This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Borough
of Masontown Stormwater Management Ordinance."
The governing body of the Borough of Masontown finds that:
A. Stormwater runoff from lands modified by human activities threatens
public health and safety by causing decreased infiltration of rainwater
and increased runoff flows and velocities, which overtax the carrying
capacity of existing streams and storm sewers, and greatly increases
the cost to the public to manage stormwater.
B. Inadequate planning and management of stormwater runoff resulting
from land development and redevelopment throughout a watershed can
also harm surface water resources by changing the natural hydrologic
patterns, accelerating stream flows (which increase scour and erosion
of stream-beds and stream-banks, thereby elevating sedimentation),
destroying aquatic habitat and elevating aquatic pollutant concentrations
and loadings such as sediments, nutrients, heavy metals and pathogens.
Groundwater resources are also impacted through loss of recharge.
C. A program of stormwater management, including reasonable regulation
of land development and redevelopment causing loss of natural infiltration,
is fundamental to the public health, safety, welfare, and the protection
of the people of the Borough and all the people of the commonwealth,
their resources, and the environment.
D. Stormwater can be an important water resource by providing groundwater
recharge for water supplies and base flow of streams, which also protects
and maintains surface water quality.
E. Public education on the control of pollution from stormwater is an
essential component in successfully addressing stormwater.
F. Federal and state regulations require certain municipalities to implement
a program of stormwater controls. These municipalities are required
to obtain a permit for stormwater discharges from their separate storm
sewer systems under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES).
G. Nonstormwater discharges to municipal separate storm sewer systems
can contribute to pollution of waters of the commonwealth by the Borough.
The purpose of this chapter is to promote health, safety, and welfare within the Borough and its watershed by minimizing the harms and maximizing the benefits described in §
120-2 of this chapter, through provisions designed to:
A. Manage stormwater runoff impacts at their source by regulating activities
that cause the problems.
B. Provide review procedures and performance standards for stormwater
planning and management.
C. Utilize and preserve the existing natural drainage systems as much
as possible.
D. Manage stormwater impacts close to the runoff source, which requires
a minimum of structures and relies on natural processes.
E. Focus on infiltration of stormwater to maintain groundwater recharge,
to prevent degradation of surface and groundwater quality and to otherwise
protect water resources.
F. Maintain existing flows and quality of streams and watercourses.
G. Meet legal water quality requirements under state law, including
regulations at 25 Pa. Code, § 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.
H. Prevent scour and erosion of streambanks and streambeds.
I. Provide for proper operations and maintenance of all permanent stormwater
management BMPs that are implemented in the Borough.
J. Provide a mechanism to identify controls necessary to meet the NPDES
permit requirements.
K. Implement an illegal discharge detection and elimination program
to address nonstormwater discharges into the Borough's separate
storm sewer system.
The Borough is empowered to regulate land use activities that
affect stormwater impacts by the authority of the Borough Code, 53
P.S. § 45101 et seq., and the Pennsylvania Municipalities
Planning Code, 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.