This Part 2 shall be known and may be cited as the "Borough
of Baldwin Stormwater Management Ordinance" or just the "stormwater
regulations."
This Part 2 is adopted in accordance with the authority granted to municipalities to regulate subdivision and land development by the Stormwater Management Act of October 9, 1978 (P.L. 864, No. 167, 32 P.S. §§ 680.1 through 680.17), as amended, and the Stormwater Management Guidelines adopted by the General Assembly. This Part 2 shall supersede all previous ordinances.
These regulations are adopted and implemented to achieve the
following general purposes and objectives:
B.Â
To utilize and protect the desirable existing natural drainage systems
and to preserve the flood protection capacity of streams.
C.Â
To encourage natural infiltration of rainfall to preserve groundwater
supplies and stream flows.
D.Â
To provide for adequate maintenance of all permanent stormwater management
facilities in the Borough.
E.Â
To update and revise the existing Ordinance No. 605 (Note: Said ordinance
comprised the former stormwater regulations, amended in their entirety
by Ord. No. 691.) due to changes in the engineering concepts concerning
stormwater management.
F.Â
To update and revise the existing Ordinance No. 605 (as amended by
Ord. No. 659) due to changes in the engineering and legal concepts
concerning stormwater management.
G.Â
Inadequate maintenance of stormwater facilities contributes to erosion
and sedimentation, overtaxes the carrying capacity of streams and
storm sewers, increases the cost of public facilities to carry and
control stormwater, undermines flood plain management and flood control
efforts in downstream communities, reduces groundwater recharge, threatens
public health and safety, and increases pollution of water resources.
H.Â
Stormwater is an important water resource, which provides groundwater
recharge for water supplies and base flow of streams, which also protects
and maintains surface water quality.
I.Â
Federal and state regulations require certain municipalities to obtain
a permit for stormwater discharges from their separate storm sewer
systems under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES). Permittees are required to enact, implement, and enforce
a prohibition of nonstormwater discharges to the permittee's
regulated small municipal separate stormsewer systems (MS4s).
J.Â
Manage stormwater runoff impacts at their source by regulating activities
that cause the problems.
K.Â
Provide review procedures and performance standards for stormwater
planning and management.
L.Â
Manage stormwater impacts close to the runoff source, which requires
a minimum of structures and relies on natural processes.
M.Â
Maintain existing flows and quality of streams and watercourses.
N.Â
Implement an illegal discharge detection and elimination program
to address nonstormwater discharges into the Municipality's separate
storm sewer system.
The provisions of this Part 2 shall apply to all subdivision
and land developments unless specifically exempted or otherwise modified
herein. All activities related to proper operation and maintenance
of approved stormwater management BMPs and all activities that may
contribute nonstormwater discharges to a regulated small MS4 are subject
to regulation by this Part.
A.Â
Repealer. Any other ordinance provision(s) or regulation of the Municipality
inconsistent with any of the provisions of this Part 2 is hereby repealed
to the extent of the inconsistency only.
C.Â
Compatibility with other requirements. Actions taken under this part
do not affect any responsibility, permit or approval for any activity
regulated by any other code, law, regulation, or ordinance.
A.Â
The applicant will be responsible for all fees associated with the
approval and installation of the stormwater management plan; such
fees include, but will not be limited to, inspection, engineering,
legal and administrative. Said fees are posted with the municipality.
Such fees will be established from time to time by the Borough by
resolution; engineer costs and expenses shall be billed to the Borough
that shall be payable by the applicant.
B.Â
Administrative/clerical costs. The review of the BMP operations and
maintenance plan by the Municipal Engineer. The site inspections including,
but not limited to preconstruction meetings, inspections during construction
of stormwater BMPs, and final inspection upon completion of the stormwater
BMPs.
A.Â
Interpretation. The word "person" includes a corporation, association,
partnership or individual. The words "shall" and "will" are mandatory;
the word "may" is permissive. The word "building" includes structure
or any part thereof. Words used in the present tense include the future
tense. Words in the masculine gender shall include the feminine gender.
