Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
management programs, because of this lack of a state law or regulation for
stormwater management. The recent (2005)
Best Management Practices Manual
[5] and the related model ordinance are intended to provide that guidance but
have yet to find full acceptance by local government throughout the state.
Given the many different development contexts and physical site constraints in
Pennsylvania, it is reasonable to ask how we can regulate the development pro-
cess to mitigate or prevent the resulting stormwater impacts. What performance
standards do we set for the design of a proposed development site, including
water quality, peak rate control and flood prevention, infiltration and groundwater
recharge, and stream conservation and protection? How many best management
practices need to be included? How large do they need to be? What level of per-
formance should be achieved? In the simplest of terms, what standards should
guide stormwater management planning in Pennsylvania communities? And per-
haps most important, how do we link the land development process with these
measures?
Both land developers and public officials must grapple with this essential issue
of land management standards as municipal management programs and regula-
tions are put in place. Because of the variability of Pennsylvania communities,
standards have taken the form of ranges of values in some cases, reflecting natu-
ral system variability, as well as the vast differences between the nearly pristine
watersheds and highly urbanized and degraded drainage areas that exist in Penn-
sylvania. In all cases, municipalities are encouraged to strive to enact the most
rigorous management programs possible, even as issues of economic feasibility
are taken into account and kept in balance. Even where Act 167 watershed plans
or river conservation plans have been developed and adopted, individual munic-
ipalities should look to their watershed neighbors and strive to integrate their
individual municipal actions with the watershed system whole.
California Land Use Law
While the government of California took form a century after that of Pennsylva-
nia, the concept of leaving land use decisions to local government units still held,
and the state does not retain control over most land decisions, although many
policies have indirect influence. In 2008, Richard Watson, a professional planner
working on the draft of the LID manual for southern California, summarized the
system of land use management in California:
[T]he cornerstone of the California planning process is the general plan. According
to Thomas Kent, in his text
The Urban General Plan
[6], a general plan is “the
official statement of a municipal legislative body which sets forth its major policies
concerning desirable future physical development.” The general plan process is
defined by Government Code Sections 65000-66037, which delegate most local
land use decisions to individual cities and counties across the state. Each county
and incorporated city is required to adopt “a comprehensive long term general plan
for physical development.”
Search WWH ::
Custom Search