There is hereby established a Watershed and Water Supply Protection
District within the City. The Watershed and Water Supply Protection
District shall be considered as overlaying and shall overlay all other
zoning districts within its boundaries. The district to be shown on
the Zoning Map of the City of Fall River is bounded and described
as follows: beginning at the intersection of Route 195 and the Fall
River/Westport Line; thence running westerly by Route 195 to the easterly
side of Route 24; thence northerly by the easterly side of Route 24
to the center line of Meridian Street; thence easterly and northerly
by the center line of Meridian Street to a point 200 feet south of
the center line of Watkins Street; thence easterly 600 feet to a point;
thence northerly in a line parallel to Meridian Street 6,300 +/- feet;
thence easterly 1,100 +/- feet; thence northerly 1,100 +/- feet in
a line parallel to Meridian Street, to the center line of Wilson Road;
thence westerly 100 feet by the center line of Wilson Road to the
center line of Riggenbach Road; thence northerly by the center line
of Riggenbach Road 5,500 +/- feet to the southerly line of the Research
and Development Overlay District; thence easterly by the southerly
line of said district 1,900 +/- to the easterly line of said district;
thence northerly by the easterly line of said district 4,200 +/- to
the Fall River/Freetown Boundary Line; thence easterly, southerly,
southwesterly, westerly and southerly by the corporate boundary to
the intersection of the corporate boundary, Route 195 and the point
of beginning.
The purposes of establishment of the Watershed and Water Supply
Protection District are to:
A.
Promote the health, safety and general welfare of the community.
B.
Protect, preserve and maintain the existing and potential water supply
within the City, with special regard to the watershed areas feeding
into or affecting the Watuppa and Copicut reservoirs.
C.
Protect and preserve present and potential sources of water supply
for the public health and safety.
D.
Protect and conserve the natural resources of the City.
E.
Prevent blight and pollution of the environment and particularly
those areas within the Watershed and Water Supply Protection District.
A.
All plans, analyses and other documentary evidence required under
this division must be submitted with any application for a building
permit. In the event of appeal to the Planning Board or Zoning Board
of Appeals, all plans and analyses must be filed with the appeal with
the Planning Department.
B.
Copies of all such plans, analyses and documentary evidence shall
be sent to the Planning Department, Board of Health and Conservation
Commission. The Board of Health and the Conservation Commission shall
have the opportunity to submit comments on the plans within 30 days
to the Building Inspector. Failure to make such comment shall be treated
as a decision that no comment is necessary.
No building permit shall be issued for development in the Watershed
and Water Supply Protection District unless and until all of the standards
and requirements in this division have been satisfied. The Building
Inspector, the Health Department, the Conservation Commission and
the Watuppa Water Board shall all have standing to enforce this division
and to bring action for relief in appropriate courts if necessary.
A.
The special permit granting authority referred to in this section
shall be the Zoning Board of Appeals.
B.
No special permit shall be granted unless, in addition to all other
conditions precedent to the granting of a special permit, the special
permit granting authority specifically finds, based on adequate evidence
submitted to it at a public hearing, that the proposed use:
(1)
Is in harmony with and consistent with the intent and purpose of
this division and will promote and effectuate the purposes of the
Watershed and Water Supply Protection District.
(2)
Is appropriate to the natural topography, soil, and geological and
other characteristics of the site to be developed, including its relation
to contiguous sites.
(3)
Will not, during construction or thereafter, have an adverse environmental
impact on any aquifer or recharge area within the City.
(4)
Will not adversely affect any existing, developed or planned water
supply.
(5)
Is consistent with existing and probable future development of contiguous
and surrounding areas.
A.
The Watershed and Water Supply Protection District shall be considered
as overlaying and shall overlay all other zoning districts within
its boundaries. Any uses permitted in the district or portion thereof
so overlaid shall be permitted, subject to all provisions applicable
to the district as set forth in this division.
B.
Development within 200 feet of the edge of a water body or its tributaries
of the City's water supply shall be prohibited.
C.
In addition, no such use shall be permitted and no building permit
shall be issued unless the standards in this division are met.
A.
There shall be no net increase in the rate of surface water runoff
from any development in the Watershed and Water Supply Protection
District, including road, parking area, highway and utility development,
and the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources
Conservation Service's most current revised Technical Release
55 (TR-55) is the preferred method for calculating runoff volume based
on a twenty-five-year storm.[1]
B.
For all new residential subdivisions and developments, the owner
will be required to submit plans and associated computations to the
Planning Department detailing a wet detention pond with the appropriate
vegetation to ensure nutrient removal. The wet pond must be designed
to capture the first flush of a storm event. The storm event elevation
of the incoming piping shall be set above the first flush volume.
