Stormwater
Control Ordinance WCL 07-06
Section
1: Scope and Purpose
A. Policy Statement
Flood
control, groundwater recharge, and pollutant reduction through nonstructural or
low impact techniques shall be explored before relying on structural Best
Management Practices (BMPs). Structural BMPs should be integrated with
nonstructural stormwater management strategies and proper maintenance plans.
Nonstructural strategies include both environmentally sensitive site design and
source controls that prevent pollutants from being placed on the site or from
being exposed to stormwater. Source control plans should be developed based
upon physical site conditions and the origin, nature, and the anticipated
quantity or amount of potential pollutants. Multiple stormwater management BMPs
may be necessary to achieve the established performance standards for water
quality, quantity, and groundwater recharge.
B. Purpose
It
is the purpose of this ordinance to establish minimum stormwater management
requirements and controls for “major development,” as defined in Section 2.
C. Applicability
1.
This
ordinance shall be applicable to all site plans and subdivisions for the
following major developments that require preliminary or final site plan or
subdivision review:
a.
Non-residential
major developments; and
b.
Aspects
of residential major developments that are not pre-empted by the Residential
Site Improvement Standards at N.J.A.C. 5:21.
2. This
ordinance shall also be applicable to all major developments undertaken by
Borough of Woodcliff Lake.
D. Compatibility with Other Permit and Ordinance
Requirements
Development
approvals issued for subdivisions and site plans pursuant to this ordinance are
to be considered an integral part of development approvals under the
subdivision and site plan review process and do not relieve the applicant of
the responsibility to secure required permits or approvals for activities
regulated by any other applicable code, rule, act, or ordinance. In their
interpretation and application, the provisions of this ordinance shall be held
to be the minimum requirements for the promotion of the public health, safety,
and general welfare.
This
ordinance is not intended to interfere with, abrogate, or annul any other
ordinances, rule or regulation, statute, or other provision of law except that,
where any provision of this ordinance imposes restrictions different from those
imposed by any other ordinance, rule or regulation, or other provision of law,
the more restrictive provisions or higher standards shall control.
Section
2: Definitions
Unless
specifically defined below, words or phrases used in this ordinance shall be
interpreted so as to give them the meaning they have in common usage and to
give this ordinance its most reasonable application. The definitions below are
the same as or based on the corresponding definitions in the Stormwater
Management Rules at N.J.A.C. 7:8-1.2.
“CAFRA Planning Map” means the
geographic depiction of the boundaries for Coastal Planning Areas,
“
“Compaction” means the increase in soil
bulk density.
“Core” means a pedestrian-oriented area
of commercial and civic uses serving the surrounding municipality, generally
including housing and access to public transportation.
“County review agency” means an agency
designated by the
A county
planning agency; or
A county
water resource association created under N.J.S.A 58:16A-55.5, if the ordinance
or resolution delegates authority to approve, conditionally approve, or
disapprove municipal stormwater management plans and implementing ordinances.
“Department” means the
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
“Designated Center” means a State
Development and
“Design engineer” means a person
professionally qualified and duly licensed in
“Development” means the division of a
parcel of land into two or more parcels, the construction, reconstruction,
conversion, structural alteration, relocation or enlargement of any building or
structure, any mining excavation or landfill, and any use or change in the use
of any building or other structure, or land or extension of use of land, by any
person, for which permission is required under the Municipal Land Use Law ,
N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq. In the case of development of agricultural lands,
development means: any activity that requires a State permit; any activity
reviewed by the County Agricultural Board (CAB) and the State Agricultural
Development Committee (SADC), and municipal review of any activity not exempted
by the Right to Farm Act , N.J.S.A 4:1C-1 et seq.
“Drainage area” means a geographic area
within which stormwater, sediments, or dissolved materials drain to a
particular receiving waterbody or to a particular point along a receiving
waterbody.
