UPDATE: Read Silver's entire presentation here, and Tuesday's story here.

At a Wake Commissioners committee meeting today, Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker and Planning Director Mitchell Silver argued against a county ordinance change that would allow commercial development in the Falls Lake watershed and several other county watersheds.

Meeker argued his case from a policy standpoint, while Silver said the change is inconsistent with the intent of "nonconforming" land uses and is being proposed in the wrong section of the county code. Silver listed several typical options for nonconforming uses, and redevelopment wasn't one of them. He said the move would open "Pandora's Box" to other arbitrary changes in the future. For background on the ordinance, go here.

The text change would essentially allow commercial development for parcels of land that have been "grandfathered" for such use. Those include a lumberyard and cement plant in the Falls watershed, and several bare parcels in other county watersheds.  Meeker and other city officials warn the move could further pollute already impaired Falls Lake, which the city is trying to clean to avoid millions in future costs. They say the text change would undermine Raleigh's efforts to reduce urbanization in Durham
that's harmful to the water quality, and potentially obstruct cleanup
efforts.

The lake is the source of water for more than 65 percent of Wake County citizens, Meeker said this morning, including all of Raleigh and several other towns. It is polluted primarily because of urbanization in Durham, Granville and Person counties.

Commissioners and county staff took issue with Meeker and Silver's arguments. Commissioner Stan Norwalk challenged Meeker's claim that the text change would send the wrong message to Durham.

"What's to prevent us from sending the message that we're actually tightening the standards?," Norwalk said. "You're worried about sending a message, but why?"

Meeker responded: "That's sending a mixed message. We want to send a clear one."

County Attorney Scott Warren said some of the issues Silver raised "will have to be sorted out." And others took issue with his interpretation of the county code.

Commissioner Paul Coble, former Raleigh mayor, blasted the city afterward for presenting their concerns at the 11th hour. And Board Chairman Tony Gurley said during the meeting that "this is stuff that should have been handled long before it reached our board. If we could get all of this rebuttal back and forth done ahead of time, I would greatly appreciate it."

Commissioner Betty Lou Ward, who chairs the committee and lives in the watershed, said it was an example of why they need a countywide planning operation.

Durham County moved into the "moderate drought" category last week, as defined by the state Division of Water Resources. Here's how Durham's water supply stands, according to the city water department:

• Days of supply of easily accessible, premium water remaining (Lake Michie, Little River Reservoir): 162 days
• Days in Teer Quarry storage remaining: 15 days
• Days of less accessible water below the intake structures remaining: 48 days
• Total days of supply: 225

Mayor Charles Meeker opened yesterday's City Council meeting by discussing the Wake County Board of Commissioner's recent rejection of stricter development rules in the Little River Watershed. "It's not a situation where all is lost," Meeker told the council.

But he also said that it is not at all clear that adopting the minimum requirements in Little River will be adequate. Meeker proposed a 3-step plan to try to persuade county commissioners to reconsider their recent decision, which was unanimous.

Basically, the plan involves reminding Wake County folks of the years of cooperation between Raleigh and the county to get the Little River project this far; a discussion between City Manager Russell Allen and his county counterpart, David Cooke; and a meeting between the county commissioners and Meeker, Councilor James West and the mayors of Wake Forest and Garner.

What's striking about these steps is how easily they could have been taken before the county commissioners voted on the tougher restrictions.

All told, last week was a bad week for Raleigh's interests in the surrounding watersheds. In addition to the Little River vote, the state Environmental Management Commission last week issued the city a notice of violation for failing to adopt tougher rules in the Richland Creek Watershed in North Raleigh. (Scroll down to the 5th action item on the EMC's agenda.) The city now has 120 days to get in compliance. Getting in compliance means adopting stricter development rules that will impact 4,994 property owners located in Northeast Raleigh, including neighborhoods like Wakefield and Falls River. The rules would make it harder for those owners to add a deck or build an addition.

Raleigh has been trying to convince the state for four years that the tougher restrictions are not necessary, but their long struggle appears over. The new rules are designed to protect a possible source of drinking water on the Neuse River at the old Burlington Mills textile plant off Capital Boulevard. Nobody is using the water now, though Franklin County has expressed interest in tapping it.