|
ARTICLE
III. DISTRICTS
DIVISION 7. OVERLAY DISTRICTS
Sec. 24.1-376. WMP-Watershed management and
protection area overlay district.
(a) Statement of intent. In
accordance with the objectives of the comprehensive plan, the Watershed Management and
Protection Area Overlay regulations are intended to ensure the protection of watersheds
surrounding current or potential public water supply reservoirs. The establishment of
these regulations is intended to prevent the causes of degradation of the water supply
reservoir as a result of the operation or the accidental malfunctioning of the use of land
or its appurtenances within the drainage area of such water sources.
(b) Applicability. The special provisions established in this section
shall apply to the following areas:
(1) Areas designated on the Watershed management and protection area
overlay district map, dated May 15, 1991, and made a part of this chapter by reference.
(See Map III-2 in Appendix A)
(2) Such other areas as may be determined by the zoning administrator
through drainage, groundwater and soils analyses conducted by the department of
environmental and development services to be essential to protection of such existing or
potential reservoirs from the effects of pollution or sedimentation.
(c) For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have
the following meanings:
Bulk storage. Storage equal to or exceeding 660 gallons [2500L] in a
single above-ground container
Development. Any construction, external repair, land disturbing
activity, grading, road building, pipe laying, or other activity resulting in a change in
the physical character of any parcel or land.
Reservoir. Any impoundment of surface waters designed to provide
drinking water to the public.
Tributary stream. Any perennial or intermittent stream, including any
lake, pond or other body of water formed therefrom, flowing either directly or indirectly
into any reservoir. Intermittent streams shall be those identified as such on the most
recently published United States Geological Survey Quadrangle Map, or the Soil
Conservation Service Soil Survey of James City and York Counties and the City of
Williamsburg, Virginia, or as determined and verified upon field investigation approved by
the zoning administrator.
Watershed. Any area lying within the drainage basin of any reservoir.
(d) Use regulations. Permitted uses, special permit uses, accessory
uses, dimensional standards and special requirements shall be as established by the
underlying zoning district, unless specifically modified by the requirements set forth
herein.
The following uses shall be specifically prohibited within the WMP
areas:
(1) Storage or production of hazardous wastes as defined in either or
both of the following:
a. Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act of 1986; and
b. Identification and Listing of Hazardous Wastes, 40 C.F.R. §261
(1987).
(2) Land applications of industrial wastes.
(e) Special requirements.
(1) Except in the case of property proposed for construction of an
individual single-family residential dwelling unit, any development proposal, including
the subdivision of land, in WMP areas shall be accompanied by an impact study prepared in
accordance with the requirements set forth in subsection (f) below.
(2) A two hundred foot
(200') [60m] wide buffer strip shall be maintained along the edge of any tributary stream
or reservoir. The required setback distance shall be measured from the centerline of such
tributary stream and from the mean high water level of such reservoir. Such buffer strip
shall be maintained in its natural state or shall be planted with an erosion resistant
vegetative cover. In the case of tributary streams located upstream from a stormwater
management facility designed to provide water quality protection, no buffer shall be
required if such facility has been designed to accommodate and manage the quality of
runoff from the subject site.
The zoning administrator may authorize a reduction in the two hundred
foot (200') [60m] wide buffer down to an absolute minimum of fifty feet (50') [15m] upon
presentation of an impact study, as defined herein, which provides documentation and
justification, to the satisfaction of the zoning administrator, that even with the
reduction, the same or a greater degree of water quality protection would be afforded as
would be with the full-width buffer. In granting such authorization, the zoning
administrator may require such additional erosion control and runoff control measures as
deemed necessary.
Except as provided below, all development shall be located outside of
the required buffer strip.
a. The buffer strip requirement shall not apply to development which is
appurtenant to the production, supply, distribution or storage of water by a public water
supplier.
b. Encroachment into or through the required buffer by roads, main-line
utilities, or stormwater management structures may be permitted by the zoning
administrator provided the following performance standards are met:
1. Road and main-line utility crossings will be limited to the shortest
path possible and that which causes the least amount of land disturbance and alteration to
the hydrology of the watershed.
2. Stormwater management facilities located within the buffer must be
designed to be a part of a watershed stormwater management program.
