The purpose of this Chapter is to protect, maintain, and enhance the public health, safety, and general welfare by establishing minimum requirements and procedures to control the adverse impacts associated with land disturbances. The goal is to minimize soil erosion and prevent off-site sedimentation by using soil erosion and sediment control practices designed in accordance with the applicable state law and regulations. Implementing this Chapter will help reduce the negative impacts of land development on water resources, maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of streams, and minimize damage to public and private property. This Chapter contains minimum erosion and sediment control requirements and does not limit or repeal any other powers granted to the County by State law.

In this Article, these words and phrases have the following meanings: Administration means the Maryland Department of the Environment Water Management Administration. Adverse impact means any deleterious effect on any water or wetland, including its quality, quantity, surface area, species composition, aesthetics, or usefulness for human or natural uses, which is, or may become, potentially harmful to human health, welfare, safety or property, biological productivity, diversity, or stability. Agricultural land management practice means a method or procedure used in the cultivation of land to further crop and livestock production and conservation of related soil and water resources. Agricultural land management practice does not include logging and timber removal operation. Applicant means any person, firm, or government agency that executes the necessary forms to apply for a permit or approval to construct a project. As-built plan means a record drawing or plan prepared and certified by a licensed professional engineer or land surveyor that represents the actual dimensions, contours, elevations, and other characteristics of a completed structure or facility. Best management practice means a structural device or nonstructural practice designed to temporarily store or treat stormwater runoff to mitigate flooding, reduce pollution, and provide other amenities. Clearing means the act of removing vegetative cover in a manner that does not disturb root mat or the existing soil surface. Concept plan means the first of 3 plans submitted under the comprehensive review and approval process required by state law and includes the information necessary to allow an initial evaluation of a proposed project. Department means the Department of Permitting Services. Director means the Director of the Department of Permitting Services or the Director’s designee. District means the Montgomery Soil Conservation District. Drainage area means the area contributing runoff to a single point measured in a horizontal plane that is enclosed by a ridge line. Environmental site design means the use of small-scale stormwater management practices, nonstructural techniques, and better site planning to mimic natural hydrologic runoff characteristics and minimize the impact of land development on water resources. Erosion means the process by which the ground surface is worn by the action of the wind, water, ice, gravity, or artificial means. Erosion and sediment control means a system of structural and vegetative measures that minimize soil erosion and off-site sedimentation. Erosion and sediment control plan means an erosion and sediment control strategy or plan designed to minimize erosion and off-site sedimentation. Excavating means any act by which soil, earth, sand, gravel, rock, or any similar material is cut into, dug, quarried, uncovered, removed, displaced, relocated, or bulldozed, and includes the conditions that result from that act. Filling means any act by which soil, earth, sand, gravel, rock, or any similar material is deposited, placed, pushed, pulled, or transported, and includes the conditions that result from that act. Final erosion and sediment control plan means, along with the final stormwater management plan, the last of 3 plans submitted under the comprehensive review and approval process required by state law. A final erosion and sediment control plan must be prepared and approved as required by the Department and this Chapter and designed under state Standards and Specifications. Finished grade means the final grade or elevation of the ground surface conforming to the approved grading plan. Grading mean an act by which soil is cleared, stripped, stockpiled, or any combination thereof. Grading unit means the maximum contiguous area allowed to be graded at a given time. For this Chapter, a grading unit is 20 acres or less. Highly erodible soil means soil with a slope greater than 15% or soil with a soil erodibility factor greater than 0.35 and with slopes greater than 5%. Inspection agency means the Administration or, if delegated enforcement authority, the Department. Land-disturbing activity means any earth movement and land changes which may result in soil erosion from water or wind or the movement of sediments into state waters or onto lands in the state, including tilling, clearing, grading, excavating, stripping, stockpiling, filling and related activities, and the covering of land surfaces with an impermeable material. Low-maintenance ground cover means vegetative ground cover that provides a thick, stabilizing root mat on slopes with a gradient between 3:1 and 2:1, and continues to provide that stabilization without requiring mowing or fertilization more than once each year. Maximum extent practicable means designing a stormwater management system so that all reasonable opportunities for using environmental site design planning techniques and treatment practices are exhausted and only where absolutely necessary is a structural best management practice implemented. Natural ground surface means the ground surface in its original state before grading, stripping, excavating or filling, or other land-disturbing activities. Owner/Developer means a person undertaking, or for whose benefit is undertaken, any activity covered by this Chapter. Owner/Developer does not include a general contractor or subcontractor who does not have a proprietary interest in a project. Permit means the sediment control permit issued by the Department authorizing land-disturbing activity under this Chapter. Permittee means any person to whom a permit is issued under this Chapter. Person means the federal government, the State, any county, municipality, or other political subdivision of the State, or any of their units, or an individual, receiver, trustee, guardian, executor, administrator, fiduciary, or representative of any kind, or any partnership, firm, association, public or private corporation, or any of their affiliates, or any other entity. Professional engineer means an engineer duly registered by the State to practice professional engineering under state law. Professional land surveyor means a person who is duly registered and licensed as such under state law. Responsible personnel means any foreman, superintendent, or project engineer who is in charge of on-site clearing and grading operations or the implementation and maintenance of an erosion and sediment control plan. Sediment means, soil, sand, stone, or other surface material transported or deposited by the action of wind, water, ice, or gravity. Site means any tract, lot, or parcel of land, or combination of tracts, lots, or parcels of land that are contiguous and in one ownership, or contiguous and in diverse ownership, where development is to be performed as part of a unit, subdivision, or project. Site development plan means the second of 3 plans submitted under the comprehensive review and approval process required by state law. A site development plan must include the information necessary to allow a detailed evaluation of a proposed project. Stabilization means the protection of exposed soils from erosion by the application of seed and mulch, seed and matting, sod, other vegetative measure, or structural means. Slope means the inclined surface of a fill, excavation, or natural terrain. Soil means any earth, sand, gravel, rock, or any other similar material. Standards and specifications means the “2011 Maryland Standards and Specifications for Soil Erosion and Sediment Control” or any later revision. Stormwater means water that originates from a precipitation event. Stormwater management system means a natural area, environmental site design practice, stormwater management measure, or any other structure through which stormwater flows, infiltrates, or discharges from a site. Stripping means any activity which removes the vegetative surface cover, including tree felling or removal, clearing, grubbing and storage, or removal of topsoil. Tree means any woody plant having at least 1 well-defined stem or trunk measuring at least 3 inches in diameter at breast height. Tree canopy means the area of one or many crowns of the trees on a site, including trees in forested areas. Variance means a modification of minimum erosion and sediment control requirements for exceptional circumstances when strict adherence to the requirements would result in unnecessary hardship and not achieve the purposes of this Chapter. Watercourse means any natural or artificial watercourse, including any stream, river, creek, ditch, channel, canal, conduit, culvert, drain, waterway, gully, ravine, or wash in which water flows in a definite direction or course, either continuously or intermittently. Watercourse includes an adjacent area that is subject to inundation from overflow or floodwater. Watershed means the total drainage area contributing runoff to a single point.