The detention pond must be sized adequately to contain a twenty-five-year
storm. Storm events in excess of the twenty-five-year storm shall
be diverted away from the pond into the appropriate receiving water.
Maintenance of the wet pond to ensure its proper function shall be
the duty and responsibility of the owner of the wet pond or his successors
or assigns.
A.
Except for those situations involving repairs, no person shall install
a new individual on-site sewage disposal system in the Watershed and
Water Supply Protection District which will produce more than 330
gallons per day per acre of wastewater discharge. For the purpose
of this section only, the definition of an acre shall be 40,000 square
feet.
B.
Acreage determinations for compliance with the hydraulic loadings
shall be exclusive of wetlands as designated pursuant to the standards
of the commonwealth, DEP 310 CMR 10.
C.
Any proposed subdivision within 3,000 feet of a municipal sewer line
shall connect all building lots within the subdivision to the City's
sewers.
A.
Purpose. It is the intent of the City, through the implementation
and enforcement of the regulations in this division, to protect its
water supply from contamination from nutrients, the failure of which
would endanger public health. These nutrients include, and are not
limited to, nitrate-nitrogen, phosphate-phosphorus, chlorides, metals
and hydrocarbons found as constituents in stormwater runoff and/or
as components of leachate associated with septic systems and/or package
treatment plants proposed to be located within the Watershed and Water
Supply Protection District.
B.
Single-family dwellings. Each undeveloped lot, whether part of a
subdivision or an existing lot of record, which is located within
the Watershed and Water Supply Protection District shall provide a
natural undisturbed fifty-foot buffer between any proposed construction
and the City's water supply and its tributaries. A maximum clearing
for driveway usage within the buffer shall not exceed 12 feet in width.
Lawn areas shall not exceed 8,000 square feet for an 80,000 square
foot lot or 10% of any other size lot. The total land disturbance
shall not exceed 0.5 acre for an R-80 lot or 25% of any existing or
proposed lot within the Watershed and Water Supply Protection District.
The applicant shall submit to the Building Inspector a plan showing
the requirements of this subsection, septic, well, driveway and house
locations, with copies to the Conservation Commission and the Board
of Health.
A.
A soil erosion and sediment control plan shall be submitted with
each development application for the Watershed and Water Supply Protection
District where the disturbed area of the proposed development is cumulatively
greater than one-half acre.
B.
The soil erosion and sediment control plan shall contain proper provisions
to adequately control accelerated erosion and sedimentation and reduce
the danger from stormwater runoff on the proposed development site.
C.
The soil erosion and sediment control plan shall provide a schedule
of activities, including the sequence of grading and construction,
the sequence for installation and/or application of soil erosion and
sediment controls, and the sequence of final stabilization of the
project site.
D.
The soil erosion and sediment control plan shall include a site plan
map with two-foot contour intervals, at an appropriate scale, clearly
showing the following:
(1)
Existing and proposed topography, soil types, water bodies and watercourses,
and wetlands;
(2)
Existing structures on the site (if any);
(3)
Proposed areas of alterations, roads, utilities, areas of cuts and
fill, and property lines;
(4)
The location and design details of all proposed soil erosion and
sediment controls and stormwater management facilities; and
(5)
The sequence of construction, installation/application of controls,
and final stabilization of the site.
E.
Construction of a single-family dwelling that is not part of subdivision
of land shall be exempt from the requirements of the soil erosion
and sediment control plan.
In the Watershed and Water Supply Protection District, the following
uses shall be prohibited:
A.
Cluster development.
B.
Disposal of solid wastes.
C.
Storage and/or transmission of petroleum or other refined petroleum
products except within buildings which it will heat. No underground
tanks will be permitted in any location.
D.
The disposal of liquid or leachable wastes, except for single-family
residential subsurface waste disposal systems.
E.
The use of septic system cleaners which contain toxic organic chemicals.
F.
Industrial uses which discharge process wastewater on-site, including
any commercial and service uses discharging wastewater containing
contaminants other than normal organic waste.
G.
Storage of road salt or deicing chemicals.
H.
Use of chemicals for deicing unless deemed necessary for public safety.
I.
Dumping of snow brought in from outside the Watershed and Water Supply
Protection District.
J.
The mining of land except as incidental to a permitted use.
K.
The transport, storage or disposal of hazardous wastes, as defined
by the hazardous waste regulations promulgated by the Division of
Hazardous Waste under the provisions of MGL c. 21C.
L.
The transport, storage or extended use of hazardous materials, as
defined by the hazardous waste regulations promulgated by the Division
of Hazardous Waste under the provisions of MGL c. 21C, except as incidental
to a permitted use.
M.
Automotive service stations, junkyards and salvage yards.
