The purpose of this chapter is to provide for the health, safety,
and general welfare of the citizens of Cecil County through the regulation
of non-stormwater discharges to all storm drainage systems in the
County to the maximum extent practicable as required by federal and
state law. This chapter establishes methods for controlling the introduction
of pollutants into the municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4)
in order to comply with requirements of the National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES) permit process. The objectives of this
chapter are:
A. To regulate the contribution of pollutants to the MS4 by stormwater
discharges by any user.
B. To prohibit illicit connections and discharges to the MS4.
C. To establish legal authority to carry out all inspection, surveillance,
monitoring, and enforcement procedures necessary to ensure compliance
with this chapter.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings set forth below:
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMPs)
Schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, general
good housekeeping practices, pollution prevention and educational
practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices
to prevent or reduce the discharge of pollutants directly or indirectly
to stormwater, receiving waters, or stormwater conveyance systems.
BMPs also include treatment practices, operating procedures, and practices
to control site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or water disposal,
or drainage from raw materials storage.
CLEAN WATER ACT
The federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. § 1251
et seq.), and any subsequent amendments thereto.
CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY
Activities subject to NPDES construction permits. These include
construction projects resulting in land disturbance of one acre or
more. Such activities include but are not limited to clearing and
grubbing, grading, excavating, and demolition.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS
Employees or designees of the Cecil County Department of
Public Works designated to enforce this chapter.
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
Any material, including any substance, waste, or combination
thereof, which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical,
chemical, or infectious characteristics may cause, or significantly
contribute to, a substantial present or potential hazard to human
health, safety, property, or the environment when improperly treated,
stored, transported, disposed of, or otherwise managed.
ILLEGAL DISCHARGE
Any direct or indirect non-stormwater discharge to the storm drain system, except as exempted in §
322-7 of this chapter.
ILLICIT CONNECTIONS
An illicit connection is defined as either of the following:
A.
Any drain or conveyance, whether on the surface or subsurface,
that allows an illegal discharge to enter the storm drain system,
including but not limited to any conveyances that allow any non-stormwater
discharge including sewage, process wastewater, and wash water to
enter the storm drain system and any connections to the storm drain
system from indoor drains and sinks, regardless of whether said drain
or connection had been previously allowed, permitted, or approved
by an authorized enforcement agency; or
B.
Any drain or conveyance connected from a commercial or industrial
land use to the storm drain system that has not been documented in
plans, maps, or equivalent records and approved by an authorized enforcement
agency.
INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY
Activities subject to NPDES industrial stormwater permits
as defined in 40 CFR 122.26(b)(14).
MUNICIPAL SEPARATE STORM SEWER SYSTEM (MS4)
The system of conveyances (including sidewalks, roads with
drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters,
ditches, man-made channels, or storm drains) owned and operated by
Cecil County and designed or used for collecting or conveying stormwater,
and that is not used for collecting or conveying sewage.
PERSON
Any individual, association, organization, partnership, firm,
corporation or other entity recognized by law and acting as either
the owner or as the owner's agent.
POLLUTANT
Anything which causes or contributes to pollution. Pollutants
may include, but are not limited to: paints, varnishes, and solvents;
petroleum hydrocarbons and other automotive fluids; cooking grease;
detergents (biodegradable or otherwise); nonhazardous liquid and solid
wastes; yard wastes; refuse, rubbish, garbage, litter, or other discarded
or abandoned objects and accumulations that may cause or contribute
to pollution, floatables, pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers;
hazardous substances and wastes; sewage, fecal coliform and pathogens;
dissolved and particulate metals; animal wastes; wastes and residues
that result from constructing a building or structure; and noxious
or offensive matter of any kind.
PREMISES
Any building, lot, parcel of land, or portion of land, whether
improved or unimproved, including adjacent sidewalks and parking strips.
STORM DRAINAGE SYSTEM
Publicly owned facilities by which stormwater is collected
and/or conveyed, including but not limited to any roads with drainage
systems, municipal streets, gutters, curbs, inlets, piped storm drains,
pumping facilities, retention and detention basins, natural and human-made
or -altered drainage channels, reservoirs, and other drainage structures.
STORMWATER
Any surface flow, runoff, and drainage consisting entirely
of water from any form of natural precipitation, and resulting from
such precipitation.
WASTEWATER
Any water or other liquid, other than uncontaminated stormwater,
discharged from a facility.
WATERCOURSE
A specific body or channel of water which is part of the
waters of the state.
