As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
As defined in Section 3(c) of the Conservation District Law
[3 P.S. § 851(c)], the agency that has the authority under
a delegation agreement executed with the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection to administer and enforce all or a portion
of the regulations promulgated under 25 Pa. Code Chapter 102.
Activities associated with agriculture, such as agricultural
cultivation, agricultural operation, and animal heavy-use areas. This
includes the work of producing crops, including tillage, land clearing,
plowing, disking, harrowing, planting, harvesting crops, or pasturing
and raising of livestock and installation of conservation measures.
Construction of new buildings or impervious surface is not considered
an agricultural activity.
For purposes of this chapter, a landowner, developer, or
other person who has filed an application to the municipality for
approval to engage in any regulated activity at a project site in
the municipality.
Activities, facilities, designs, measures, or procedures
used to manage stormwater impacts from regulated activities, to meet
state water quality requirements, to promote groundwater recharge,
and to otherwise meet the purposes of this chapter.
Operational and/or behavior-related practices that attempt
to minimize the contact of pollutants with stormwater runoff.
Measures consisting of a physical device or practice that
is installed to capture and treat stormwater runoff. Structural BMPs
include, but are not limited to, a wide variety of practices and devices,
from large-scale retention ponds and constructed wetlands, to small-scale
underground treatment systems, infiltration facilities, filter strips,
low-impact design, bioretention, wet ponds, permeable paving, grassed
swales, riparian or forested buffers, sand filters, detention basins,
and manufactured devices. Structural stormwater BMPs are permanent
appurtenances to the project site.
The Pennsylvania Stormwater Best Management Practices Manual,
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, December 2006
(Document No. 363-0300-002).
A structure which carries surface water through an obstruction.
An impoundment structure regulated by the Pennsylvania DEP
Chapter 105 regulations.
The magnitude and temporal distribution of precipitation
from a storm event, measured in probability of occurrence (e.g., a
five-year storm) and duration (e.g., 24 hours), used in the design
and evaluation of stormwater management systems.
A structure designed to retard stormwater runoff by temporarily
storing and releasing the runoff at a predetermined rate.
An impervious or impermeable surface that is disconnected
from any stormwater drainage or conveyance system and is redirected
or directed to a pervious surface, which allows for infiltration,
filtration, and/or increased time of concentration.
An unstabilized land area where an earth disturbance activity
is occurring or has occurred.
A construction or other human activity which disturbs the
surface of the land, including land clearing and grubbing, grading,
excavations, embankments, land development, agricultural plowing or
tilling, operation of animal heavy-use areas, timber harvesting activities,
road maintenance activities, oil and gas activities, well drilling,
mineral extraction, and the moving, depositing, stockpiling, or storing
of soil, rock, or earth materials.
The natural process by which the surface of the land is worn
away by water, wind, or chemical action.
A site-specific plan consisting of both drawings and a narrative
that identifies BMPs to minimize accelerated erosion and sedimentation
before, during, and after earth disturbance activities.
The Pennsylvania DEP Erosion and Sedimentation Control Manual.
The combined process of water surface evaporation, soil moisture
evaporation, and plant transpiration.
The dominant land cover during the five-year period immediately
preceding a proposed regulated activity.
For purposes of this chapter, any land area susceptible to
inundation by water from any natural source or delineated by applicable
FEMA maps and studies as being a special flood hazard area.
Planning and activities necessary for the management of forest
land. These include conducting a timber inventory, preparation of
a forest management plan, silvicultural treatment, developing or establishing
a cutting budget, logging road design and construction, timber harvesting,
site preparation, and reforestation.
A group of soils having similar runoff potential under similar
storm and cover conditions. HSGs range from A to D, with A soils being
the most pervious and D soils being the least pervious.
A surface that prevents the infiltration of water into the
ground. Impervious surfaces and areas include but are not limited
to roofs, additional indoor living spaces, patios and decks, garages,
storage sheds and similar structures, streets, driveways, access drives,
parking areas, and sidewalks. Any areas designed to be covered by
loose surfacing materials, such as gravel, stone and/or crushed stone,
and that are intended for storage of and/or travel by vehicles or
pedestrians shall be considered impervious. Surfaces or areas designed,
constructed, and maintained to permit infiltration may be considered
pervious.
Water flowing downward through the ground surface.
Repair or replacement which uses the same or similar materials
in the same location.
A type of topography or landscape characterized by surface
depressions, sinkholes, rock pinnacles/uneven bedrock surface, underground
drainage, and caves. Karst is formed on carbonate rocks such as limestone
or dolomite.
Shall include any of the following activities:
The improvement of one lot or two or more contiguous lots, tracts,
or parcels of land for any purpose involving:
A group of two or more residential or nonresidential buildings,
whether proposed initially or cumulatively, or a single nonresidential
building on a lot or lots regardless of the number of occupants or
tenure; or
The division or allocation of land or space, whether initially
or cumulatively, between or among two or more existing or prospective
occupants by means of or for the purpose of streets, common areas,
leaseholds, condominiums, building groups, or other features.