“Environmentally critical areas” means
an area or feature which is of significant environmental value, including but
not limited to: stream corridors; natural heritage priority sites; habitat of
endangered or threatened species; large areas of contiguous open space or
upland forest; steep slopes; and well head protection and groundwater recharge
areas. Habitats of endangered or threatened species are identified using the Department’s
Landscape Project as approved by the Department’s Endangered and Nongame
Species Program.
“Empowerment Neighborhood” means a
neighborhood designated by the Urban Coordinating Council “in consultation and
conjunction with” the New Jersey Redevelopment Authority pursuant to N.J.S.A
55:19-69.
“Erosion” means the detachment and
movement of soil or rock fragments by water, wind, ice or gravity.
“Impervious surface” means a surface
that has been covered with a layer of material so that it is highly resistant
to infiltration by water.
“Infiltration” is the process by which
water seeps into the soil from precipitation.
“Major development” means any
“development” that provides for ultimately disturbing one or more acres of land
or
increased impervious surface of one-quarter acre or more. Disturbance for the purpose of this
rule is the placement of impervious surface or exposure and/or movement of soil
or bedrock or clearing, cutting, or removing of vegetation.
“Municipality” means any city, borough,
town, township, or village.
“Node” means an area designated by the
State Planning Commission concentrating facilities and activities which are not
organized in a compact form.
“Nutrient” means a chemical element or
compound, such as nitrogen or phosphorus, which is essential to and promotes
the development of organisms.
“Person” means any individual,
corporation, company, partnership, firm, association, Borough of Woodcliff
Lake, or political subdivision of this State subject to municipal jurisdiction
pursuant to the Municipal Land Use Law, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
“Pollutant” means any dredged soil,
solid waste, incinerator residue, filter backwash, sewage, garbage, refuse,
oil, grease, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials,
medical wastes, radioactive substance (except those regulated under the Atomic
Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.), thermal waste, wrecked
or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, industrial, municipal,
agricultural, and construction waste or runoff, or other residue discharged
directly or indirectly to the land, ground waters or surface waters of the
State, or to a domestic treatment works. “Pollutant” includes both hazardous
and nonhazardous pollutants.
“Recharge” means the amount of water
from precipitation that infiltrates into the ground and is not evapotranspired.
“Sediment” means solid material,
mineral or organic, that is in suspension, is being transported, or has been
moved from its site of origin by air, water or gravity as a product of erosion.
“Site” means the lot or lots upon which
a major development is to occur or has occurred.
“Soil” means all unconsolidated mineral
and organic material of any origin.
“State Development and Redevelopment
Plan Metropolitan Planning Area (PA1)” means an area delineated on the State
Plan Policy Map and adopted by the State Planning Commission that is intended
to be the focus for much of the state’s future redevelopment and revitalization
efforts.
“State Plan Policy Map” is defined as
the geographic application of the State Development and Redevelopment Plan’s
goals and statewide policies, and the official map of these goals and policies.
“Stormwater” means water resulting from
precipitation (including rain and snow) that runs off the land’s surface, is
transmitted to the subsurface, or is captured by separate storm sewers or other
sewage or drainage facilities, or conveyed by snow removal equipment.
“Stormwater runoff” means water flow on
the surface of the ground or in storm sewers, resulting from precipitation.
“Stormwater management basin” means an
excavation or embankment and related areas designed to retain stormwater
runoff. A stormwater management basin may either be normally dry (that is, a
detention basin or infiltration basin), retain water in a permanent pool (a
retention basin), or be planted mainly with wetland vegetation (most
constructed stormwater wetlands).
“Stormwater management measure” means
any structural or nonstructural strategy, practice, technology, process,
program, or other method intended to control or reduce stormwater runoff and
associated pollutants, or to induce or control the infiltration or groundwater
recharge of stormwater or to eliminate illicit or illegal non-stormwater
discharges into stormwater conveyances.
