Politics & Government

New Fees Proposed For Parking Lots, Roads, Roofs on Private Properties

Backers say the Watershed Protection and Restoration Program would reduce the impact of stormwater runoff by 2025.

By Kirsten Petersen

County residents may be expected to pay a new fee for parking lots, roads and roofs that contribute to stormwater runoff pollution starting next year, according to legislation introduced by the Prince George’s County Department of Environmental Resources. 

The legislation recommends a schedule of fees that would be collected from the tax bills of private property owners who have impervious, or non-water absorbent, surfaces.

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If residents do not modify their surfaces according to approved runoff treatment practices, they would pay an impact fee of $12.54, $20.90, or $41.80, depending on the size of the impervious surface, such as a residential lot, plus an administrative fee of $20.58.

In addition, industrial, commercial, and instructional properties would pay $372 per acre of impervious surface and the $20.58 administrative fee.

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Residents who make the approved modifications could have future impact fees eliminated from their bill, according to the Department of Environmental Resources. Households that receive the Homeowners Tax Credit and the Energy Assistance Subsidy would pay the fee through those credits.

The fee schedule would be implemented as part of the state’s Watershed Protection and Restoration Program, which requires nine counties and the City of Baltimore to reduce stormwater runoff pollution by 2025 to meet new federal Clean Water Act mandates.

In order to meet the federal and state mandates, the county must treat 8,000 acres of impervious surfaces. This would cost approximately $1.2 billion.

The Watershed Protection and Restoration Program could also create 5,000 jobs and businesses in environmental industries, expand partnerships with universities and improve waterways in the county, according to the Department of Environmental Resources.


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