Approvals issued and actions taken under this chapter do not
relieve the applicant of the responsibility to secure required permits
or approvals for activities regulated by any other code, law, regulation
or ordinance.
The design of all regulated activities should include the following
to minimize stormwater impacts:
A. The applicant should find practicable alternatives to the surface
discharge of stormwater, the creation of impervious surfaces, and
the degradation of waters of the commonwealth and must maintain as
much as possible the natural hydrologic regime of the site.
B. An alternative is practicable if it is available and capable of implementation
after taking into consideration existing technology and logistics
in light of overall project purposes and other Township requirements.
C. All practicable alternatives to the discharge of stormwater are presumed
to have less adverse impact on quantity and quality of waters of the
commonwealth unless otherwise demonstrated.
The low-impact development practices provided in the BMP Manual
shall be utilized for all regulated activities to the maximum extent
practicable. Water volume controls shall be implemented using the
Design Storm Method in Subsection A or the Simplified Method in Subsection
B below. For regulated activity areas equal to or less than one acre
that do not require hydrologic routing to design the stormwater facilities,
this chapter establishes no preference for either methodology; therefore,
the applicant may select either methodology on the basis of economic
considerations, the intrinsic limitations on applicability of the
analytical procedures associated with each methodology, and other
factors. All regulated activities greater than one acre must use the
Design Storm Method.
A. The Design Storm Method (CG-1 in the BMP Manual) is applicable to
any size of regulated activity. This method requires detailed modeling
based on site conditions.
(1) The post-development total runoff volume for all storms equal to
or less than the two-year, twenty-four-hour storm event shall not
be increased.
(2) For modeling purposes:
(a)
Existing (pre-development) nonforested pervious areas must be
considered meadow.
(b)
One hundred percent of existing impervious area, when present,
shall be considered meadow in the model for existing conditions.
B. The Simplified Method (CG-2 in the BMP Manual) provided below is
independent of site conditions and should be used if the Design Storm
Method is not followed. This method is not applicable to regulated
activities greater than one acre, or for projects that require design
of stormwater storage facilities. For new impervious surfaces:
(1) Stormwater facilities shall capture at least the first two inches
of runoff from all new impervious surfaces. (Note: An asterisk (*)
in equations denotes multiplication.)
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Volume (cubic feet) = (2/12) * Impervious surfaces (square feet)
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(2) At least the first one inch of runoff from new impervious surfaces
shall be permanently removed from the runoff flow, i.e., it shall
not be released into the surface waters of the commonwealth. Removal
options include reuse, evaporation, transpiration, and infiltration.
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Volume (cubic feet) = (1/12) * Impervious surfaces (square feet)
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(3) Wherever possible, infiltration facilities should be designed to
accommodate infiltration of the entire permanently removed runoff;
however, in all cases at least the first 0.5 inch of the permanently
removed runoff should be infiltrated.
(4) This method is exempt from the requirements of §
287-25, peak rate controls.
If a perennial or intermittent stream passes through the site,
the applicant shall create a stream buffer extending a minimum of
50 feet to either side of the top-of-bank of the channel. The buffer
area shall be established and maintained with appropriate native vegetation.
(Refer to Appendix B of the BMP Manual for plant lists.) If the applicable
rear or side yard setback is less than 50 feet, the buffer width may
be reduced to 25% of the setback to a minimum of 10 feet. If an existing
buffer is legally prescribed (i.e., deed, covenant, easement, etc.)
and it exceeds the requirements of this chapter, the existing buffer
shall be maintained. This does not include lakes or wetlands. Applicants
shall adhere to the following stream bank erosion/channel protection
requirements:
A. In addition to the control of water quality volume (in order to minimize
the impact of stormwater runoff on downstream stream bank erosion),
the primary requirement is to design a BMP to detain the proposed
conditions two-year, twenty-four-hour storm event to the existing
conditions one-year flow using the SCS Type II distribution. Additionally,
provisions shall be made (such as adding a small orifice at the bottom
of the outlet structure or a sand filter) so that the proposed conditions
one-year, twenty-four-hour storm event takes a minimum of 24 hours
to drain from the facility from a point when the maximum volume of
water from the one-year, twenty-four-hour storm event is captured
(i.e., the maximum water surface elevation is achieved in the facility).
Release of water can begin at the start of the storm (i.e., the invert
of the water volume control orifice is at the invert of the facility).
B. The minimum orifice size in the outlet structure to the BMP shall
be three inches in diameter where possible, and a trash rack shall
be installed to prevent clogging. On sites with small drainage areas
contributing to this BMP that do not provide enough runoff volume
to allow a twenty-four-hour attenuation with the three-inch orifice,
the calculations shall be submitted showing this condition. Orifice
sizes less than three inches can be utilized, provided that the design
will prevent clogging of the intake. It is recommended that the design,
to accommodate maintenance, include a sand or porous media filter.