[11-16-2022 by Ord. No. 3802-2022]
A. 
For all regulated activities, unless preparation of an SWM site plan is specifically exempted in § 945.02:
1. 
Preparation and implementation of an approved SWM site plan is required.
2. 
No regulated activities shall commence until the City of Meadville issues written approval of an SWM site plan which demonstrates compliance with the requirements of this title.
B. 
SWM site plans approved by the City of Meadville, in accordance with § 951.06, shall be on site throughout the duration of the regulated activity.
C. 
The City of Meadville may, after consultation with DEP, approve measures for meeting the state water quality requirements other than those in this title, provided that they meet the minimum requirements of, and do not conflict with, state law, including, but not limited to, the Clean Streams Law.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 35 P.S. § 691.1 et seq.
D. 
For all regulated earth disturbance activities, erosion and sediment control BMPs shall be designed, implemented, operated, and maintained during the regulated earth disturbance activities (e.g., during construction) to meet the purposes and requirements of this title and to meet all requirements under Title 25 of the Pennsylvania Code and the Clean Streams Law. Various BMPs and their design standards are listed in the Erosion and Sediment Pollution Control Program Manual (E&S Manual[2]), No. 363-2134-008, as amended and updated.
[2]
Editor's Note: See § 943.02, Subsection 3.
E. 
Impervious areas:
1. 
The measurement of impervious areas shall include all of the impervious areas in the total proposed development even if development is to take place in stages.
2. 
For development taking place in stages, the entire development plan must be used in determining conformance with this title.
3. 
For projects that add impervious area to a parcel, the total impervious area on the parcel is subject to the requirements of this title; except that the volume controls in § 945.03 and the peak rate controls of § 945.04 do not need to be retrofitted to existing impervious areas that are not being altered by the proposed regulated activity.
F. 
Stormwater flows onto adjacent property shall not be created, increased, decreased, relocated, or otherwise altered without written notification to the adjacent property owner(s). Such stormwater flows shall be subject to the requirements of this title.
G. 
All regulated activities shall include such measures as necessary to:
1. 
Protect health, safety, and property.
2. 
Meet the water quality goals of this title by implementing measures to:
a. 
Minimize disturbance to floodplains, wetlands, and wooded areas.
b. 
Maintain or extend riparian buffers.
c. 
Avoid erosive flow conditions in natural flow pathways.
d. 
Minimize thermal impacts to waters of this commonwealth.
e. 
Disconnect impervious surfaces by directing runoff to pervious areas, wherever possible.
3. 
Incorporate methods described in the Pennsylvania Stormwater Best Management Practices Manual (BMP Manual[3]).
[3]
Editor's Note: See § 943.02, Subsection 4.
H. 
The design of all facilities over karst shall include an evaluation of measures to minimize adverse effects.
I. 
Infiltration BMPs should be spread out, made as shallow as practicable, and located to maximize use of natural on-site infiltration features while still meeting the other requirements of this title.
J. 
Normally dry, open top storage facilities should completely drain both the volume control and rate control capacities over a period of time not less than 24 and not more than 72 hours from the end of the design storm.
K. 
The design storm volumes to be used in the analysis of peak rates of discharge should be obtained from the latest version of the Precipitation-Frequency Atlas of the United States, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Weather Service, Hydrometeorological Design Studies Center, Silver Spring, Maryland. NOAA's Atlas 14[4] can be accessed at: http://hdsc.nws.noaa.gov/hdsc/pfds/.
[4]
Editor's Note: See § 943.02, Subsection 5.
L. 
For all regulated activities, SWM BMPs shall be designed, implemented, operated, and maintained to meet the purposes and requirements of this title and to meet all requirements under Title 25 of the Pennsylvania Code, the Clean Streams Law, and the Storm Water Management Act.[5]
[5]
Editor's Note: See 32 P.S. § 680.1 et seq.
M. 
