Bloomsbury City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XXIII
Surface Water Management
§ 270-170 Title.
This article shall be known as the "Bloomsbury Borough Surface Water Management Ordinance."
§ 270-171 General intent.
The general intent of this article is to manage the increased rate and velocity of the surface water runoff created by alterations in the ground cover and natural runoff patterns.
§ 270-172 Purposes.
To protect the public health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Bloomsbury Borough and the surrounding communities, this article is deemed necessary and essential in order to:
A.
Maintain the adequacy of natural stream channels and prevent accelerated bank erosion by controlling the rate and velocity of runoff discharge to these watercourses so as to avoid increasing the frequency of the bank full stage.
B.
Enhance the quality of nonpoint runoff by water retention measures.
C.
Preserve present adequacy of culverts and bridges by reducing artificially induced flood peaks.
D.
Reduce public expenditures for replacement or repair of public facilities resulting from artificially induced flood peaks.
E.
Prevent damage to life and property from flooding resulting from excessive rates and velocities of runoff.
F.
Deter potential pollution of potable water supplies.
§ 270-173 Policy.
The declared policy of the Borough is to accomplish the above purposes and to administer the provisions of this article in such a manner as to cause the least possible expense to the applicants in complying therewith, and the requirements imposed on applicants by this article shall be liberally construed so as to effect such policy, consistent with law and the purposes and provisions set forth herein.
§ 270-174 Definitions.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
Any person submitting a surface water management plan.
A plan to control surface water runoff approved as provided in this article.
The Borough of Bloomsbury in the County of Hunterdon in the State of New Jersey.
A watercourse with a definite bed and banks which confine and conduct continuously or intermittently flowing water.
The meaning ascribed to such word by the Municipal Land Use Law.[1]
Any watercourse, trench, ditch, depression or other hollow space in the ground, natural or artificial, which collects or disperses surface water from land.
Any activity by which or in which land is cleared, graded, transported or filled or by which or in which the topography or vegetative cover of land is altered. This definition is not intended to encompass alteration of topography or vegetation generated by natural phenomena without specific human or other nonnatural intervention.
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
§ 270-175 Surface water management plan required.
A surface water management plan shall be submitted and approved, as provided herein, in connection with any application within the Borough for a construction permit, site plan approval or subdivision approval unless the application involves only a single land disturbance of less than 750 square feet of surface area or unless a waiver is granted under § 270-176F of this article.
§ 270-176 Procedure for plan submission and review.
A.
A surface water management plan shall be submitted and approved, as provided herein, prior to or at the same time as any site plan or preliminary major or minor subdivision approval required under this chapter or construction permit required pursuant to the New Jersey State Uniform Construction Code Act[1] is granted.
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 52:27D-119 et seq.
B.
An applicant shall submit a surface water management plan to the Secretary of the Planning Board if it is in connection with a subdivision or site plan approval being considered by such Board. Otherwise the applicant shall submit such plan to the Borough Construction Official. The foregoing official to whom the plan is submitted shall promptly forward the same to the Borough Engineer for review.[2]
C.
Surface water management plans shall be reviewed by the Borough Engineer. The Engineer's consideration of plans shall be guided by the following factors, as more fully defined in the following sections:
(1)
The suitability of the applicant's proposed surface water management measures, devices and planning techniques, whether involving on-site or off-site measures, or some combination thereof, in respect to the total surface water runoff, velocities and rates of discharge which the applicant's proposed construction or land disturbance may generate.
(2)
Existing topography, present vegetation and hydrologic soil factors.
(3)
Groundwater recharge and discharge areas and wet soils.
(4)
Seasonal high groundwater table.
(5)
The design storm.
(6)
Natural drainage pattern throughout the subwatershed(s) affected by the plan.
(7)
Land uses in both the immediate vicinity and surrounding drainage region.
(8)
Any other applicable or relevant environmental and resource protection ordinances, statutes and regulations.
D.
The Borough Engineer shall make a decision to approve or disapprove the surface water management plan within 30 days of the submission to the proper official of a complete plan. The plan shall be approved only if he has determined, taking into account the foregoing guidelines, that the plan will manage surface water runoff in accordance with the standards contained in this article.
E.
The Borough Engineer shall communicate in writing his decision on every completed surface water management plan (with reason for disapproval) to the official to whom the plan was initially submitted and to the Borough Planning Board Secretary if such plan initially was submitted to the Borough Construction Official. In the event of disapproval, the applicant may submit the Borough Engineer's disapproval to the full membership of the Planning Board at the Board's next regular meeting following disapproval, and, in such event, the Planning Board shall render a decision in the matter by no later than the first regular meeting following the meeting at which the disapproval is first presented to it. The Planning Board may, in accordance with the purposes, policy and provisions of this article, affirm or reverse the Engineer's disapproval or grant approval on such conditions as it deems appropriate.[3]
F.