(a) Except as provided in this Chapter, a person must not engage in any land-disturbing activity without first obtaining a permit. (b) A permit is not required under this Chapter for: (1) any minor land-disturbing activity that: (A) is not associated with construction of a new residential or commercial building; (B) involves less than 100 cubic yards of earth movement; (C) disturbs less than 5,000 square feet of surface area; (D) is not associated with a change of use from residential to any other use; and (E) is promptly stabilized to prevent erosion and sedimentation; (2) accepted agricultural land management practices and agricultural best management practices used in the cultivation of land to further crop and livestock production, such as plowing and construction of an agricultural structure on land that: (A) has been farmed by, or with the permission of, the same owner during the preceding 5 years; or (B) in the event of a transfer of ownership or other appropriate circumstance, is the subject of a declaration of intent to farm under state tax law or a comparable declaration filed with the Department by the owner; (3) tree cutting that leaves the stump, ground cover, and root mat intact and which disturbs less than 5,000 square feet of tree canopy area; (4) utility work performed under a Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission utility sediment control permit; or (5) any clearing or grading activity that is subject exclusively to State approval and enforcement under State law and regulations.

(a) An application for a permit must be filed on forms approved by the Department and include: (1) all information required by the Department, including identity of property owner, developer of the property, and land-disturbing activity to be performed; (2) written permission from the owner for agents of the Department to enter the property specified in the application for inspection and enforcement under this Chapter; (3) all required fees; (4) all related soil erosion and sediment control plans; and (5) any required financial security. (b) A separate permit is required for each site. (c) A sediment control permit is transferable. (d) A permit must not be issued for land disturbance associated with building or development that is not permitted by applicable zoning, special exceptions, and variances. (e) A permit must not be issued to a person who must comply with Chapter 22A until a final forest conservation plan is approved and any required financial security is provided. However, a permit may be issued before a final forest conservation plan is approved if the land-disturbing activity is specified on the approved preliminary plan of subdivision, preliminary forest conservation plan, project plan, development plan, sketch plan, floating zone plan, or approved plan amendment. Any land-disturbing activity must comply with all terms and conditions of the permit. (f) The Department must issue a permit to an applicant if the application and plans comply with this Chapter, applicable regulations, and the Standards and Specifications. (g) A sediment control permit must not be issued for any grading or land-disturbing activity that is located in or within 25 feet of a 100-year floodplain if the activity requires and has not received a floodplain district permit under Article III.

The Department may only grant a variance from the requirements of the Standards and Specifications when strict adherence will result in exceptional hardship and not achieve the purposes of this Article. The applicant must submit a written request for a variance to the Department. The request must specify the variance sought and the reasons to allow it. The Department must not grant a variance unless the unique circumstances of the site justify the variance.

(a) The Department must review each erosion and sediment control plan to determine compliance with this Chapter and the Standards and Specifications before the plan can be approved. In approving a plan, the Department may impose conditions necessary to ensure compliance with this Chapter and state law and to protect public health and safety. (b) The review and approval process must be part of the comprehensive and integrated plan approval process described in state law. (c) A concept plan must at least include the mapping of natural resources and sensitive areas, including highly erodible soils and slopes greater than 15%. If these areas would not remain undisturbed, either the concept or site development plan must describe any enhanced protection strategy for these areas during construction. (d) A site development plan application must include all concept plan information and indicate how any proposed erosion and sediment control practice will be integrated with any proposed stormwater management practice. The stormwater management practice must be shown through a narrative and an overlay plan showing both environmental site design and any erosion and sediment control practice. An applicant should submit an initial sequence of construction and proposed project phasing to achieve the grading unit restriction. If the Director approves, the concept plan and site development plan may be combined. (e) An applicant must submit a final erosion and sediment control plan to the Department for review and approval. The plan must include all information required by the concept plan and site development plan and any relevant information not already submitted. (f) A final erosion and sediment control plan is not approved until the Department signs and dates the plan.

(a) Any major modification of an approved plan must be submitted to the Department and processed in the same manner as the original plan, where: (1) field inspection or evaluation of the plan has revealed the inadequacy of the plan to accomplish erosion and sediment control objectives; or (2) the person responsible for carrying out the approved plan finds that, because of changed circumstances or for other reasons, the approved plan cannot be effectively carried out. (b) The Department may, in emergency situations and at its discretion, require the installation of interim erosion and sediment control measures to protect stream channels, other properties, or the general public from damage, that will remain in effect until modifications or revisions to the plan are approved and implemented. (c) The Department may allow a minor field modification if the modification is consistent with this Chapter, regulations, and state law. The Department must establish a list of allowable field modifications, subject to approval by the Administration. (d) If a violation of the limits of disturbance shown on the approved plan involves removal or damage to trees, the permittee must obtain and implement an approved reforestation plan from the Planning Board.

(a) An applicant is responsible for submitting an erosion and sediment control plan that meets the requirements of the Department, this Chapter, and state law. The plan must include sufficient information to evaluate the environmental characteristics of the affected area, the potential impacts of the proposed grading on water resources, and the effectiveness and acceptability of any measure proposed to minimize soil erosion and off-site sedimentation. (b) An applicant must at least submit: (1) a letter of transmittal and/or application; (2) the name, address, and telephone number of: (A) the owner of the property where the grading is proposed; (B) the developer; and (C) the applicant; (3) a vicinity map indicating north arrow, scale, site location, and other information necessary to easily locate the property; (4) a drainage area map at 1" = 200' minimum scale, showing existing, interim, and proposed topography, any proposed improvement, standard symbols for proposed sediment control features, and pertinent drainage information, including provisions to protect downstream areas from erosion for at least the closer of 200 feet downstream or the next conveyance system; (5) the location of any natural resource, wetland, floodplain, highly erodible soil, slopes 15% and steeper, and any other sensitive area; (6) a general description of the predominant soil types on the site, as described in appropriate soil survey information available through the local soil conservation district or the USDA Natural Resources Soil Conservation Service; (7) any proposed stormwater management practice; (8) an erosion and sediment control plan, including: (A) the existing topography and improvements, and any proposed topography and improvements, at a scale between 1" = 10' and 1' = 50' with 2 foot contours or another approved contour interval. For any project with more than minor grading, interim contours may also be required; (B) scale, project and sheet title, and north arrow on each plan sheet; (C) the limit of disturbance (LOD), including: (i) limit of grading (grading units, if applicable); (ii) initial, interim, and final phases; and (iii) staging and stockpile areas, including those on existing impervious areas; (D) the proposed grading and earth disturbance, including: (i) total disturbed area; (ii) volume of cut and fill quantities; and (iii) volume of borrow and spoil quantities; (E) any storm drainage feature, including: (i) any existing or proposed bridge, storm drain, culvert, or outfall; (ii) velocities and peak flow rates at outfalls for 2-year and 10-year frequency storm events; and (iii) site conditions around points of all surface water discharge from the site; (F) any erosion and sediment control practice to minimize on-site erosion and prevent off-site sedimentation, including: (i) salvage and reuse of topsoil; (ii) phased construction and implementation of a grading unit to minimize disturbance, both in extent and duration; (iii) the location and type of any proposed sediment control practice; (iv) design details and data for any erosion and sediment control practice; and (v) any specification for any temporary and permanent stabilization measure, including: 1. the “Standard Stabilization Note” on the plan stating: “Following initial soil disturbance or re-disturbance, permanent or temporary stabilization must be completed within: a. 3 calendar days as to the surface of any perimeter dike, swale, ditch, perimeter slope, and any slope steeper than 3 horizontal to 1 vertical (3:1); and b. 7 calendar days as to any other disturbed or graded area on the project site not under active grading.”; 2. any detail for an area requiring accelerated stabilization; and 3. any maintenance requirement under state law; (G) a sequence of construction describing the relationship between the implementation and maintenance of any control, including permanent and temporary stabilization, and the stages or phases of each disturbance and construction. The Department must approve any revision to the sequence of construction before construction begins. The sequence of construction must include: (i) a request for a pre-construction meeting with the appropriate enforcement authority; (ii) clearing and grubbing as necessary to install perimeter controls; (iii) construction and stabilization of perimeter control; (iv) remaining clearing and grubbing within installed perimeter controls; (v) road grading; (vi) grading for the rest of the site; (vii) utility installation and connections to each existing structure; (viii) construction of any building, road, and other construction; (ix) final grading, landscaping, and stabilization; (x) installation of any stormwater management measure; (xi) approval of the appropriate enforcement authority before removing any sediment control; and (xii) removal of any control and stabilization of any area that is disturbed by the removal of a sediment control; (H) a statement requiring the permittee to contact the Department at the following stages of the project or as required in the approved erosion and sediment control plan, grading permit, or building permit; (i) before beginning any earth disturbance; (ii) after completing the installation of any perimeter erosion and sediment control, but before any other earth disturbance or grading; (iii) before beginning another phase of construction or opening of another grading unit; and (iv) before removing any sediment control practice; (I) certification by the permittee that any clearing, grading, construction, or development will be done as required by the approved erosion and sediment control plan. The certification must also require that the responsible personnel involved in the construction project have earned a Certificate of Training at a training program approved by the state Department of the Environment for the control of erosion and sediment before beginning the project; and (J) certification by a professional engineer, land surveyor, landscape architect, architect, certified professional in erosion and sediment control, or forester (for forest harvest operations only) registered in the State, that the plan complies with erosion and sediment control laws, regulations, and standards, if required by the Department or the Administration; and (9) any additional information or data that the Department specifies.

