, in general, "quality of life" issues tend to be related to population sizes and the resulting increase in City resources. As cities become larger, the amoums of municipal resources tend to increase. However, the increased pressures due to growth often lead to a need for increasing resource expenditures. Characteristics of the Quality of Life paradigm include: · Flexible process with opportunities for feedback · Resources may not be in place, coordination is lacking · Low level of organization; information flow is not well established · Implementation is difficult - requires additional staff time and coordination activities. Usually a long process from policy level to implementation, with large amounts of municipal resources consumed. · Measures of success can be difficult to define and are usually reached through a consensus process. Curremly, "quality of life" issues within DeNon are often handled through the formation of local groups of stakeholders that feel strongly about some proposed or existing environmental activities, or in some cases the lack of these activities. The group of stakeholders may work with municipal staff, communicate directly with their city council represematives, or choose some other mechanism to bring attention to their particular issue. If enough momentum exists for a particular environmental issue, local concerns may ultimately be translated into local ordinances that regulate particular activities. In these settings, involving local stakeholders through the decision making process makes sense because these individuals will likely be directly affected by environmemal decisions. However, involving stakeholders must be done with precaution and with some measure of control. Stakeholder involvement that excludes or under represents certain groups, or that is composed of special interest groups only, is often ineffective and coumerproductive. Disagreemems about various roles, and differing expectations of individuals in these roles, can also be major comributors to unsuccessful stakeholder involvemem in the decision-making process. However, if done properly, stakeholder involvement is the most appropriate method for producing environmental management decisions or regulations that are customized to local issues of concern. 21 Unlike regulatory compliance issues, there is often no link between economic and environmental performance inherent in quality of life issues. Since there may be no clear programmatic goals for a given quality of life issue, it becomes difficult to establish a clear framework to address environmental performance for a quality of life concern. In many cases, the endpoints or goals of quality of life issues will likely be different among stakeholders. An additional complicating factor is that quality of life issues do not have readily available monetary resources for accomplishing goals once they are established. In general, quality of life issues tend to become more of a concern as a City grows, and thus do not enjoy the long regulatory history that has made the framework for achieving regulatory compliance goals relatively easy to establish. These factors tend to make quality of life issues much more difficult to define and generally more complicated. For these reasons, quality of life issues are usually much more difficult to address, often requiring stakeholder input, significant debate, and much more time and involvement from municipal staff and elected officials. Solutions for successful quality of life issues must be integrated and flexible, contain local drivers, and usually do not have readily available funding to completely accomplish initial goals. Regulatory controls for quality of life issues are often in the form of local ordinances. It is important to note that although ordinances provide mechanisms for control, adequate provisions for enforcement must be in place in order to ensure compliance. 5.1.3 A New Environmental Management paradigm - combining the Regulatory Compliance and Quality of Life paradigms Over the past 10-15 years, there has been a growing realization within both the regulated community and the regulating entities that the traditional "regulatory compliance" approach was inadequate for addressing all environmental problems. This realization was accompanied by a growing desire at the Federal and State level to shift increasing amounts of environmental regulation to the local level. As a result of these activities, a new series of regulations have been developed that, in some sense, require the integration of "regulatory issues" and "quality of life issues" into a new process. For the purposes of this paper, this new regulatory paradigm is termed "Environmental Management". Characteristics of the Environmental Management model include: · Very flexible process with multiple opportunities for feedback · In general, resources currently not in place, coordination currently lacking · Currently low level of organization; information flow is not well established · Implementation is difficult - requires additional staff time and coordination activities. However, information flow could be enhanced through coordination. This process will require additional municipal resources. · Measures of success must be reached through a consensus process. In all cases, regulatory requirements, if applicable, must be followed. A successful Environmental Management model must be very flexible, containing multiple feedback mechanisms within various organizational levels. The process may contain both local and non-local regulatory drivers, depending on the type of issue being considered. Although, there may be some level of funding or other forms of support, the typical environmental issue that appropriately fits in the Environmental Management model is one that requires local 22 enforcement of either State or Federal (or both) regulations. It is important to realize that these State and / or Federal regulatory requirements are very different from the State and / or Federal requiremems outlined in the "Regulatory Compliance" model because they will typically be based on broad scale, regional environmemal concerns. Examples of regulatory programs that fit within the Environmental Management model include the provisions of the Clean Air Act Amendmems of 1990, provisions of the USEPA and TCEQ's Phase II Storm Water program, and the recently adopted revisions to Subchapter 22 of the Denton Development Code related to gas well production. The Environmental Management Model represents the most complex level of organization for environmental management. To be successful, this model must have adequate citizen involvemem, information flow, and functioning feedback mechanisms for this information at all levels of organization. Although the model will initially be difficult to implement, the complex nature of the model is the only way to accomplish the level of environmental management that will be needed in order to address environmemal concerns that have both a regulatory compliance and quality of life componem. 5.2 l/Vhere are we currently? Currently, the City of Denton is generally maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements. The regulations associated with the water and wastewater distribution system are maintained, with minor exceptions, and the initial components of the MSGP and construction site storm water provisions are in place. A large regulatory challenge will occur in the near future when the TCEQ releases the general MS4 permit for the State of Texas. It is likely that the City's regulatory approach to construction site erosion control will require substantial changes when the MS4 permit becomes a reality. Air quality issues cominue to be problematic for the City of DeNon, due in large part to our geographical location and fact that air pollution is highly mobile, pervasive, affected by weather, and often associated directly with vehicle use patterns. The City of Denton is attempting to address this difficult environmemal problem through a wide variety of programs, including the biodiesel program, ozone action day notifications and plans, programs that encourage public transportation, tree preservation, and purchase of more efficient vehicles. However, air quality issues cominue to be a major challenge for the organization. DeNon has relatively recemly began to work with other neighboring municipalities in an attempt to address air pollution issues over larger geographical areas. Since real solutions to air pollution problems cannot occur without partnerships and commitments from all surrounding areas, it is likely that it will take a large commitment of resources and a large amount of time to noticeably reduce Denton's air pollution. There are many different types of environmental concerns related to landuse management. Curremly, the protection of Environmemally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) is the main regulatory approach used by the City of DeNon to address environmemal concerns related to landuse managemem. Through the ESA provisions, special types of landuse are afforded some measure of protection from certain activities. For example, the type and extent of development that is allowed within floodplains and riparian buffers is regulated by the City of DeNon through the 23 review process. This procedure ensures that these critical environmental features are preserved, which serves to provide open space, contiguous habitat networks, water quality protection, and mitigate flooding. Other types of protected areas include portions of the Eastern Cross-timbers forests, water related habitats, wetlands, and some provisions for tree protection. Currently, the Watershed Protection Department is responsible for the environmental review of these areas during the development process. Important future landuse decisions center on the preservation of open space and the extent to which "smart growth" development approaches will be incorporated into Denton's development criteria. 