Fighting City Hall - Deck Zoning/Stormwater Issues

Is this normal?! I'm trying to get approval for a deck through my county. The county considers decks to be impervious surfaces, though it seems to vary county by county and seems like BS to me. My subdivision's zoned for 22% impervious, I'm already sitting at 23.5% currently with driveway, sidewalks, and existing house, before building the deck. So there's a spreadsheet I had to use to calculate my phosphorus runoff, "runoff reduction method calculator". Now I have to buy nutrient credits to offset the .04 lbs of phosphorus runoff this deck will hypothetically create and I have to have my plat updated to reflect the purchases of the credits. This just seems ridiculous to me. Anybody else deal with a similar situation?

 

How do they feel about permeable pavers?
Bring this up and scroll down.
Pavers by Design - EagleBay USA Pavers

 

Wife's dead set on a deck.

 

It would be expensive but your sidewalk, driveway and other impervious surfaces could be replaced with permeable alternatives. There are even porous asphalts... but at a cost. It seems that buying an offset would be the easiest and cheapest option.

 

What state is this, I've never heard about this kind of requirement, but then again I've always lived out side a high density area!

 

Even without a deck, you want storm water, gutter water, etc. to tend to flow away from the house before soaking in. With the existing lawn area or even some grading enhancement added later, this runoff is probably not visible to the bystander on the street. If you put in a permeable deck you may increase the amount of water soaking in near the foundation and increase the chances of basement flooding.

How much do carbon credits, I mean, nutrient credits cost? Would going that route be prohibitively expnsive?

 

Back in the early 70s, Tallahassee [or maybe it was the county] had a strict landscaping policy. Anytime you went to change the use of a parcel of land they came out and gave each piece of vegetation/trees a value number. After you knocked down or dug up vegetation in order to build - you had to replace vegetation to meet or exceed that number. A large tree might get a #10 so it would take 3 #3 trees plus a shrub to reach that 10 number [just an example]

Basically you just have to factor in these addition costs when building something. Builders know about and deal with it everyday but it can be a shock to a homeowner.

 

From my brother in N.C.

3. What is not considered an impervious surface ?
Areas covered with grass or that are planted (such as forests or gardens) are not counted as impervious surface. For billing purposes, wooden decks (without roofs) and the area of swimming pools that actually hold water are considered pervious.

 

Then have her take up the fight with the county.

I'm not joking at all when I say this but keep in mind I am divorced and happy to be so.