[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township
of Marlborough 10-28-1991 by Ord. No. 91-4. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
All uses and activities established after the effective date
of this chapter shall comply with the following standards. Site alterations,
regrading, filling or clearing of any natural resources prior to the
submission of applications for zoning or building permits or the submission
of plans for subdivision of land development shall be a violation
of this chapter. In the event that two or more resources overlap,
the resource with the greatest protection standard (the least amount
of alteration, regrading, clearing or building) shall apply to the
area of overlap.
Areas where the average slope exceeds 15% which, because of
this slope, are subject to high rates of stormwater runoff and, therefore,
erosion and flooding. In areas of steep slopes, the following standards
shall apply:
A.
Fifteen percent to 25%. No more than 30% of such areas shall be altered,
regraded, cleared or built upon.
B.
Twenty-five percent or steeper. No more than 20% of such areas shall
be altered, regraded, cleared or built upon.
C.
Areas or steep slope that are less than 3,000 square feet shall be
exempted from these standards.
One-quarter acre or more of wooded land where the largest trees
measure at least six inches in diameter at breast height (or 4.5 feet
from the ground). Woodlands are also a grove of trees forming one
canopy where 10 or more trees measure at least 10 inches dbh. The
woodland shall be measured from the dripline of the outer trees. The
following standards shall apply to woodlands:
A.
Woodlands in environmentally sensitive areas. No more than 20% of
woodlands located in environmentally sensitive areas shall be altered,
regraded, cleared or built upon. Environmentally sensitive areas shall
include floodplains, steep slopes, wetlands, wetland margins and lake
or pond shorelines.
Any natural or artificial stream, river, creek, ditch, channel,
canal, waterway, gully or ravine in which water flows in a definite
direction or course, either continuously or intermittently, and has
a defined bed and banks. Such areas shall not be altered, regraded,
filled, piped, diverted or built upon except where design approval
is obtained from the Township and, if required, the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection.
Wetlands means land that has a predominance of hydric soil and
that is inundated by surface or groundwater with a frequency sufficient
to support and under normal circumstances does or would support a
prevalence of vegetative or aquatic life that requires saturated or
seasonally saturated soil conditions for growth and reproduction.
Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas
such as sloughs, potholes, wet meadows, river overflow, mudflats and
natural ponds.
A.
Delineation. Wetlands boundaries shall be delineated through an on-site
assessment which shall be conducted by a professional soil scientist
or others of demonstrated qualifications. Such a person shall certify
that the methods used correctly reflect currently accepted technical
concepts, including the presence of wetlands vegetation, hydric soils
and/or hydrologic indicators. A study shall be submitted with sufficient
detail to allow a thorough review by the Township. The study must
be reviewed by the Township Engineer and approved by the Board of
Supervisors.
B.
Federal and state regulations. In addition to the requirements above,
any applicant proposing a use, activity or improvement which would
entail the regrading or placement of fill in wetlands shall provide
the Township with proof that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection (Bureau of Dams and Waterway Safety and Bureau of Water
Quality Management) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have been
contacted to determine the applicability of state and federal wetland
regulations.
Wetlands margin is the transitional area extending from the
outer limit of the wetland. For the purposes of this chapter, the
wetland margin shall extend 100 feet from the wetland boundary or
to the limit of the hydric soils, whichever is less. The limit of
hydric soils shall be as mapped in the Soil Survey of Montgomery County,
Pennsylvania, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service,
July 1975, unless reclassified by the Supervisors on recommendation
of the Township Engineer. No more than 20% of such areas shall be
altered, regraded, filled or built upon.
Natural or artificial bodies of water which retain water year-round.
Lakes are bodies of water two or more acres in extent. Ponds are bodies
of water less than two acres in extent, artificial ponds which were
created by dams or result from excavation. Such areas shall not be
altered, regraded, filled, piped, diverted or built upon.
Lake, pond and creek shorelines are the land side edges of lakes,
ponds and creeks from established shoreline to an upland boundary.
For the purposes of this chapter, lake, pond and creek shorelines
shall be measured 100 feet from the spillway crest elevation. No more
than 20% of such areas shall be altered, regraded, filled or built
upon.
Any person who violates or permits a violation of this chapter
shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding brought before a Magisterial
District Judge under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure,
be guilty of a summary offense and shall be punishable by a fine of
not more than $1,000, plus costs of prosecution. In default of payment
thereof, the defendant may be sentenced to imprisonment for a term
not exceeding 90 days. Each day or portion thereof that such violation
continues or is permitted to continue shall constitute a separate
offense, and each section of this chapter that is violated shall also
constitute a separate offense.