Various BMPs and their design standards are listed in the BMP Manual.[6]
[6]
Editor's Note: See § 943.02, Subsection 4.
[11-16-2022 by Ord. No. 3802-2022]
A. 
Under no circumstance shall the applicant be exempt from implementing such measures as necessary to:
1. 
Meet state water quality standards and requirements.
2. 
Protect health, safety, and property.
B. 
The applicant must utilize the following BMPs to the maximum extent practicable to receive consideration for the exemptions:
1. 
Design around and limit disturbance of floodplains, wetlands, natural slopes over 15%, existing native vegetation, and other sensitive and special value features.
2. 
Maintain riparian and forested buffers.
3. 
Limit grading and maintain nonerosive flow conditions in natural flow paths.
4. 
Maintain existing tree canopies near impervious areas.
5. 
Minimize soil disturbance and reclaim disturbed areas with topsoil and vegetation.
6. 
Direct runoff to pervious areas.
C. 
The applicant's proposed development/additional impervious area may not adversely impact the following:
1. 
Capacities of existing drainageways and storm sewer systems.
2. 
Velocities and erosion.
3. 
Quality of runoff if direct discharge is proposed.
4. 
Existing known problem areas.
5. 
Safe conveyance of the additional runoff.
6. 
Downstream property owners.
D. 
An applicant proposing regulated activities, after demonstrating compliance with applicable sections of this title, may be exempted from the SWM site plan, rate control, or volume control requirements of this title according to the following table:
Exemption Table
New Impervious Area1, 2
(square footage)
Applicant Must Provide
0 to 1,000
—
Greater than 1,000 to 2,500
Documentation of new impervious surface3
Greater than 2,500 to 5,000
Volume controls and small project SWM application3
Greater than 5,000
Rate controls, volume controls and SWM site plan
Notes:
1
New impervious area since the date of adoption of this title codified in this title.
2
Gravel in existing condition shall be considered pervious and gravel in proposed condition shall be considered impervious. Existing maintained municipal roads are considered impervious.
3
The small project stormwater management application shall be used to establish eligibility for the exemptions listed in the above table for projects under 5,000 square feet or for single-family home construction. The small project SWM application satisfies the requirement for demonstrating compliance with Subsections A, B, and C of this section and for documentation of new impervious surface; credits for disconnection of impervious surfaces and tree planting; and for computing the size of volume control BMPs, when required.
E. 
An applicant proposing regulated activities, after demonstrating compliance with Subsections A, B, and C of this section may be exempted from various requirements of this title if documentation can be provided that a downstream man-made water body (i.e., reservoir, lake, or man-made wetlands) has been designed or modified to address the potential stormwater flooding impacts of the proposed development.
F. 
The purpose of this section is to ensure consistency of stormwater management planning between local ordinances and NPDES permitting (when required) and to ensure that the applicant has a single and clear set of stormwater management standards to which the applicant is subject. The City of Meadville may accept alternative stormwater management controls under this section; provided, that:
1. 
The City of Meadville, in consultation with the DEP, determines that meeting the volume control requirements (see MMC § 945.04) is not possible or places an undue hardship on the applicant.
2. 
The alternative controls are documented to be acceptable to DEP for NPDES requirements pertaining to post-construction stormwater management requirements.
3. 
The alternative controls are in compliance with all other sections of this title, including but not limited to MMC § 945.01D and Subsections A through C of this section.
G. 
Agricultural activity is exempt from the rate control and SWM site plan preparation requirements of this title, provided the activities are performed according to the requirements of 25 Pa. Code Chapter 102.
H. 
Forest management and timber operations are exempt from the rate and volume control requirement and SWM site plan preparation requirement of this title, provided the activities are performed according to the requirements of 25 Pa. Code Chapter 102. It should be noted that temporary roadways are not exempt.