“Tidal Flood Hazard Area” means a flood
hazard area, which may be influenced by stormwater runoff from inland areas,
but which is primarily caused by the
“Urban Coordinating Council Empowerment
Neighborhood” means a neighborhood given priority access to State resources
through the New Jersey Redevelopment Authority.
“Urban Enterprise Zones” means a zone
designated by the New Jersey Enterprise Zone Authority pursuant to the New
Jersey Urban Enterprise Zones Act, N.J.S.A. 52:27H-60 et. seq.
“Urban Redevelopment Area” is defined
as previously developed portions of areas:
(1) Delineated
on the State Plan Policy Map (SPPM) as the Metropolitan Planning Area (PA1),
Designated Centers, Cores or Nodes;
(2) Designated as
(3) Designated as Urban Enterprise Zones; and
(4) Designated
as Urban Coordinating Council Empowerment Neighborhoods.
“Waters of the State” means the ocean
and its estuaries, all springs, streams, wetlands, and bodies of surface or
ground water, whether natural or artificial, within the boundaries of the State
of New Jersey or subject to its jurisdiction.
“Wetlands” or “wetland” means an area
that is inundated or saturated by surface water or ground water at a frequency
and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances does
support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated
soil conditions, commonly known as hydrophytic vegetation.
Section
3: General Standards
A. Design
and Performance Standards for Stormwater Management Measures
1. Stormwater
management measures for major development shall be developed to meet the
erosion control, groundwater recharge, stormwater runoff quantity, and
stormwater runoff quality standards in Section 4. To the maximum extent practicable,
these standards shall be met by incorporating nonstructural stormwater
management strategies into the design. If these strategies alone are not
sufficient to meet these standards, structural stormwater management measures
necessary to meet these standards shall be incorporated into the design.
2. The
standards in this ordinance apply only to new major development and are
intended to minimize the impact of stormwater runoff on water quality and water
quantity in receiving water bodies and maintain groundwater recharge. The
standards do not apply to new major development to the extent that alternative
design and performance standards are applicable under a regional stormwater
management plan or Water Quality Management Plan adopted in accordance with Department
rules.
Section 4: Stormwater Management Requirements for Major Development
A. The
development shall incorporate a maintenance plan for the stormwater management
measures incorporated into the design of a major development in accordance with
Section 10.
B. Stormwater
management measures shall avoid adverse impacts of concentrated flow on habitat
for threatened and endangered species as documented in the Department Landscape
Project or Natural Heritage Database established under N.J.S.A. 13:1B-15.147
through 15.150, particularly Helonias
bullata (swamp pink) and/or Clemmys
muhlnebergi (bog turtle).
C. The
following linear development projects are exempt from the groundwater recharge,
stormwater runoff quantity, and stormwater runoff quality requirements of
Sections 4.F and 4.G:
1. The
construction of an underground utility line provided that the disturbed areas
are revegetated upon completion;
2. The
construction of an aboveground utility line provided that the existing
conditions are maintained to the maximum extent practicable; and
3. The
construction of a public pedestrian access, such as a sidewalk or trail with a
maximum width of 14 feet, provided that the access is made of permeable
material.
D. A
waiver from strict compliance from the groundwater recharge, stormwater runoff
quantity, and stormwater runoff quality requirements of Sections 4.F and 4.G
may be obtained for the enlargement of an existing public roadway or railroad;
or the construction or enlargement of a public pedestrian access, provided that
the following conditions are met:
1. The
applicant demonstrates that there is a public need for the project that cannot
be accomplished by any other means;
2. The
applicant demonstrates through an alternative analysis, that through the use of
nonstructural and structural stormwater management strategies and measures, the
option selected complies with the requirements of Sections 4.F and 4.G to the
maximum extent practicable;
3. The
applicant demonstrates that, in order to meet the requirements of Sections 4.F
and 4.G, existing structures currently in use, such as homes and buildings,
would need to be condemned; and
4. The
applicant demonstrates that it does not own or have other rights to areas,
including the potential to obtain through condemnation lands not falling under
D.3 above within the upstream drainage area of the receiving stream, that would
provide additional opportunities to mitigate the requirements of Sections 4.F
and 4.G that were not achievable on-site.
