Chapter 19
Stormwater Management & Erosion
Control
Sections:
19.010 Purpose
19.020 Definitions
19.030 Authority
19.040 Applicability
19.041 Regulated Activities
19.042 Exempt Activities
19.043 Activities Allowed to Request
Exemption
19.050 Administration
19.060 Permits and Procedures
19.070 Fees
19.080 Surety
19.090 Waivers
19.100 Enforcement
19.110 Severability
A. Increased volumes of stormwater, contaminated
stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces, and soil erosion and sedimentation
are major causes of:
1. impairment of water quality and
decreased flow in lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, wetlands and groundwater;
2. decreased flow in lakes, ponds,
streams, rivers, wetlands and groundwater;
3. contamination of drinking water
supplies;
4. erosion of stream channels;
5. alteration or destruction of
aquatic and wildlife habitat;
6. flooding; and,
7. overloading or clogging of
municipal catch basins and storm drainage systems.
8. flooding and erosion on abutting
properties.
The United
States Environmental Protection Agency has identified sedimentation from land
disturbance activities and polluted stormwater runoff from land development and
redevelopment as major sources of water pollution, impacting drinking water
supplies, natural habitats, and recreational resources. Regulation of
activities that result in the disturbance of land and the creation of
stormwater runoff is necessary for the protection of the Town of
B. The objectives of this Bylaw are
to:
1. protect water resources;
2. require practices that eliminate
soil erosion and sedimentation;
3. control the volume and rate of
stormwater runoff resulting from land disturbance activities in order to
minimize potential impacts of flooding;
4. require practices to manage and
treat stormwater runoff generated from new development and redevelopment;
5. protect groundwater and surface
water from degradation or depletion;
6. promote infiltration and the
recharge of groundwater;
7. prevent pollutants from entering
the municipal storm drain system;
8. prevent flooding and erosion to
abutting properties.
9. ensure that soil erosion and
sedimentation control measures and stormwater runoff management practices are
incorporated into the site planning and design process and are implemented and
maintained;
10. ensure adequate long-term operation
and maintenance of stormwater best management practices;
11. require practices to control waste
such as discarded building materials, concrete truck washout, chemicals,
litter, and sanitary waste at construction sites that may cause adverse impacts
to water quality;
12. comply with state and federal
statutes and regulations relating to stormwater discharges; and
13. establish the Town of
19.020 Definitions
ABUTTER: The owner(s) of land abutting the land
disturbance site.
AGRICULTURE: The normal maintenance or improvement of land
in agricultural or aquacultural use, as defined by the Massachusetts Wetlands
Protection Act (M.G.L. c. 131 § 40) and its implementing regulations (310 CMR
10.00).
ALTERATION
OF DRAINAGE CHARACTERISTICS: Any
activity on an area of land that changes the water quality, or the force,
quantity, direction, timing or location of runoff flowing from the area. Such changes include: change from distributed
runoff to confined, discrete discharge; change in the volume of runoff from the
area; change in the peak rate of runoff from the area; and change in the
recharge to groundwater on the area.
APPLICANT: Shall be the owner of record of all of
the land shown on any plan submitted for approval to the
AUTHORIZED
ENFORCEMENT AGENCY: The
BEST
MANAGEMENT PRACTICE (BMP): An activity,
procedure, restraint, or structural improvement that helps to reduce the quantity
or improve the quality of stormwater runoff.
CONSTRUCTION
AND WASTE MATERIALS: Excess or discarded
building or construction site materials that may adversely impact water
quality, including but not limited to concrete truck washout, chemicals, litter
and sanitary waste.
CLEARING: Any activity that removes the vegetative
surface cover. Clearing activities generally include grubbing activity as
defined below.
DEVELOPMENT: The modification of land to accommodate a new
use or expansion of use, usually involving construction.
DISTURBANCE
OF LAND: Any action, including clearing
and grubbing, that causes a change in the position, location, or arrangement of
soil, sand, rock, gravel, or similar earth material.
EROSION: The wearing away of the land surface by
natural or artificial forces such as wind, water, ice, gravity, or vehicle
traffic and the subsequent detachment and transportation of soil particles.
EROSION
AND SEDIMENTATION CONTROL PLAN: A
document containing narrative, drawings and details developed by a qualified
professional engineer (PE) or a public land surveyor (PLS), which includes best
management practices, or equivalent measures designed to control surface
runoff, erosion and sedimentation during pre-construction and construction related
land disturbance activities.
GRADING: Changing the level or shape of the ground
surface.
GRUBBING: The act of clearing land surface by digging
up roots and stumps.
IMPERVIOUS
SURFACE: Any material or structure on or
above the ground that prevents water infiltrating the underlying soil. Impervious surface includes without
limitation roads, paved parking lots, sidewalks, and roof tops. Impervious
surface also includes soils, gravel driveways, and similar surfaces with a
runoff coefficient (Rational Method) greater than 85.