A subdivision of land.
"Land development" does not include development which involves
the addition of an accessory structure, including farm structures,
on a lot or lots subordinate to an existing principal structure where
the accessory structure is not in excess of:
A line provided on the E&S plan or SWM plan that indicates
the total area to be disturbed over the life of the project.
The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, as authorized
by the Clean Water Act [33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq. (1972)].
A permit required for stormwater discharges associated with
construction activities, as required by the Clean Water Act [33 U.S.C.
§ 1251 et seq. (1972)].
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (previously
SCS).
Operation and maintenance.
Operation and maintenance agreement.
Operation and maintenance plan.
Post-construction stormwater management.
Post-construction stormwater management plan.
The maximum rate of stormwater runoff from a specific storm
event.
Act No. 247 of 1968, P.L. 805, as reenacted and amended,
53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
Any surface not defined as impervious.
Any discernible, confined, or discrete conveyance, including
but not limited to: any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well,
discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, CAAP, CAFO, landfill leachate
collection system, or vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants
are or may be discharged.
The specific development where any regulated activity is
planned for, conducted, constructed, or maintained.
The specific area of land where any regulated activity is
planned for, conducted on, constructed, or maintained.
Any person licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of State
or otherwise qualified by law to perform the work required by this
chapter.
A safety factor that, when multiplied by the site-tested
infiltration rate, is used to help determine the design infiltration
rate for a stormwater management facility.
Any earth disturbance activity or any activity that involves
the alteration or development of land in a manner that may affect
stormwater runoff.
The volume of runoff that is captured and not released directly
into the surface waters of the commonwealth during or after a storm
event.
An impoundment in which stormwater is stored and not released
to surface waters of the commonwealth.
The average interval, in years, within which a storm event
of a given magnitude can be expected to occur one time. For example,
the twenty-five-year return period rainfall would be expected to occur
on average once every 25 years; or, stated in another way, the probability
of a twenty-five-year storm occurring in any one year is 0.04, or
a four-percent chance.
A type of riparian buffer adjacent to surface waters that
consists of permanent vegetation that is predominantly native trees
and shrubs and is maintained in a natural state or sustainably managed
to protect and enhance water quality, stabilize stream channels and
banks, and separate land use activities from surface waters.
Any part of precipitation that flows over the land.
Soils or other materials transported by surface water as
a product of erosion.
A process that property owners proposing certain types of
projects may utilize to prepare a stormwater management plan without
having to conduct the detailed technical analysis and design required
for larger projects.
Those areas outlined in Chapter 7 of the BMP Manual. Special
management areas include brownfields, highways and roads, karst areas,
mined lands, water supply well areas, surface water supplies, and
special protection waters.
The regulatory requirements to protect, maintain, reclaim,
and restore water quality under Title 25 of the Pennsylvania Code
and the Clean Streams Law.
A pipe or conduit, or a system of pipes or conduits, which
intercepts and carries surface stormwater runoff, but excludes sewage,
industrial wastes, and similar discharges.
Drainage runoff from the surface of the land resulting from
precipitation, snow melt or ice melt.
The manual adopted by resolution by the Board of Supervisors which contains worksheets for determining whether a project meets exemption criteria and for preparation of a minor stormwater site plan [see § 81-302A(3)].
Any structure, natural or man-made, that, due to its condition,
design, or construction, conveys, stores, or otherwise affects stormwater
runoff. Typical stormwater management facilities include but are not
limited to: detention and retention basins; open channels; storm sewers;
pipes; and infiltration facilities.
The Adams County Stormwater Management Plan, adopted by Adams
County on November 23, 2011, and approved by the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection on January 27, 2012 (Act 167 Plan), which
incorporates the requirements of the Act of October 4, 1978, P.L.
864 (Act 167), known as the "Storm Water Management Act."[1]
A plan prepared by the developer or his representative indicating
how stormwater runoff will be managed at the development site in accordance
with this chapter.
The division or redivision of a lot, tract, or parcel of
land by any means into two or more lots, tracts, or parcels or other
divisions of land, including changes in existing lot lines for the
purpose, whether immediate or future, of lease, partition by the court
for distribution to heirs or devisees, transfer of ownership or building
or lot development; provided, however, that the subdivision by lease
of land for agricultural purposes into parcels of more than 10 acres,
not involving any new street or easement of access or any residential
dwelling, shall not be considered a subdivision.
A low-lying stretch of land which gathers and/or carries
surface water runoff.
Stormwater management.
A region or area drained by a river, watercourse, or other
surface water of this commonwealth.
Any and all rivers, streams, creeks, rivulets, impoundments,
ditches, watercourses, storm sewers, lakes, dammed water, wetlands,
ponds, springs, and all other bodies or channels of conveyance of
surface and underground water, or parts thereof, whether natural or
artificial, within or on the boundaries of the commonwealth.
For purposes of this chapter, areas that are inundated or
saturated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and duration
sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support,
a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated
soil conditions, including swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 32 P.S. § 680.1 et seq.