E. Nonstructural Stormwater Management
Strategies
1. To
the maximum extent practicable, the standards in Sections 4.F and 4.G shall be
met by incorporating nonstructural stormwater management strategies set forth
at Section 4.E into the design. The applicant shall identify the nonstructural
measures incorporated into the design of the project. If the applicant contends
that it is not feasible for engineering, environmental, or safety reasons to
incorporate any nonstructural stormwater management measures identified in
Paragraph 2 below into the design of a particular project, the applicant shall
identify the strategy considered and provide a basis for the contention.
2. Nonstructural
stormwater management strategies incorporated into site design shall:
a. Protect
areas that provide water quality benefits or areas particularly susceptible to
erosion and sediment loss;
b. Minimize
impervious surfaces and break up or disconnect the flow of runoff over
impervious surfaces;
c. Maximize
the protection of natural drainage features and vegetation;
d. Minimize
the decrease in the "time of concentration” from pre-construction to post
construction. "Time of concentration" is defined as the time it takes
for runoff to travel from the hydraulically most distant point of the watershed
to the point of interest within a watershed;
e. Minimize land disturbance including clearing and grading;
f. Minimize soil compaction;
g. Provide
low-maintenance landscaping that encourages retention and planting of native
vegetation and minimizes the use of lawns, fertilizers and pesticides;
h. Provide
vegetated open-channel conveyance systems discharging into and through stable
vegetated areas;
i. Provide
other source controls to prevent or minimize the use or exposure of pollutants
at the site, in order to prevent or minimize the release of those pollutants
into stormwater runoff. Such source controls include, but are not limited to:
(1) Site design features that help to prevent
accumulation of trash and debris in drainage systems, including features that
satisfy Section 4.E.3. below;
(2) Site design features that help to prevent
discharge of trash and debris from drainage systems;
(3) Site
design features that help to prevent and/or contain spills or other harmful
accumulations of pollutants at industrial or commercial developments; and
(4)
When
establishing vegetation after land disturbance, applying fertilizer in
accordance with the requirements established under the Soil Erosion and
Sediment Control Act, N.J.S.A. 4:24-39 et seq., and implementing rules.
3. Site
design features identified under Section 4.E.2.i.(2) above shall comply with
the following standard to control passage of solid and floatable materials
through storm drain inlets. For purposes of this paragraph, “solid and
floatable materials” means sediment, debris, trash, and other floating,
suspended, or settleable solids. For exemptions to this standard see Section
4.E.3.c below.
a. Design
engineers shall use either of the following grates whenever they use a grate in
pavement or another ground surface to collect stormwater from that surface into
a storm drain or surface water body under that grate:
(1) The New Jersey Department of Transportation
(NJDOT) bicycle safe grate, which is described in Chapter 2.4 of the NJDOT
Bicycle Compatible Roadways and Bikeways Planning and Design Guidelines (April
1996); or
(2) A different grate, if each individual clear
space in that grate has an area of no more than seven (7.0) square inches, or
is no greater than 0.5 inches across the smallest dimension.
Examples
of grates subject to this standard include grates in grate inlets, the grate
portion (non-curb-opening portion) of combination inlets, grates on storm sewer
manholes, ditch grates, trench grates, and grates of spacer bars in slotted
drains. Examples of ground surfaces include surfaces of roads (including
bridges), driveways, parking areas, bikeways, plazas, sidewalks, lawns, fields,
open channels, and stormwater basin floors.
b. Whenever
design engineers use a curb-opening inlet, the clear space in that curb opening
(or each individual clear space, if the curb opening has two or more clear
spaces) shall have an area of no more than seven (7.0) square inches, or be no
greater than two (2.0) inches across the smallest dimension.
c. This
standard does not apply:
(1) Where the review agency determines that this
standard would cause inadequate hydraulic performance that could not
practicably be overcome by using additional or larger storm drain inlets that
meet these standards;
(2) Where flows from the water quality design
storm as specified in Section 4.G.1 are conveyed through any device (e.g., end
of pipe netting facility, manufactured treatment device, or a catch basin hood)
that is designed, at a minimum, to prevent delivery of all solid and floatable
materials that could not pass through one of the following:
(a) A
rectangular space four and five-eighths inches long and one and one-half inches
wide (this option does not apply for outfall netting facilities); or
(b) A
bar screen having a bar spacing of 0.5 inches.
