INFRASTRUCTURE

Contents

Introduction 337

Objective 1: Increase Sewage Treatment Efficiency 337

Objective 2: Improve Stormwater Management 338

Infrastructure Benchmarks 340

INFRASTRUCTURE

Infrastructure is the foundation for all development. Typically, infrastructure is defined to include sanitary sewers, storm sewers, roads, and utilities. For the unincorporated portions of Lake County, sanitary sewers are the major limiting factor of development. Under conditions of rapid development, such as those that currently exist in southern Lake County, the provision of infrastructure has the potential to become a significant tool for managing growth and change. Ultimately, municipalities and the county have the ability to control the basic needs of every development­access to roads, water, electricity, and sewage treatment. The mission of infrastructure programs is to manage the current infrastructure system to obtain optimal results and to efficiently provide development with working alternatives for the future that are both environmentally, financially, and structurally sound.

Although water and electricity consumption and road usage are also significant infrastructure issues, they are addressed in the environment and transportation program sections respectively. Actions steps designed to utilize the sewage system more efficiently as a source of development controls can likewise be applied to roads, water, and electricity.

The programs for guiding Lake County's infrastructure are based on the objectives of....

• increasing the efficiency of the sewage treatment systems; and

• improving stormwater management.

Objective One: Increase Sewage Treatment Efficiency

Action Step 1

Focus the addition or sewage treatment facilities to the target zones to encourage development in those areas and direct growth to soils capable of sustaining sewage treatment. Roads and water and electricity supply should also be directed in this manner.

Action Step 2

Encourage the use of "non-traditional" methods as alternatives for sewage treatment in areas of non-compatible soil types. Potential alternatives include

• flee-flow constructed wetlands;

• small package sewage treatment plants;

• clustered subsurface disposal;

• septic tank with effluent pumped into a constructed wetland, for further treatment.

Action Step 3

Include the provision or sewage treatment as an element or the points system for development as described in land use. The appropriateness of soil types and designs for sewage treatment would count against/for the development of particular projects.

Conventional Sewage Treatment versus Constructed Wetland

Objective Two: Improve Stormwater Management

Action Step 1

Conduct an inventory and assessment of Lake County drainage systems, establishing a framework for evaluating new developments for impact and adjusting existing developments to minimize impact and maintain minimum efficiency and level of service.

Action Step 2

Increase provisions for stormwater management in areas outside designated Land-Use Target Areas to encourage development in geographic areas of least impact.

Action Step 3

Encourage modifications in existing developments that are currently poorly drained through tax incentives to operators and land owners.

Action Step 4

Establish a set of regulations and enforcement procedures regarding stormwater accommodation systems in new developments in the ordinances of the county.

• require all drainage from developments to be of equal force as existed prior to development;

• build in consideration of existing topography and drainage patterns on the site;

• include original vegetation in design plans;

• avoid the creation of large impervious surfaces without the provision of holding and catch basins for the increased runoff;

• encourage partnerships between developers and government agencies to share costs of increased stormwater drainage capacity.

Action Step 5

Establish an erosion minimization policy listing alternatives for stormwater management and encouraging pro-active measures following state and federal guidelines.

• coordinate educational workshops, lectures, and informational publications with the proposed county environmental center:

• encourage the use of vegetation as a means of slowing down run-off and absorbing precipitation:

• require on-site storage of runoff in either wet or dry ponds;

• use vegetated swales to control runoff while maintaining the rural characters of the landscape:

• install a leak-off area adjacent to roads to temporarily store the first 1/2 hour of runoff from a storm, which contains the most toxins;

• include crushed stone or gravel around stormwater inlets or on banks of drainage ditches.

A Ponding Area in Lake County

Infrastructure Benchmarks

General Benchmarks

Conventional treatment plants are operating at less than or equal to 85% of capacity.

On-site treatment facilities (i.e. constructed wetlands, etc.) are operating at less than or equal to 90 percent of capacity.

Guidelines have been established for the completion of stormwater and drainage impact statements for new developments.

An erosion control alternatives booklet has been created and is available through the Lake County Public Libraries or an alternative central information center.

Lake County has drafted and adopted an ordinance directing the accommodation of issues of runoff, erosion, and stormwater by new development.

(Prior Code, Comprehensive Plan)