A.
Unless otherwise stated hereafter, words and phrases within this
chapter shall have the meanings assigned in this article. Terms not
defined in this article shall be interpreted according to common usage
or as the context may imply. For the purpose of this chapter, certain
terms and words have been defined and/or interpreted below:
(1)
Words used in the present tense shall include the future tense.
(2)
Words in the singular shall include the plural, and words in the
plural shall include the singular.
(3)
Words in the masculine gender include the feminine and the neuter.
(4)
The words "shall," "will," and "must" are mandatory.
(5)
The words "can," "should," and "may" are permissive.
(6)
The word "includes" or "including" shall not limit the term to the
specific example but is intended to extend its meaning to all other
instances of like kind and character.
(7)
The word "person" includes an individual, company, partnership, corporation,
association, unincorporated association, or other similar entities.
(8)
The words "used for" include "designed for," "arranged for," "intended
for," "maintained for," or "occupied for."
(9)
The words "building" and "structure" shall be construed as if followed
by the phrase "or part thereof."
(10)
The word "lot" shall include the terms "plot," "parcel," "site,"
and "tract."
(11)
The word "Township" or "municipality" shall refer to Marlborough
Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
(12)
The word "Supervisors" or "Board" or "governing body" means
the Board of Supervisors of Marlborough Township.
(13)
The words "Planning Commission" mean the Planning Commission
of Marlborough Township.
(16)
The words "Conservation District" mean the Montgomery County
Conservation District.
(17)
The letters "PA DEP" mean the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection.
(18)
The letters "PennDOT" mean the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
(19)
The words "Stormwater and Erosion Control Ordinance" mean the
Marlborough Township Stormwater and Erosion and Sedimentation Pollution
Control Ordinance of 2005.
Unless otherwise expressly stated, the following words and phrases
shall be construed throughout this chapter to have the meanings indicated
in this section:
Impervious surfaces placed on or over land that was not covered
with impervious surfaces within two years prior to the proposed impervious
surface being constructed; or, within the limits of an earth disturbance
activity or regulated earth disturbance activity, the total sum of
proposed impervious surface areas less the total sum of impervious
surface areas within two years prior to the proposed impervious surfaces
being constructed.
Consisting of or formed from material such as gravel, sand,
silt, or clay deposited by flowing water and showing little or no
modification of the original material by soils-forming processes.
A person who has filed an application for approval of stormwater
and erosion control plans, including his/her heirs, successors, agents,
and assigns. This term also includes the landowner, developer, builder,
and/or other persons responsible for the plans and construction of
buildings and/or other improvements on any parcel of land.
The solid, undisturbed rock in place either at the ground
surface or beneath superficial soil deposits.
A well-compacted earthen ridge.
Activities, facilities, designs, measures or procedures used
to manage stormwater impacts from regulated earth disturbance activities,
to meet state water quality requirements, to promote groundwater recharge,
and to otherwise meet the purposes of this chapter. BMPs include but
are not limited to infiltration systems, filter strips, low-impact
design, bioretention, wet ponds, permeable paving, grassed swales,
forested buffers, sand filters and detention basins.
Any enclosed structure which has the purpose of carrying
stormwater and intermittent or constant surface drainage water flow.
An excavation; the difference between a point on the original
ground and a designated point of lower elevation at the final grade;
also, the material removed in an excavation.
The magnitude of precipitation from a storm event on which
stormwater management facilities shall be designed, measured in probability
of occurrence/frequency (e.g., fifty-year storm) and duration (e.g.,
24 hours).
A structure, often earthen, designed for impoundment of surface
runoff for a period of time sufficient to cause the disposition of
sediment and to reduce the velocity and discharge of surface flows
leaving a site, releasing it at a predetermined rate; also known as
a "stormwater basin," "detention pond," "basin," "retention basin"
and the like.
Any man-made change to improved real estate, including, but
not limited to, buildings or other structures, the placement of mobile
homes, streets or other paving, utilities, mining, dredging, filling,
grading, excavation, or drilling operations.
The outflow of water, silt or other mobile substances passing
along a conduit, watercourse or channel or released from any type
of detention or stormwater management feature.