B.Â
ACT
AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY
APPLICANT
BOROUGH ENGINEER
CHANNEL
CONSERVATION DISTRICT (ACCD)
COUNTY
CULVERT
DEPARTMENT
DESIGN CRITERIA
DESIGN STORM
DETENTION
DETENTION BASIN
DEVELOPMENT
DEVELOPMENT SITE
DISCHARGE
DRAINAGE
DRAINAGE AREA
DRAINAGE BASIN
DRAINAGE EASEMENT
ENCROACHMENT
EROSION
EROSION CONTROL
FLOODPLAIN
FOREST MANAGEMENT or TIMBER OPERATIONS
GROUND COVER
GROUND WATER
GROUND WATER RECHARGE
HYDRAULICS
HYDROGRAPH
HYDROLOGIC SOIL GROUP
HYDROLOGY
IMPERVIOUS MATERIAL or SURFACE
INFILTRATION
INTERMITTENT FLOW
LAND DEVELOPMENT
(1)Â
(a)Â
(b)Â
(2)Â
LAND DISTURBANCE
MAINTENANCE
MUNICIPALITY
NATURAL STORM WATER RUNOFF REGIME
OUTFALL
OUTLET STRUCTURE
OWNER
PADEP
PEAK RATE OF RUNOFF (or DISCHARGE)
PERFORMANCE STANDARD
PERSON
PERVIOUS MATERIAL
POINT OF INTEREST
PREAPPLICATION CONFERENCE
PROJECT SITE
QUALIFIED PERSON or QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL
RATE OF RUNOFF
REGULATED EARTH DISTURBANCE ACTIVITY
RELEASE RATE PERCENTAGE
RETENTION BASIN
RETURN PERIOD
ROUTING
RUNOFF
RUNOFF CHARACTERISTICS
SCS
SEDIMENT
SEDIMENTATION
SOIL-COVER COMPLEX METHOD
STORAGE FACILITY
STORM FREQUENCY
STORM SEWER
STORMWATER COLLECTION/CONVEYANCE SYSTEM
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PLAN
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT SITE PLAN
STORMWATER RUNOFF
STREAM
SUBAREA
SUBDIVISION
SWALE
UPLAND
VOLUME OF STORMWATER RUNOFF
WATERCOURSE (WATERWAY)
WATERS OF THIS COMMONWEALTH
WATERSHED
WETLANDS
Definitions. As used in this Part 2, the following terms shall have
the meanings indicated:
The Stormwater Management Act (Act of October 4, 1978, P.L.
864 No. 167; 32 P.S. §§ 680.1 through 680.17, as amended
by Act of May 24, 1984, No. 63).
Activities associated with agriculture such as agricultural
cultivation, agricultural operation, and animal heavy use areas. This
includes the work of producing crops including tillage, land clearing,
plowing, disking, harrowing, planting, harvesting crops or pasturing
and raising of livestock and installation of conservation measures.
Construction of new buildings or impervious area is not considered
an agricultural activity.
A landowner or developer (including his/her heirs, successors
and assigns), as defined by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning
Code, Act 247 of 1968, as amended by Act 170 of 1988, as further amended
by Act 209 of 1990 and Act 131 of 1992, who has filed an application
for development within the Borough of Baldwin.
A professional engineer registered in the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania specializing in civil engineering and appointed by the
Borough of Baldwin.
A 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.
The Allegheny county conservation district.
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
A closed conduit for the free passage of surface drainage
under a highway, railroad, canal or other embankment.
The Allegheny County Planning Department.
The magnitude of precipitation from a storm event measured
in probability of recurrence (e.g., twenty-five-year storm) and duration
(e.g., 24 hours), and used in computing stormwater management control
systems.
The slowing, dampening, or attenuating of runoff entering
the natural drainage pattern or storm drainage system by temporarily
holding water on a surface area such as detention basins, reservoirs,
on roof tops, in streets, parking lots, or within the drainage system
itself, and releasing the water at a desired rate of discharge.
A basin designed to retard stormwater runoff by temporarily
storing the runoff and releasing it at a predetermined rate. A "detention
basin" can be designed to drain completely after a storm event, or
it can be designed to contain a permanent pool of water, in which
case it is called a "retention basin."
Any activity, construction, alteration, change in land use
or similar action that affects stormwater runoff characteristics.
A lot, parcel or tract of land on which development is taking
place or is proposed.
Rate of flow, specifically fluid flow; a volume of fluid
flowing from a conduit or channel, or being released from detention
storage, per unit of time; commonly expressed as cubic feet per second
(cfs), million gallons per day (mgd), gallons per minute (gpm). See
also "rate of runoff".
