This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Marlborough Township Stormwater and Erosion and Sedimentation Pollution Control Ordinance of 2015."
This chapter has been prepared in accordance with the Pennsylvania Stormwater Management Act (Act 167 of 1978), 32 P.S. § 680.1 et seq.; the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law (P.L. 1987, as amended), 35 P.S. § 691.1 et seq.; and the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (Act 247, as amended), 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
It is the purpose of this chapter to regulate stormwater runoff, erosion, and sedimentation; to protect and preserve surface waters and groundwaters of the Township; and to protect the health, safety, and general welfare of Township residents. The provisions of this chapter are designed:
A. 
To maintain or improve year-round flows and water quality in all streams and watercourses of the Township;
B. 
To control runoff, erosion and sedimentation through measures that are on site and situated as close as possible to where stormwater falls on the land and minimize the use of structures and rely instead on natural processes;
C. 
To maximize recharge of groundwater and encourage storage of rainfall to sustain groundwater supplies and stream flows;
D. 
To provide for proper maintenance and operation of all permanent stormwater management facilities and limit the use of stormwater structures which will present maintenance problems;
E. 
To ensure that the short- and long-term financial obligations of the Township for stormwater management programs, facilities, and corrective actions are minimized;
F. 
To provide review procedures and performance standards for stormwater planning and management;
G. 
To preserve and restore the flood-carrying capacity of streams and other watercourses;
H. 
To prevent scour and erosion of stream banks and stream beds;
I. 
To provide a mechanism to identify controls necessary to meet the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements;
J. 
To implement an illegal-discharge detection and elimination program to address nonstormwater discharges into the municipality's separate storm sewer system; and
K. 
To meet legal water quality requirements under state law, including regulations at 25 Pa. Code, Chapter 93.4a, to protect and maintain "existing uses" and maintain the level of water quality to support those uses in all streams and to protect and maintain water quality in "special-protection" streams.
A. 
This chapter applies to any regulated earth disturbance activities within the Township and all stormwater runoff entering into the Township's separate storm sewer system from lands within the boundaries of the Township.
B. 
Earth disturbance activities and associated stormwater management controls are also regulated under existing state law and implementing regulations. This chapter shall operate in coordination with those parallel requirements; the requirements of this chapter shall be no less restrictive in meeting the purposes of this chapter than state law.
C. 
No land or waterway shall be used or modified, no earth shall be disturbed, stripped or moved, and no structure shall be built or extended without full compliance with the terms of this chapter and other applicable regulations.
A. 
The Board of Supervisors of the Township of Marlborough (the "Township Supervisors") may, in its sole discretion, grant exemptions from the requirements of this chapter, upon a determination that such exemption is necessary to protect public health, safety, and welfare, including property and/or water quality.
B. 
Requirements for exempt activities.
(1) 
An exemption from any requirement of this chapter shall not relieve the applicant from implementing all other applicable requirements of this chapter or from implementing such measures as are necessary to protect public health, safety, and welfare, property and water quality.
(2) 
An exemption shall not relieve the applicant from complying with the requirements for state-designated special-protection waters designated by the PA DEP as high-quality (HQ) or exceptional-value (EV) waters or any other current or future state or municipal water quality protection requirements.
(3) 
An exemption under this chapter shall not relieve the applicant from complying with all other applicable municipal ordinances or regulations.
(4) 
The sum of all proposed impervious surface areas to be constructed within any consecutive five-year time frame will constitute a single earth disturbance activity for purposes of determining the applicability of an exemption.
C. 
Requirements for exemptions generally.
(1) 
Earth disturbance activities that involve less than 1,500 square feet of additional impervious surfaces and less than 5,000 square feet of earth disturbance are exempt from only the requirements to construct stormwater control facilities. All other requirements of this chapter must be met.
(2) 
Exemptions are for stormwater control facilities only and shall not relieve the landowner from other applicable requirements of this chapter. Exemptions shall not relieve the applicant from implementing such measures as are necessary to protect health, safety, and welfare, property, and water quality.
The provisions of this chapter shall be held to be the minimum requirements to meet the above-stated purposes. Where the provisions of any other statute, ordinance or regulations impose greater restrictions than those of this chapter, the provisions of such statute, ordinance or regulations shall prevail and take precedence.
A. 
The provisions of this chapter are intended as minimum standards for the protection of the public health, safety and welfare. The Township Supervisors may modify or extend said provisions conditionally in individual cases as may be deemed necessary in the public interest; provided, however, that such modification shall not have the effect of nullifying the intent and purpose of this chapter. If literal compliance with any mandatory provisions of this chapter is shown by an applicant, to a majority of the Township Supervisors present at a prescheduled public meeting, to be unreasonable and to cause undue hardship as they apply to his property, the Township Supervisors may, in its sole discretion, grant a waiver to the applicant from such mandatory provisions if the waiver will promote the public interest.
B. 
No changes, erasures, modifications or revisions shall be made in any stormwater and erosion control plan, unless the said plan is first resubmitted to and approved per the procedures in § 202-17.
All other Township ordinances inconsistent with this chapter are hereby repealed to the extent of the inconsistency only.
The provisions of this chapter shall be severable; and if any of the provisions of this chapter shall be held to be unconstitutional, invalid, or illegal by a court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of any of the remaining provisions of this chapter.
The degree of stormwater protection sought by the provisions of this chapter is considered reasonable for regulatory purposes and is based on acceptable engineering methods of study. This chapter does not imply that areas subject to the stormwater management requirements of this chapter will be free from flooding or flood damages.