The natural or man-made features of the land that are specifically
designed to store or carry surface water runoff.
A right-of-way granted to use private land to facilitate
the flow of water, within which the owner shall erect no permanent
structures, landscaping or other object which will obstruct the flow
of water but may use the land in any other way not inconsistent with
the grantee's rights or other applicable regulations.
The natural or man-made features of the land that are specifically
designed to store or carry surface water runoff.
A construction or other human activity which disturbs the
surface of the land, including, but not limited to, clearing, grubbing,
grading, excavations, embankments, road maintenance, building construction
and the moving, depositing, stockpiling, or storing of soil, rock
or earth materials. This includes activities which cause land to be
exposed to the danger of erosion and could alter natural drainage
patterns and stormwater runoff amounts. Also referred to as "land
disturbance."
Any act in which soil or bedrock is cut, quarried, displaced
or relocated.
A permanent right, including a right-of-way, granted by a
property owner for the limited use of his/her private land for public,
quasi-public, or private purposes. It can be a utility, drainage,
or public access easement, or for other purposes. The owner of the
property shall have the right to make any other use of the land which
is not inconsistent with the rights of the grantee.
The removal of the earth's surface materials, including
within channels, by the action of natural elements.
Any act by which natural materials are dug into, cut, quarried,
uncovered, removed, displaced, relocated or bulldozed, as well as
the condition resulting therefrom.
The vertical elevation of the ground surface prior to earthmoving
or filling.
The act by which earth, sand, gravel, rock, or any other
material is deposited in a new location above the natural surface
of the ground or on top of the stripped surface, and shall include
the conditions resulting therefrom; or the difference in elevation
between a point on the original ground and a designated point of higher
elevation in the final grade; or the material used to make a fill.
The final vertical elevation of the ground after development.
A relatively flat, low, land area adjoining a stream, river,
or watercourse, which is subject to partial or complete inundation
during a one-hundred-year flood, or any area subject to the unusual
and rapid accumulation of surface water from any source; also referred
to as a "flood-prone area."
All activities of any scope/size by either individuals or
companies connected with growing and harvesting of forest products,
including site preparation, cultivation and logging of trees, and
construction and maintenance.
The slope of a street, road, channel, natural ground, parcel
of land, utility lines, drainageway, etc. It may be specified as a
percent, a ratio or a decimal.
The permanent or temporary cutting, filling, grading, regrading,
and/or other forms of earthmoving activities utilized for the purpose
of achieving a certain grade.
Low-growing plant materials planted in a manner to provide
continuous plant cover of the ground surface; lawn, ivy, and other
low plant materials are included. Nonplant ground cover may include
bark and wood chips, gravel and stone, provided they are maintained
as a continuous pervious cover.
Replenishment of geologic structures and rock or soil interstices
which have the capacity to store water.
Material which is impenetrable and thus unable to absorb
liquids. Any gravel or crushed stone surface areas shall be assumed
to be impervious surfaces.
A stormwater management tool intended to allow groundwater
recharge. The term includes infiltration facility, infiltration area,
infiltration trench, infiltration bed, subsurface infiltration pit,
seepage bed, recharge bed and the like.
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;
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 purposes of, streets, common areas,
leaseholds, condominiums, building groups or other features;
A subdivision of land; and/or
Development in accordance with Section 503(1.1) of the Pennsylvania
Municipalities Planning Code.[1]
See "earth disturbance activity."
The ground surface in its original state before any earthmoving,
filling or stripping.
The federal government's system for issuance of permits
under the Clean Water Act, which is delegated to PA DEP when in Pennsylvania.
A flood that has one chance in 100, which is a one-percent
chance, of being equaled or exceeded in any year; for the purposes
of this chapter, the one-hundred-year flood (base flood) as defined
by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Federal Insurance Administration,
in the current "Flood Insurance Study" for Marlborough Township.
"Point source" as described in 40 CFR 122.2; the point where
the municipality's storm sewer system discharges to surface waters
of the commonwealth.
The maximum rate of flow of water at a given point and time
resulting from a specified storm.
Any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including,
but not limited to, any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, or conduit from
which stormwater is or may be discharged, as defined in state regulations
at 25 Pa. Code § 92.1.
