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