(3) Where flows are conveyed through a trash rack
that has parallel bars with one-inch (1”) spacing between the bars, to the
elevation of the water quality design storm as specified in Section 4.G.1; or
(4) Where the New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection determines, pursuant to the New Jersey Register of
Historic Places Rules at N.J.A.C. 7:4-7.2(c), that action to meet this standard
is an undertaking that constitutes an encroachment or will damage or destroy
the New Jersey Register listed historic property.
4. Any
land area used as a nonstructural stormwater management measure to meet the
performance standards in Sections 4.F and 4.G shall meet one of the following
requirements:
a)
Be
dedicated to a government agency as approved by the appropriate reviewing
agency, or
b)
Subjected
to a conservation restriction filed with the appropriate
c)
Subjected
to an approved equivalent restriction that ensures that measure or an
equivalent stormwater management measure approved by the reviewing agency is
maintained in perpetuity.
5. Guidance for nonstructural stormwater
management strategies is available in the New Jersey Stormwater Best Management
Practices Manual. The BMP Manual may be obtained from the address identified in
Section 7, or found on the Department’s website at www.njstormwater.org.
F. Erosion
Control, Groundwater Recharge and Runoff Quantity Standards
1. This
subsection contains minimum design and performance standards to control
erosion, encourage and control infiltration and groundwater recharge, and
control stormwater runoff quantity impacts of major development.
a. The
minimum design and performance standards for erosion control are those
established under the Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Act, N.J.S.A. 4:24-39
et seq. and implementing rules.
b. The
minimum design and performance standards for groundwater recharge are as
follows:
(1) The design engineer shall, using the
assumptions and factors for stormwater runoff and groundwater recharge
calculations at Section 5, either:
(a) Demonstrate
through hydrologic and hydraulic analysis that the site and its stormwater
management measures maintain 100 percent of the average annual pre-construction
groundwater recharge volume for the site; or
(b) Demonstrate
through hydrologic and hydraulic analysis that the increase of stormwater
runoff volume from pre-construction to post-construction for the 2-year storm
is infiltrated.
(2) This
groundwater recharge requirement does not apply to projects within the “urban
redevelopment area,” or to projects subject to (3) below.
(3) The
following types of stormwater shall not be recharged:
(a) Stormwater
from areas of high pollutant loading. High pollutant loading areas are areas in
industrial and commercial developments where solvents and/or petroleum products
are loaded/unloaded, stored, or applied, areas where pesticides are
loaded/unloaded or stored; areas where hazardous materials are expected to be
present in greater than “reportable quantities” as defined by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at 40 CFR 302.4; areas where recharge
would be inconsistent with Department approved remedial action work plan or
landfill closure plan and areas with high risks for spills of toxic materials,
such as gas stations and vehicle maintenance facilities; and
(b) Industrial
stormwater exposed to “source material.” “Source material” means any
material(s) or machinery, located at an industrial facility, that is directly
or indirectly related to process, manufacturing or other industrial activities,
which could be a source of pollutants in any industrial stormwater discharge to
groundwater. Source materials include, but are not limited to, raw materials; intermediate
products; final products; waste materials; by-products; industrial machinery
and fuels, and lubricants, solvents, and detergents that are related to
process, manufacturing, or other industrial activities that are exposed to
stormwater.
