Bellevue’s Environmental Services Commission will hold a public hearing on Thursday, Feb. 5, to take residents’ comments on Bellevue’s draft 2009 stormwater management program.

The hearing is set for 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 450 110th Ave. NE, conference room 1E-112.

The city drafted its stormwater management program to meet requirements of the Western Washington Phase II Municipal Stormwater Permit. The municipal stormwater permit is a requirement of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permits Program in the federal Clean Water Act.

The Environmental Protection Agency delegated permit authority in Washington to the state Department of Ecology. Ecology issued a Phase II municipal stormwater general permit to more than 100 municipalities, including Bellevue, in early 2007.

The draft 2009 Program document describes activities that Bellevue plans to take in the upcoming year to maintain compliance with the permit’s stormwater management program conditions, which are designed to reduce stormwater runoff pollution to the city’s waterways.

The City Council will review and consider all comments received about the draft stormwater management program before approving it.

More details about municipal stormwater permits are available at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/stormwater/municipal/index.html.