This article shall be known as the "Bloomsbury Borough Surface
Water Management Ordinance."
The general intent of this article is to manage the increased
rate and velocity of the surface water runoff created by alterations
in the ground cover and natural runoff patterns.
To protect the public health, safety and welfare of the citizens
of Bloomsbury Borough and the surrounding communities, this article
is deemed necessary and essential in order to:
A. Maintain the adequacy of natural stream channels and prevent accelerated
bank erosion by controlling the rate and velocity of runoff discharge
to these watercourses so as to avoid increasing the frequency of the
bank full stage.
B. Enhance the quality of nonpoint runoff by water retention measures.
C. Preserve present adequacy of culverts and bridges by reducing artificially
induced flood peaks.
D. Reduce public expenditures for replacement or repair of public facilities
resulting from artificially induced flood peaks.
E. Prevent damage to life and property from flooding resulting from
excessive rates and velocities of runoff.
F. Deter potential pollution of potable water supplies.
The declared policy of the Borough is to accomplish the above
purposes and to administer the provisions of this article in such
a manner as to cause the least possible expense to the applicants
in complying therewith, and the requirements imposed on applicants
by this article shall be liberally construed so as to effect such
policy, consistent with law and the purposes and provisions set forth
herein.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
APPLICANT
Any person submitting a surface water management plan.
APPROVED PLAN
A plan to control surface water runoff approved as provided
in this article.
BOROUGH
The Borough of Bloomsbury in the County of Hunterdon in the
State of New Jersey.
CHANNEL
A watercourse with a definite bed and banks which confine
and conduct continuously or intermittently flowing water.
DEVELOPMENT
The meaning ascribed to such word by the Municipal Land Use
Law.
DRAINAGEWAY
Any watercourse, trench, ditch, depression or other hollow
space in the ground, natural or artificial, which collects or disperses
surface water from land.
LAND DISTURBANCE
Any activity by which or in which land is cleared, graded,
transported or filled or by which or in which the topography or vegetative
cover of land is altered. This definition is not intended to encompass
alteration of topography or vegetation generated by natural phenomena
without specific human or other nonnatural intervention.
A surface water management plan shall be submitted and approved, as provided herein, in connection with any application within the Borough for a construction permit, site plan approval or subdivision approval unless the application involves only a single land disturbance of less than 750 square feet of surface area or unless a waiver is granted under §
270-176F of this article.
For review and inspection required by this article, the nonrefundable fees, payable to the Borough, provided in §
270-168 shall be submitted with each surface management plan. No fees shall be required in connection with a request for waiver of the provisions of this article under §
270-176F.
Appeals from decisions of the Planning Board affirming disapproval
by the Borough Engineer of a surface water management plan, or affirming
denial by the Borough Engineer of a request for waiver, may be made
by the applicant within 10 days of the giving or mailing to the applicant
of a notice of such disapproval or denial (which notice shall contain
a written statement of the reasons therefor). Such appeal shall be
made by notice, in writing, specifying the grounds of appeal, filled
with the Borough Clerk within such ten-day period. A hearing of such
appeal shall be scheduled before the Borough Council for a date within
45 days of such notice of appeal, and the applicant shall be given
10 days' notice of the time and place of such hearing. Such appeal
shall be decided by the Borough Council only upon the record before
the Borough Engineer and the Planning Board, and the standard for
review shall be the same as that applied upon an appeal to the Borough
Council pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-17. The Borough Council may affirm
or reverse the decision below to disapprove the plan and shall make
its decision within 15 days of the hearing before it and furnish a
copy thereof to the applicant. No decision by the Borough Engineer
to disapprove a plan or deny a request for waiver, but only a decision
of the Planning Board affirming such disapproval or denial, may be
appealed.