(a) The Department may adopt a standard erosion and sediment control plan for any activity with minor earth disturbance, such as a single-family residence, small commercial or other similar building site, minor maintenance grading, and minor utility construction. (b) A standard erosion and sediment control plan must meet the requirements of this Chapter and state law. (c) The state Department of the Environment must approve a standard plan before the Department adopts it.

The County Executive, by Method 3 regulation, may establish, increase, or decrease permit and inspection fees and set nonrefundable fee schedules for filing, additional submissions, and permit renewals in an amount that does not exceed the reasonable cost of administering and enforcing this Chapter.

(a) The Director must attach any condition to each permit that is necessary to: (1) prevent sedimentation to public or private property or a sewer, storm drain, or water course; (2) prevent a land-disturbing activity from being hazardous to life or property; (3) prevent an adverse environmental impact; and (4) assure compliance with the plan. (b) Each condition must be listed on or attached to the plan. These conditions may include requirements for a wall, drain, dam, structure, planting, erosion and sediment control devise, or necessary drainage easement. (c) The Director must require each permittee to designate responsible personnel to take charge of on-site clearing, grading or sediment control associated with an approved land- disturbing activity. Any individual so designated must have completed a training program approved by the Administration. (d) Responsible personnel must: (1) inspect the site each week to assure compliance with the plan; and (2) maintain a log which details the results of any inspection, assessment of conditions and maintenance of any sediment control device. (e) The Director may require a permittee to provide an independent design professional to monitor and report to the Department on installation and maintenance of an erosion and sediment control device if a violation of the plan caused serious environmental impact to a watercourse or when a land-disturbing activity is taking place in an environmentally sensitive area. (f) The Director must require a permittee to implement any reasonable precaution to prevent particulate matter from becoming airborne when any land-disturbing activity is planned in a potential asbestiform area.

Any permit and plan is valid for 2 years after it is issued. The Director may extend any permit or plan for 1 year if a permittee so requests. The Director may impose an additional standard or requirement as part of any extension. The Director may require a plan modification as part of any extension.

(a) Any plan that is finally approved after January 9, 2013, must comply with this Chapter and state law. (b) A plan that is finally approved on or before January 9, 2013, may be reapproved with existing conditions if any grading activity begins on the site by January 9, 2015, except any stabilization requirement. (c) Any stabilization practice must comply with this Chapter and state law by January 9, 2013, regardless of when an approved erosion and sediment control plan was approved.

(a) The Director may suspend or revoke any permit issued under this Chapter, after notice, for: (1) violation of the plan or any condition of the permit; (2) violation of this Chapter or any other applicable law or regulation relating to the work; (3) any condition or act creating a nuisance or hazard, or endangering human life or the property of others; or (4) failure of the approved erosion and sediment control plan to achieve required erosion and sediment control objectives due to site characteristics or conditions. (b) In addition to the Director’s authority under subsection (a), the Director may post a site with a stop work order directing that all land-disturbing activity stop immediately, if: (1) the land-disturbing activity violates a condition or requirement of a County or Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission sediment control permit, application or approved plan or this Chapter or applicable regulations; (2) the Department has given written warning notice to the permittee or its representative that lists any corrective measures required and the time by which the corrections must be made; and (3) the permittee does not comply with the warning notice within the specified time. (c) The Director may issue a stop work order without a warning notice where: (1) land disturbance is taking place that requires a permit under this Chapter and a permit has not been issued; (2) required sediment control measures are not installed, inspected, and approved before the land disturbance; (3) the limits of disturbance are being violated; or (4) inspection reveals the existence of any condition or act that endangers human life, property of others, or water quality. (d) The Department must provide written notice to the permittee or its representative when a stop work order is issued. That notice must specify the extent to which work is stopped and the conditions under which work may resume. The permittee is responsible for the actions of its agents and must notify those agents when a stop work order is issued that will affect an area within which the agents are to work. In this context, “agent” includes any person who acts at the instruction, with the permission, or to the benefit of the permittee. (e) A person must not continue or permit the continuance of work in an area covered by a stop work order, except any work required to correct a sediment control violation. (f) This Section does not restrict the Department from proceeding directly with any available alternative enforcement procedure under Section 19-69. (g) If trees have been cut in violation of this Chapter, the Department may require as a corrective measure that the violator comply with a reforestation plan approved by the Planning Director. Sec. 2. Transition. This Act does not apply to any appeal to the Board of Appeals that was filed before this Act took effect. Sec. 3. Regulations. Regulations 6-06AM and 7-06AM remain in effect, notwithstanding any amendment to the County Code in Section 1 of this Act, except for any provision of the National Fire Code that authorizes or refers to an appeal to the Board of Appeals.