[11-16-2022 by Ord. No. 3802-2022]
The green infrastructure and low-impact development practices provided in the BMP Manual[1] shall be utilized for all regulated activities wherever possible. 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 or less than one acre that do not require hydrologic routing to design the stormwater facilities, this title 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.
A. 
The Design Storm Method (CG-1 in the BMP Manual[2]) is applicable to any size of regulated activity. This method requires detailed modeling based on site conditions.
1. 
Do not increase the post-development total runoff volume for all storms equal to or less than the two-year twenty-four-hour duration precipitation.
2. 
For modeling purposes:
a. 
Existing (predevelopment) nonforested pervious areas must be considered meadow in good condition.
b. 
Twenty percent of existing impervious area, when present, shall be considered meadow in good condition in the model for existing conditions.
[2]
Editor's Note: See § 943.02, Subsection 4.
B. 
The Simplified Method (CG-2 in the BMP Manual[3]) 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.
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 this commonwealth. Removal options include reuse, evaporation, transpiration, and infiltration.
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 § 945.04, Rate controls.
[3]
Editor's Note: See § 943.02, Subsection 4.
[1]
Editor's Note: See § 943.02, Subsection 4.
[11-16-2022 by Ord. No. 3802-2022]
A. 
For areas not covered by a release rate map from an approved Act 167 Stormwater Management Plan: Post-development discharge rates shall not exceed the predevelopment discharge rates for the one-, two-, five-, ten-, twenty-five-, fifty-, and 100-year twenty-four-hour storm events. If it is shown that the peak rates of discharge indicated by the post-development analysis are less than or equal to the peak rates of discharge indicated by the predevelopment analysis for one-, two-, five-, ten-, twenty-five-, fifty-, and 100-year twenty-four-hour storms, then the requirements of this section have been met. Otherwise, the applicant shall provide additional controls as necessary to satisfy the peak rate of discharge requirement.
B. 
For areas covered by a release rate map from an approved Act 167 Stormwater Management Plan: For the one-, two-, five-, ten-, twenty-five-, fifty-, and 100-year, twenty-four-hour storm events, the post-development peak discharge rates will follow the applicable approved release rate maps. For any areas not shown on the release rate maps, the post-development discharge rates shall not exceed the predevelopment discharge rates.
[11-16-2022 by Ord. No. 3802-2022]
A. 
In order to protect and improve water quality, a riparian buffer easement shall be created and recorded as part of any subdivision or land development that encompasses a riparian buffer.
B. 
Except as required by Chapter 102, the riparian buffer easement shall be measured to be the greater of the limit of the 100-year floodplain or a minimum of 35 feet from the top of the streambank (on each side).
C. 
Minimum management requirements for riparian buffers.
1. 
Existing native vegetation shall be protected and maintained within the riparian buffer easement.
2. 
Whenever practicable, invasive vegetation shall be actively removed and the riparian buffer easement shall be planted with native trees, shrubs and other vegetation to create a diverse native plant community appropriate to the intended ecological context of the site.
D. 
The riparian buffer easement shall be enforceable by the City of Meadville and shall be recorded in the appropriate County Recorder of Deeds Office so that it shall run with the land and shall limit the use of the property located therein. The easement shall allow for the continued private ownership and shall count toward the minimum lot area a required by zoning, unless otherwise specified in the municipal Zoning Ordinance.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Part 13, Zoning Code, Title 1, Zoning.
E. 
Any permitted use within the riparian buffer easement shall be conducted in a manner that will maintain the extent of the existing 100-year floodplain, improve or maintain the stream stability, and preserve and protect the ecological function of the floodplain.
F. 
The following conditions shall apply when public and/or private recreation trails are permitted within riparian buffers:
1. 
Trails shall be for nonmotorized use only.
2. 
Trails shall be designed to have the least impact on native plant species and other sensitive environmental features.
G. 
Septic drainfields and sewage disposal systems shall not be permitted within the riparian buffer easement and shall comply with setback requirements established under 25 Pa. Code Chapter 73.