This Part 2 shall be known and may be cited as the "Schuylkill River Watershed Stormwater Management Ordinance."
The governing body of Exeter Township finds that:
A. 
Inadequate management of accelerated stormwater runoff resulting from development throughout a watershed increases flood 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 upstream and downstream communities, reduces groundwater recharge, and threatens public health and safety.
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 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 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 Township of Exeter 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 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. 
Impacts from stormwater runoff can be minimized by using project designs that 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 (e.g., 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. 
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).
I. 
Nonstormwater discharges to municipal separate storm sewer systems can contribute to pollution of waters of the commonwealth by the municipality.
The purpose of this Part 2 is to promote the public health, safety, and welfare within the Schuylkill River Watershed by maintaining the natural hydrologic regime by minimizing the impacts described in § 320-11 of this Part 2 through provisions designed to:
A. 
Promote alternative project designs and layout that minimizes impacts to surface and groundwater.
B. 
Promote nonstructural best management practices (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. 
Provide review procedures and performance standards for stormwater planning and management.
G. 
Utilize and preserve the existing natural drainage systems.
H. 
Manage stormwater impacts close to the runoff source, which requires a minimum of structures and relies on natural processes.
I. 
Focus on infiltration of stormwater, to maintain groundwater recharge, to prevent degradation of surface and groundwater quality and to otherwise protect water resources.
J. 
Maintain existing base flows and quality of streams and watercourses, where possible.
K. 
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.
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 Exeter's separate storm sewer system.
O. 
Preserve and restore the flood-carrying capacity of streams.
P. 
Prevent scour and erosion of stream banks and streambeds.
Q. 
Provide performance standards and design criteria for watershed-wide stormwater management and planning.
R. 
Provide proper operation and maintenance of all permanent stormwater management facilities and BMPs that are implemented in the Township of Exeter.
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 Schuylkill River watershed municipalities identified in Table III-1 of the Schuylkill River 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.
T. 
Ensure adequate drainage of all streets.
U. 
Intercept stormwater runoff along streets at intervals related to the extent and grade of the area drained.
V. 
Provide positive drainage away from on-site sewage disposal facilities and buildings.
W. 
Accommodate runoff so that the stormwater discharge from the site at any point during construction does not exceed the predevelopment discharge for the design rainfall frequency specified in Appendix B.[1] Postconstruction stormwater discharge shall not exceed the rates specified in § 320-25.
[1]
Editor's Note: Appendix B is included at the end of this chapter.
X. 
Ensure adequate drainage at intersections of driveways with streets.
Y. 
Provide shallow swales along all side and rear lot lines to direct surface drainage to the street or other drainage facilities.
A. 
Primary authority. The Township of Exeter is empowered to regulate these activities by the authority of the Act of October 4, 1978, P.L. 864 (Act 167), 32 P.S. § 680.1 et seq., as amended, the Stormwater Management Act, and the Second Class Township Code, 53 P.S. § 66501 et seq. and 53 P.S. § 66601 et seq.
B. 
Secondary authority. The Township of Exeter also is empowered to regulate land use activities that affect runoff by the authority of the Act of July 31, 1968, P.L. 805, No. 247, the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code,[1] as amended.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
A. 
The following are defined as "regulated activities" that may affect stormwater runoff and are subject to regulation by this Part 2:
(1) 
Land development.
(2) 
Subdivision.
(3) 
Alteration of the natural hydrologic regime.
(4) 
Construction or reconstruction of or additional impervious or semipervious surfaces such as but not limited to driveways, parking lots, patios, and roads.
(5) 
Construction of new buildings or additions to existing buildings. See § 320-29 for exemptions.
(6) 
Site redevelopment. See § 320-25G through I.
(7) 
Diversion piping or encroachment in any natural or man-made channel.
(8) 
Nonstructural and structural stormwater management best management practices (BMPs) or appurtenances thereto.
(9) 
Regulated earth disturbance.
(10) 
Any of the above-regulated activities which were approved more than five years prior to the effective date of this Part 2 and resubmitted for approval by the Township of Exeter.
B. 
Earth disturbance activities and associated stormwater management controls are also regulated under existing state law and implementing regulations. This Part 2 shall operate in coordination with those parallel requirements; the requirements of this Part 2 shall continue to be no less restrictive in meeting the purposes of this Part 2 than state law.
Approvals issued and actions taken under this Part 2 do not relieve the applicant of the responsibility to secure required permits or approvals for activities by any other code, law, regulation or ordinance.