5.3 Do we understand the nature of the problem? In general, the water quality monitoring activities conducted by the Watershed Protection Program have been very successful in determining the extent of surface water pollution within Denton's watersheds. The monitoring and assessment activities conducted by the Watershed Protection Program have also been fully integrated with the current TCEQ municipal storm water regulations. Through this combined program, the surface waters within the entire City of Denton are regularly assessed, which provides a large amount of information to Watershed Protection staff concerning the quality of our surface water resources. At the time of the writing of this white paper, numerous publications in peer-reviewed sciemific journals have been produced from this information, and two annual reports on the "status of Denton's watersheds" have been produced. Although the Watershed Protection program has been a great success, the challenges for this program are beginning to change. Since the great amoum of information from sampling our surface waters has demonstrated the nature and extent of water pollution problems, the challenge for the Watershed Protection program will be to use this information to elicit water quality improvemems through a variety of managemem practices and regulatory tools. It is likely that this change of focus will be accompanied by a reconfiguration of program goals as the MS4 permit is incorporated into current activities. Undoubtedly, the Watershed Protection Department has a firm foundation for understanding the nature and extent of water pollution concerns within the City of Denton. The challenge will be to use this information to meet the regulatory requirements of the Phase II Storm Water program and to implement the right combination of regulatory and management tools to efficiently accomplish improvements in water quality. In a very real sense, the information gathered by the City of DeNon through various research and monitoring programs has provided the framework for a good understanding of the nature of local environmental problems. This statement is particularly true for environmental issues related to surface water quality, standard regulatory requirements, and to some extent the protection of critical environmental features through local regulation. However, the environmental challenges that now face the City of Denton are not just related to well defined regulatory concerns. Quality of life issues have become increasingly importam to citizens and are a critical issue in light of Denton's phenomenal growth over the last decade. It is therefore likely that the environmental challenges faced by Denton in the future will be related to local environmental concerns, "non-traditional regulatory issues (e.g., storm water), or some combination thereof. The current "decentralized" approach of environmental management within the City of Denton will not likely be able to completely address these complex issues. 24 6.0 Where do we want to be? Future environmental management strategies for Denton Early environmental management at a municipal level tended to focus only on development control and was very oriented to the preservation of open space. While the preservation of open space is a laudable goal that is congruent with current thinking about environmental management and sustainable development, the issue has become much broader at the local level. It is not an exaggeration to state that modern municipalities are considered to be custodians of the environment within their area of jurisdiction. Although not patently obvious, the environment provides many benefits and services to the citizens of a municipality. For example, environmental features that provide recreational opportunities have the potential to attract tourists and create jobs for local residents. In a very real sense, the value of residential property is dictated by environmental features, which can in turn have an influence on the economic viability of the municipality. A well-managed environment also provides an increased quality of life for residents. Less well-recognized benefits of environmental protection include minimization of flooding impacts, mitigation of storm water pollutants, waste assimilation for water reclamation activities, waste assimilation for non-point pollution sources, providing water for drinking and irrigation, and other similar ecosystem services processes. Environmental goals for a modern municipality include reducing environmental impacts, increasing efficiency in operations, and managing to attain sustainability without a substantial reinvestment in infrastructure. The modern municipality is expected to care for the environment to ensure that the quality of living for residents is protected as well as being responsible for expanding economic opportunities and municipal services. As a result, municipalities are faced with the challenge of balancing multiple economic, social, and environmental factors to accomplish a myriad of non-parallel goals. The argument can be put forward that those municipalities that will be most successful will be those that know how to improve their environmental performance in the most economical manner. The growth trends for Denton indicate that environmental resources will be increasingly impacted by development and population growth. Expanding populations create a number of challenges, including greater demands for municipal activities related to environmental protection. Since it is very likely that growth will continue to occur at a rapid rate in Denton, and may accelerate in the near future, it is crucial that the City begin to consider environmental issues in all operational aspects. Environmental considerations should also become an integral part of policies concerning economic growth and community development. Considering the limited land space available and the demands caused by the current rates of growth, environmental mitigation may become an increasingly important option for certain types of development. The challenge for Denton will be to create a framework that comprehensively addresses all aspects of municipal operation and governance while linking the economic, environmental, and social considerations that are needed to create a balanced approach to practical pollution prevention. As growth continues, the City will increasingly lose the luxury of making "either/or" decisions concerning environmental resources. An obvious example of this phenomenon is the loss of open space that accompanies population growth. The management decisions made by the City of Denton to offset this loss have centered on protective measures such as the ordinances set forth in Subchapter 17 of the Denton Development Code concerning 25 the protection of upland habitat. However, it is important to note that upland habitat protection extends only to residential land uses. Areas that are non-residential do not have to protect any upland habitat, which reflects a management decision that the potential economic value of non- residential properties is perceived to be more valuable than the ecological services and aesthetic values represented by upland habitats. Within Denton there also exists a less obvious, although more pervasive, phenomenon of decreasing per capita environmental resources due to an expanding population using finite resources. Since making "either / or" environmental decisions has the potential to result in a decrease in individual environmemal services as the population increases, it will become increasingly important to make decisions based on compromises between conflicting values. The challenge will be to idemify common grounds where citizens, developers, environmemalists, local officials, transportation designers, and planners can all find ways to accommodate growth that is acceptable to each entity. 6.1 Water Resources - TMDLs, Regulatory opportunities and operational challenges As regulations become more stringent, Denton will face major challenges when attempting to provide municipal environmemal services to a growing number of citizens. For example, obtaining permits to discharge greater volumes of treated wastewater is rapidly becoming more difficult. If the trend of declining water quality cominues in Lake Lewisville, it is likely that increased water treatmem will be needed to produce adequate drinking water quality. Because of DeMon's location, Lake Lewisville is the only body of water that is practical for receiving wastewater discharge. Although the lake is curremly not listed as requiring a Total Maximum Daily Load program (TMDL), a TMDL is a real possibility in the near future (a TMDL is simply the sum of the allowable loads of a single pollutam from all comributing poim and nonpoim sources as established by regulation). Since the ability to discharge pollutams from poim sources will be highly regulated under a TMDL, the TMDL program will have a major influence on DeMon's ability to discharge municipal wastewater effluem. It is likely that Denton will be required to pursue non-standard regulatory approaches for additional wastewater discharges if a TMDL program is implememed for Lake Lewisville. This non-traditional approach will likely take the form of a watershed based permitting system that combines the regulatory requiremems of both the