This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Maiden
Creek Watershed Stormwater Management Ordinance."
The governing body of the Township of Maidencreek finds that:
A. Inadequate management of accelerated stormwater runoff resulting
from development throughout a watershed increases runoff volumes,
flows and velocities, contributes to erosion and sedimentation, overtaxes
the carrying capacity of existing streams and storm sewers, greatly
increases the cost of public facilities to convey and manage stormwater,
undermines floodplain management and flood reduction efforts in downstream
communities, reduces groundwater recharge, threatens public health
and safety, and increases nonpoint source pollution of water resources.
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 streambeds and streambanks 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 comprehensive program of stormwater management (SWM), including
minimization of impacts of development, redevelopment and activities
causing accelerated erosion, is fundamental to the public health,
safety, welfare, and the protection of the people of the municipality
and all the people of the commonwealth, their resources, and the environment.
D. Inadequate management of accelerated stormwater runoff resulting
from development throughout a watershed poses a threat to surface
water and groundwater quality.
E. 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.
F. Through project design, impacts from stormwater runoff can be minimized
to maintain the natural hydrologic regime, and sustain high water
quality, groundwater recharge, stream baseflow and aquatic ecosystems.
The most cost-effective and environmentally advantageous way to manage
stormwater runoff is through nonstructural project design, minimizing
impervious surfaces and sprawl, avoiding sensitive areas (i.e., stream
buffers, floodplains, steep slopes), and designing to topography and
soils to maintain the natural hydrologic regime.
G. Public education on the control of pollution from stormwater is an
essential component in successfully addressing stormwater.
H. The use of green infrastructure and low-impact development (LID)
are intended to address the root cause of water quality impairment
by using systems and practices which use or mimic natural processes
to: 1) infiltrate and recharge; 2) evapotranspire; and/or 3) harvest
and use precipitation near where it falls to earth. Green infrastructure
practices and LID contribute to the restoration or maintenance of
predevelopment hydrology.
I. 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) program.
J. Nonstormwater discharges to municipal separate storm sewer systems
can contribute to pollution of waters of the commonwealth by the municipality.
The purpose of this chapter is to promote the public health, safety, and welfare within the Maiden Creek Watershed by maintaining the natural hydrologic regime by minimizing the impacts described in §
182-2 of this chapter through provisions designed to:
A. Promote alternative project designs and layout that minimizes impacts
to surface water and groundwater.
B. Promote nonstructural BMPs.
C. Minimize increases in stormwater volume.
D. Minimize impervious surfaces.
E. Manage accelerated runoff and erosion and sedimentation problems
at their source by regulating activities that cause these problems.
F. Utilize and preserve the existing natural drainage systems.
G. Manage stormwater impacts close to the runoff source, reduce runoff
volumes and mimic predevelopment hydrology.
H. Provide procedures and performance standards for stormwater planning
and management.
I. Focus on infiltration of stormwater, to maintain groundwater recharge,
to prevent degradation of surface water and groundwater quality and
to otherwise protect water resources.
J. Strive to maintain existing base flows and quality of streams and
watercourses.
K. 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.
L. Address the quality and quantity of stormwater discharges from the
development site.
M. Provide a mechanism to identify controls necessary to meet the NPDES
permit requirements.
N. Implement an illegal discharge detection and elimination program
to address nonstormwater discharges into the Township of Maidencreek's
separate storm sewer system.
O. Preserve and restore the flood-carrying capacity of streams.
P. Prevent scour and erosion of streambanks and streambeds.
Q. Provide proper operation and maintenance of all permanent stormwater
management facilities and BMPs that are implemented in the Township
of Maidencreek.
R. Provide performance standards and design criteria for watershed-wide
stormwater management and planning.
S. NPDES requirements. Federal regulations approved October 1999 require
operators of small municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s) to
obtain NPDES Phase II permits from DEP by March 2003. (NPDES II is
an acronym for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
Phase II Stormwater Permitting Regulations.) This program affects
all municipalities in "urbanized areas" of the state. This definition
applies to all Maiden Creek watershed municipalities identified in
Table III-1 of the Maiden Creek Stormwater Management Plan Volume
II as NPDES Phase II municipalities. Therefore, these identified municipalities
will be subject to the NPDES Phase II requirements mandated by the
Federal Clean Water Act as administered by DEP. For more information on NPDES
II requirements, contact the DEP Regional Office.
All regulated activities and all activities that may affect
stormwater runoff, including land development and earth disturbance
activity, are subject to regulation by this chapter.
Approvals issued and actions taken under this chapter do not
relieve the applicant of the responsibility to secure required permits
or approvals for activities by any other code, law, regulation, or
ordinance.