[Amended 9-20-2016 by Ord. No. 350]
This Part 1 shall be known as the "Whitpain Township Stormwater
Management Ordinance for Watersheds Other than the Wissahickon."
The Board of Supervisors of Whitpain Township
finds as follows:
A. Concerns of inadequate stormwater management. Inadequate
management of accelerated runoff of stormwater resulting from development
throughout a watershed increases flood flows and velocities, contributes
to erosion and sedimentation, overtaxes the carrying capacity of streams
and storm sewers, generally increases the cost of public facilities
to carry and control stormwater, undermines floodplain management
and flood control efforts in downstream communities, reduces groundwater
recharge and threatens public health and safety.
B. Desirability of plan. A comprehensive program of stormwater
management, including reasonable regulation of development and activities
causing accelerated runoff, is fundamental to the public health, safety
and welfare and the protection of the people of the municipality and
all the people of the commonwealth, their resources and the environment.
C. Stormwater runoff from lands modified by human activities
threatens public health and safety by causing decreased infiltration
of rainwater and increased runoff flows and velocities which overtax
the carrying capacity of existing streams and storm sewers, and greatly
increases the cost to the public to manage stormwater.
D. A program of stormwater management, including reasonable
regulation of land development and redevelopment causing loss of natural
infiltration, is fundamental to the public health, safety, welfare,
and the protection of the people of the Whitpain Township and all
the people of the commonwealth, their resources, and the environment.
E. Stormwater can be an important water resource by providing
groundwater recharge for water supplies and base flow of streams,
which also protects and maintains surface water quality.
F. Public education on the control of pollution from
stormwater is an essential component in successfully addressing stormwater.
G. Federal and state regulations require certain municipalities
to implement a program of stormwater controls. These municipalities
are required to obtain a permit for stormwater discharges from their
separate storm sewer systems under the National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES).
H. Nonstormwater discharges to municipal separate storm
sewer systems can contribute to pollution of waters of the commonwealth
by Whitpain Township.
I. Within Whitpain Township there are multiple watershed
areas, including the Stony Creek/Saw Mill Run Watershed Area, and
the Township finds that in addition to the general requirements for
stormwater management in all the other watershed areas within Whitpain
Township, additional requirements and regulations are desirable for
all stormwater management of the Stony Creek/Saw Mill Run Watershed
areas of the Township.
The purpose of this Part
1 is to promote health, safety, and welfare within Whitpain Township and its watersheds by minimizing the harms and maximizing the benefits described in §
125-2 of this Part
1, through provisions designed to:
A. Establish stormwater management requirements and practices
for all watershed areas located in Whitpain Township and to adopt
additional requirements for the Stony Creek/Saw Mill Run Watershed
area within Whitpain Township.
B. Manage stormwater runoff impacts at their source by
regulating activities that cause the problems.
C. Provide review procedures and performance standards
for stormwater planning and management.
D. Utilize and preserve the existing natural drainage
systems as much as possible.
E. Manage stormwater impacts close to the runoff source,
which requires a minimum of structures and relies on natural processes.
F. Focus on infiltration of stormwater, to maintain groundwater
recharge, to prevent degradation of surface and ground water quality
and to otherwise protect water resources.
G. Maintain existing flows and quality of streams and
watercourses.
H. Meet legal water quality requirements under state
law, including regulations at 25 Pa. Code Chapter 93.4a to protect
and maintain existing uses and maintain the level of water quality
to support those uses in all streams, and to protect and maintain
water quality in special protection streams.
I. Prevent scour and erosion of stream banks and streambeds.
J. Provide for proper operations and maintenance of all
permanent stormwater facilities, including best management practices
(hereinafter referred to as "BMPs") that are implemented in the Whitpain
Township.
K. Provide a mechanism to identify controls necessary
to meet the NPDES permit requirements.
L. Implement an illegal discharge detection and elimination
program to address nonstormwater discharges into Whitpain Township's
separate storm sewer system.
The Whitpain Township Board of Supervisors is
empowered to regulate these activities by the authority of the Act
of October 4, 1978, P.L. 864 (Act 167), the Storm Water Management
Act, the Second Class Township Code, §§ 2701
through 2704, as amended, and the Municipalities Planning Code, Act of June 9, 1978,
P.L. 460, as amended (hereinafter "MPC").
[Amended 9-21-2004 by Ord. No. 280-1]
Any regulated activity that meets the following
exception criteria shall be exempt from the provisions of this Part
1. This exemption criteria shall apply to the totality of any development
which meets the criteria regardless of whether it is undertaken in
phases. The date of the adoption of this Part 1 shall be considered
the commencement date or starting point from which to consider tracts
as parent tracts in which future subdivisions and respective impervious
area computations shall be cumulatively considered. Exemption shall
not relieve an applicant from implementing such measures as are necessary
to protect the health, safety and property within Whitpain Township.
Stormwater Management Exemption Criteria
|
---|
Total Parcel Size
(acres)
|
Impervious Area
(square feet)
|
---|
0 - 0.5
|
300
|
Greater than 0.5 - 1
|
500
|
Greater than 1 - 2
|
1,000
|
Greater than 2 - 5
|
2,000
|
Greater than 5
|
3,000
|