wastewater plaN(s) operated by the City of Denton and the regulatory requirements under the Phase II storm water program. Pollutant trading markets are an extension of this concept, where the reduction of the amounts of pollutants from a particular management strategy will create "pollutant credits" that are transferred to a pollutant bank. Pollutant credits can then be purchased from the bank to meet the goals of the TMDL. Future drainage and storm water managemem will likely become much more comprehensive as storm water regulations become more stringent and the challenges of maintaining adequate drainage become more pronounced. It is important to realize that the past management paradigm concerning storm water conveyances was to convey water away from urban areas as quickly as possible. The new storm water management paradigm stresses more natural systems 26 that possess meanders to dissipate energy, detention / retention structures to minimize some runoff, and small scale treatmeN devices and / or managemeN practices aimed at improving water quality. At the time of the writing of this paper, the Texas Commission on EnvironmeNal Quality has not released the final Municipal Separate Storm Sewer (MS4) general permit for the State of Texas. Once this permit is released, Denton must comply with the provisions in the permit or face potential fines or other legal actions under the NPDES component of the Clean Water Act. Currently, the City of Denton is responsible for maintaining state-issued multi-sector general permits (MSGP) for the landfill, wastewater plaN, and airport. The City must also obtain a State storm water permit for all municipal construction sites that are 1 acre or larger. 6.2 Land- Usage strategies for protecting environmental resources A complete review of land use strategies for the City of Denton is beyond the scope of this paper, instead atteNion here is focused on several major mechanisms of land use policy that have a bearing on watershed management and, to some extent, sustainable development. included among these policies are land acquisition, conservation easemeNs, buffer zones, and land trusts. 6.2.1 Land acquisition The acquisition of undeveloped land that will be perpetually maiNained in an undeveloped or minimally developed state is one of the most effective strategies for protecting water supplies and maintaining open spaces. This strategy is effectively employed in numerous municipalities, with the City of Austin being one of the most notable local examples. Acquisition can take place through the purchase of fee simple iNerests in land or may take the form of various types of conservation easements. 6.2.2 Conservation easements This alternative may be attractive to owners that are not willing to sell property outright, but may be interested in receiving benefits in the form of tax advantages and income by restricting certain types of uses on their property. The ultimate form of a conservation easement program has not been developed, although there are examples of this approach that may offer a good template for a local program. 6.2.3 Riparian buffers The strategy of riparian buffer zones is to protect the shallow water creekside vegetation to create a barrier between surface water resources and pollutants. Currently, as outlined in Subchapter 17 of the DeNon DevelopmeN Code, riparian buffers within the City of DeNon are providing watershed protection activities. 27 6.2.4 Floodplain protection At minimum, the City of DeMon's strategies for addressing floodplain protection should be based on the realization that floodplains are a critical component of the watershed management approach. Management strategies should include zoning requirements that restrict or prevent developmem in floodplains, minimize or eliminate impervious surfaces, and encourage low- impact, multiple land uses such as greenbelts parks. Overall, land use strategies have great potential for protecting surface water resources. However, efforts towards these goals must take into account the inherent costs needed to create and implemem these kinds of programs. Financial and social equity concerns will likely be an inescapable reality as land use strategies are implememed for environmemal protection. Although appropriate land use strategies are undoubtedly a way to accomplish meaningful, broad scale watershed protection, finding ways to successfully negotiate land use strategies will be challenging. 6.3 Air The U.S. Environmemal Protection Agency (EPA) has established National Ambiem Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for six air pollutams: ozone, lead, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and respirable particulate matter. When the pollutant levels in an area have caused a violation of a particular standard, the area is classified as "nonattainment" for that pollutant. Currently, Denton is in a non-attainment area for ground level ozone and thus must instigate programs to attempt the control of air pollutants. Future air quality initiatives for the City of Denton will depend on the amount of resources allocated to understanding the nature of the problem and towards monitoring and enforcement. At minimum, Denton should continue to pursue strategies to address key air quality issues such as motor vehicle emissions, commercial / industrial pollution, dust, and indoor air quality If resources allow, the air quality program can be expanded to perform activities similar to those seen in air quality programs of other large cities. The City of Austin has developed ten strategies that may serve as a good framework for future air quality program goals (City of Austin, 2002). These 10 strategies are: 28 Voluntary transportation control measures Compressed ~vork ~veek, tele~vork for municipal employees Reducing emissions for fleet vehicles Practicing exceptional vehicle maintenance, use of biodiesel, purchasing lo~v emission vehicles Reducing emissions generated by congested Promote flex hours and compressed ~vork~veek. Increase number of City services traffic available by phone or by electronic media Reducing Ozone through contractor Require cleaner fuel use by contractors. Institute trip reduction programs for requirements contractors. Reduce Impacts ofne~v gro~vth Tree ordinance and tree planting requirements. Promotion of Sustainable / Smart Gro~vth guidelines for construction and operations Public Education Create partnerships for information exchange ~vith local media. Develop and promote educational materials Develop Regional Partnerships Participate in regional control strategies through the Council of Governments or other regional partners. Promote strategies to attain Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) and contracts bet~veen stakeholders and partners Reduce emissions from mobile sources "Smart driving" initiatives. Encourage private and corporate purchases of lo~v emissive vehicles or alternative fuel vehicles Reduce emissions from off road mobile Accelerate purchase of Tier 2 / Tier 3 diesel equipment for municipal projects. sources Prohibit the use of certain equipment on ozone action days Reduce Emissions from area and Point Practice smart po~ver management for municipal computers and electrical Sources equipment. Promote programs that allo~v customers to purchase "green" po~ver generated from rene~vable sources. Since non-attainment is based on the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) to which Denton belongs, there may be additional opportunities to perform air quality research in partnership with other municipalities in our MSA. 6.4 The role of a municipality: What should the city of Denton do to manage the environment? Some believe that environmental protection mainly incurs costs to an organization. However, there are many studies supporting the hypothesis that good environmental performance produces a net positive benefit to an organization. Evidence suggests that it is not the simple fact of being "green", but the way in which a certain level of environmental performance has been achieved that affects whether the correlation between environmental and economic performance is positive or negative. Therefore, the important question for an organization like the City of Denton is not the issue of whether or not to be green, but rather how to implement the best approach to being green. Within a municipality, it is important to realize that environmental issues have become an economic and social reality. Citizens have come to expect a municipality to have an active role in environmental protection. However, an indefinite number of environmental protection activities is not economically viable for any municipality. At some point, net marginal benefits from environmental protection will continue to decrease while the resources needed to accomplish these benefits will continue to increase. Because of the current size of Denton, as well as the projected growth trends, there is a critical need for the City to articulate a consistent, comprehensive vision of ecologically sound municipal environmental management. The critical question thus becomes "what kind of environmental management is good environmental management for Denton?" This is at best a difficult question, as it relates to several complicated factors, including general citizen preference (both real and perceived), the preference of the 29 managerial structure of the City of Denton, and preference of special interest groups. It is important to realize that during this process, conflicts due to differences in opinions among groups should be expected. Environmental management, and the question of how a certain level of environmental performance