Township of Union, PA Article I General Provisions

§ 165-1 Short title.

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Tributaries to the Schuylkill River Stormwater Management Ordinance, Union Township, Berks County."

§ 165-2 Statement of findings.

The Board of Supervisors of Union Township finds that:

A. Inadequate management of accelerated stormwater runoff resulting from development throughout a watershed increases flood flows and velocities, contributes to erosion and sedimentation, overtaxes the carrying capacity of existing streams and storm sewers, greatly increases the cost of public facilities to convey and manage stormwater, undermines floodplain management and flood-reduction efforts in upstream and downstream communities, reduces groundwater recharge, and threatens public health and safety.

B. Inadequate planning and management of stormwater runoff resulting from land development and redevelopment throughout a watershed can also harm surface water resources by changing the natural hydrologic patterns, accelerating stream flows (which increase scour and erosion of stream beds and stream banks, thereby elevating sedimentation), destroying aquatic habitats and elevating aquatic pollutant concentrations and loadings, such as sediments, nutrients, heavy metals and pathogens. Groundwater resources are also impacted through loss of recharge.

C. A comprehensive program of stormwater management (SWM), including minimization of impacts of development, redevelopment and activities causing accelerated erosion, is fundamental to the public health, safety, welfare, and the protection of the people of Union Township and all the people of the commonwealth, their resources, and the environment.

D. Inadequate management of accelerated stormwater runoff resulting from development throughout a watershed poses a threat to surface water and groundwater quality.

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. Impacts from stormwater runoff can be minimized by using project designs that maintain the natural hydrologic regime and sustain high water quality, groundwater recharge, stream base flow and aquatic ecosystems. The most cost-effective and environmentally advantageous way to manage stormwater runoff is through nonstructural project design, minimizing impervious surfaces and sprawl, avoiding sensitive areas (i.e., stream buffers, floodplains, and steep slopes), and designing topography and soils to maintain the natural hydrologic regime.

G. Public education on the control of pollution from stormwater is an essential component in successfully addressing stormwater.

H. 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).

I. Nonstormwater discharges to municipal separate storm sewer systems can contribute to pollution of waters of the commonwealth by Union Township.

§ 165-3 Purpose.

A. The purpose of this chapter is to promote the public health, safety, and welfare within the tributaries to the Schuylkill River in Berks County by maintaining the natural hydrologic regime and by minimizing the impacts described in § 165-2 of this chapter through provisions designed:

(1) To promote alternative project designs and layout that minimize impacts to surface water and groundwater.

(2) To promote nonstructural best management practices (BMPs).

(3) To minimize increases in stormwater volume.

(4) To minimize impervious surfaces.

(5) To manage accelerated runoff and erosion and sedimentation problems at their source by regulating activities that cause these problems.

(6) To provide review procedures and performance standards for stormwater planning and management.

(7) To utilize and preserve the existing natural drainage systems.

(8) To manage stormwater impacts close to the runoff source, which requires a minimum of structures and relies on natural processes.

(9) To focus on infiltration of stormwater, to maintain groundwater recharge, to prevent degradation of surface water and groundwater quality and to otherwise protect water resources.

(10) To maintain existing base flows and quality of streams and watercourses, where possible.

(11) To meet legal water quality requirements under state law, including regulations at 25 Pa. Code § 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.

(12) To address the quality and quantity of stormwater discharges from the development site.

(13) To provide a mechanism to identify controls necessary to meet the NPDES permit requirements.

(14) To implement an illegal-discharge detection and elimination program to address nonstormwater discharges into Union Township's separate storm sewer system.

(15) To preserve and restore the flood-carrying capacity of streams.

(16) To prevent scour and erosion of stream banks and streambeds.

(17) To provide performance standards and design criteria for watershed-wide stormwater management and planning.

(18) To provide proper operation and maintenance of all permanent stormwater management facilities and BMPs that are implemented in Union Township.

B. NPDES requirements. Federal regulations approved October 1999 require operators of small municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s) to obtain NPDES Phase II permits from DEP by March 2003. (NPDES II is an acronym for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Phase II Stormwater Permitting Regulations.) This program affects all municipalities in urbanized areas of the state. This definition applies to all tributaries to the Schuylkill River in Berks County municipalities identified in Table III-1 of the Tributaries to the Schuylkill River in Berks County Stormwater Management Plan, Volume II, as NPDES Phase II municipalities. Therefore, these identified municipalities will be subject to the NPDES Phase II requirements mandated by the Federal Clean Water Act as administered by DEP. For more information on NPDES II requirements, contact the DEP Regional Office.

§ 165-4 Statutory authority.

A. Primary authority. Union Township is empowered to regulate these activities by the authority of the Act of October 4, 1978, P.L. 864 (Act 167), 32 P.S. § 680.1 et seq., as amended, the "Storm Water Management Act."

B. Secondary authority. Union Township also is empowered to regulate land use activities that affect runoff by the authority of the Act of July 31, 1968, P.L. 805, No. 247, the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, as amended.[1]

[1] Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.

§ 165-5 Applicability; regulated activities.

A. This chapter shall apply to all areas of Union Township within the Schuylkill River watershed. All regulated activities and all activities that may affect stormwater runoff, including land development and earth-disturbance activity, are subject to regulation by this chapter.

B. Act 167 watershed mapping and stormwater management districts identified herein have been developed specifically for the portions of Union Township draining to tributaries to the Schuylkill River in Berks County (see Appendix D[1]). This chapter also applies to unclassified watersheds of Union Township, which are also tributaries of the Schuylkill River but do not join the Schuylkill River within the Berks County limits, shown as white or unmapped on the maps in Appendix D. At such time that additional Act 167 Plans are developed for these non-Berks-County tributaries, ordinances adopted under those plans shall take precedence over this chapter for the unclassified areas.

[1] Editor's Note: Appendix D is included as an attachment to this chapter.

C. Article III of this chapter applies to the portions of Union Township draining to tributaries to the Schuylkill River in Berks County (see Appendix D mapping[2]).

[2] Editor's Note: Appendix D is included as an attachment to this chapter.

D. Article IV of this chapter applies to the portions of Union Township draining to unclassified watersheds which are also tributaries of the Schuylkill River but do not join the Schuylkill River within the Berks County limits (see Appendix D mapping[3]).

[3] Editor's Note: Appendix D is included as an attachment to this chapter.

§ 165-6 Compliance with other provisions.

Approvals issued and actions taken under this chapter do not relieve the applicant of the responsibility to secure required permits or approvals for activities by any other code, law, regulation or ordinance.