Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) and the County Council are touting new environmental regulations, despite complaints from builders and environmentalists that the compromise hinders future growth and does little to stop chronic flooding.

County Bill 17, which sets new rules for filtering stormwater runoff, is “important for the local and regional environment,” Baker said in a statement after signing the bill.

The bill passed the council unanimously July 19, four years after the Maryland Department of the Environment ordered all counties to toughen rules for handling stormwater runoff and two years after the council first proposed its own updates. The new legislation sets requirements for builders to set natural buffers, landscaping, plants and other elements to filter 75 percent of the rain that falls on future development sites.

Until now, the county had only required 25 percent of stormwater to be filtered; state officials had required at least 50 percent.

The percentage only applies to the first inch of rain that falls on a property. Prince George’s County averages about 43 inches of rain per year, and most storms bring less than 1 inch of rain, according to data from the National Weather Service.

State and regional environmental agencies blame stormwater runoff as the chief cause for water pollution, claiming it carries trash to waterways and leads to floods and erosion.

The county stormwater requirement will increase to 100 percent filtration by 2019 under the new bill, but projects that were submitted to the county before May 2010 don’t have to comply with the new regulations.

Projects in areas that are prone to flooding may be required to comply with extra protections from the county public works department.

The debate over how much stormwater must be filtered has long divided builders and environmental groups, leading the bill to be amended, tabled and resubmitted multiple times since the last year.

Environmental groups say the county needs to insist that future builders trap and filter 100 percent of heavy rain to prevent water pollution. Builders say strict requirements will make it too expensive to build in the county, which has many aging, abandoned properties that must be overhauled as part of redevelopment.

“This is clearly a bill of compromises,” said Councilman Eric Olson (D-Dist. 3) of College Park. “There are many perspectives. That’s probably why it’s taken us a year to get to this point.”

Developers successfully lobbied the council last year to drop a bill calling for a 100 percent capture of rainfall, and their concerns were repeated by Councilwoman Leslie Johnson (D-Dist. 6) of Mitchellville.

“I’m not convinced that this bill addresses the unique challenges of established communities, who have historically had trouble attracting redevelopment,” said Johnson prior to voting in favor of the compromise.

Environmentalists said the council and Baker missed a chance to be a leader in the state.

“I’m willing to stipulate that our forward-looking executive and council are not in the pockets of developers,” said Bill Orlean, an environmentalist from Greenbelt. “But I don’t understand why they won’t insist on the best standards, no matter what we do.”

The fact that concerns remain from both sides counts as a victory, said Bradley Frome, Baker’s deputy chief of staff.

“The touchstone for us is that this a bill that nether side is completely happy with,” Frome said. “This allows us to address the environment and move forward with economic development in the county.”

The new stormwater bill takes effect Sept. 4.

dvalentine@gazette.net