Briar Creek Water Quality Project Non Point Source Grant Interview

1. Briar Creek Water Quality ProjectNon Point Source Grant Interview David Goode, PE Project Manager, Mecklenburg County Storm Water Services David Kroening, PG Project Manager, Mecklenburg County Storm Water Services July 30, 2013

2. Project Location

3. Flooding 1997 Doral Apartments Cavalier Apartments

4. Aerial Photo 2012 Doral Site Cavalier Site Chantilly Park

5. Conceptual Plan 2013

6. Objectives • To prevent or reduce the loss of life, disruption of vital services and damage caused by floods • To preserve and restore the natural and beneficial functions of the floodplain • Improve water quality and wildlife habitat • Provide vegetated buffer along stream with native plants • Greenway/ park expansion/ connectivity

7. Specific Questions/Answers • Preparer does not appear to have made edits in accordance with the pre-proposal reviews from DWQ staff, is there a reason? Assessment unit on the stream segment is not accurate, 11-137-8-2 does not exist on the 2012 303(d) list. NPS relevance score is high because this proposal is implementing Charlotte Local Watershed Plan prepared by EEP, this specific BMP implementation had been mentioned in the LWP it would have scored a 5.

9. Project Site just outside of Edwards Branch Focus Area We did not own the property at the time Stream project would have required EEP to demolish housing complex, doesn’t make sense from a mitigation standpoint.

12. Specific Questions/Answers • Budget table is missing details, all pass through grant funds to a private contractor (has selection been made, would be nice to have more information if available). • Going to use grant funds for construction only. The design will be completed in Fall 2013 with construction beginning in Summer 2014. • Very urbanized area, are there plans to further implement storm water BMPs in the future? • Briar Creek – Randolph to Providence • Briar Creek – Country Club Heights • Edwards Branch Stream Project and Wetland Creation

13. Specific Questions/Answers • Charlotte LWP (EEP). DWQ benthos monitoring on Little Sugar Creek, downstream of confluence of Little Sugar and Brier. Station MC33 (on Brier Creek) may detect water quality improvement. BEHI/NBS monitoring will also be done. DWQ supports monitoring before and after project, but monitoring during project may not be as helpful because stream may experience construction impacts. • Understood. • Estimated cost - $212 (Brier) and $197 (Edwards)/linear ft, has/will storm water be addressed upstream of the stream restoration? • There are completed and planned water quality projects upstream on Briar Creek in the Country Club Heights Neighborhood and upstream on Edwards Branch including Pierson Pond, Sheffield Park, and Misty Woods. • Also, the City of Charlotte has passed a Post Construction Controls Ordinance intended to reduce the contaminant load from new development by constructing BMPs. • Provide more detail on public education/outreach (what is the role of the school?). • The school is developing details for an outdoor classroom and the stream restoration is an integral part of the plan. Three public meetings, web page, blog, quarterly mailers. • Two water quality ponds should NOT be mentioned in grant output section. • Understood.

14. Specific Questions/Answers • Areas of Concern: Unable to determine the size of the urban catchment area upstream of the project site because key maps in application don't have a scale included. • The drainage area for Briar Creek at this location is 11.5 square miles and Edwards Branch is 2.8 square miles (Total = 14.3 sq. mi.). • It's unclear if required private (and/or FEMA) property access/easements have been obtained. • Two easements are required for the project. One with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and one with The Park Ministry. We have The Park Ministry easement. • Also, it's difficult to assess budgets for large-scale projects like this. • Detailed construction cost estimate was provided by the engineering consultant. We can answer specific questions about the detailed cost estimate. • Collecting samples for TSS during storm events (at least ten events) would be useful for this study. • CMSWS will commit to collecting TSS samples during storm events if a grant is awarded.

15. General Questions/Answers • How will you prioritize and target BMPs to show measurable results (if applicable to your project). • A holistic, project based monitoring plan will be implemented after the entire project is complete. • Discuss the nature and responsibility for long-term operation & maintenance for BMPs installed (if applicable to your project). • The Mecklenburg County Storm Water Operations Program provides the long term maintenance for our stream restoration and BMP projects. We have completed 22 CIP projects since 2000 and Storm Water Operations has maintained all of these projects. Mecklenburg County Storm Water Services has a rainy day fund currently with a value of $1,000,000.00 for long term maintenance on these completed projects. • How will you measure, quantify, and document the effectiveness of outreach/educational efforts (if applicable to your project).  • Our measurement/quantification options consist of: • Results of the annual public opinion survey/awareness of overall Storm Water Services outreach and our key messages about preventing pollution and flood safety • Counting the number of mailers we send about the Briar Creek project • Counting visits (sometimes called “hits”) to that project page on the website • Counting visits to the Briar Creek Project blog • Counting the number of people who attend public meetings about that project • Counting emails, phone calls, letters and other communication from the public to SWS about that project

16. General Questions/Answers • Has your match changed, has tentative match been secured, and can you still meet the 40% non-federal requirement? • The match for this project is incorporated in our long term budgeting for storm water capital improvement projects. We have allocated $1.6 million for design and construction for the project. Storm Water Services allocates $2.7 million a year for CIP projects. • Can the project budget be reduced in any areas and still provide the project outputs being proposed? • The project could be shortened and Mecklenburg County would still meet the match 40% non-federal match requirement.

17. Status of Water Quality Project? • Stream Restoration Design Phase • 70% design plans for Briar Creek and Edwards Branch • Continuing Easement Acquisition Phase • 90% design plans due October 2013 • Pond Design Phase (Not part of 319 Grant) • 30% design plans for two ponds and Chantilly Tributary • 70% design plans due October 2013

18. Schedule • CMUD Relief Sewer • Present to Spring 2014 – Construction of Independence to Monroe segment of relief sewer • Stream Restoration/BMPs • Design and Permitting – Present to spring 2014 • Construction beginning summer 2014 • Estimated 12 month construction phase • Greenway Trail / Chantilly Neighborhood Park Expansion • Depends on funding

19. Questions / Discussion