City of Bloomington
The City of Bloomington has enacted a Stormwater Ordinance in order to provide for the health, safety, and general welfare of the citizens of the city through the regulation of stormwater discharges to the storm drainage system to the maximum extent practicable as required by federal and state law. The City of Bloomington is the permitting authority for all land disturbing activities and requires the land owner to maintain all on-site stormwater control facilities and all open space areas (e.g. parks or “green” areas) required by the approved stormwater control plan. The City of Bloomington will only provide construction permits to projects that establish a plan to manage stormwater runoff occurring during the construction process. The City of Bloomington, under the NPDES program, also has the authority to inspect properties for noncompliance and can issue a notice of violation (NOV) for any deficiency or infraction onsite. Property owners are responsible for the maintenance of any stormwater facilities or practices located on the property. The City of Bloomington has the authority to inspect stormwater facilities and practices in order to ascertain that they properly maintained and functioning.
Excerpt from Code of Ordinance
10.08.045 – Rates—Stormwater utility users.
(a) The rates and charges of the stormwater utility shall be as follows:
The stormwater system user fee is applicable to all utility customers with accounts within the stormwater service area. All customers classified by the utility as being single-family residential (SFR) shall pay a monthly SFR base charge. All non SFR customers shall be charged based upon the amount of runoff generated by the customer or the monthly SFR base charge, whichever is greater. The amount of runoff subject to the stormwater utility rate for all Non SFR customers shall be determined by a calculation based upon the following formula, minus any credits, as approved by the utilities service board:
The monthly SFR base charge shall be $7.50.
(b) These rates and charges shall be billed monthly, and all provisions of the Indiana Code, the Bloomington Municipal Code and the city utilities department “Rules, Regulations and Standards of Service” which apply to the payment and collection of rates and charges for wastewater services shall apply equally to the rates and charges for stormwater utilities services.
10.21.110 – Post-construction controls for new development or redevelopment.
On areas that undergo new development or redevelopment, site construction resulting in disturbance of one acre or more total land area, post-construction control measures in the form of structural and/or non-structural best management practices are required. Specifically, post-construction stormwater pollutant loading should not exceed pre-construction pollutant loading. Pre-construction refers to the site immediately before the planned land disturbance and development activities occur. Pre-construction is not intended to be interpreted as that period before any human-induced land disturbance activity has occurred. Post-construction pollutant loadings will be controlled through the six minimum control measures under the city’s stormwater NPDES permit. Post-construction stormwater best management practices (BMPs) shall follow the Indiana Storm Water Quality Manual as a guidance document. The city shall have full technical and administrative approval authority on the application and design of all post-construction BMPs, conditions, definitions, and submittal requirements of construction plans and specifications and other related documents. The minimum measures are implemented to meet the terms defined in 327 IAC 15-5-6.5(a)(8) which are enumerated below.
The post-construction stormwater pollution prevention plan (SWP3). The SWP3 must include the following information:
(a) A description of potential pollutant sources from the proposed land use that may reasonably be expected to add a significant amount of pollutants to stormwater discharges.
(b) Location, dimensions, detailed specifications, and construction details of all post-construction stormwater quality measures.
(c) A description of measures that will be installed to control pollutants in stormwater discharges that will occur after construction activities have been completed. Such practices include infiltration of run-off, flow reduction by use of open vegetated swales and natural depressions, buffer strip and riparian zone preservation, filter strip creation, minimization of land disturbance and surface imperviousness, maximization of open space, and stormwater retention and detention ponds.
(d) A sequence describing when each post-construction stormwater quality measure will be installed.
(e) Stormwater quality measures that will remove or minimize pollutants from stormwater run-off.
(f) Stormwater quality measures that will be implemented to prevent or minimize adverse impacts to stream and riparian habitat.
(g) A narrative description of the maintenance guidelines for all post-construction stormwater quality measures to facilitate their proper long term function. This narrative BMP description shall be made available to future parties who will assume responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the post-construction stormwater quality measures.
10.21.120 – Enforcement.
Enforcement of this chapter shall be subject to the severity of the infraction and the construction site operator’s efforts to comply. The city shall reserve the right to interpret enforcement on a case by case basis. Tiered enforcement will be practiced at the mayor’s discretion. The tiered enforcement may include:
(a) Verbal warning to the construction site operator to make corrections.
(b) Written warning to the construction site operator to make corrections within a specified period of time. The period of time shall take into account issues such as the severity of the problem, pending weather, seasonal conditions, and the level of effort necessary to correct the problem.
(c) Warning of noncompliance with directions to the construction site operator that site conditions require immediate action.
(d) Stop Work Order. If abatement of a violation and/or restoration of affected property is required, the notice shall set forth a deadline within which such remediation or restoration must be completed. Said notice shall further advise that, should the violator fail to remediate or restore within the established deadline, the work will be done by a designated governmental agency or a contractor and the expense thereof shall be charged to the violator.
LINKS:
City of Bloomington Code of Ordinance
City of Bloomington Stormwater Website
Indiana Stormwater Quality Manual
