This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Ingram
Borough Stormwater Management Ordinance."
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
ACT
The Storm Water Management Act (Act of October 4, 1978, P.L.
864, No. 167; 32 P.S. §§ 680.1 to 680.17, as amended
by Act of May 24, 1984, No. 63).
APPLICANT
A landowner or developer who has filed an application for
development, including his/her heirs, successors and assigns.
BMP (BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE)
Activities, facilities, designs, measures, or procedures
used to manage stormwater impacts from regulated earth disturbance
activities, to meet State Water Quality Requirements, to promote groundwater
recharge and to otherwise meet the purposes of this chapter.
BOROUGH ENGINEER
A person registered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as
a professional engineer in the field of civil engineering and appointed
by the Borough to review information and materials submitted in conjunction
with this chapter.
CHANNEL
A perceptible natural or artificial waterway which periodically
or continuously contains moving water or which forms a connecting
link between two bodies of water. It has a definite bed and banks
which confine the water.
COUNTY
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
CULVERT
A closed conduit for the free passage of surface drainage
under a highway, railroad, canal or other embankment.
DEP
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
DESIGN CRITERIA
A.
Engineering guidelines specifying construction details and materials.
B.
Objectives, results or limits which must be met by a facility,
structure or process in performance of its intended functions.
DETENTION
The slowing, dampening or attenuating of runoff flows entering
the natural drainage pattern or storm drainage system by temporarily
holding water on a surface area in a detention basin or within the
drainage system.
DETENTION POND
A pond or reservoir constructed to temporarily impound or
retard surface runoff.
DEVELOPER
The person, persons or any corporation, partnership, association
or other entity or any responsible person therein or agent therefor
that undertakes the activities associated with changes in land use.
The term "developer" is intended to include, but not necessarily be
limited to, the terms "subdivider," "owner" and "builder" even though
the individuals involved in successive stages of a project may vary.
DEVELOPMENT
Any activity, construction, alteration, change in land use
or practice that affects stormwater runoff characteristics.
DISCHARGE
The flow or rate of flow from a canal, conduit, channel or
other hydraulic structure.
DRAINAGE
In general, the removal of surface water from a given area,
commonly applied to surface water and groundwater.
DRAINAGE AREA
A.
The area of a drainage basin or watershed, expressed in acres,
square miles or other unit of area, also called "catchment area,"
"watershed" or "river basin."
B.
The area served by a sewer system receiving stormwater and surface
water or by a watercourse.
ENCROACHMENT
Any structure or activity which in any manner changes, expands
or diminishes the course, current or cross section of any watercourse,
floodway or body of water.
EROSION
Wearing away of the lands by running water, glaciers, winds
and waves.
EROSION CONTROL
The application of measures to reduce erosion of land surfaces.
GROUNDWATER
Subsurface water occupying the saturation zone, from which
wells and springs are fed.
GROUNDWATER RECHARGE
Replenishment of groundwater naturally by precipitation or
runoff or artificially by spreading or injection.
IMPERVIOUS
Not allowing or allowing only with great difficulty the movement
of water; impermeable.
INFILTRATION
A.
The flow or movement of water through the interstices or pores
of a soil or other porous medium.
B.
The absorption of liquid by the soil.
LAND DEVELOPMENT
A subdivision is the division of a developed or undeveloped
single lot, tract or parcel of land, or part thereof, into two or
more lots, tracts or parcels of land, including changes in street
lines or lot lines, for the purpose, whether immediate or future,
of transfer of ownership or of building development; provided, however,
that divisions of land for agricultural purposes in parcels of more
than 10 acres, not involving any new street or easement of access,
shall not be included within the meaning of "subdivision." Subdivision
includes resubdivision of recorded plan.
LAND DISTURBANCE
Any activity involving the changing, grading, transportation,
fill and any other activity which causes land to be exposed to the
danger of erosion.
MAINTENANCE
The upkeep necessary for efficient operation of physical
properties.
NATURAL STORMWATER RUNOFF REGIME
A watershed where natural surface configurations, runoff
characteristics and defined drainage conveyances have attained the
conditions of equilibrium.
NRCS
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (previously known
as the Soil Conservation Service, or SCS).
OUTFALL
A.
The point, location or structure where drainage discharges from
a sewer, drain or other conduit.
B.
The conduit leading to the ultimate discharge point.
OUTLET CONTROL STRUCTURE
The means of controlling the relationship between the headwater
elevation and the discharge, placed at the outlet or downstream end
of any structure through which water may flow.
PERFORMANCE STANDARD
A standard which establishes an end result or outcome which
is to be achieved but does not prescribe specific means for achieving
it.
REGULATED EARTH DISTURBANCE ACTIVITY
Earth disturbance activity of one acre or more with a point
source discharge to surface waters, or five acres or more regardless
of the planned runoff. This includes earth disturbance on any portion
of, or during any stage of, a larger common plan of development. Activity
involving earth disturbance subject to regulation under 25 Pa. Code
Chapter 92, 25 Pa. Code Chapter 102, or the Clean Streams Law.