is to be achieved, thus simply becomes an additional explanatory variable in the process of reaching the "best" environmental decision. To judge environmental protection activities properly, we must have a good understanding of the benefits, costs, restrictions, and incentives for each environmental decision. Since we are in a competitive market for environmental amenities, we must be progressive in our environmental management or risk not giving current and prospective citizens the best possible quality of life. We must be protective of the environment because there is a theoretical relationship between environmental protection and quality of life. Although the relationship exists, environmental protection issues and quality of life issues are rarely linearly related. In effect, there are certain environmental protection activities that can produce large improvements in environmental conditions. However, as improvements occur, it takes increasingly more environmental protection to obtain smaller and smaller improvements in actual environmental conditions. An infinite number of environmental protection activities may therefore provide a very healthy environment, but require a prohibitive amount of time and resources. Under this scenario, net marginal benefits from environmental protection activities will increasingly diminish as environmental protection activities increase. Environmental decisions must therefore take into account a myriad of factors that are somewhat unique to each situation in order to strike a balance between environmental protection, social realities, regulations, and economic considerations. The City of Denton will be faced with decisions that have the potential to cause certain levels of environmental impacts and that require some degree of environmental protection. The managerial challenge, therefore, may be thought of as two interrelated "sub-challenges": 1. Choosing the optimal level of environmental performance; and Obtaining that level of environmental performance under the best combination of regulatory, social, political and economic considerations. 6. 5 Public Participation: The Role of the Citizen in Environmental Management The public in a broad sense includes everyone in the community. Including the public as an integral component of local environmental planning is essential for the following reasons: · The public are the ones who will end up paying for environmental programs; · Residents benefit from good environmental planning and management; and · The public knows the community and has ideas about the community in which they want to live. 30 Due process must be applied in all environmental management activities. This includes adherence to the provisions of the City of Denton's environmental management strategy and must include adequate public participation in the environmental decision-making process. There should be equitable access to environmental resources, benefits, and services to meet basic human needs and promote human health. Each generation has an obligation to ensure that future generations enjoy similar resources, benefits, and services. Unfortunately, not enough attemion has been given to the understanding and awareness of environmental issues among the general population, or to the citizen's role in an effective environmental management strategy. Many interested and affected parties have been excluded from decision-making processes related to the environmem, and there has been little public participation in environmental decision-making. Issues that require attention include: · Lack of readily available public information concerning environmemal issues; · Inaccurate or incomplete information; · Information that is too technical or scientific; and · Lack of concern about general environmemal issues coupled with fervem concern for "project" issues. The City of Denton must continue to address these issues as environmental management activities progress. 6. 6 The needJbr a central agency for environmental management As owners of water, wastewater, and solid waste utilities, the City of Denton has both the opportunity and the obligation to use natural resources wisely. Consequently, Denton Utilities invests a very significant amount of time and energy into environmental issues. Although the City of DeNon curremly has a very comprehensive environmemal policy and regulatory framework, it could be argued that the increasing environmemal awareness and policy changes that have occurred over the last 25 to 30 years have mainly addressed the easily picked, "low hanging fruit" of environmemal issues. Over the past decade, much has been written about the concept of ecosystem management. The basic idea is simply an ecological and systemic approach to managing natural resources at appropriate landscape scales. Advancing ecosystem managemem for the City of DeNon will require a reorganization and reconfiguration of components of the existing environmental management framework. It is likely that substantial changes will be needed before the existing environmental management framework can efficiently implement an ecological, systemic approach to managing environmental resources. Initially, defining what constitutes "ecosystem management" may be somewhat difficult, as ecosystems occur at multiple scales. Although finding a workable scale of ecosystem managemem within a municipal framework is a dauming task, a properly established managemem unit scale is crucial for a successful program. If a municipal environmemal departmem is formed, much energy should be devoted to determining the role of this department within the existing decentralized environmental protection activities that are distributed among various city departments. Regardless of the final 31 role of the organization, it is importam to realize that the large number of environmental issues, coupled with their rapidly changing nature, suggests that total environmental management should not be delegated to any one emity. The challenging nature of complex environmemal decision making should rather be understood as a managerial and design process where the applicability of different environmental management concepts are analyzed closely in the context of the specific situation at hand and with regard to the environmental goals of Denton. One of the key elements for the success or failure of a more extensive environmental program at the City of DeNon is the level of commitmem by municipal staff, elected officials, and citizens. Commitments must take the form of funding commitments, communication commitments, and institutionalized commitments. Funding, for example, must be at a level that is high enough and consistent enough to ensure that projects and programs will not fail due to lack of resources or be dropped through changes in organizational priorities. Communication must occur at high enough rates, and at high enough levels of municipal management, to guarantee that information pertaining to policies and programs are translated throughout the entire participating organizational framework. Institutionalized commitments must demonstrate that political and administrative leaders are prepared to continue or expand their involvement in good faith. If any of these elements is lacking, the success of a more extensive environmental management program will be jeopardized for the City of DeNon. 6. 7 Reasons for frustration with environmental regulation What are some of the reasons for frustration with the current environmental management strategies of Denton? Is a management system that is based on the use of the a natural ecosystem unit like watersheds, even if modified to engender watershed level thinking on a parcel basis, strong enough to withstand changing political and bureaucratic circumstances? The answers to these questions are difficult at best. The issue of frustration with the environmental regulatory process may be thought of in terms of interaction between different agendas and the opportunities or situations that affect these agendas. Determining the "public mood" is at best a complex and often contradictory process. However, it seems as if a number of citizens within DeNon feel disenfranchised when seeking municipal solutions to environmemal problems. It also seems as if a growing number of citizens have a desire for a more participatory, grass-roots form of environmental management that involves more open dialog between municipal staff and citizens. Other elemems of the public mood such as increasing demands for public empowermem and participation, and dissatisfaction with existing regulator approaches are consistent with ecosystem-based approaches. With effective communication and education, the public will be much more likely to support ecosystem management. 32 7.0 New Environmental paradigms - the importance of the environment in the municipal decision making process: If environmental considerations do not take precedence when making municipal decisions, negative environmental impacts will become more common in the future. This statement is valid whether decisions involve small-scale developments or large, citywide policy decisions. However, future environmental management will likely follow the current trend of shifting away from command and control forms of environmental regulation to more cooperative forms. To be successful, this new regulatory approach must have strong stakeholder involvement during environmental decision-making, and must take social and economic factors into account. This approach allows the establishment of joint agreements between stakeholder groups and the City regarding environmental management. Joint agreements allow stakeholders to be active participants in decisions, which can result in a higher degree of stakeholder compliance when compared to more traditional command and control approaches. Key topics that deserve focus in the arena of environmental decision making are listed below. 