An applicant may request the Borough Engineer to waive the provisions of this article upon certification that there will be no appreciable increase in the rate or velocity of surface water runoff from a proposed land disturbance or that a proposed land disturbance will have no effect upon surface water runoff beyond the borders of the applicant's lot (the word "lot" as here being used shall be deemed to include both any new and any remaining lot or lots created in connection with a proposed subdivision). The Borough Engineer shall grant or deny such request for waiver within 30 days of submission thereof to the Borough Engineer. A denial of such request may be submitted for review to the Planning Board in the same manner as set forth above in Subsection E of this section.[4]
§ 270-177 General and design standards.
A.
General standards. In the preparation and implementation of a surface water management plan, the following general standards shall be adhered to:
(1)
The rate and velocity of runoff from the site of the disturbance following completion of the planned development shall not exceed that which is generated from preconstruction conditions utilizing existing ground cover.
(2)
Maximum use shall be made of presently existing surface water runoff devices, mechanisms or areas, such as existing berms, terraces, grass waterways, favorable hydrologic soils, swamps, swales, watercourses, woodlands, and floodplains, as well as any proposed retention structures.
(3)
Evaluation shall be made of the nature of the subwatershed(s) of which the site is part, the receiving stream channel capacities and point of concentration structures.
(4)
Surface water runoff shall generally not be transferred from one watershed to another.
(5)
The plan shall coordinate with the soil erosion and sediment control plan and, where applicable, with other environmental protection ordinances in force.
(6)
To the greatest possible extent, the plan shall avoid the concentration of flow and shall provide for dissipation of velocities at all concentrated discharge points.
(7)
Vegetative cover shall be reestablished in accordance with Standards and Specifications for Soil Erosion and Sediment Control in New Jersey, adopted by the Hunterdon County Soil Conservation District, latest edition.
(8)
Timing for the plan shall establish permanent surface water management measures prior to construction or other land disturbance, including seeding and establishing sod in grass waterways.
B.
Design standards. The surface water management plan shall be prepared and implemented in accordance with the following design standards:
(1)
Runoff calculations.
(a)
For calculating runoff and controls, either of the following methods may be used in computing runoff: the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) method or the Rational Formula.[1]
Criteria | NRCS Method | Rational Method | |
|---|---|---|---|
Collection system | 15-year storm | 15-year storm | |
Storage | 100-year storm | 100-year storm | |
Outlet discharge | 10-year storm | 10-year storm | |
Emergency spillway | 100-year storm | 100-year storm | |
Soil types | A, B, C, D, as determined loam by Soil Survey, Hunterdon County, by USDA NRCS, issued November 1974 | ||
Maximum velocity at pine outlets | 4 feet per second | 4 feet per second | |
Intensity | NRCS method | Water policy rainfall curves | |
(b)
Calculations for runoff shall be submitted for the entire lot on which the land disturbance is to be conducted. Calculations for design of control structures and outfalls shall be based upon the actual existing and/or proposed ground surface cover conditions in the subwatershed(s) affecting such structures and outfalls.
(2)
All outfalls are to be designed in a manner to retard velocities at the outfall and to provide stream channel protection.
(3)
When a natural drainage pattern is necessarily intercepted, as by a street, this shall be considered.
(4)
All structures and land treatment practices shall conform to Standards and Specifications for Soil Erosion and Sediment Control in New Jersey, adopted by the Hunterdon County Soil Conservation District, latest edition.
(5)
All water-carrying structures and/or retention areas shall be completed and stabilized prior to diversion of water to them.
(6)
Existing natural and man-made drainage related features (such as berms, terraces, grass waterways, favorable hydrologic soils, poorly drained soils, swamps, swales, watercourses, woodlands, floodplains and similar features) shall be incorporated in the plan to the greatest possible extent in accordance with their functional capability.
(7)
Drainageways and watercourses which normally carry or receive surface water runoff shall not be overloaded with increased runoff, sediment or other pollution resulting from disturbance of soil and vegetation or incident to development, construction or other activity.
(8)
Where possible, drainage shall follow the natural or established drainage pattern of the subwatershed(s) of which the subject property is a part.
(9)
Innovative surface water runoff control and recharge devices may be utilized, such as rooftop storage, dry wells, cisterns, and roof drain infiltration trenches, provided that they are accompanied by detail engineering plans and performance capabilities and approved by the Borough Engineer.
§ 270-178 Data required.
A.
The surface water management plan required hereunder shall include the following:
(1)
Lot and block numbers of the entire property involved as shown in the current tax map of the Borough, North arrow and scale.
(2)
Name and address of the applicant and the owner(s) of the land.
(3)
Size of watershed and location of site within the subwatershed(s).
(4)
In the event (and only in the event) that they will affect or be affected by the proposed land disturbance, the location, description and qualification of significant natural and man-made features on and surrounding the site of the disturbance, including topography, all impervious surfaces, and soil drainage characteristics, with particular attention to the location and description of presently existing natural or man-made surface water runoff controls, such as berms, terraces, watercourses, swamps, floodplains, swales, woods, vegetation, steep slopes, and similar features.
