On March 5, the Greenville County Council adopted a new Stormwater Banking Program and incorporated it into the county’s zoning ordinances. The program, which was developed over a four-year period through collaboration among local officials, conservation groups, and homebuilders, seeks to improve the county’s management of stormwater run-off and pollution through a voluntary, market-based incentive program. In exchange for adopting low-impact development practices within designated county Program Areas and paying a participation fee, developers will be allowed to increase the density of their projects beyond the normal zoning limits. The goals of the program are to limit the growth of sprawl in Greenville County, ensure that new developments facilitate effective stormwater management, and raise funds for stormwater retrofit projects within the county. The groundbreaking program has already been recognized as a model for local regulation by the Smart Growth Network, which included the Stormwater Banking proposal in its 2012 compendium on growth issues facing American communities.
Learn more about the Stormwater Banking Program.
