This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Freedom Borough
Stormwater Management Ordinance."
The governing body of the municipality finds that:
A. 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.
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 streambeds
and stream banks thereby elevating sedimentation); destroying aquatic habitat
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 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 municipality and all the people of the commonwealth, their
resources, and the environment.
D. Stormwater can be an important water resource by providing
groundwater recharge for water supplies and base flow of stream, which also
protects and maintains surface water quality.
E. Public education on the control of pollution from stormwater
is an essential component in successfully addressing stormwater.
F. 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).
G. Non-stormwater discharges to municipal separate storm
sewer systems can contribute to pollution of waters of the commonwealth by
the municipality.
The purpose of this chapter is to promote health, safety, and welfare within the municipality and its watershed by minimizing the harms and maximizing the benefits described in §
174-2 of this chapter through provisions designed to:
A. Manage stormwater runoff impacts at their source by regulating
activities that cause the problems.
B. Provide review procedures and performance standards for
stormwater planning and management.
C. Utilize and preserve the existing natural drainage systems
as much as possible.
D. Manage stormwater impacts close to the runoff source
which requires a minimum of structures and relies on natural processes.
E. Focus on infiltration of stormwater, to maintain groundwater
recharge, to prevent degradation of surface and groundwater quality and to
otherwise protect water resources.
F. Maintain existing flows and quality of streams and watercourses.
G. 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.
H. Prevent scour and erosion of stream banks and streambeds.
I. Provide for proper operations and maintenance of all
permanent stormwater management BMPs that are implemented in the municipality.
J. Provide a mechanism to identify controls necessary to
meet the NPDES permit requirements.
K. Implement an illegal discharge detection and elimination
program to address non-stormwater discharges into the municipality's
separate storm sewer system.
The municipality is empowered to regulate land use activities that affect
stormwater impacts by the authority of the Borough Code and the Municipalities
Planning Code.
Any other ordinance provision(s) or regulation of the municipality inconsistent
with any of the provisions of this chapter is hereby repealed to the extent
of the inconsistency only.
In the event that any section or provision of this chapter is declared
invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect
the validity of any of the remaining provisions of this chapter.