Interception and removal of excess surface water or groundwater
from land by artificial or natural means.
The contributing land area to a single drainage basin, expressed
in acres, square miles, or other units of area; also called a "catchment
area", "watershed", or "river basin"; the land area served by a drainage
system or by a watercourse receiving storm and surface water, also
called "subarea".
The land area from which water is carried off by a natural
drainage system; also called a "watershed" or "catchment area".
A right granted by a landowner to a grantee allowing the
use of private land for stormwater management purposes.
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.
Wearing away of the lands by running, water, glaciers, winds
and waves.
The application of measures to reduce erosion of land surfaces.
A normally dry land area adjacent to stream channels that
is susceptible to inundation by overbank stream flows. For regulatory
purposes, the Pennsylvania Flood Plain Management Act (Act of October
4, 1978, P.L. 851, No. 166)[1] and regulations pursuant to the Act define the floodplain
as the area inundated by a one-hundred-year flood and delineated on
a map by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) or by the applicant
in accordance with Borough ordinance requirements.
Planning and activities necessary for the management of forestland.
These include conducting a timber inventory, preparation of forest
management plans, silvicultural treatment, cutting budgets, logging
road design and construction, timber harvesting, site preparation,
and reforestation.
Materials covering the ground surface.
Subsurface water occupying the saturation zone, from which
wells and springs are fed.
Replenishment of ground water naturally by precipitation
or runoff or artificially by spreading or injection.
The branch of science concerned with the mechanics of fluids,
especially liquids. As applied in stormwater management, the study
of the characteristics of water flow in, and conveyance capacity of,
a watercourse, considering such factors as depth, velocity and turbulence.
A graph showing the quantity of runoff at a specific point
in time during a rainfall event.
Infiltration rates of soils vary widely and are affected
by subsurface permeability as well as surface intake rates. Soils
are classified into four HSGs (A, B, C, and D) according to their
minimum infiltration rate, which is obtained for bare soil after prolonged
wetting. The NRCS defines the four groups and provides a list of most
of the soils in the United States and their group classification.
The soils in the area of the development site may be identified from
a soil survey report that can be obtained from local NRCS offices
or conservation district offices. Soils become less pervious as the
HSG varies from A to D (NRCS).
The science dealing with the waters of the earth and their
distribution and circulation through the hydrosphere (above, on or
within the earth). Engineering hydrology deals with the application
of hydrologic concepts to the design of projects for use and control
of water, as well as the calculation of the rates of stormwater runoff.
Material which resists the entrance or passing through of
water or other liquids. Some examples: pavement or roofs.
Flow that starts and stops again at different intervals.
Any of the following activities:
The improvement of one lot or two or more contiguous lots, tracts
or parcels or land for any purpose involving:
A group of two or more residential or nonresidential buildings,
whether proposed initially or cumulatively, or a single nonresidential
building on a lot or lots regardless of the number of occupants, or
tenure; or
The division or allocation of land or space, whether initially
or cumulatively, between or among two or more existing or prospective
occupants by means or, for the purpose of streets, common areas, leaseholds,
condominiums, building groups or other features.
A subdivision of land.
Any activity involving grading, tilling, digging or filling
or stripping of vegetation; or any other activity which causes land
to be exposed to the danger of erosion or changed water flow characteristics.
The upkeep necessary for efficient operation of stormwater
structures and facilities.
The Borough of Baldwin, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
A watershed where natural surface configurations, runoff
characteristics and defined drainage conveyances have attained the
conditions of equilibrium.
The points at which stormwater runoff leaves streams, storm
sewers, swales, or other well defined natural or artificial drainage
features, as well as areas of dispersed overland flows within the
site and/or leaving the site.
A structure designed to control the volume of stormwater
runoff from a detention or retention facility during a specific length
of time.
The person or association which is responsible for the care
of the structure(s) described.
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
The maximum rate of flow of water at a given point and time
resulting from a predetermined storm.
A standard which establishes an end result or outcome which
is to be achieved but does not prescribe specific means for achieving
it. A specification standard, in contrast, is one which prescribes
the exact characteristics to be used, leaving little choice to the
applicant. The allowable release rate is an example of a performance
standard; the design standards for storm sewers are specifications
standards.
An individual, partnership, public or private association
or corporation, firm, trust, estate, municipality, government unit,
public utility or any legal entity whatsoever which is recognized
by law as the subject of rights and duties.