(a) (1) The Director must, before issuing a permit, require a corporate bond or an irrevocable letter of credit from a financial institution, or a cash bond, a certificate of guarantee, or other instrument, in a form satisfactory to the Director and approved by the County Attorney. That instrument must be conditioned on the faithful performance of the conditions in the permit, and any soil erosion and sediment control measure specified in the permit, within the time specified by the Director or any extension granted by the Director. In this Article, a certificate of guarantee is an instrument issued by an organization or entity that is approved by the Director and meets the capitalization and other reasonable criteria established by regulation, including: (A) the demonstrated expertise of the issuing organization or its members in erosion and sediment control; (B) the estimated square footage of the land included in the land-disturbing activity to be performed by the permittee; (C) the estimated square footage of the area of all land-disturbing activities guaranteed by the issuing organization or entity; and (D) the incidence of violation of, or otherwise failing to comply with, this Chapter by all members of the issuing organization or entity. (2) A certificate of guarantee must only be issued by an approved organization or entity on behalf of members in good standing of that organization or entity. Any question as to the eligibility of a permittee to post a certificate of guarantee must be resolved by the Director in the Director’s sole discretion. (3) The amount of the bond, irrevocable letter of credit, certificate of guarantee or other instrument required by this section is $300, plus 2 cents per square foot of the area included in the land-disturbing activity, plus an amount set by the Director to secure the costs of improvements required in approved plans, which must not exceed a total of $10,000. (4) The instruments required under this Section may be combined with the instruments required under section 19-32 pertaining to a storm water management facility, so that one instrument may be used to satisfy both requirements. (5) The Director may grant a partial or complete waiver of the bond, letter of credit, certificate of guarantee, or other instrument, upon application, if the Director finds minimal impairment of existing surface drainage, minimal erosion hazard, and minimal sedimentation hazard on any adjacent land or watercourse, and no hazard to human life or property. (6) A corporate bond or letter of credit must be executed and maintained by a financial institution, surety, or guaranty company qualified to do business in this state and must be conditioned on the faithful performance of the conditions and soil erosion and sediment control measures specified in the permit. A cash bond must be deposited with the Director of Finance, who must give a receipt for it, reciting that the cash has been deposited in compliance with and subject to this Section. (7) The bond, letter of credit, certificate of guarantee, or other instrument obligates the permittee, the permittee's executors, administrators, successors and assigns, jointly and severally with the surety or issuing organization or entity, and inures to the benefit of the County and to any person aggrieved by the permittee's failure to comply with the conditions of the permit. The permittee and the issuing organization or surety must, under the bond, letter of credit, certificate of guarantee, or other instrument, continue to be firmly bound under a continuing obligation to pay all necessary costs and expenses or liabilities which may be incurred or expended by the Department to meet the minimum requirements of this Chapter. (b) If the Department finds that a default has occurred in the performance of any term or condition of the permit, bond, letter of credit, certificate of guarantee, or other instrument, the Department must give written notice to the permittee and to the surety or issuing organization or entity. That notice must specify the work to be done, the estimated cost, and the period of time the Department finds to be reasonably necessary to complete the work. (c) If a cash bond has been posted, notice of default as provided by the preceding paragraphs must be given to the permittee; and if compliance is not obtained in the time specified, the Department must proceed without delay, and without further notice or proceedings, to use the cash deposited, or any part of the deposit, to cause the required work to be done by contract or otherwise in the Director’s discretion. (d) After any default in the performance of any term or condition of the permit, bond, letter of credit, certificate of guarantee, or other instrument, the County, the surety, the issuing organization or entity, or any person employed or engaged on its behalf may enter the site to complete the required work necessary to control erosion and sedimentation to protect properties, watercourses, and persons. If the Department undertakes this work with the funds from a forfeited cash or corporate bond, letter of credit, certificate of guarantee, or other instrument, the funds must be used to pay the cost of contracting, including engineering and administration, for necessary restoration of the site to control erosion and sedimentation as required by the plan, permit, bond, letter of credit, certificate of guarantee, other instrument, or this Chapter. If the cost of the work necessary to control erosion and sedimentation or to protect properties, watercourses, and persons exceeds the amount of the cash or corporate bond, letter of credit, certificate of guarantee, or other instrument, the permittee must continue to be obligated to pay all excess costs and expenses incurred by the County. The cost and expenses are a lien on all property and all rights to property, real or personal, of any person liable to pay that cost. The cost may be listed on the tax bill and collected in the manner of ordinary taxes. (e) A person must not interfere with or obstruct the access to or from a site or premises by an authorized representative or agent of any surety, issuing organization or entity, or the Department, engaged in completing the work required to be performed under the permit or in complying with the permit. (f) A corporate bond, letter of credit, certificate of guarantee, or other instrument remains in effect until a completion certificate is issued under Section 19-14. A cash bond must be returned to the depositor or to the depositor’s successors or assigns when a completion certificate is issued for the work under Section 19-14, except any portion that may have been used. (g) The Director immediately must suspend the permit or issue a stop work order when any permittee does not maintain the bond or certificate of guarantee. If the Director finds a violation of an applicable law or regulation by an organization or entity issuing certificates of guarantee, the Director may immediately revoke all permits of members of that organization or entity for which a certificate of guarantee is posted, and may post stop work orders wherever applicable until an appropriate bond or other instrument acceptable to the County is substituted for the certificates of guarantee.

(a) If the Director finds that the nature of the work may create a hazard to human life or endanger adjoining property or property at a higher or lower elevation, or any street or street improvement, or any other public property, the Director may, before issuing the permit, require the applicant for a permit to file a certificate of insurance. (b) The certificate must show that the applicant is insured against claims for damages for personal injury and property damage in an amount not less than $25,000. Those damages include damage to the County by deposit or washing of material onto County streets or other public improvements, which may arise from or out of the performance of the work, whether the work is performed by the applicant, a subcontractor, or any person directly or indirectly employed by the applicant. (c) The Director must set the amount of insurance according to the nature of the risks involved. Insurance must be written by a company licensed to do business in the state and approved by the County. Issuance of a permit, or compliance with this Chapter or any condition imposed by the Department, does not relieve any person from any responsibility for damage to persons or property otherwise imposed by law or impose any liability on the County for damages to persons or property.

(a) Any authorized representative of the Department may enter any property permitted under this Chapter to inspect and enforce this Chapter. (b) Land-disturbing activity requiring a permit must not proceed until the Department approves. All work must be performed in accordance with the sequence approved by the Department. (c) The permittee must notify the Department 48 hours before beginning any land-disturbing activity and, unless the Department waives the meeting, must hold a preconstruction meeting with an authorized representative of the Department. (d) The permittee must keep a copy of the approved erosion and sediment control plan and the permit available on the site for inspection by any authorized representative of the Department. Field markings showing limits of disturbance must be on site during any land-disturbing activity. (e) Each site that has an erosion and sediment control plan must be inspected on average, every 2 weeks. Unless waived, the permittee must obtain an inspection by the Department at the following stages: (1) after installing any sediment control measure or practice and before any other land disturbance; (2) during the construction of any sediment basin or stormwater management structure, at each required inspection point; (3) during rough grading, including hauling of any imported or wasted material; (4) before removing or modifying any sediment control measure or practice; and (5) after completing final grading, including established ground cover and planting, installation of any vegetative measure, and all other work required by the approved plan. (f) If a person does not comply with this Chapter, the Department must inspect the work and notify the permittee and the responsible personnel in writing. The notice issued must at least state the nature of the violation, any practice or plan deficiency, required corrective action, and compliance time. Any part of the work that does not comply promptly must be corrected by the permittee. The Department may make additional inspections as it deems necessary, and may waive inspections, other than the final inspection under Section 19-14. The Department must maintain a permanent record of each inspection. That record must include the date, the location or project identification, whether the approved plan has been implemented and measures maintained, and, if a violation exists, the enforcement action taken. (g) When approved plans developed under this Chapter show the use of temporary basins or permanent stormwater management structures, the Department may require the submission of supportive documents such as test results, as-built plans, or material certifications. If necessary, in addition to its own inspections, the Department may require any part of the construction of basins or structures to be inspected and certified by a licensed professional engineer or land surveyor. At the Director's option, the permittee may secure the services of a licensed professional engineer or land surveyor to inspect the construction of the facilities and provide the Department with a fully documented certification that all construction is done in accordance with the approved plan and all applicable rules, regulations and specifications. If a certification is provided to the Department, the Department may waive any inspection required under Section 19-12(e)(2) for that basin or structure. In these cases, the Department must be notified at the required inspection points and may make spot inspections. (h) This Section does not restrict the Department from proceeding directly with any available alternative enforcement procedure under Section 19-69. Sec. 2. Transition. This Act does not apply to any appeal to the Board of Appeals that was filed before this Act took effect. Sec. 3. Regulations. Regulations 6-06AM and 7-06AM remain in effect, notwithstanding any amendment to the County Code in Section 1 of this Act, except for any provision of the National Fire Code that authorizes or refers to an appeal to the Board of Appeals.

