The Board of Supervisors of the Township of Upper Burrell finds
that:
A. Stormwater runoff from lands modified by human activities can threaten
public health and safety by causing increased runoff flows and velocities
which can overtax the carrying capacity of existing streams and storm
sewers and can increase the cost of public facilities to convey and
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 can increase scour and
erosion of streambeds and streambanks, thereby elevating sedimentation),
destroying aquatic habitat and elevating aquatic pollutant concentrations
and loadings such as sediments, nutrients, heavy metals and pathogens.
Groundwater resources can also be impacted through loss of recharge.
C. These impacts happen mainly through a decrease in natural infiltration
of stormwater.
D. A comprehensive program of stormwater management, including reasonable
regulation of land development and redevelopment and other activities
causing loss of natural infiltration, is fundamental to the public
health, safety, welfare, and protection of the people of the Township
and all the people of this commonwealth, their resources, and the
environment.
E. Public education on the control of pollution from stormwater is an
essential component in successfully addressing stormwater.
F. Nonstormwater discharges to municipal separate storm sewer systems
can contribute to pollution of waters of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The purpose of this chapter is to promote health, safety, and welfare within the Township of Upper Burrell by minimizing the damages described in §
280-1 of this chapter through provisions designed to:
A. Manage stormwater runoff impacts at their source by regulating activities
that cause these problems.
B. Provide review procedures, performance standards and design criteria
for stormwater planning and management.
C. Utilize and preserve the desirable 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. Encourage recharge of groundwater, where appropriate, to prevent
degradation of groundwater quality.
F. Maintain existing flows and quality of streams and watercourses in
the Township and the commonwealth.
G. Meet legal water quality requirements under state law, including
regulations at 25 Pa. Code Chapter 93 to protect, maintain, and restore
existing uses and maintain the level of water quality to support those
uses in all surface waters, and to protect and maintain water quality
in special protection waters (exceptional value and high quality).
H. Provide for proper operation and maintenance of all stormwater management
facilities in the Township.
I. Prevent scour and erosion of stream banks and streambed.
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 nonstormwater discharges into the Township's separate
storm sewer system.
The Township is empowered to regulate land use activities that
affect stormwater runoff by the authority of the Act of July 31, 1968,
P.L. 805, No. 247, the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, as amended by Act 170 of December 21, 1988 and Act 131
of December 14, 1992, and the applicable Municipal Code.