Material which permits the passage or entrance of water or
other liquid. (i.e., grass, earth, stone, and trees).
A point of hydrologic and/or hydraulic concern such as a
bridge, culvert, or channel section, for which the rate of runoff
is computed or measured.
A meeting with the Borough prior to a formal application
submittal.
The specific area of land where any regulated earth disturbance
activities in the municipality are planned, conducted or maintained.
Any person licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of State
or otherwise qualified by law to perform the work required by this
Part 2.
Instantaneous measurement of water flow expressed as a unit
of volume per unit of time, also referred to as discharge. Usually
stated in cubic feet per second (cfs) or gallons per minute (gpm).
Earth disturbance activity one acre or more with a point
source discharge to surface waters or the municipality's storm
sewer system, or five acres or more regardless of the planned runoff.
This includes earth disturbance on any portion of, part, or during
any stage of, a larger common plan of development. This only includes
road maintenance activities involving 25 acres or more or earth disturbance.
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.
A type of detention basin designed to contain a permanent
pool of water.
The average interval in years over which an event of a given
magnitude can be expected to recur.
Using an inflow hydrograph to simulate the water flow through
a storage facility creating storage data and an outflow hydrograph.
That part of precipitation which flows over the land.
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 manmade landscape
alterations.
Soil Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture.[2]
Solid material, both mineral and organic, that is in suspension,
is being transported, or has been removed from its site or origin
by air, water, gravity, or ice and has come to rest on the earth's
surface.
The process by which mineral or organic matter is accumulated
or deposited by moving water, wind or gravity.
A method of runoff computation developed by the United States
Soil Conservation Service and specifically found in its publication,
Urban Hydrology for Small Watersheds, Technical Release No. 55, SCS
(or most current edition). There are several runoff models which implement
this methodology and it is not limited to the TR-55.
See "detention basin."
See "design storm."
A pipe, culvert or underground open channel that carries
intercepted surface runoff, street water, and other wash waters, or
drainage, but excludes domestic sewage and industrial wastes.
Natural or engineered structures which 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 appurtenance
features, canals, channels, ditches, streams, culverts, streets and
pumping stations.
The plan for managing stormwater runoff from a specific development
site.
The plan prepared by the developer or his representative
indicating how stormwater runoff will be managed at the development
site in accordance with this Part 2. Stormwater management site plan
will be designated as SWM site plan throughout this Part.
Waters resulting from snow melt or precipitation within a
drainage basin, flowing over the surface of the ground, collected
in channels and conduits, and carried by receiving streams.
A watercourse.
A portion of the watershed that has similar hydrological
characteristics and drains to a common point. Also called a drainage
area.
The division or redivision of a lot, tract or parcel of land
by any means into two or more lots, tracts, parcels or other divisions
of land including changes in existing lot lines for the purpose, whether
immediate or future, of lease, partition by the court for distribution
to heirs or devises, transfer of subdivision by lease of land for
agricultural purposes into parcels of more than 10 acres, not involving
any new street or easement of access or any residential dwelling shall
be exempted.
A low-lying stretch of land which gathers or carries surface
water runoff.
The higher parts of a region or tract of land.
Quantity of water normally measured cubic feet or acre-feet,
measured or determined analytically from runoff coefficients; rainfall/runoff
ratios; and areas underneath hydrographs.
Any channel of conveyance of surface water having a defined
bed and banks, whether natural or artificial, with perennial or intermittent
flow.
Rivers, streams, creeks, rivulets, impoundments, ditches,
watercourses, storm sewers, lakes, dammed water, wetlands, ponds,
springs and other bodies or channels of conveyance of surface water,
or parts thereof, whether natural or artificial, within or on the
boundaries of this Commonwealth. (Source: The Clean Streams Law[3]).
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 PaDEP and approved by the Environmental Quality
Board as one for which the county is required to prepare a watershed
stormwater management plan in accordance with the Pennsylvania Stormwater
Management Act.[4] Also called a drainage basin.
Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or
groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and
that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation
typically adopted for life in saturated soil conditions, including
swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas. The term includes, but is
not limited to, wetland area listed in the State Water Plan, the United
States Fish and Wildlife Service Wetlands Inventory Maps, and the
Pennsylvania Coastal Zone Management Plan and any wetland area designated
by a river basin commission.