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2009 SESSION


CHAPTER 709
An Act to amend and reenact § 10.1-603.4 of the Code of Virginia, relating to stormwater regulations.
[S 1114]
Approved March 30, 2009

 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 10.1-603.4 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 10.1-603.4. Development of regulations.

The Board is authorized to adopt regulations that specify minimum technical criteria and administrative procedures for stormwater management programs in Virginia. The regulations shall:

1. Establish standards and procedures for delegating the authority for administering a stormwater management program to localities;

2. Establish minimum design criteria for measures to control nonpoint source pollution and localized flooding, and incorporate the stormwater management regulations adopted pursuant to the Virginia Erosion and Sediment Control Law (§ 10.1-560 et seq.), as they relate to the prevention of stream channel erosion. These criteria shall be periodically modified as required in order to reflect current engineering methods;

3. Require the provision of long-term responsibility for and maintenance of stormwater management control devices and other techniques specified to manage the quality and quantity of runoff;

4. Require as a minimum the inclusion in local programs of certain administrative procedures which include, but are not limited to, specifying the time period within which a local government that has adopted a stormwater management program must grant permit approval, the conditions under which approval shall be granted, the procedures for communicating disapproval, the conditions under which an approved permit may be changed and requirements for inspection of approved projects;

5. Establish, with the concurrence of the Director, a statewide permit fee schedule for stormwater management related to land disturbing activities of one acre or greater. The fee schedule shall also include a provision for a reduced fee for land disturbing activities between 2,500 square feet and up to 1 acre in Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act (§ 10.1-2100 et seq.) localities. The regulations shall be governed by the following:

a. The revenue generated from the statewide stormwater permit fee shall be collected and remitted to the State Treasurer for deposit in the Virginia Stormwater Management Fund established pursuant to § 10.1-603.4:1. However, whenever the Board has delegated a stormwater management program to a locality or is required to do so under this article, no more than 30 percent of the total revenue generated by the statewide stormwater permit fees collected within the locality shall be remitted to the State Treasurer, for deposit in the Virginia Stormwater Management Fund.

b. Fees collected pursuant to this section shall be in addition to any general fund appropriation made to the Department; however, the fees shall be set at a level sufficient for the Department to carry out its responsibilities under this article;

6. Establish statewide standards for stormwater management from land disturbing activities of one acre or greater, except as specified otherwise within this article, and allow for the consolidation in the permit of a comprehensive approach to addressing stormwater management and erosion and sediment control, consistent with the provisions of the Erosion and Sediment Control Law (§ 10.1-560 et seq.) and this article. However, such standards shall also apply to land disturbing activity exceeding an area of 2500 square feet in all areas of the jurisdictions designated as subject to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Designation and Management Regulations (9 VAC 10-20 et seq.) adopted pursuant to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act (§ 10.1-2100 et seq.);

7. Require that stormwater management programs maintain after-development runoff rate of flow and characteristics that replicate, as nearly as practicable, the existing predevelopment runoff characteristics and site hydrology, or improve upon the contributing share of the existing predevelopment runoff characteristics and site hydrology if stream channel erosion or localized flooding is an existing predevelopment condition. Any land-disturbing activity that provides for stormwater management shall satisfy the conditions of this subsection if the practices are designed to (i) detain the water quality volume and to release it over 48 hours; (ii) detain and release over a 24-hour period the expected rainfall resulting from the one year, 24-hour storm; and (iii) reduce the allowable peak flow rate resulting from the 1.5, 2, and 10-year, 24-hour storms to a level that is less than or equal to the peak flow rate from the site assuming it was in a good forested condition, achieved through multiplication of the forested peak flow rate by a reduction factor that is equal to the runoff volume from the site when it was in a good forested condition divided by the runoff volume from the site in its proposed condition, and shall be exempt from any flow rate capacity and velocity requirements for natural or man-made channels as defined in any regulations promulgated pursuant to this section, or any ordinances adopted pursuant to § 10.1-603.3 or 10.1-603.7;

8. Encourage low impact development designs, regional and watershed approaches, and nonstructural means for controlling stormwater;

9. Promote the reclamation and reuse of stormwater for uses other than potable water in order to protect state waters and the public health and to minimize the direct discharge of pollutants into state waters; and

10. Establish, with the concurrence of the Director, a statewide permit fee schedule for stormwater management related to municipal separate storm sewer system permits; and

11. Provide for the evaluation and potential inclusion of emerging or innovative stormwater control technologies that may prove effective in reducing nonpoint source pollution.