3. No more land shall be disturbed than is necessary.
4. Indigenous vegetation shall be preserved to the maximum extent
possible.
5. Wherever possible, disturbed areas shall be planted with trees and
shrubs.
6. The post-development non-point source pollutant loading rate shall
be no greater than ninety percent (90%) of the pre-development pollutant loading rate.
7. Non-essential elements of the road or utility project, as determined
by the zoning administrator, shall be excluded from the buffer.
c. When the property where an encroachment is proposed is owned by the
entity owning and operating the water supply reservoir being protected, and such entity
specifically and in writing authorizes and approves the encroachment, it shall be allowed.
(3) In the case of permitted
non-residential uses within the WMP areas, performance assurances shall be provided to
guarantee that all runoff control and reservoir protection measures proposed in the impact
study shall be constructed, operated and maintained so as to meet the performance criteria
set forth in the study. The form of agreement and type of letter of credit or other surety
shall be approved by the county attorney. The amount of the letter of credit or other
surety and designated length of completion time shall be set by the zoning administrator.
(4) The following uses shall not be permitted within the buffer strip
required above or within five hundred feet (500') [150m] of the required buffer strip:
a. septic tanks and drainfields;
b. feed lots or other livestock impoundments;
c.
trash containers and dumpsters which are not under roof or which are located so that
leachate from the receptacle could escape unfiltered and untreated;
d. fuel storage in excess of fifty (50)
gallons [200L];
e. sanitary landfills;
f. activities involving the manufacture, bulk storage or any type of
distribution of petroleum, chemical or asphalt products or any materials hazardous to a
water supply (as defined in the Hazardous Materials Spills Emergency Handbook, American
Waterworks Association, 1975, as revised) including specifically the following general
classes of materials:
1. oil and oil products;
2. radioactive materials;
3. any material transported in large commercial quantities (such as in
55-gallon [200L] drums), which is a very soluble acid or base, causes abnormal growth of
an organ or organism, or is highly biodegradable, exerting a severe oxygen demand;
4. biologically accumulative poisons;
5. the active ingredients of poisons that are or were ever registered
in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
Act, as amended (7 USC 135 et seq.); or
6. substances highly lethal to mammalian or aquatic life.
(f) Impact study.
(1) The impact study shall be performed or
reviewed by a registered professional engineer who shall certify that the study has been
conducted in accordance with good engineering practices. The study shall address, at a
minimum, the following topics:
a. Description of the proposed project
including location and extent of impervious surfaces; on-site processes or storage of
materials; the anticipated use of the land and buildings; description of the site
including topographic, hydrologic, and vegetative features.
b. Characteristics of
natural runoff on the site and projected runoff with the proposed project, including its
rate, and chemical composition including phosphorus concentration, nitrogen concentration,
suspended solids, and other chemical characteristics as deemed necessary by the zoning
administrator to make an adequate assessment of water quality.
c. Measures proposed to be employed to
reduce the rate of runoff and pollutant loading of runoff from the project area, both
during construction and after.
d. Proposed runoff control and reservoir protection measures for the
project and performance criteria proposed to assure an acceptable level and rate of runoff
quality. Such measures shall be consistent with accepted best management practices and
shall be designed with the objective of ensuring that the rate of surface water runoff
from the site does not exceed pre-development conditions and that the quality of such
runoff will not be less than pre-development conditions. Special emphasis shall be placed
on the impacts of proposed encroachments into the required buffer.
e. Proposed methods for complete containment of a spill or leaching of
any materials stored on the property which would or could cause contamination of drinking
water sources.
f. Where the developer of property which is subject to the terms of
this overlay district desires to utilize existing or planned off-site stormwater quality
management facilities, the developer shall provide a written certification to the zoning
administrator that the owner of the off-site facilities will accept the runoff and be
responsible for its treatment to a level of treatment acceptable to the county and
consistent with the requirements of this chapter.
(2) Such study shall be submitted to the
zoning administrator for review and approval concurrent with the submission of
applications for review and approval of site or subdivision plans or applications for land
disturbing or erosion and sediment control permits. A copy of the impact study shall also
be forwarded to the agency which owns or manages the subject watershed for review and
comments.
|