Free stormwater manual workshops for development, design, permitting professionals

In a continuous effort to practice superior environmental stewardship and foster continual economic growth and vitality, the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners adopted the Pinellas County Stormwater Manual during its Feb. 21 meeting. The manual and associated ordinance go in effect on April 1 and provide guidance for designing sites and infrastructure using newly adopted criteria and best management practices (BMPs) for water quality and flood protection.

Pinellas County is offering three one-day workshops to introduce the manual and instruct participants in its use during the development, design and permitting processes. The workshops include an overview and introduction to an industry program known as BMPTRAINS, which is the current Florida standard for modeling best management practices.

The workshops will be held in the Magnolia Room of Pinellas County Extension, located at 12520 Ulmerton Road in Largo, on the following dates:

• Tuesday, March 28, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Tuesday, April 4, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Wednesday, May 3, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Those who should attend include: developers and consultants who submit site plan applications, Pinellas County engineering consultants, and municipal partners interested in the county’s stormwater management approach, as it relates to development and infrastructure projects.

The objective of the workshop is to ensure that participants have a good understanding of:

• The principles of Low Impact Design (LID)
• How to improve project benefits using stormwater manual tools and concepts
• The revisions to the Pinellas County Land Development Code
• Pinellas County’s stormwater design criteria
• How to use BMPTRAINS to calculate the treatment effectiveness of BMPs

Participants are advised to bring a laptop with the BMPTRAINS Analysis Model program already installed for live workshop training. Participants can download the program for free by visiting https://stormwater.ucf.edu/computer-programs. Registration for each workshop session closes the Monday prior to each class. To register, call (727) 464-5659 or email amcgill@pinellascounty.org