7.1 Sustainability In a municipal setting, sustainability may be defined as the long-term ecological, social, and economic health and vitality of the community. The sustainable development concept offers a policy framework that seeks to simultaneously address environmental protection, economic development, and social equity goals. A sustainable community is one that takes the position of meeting our current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The policy emphasizes the consideration of environmental concerns in all aspects of development plans, municipal programs, and municipal activities. It is important to realize that sustainable development is not a policy geared towards stifling economic development, but is instead a policy that focuses on win-win solutions to promote both economic and environmental gains by integrating environmental concerns in the decision making process. The overall goal is to promote growth through processes that ensure the growth does not degrade the environment. 7.2 Serving as an example - the needJbr a municipal Environmental Management System (EMS). A formal Environmental Management System, or EMS, is needed to ensure a systematic and integrated approach to protecting Denton's urban environmental quality and to guide the continuous improvement of the City's environmental performance. The EMS should initially target the most environmentally influential departments within the City and then expand to other departments as resources allow. Although the use of an EMS for municipal activities is a laudable goal, the provisions of the EMS need to extend well beyond merely guiding municipal processes. For example, one of the major challenges to obtaining a truly sustainable community is to channel the increasing numbers of people, households, and resulting residential development into already urbanized areas, away from rural areas, forestlands, and other green spaces that have been targeted for protection. 33 7.2.1 Urban forests The value of an urban forest extends beyond mere aesthetics when considering the ecological services these areas provide to the citizens of Denton. For example, urban forests can absorb air and noise pollution, reduce the potemial for flooding by slowing water velocities, reduce water pollution by providing natural filtration of rainwater, and absorb some forms of air pollution. However, the City needs clear goals and targets for urban forest quality and quamity, as well as an action plan for achieving these goals over time. These goals should include strategies for tree planting, maintenance, and greenbelt restoration. 7.2.2 Pesticide Reduction The City of Demon has begun to establish goals for reducing its overall use of pesticides in municipal operations. These goals accentuate the use of integrated pest management or IPM as a means of accomplishing pesticide reduction goals. However, it can be argued, in some cases, that increased human health risks may necessitate the use of pesticides. For example, the relatively recent threat of the mosquito-borne West Nile Virus has created a situation where pesticide applications may be warranted to help control immediate threats to human health in certain conditions. However, the goal of the City should be to always strive to minimize the use of pesticides when alternatives exist. Currently, the City of Denton has an active public education program that is designed to inform citizens of the environmental issues associated with pesticide use. The goals of the current program include promoting alternative management strategies that employ less chemical pesticides. 7.2.3 Promoting environmental stewardship and environmental justice Ultimately, a healthy urban environmem depends on every day actions of each person within DeNon. Through a wide variety of educational programs, the city can promote an ethic of conservation and stewardship that encourages and empowers people to take actions to improve the environmemal quality of their surroundings. Environmemal justice is another key componem of healthy urban environmems. To engender environmemal justice, programs must promote equal access to environmental services and amenities, as well as equal protection from environmemal degradation that can pose risks to human health and quality of life. 7.2.4 Leading by Example - Green City Government The most efficient approach to protecting the environment stems from a realization that the best way to keep the environment clean is to prevent pollution in the first place. When considered in this context, municipal operations should have three primary focuses: regulatory compliance, pollution prevention and continuous improvement. All three of these topics can benefit from having an imegrated framework, in all levels of municipal governmem, which is based on being more "green" when making municipal decisions. A few examples of "Green City Governmem" include decreasing energy and water use in city buildings, using cleaner burning fuels for fleet operations, buying "green" whenever possible, and promoting recycling and reuse programs. 34 There is curremly no cemralized, inclusive plan for accomplishing the goals of Green City Governmem. The issue of creating a Green City Governmem plan should be strongly encouraged as a future environmemal initiative. If adopted, a properly designed Green City Government plan will allow Denton to lead by example by using practices that save money, improve the health of citizens, and protect the environment. 7.2.5 Healthy urban environments City governance has recognized and documemed the importance of sustainable, healthy urban environments in the Denton Comprehensive Plan. The large amount of development that is currently occurring in Denton, and the associated population increases envisioned by the Comprehensive Plan, has the potemial to further degrade regional air and water quality and displace ecologically valuable wetlands, forests, and riparian areas. Considering the large amoum of growth in our region, there is clearly a critical need for a well-articulated vision of ecologically sound urban growth. It is reasonable to expect that relatively modest changes to currem municipal zoning codes, subdivision regulations, and storm water requiremems could result in significant reductions in environmental impacts. It is likely that the most influential changes will be associated with regulations that are designed to minimize impervious surfaces in new developmem and re-developmem. Transportation issues also have a great deal of influence on urban quality of life due to the somewhat related issues of air pollution and traffic congestion. Thus, as the population of the City of Demon grows, the success or failure of transportation planning will have a major impact on the urban environmem. The concept of Smart Mobility and adequate consideration of environmemal issues should become commonplace in transportation planning decisions. 7.3 Research needs - we cannot provide the answers if we cannot formulate the questions Environmental management decisions need to be supported by scientific research whenever possible. However, research concerning localized, municipal-specific environmemal issues is often lacking. To fill this information gap, Demon has historically supported both applied and basic research concerning issues related to municipal operations through partnerships with regulatory agencies, universities, and consultants. Partnerships will be continued and strengthened in the future, which should allow Denton to obtain research to aid in environmental decisions. It is hoped that a majority of this research can be funded through federal and state grants, although a certain level of internal resources must be maintained in order to effectively compete for gram money. Major future goals for research activities include exploring methods to effectively convey research results to the public, educate the City Council and other municipal decision-makers, and to effectively integrate research findings into municipal operations. 7. 4 The use of scientific data Although scientific analyses can provide vital information concerning the state of the environment and the relationship between urbanization and ecosystem services, the information by itself provides little policy direction. The information must therefore be used to address targeted strategies aimed at maintaining or improving environmental quality. Finding ways to 35 integrate scientific findings with policy decisions will be a constant challenge for environmental management in Denton. It is important to consider the nature of scientific research within a municipal environment, and how the resulting information may be used within municipal operations. Management that is supported by scientific research, if appropriately employed, can be more anticipatory. The management strategy thus shifts to a reliance on information as a means to minimize or avoid potential environmental problems. The City of Denton Utilities Department has used targeted scientific research to stay "ahead of the curve" and learn the nature of potential environmental concerns before these concerns become widespread. This approach gives more time to respond, more opportunities to learn about potential environmental issues in a local context, and more chances to explore creative options for providing solutions. 7. 