Isle of Wight County is proposing to repeal its stormwater management ordinance, but for now plans to keep an associated fee as-is.

In 2014, county officials began lobbying the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to release Isle of Wight from its municipal separate storm sewer system, or MS4, permit obligations by arguing it didn’t own or operate a municipal stormwater system. The efforts paid off in 2016, which allowed the county to cut the stormwater fee it adds to real estate tax bills from $72 to roughly $53.

During the eight years since the change, the DEQ has still required the county to review the stormwater management plans of any proposed commercial or large residential development. That is, until now.

According to a report by county staff, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality recently approved Isle of Wight’s request to be removed from the Virginia Stormwater Management Program.

“Part of what brought this to light was that the General Assembly mandated the adoption of model ordinances for stormwater management and erosion and sediment control, so we will be repealing our stormwater management, but we will also have to adopt the model E&S ordinance,” County Attorney Bobby Jones told county supervisors on Aug. 1.

Specifically, he’s proposing to repeal Chapter 14A from the county code, which had established Isle of Wight’s stormwater management program.

Isle of Wight’s director of utilities, Uwe Weindel, said stormwater plans for single-family residences will still be reviewed locally but larger commercial and residential developments will instead be reviewed and approved by the DEQ. The change, he said, would free up staff time in his department, which had begun the year short-staffed.

County Administrator Randy Keaton said the plan, for the time being, is to leave the stormwater fee unchanged.

“We evaluate all of our fees during the budget process each year,” Keaton said.

According to the county’s website, the fee is based on the amount of impervious area on a parcel. Its revenues are used to fund the maintenance of stormwater infrastructure on county properties, running Isle of Wight’s soon-to-be defunct Stormwater Management Program Authority, and erosion and sediment control programs.

The county will still need to update its wetlands and E&S ordinances, Jones said. Both the repeal of Chapter 14 and the updated ordinances will require the supervisors to hold a public hearing before the changes can be adopted.

“Our ordinance is almost the model ordinance anyway. … For the most part it makes no substantive change to what we’re doing,” Jones said.