Township of Robinson, PA Article III Stormwater Management Standards

§ 240-11 General requirements.

A. For all regulated activities, unless preparation of an SWM site plan is specifically exempted in § 240-12.

(1) Preparation and implementation of an approved SWM site plan is required.

(2) No regulated activities shall commence until the municipality issues written approval of an SWM site plan, which demonstrates compliance with the requirements of this Part 1.

B. SWM site plans approved by the municipality, in accordance with § 240-20 shall be on site throughout the duration of the regulated activity.

C. The municipality may, after consultation with DEP, approve measures for meeting the state water quality requirements other than those in this Part 1, 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 Part 1 and to meet all requirements under Title 25 of the Pennsylvania Code and the Clean Streams Law.[2] Various BMPs and their design standards are listed in the Erosion and Sediment Pollution Control Program Manual (E&S Manual), No. 363-2134-008 (April 15, 2000), as amended and updated.[3]

[2] Editor's Note: See 35 P.S. § 691.1 et seq.

[3] Editor's Note: See Art. IX, References, § 240-35B.

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 Part 1.

(3) For projects that add impervious area to a parcel, the total impervious area on the parcel is subject to the requirements of this Part 1; except that the volume controls in § 240-13 and the peak rate controls of § 240-14 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 of the adjacent property owner(s) by the developer. Such stormwater flows shall be subject to the requirements of this Part 1.

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 Part 1 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) To the maximum extent practicable, incorporate the techniques for low-impact development practices described in the Pennsylvania Stormwater Best Management Practices Manual (BMP Manual).[4]

[4] Editor's Note: See Art. IX, References, § 240-35A.

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 Part 1.

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 Precipitation-Frequency Atlas of the United States, Atlas 14, Volume 2, Version 3.0, United States Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Weather Service, Hydrometeorological Design Studies Center, Silver Spring, Maryland. NOAA's Atlas 14[5] can be accessed at: http://hdsc.nws.noaa.gov/hdsc/pfds/.

[5] Editor's Note: See Art. IX, References, § 240-35E.

L. For all regulated activities, SWM BMPs shall be designed, implemented, operated, and maintained to meet the purposes and requirements of this Part 1 and to meet all requirements under Title 25 of the Pennsylvania Code, the Clean Streams Law,[6] and the Storm Water Management Act.[7]

[6] Editor's Note: See 35 P.S. § 691.1 et seq.

[7] Editor's Note: See 32 P.S. § 680.1 et seq.

M. Various BMPs and their design standards are listed in the BMP Manual.[8]

[8] Editor's Note: See Art. IX, References, § 240-35A.

§ 240-12 Exemptions.

A. Regulated activities that result in cumulative earth disturbances less than one acre maximum are exempt from the requirements in § 240-13, § 240-14, and Article IV of this Part 1.

B. Agricultural activity is exempt from the SWM site plan preparation requirements of this Part 1, provided the activities are performed according to the requirements of 25 Pa. Code Chapter 102.

C. Forest management and timber operations are exempt from the SWM site plan preparation requirements of this Part 1 provided the activities are performed according to the requirements of 25 Pa. Code Chapter 102.

D. Exemptions from any provisions of this Part 1 shall not relieve the applicant from the requirements in § 240-11D through K.

E. The municipality may deny or revoke any exemption pursuant to this section at any time for any project that the municipality believes may pose a threat to public health and safety or the environment.

§ 240-13 Volume controls.

The low-impact development practices provided in the BMP Manual[1] shall be utilized for all regulated activities to the maximum extent practicable. 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 to or less than one acre that do not require hydrologic routing to design the stormwater facilities, this Part 1 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 postdevelopment 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 Art. IX, References, § 240-35A.

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 § 240-14, Rate controls.

[3] Editor's Note: See Art. IX, References, § 240-35A.

[1] Editor's Note: See Art. IX, References, § 240-35A.

§ 240-14 Rate controls.

A. Areas not covered by a release rate map from an approved Act 167 Stormwater Management Plan: Postdevelopment discharge rates shall not exceed the predevelopment discharge rates for the one-, two-, five-, ten-, twenty-five-, fifty-, and one-hundred-year twenty-four-hour storms. If it is shown that the peak rates of discharge indicated by the postdevelopment 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 one-hundred-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. 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 one-hundred-year storms, the postdevelopment peak discharge rates will follow the applicable approved release rate maps. For any areas not shown on the release rate maps, the postdevelopment discharge rates shall not exceed the predevelopment discharge rates.