5 l/'iews of environmental impacts in light of Jhture growth and development As a general rule, adverse impacts are typically more expensive to fix than to prevent. Consequently, the strategy for environmental management needs to shift from a philosophy of reactive management to a philosophy of proactive management. Proactive management attempts to anticipate potential problems and enact policies to prevent the problems from ever occurring. The benefit of proactive management is the efficiency inherent in using resources to prevent problems from occurring instead of using resources to deal with a problem that has occurred. Unfortunately, many people have the perception that environmental protection and business development are diametrically opposed goals. On the contrary, a healthy environment is in many respects needed for a long-term healthy economy. Research has shown that corporations are finding that it is easier to move a company to a location where workers want to live rather than importing workers to where the company is located. The challenge for Denton will be to provide the leadership, expertise, and municipal infrastructure needed to ensure the ethical use of natural resources, the preservation of natural habitat and open spaces, and adequate development. 7. 6 ,4 kernatives assessment If the need for a possibly harmful activity is questionable, or if safer alternatives are available, a process should be in place to choose these better alternatives. Evaluating a single proposal based solely on its own merits produces a narrow set of questions on how harmful the project might be, how much harm can be tolerated, etc. The typical management approach under this scenario is to tolerate the activity unless harm can be demonstrated to a high degree of certainty. However, the act of making comparisons among alternatives should raise the following important questions: · If there are alternatives, is the proposed alternative necessary? · Why are we doing this activity? · Who benefits from the various alternatives? · Who pays or would suffer detrimental effects from this activity? · Considering the alternatives, how can we avoid or mitigate harm? 36 The alternative assessment process should always encourage the development of environmentally sustainable practices and should always promote both human and environmental health. The precautionary principal emerged in response to the need for an effective method for dealing with risks and uncertainties in environmental management. Essentially, the principal requires action to prevent serious and irreversible damage before harm can be scientifically demonstrated or economically assessed. Ultimately, this means that environmental management decisions must be made in the absence of empirical data, whenever a serious or irreversible outcome is suspected. 7. 7 Inclusiveness and Integration for Environmental Management Effective environmental management must consider the interests, needs, and values of all interested and affected parties in the decision making process. Those responsible for environmental management must consider that everyone has a right to: An environment that is not harmful to their health or well being; An environment protected for the benefits of present and future generations through reasonable regulations that: o Minimize pollution and ecological degradation; o Promote conservation; o Secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development. In the United States, environmental management is a shared responsibility between federal, state, and local governments. As outlined previously, past environmental management mainly relied on guidelines and regulations derived from the federal and state level of government. However, during the course of the last few decades, many aspects of environmental management responsibilities have increasingly been shifted from the federal and state level to the local level. This shift has developed in part from a desire for municipalities to exert the greatest influence on the environmental decision-making process, since the environment has a direct bearing on both the municipality and the citizens represented by that municipality. Undoubtedly, there are several key environmental issues that are most effectively handled at the local level, including: · Municipal planning; · Water and Wastewater Services; · Storm Water management; · Management of municipal parks, recreation, and open space; and · Air pollution; · Solid Waste Management; · Noise pollution 37 8.0 Municipal Environmental Management The goal for Denton is to move to a situation where development decisions are more environmentally sustainable through engendering a process for integrating environmental management activities into various components of municipal government and regulations. Components of municipalities that tend to play a role in environmental management include land use planning, water and wastewater management, and solid waste management. Each component is considered below. 8.1 Land Use Planning Since the development planning process includes an integration of municipal activities, this process provides a mechanism for municipalities to balance social, environmental, and economic concerns. In the past, environmentally oriented land use planning decisions were often limited to allowing for open space for recreational purposes. However, a more modern philosophy is one that recognizes that land use planning is a tool to help ensure the sustainable development of an area through protecting environmental resources and thus securing environmental benefits. Development review is a key component of environmental protection, since development is one of the main ways people alter their environment. One of the major planning goals should be to develop a long-term plan that is complementary to environmental management goals of the city. It is important to note that one of the greatest challenges faced when making development decisions is the need to realistically account for the cumulative development impacts (including environmental impacts) in a given area. 8.2 Water and wastewater The overall goal for water management is to provide a product that is safe to consume, has pleasing taste and odor, and is reasonably priced. Wastewater management is concerned with treating heavily polluted water to produce a final product that meets regulatory standards at a reasonable cost. The demand on both of these utilities will increase dramatically as Denton's population grows, there will be an increasing need for research to ensure that both utilities are operating efficiently and serving as an example for environmental stewardship. 8.3 Solid waste management The goals of waste management should always include exploring ways to minimize the amount of waste created, use waste for other beneficial purposes, or avoid production of waste at the source. Denton currently accomplishes many of these goals through encouraging recycling, separation of wastes at the source, and the safe disposal of unavoidable wastes. It is likely that the increasing population density of Denton will put greater and greater demands on solid waste management. To counteract this demand, opportunities to minimize solid waste, or turn waste into usable products, should be vigorously pursued. 38 8.4 Environmentally Sensitive Areas - a special type of landuse management Environmemally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) are landscape elemems or places which are vital to the long-term maintenance of biological diversity, soil, water, or other resources both within the site in question and within a regional context. Although Denton currently has a progressive ESA protection strategy, there are ways to improve the strategy through time. The current ESA planning process is based on the following approach: · ESAs are currently identified based on either the proximity of the area in question to a stream (riparian buffer), the designation of the areas as a floodplain (floodplain ESA), the presence of significam water resources (water related habitat) or the presence of Eastern Crosstimbers forest vegetation type (upland); · The type, location, and quantities of ESAs are mapped; · Development policies are established for protecting the ESAs. These policies currently incorporated into Subchapter 17 of the Denton Development Plan; · The provisions of the Developmem Plan are used as a guideline for landuse strategies, regulations, and environmental review processes. In general, ESAs perform six basic functions: habitat, conduit, barrier, filter, source, and sink. Analyses may reveal that is not possible to design for all six functions. Land uses and ownership also affect the choice of appropriate ESA protection mechanisms, and both the present and future protection status of ESAs. Since all ESAs and potential linkage corridors may not be protected, it is important to establish a transparent, ecologically sound process for determining which ESAs are most important and deserve the greatest degree of protection. As development pressures become more pronounced, future ESA managemem in the City of DeNon will likely require the developmem of incemive-based programs and will need a much greater degree of public education. 