Page 457 - Fair, Geyer, and Okun's Water and wastewater engineering : water supply and wastewater removal

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12.5 Urban Runoff Control Practices 415
Zoning. Most communities have residential, commercial, industrial, and other zoning
districts that specify the types of development allowed and dictate requirements, including
the following:
1. Specifying the density and type of development allowed in a given area, thereby
maintaining pervious areas
2. Controlling acreage requirements for certain land uses and associated setback,
buffer, and lot coverage requirements
3. Directly and indirectly affecting the types of materials that can be stored or used on
sites
4. Not allowing potentially damaging uses (e.g., underground chemical storage or
pesticide application) in sensitive watersheds.

Subdivision Regulations. Subdivision review deals with land that is divided into sepa-
rately owned parcels for residential development. Municipalities have the authority to re-
view the plans for such subdivisions and to restrict development options via requirements
for drainage, grading, and erosion control, as well as provisions for buffer areas, open
spaces, and maintenance. Through this review, municipalities can ensure that proper prac-
tices are designed into the development.

Site Plan Review. Site plan review ensures compliance with zoning, environmental,
health, and safety requirements. Municipalities can require developers to consider how
construction activities will affect drainage on site and to design plans for reducing urban
runoff pollution problems. Developers usually are required to submit information to a
municipality on the natural drainage characteristics of the site, plans for erosion control,
retention and protection of wetlands and water resources, and disposal of construction-
related wastes.

Natural Resource Protection. Municipalities can also protect water resources by pro-
tecting lands, such as floodplains, wetlands, stream buffers, steep slopes, and wellhead
areas. By use of resource overlay zones that restrict high pollution activities in these
areas, development can be controlled and the potential for urban runoff pollution can be
reduced.

12.5.1.5 Comprehensive Runoff Control Regulations In addition to strengthening and
broadening existing local regulatory control practices, states and municipalities can im-
plement runoff pollution control through comprehensive regulations. Although still rela-
tively rare, comprehensive plans to address urban runoff pollution exist in various states
and communities. They are designed to fully address urban runoff pollution problems by
identifying specific land use categories and water resources that deserve special attention,
and outlining methods for implementing source control and structural BMPs. While the
form that these comprehensive regulations take is very specific to the needs of a state or
community, reviewing the regulatory approaches that have been tried by others is useful
in developing options.

12.5.1.6 Land Acquisition To protect valuable resources from the effects of develop-
ment, municipalities can purchase land within the watershed to control land develop-
ment. Municipalities can acquire land to convert to parks or to maintain as open space;
this approach, however, can be very expensive.