WATERS OF THE STATE
Include:
A.
Both surface and underground waters within the boundaries of
this state subject to its jurisdiction, including part of the Atlantic
Ocean within the boundaries of this state, the Chesapeake Bay and
its tributaries, and ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, tidal and nontidal
wetlands, public ditches, tax ditches, and public drainage systems
within this state, other than those designed and used to collect,
convey, or dispose of sanitary sewage.
B.
The floodplain of free-flowing waters determined by the Department
of Natural Resources on the basis of the one-hundred-year flood frequency.
This chapter shall apply to all water entering the storm drain
system generated on any developed and undeveloped lands.
The Department of Public Works shall administer, implement,
and enforce the provisions of this chapter. Any powers granted or
duties imposed upon the Department of Public Works may be delegated
in writing by the Director of the Department of Public Works, or his
or her duly authorized agent to persons or entities acting in the
beneficial interest of or in the employ of the Department.
This chapter is not intended to modify or repeal any other ordinance,
rule, regulation, or other provision of law. The requirements of this
chapter are in addition to the requirements of any other ordinance,
rule, regulation, or other provision of law, and where any provision
of this chapter imposes restrictions different from those imposed
by any other ordinance, rule, regulation, or other provision of law,
whichever provision is more restrictive or imposes higher protective
standards for human health or the environment shall control.
The standards set forth herein and promulgated pursuant to this
chapter are minimum standards; therefore, this chapter does not intend
or imply that compliance by any person will ensure that there will
be no contamination, pollution, or unauthorized discharge of pollutants.
Every person owning property through which a watercourse passes,
or such person's lessee, shall keep and maintain that part of
the watercourse within the property free of trash, debris, excessive
vegetation, and other obstacles that would pollute, contaminate, or
significantly retard the flow of water through the watercourse. In
addition, the owner or lessee shall maintain existing privately owned
structures within or adjacent to a watercourse so that such structures
will not become a hazard to the use, function, or physical integrity
of the watercourse.
Any person subject to an industrial or construction activity
NPDES stormwater discharge permit shall comply with all provisions
of such permit. Proof of compliance with said permit may be required
in a form acceptable to the Department of Public Works prior to the
allowing of discharges to the MS4.
Any person aggrieved by the action of any official charged with
the enforcement of this chapter, as the result of issuance of a written
notice of violation, or an alleged failure to properly enforce the
chapter in regard to a specific application, shall have the right
to appeal the action to the Circuit Court of Cecil County. The appeal
must be filed in writing within five business days from the date of
the notice of violation or determination to the applicant and shall
clearly state the grounds on which the appeal is based.
If the violation has not been corrected pursuant to the requirements
set forth in the notice of violation, or, in the event of an appeal,
within 10 business days of the decision of the Circuit Court of Cecil
County, upholding the decision of the Department of Public Works,
then representatives of the Department of Public Works shall enter
upon the subject private property and are authorized to take any and
all measures necessary to abate the violation and/or restore the property.
It shall be unlawful for any person, owner, agent or person in possession
of any premises to refuse to allow the government agency or designated
contractor to enter upon the premises for the purposes set forth above.
Within 30 days after abatement of the violation, the owner of
the property will be notified of the cost of abatement, including
administrative costs. The property owner may file a written protest
objecting to the amount of the assessment within 10 days. If the amount
due is not paid within a timely manner as determined by the decision
of the Department of Public Works or by the expiration of the time
in which to file an appeal, the charges shall become a special assessment
against the property and shall constitute a lien on the property for
the amount of the assessment. Any person violating any of the provisions
of this chapter shall become liable to Cecil County by reason of such
violation. The liability shall be paid in not more than 12 equal payments.
Interest at the rate of 10% per annum shall be assessed on the balance
beginning on the 30th day after an invoice for the cost of abatement,
including administrative costs, has been presented to the owner of
the affected property.
In addition to the enforcement processes and penalties provided,
any condition caused or permitted to exist in violation of any of
the provisions of this chapter is a threat to public health, safety,
and welfare, and is declared and deemed a nuisance, and may be summarily
abated or restored at the violator's expense, and/or a civil
action to abate, enjoin, or otherwise compel the cessation of such
nuisance may be taken.
The remedies listed in this chapter are not exclusive of any
other remedies available under any applicable federal, state or local
law and it is within the discretion of the Department of Public Works
to seek cumulative remedies. The Department of Public Works may recover
all attorneys' fees court costs and other expenses associated
with enforcement of this chapter, including sampling and monitoring
expenses.