The Department must accept and investigate any complaint about erosion and sediment control concerns from any source, and must: (a) conduct an initial investigation within 3 working days after receiving the complaint; (b) notify the complainant of the initial investigation and findings within 7 days after receiving the complaint; and (c) take appropriate action when any violation is discovered during the complaint investigation.

(a) The permittee or the owner of any property on which work has been done under a permit granted under this Chapter, or any other person or agent in control of that property, must maintain in good and effective condition and promptly repair or restore any grade surface, wall, drain, dam or structure, planting, vegetation, erosion and sediment control measure, or other protective device. Repair or restoration, and maintenance, must be in accordance with the approved plan, Standards and Specifications, and permit as required by this Chapter until permanent measures are accepted by the Department. (b) Any person who performs work under a Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission utility sediment control permit is responsible for the repair or maintenance of all erosion and sediment control measures affected by the utility construction. Repair or maintenance must completed as provided in subsection (a).

Immediately after completing a project, the permittee must notify the Department and schedule a final inspection. If ,upon final inspection of the project, the Department finds that all work subject to inspection has been satisfactorily completed in accordance with this Chapter, the permit, approved plans and specifications, and applicable regulations, and the Department accepts any supporting documents required under Section 19-12(g), the Department must issue a completion certificate covering the work to the permittee.

Any land-disturbing activity must not be conducted without adequate protection and support for any adjoining property. The Director may require installation of a wall, fence, rail, sediment control measure, or other item to protect people and property.

(a) A person must not engage in any land-disturbing activity or by any action cause or permit any soil, earth, sand, gravel, rock, stone, or other material, to be deposited on or to roll, flow, or wash on or over the land of another and cause damage without the express written consent of the owner of the affected premises. A permittee must not engage in any land-disturbing activity or by any action cause or permit any soil, earth, sand, gravel, rock, stone, or other material to be deposited on or to roll, flow, or wash on or over any public street, street improvement, road, sewer, storm drain, watercourse, right-of-way, or any public property in a manner to damage or to interfere with the use of that property. (b) A person must not, when hauling soil, earth, sand, gravel, rock, stone, or other material over any public street, road, alley, or public property, allow those materials to blow or spill over or on any street, road, alley, or public property or adjacent private property. (c) If any soil, earth, sand, gravel, rock, stone, or other material is caused to be deposited on or to roll, flow, or wash on any public or private property in violation of subsection (a) or (b), the permittee or person responsible must be notified by the Department and must cause the material to be removed from that property within 24 hours. In an immediate danger to the public health or safety, the Department must give notice by the most expeditious means, and the material must be removed immediately. If the material is not removed, the Department may arrange for its removal; and the cost of that removal must be paid to the County by the person who failed to remove the material. The cost of removal is a lien on all property and all rights to property, real or personal, of any person liable to pay that cost. The cost of removal must be listed on the tax bill and must be collected in the manner of ordinary taxes. However, this Section does not prohibit the Department from proceeding directly with any alternative enforcement procedure under Section 19-69.

(a) The Director may recommend regulations to administer this Article, may hold public hearings on any proposed regulation, and must obtain recommendations from the Montgomery Soil Conservation District before forwarding the recommendations to the County Executive. These regulations must include: (1) minimum erosion and sediment control plan requirements; (2) maximum duration of exposure; (3) critical slope protection; (4) on-site grading controls; (5) on-site drainage controls; and (6) protection of specimen trees. (b) The Director may recommend one or more methods to calculate the amount of surface area affected by tree cutting, including using tree cover measurements. (c) The County Executive must adopt any regulation under subsection (a) under method (2). (d) Regulations adopted under this Section must not conflict with or waive any provision of this Chapter, and must not be less restrictive than applicable requirements of state law or regulation.

The purpose of this Article is to protect, maintain and enhance the public health, safety, and general welfare by establishing minimum requirements and procedures to control the adverse impacts associated with increased stormwater runoff from developed and developing lands. The primary goal of the County is to maintain after development, as nearly as possible, the pre-development runoff characteristics, and to reduce stream channel erosion, pollution, siltation and sedimentation, and local flooding by implementing environmental site design to the maximum extent practicable and using appropriate structural best management practices only when necessary. The 2000 Maryland Stormwater Design Manual and any later revisions are incorporated by reference as if fully contained in this Article.

