To cover the costs of managing and maintaining stormwater infrastructure, residents and commercial property owners pay a stormwater utility fee. This fee provides dedicated funding for the City's management of stormwater system infrastructure. The City is scheduled to obtain ownership of the Castle Pines North Metro District's (CPNMD) stormsewer infrastructure via an intergovernmental agreement on March 31, 2023. On this date, CPNMD will transfer all responsibility for the ownership, operation, and maintenance of its stormwater system and necessary property rights to the City to own, operate, maintain, and manage the system in perpetuity. In addition to the transferred stormwater system from CPNMD, the City is also responsible for operating and maintaining the public stormwater system for all other areas throughout the City.
The stormwater utility fee allows the City to provide an upgraded, consistent service across the entire city. Collecting a stormwater utility fee aligns with other Front Range municipalities and enables the City to ensure proper funding levels to meet stormwater system infrastructure needs moving forward.
Stormwater is rain or snowmelt that falls on streets, parking areas, rooftops, and other developed land and is not absorbed into the ground. As the stormwater flows over driveways, lawns, and sidewalks, it picks up debris, chemicals, and other pollutants. The stormwater either flows directly into nearby bodies of water or travels through the drainage systems to get there. Storm drains are not part of the sewer system, so water in storm drains is not treated before entering streams, rivers, or lakes.
By managing stormwater, communities are better able to protect our environment, reduce flooding, support healthier streams and rivers, and create healthier, more sustainable communities.
The City of Castle Pines is committed to maintaining a proactive stormwater management program to improve the quality of runoff entering the storm drain system and receiving streams. The program plays a critical role in controlling flooding, enhancing safety, protecting the environment, and meeting the requirements of federal environmental regulations.
Castle Pines holds an Environmental Protection Agency Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit, which requires the City to monitor, maintain and control its stormwater facilities. Stormwater must be managed for the good of the entire community because water runoff does not follow subdivision or community boundaries. The City is responsible for the repair and maintenance of existing stormwater facilities as well as the construction of needed capital improvement projects related to the stormwater system.
- Administering the MS4 stormwater permit for the City to include inspection services, reporting, and annual reports to the CDPHE
- Maintaining stormwater infrastructure
- Administering criteria and best management practices identified in the stormwater manual
- Maintaining membership in professional stormwater organizations and providing public informational advertisements in the local newspaper as required under the MS4 permit
- Performing development review of stormwater plans for private development
- Providing the Program Description Document for review and comment upon request. Please contact the Public Works Department at pwrequests@castlepinesco.gov.
