USEPA photo by Eric Vance

LDC Inc. went to Washington, D.C. October 24 to advocate for sensible stormwater management regulations that lead to clean water for communities instead of mountains of paperwork.

Representing builders and developers who do business in Environmental Protection Agency Region 10, Clay White, principal planner, joined nine other NAHB members from across the country to meet EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and his top local enforcement officials.

NAHB members suggested several ways EPA could improve the process, including:

• A simplified permit process for small lots. EPA's compliance template for single-family homes in large subdivisions that could also serve as a streamlined permit: it's concise and written in "builder language" because NAHB helped develop it.
• A "find it, fix it" approach. Rather than penalize first-time violators, EPA inspectors should provide compliance assistance during site visits and allow builders to correct minor infractions so they can do it right the next time.
• Better coordination among regulators. Multiple visits from local, state and federal inspectors to the same site can result in very different observations and citations. The EPA needs to allow the states, and not themselves, to play the lead role in stormwater enforcement.
• Continued participation in EPA's "Smart Sectors" Program. Homebuilders were invited to participate this business community partnership to develop sensible regulations while protecting the environment and public health.

White was pleased at EPA's response. "It was tremendous to meet with Administrator Pruitt and the EPA team on issues that are impacting our building community. I believe that this meeting will result in positive outcomes for the builders in our region."

For stormwater management resources, visit the NAHB Stormwater Toolkit.

This week, Shannon and MBAKS President Mike Walsh take a break from building a wheelchair ramp to talk about the importance of Rampathon.

Learn more about our community stewardship

By MBAKS Senior Policy Analyst Allison Butcher

On Sept. 15, the third annual Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties Housing Summit drew a large crowd as we addressed our region's housing affordability crisis.

Governor Jay Inslee offered the keynote speech highlighting the need to produce more housing units and find greater efficiencies in our permit and regulatory processes. Other speakers included Windermere economist Matthew Gardner; Solid Ground President and CEO Gordon McHenry Jr.; John DesCamp of Washington Trust Bank; and Peter Orser, the director of the University of Washington's Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies.

An exclusive video detailing the struggles families face buying a home in today's market was produced for the Summit. You can also view photos from the event.

Next Steps

The Housing Summit helps launch and build momentum for your association's legislative priorities in Olympia. Housing affordability will be the focal point of those efforts in 2017 and beyond. The MBA has identified a number of areas where we plan to focus our advocacy efforts with the hope of improving housing affordability for all of our region's residents.

Specifically, the MBA will continue working to focus policy action on our region's buildable land supply; restore and protect vested development rights; address condo construction defect liability; ensure funding for housing and homeless programs occurs parallel with increased housing supply; and incentivize affordable housing. We have shared these priorities with Governor Inslee's Affordable Housing Advisory Board (AHAB) and are making sure our voice is heard in Olympia.

The MBA also surveyed Housing Summit attendees to get their thoughts on how we can address the housing affordability crisis and we are taking this feedback into consideration. Ideas include such things as increased densities in single family neighborhoods, more focus on multifamily housing, reforming the Growth Management Act, concentrating resources on infrastructure, addressing the skilled labor shortage in the construction industry, and taking further steps to address the homeless crisis.

For more on the specific ideas discussed at the Housing Summit, the Seattle King County REALTORS® wrote this re-cap of the event and the Lens featured it here.