In this Article, the following words and phrases have the following meanings unless the context indicates otherwise: Administration: The Water Management Administration of the Maryland Department of the Environment. Administrative waiver: A decision by the Department to allow the construction of a development to be governed by the County stormwater management law in effect as of May 4, 2009. An administrative waiver is distinct from a waiver granted under Section 19-24. Agricultural land management practice: Any method or procedure used in the cultivation of land in order to further crop and livestock production and conservation of related soil and water resources. Applicant: A landowner, contract purchaser or other person that assumes the legal responsibility for developing land subject to this Article. Approval: A documented action by the Department after a review to determine and acknowledge the sufficiency of submitted material to meet the requirements of a specified stage in the County’s development review process. Approval does not mean an acknowledgment by the Department that submitted material has been received for review. Best management practice: A structural device or nonstructural practice designed to temporarily store or treat stormwater runoff to mitigate flooding, reduce pollution, recharge groundwater, and provide other amenities related to the management of stormwater runoff. Board: The County Planning Board. Channel protection storage volume: The volume used to design structural best management practices to control stream channel erosion. Commission: The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Concept plan: The first of 3 required plan approvals that includes the information necessary to allow an initial evaluation of a proposed project. Department: The Department of Permitting Services. Design Manual: The 2000 Maryland Stormwater Design Manual, as revised from time to time, which serves as the official guide for stormwater management principles, methods, and practices in Maryland. Development: A project that consists of subdividing land or adding buildings and other improvements to individual parcels of land. Director: The Director of the Department of Permitting Services or the Director’s designee. Director of Environmental Protection: The Director of the Department of Environmental Protection, or the designee of the Director of Environmental Protection. Director of Finance: The Director of the Department of Finance or the Director’s designee. District: The Montgomery Soil Conservation District. Drainage area: That area that contributes runoff to a single point, measured in a horizontal plane. Environmental site design (ESD): Using small-scale stormwater management practices, nonstructural techniques, and better site planning to mimic natural hydrologic runoff characteristics and minimize the impact of development on water resources. Methods to design ESD practices are specified in the Design Manual. Erosion: The process by which the ground surface is worn away by the action of wind, water, ice, or gravity. Executive: The County Executive or the County Executive’s designee. Extreme flood volume: The storage volume required to control the infrequent but large storm events during which overbank flows reach or exceed the boundaries of the 100-year floodplain. Final project approval: Approval of the final stormwater management plan and erosion and sediment control plan required to construct a project’s stormwater management facilities. Final project approval also includes securing bonding or financing for final development plans if either is required as a prerequisite for approval. Final stormwater management design plan. The last of 3 required plan approvals that includes the information necessary to allow all approvals and permits to be issued by the appropriate authority. Functional master plan: A master plan for conserving and managing a watershed. Impervious area or impervious surface: Any surface that prevents or significantly impedes the infiltration of water into the underlying soil, including any structure, building, patio, sidewalk, compacted gravel, pavement, asphalt, concrete, stone, brick, tile, swimming pool, or artificial turf. Impervious surface also includes any area used by or for motor vehicles or heavy commercial equipment, regardless of surface type or material, including any road, driveway, or parking area. Infiltration: The passage or movement of water into the soil surface. Maximum extent practicable (MEP): Designing stormwater management systems so that all reasonable opportunities for using environmental site design planning techniques and treatment practices are exhausted and, only where absolutely necessary, a structural best management practice is implemented. Nonprofit organization: A corporation, foundation, or other legal entity that is exempt from income taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Nonstructural maintenance: Grass cutting; removal of litter and debris, tree limbs, algae and aquatic plants; tree and shrub trimming and removal; maintenance of fences; aesthetic improvements such as graffiti removal, and any other enhancement in and around a stormwater management facility that is not essential to ensure that the facility continues to function properly. Off-site stormwater management: The design and construction of a facility to control stormwater runoff from more than one development. An off-site stormwater management facility may be located in a development and would be on-site with respect to that development, but the facility is off-site with respect to all other developments that the facility serves. On-site stormwater management: The design and construction of stormwater practices to control stormwater runoff in a development. Overbank flood protection volume: The volume controlled by structural practices to prevent an increase in the frequency of out of bank flooding generated by development. Person: An individual; a legal entity; or a department, agency, or instrument of the County or to the extent allowed by law, federal, state, or local government. Planning Director: The Director of the County Planning Department, or the Director’s designee. Planning techniques: A combination of strategies employed early in project design to reduce the impact from development and to incorporate natural features into a stormwater management plan. Preliminary plan: A preliminary plan of subdivision, approved under Chapter 50. Preliminary project approval: An approval as part of the Department’s preliminary development or planning review process that includes at least: (a) the number of planned dwelling units or lots; (b) the proposed project density; (c) the proposed size and location of all land uses for the project; (d) a plan that identifies: (1) the proposed drainage patterns; (2) the location of each point of discharge from the site; and (3) the type, location, and size of each stormwater management measure based on site-specific stormwater management requirement computations; and (e) any other information required by the Department, including: (1) the proposed alignment, location, and construction type and standard for any road, access way, and area of vehicular traffic; (2) a demonstration that the methods by which the development will be supplied with water and wastewater service are adequate; and (3) the size, type, and general location of all proposed wastewater and water system infrastructure. Recharge volume: The portion of the water quality volume used to maintain groundwater recharge rates at a development site. Redevelopment: Any construction, alteration, or improvement that: (a) exceeds or equals 5,000 square feet of land disturbance; and (b) is performed on a site where the existing land use is commercial, industrial, institutional, or multifamily residential and existing imperviousness is greater than 40 percent. Residential property: A property that contains a detached dwelling unit, one or more townhouses, duplexes or other attached dwelling units, or a multi-family dwelling. Sediment: Soils or other surficial materials transported or deposited by the action of wind, water, ice, or gravity as a product of erosion. Site: Any tract, lot, or parcel of land, or combination of tracts, lots, or parcels of land, which are under one ownership, or are contiguous and under diverse ownership, where development is performed as part of a unit, subdivision, or project. Site development stormwater management plan: The second of 3 required plan approvals which includes information necessary to allow detailed evaluation of a proposed project. Stabilization: the prevention of soil movement by any of various vegetative or structural means. Stormwater: Water that originates from precipitation. Stormwater management: The collection, conveyance, storage, treatment, and control of stormwater as needed to reduce accelerated stream channel erosion, increased flood damages, or water pollution. Stormwater management facility: An infiltration device, filtering device, stormwater pond, stormwater wetland, hydrodynamic structure, or other practice designed and constructed to control stormwater to reduce accelerated stream channel erosion and pollution of surface waters. A stormwater management facility does not include environmental site design practices or any nonstructural stormwater management system. Stormwater management participation project: A capital improvement project in which both the County and the property owner jointly fund the construction of a regional stormwater management facility intended to benefit properties in addition to those belonging to the property owner. Stormwater management plan: A set of representations, drawings or other documents, including development phasing statements, which contains all of the information and specifications that the Department requires an applicant to submit in order to obtain a stormwater management approval. Stormwater management system: Natural areas, environmental site design practices, stormwater management measures, and any structure through which stormwater flows, infiltrates, or discharges from a site. Structural maintenance: The inspection, construction, reconstruction, modification, repair, and cleaning of any part of a stormwater management facility undertaken to assure that the facility remains in the proper working condition to serve its intended purpose and prevent failure. Structural maintenance does not include landscaping, grass cutting, or trash removal. Watershed: The total drainage area contributing runoff to a single point. Watershed management plan: A plan to satisfy the regulatory requirements of the County’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit issued by the Maryland Department of the Environment under the federal Clean Water Act. Water Quality Protection Charge: An excise tax charged to a property owner for the privilege of maintaining impervious surfaces on the owner’s property. Water quality volume: The volume needed to capture and treat 90 percent of the average annual runoff volume at a development site.

(a) The Director may, for good cause shown, grant an administrative waiver to a development that received a preliminary project approval before May 4, 2010. Administrative waivers expire as provided under subsection (b) and may be extended as provided under subsection (c). (b) Expiration of an administrative waiver. (1) Except as provided in subsection (c), an administrative waiver must expire on: (A) May 4, 2013, if the development does not receive final project approval before that date; or (B) May 4, 2017, if the development receives final project approval before May 4, 2013. (2) All construction authorized under an administrative waiver must be completed by: (A) May 4, 2017; or (B) if the waiver is extended under subsection (c), the date the waiver expires. (c) Extension of an administrative waiver. (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), an administrative waiver must not be extended. (2) An administrative waiver may only be extended if, by May 4, 2010 the development: (A) received a preliminary project approval; and (B) was subject to a development rights and responsibilities agreement or a tax increment financing approval. (3) An administrative waiver extended under paragraph (2) expires when the development rights and responsibilities agreement or the tax increment financing approval expires.

(a) The Department of Environmental Protection, in cooperation with the Department, the Board, and other appropriate agencies, may develop watershed management plans to implement stormwater management policies that apply individually to specific watersheds in the County. Each watershed management plan should: (1) include detailed hydrologic and hydraulic analyses to determine hydrograph timing; (2) evaluate stormwater quantity and quality, and base flow and groundwater management needs; (3) include a cumulative impact assessment of watershed development; (4) identify existing flooding, receiving stream channel, water quality, biological resources, and habitat conditions; (5) specify the types of stormwater management, stream restoration and wetlands protection practices to be implemented; (6) identify specific opportunities for stormwater retrofit, stream and wetlands restoration, and groundwater recharge; (7) specify where the Director may grant waivers of on-site stormwater management controls; (8) be consistent with the Design Manual’s General Performance Standards for Stormwater Management in Maryland; and (9) be approved by the Administration. (b) The Board should prepare functional master plans under Division II of the Land Use Article of the Maryland Code to preserve, conserve, and manage natural resources in each of the County’s watersheds for the County Council’s review and approval. Each functional master plan should address land use, impervious impact on streams and waterways, stream buffers, wildlife and stream habitat, forest preservation, and other issues related to the permitting of stormwater management facilities and the development of watershed management plans.