LAND-DISTURBING
ACTIVITY or LAND DISTURBANCE: Any activity, including clearing and grubbing,
that causes a change in the position or location of soil, sand, rock, gravel,
or similar earth material.
LAND-DISTURBANCE
PERMIT: A permit issued by the
MUNICIPAL
STORM DRAIN SYSTEM or MUNICIPAL SEPARATE STORM SEWER SYSTEM (MS4): The system of conveyances designed or used
for collecting or conveying stormwater, including any road with a drainage
system, street, gutter, curb, inlet, piped storm drain, pumping facility, retention
or detention basin, natural or man-made or altered drainage channel, swales,
brooks, reservoir, and other drainage structure that together comprise the
storm drainage system owned or operated by the Town of Tewksbury.
OPERATION
AND MAINTENANCE PLAN: A plan developed by a Massachusetts licensed professional
engineer (PE) describing the functional, financial and organizational
mechanisms for the ongoing operation and maintenance of a stormwater management
system to ensure that it continues to function as designed.
OUTFALL: The point at which stormwater flows out from
a discernible, confined point source or discrete conveyance into waters of the
Commonwealth.
OWNER:
Shall be the owner of record of all the land shown on any plan submitted. The owner shall submit the title reference or
references from the Middlesex County Registry of Deeds indicating the owner of
record.
PERMITTEE: The person who holds a land disturbance
permit and therefore bears the responsibilities and enjoys the privileges
conferred thereby.
PERSON: An individual, partnership, association,
firm, company, trust, corporation, agency, authority, department or political
subdivision of the Commonwealth or the federal government, to the extent
permitted by law, and any officer, employee, or agent of such person.
POINT
SOURCE: Any discernible, confined, and discrete conveyance, including but not
limited to, any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure,
or container from which pollutants are or may be discharged.
PRE-CONSTRUCTION:
All activity in preparation for construction.
PRIVATE
STORM DRAIN SYSTEM or PRIVATE SEPARATE STORM SEWER SYSTEM: The system of
conveyances designed or used for collecting or conveying stormwater, including
any road with a drainage system, street, gutter, curb, inlet, piped storm
drain, pumping facility, retention or detention basin, natural or man-made or
altered drainage channel, reservoir, and other drainage structure that together
comprise the storm drainage system that is not owned and maintained by the
Town.
REDEVELOPMENT: Development, rehabilitation, expansion,
demolition or phased projects that disturb the ground surface or increase the
impervious area on previously developed sites.
RESPONSIBLE PARTIES:
owner(s), persons with financial responsibility, and persons with
operational responsibility.
RUNOFF: Rainfall, snowmelt, or irrigation water
flowing over the ground surface.
SEDIMENT: Mineral or organic soil material that is
transported by wind or water, from its origin to another location; the product
of erosion processes.
SEDIMENTATION: The process or act of deposition of sediment.
SITE: Any lot or parcel of land or area of property
where land-disturbing activities are, were, or will be performed.
SLOPE: The incline of a ground surface expressed as
a ratio of horizontal distance to vertical distance.
SOIL: Earth materials including duff, humic
materials, sand, rock and gravel.
STABILIZATION: The use, singly or in combination, of
mechanical, structural, or vegetative methods, to prevent or retard erosion.
STORMWATER: Stormwater runoff, snow melt runoff, and
surface water runoff and drainage.
STORMWATER
MANAGEMENT PLAN: A document containing
narrative, drawings and details prepared by a qualified professional engineer
(PE) or a professional public land surveyor
(PLS), which includes structural and non-structural best management practices
to manage and treat stormwater runoff generated from regulated development
activity. A stormwater management plan
also includes an Operation and Maintenance Plan describing the maintenance
requirements for structural best management practices.
STRIP: Any activity which removes the vegetative
ground surface cover, including tree removal, clearing, grubbing, and storage
or removal of topsoil.
TSS: Total
Suspended Solids. Material, including but not limited to trash, debris, soils,
sediment and sand suspended in stormwater runoff.
WATERCOURSE: A natural or man-made channel through which
water flows, including a river, brook, or stream.
WETLAND
RESOURCE AREA: Areas specified in the
Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act M.G.L. c. 131, s.40 and in the Town of
This Bylaw
is adopted under authority granted by the Home Rule Amendment of the
Massachusetts Constitution, the Home Rule statutes, and pursuant to the
regulations of the federal Clean Water Act found at 40 CFR 122.34.
Except as
permitted below or as otherwise provided in this Bylaw, no person shall perform
any activity that results in disturbance or clearing of land without a land
disturbance permit.
19.041 Regulated Activities.
a)
A. For minor land disturbance, defined as the
disturbance of five hundred (500) cubic yards or more of material or clearing
activity which disturbs an area of 20,000 square feet or more and less than 40,000
square feet within any twelve (12) month period, the activity shall be allowed
only under a Land Disturbance Permit issued by the
B. Regulated activities by the
1.
Land
disturbance of 40,000 square feet or more of land, associated with construction
or reconstruction of structures,
2.