Any lot or parcel of land or combination of contiguous lots
or parcels of land under one ownership where earth disturbance activity
is, was, or will be performed.
Earth disturbance activity involving one acre or more with
a point-source discharge to surface waters or the municipality's
storm sewer system, or an earth disturbance activity involving five
acres or more regardless of the planned runoff; these include earth
disturbance on any portion of, part of, or during any stage of a larger
common plan of development; earth disturbance activity involving 25
acres or more of road maintenance activities.
A volume of flow being released from a detention structure
per specified unit of time (e.g., cubic feet per second) which can
be designated as a specific design storm (e.g., ten-year predevelopment
storm).
Earth disturbance activities within the existing road cross
section, such as grading and repairing existing unpaved road surfaces,
cutting road banks, cleaning or clearing drainage ditches, and similar
activities.
That portion of the precipitation on a drainage area that
is discharged from the area.
Solid material, both mineral and organic, that is in suspension,
is being transported, or has been moved from its site of origin by
air, water, gravity, or ice and has come to rest on the earth's
surface above or below sea level.
The process by which mineral or organic matter is accumulated
or deposited by moving wind, water, or gravity. When this matter is
deposited (or remains suspended in water), it is usually referred
to as "sediment."
A broad area of excavated earth, filled with loose stone
or other materials, to which surface water is directed for infiltration
into geologic storage.
A conveyance or system of conveyances (including roads with
drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters,
ditches, man-made channels or storm drains) primarily used for collecting
and conveying stormwater runoff.
The face of fill or cut; any ground whose surface makes an
angle with the plane of the horizon which may be specified as a percent,
a ratio or a decimal.
All earth material of whatever origin that overlies bedrock.
Chemical or structural treatment of a mass of soil to increase
or maintain its stability or otherwise improve its physical properties.
A report entitled "Soil Survey of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania,"
published April 1967 by the Soil Conservation Service, United States
Department of Agriculture.
As defined under state regulations - protection of designated
and existing uses (see 25 Pa. Code, Chapters 93 and 96) - including:
Each stream segment in Pennsylvania has a "designated use,"
such as "cold-water fishery" or "potable water supply," which are
listed in Chapter 93. These uses must be protected and maintained
under state regulations.
"Existing uses" are those attained as of November 1975, regardless
of whether they have been designated in Chapter 93. Regulated earth
disturbance activities must be designed to protect and maintain existing
uses and maintain the level of water quality necessary to protect
those uses in all streams and to protect and maintain water quality
in special-protection streams.
Water quality involves the chemical, biological and physical
characteristics of surface water bodies. After regulated earth disturbance
activities are complete, these characteristics can be impacted by
addition of pollutants such as sediment and changes in habitat through
increased flow volumes and/or rates as a result of changes in land
surface area from those activities; therefore, permanent discharges
to surface waters must be managed to protect the stream bank, stream
bed and structural integrity of the waterway, to prevent these impacts.
A grade equal to 15% or greater, as determined by accurate
contour mapping over a horizontal distance of a minimum of 50 feet.
See "detention basin."
The facilities used for conducting stormwater to, through
or from a drainage area to the point of final outlet, including but
not limited to any of the following: conduits, canals, channels, swales,
ditches, streams, culverts, streets, ponds, and stormwater basins.
The removal of vegetation, including trees, and/or topsoil.
Stripping shall not include, or be deemed to include, the normal process
of gardening or property maintenance.
Division or redivision of a lot, tract, or parcel of land
by any means into two or more lots, tracts, parcels, or other divisions
of land, including changes in the 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 roads or easements of access or residential
dwellings, shall be exempt.
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 water, or parts thereof, whether natural or artificial, within
or on the boundaries of this commonwealth.
A low-lying stretch of land which gathers or carries surface
water runoff; a drainage ditch.
The duly appointed employee or independent contractor performing
engineering services for the Township or such individual appointed
by the Supervisors to perform the duties and services designated herein.
Any natural or artificial swale, stream, channel, or conveyance
having a defined bed and banks in which surface waters flow continuously
or intermittently.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10503.