(a) An applicant must use the ESD planning techniques and practices and structural stormwater management measures established in this Article and the Design Manual, either alone or in combination, in a stormwater management plan. An applicant must demonstrate that environmental site design has been implemented to the maximum extent practicable before a structural best management practice is included in a stormwater management plan. (b) ESD planning techniques and practices. (1) An applicant must apply the following planning techniques according to the Design Manual to satisfy the on-site stormwater management requirements of Section 19-24: (A) preserve and protect natural resources; (B) conserve natural drainage patterns; (C) minimize impervious area; (D) reduce runoff volume; (E) use ESD practices to maintain 100% of the average annual pre- development groundwater recharge volume for the site; (F) use green roofs, permeable pavement, reinforced turf, and other alternative surfaces; (G) limit soil disturbance, mass grading, and compaction; (H) cluster development; and (I) any practice approved by the Administration. (2) An applicant must design the following ESD treatment practices according to the Design Manual to satisfy the on-site stormwater management requirements of Section 19-24: (A) disconnection of rooftop runoff; (B) disconnection of nonrooftop runoff; (C) sheetflow to conservation areas; (D) rainwater harvesting; (E) submerged gravel wetlands; (F) landscape infiltration; (G) infiltration berms; (H) dry wells; (I) micro-bioretention; (J) rain gardens; (K) swales; (L) enhanced filters; and (M) any practice approved by the Administration. (3) The use of ESD planning techniques and treatment practices specified in this Section must not conflict with existing State or County laws. (c) Structural stormwater management practices. (1) An applicant must design the following structural stormwater management practices according to the Design Manual to satisfy the on-site stormwater management requriements of Section 19-24: (A) stormwater management ponds; (B) stormwater management wetlands; (C) stormwater management infiltration; (D) stormwater management filtering systems; and (E) stormwater management open channel systems. (2) An applicant must consider the performance criteria specified in the Design Manual with regard to general feasibility, conveyance, pretreatment, treatment and geometry, environment and landscaping, and maintenance when selecting structural stormwater management practices. (3) An applicant must select structural stormwater management practices to accommodate the unique hydrologic or geologic region of the County where the property to be developed is located. (d) An applicant may use an alternative ESD planning technique or treatment practice or structural stormwater management measure for new development runoff control if it meets the performance criteria established in the Design Manual and is approved by the Administration. Any practice used for a redevelopment project must be approved by the Department. (e) Before modifying the on-site stormwater control requirements or design criteria, the applicant must submit to the Department an analysis of the impacts of stormwater flows downstream in the watershed. The analysis must include hydrologic and hydraulic calculations necessary to determine the impact of hydrograph timing modifications of the proposed development on a dam, highway, structure, or natural point of restricted streamflow, established with the Department’s concurrence, downstream from the first downstream tributary whose drainage area equals or exceeds the contributing area to the project or stormwater management facility.

(a) Concept plan. Before the Board may approve a preliminary plan of subdivision, an applicant must submit a stormwater management and sediment control concept plan to the Department for review and approval. Each plan submitted for concept approval must provide sufficient information for the Department to make an initial assessment of the proposed project and determine whether stormwater can be managed according to this Article and the Design Manual. Each concept plan is subject to the following conditions and requirements: (1) A natural resources inventory must be reviewed and approved by the Department or the Planning Director before the applicant submits a concept plan under this Section. (2) The plan must indicate how the stormwater management and sediment control criteria will be applied to each proposed development or redevelopment project. The Department may require a plan to analyze the downstream effects of any proposed development or redevelopment project. The basic design criteria, methodologies, and construction specifications used in developing the plan must be specified in the Design Manual and any other criteria established by regulation. (3) The plan must describe how environmental site design practices will be implemented to the maximum extent practicable and allow use of any structural best management practice only where the applicant shows that environmental site design or another nonstructural best management practice is not a viable option. (4) The plan must include: (A) a map, at a scale specified by the Department, showing site location, existing natural features, water and other sensitive resources, topography, and natural drainage patterns; (B) the anticipated location of each proposed impervious area, building, roadway, parking, sidewalk, utility, and other site improvement; (C) the location of the proposed limit of disturbance, erodible soils, steep slopes, and any area to be protected during construction; (D) preliminary estimates of stormwater management requirements, the location of each ESD practice to be used, and the location of each point of discharge from the site; and (E) any other information the Director requires. (5) Any stormwater management plan must be consistent with any watershed management plan that the Department of Environmental Protection has approved or any flood management plan that the Administration has approved involving the site of the proposed development or redevelopment project. (6) The Department must refer the concept plan to the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Transportation, and the Board for comment before approving the plan. (b) Site development stormwater management plan. Before the Board may approve a site plan, the applicant must submit a site development stormwater management plan to the Department for review and approval. The applicant may combine the site development stormwater management plans with the concept plan required under subsection (a) if the Director approves. Any site development stormwater management plan submitted for review and approval must include: (1) all information provided during the concept plan review; (2) final site layout, exact impervious area locations and acreages, proposed topography, a delineated drainage area at each point of discharge from the site, and stormwater volume computations for ESD practices and structural measures; (3) a proposed erosion and sediment control plan that contains the construction sequence, any phasing necessary to limit earth disturbances and impacts to natural resources, and an overlay plan showing the type and location of each ESD and erosion and sediment control practice to be used; (4) a narrative that supports the site development design, describes how ESD will be used to meet the minimum control requirements, and justifies any proposed structural stormwater management measure; and (5) any other information the Director requires. (c) Final stormwater management design plan (1) Any person required under this Chapter to obtain a sediment control permit must include a final stormwater management design plan as part of the permit application. The final stormwater management design plan must conform to both the concept plan and site development stormwater management plan and serve as the basis for all later construction. The applicant must submit a final stormwater management design plan for approval in the form of construction drawings accompanied by a report that includes sufficient information to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed runoff control design. The applicant must also submit a final erosion and sediment control plan under applicable State Regulations. Any plan submitted under this paragraph must meet all requirements of the Design Manual. (2) Any report submitted for final stormwater management design plan approval must include: (A) geotechnical investigations, including soil maps, borings, site-specific recommendations, and any additional information necessary for the final stormwater management design; (B) a drainage area map depicting pre-development and post-development runoff flow path segmentation and land use; (C) hydrologic computations of the applicable ESD and unified sizing criteria according to the Design Manual for each point of discharge from the site; (D) hydraulic and structural computations for each ESD practice and structural stormwater management measure to be used; and (E) a narrative that supports the final stormwater management design. (3) Construction drawings submitted for final stormwater management design plan approval must include: (A) a vicinity map; (B) existing and proposed topography and any proposed drainage area, including any area necessary to determine downstream analysis for each proposed stormwater management facility; (C) any proposed improvement, including the location of any building or other structure, impervious surface, storm drainage facility, and all grading; (D) the location of any existing and proposed structure; (E) any easement and right-of-way; (F) the delineation, if applicable, of the 100-year floodplain and any on-site wetland; (G) structural and construction details, including representative cross sections for each component of the proposed drainage system or systems and stormwater management facilities; (H) all necessary construction specifications; (I) a sequence of construction; (J) data for total site area, disturbed area, new impervious area, and total impervious area; (K) a table showing the ESD and unified sizing criteria volumes required in the Design Manual; (L) a table of materials to be used for stormwater management facility planting; (M) each soil boring log and location; (N) an inspection and maintenance schedule; (O) certification by the applicant that all stormwater management construction will be completed according to this plan; and (P) an as-built certification signature block, to be executed after project completion. (4) The maintenance schedule required under this Section must cover the life of any structural stormwater management facility or system of ESD practices and must specify the maintenance to be completed, the time period for completion, and the responsible party that will perform the maintenance. The maintenance schedule must be printed on the approved final stormwater management plan. (d) Plan preparation. The Director may require the stormwater management concept, site development stormwater management, and final stormwater management and design plans to be prepared by a professional engineer, professional land surveyor, registered architect or landscape architect licensed in Maryland, or any other individual whose qualifications are acceptable to the Department. If a stormwater best management practice requires either a dam safety permit from the Administration or a small pond approval from the District, the Director must require the design plan to be prepared by a professional engineer licensed by the State of Maryland. (e) Runoff. If a stormwater management plan involves direction of some or all runoff off site, the developer must obtain from any adjacent property owner any easement or other necessary property interest concerning water flow. Approval of a stormwater management plan does not create or imply any right to direct runoff onto any adjacent property without that property owners’s permission.