(4) The design engineer shall assess the hydraulic
impact on the groundwater table and design the site so as to avoid adverse
hydraulic impacts. Potential adverse hydraulic impacts include, but are not
limited to, exacerbating a naturally or seasonally high water table so as to
cause surficial ponding, flooding of basements, or interference with the proper
operation of subsurface sewage disposal systems and other subsurface structures
in the vicinity or down gradient of the groundwater recharge area.
c. In
order to control stormwater runoff quantity impacts, the design engineer shall,
using the assumptions and factors for stormwater runoff calculations at Section
5, complete one of the following:
(1) Demonstrate through hydrologic and hydraulic
analysis that for stormwater leaving the site, post-construction runoff
hydrographs for the two, 10, and 100-year storm events do not exceed, at any
point in time, the pre-construction runoff hydrographs for the same storm
events;
(2) Demonstrate through hydrologic and hydraulic
analysis that there is no increase, as compared to the pre-construction
condition, in the peak runoff rates of stormwater leaving the site for the two,
10, and 100-year storm events and that the increased volume or change in timing
of stormwater runoff will not increase flood damage at or downstream of the
site. This analysis shall include the analysis of impacts of existing land uses
and projected land uses assuming full development under existing zoning and
land use ordinances in the drainage area;
(3) Design stormwater management measures so that
the post-construction peak runoff rates for the 2, 10 and 100 year storm events
are 50, 75 and 80 percent, respectively, of the pre-construction peak runoff
rates. The percentages apply only to the post-construction stormwater runoff
that is attributable to the portion of the site on which the proposed
development or project is to be constructed. The percentages shall not be
applied to post-construction stormwater runoff into tidal flood hazard areas if
the increased volume of stormwater runoff will not increase flood damages below
the point of discharge; or
(4) In tidal flood hazard areas, stormwater runoff
quantity analysis in accordance with (1), (2) and (3) above shall only be
applied if the increased volume of stormwater runoff could increase flood
damages below the point of discharge.
2. Any
application for a new agricultural development that meets the definition of
major development at Section 2 shall be submitted to the appropriate Soil
Conservation District for review and approval in accordance with the
requirements of this section and any applicable Soil Conservation District
guidelines for stormwater runoff quantity and erosion control. For the purposes
of this section, “agricultural development” means land uses normally associated
with the production of food, fiber and livestock for sale. Such uses do not
include the development of land for the processing or sale of food and the
manufacturing of agriculturally related products.
G. Stormwater
Runoff Quality Standards
1. Stormwater management measures shall be
designed to reduce the post-construction load of total suspended solids (TSS)
in stormwater runoff by 80 percent of the anticipated load from the developed
site, expressed as an annual average. Stormwater management measures shall only
be required for water quality control if an additional 1/4 acre of impervious
surface is being proposed on a development site. The requirement to reduce TSS
does not apply to any stormwater runoff in a discharge regulated under a
numeric effluent limitation for TSS imposed under the New Jersey Pollution
Discharge Elimination System (NJPDES) rules, N.J.A.C. 7:14A, or in a discharge
specifically exempt under a NJPDES permit from this requirement. The water
quality design storm is 1.25 inches of rainfall in two hours. Water quality
calculations shall take into account the distribution of rain from the water
quality design storm, as reflected in Table 1. The calculation of the volume of
runoff may take into account the implementation of non-structural and
structural stormwater management measures.
Table 1:
Water Quality Design Storm Distribution |
|||
|
Time |
Cumulative |
Time |
Cumulative |
|
0 |
0.0000 |
65 |
0.8917 |
|
5 |
0.0083 |
70 |
0.9917 |
|
10 |
0.0166 |
75 |
1.0500 |
|
15 |
0.0250 |
80 |
1.0840 |
|
20 |
0.0500 |
85 |
1.1170 |
|
25 |
0.0750 |
90 |
1.1500 |
|
30 |
0.1000 |
95 |
1.1750 |
|
35 |
0.1330 |
100 |
1.2000 |
|
40 |
0.1660 |
||