(5)
In instances where it is proposed to install a storm drainage system or surface water control device which will discharge directly into a watercourse, the size of the nearest culvert or bridge downstream of the discharge area, profiles and cross section of stream channel upstream of stream channel at all points of proposed surface water discharge from the site as required by the Borough Engineer.
(6)
Location, description and quantification of proposed changes to the site of the disturbance, whether of a permanent or temporary nature, with particular attention to impervious surfaces and interception of presently dispersed flow which may impact upon the capacity of the soil, vegetative cover and drainageways to absorb, retard, contain or control surface water runoff.
(7)
Computation of the total surface water runoff before, during and after the disturbance of land and/or construction of impervious surfaces.
(8)
Proposed measures for surface water management.
(9)
A schedule of installing of the surface water management plan, related to the starting and completion dates of the project.
(10)
Proposed maintenance schedule for all surface water management structures, stipulating current maintenance, continued maintenance, and responsibility for the same.
(11)
Any application form approved for the purpose by the Borough Planning Board and Borough Engineer.
(12)
The appropriate fee required under this article.
B.
The Borough Engineer may, at the request of an applicant and on a determination by him that it is not required in that instance for an evaluation as to whether the proposed land disturbance meets the standards of this article, waive the furnishing of certain design data and/or a maintenance schedule.
§ 270-179 Fees. [1]
§ 270-180 Implementation.
A.
Timing. The construction and/or installation of surface water management improvements shall be in accordance with the schedule of sequence of installation as approved.
B.
Bonding. The Borough Engineer may require the posting of a performance and/or maintenance bond where necessary in the public interest to insure completion and/or maintenance of the surface water runoff controls required by a surface water management plan. In case of a major subdivision or site plan, the bonding required for such surface water runoff controls shall be included in the bonding for other improvements. The form of the bond shall be approved by the Borough Attorney. Such bond shall have a sufficient surety and be in the amount approved by the Borough Engineer as adequate to cover the cost of the measures to be performed or maintained as part of the approved plan. Such bond may be released upon approval by the Borough Engineer following completion of the required measures or if maintenance is no longer required.
C.
Inspection. The applicant shall be responsible for the installation and construction of all required surface water runoff control measures according to the provisions of his approved plan and this article, but such responsibility shall not relieve others violating this article from liability for such violation. The Borough Engineer shall have the right to inspect the site during its preparation and development to determine whether all surface water management measures have been constructed in accordance with the provisions of the applicant's approved plan under this article. Subsequent to the date of completion, the Borough Engineer may also periodically inspect the site to ascertain that the provisions of the applicant's approved plan are complied with.
§ 270-181 Appeals. [1]
Appeals from decisions of the Planning Board affirming disapproval by the Borough Engineer of a surface water management plan, or affirming denial by the Borough Engineer of a request for waiver, may be made by the applicant within 10 days of the giving or mailing to the applicant of a notice of such disapproval or denial (which notice shall contain a written statement of the reasons therefor). Such appeal shall be made by notice, in writing, specifying the grounds of appeal, filled with the Borough Clerk within such ten-day period. A hearing of such appeal shall be scheduled before the Borough Council for a date within 45 days of such notice of appeal, and the applicant shall be given 10 days' notice of the time and place of such hearing. Such appeal shall be decided by the Borough Council only upon the record before the Borough Engineer and the Planning Board, and the standard for review shall be the same as that applied upon an appeal to the Borough Council pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-17. The Borough Council may affirm or reverse the decision below to disapprove the plan and shall make its decision within 15 days of the hearing before it and furnish a copy thereof to the applicant. No decision by the Borough Engineer to disapprove a plan or deny a request for waiver, but only a decision of the Planning Board affirming such disapproval or denial, may be appealed.
§ 270-182 Violations and penalties; enforcement.
A.
Any person, firm or corporation violating any provisions of this article shall be subject to a penalty as provided in § 270-12, and each day that such violation shall occur shall constitute a separate offense.
[Amended 10-23-2012 by Ord. No. 106-12]
B.
In addition to the above, the Borough Engineer is hereby empowered, after making a personal inspection of the site in question, to issue written notice to any property owner on whose property a land disturbance occurs prior to submission and approval of a plan under this article, or to any person causing or creating such land disturbance, ordering such owner or person immediately to cease, or cause to be ceased, such land disturbance and further requiring such owner or person immediately to take such measures as may, in the Engineer's discretion, be reasonably necessary to protect the public health, safety and welfare, consistent with § 270-172 of this article. Compliance with any such order may be enforced under the police power of the Borough, and any person, firm or corporation violating such order shall be subject to the penalties set forth above.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Original Art. XV, Recycling, and Art. XVI, Flood Protection, which immediately followed this article and were added 10-13-1992 by Ord. No. 409-92, have been deleted as superseded. See now Ch. 225, Solid Waste, Art. V, Source Separation and Recycling, adopted 12-21-2010 by Ord. No. 110-10, and Ch. 113, Flood Damage Prevention, adopted 9-22-2009 by Ord. No. 107-09. Original Art. XVI had been amended 8-9-1994 by Ord. No. 607-94.