39 9.0 Suggested future directions Mark Twain was once quoted as stating that the art of prophecy is very difficult -- especially with respect to the future. This quote is particularly true when discussing a topic as nebulous as environmemal managemem, especially within the comext of a rapidly growing municipality. However, a municipality has an inherem responsibility to wisely manage environmemal resources for the future, since citizens of the municipality are going to spend their lives in that future. Although it can certainly be argued that predicting the future is not possible, it can also be argued that one of the best ways to make the future more predictable is to have a hand in creating it. Hopefully, this document will represent the beginning point for municipal staff, elected officials, and citizens to shape future environmental management for the City of Denton. Towards this goal, the following steps are suggested: 9.1 Ten Future Goals Explore the creation of an initial management framework that emphasizes the role of the City of DeNon in addressing key environmemal issues such as air pollution, water pollution, and land use managemem. This framework should be effective, possess adequate resources to accomplish objectives, and should build institutional capacity. Idemify and address the key environmemal issues of the City of DeNon through examination of existing programs in other municipalities, assessments of local environmental issues, and stakeholder involvement. Although it is reasonable to expect that some environmental issues of concern in Denton are similar to issues of concern in other municipalities, the City of Denton likely has important environmental issues that are unique to Denton. Measures should be taken to ensure that all issues receive adequate attention. Decision making should strive to overcome "project" based environmemal decisions and should instead focus on the cumulative impacts of decisions on land uses, discharges to the environment, ecosystem functioning, biodiversity, and all three major environmemal media (air, water, and land/soil). o Idemify a lead environmemal departmem. Although there are a large number of very beneficial environmental activities conducted by various departments within the City of Denton, there is no single department that is considered the lead agency for environmemal issues. DeNon should therefore consider developing a department of the environment that is responsible for ensuring that environmental impacts are considered during municipal activities and to act as a coordinating entity for environmental management activities. Having a central department will likely be a more efficient mechanism for accomplishing the environmemal goals of the City, as well as offering a forum for stakeholder and citizen involvement. The Environmemal Departmem should provide guidance to ensure effective, integrated environmental management. Such guidance will allow all departments 40 o to more efficiently perform environmental management activities and will ensure the most effective execution of strategic goals and objectives of the environmental management plan. Having a formal Environmental Department will also allow for more centralized development of the policies, strategies, plans, programs, and standards for effective environmental management. Other advantages of a Department of the Environment include: · More transparency and coordination when negotiating agreements concerning environmental issues; · More centralized regulation and enforcement of environmental matters that are within the scope of Denton's regulatory authority; · More efficient mechanisms for ensuring compliance with federal and state environmental regulations; · Centralized information management for collecting, processing, and disseminating information among various city departments and between the City of Denton and citizens of Denton; · Centralized reporting for "state of the environment" reports; · More centralized representation for the City of Denton on state and federal environmental issues; · Easier coordination between the City of Denton, consultants, universities, and other institutions when performing environmental research; · Centralized environmental monitoring; · Less confusion between different departments and between municipal staff and citizens about areas of environmental responsibility; · Less duplication of effort; and · Increased coordination for environmental emergencies. Constantly seek ways to improve coordination within the municipal environment of the City of Denton. The various departments within the City of Denton should develop a better understanding of how their departmental activities affect the environment, and how various environmental functions could be combined to achieve greater efficiency. This could be accomplished through a more aggressive education program, or through a more extensive environmental management tool such as a formal Environmental Management System (EMS). Develop mechanisms to ensure that environmental considerations are effectively integrated into the development of policies, programs, and the planning process. Environmental considerations should take into account: · the interest and needs of present and future generations; · the environmental impacts associated with various management decisions alternatives; · the maintenance of biodiversity; and · the potential for developing alternative decisions with lesser environmental impacts. 41 Effective environmental management ensures that environmental considerations are integrated into the development of municipal policies and programs, the developmem planning processes, and municipal economic decisions, integrated environment management should therefore include activities such as: · The development of management instruments to increasingly integrate environmental concerns into development planning; · Developing standards for environmental management systems, monitoring, and reporting for activities that impact the environment; · Developing indicators to measure performance; · Developing a transparent review process for all aspects of environmental management; and · Periodically producing a publicly available report on the state of the environment for Denton Promote cooperative management. Cooperative agreements between stakeholders, citizen representatives, and the City of Denton have the potential to be more efficient for accomplishing environmental goals than traditional command and control approaches. If all parties agree to a particular course of action, the reliance on policing and enforcemem by the city should be reduced. Increasing environmental awareness, increasing access to relevant environmental information, and establishing a process for effective public participation in environmental management are all vital components of cooperative environmental management. Consider the value of DeMon's natural resources in all decision-making processes. On federal, state, and local levels, the value of natural systems is often underrepresented during the decision making process. To counteract this problem, DeNon should investigate the advamages and disadvamages of using cost-benefit analyses and risk assessmems as tools for making more informed environmemal decisions, in all cases, the underlying framework for the valuation of natural resources should be based on the idea of sustainable developmem, in this context, sustainable development is defined as development decisions that seek to imegrate environmemal, social, and economic concerns (both now and in the future), and that do not overly strain the carrying capacity of the local environment. The focus for this approach should ensure that current development, and municipal regulation of that development, work together so that environmemal resources are not used in a way that jeopardizes future needs. Promote scientific research whenever possible. The move from reactive environmental management to more anticipatory management cannot occur without adequate scientific information. Although it is unrealistic to expect adequate scientific information for all environmemal decisions, having any information is an advantage. The strong relationship that exists between the City of DeNon and the University of North Texas, as well as other universities and research groups, offers a great opportunity to obtain scientific research for topics 42 10. of municipal interest. Data from these research activities will likely become more valuable in the future, as federal and state regulatory requirements become more restrictive. It is also likely that opportunities to pursue regulatory flexibility or non-traditional regulatory approaches will be severely hindered without adequate supporting scientific research. Shift away from environmental management that is reactionary to management strategies that are more proactive. As outlined in previous sections, municipal environmental management is often characterized by reactive responses to special interest groups, vocal citizens, or emergency environmental situations brought about by inadequate planning. This strategy of environmental management has long been criticized because it tends to be the most costly and labor-intensive means of attempting to rectify problems. Environmental management within Demon should therefore be directed to a more proactive approach, where problems are anticipated and avoided, rather than a reactive approach, where problems are either solved by large amoums of resources or remain unsolved. Use the tenants of the precautionary principal when making difficult environmental policy decisions. In most cases, environmental decisions must be made within some degree uncertainty. Since many environmental decisions are complex, there may simply not be enough data to support a particular position on an issue. Often, cause and effect relationships may be uncertain or indeterminate, and the likelihood of outcomes may be unknown. This is particularly true for highly imerrelated localized issues, which typically have little historical data and often do not have analogous issues in other municipalities that can be used as a guide for decision-making. Unfortunately, there are no tidy solutions to dealing with risk and uncertainty. This limitation should be realized and faced directly in situations where uncertainty is encountered. It is at this point that the need for alternative decision criteria, social debate, and citizen input becomes more critical. As outlined above, the tenets of the precautionary principal may be useful in these situations, although it should be noted that application of the precautionary principal does not offer direct insights into how precaution is to be applied. Rather, the precautionary approach is meant to raise, and hopefully answer, important questions such as: · What constitutes a serious and irreversible threat? · At what level of risk and uncertainty should precautionary approach be enacted? and, · How much are citizens willing to pay to reduce the risk of serious or irreversible damage, and how much environmemal risk are citizens willing to accept? 