Development
or redevelopment involving multiple separate activities in discontinuous
locations or on different schedules if the activities are part of a larger
common plan of development that all together disturbs 40,000 square feet or
more of land,
3.
Paving
or other change in surface material over an area of 40,000 square feet or more
causing a significant reduction of permeability or increase in runoff,
4.
Construction
of a new drainage system or alteration of an existing drainage system or
conveyance serving a drainage area of more than 40,000 square feet,
5.
Any
other activity altering the surface of an area exceeding 40,000 square feet
that will, or may, result in increased stormwater runoff flowing from the
property into a public way or the municipal storm drain system, OR
6.
Land
disturbance where there is a 15% or greater slope and where the land
disturbance is greater than or equal to 200 square feet within the sloped area.
C. Minimum performance
standards for regulated activities:
1.
Erosion control structures will be located no
closer than 15 feet from an abutting property line and will be designed so as
not to create point discharges onto abutting properties.
2.
Dust from all earthmoving activities shall be
controlled.
3.
Earth materials shall not be deposited onto any
roadways.
4.
Vegetative stabilization measures shall be employed
during the Regulated Activity and construction activity as required by the
approving authority. All perimeter dikes
and slopes, basin or trap embankments shall be stabilized with sod, seed,
anchored mulch within seven (7) days of disturbance. All other disturbed areas
shall be stabilized with sod, seed and anchored mulch within fourteen (14) days
after disturbing activities are ceased.
5.
Topsoil shall be stripped from disturbed areas and
stockpiled in an approved area and stabilized with a temporary vegetative cover
if left more than fifteen (15) calendar days.
Perimeter sediment controls shall be installed around stockpiled
topsoil.
6.
During cold weather months, when seeding and sodding
may be impractical, anchored mulch shall be applied as approved.
19.042
Exempt Activities. The following activities
are exempt from the requirements of this Bylaw:
1. Normal maintenance and improvement
of Town owned public ways and appurtenances.
2. Normal maintenance and improvement
of land in agricultural use.
3. Repair of septic systems when
required by the Board of Health for the protection of public health.
4. Normal maintenance of currently
existing landscaping, gardens or lawn areas associated with a single-family
dwelling.
5. The construction of fencing that
will not alter existing terrain or drainage patterns.
6. Construction of utilities other
than drainage (gas, water, electric, telephone, etc.) that will not alter
terrain or drainage patterns.
7. Maintenance of existing town
drainage system, including, but not limited to removal of trees, debris,
sediment and trash from swales, brooks, culverts, and any other impediment to
the flow of the town’s drainage system.
19.043 Activities
Allowed to Request Exemption. Areas of land that have had a Stormwater
Management review either through the Conservation Commission or
The
A. The
B. The
C. The
D.
The
E. All meetings
of the
F . Filing an
application for a land disturbance permit grants the
G. The
i.Approve
the Application and issue a permit if it finds that the proposed plan will
protect water resources and meets the objectives and requirements of this
Bylaw;
ii.Approve the
Application and issue a permit with conditions, modifications,
requirements for operation and maintenance requirements of permanent structural
BMPs, designation of responsible party, or restrictions that the
iii.Disapprove
the application and deny a permit if it finds that the proposed plan fails to
meet the objectives and requirements of this Bylaw and its Regulations. If the
H. The
I. Failure to take action shall be deemed to be approval of
said application. Upon certification by the Town Clerk that the allowed time
has passed without the
J. Appeals of Action by the
K. All
activity permitted by the Land Disturbance Permit must be completed within
one-year of permit issuance. Extensions
of time can be granted by the
Permit Procedures and Requirements shall be defined and
included as part of any rules and regulations promulgated as permitted under
Section19.050 of this Bylaw.
19.070 Fees
The
The
A. The
1. is
allowed by federal, state or local statutes and/or regulations, or
2. is
in the public interest, and is not inconsistent with the purpose and intent of
this bylaw and its regulations.
B. Any
applicant may submit a written request to be granted such a waiver at the time
of submission. Such a request shall be
accompanied by an explanation or documentation supporting the waiver request
and demonstrating that the activity is allowed by federal, state or local
statutes and/or regulations or is in the
public interest and is not inconsistent with the purpose and intent of this
bylaw and its regulations.
C. All
waiver requests shall be discussed and a decision will be made at the time of
final action by the
D. If
in the
A. The
B. Orders.
The
6. If
the enforcing person determines that abatement or remediation of erosion and
sedimentation is required, the order shall set forth a deadline by which such
abatement or remediation must be completed.
If any
provision, paragraph, sentence, or clause of this Bylaw shall be held invalid
for any reason, all other provisions shall continue in full force and effect.
PLANNING
BOARD
Executive Summary: Passage of this article will allow
the Town to monitor and enforce work that affects the Town’s stormwater system.
This is a requirement under the Federal Clean Water Act as put forth through
the Non-Point Discharge Elimination System general permit filed with the State DEP
and Federal EPA.