RELEASE RATE PERCENTAGE
The watershed factor determined by comparing the maximum
rate of runoff from a subbasin to the contributing rate of runoff
to the watershed peak rate at specific points of interest.
RETENTION POND
A basin, usually enclosed by artificial dikes, that is used
to retain stormwater runoff.
RETURN PERIOD
The average interval in years over which an event of a given
magnitude can be expected to recur.
RUNOFF
That part of precipitation which flows over the land.
RUNOFF CHARACTERISTICS
The surface components of any watershed which affect the
rate, amount and direction of stormwater runoff. These may include,
but are not limited to, vegetation, soils, slopes and man-made landscape
alterations.
SEDIMENT
Mineral or organic solid material that is being transported
or has been moved from its site of origin by air, water or ice and
has come to rest.
SEDIMENTATION
The process by which mineral or organic matter is accumulated
or deposited by moving water, wind or gravity.
STATE WATER QUALITY REQUIREMENTS
As defined under state regulations, protection of designated
and existing uses (see 25 Pa. Code Chapters 93 and 96), including:
A.
Each stream segment in Pennsylvania has a "designated use,"
such as "cold water fishery" or "potable water supply," which is listed
in 25 Pa. Code Chapter 93. These uses must be protected and maintained
under state regulations.
B.
"Existing uses" are those attained as of November 1975, regardless
of whether they have been designated in Chapter 93. Regulated earth
disturbance activities must be designed to protect those uses and
to maintain the level of water quality necessary to protect those
uses in all streams, and to protect and maintain water quality in
special protection streams.
C.
Water quality involves the chemical, biological and physical
characteristics of surface water bodies. After regulated earth disturbance
activities are complete, these characteristics can be impacted by
the addition of pollutants such as sediment, and changes in habitat
through increased flow volumes and/or rates as a result of changes
in land surface areas from those activities. Therefore, permanent
discharges to surface waters must be managed to protect the stream
bank, streambed and structural integrity of the waterway to protect
against these impacts.
STORM FREQUENCY
The average interval in years over which a storm event of
a given precipitation volume can be expected to occur.
STORM SEWER
A sewer that carries intercepted surface runoff, street water
and other drainage. Systems used exclusively for domestic sewage or
industrial waste are not included.
STORMWATER
Drainage runoff from the surface of the land resulting from
precipitation or snow or ice melt.
STORMWATER COLLECTION SYSTEM
Natural or man-made structures that collect and transport
stormwater through or from a drainage area to the point of final outlet,
including, but not limited to, any of the following: conduits and
appurtenant features, canals, channels, ditches, streams, culverts,
streets and pumping stations.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT FACILITY
Any structure, natural or man-made, that, due to its condition,
design, or construction, conveys, stores, or otherwise affects stormwater
runoff. Typical stormwater management facilities include, but are
not limited to, detention and retention basins, open channels, storm
sewers, pipes, and infiltration facilities.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PLAN
The plan for managing stormwater runoff, adopted by Allegheny
County as required by the Act of October 4, 1978, P.L. 864 (Act 167),
as amended, and known as the "Stormwater Management Act."
SUBDIVISION
The division of a developed or undeveloped single lot, tract
or parcel of land, or part thereof, into two or more lots, tracts
or parcels of land, including changes in street lines or lot lines,
for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of transfer of ownership
or of building development; provided, however, that subdivisions of
land for agricultural purposes in parcels of more than 10 acres, not
involving any new street or easement of access, shall not be included
within the meaning of subdivision. Subdivision includes resubdivision
of a recorded plan.
SWALE
A low-lying stretch of land which gathers or carries surface
water runoff.
WATERCOURSE
Any channel for conveyance of surface water having a defined
bed and banks, whether natural or artificial, with perennial or intermittent
flow.
WATERS OF THIS COMMONWEALTH
Rivers, streams, creeks, rivulets, impoundments, ditches,
watercourses, storm sewers, lakes, dammed water, wetlands, ponds,
springs and other bodies or channels of conveyance of surface and
underground water, or parts thereof, whether natural or artificial,
within or on the boundaries of this Commonwealth.
WATERSHED
The entire region or area drained by a river or other body
of water, whether natural or artificial. A "designated watershed"
is an area delineated by the Pennsylvania DER and approved by the
Environmental Quality Board for which counties are required to develop
watershed stormwater management plans.
WATERSHED STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PLAN
The plan for managing stormwater runoff throughout a designated
watershed adopted by Allegheny County as required by the Pennsylvania
Stormwater Management Act.
WETLAND
Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface water
or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support,
and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation
typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, including
swamps, marshes, bogs, fens, and similar areas.
The municipal governing body may adopt by resolution from time
to time a reasonable schedule of fees to cover the cost of administration,
plan reviews, inspections and other activities necessary to administer
the provisions of this chapter. All fees shall be set in accordance
with the applicable provisions of the Municipalities Planning Code,
and any dispute over the fee amount shall be resolved in the manner
prescribed by the Code.