Vanderburgh County has enacted a Stormwater Drainage Control Ordinance in order to reduce or prevent flood hazard and damage, to protect and conserve resources, and to promote economic development. The City of Evansville/Vanderburgh County 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 Evansville/Vanderburgh County will only provide construction permits to projects that establish a plan to manage stormwater runoff occurring during the construction process. The City of Evansville/Vanderburgh County, 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 Evansville/Vanderburgh County has the authority to inspect stormwater facilities and practices in order to ascertain that they properly maintained and functioning.
The City of Evansville has created and adopted two ordinances to regulate illegal dumping, pollution originating from activity on construction sites as well as requirements for long term stormwater pollution control measures on all new development and redevelopment sites. An ordinance to regulate the pollution created by construction site run off and post development runoff and an ordinance to regulate the illegal discharge into our storm system of pollutants. The following links can be accessed to view the ordinances in their entirety.
The agency may establish requirements identifying BMPs for any activity, operation, or facility which may cause or contribute to pollution or contamination of the MS4. The person responsible for any such activity, operation or facility shall provide, at their own expense, reasonable protection from accidental discharge of prohibited materials or other wastes into the MS4 through the use of these structural and nonstructural BMPs. Any person responsible for a property or premises which is or may be the source of an illicit discharge or illicit connection may be required to implement, at said person’s expense, additional structural and nonstructural BMPs to prevent the further discharge of pollutants to the MS4.
(A) If any person owning or occupying premises is discovered to be in violation of this chapter, the agency or MS4 operator may serve upon said person a written notice of violation (NOV) by personal service or registered or certified mail and order the correction of any such violations. 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 contractor thereof and all direct and indirect expenses and costs thereof shall be charged to the violator. Within 15 days of the receipt of an NOV, or shorter period as may be prescribed in the NOV, the person served the NOV must submit to the agency or MS4 operator a written explanation of the violation and a plan for the satisfactory correction thereof. The plan shall include specific actions to correct the violation and restore any land areas adversely affected by the violation. Submission of the plan will not affect liability and violators will be subject to the same penalties set forth herein.
(B) The agency or the MS4 operator may, without prior notice, issue an order to suspend or terminate MS4 access to stop an actual or threatened illicit discharge. If the responsible person fails to comply with an order suspending or terminating access to the MS4, the agency or the MS4 operator may take any and all measures necessary to prevent or minimize damage to the MS4 and the violator shall be liable for all direct and indirect expenses and costs in addition to the penalties set forth herein.
Any person receiving a notice of violation from the agency may appeal in writing within five business days from the date of the notice of violation. The agency will hold a hearing on the appeal within 15 business days from the date of receipt of the notice of appeal and the decision of the agency shall be final.
If an appeal is denied by the agency, the responsible person shall correct the violation in accordance with the terms of the notice of violation and/or any modifications to the notice of violation as determined during the appeal hearing. In the event that the responsible person fails to correct the violation in accordance with the terms of the notice of violation and/or appeal hearing, the agency shall utilize all applicable provisions of this chapter to correct the violation and the responsible person will be assessed any and all related costs.
The agency may order the abatement of any illicit discharge from any source to the MS4 when, in the opinion of the agency, the discharge causes or threatens to cause a condition that presents an imminent danger to the public health, safety, or welfare of the citizens of the City or to the environment. If such emergency situations occur and the responsible person cannot be located, or time constraints are such that service of a notice and order to abate cannot be completed without presenting an immediate danger to the public health, safety, or welfare or to the environment, the City may undertake the abatement of said threat or danger and the violator shall be liable for all related abatement costs in addition to the penalties set forth herein.
Any person who violates any provision of this chapter or who has failed to comply with any provision of this chapter shall be subject to the penalties set forth in EMC 1.05.180.