43 In this context, the proponent of the activity, rather than the public, should bear the burden of proof. It is important to realize that this approach must take into account political and ethical questions, which science alone cannot answer. Examples of important questions to be answered during the decision-making process include: · What are the consequences of our actions? · Do we have better choices? · Who or what will be harmed by this activity? · Who is responsible for ensuring that harm is eliminated or minimized? · Do we know enough to act? In the context of environmental risks, dealing with uncertainties is tantamount when future outcomes are perceived as posing a serious or irreversible threat, when the choice of a policy or option hinges on uncertainties, and where a communities aversion to environmental risk is an important component in the decision making process. Within this framework, the precautionary principal may be stated as follows: "When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically. In this context the proponent of an activity, rather than the public, should bear the burden of proof." The Precautionary Principle should therefore be considered as an integral part of the environmental decision making process. The overall goal of the process should be to determine whether a potentially hazardous activity is necessary, and whether there are less hazardous options available. 9.2 l?ulnerability issues associated with an Environmental Department One important challenge to environmental regulation in Denton is that any environmental program has the potential to be made vulnerable to its own success. This occurs because environmental problems tend to be at their lowest when an environmental department is working at its best. Unfortunately, this situation can lead to a constant potential to under-appreciate the role of an environmental program in coordinating activities, minimizing environmental damage, and reducing conflict. The perceived importance of an Environmental Department, therefore, may experience slow levels of decline, possibly punctuated by periods of increasing recognition when a problem or crisis occurs. This can create situations where there is a constant potential to under-appreciate the role of the Environmental Department until a major crisis erupts. Since this is likely to be a common and pervasive problem, public education activities that demonstrate program benefits and highlight program successes are important. Although the degree of interaction with an Environmental Department will likely be high at the municipal staff level, the long-term viability of this approach will suffer if stakeholder input is marginalized. 44 9. 3 Complexity A final implication of any environmemal program is that a truly imegrated environmemal managemem approach is complex, possibly expensive, and certainly time consuming. Plans and managemem strategies must be flexible and capable of adapting to the changing circumstances that should be expected in light of growth trends. Environmemal managemem will need to encompass new tasks, including providing information, facilitating consensus, managing change, and helping create community visions. 9. 4 Denton's Uniqueness is strength - Reasons for optimism The City of DeNon can implemem best managemem practices in numerous areas, since the totality of municipal functions comain aspects of a large employer, landowner, developer, consumer, fleet manager, and services provider. If wise environmemal decisions are made during the course of these activities, the City of Demon can make a difference in the environmem quality enjoyed by DeNon citizens. The city can also promote sustainable practices in the community by providing information, expertise, incemives, technical assistance, and the imposition of regulatory requiremems to ensure environmemal performance. Demon's community is well known for its unique blend of emrepreneurial drive and environmemal consciousness. We have both the desire and the capacity to turn potemial problems imo innovative solutions. It is not an accidem that many past innovative solutions have been accomplished through the formation of partnerships. For example, there has been a long-standing partnership between the University of North Texas and the City of Demon concerning research and education issues. This partnership has been mutually beneficial, and is a superb example of the kinds of advamages partnerships can provide. Undoubtedly, it will become increasingly importam to cominue to develop similar partnerships in the future. The increasing rate of developmem within DeNon has the potemial to cause numerous environmemal problems. However, the situation also has the potemial to create numerous possibilities for putting our leverage, desire, capacity, and partnerships to work in order to produce a more sustainable DeNon. Growth creates opportunities to employ new products, approaches, and technologies that better protect, and in some cases restore, our urban ecosystems. In many ways, the emerging environmemal agenda seems to be most viable at the local level. As local Demon residems have increasingly voiced concern for environmemal issues, local environmemal managemem strategies have become increasingly greener. This is reflected in a variety of local environmemal managemem strategies, including the protection of environmemally sensitive areas, the protection of open space, recycling programs, tree preservation efforts, landscaping requiremems, and other initiatives. 45 9. 5 Mission for Environmental Management in Denton Denton's mission should be to ensure the development, integration, and implementation of appropriate environmental management systems in the public sector. The goal of these systems should center on identifying and controlling potential environmental impacts to ensure environmental sustainability. This mission can be accomplished by: · Developing and implementing effective education and information strategies to increase public awareness and understanding of environmental issues; · Develop the processes and procedures needed to implement programs that ensure effective public participation in environmental decision-making; · Promoting a better understanding of sustainable development in both the public and private sector; · Acting as a leader for the implementation of integrated, holistic, participatory, and sustainable municipal environmental management practices; and · Pursue constant improvement in municipal understanding of environmental issues through: o Monitoring and reporting on the state of the environment; o Seeking to implement environmentally responsible practices for municipal operations; o Committing to making environmental issues an integral component of the municipal decision-making process and recognizing that these responsibilities exist through the lifetime of any policy, program, process, or service. It is important for Denton's environmental managers to constantly work to meet, and in some cases exceed, regulatory requirements. However, it is equally important for these managers to move towards a system that extended beyond mere regulatory compliance. Management paradigms must shift towards approaches that anticipate problems and attempt to prevent negative impacts on the environment before these impacts occur. In addition, systems should be in place to ensure that those responsible for potential environmental impacts bear the cost of preventative measures to reduce or prevent these impacts. Although Denton has enjoyed relatively progressive environmental management, we can do better at managing the environment than we have in the past, and we must do better today. 46 10.0 References Arnold, C.L. and J. Gibbons. 1996. Impervious surface coverage: the emergence of a key environmental indicator. Journal of the American Planning Association 62(2):243-258. Bryson, J.M. 1995. Strategic Planning for Public and non-Profit organizations: a guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, CA, USA. City of Austin. 2002. Ozone Reduction Strategies Status Report. Air Quality Program, Transportation, Planning, and Sustainability Department, City of Austin, Texas Creighton, J. and R.C. Harwood. 1996. A way of Life: Great Plains Citizens Talk about Ecosystems. Great Plains Partnership and Western Governor's Association. The Harwood Group, Washington, DC. Haeuber, R. 1998. Ecosystem management and environmental policy in the United States: open window or closed door? Landscape and Urban Planning 40:221-233. U.S. Department of Energy. 1996. Working to Cool Urban Heat Islands, Berkley National Laboratory, PUB-775, Berkley, CA. 47