Town Of Milford: Stormwater Management Ordinance Discussed

Press release from the Town of Milford:

Over the next few weeks, the Board of Selectmen will be holding public hearings to consider replacing Town’s current stormwater ordinance, Milford Municipal Code, entitled Title 5 Health & Safety, Chapter 5.32 Stormwater Management and Erosion Control, with a new and updated stormwater ordinance, Chapter 5.32 Stormwater Management Ordinance, in compliance with the Town’s EPA-issued small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Permit.

Like 44 other municipalities in New Hampshire, the town of Milford’s stormwater discharges to the environment are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Water Act through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). One key Clean Water Act requirement is that Milford has an EPA-issued small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Permit. The Town’s current MS4 permit was issued in July 2018 and the Town received an Authorization to Discharge from EPA Region 1 on May 2019.

Among numerous other requirements, the current MS4 permit requires the town to review its stormwater management regulations to ensure those regulations incorporate appropriate stormwater retention and treatment requirements for new development and redevelopment occurring within the town. The technical requirements for stormwater retention and treatment are detailed in the MS4 permit itself and in state stormwater control handbooks and Best Management Practices.

The town’s current stormwater regulations were adopted in 2007 and do not meet the current technical requirements for stormwater retention and treatment. The 2007 regulations also include outdated references to expected precipitation values and do not require design for severe precipitation events commonly used by the state and other communities (a so-called “50- year storm”).With the assistance of the Town’s engineering consultant, the Town’s Office of Community Development, Planning Board, and Conservation Commission have cooperatively developed draft stormwater regulations to address the MS4 permit requirements and these other issues. Their efforts started with a model regulation developed by a coalition of towns and cities in the Manchester and Nashua area (the New Hampshire Lower Merrimack Valley Stormwater Coalition) to meet the 2018 MS4 permit requirements. Appropriate stormwater requirements from the current regulations were incorporated into that draft after updating references and design standards. The attached proposed regulations are the result of those efforts.(See attached draft Stormwater Ordinance)The Stormwater Ordinance would impact/apply to developments that disturb 20,000 square feet or larger. Larger development projects (those disturbing more than 100,000 square feet (just over two acres) are already subject to extensive stormwater controls under the NHDES’s Alteration of Terrain Permit Program Rules. Projects disturbing an acre or more of land are required to comply with the federal EPA NPDES Construction General Permit (CGP). The proposed stormwater regulations rely largely on the same calculations, technical requirements, and stormwater control methods that are already used under the state rules and federal program, which should reduce the need for applicants to perform different or duplicative analyses, or to use different control methods, to comply with the Town's proposed regulations.The next public hearing will occur on July 11th at the next scheduled Board of Selectmen’s meeting. Please contact Lincoln Daley, Community Development Director at ldaley@milford.nh.gov or 603-249-0620 with any additional questions.

This press release was produced by the Town of Milford. The views expressed here are the author’s own.