This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Skippack Township Stormwater Management and Grading Ordinance."
The governing body of the Township 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, increasing erosion of stream beds and stream banks, elevating sedimentation and other aquatic pollutant concentrations and reducing groundwater 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 Township and all the people of the commonwealth, their resources and the environment.
D.
Stormwater is an important natural resource which provides for public water supplies and base flow of streams.
E.
Skippack Township is required by state and federal regulations to obtain a permit for stormwater discharges from its municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program. In order to maintain the NPDES/MS4 permit, the Township is required to implement and enforce a program of stormwater controls to minimize the impact of development on the water resources of the commonwealth and to encourage the use of Best Management Practices (BMPs) which will improve the water quality of the commonwealth. The Township must also educate the public on the role and responsibility of each resident or developer in protecting this natural resource.
F.
Nonstormwater discharges to the municipal separate storm sewer system and illegal connections to the public sanitary sewer system by individuals can contribute to the pollution of the water resources of the commonwealth.
The purpose of this chapter is to promote health, safety and welfare within Skippack Township and its watershed by minimizing the harms and maximizing the benefits described in § 172-2 of this chapter. This chapter seeks to encourage and implement design features that will serve to extract the maximum available benefits from stormwater precipitation and to replicate to the greatest extent possible the preconstruction hydraulics and hydrology of a given watershed in its postconstruction state, 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 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.
H.
Prevent streambank and streambed scour and erosion.
I.
Provide for proper operations and maintenance of all permanent stormwater management BMPs that are implemented in the Township.
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 Township's separate storm sewer system.
[Amended 12-10-2008 by Ord. No. 323]
The Township is empowered to regulate land use activities that affect stormwater runoff by the authority of the Stormwater Management Act (32 P.S. § 680.1 et seq.) and the Second Class Township Code (53 P.S. § 65101 et seq.).
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 person shall commence or perform any earth disturbance activity without first having obtained an earth disturbance permit from the Township Engineer. A separate earth disturbance permit shall be required for each site. One permit may cover any multiple earth disturbance activities made on the same site, if issued in that manner.
A.
Exemptions. Any earth disturbance activity that meets the following exemption criteria is exempt from the requirements of §§ 172-14A, 172-15A and 172-16A of this chapter. This exemption shall not relieve the applicant from implementing such measures as are necessary to protect health, safety and property.
(1)
Any earth disturbance activity which involves an alteration of less than 5,000 square feet of a site's existing stabilized ground cover, provided that the changes will not alter drainage patterns, accelerate erosion or interfere with existing stormwater management facilities.
(2)
Plowing, tilling, irrigation and drainage for agricultural purposes; nursery operations such as removal of cultivated sod, shrubs and trees for transplantation; and the addition of topsoil with a change in natural contours of one foot or less, provided that the activity will not alter drainage patterns, accelerate erosion or interfere with existing stormwater management facilities. The application of this subsection shall apply as of the effective date of this chapter and any additional impervious surface created after that date shall be cumulative.
(3)
Forest management operations that are following the Department of Environmental Protections' management practices contained in its publication "Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control Guidelines for Forestry" and are operating under an approved erosion and sedimentation control plan.
(4)
Minor increases in impervious surfaces on existing developed properties where the increase in impervious surfaces does not exceed 1,000 square feet, provided that the changes will not alter drainage patterns, accelerate erosion or interfere with existing stormwater management facilities.
B.
Exception for hardship. The Township Engineer, with the concurrence of the Board of Supervisors, may waive or modify any mandatory provision of this chapter when the literal compliance with a mandatory provision is shown to the satisfaction of the Township Engineer to be unreasonable or to cause undue hardship because of peculiar conditions pertaining to the land in question, provided that a modification will not be contrary to the public interest or when an alternative standard can be demonstrated to provide equal or better results.
Any other ordinance provision(s) or regulation of Skippack Township inconsistent with any of the provisions of this chapter is hereby repealed to the extent of the inconsistency only.
In the event that any section or provision of this chapter is declared invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of any of the remaining provisions of this chapter.
A.
Approvals issued and actions taken under this chapter do not relieve the applicant of the responsibility to secure required permits or approvals for activities regulated by any other code, law, regulation or ordinance. To the extent that this chapter imposes more rigorous or stringent requirements for stormwater management, the specific requirements contained in this chapter shall be followed.
B.
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to affect any of the Township's requirements regarding stormwater matters which do not conflict with the provisions of this chapter. Conflicting provisions in other Township ordinances or regulations shall be construed to retain the requirements of this chapter addressing state water quality requirements.