(a) On-site stormwater management. (1) A person that receives a sediment control permit must provide on-site stormwater management unless the Director waives this requirement. (2) The Director may waive the on-site stormwater management requirement if the Director finds that: (A) environmental site design has been implemented to the maximum extent practicable, and stormwater from the site is safely conveyed to a Department approved off-site facility that has been constructed to provide stormwater management for the site; or (B) on-site stormwater management is not required under applicable State law. (3) ESD planning techniques and treatment practices must be used to the maximum extent practicable under the Design Manual before any structural best management practice is implemented. A stormwater management plan for a development project subject to this Article must be designed using the ESD sizing criteria, recharge volume, water quality volume, and channel protection storage volume criteria according to the Design Manual. The MEP standard is met when channel stability is maintained, pre-development groundwater recharge is replicated, nonpoint source pollution is minimized, and structural stormwater management practices are used only if absolutely necessary. (b) County participation. If the Director of Environmental Protection finds that additional storage capacity in an on-site facility would correct an existing problem or provide sufficient capacity for future development or redevelopment projects, the County may participate financially in the construction of a stormwater management facility. The amount of participation must be determined by the extent to which the facility exceeds on-site stormwater management requirements. (c) Waiver. (1) An applicant seeking a waiver of any on-site stormwater management requirement must submit a request to the Department in writing in a form acceptable to the Director. (2) A request for quantitative stormwater control waivers must contain sufficient descriptions, drawings, and any other information that is necessary to show that environmental site design has been implemented to the maximum extent practicable. The applicant must submit a separate written request for each later addition, extension, or modification to a development that has received a waiver. (3) The Director may grant a stormwater management quantitative and qualitative control waiver for a phased development project if a system designed to meet the 2000 State and County regulatory requirements for multiple phases was constructed by May 4, 2010. If the 2009 regulatory requirements cannot be met for any future phase constructed after May 4, 2010, the applicant must make all reasonable efforts to incorporate environmental site design in each future phase. (4) The Director may grant a waiver if the applicant shows that existing physical conditions prevent full compliance with any on-site stormwater management requirement. However, the applicant must still show that environmental site design has been implemented to the maximum extent practicable. (5) If a site is an infill development or redevelopment site, the Director may waive channel protection requirements if all reasonable options for implementing environmental site design to the maximum extent practicable have been exhausted, and: (A) the planned development or redevelopment project will not increase the impervious surface area on the site; or (B) runoff from the site will drain through an adequately-sized existing improved storm drain system before discharging into a natural stream channel, at a minimum without adversely affecting the receiving channel, and the discharge to the storm drain system will not increase erosion in the receiving waters. (6) The Director must not grant a waiver unless: (A) the applicant satisfies criteria established by regulation; and (B) the waiver is consistent with an applicable watershed management plan, if any, prepared by the applicant and approved by the Department of Environmental Protection. (7) The Director may grant each waiver only on a case-by-case basis. The Director must consider the cumulative effects of all waivers granted in a drainage area or watershed. Each waiver must reasonably ensure, at a minimum, that the proposed development will not adversely impact stream quality. (8) When a waiver is granted, the Director must require the applicant to: (A) provide a monetary contribution; (B) grant an easement or dedicate land for the County to construct a stormwater management facility; or (C) take specific stream or wetland restoration measures.

(a) Contributions. Each monetary contribution required under Section 19-24 must comply with a fee schedule set by Executive regulation. The County must credit each contribution to a capital improvement program project for planning and implementation of stormwater management and stream or wetland restoration. (b) Dedications. The County may agree with an applicant to accept an easement or dedicate land to build a stormwater management facility. If the Department consents in writing for a facility to be located on parkland, the Board must also agree before the applicant may dedicate land to build a stormwater management facilty. (c) Stream and wetlands restoration measures. For redevelopment only, the Department may allow an applicant to construct stream or wetland restoration measures instead of monetary contributions or dedications if: (1) the Director of Permitting Services and the Director of Environmental Protection both find that it is in the County’s best interest for the applicant to provide stream or wetland restoration measures; and (2) the estimated cost of the stream or wetland restoration measures do not exceed the estimated cost of on-site stormwater management controls that the applicant would otherwise be required to provide for new development.

(a) Each applicant must use planning techniques, nonstructural practices, and design methods to implement environmental site design to the maximum extent practicable. The use of environmental site design must be exhausted before any structural best management practice is used. Each stormwater management plan must be designed using ESD sizing criteria, recharge volume, water quality volume, and channel protection storage volume sizing criteria, according to the Design Manual and any applicable regulation. If the Department finds that historical flooding problems exist at the site of a new development or redevelopment project, the Director may require the use of overbank flood protection volume, extreme flood volume criteria, or both. (b) Unless otherwise indicated, redevelopment is subject to the same requirements that apply to new development under this Article. For redevelopment, the applicant may use alternative stormwater management measures to satisfy the requirements in subsection (a) if the applicant shows that impervious area reduction and environmental site design have been implemented to the maximum extent practicable. In any redevelopment project, the selection and application of environmental site design practices must be consistent with the recommendations, goals, and objectives of any applicable master or sector plan. (c) Alternative stormwater management measures that may be used for redevelopment include: (1) an on-site structural best management practice; (2) an off-site structural best management practice or off-site environmental site design to provide water quality treatment; or (3) a combination of impervious area reduction, environmental site design implementation, and an on-site or off-site structural best management practice within the limit of disturbance.

(a) Required. (1) Before issuing a sediment control permit for a development which requires a stormwater management system, the Director must require the applicant or owner to furnish a performance or cash bond, irrevocable letter of credit, certificate of guarantee, or other instrument from a financial institution or issuing person satisfactory to the Director and the County Attorney, for construction of the on-site stormwater management system in an amount equal to the estimated cost of the construction. (2) As used in this Article, a certificate of guarantee is an instrument issued by an organization approved by the Director that satisfies the capitalization criteria and other reasonable criteria established by regulation. The certificate of guarantee must only be issued by the approved organization on behalf of the organization’s members in good standing. Only the Director may resolve questions concerning an applicant’s eligibility to post a certificate of guarantee. (3) The bond, letter of credit, certificate of guarantee, or other instrument must be conditioned on the faithful performance of the terms and conditions of an approved stormwater management plan and construction of the system as provided in that plan and under this Article. The bond, letter of credit, certificate of guarantee, or other instrument must inure to the benefit of the County if the applicant or owner does not comply with the conditions of the bond, letter of credit, certificate of guarantee, or other instrument. (b) Release. (1) The Director must not release a bond, letter of credit, certificate of guarantee, or other instrument until the applicant has submitted “as-built” plans and the Department has issued a certification of completion based on the Director’s finding, after having performed a final inspection, that the stormwater management system complies with the approved plan and this Article. (2) The Department may agree with an applicant regarding the stages of the work to be done on the system. After completing each stage, the applicant must notify the Department that the applicant is ready for an inspection and, after the Director certifies that the applicant has completed that stage of work under the approved plan and this Article, the Director may reduce the bond, letter of credit, certificate of guarantee, or other instrument pro rata, or may direct the Director of Finance to refund to the applicant a prorated share of the amount that the applicant deposited with the County. (c) Revocation of permit. The Director must immediately revoke a building permit if the permittee does not maintain the bond, letter of credit, certificate of guarantee, or other instrument. If the Director finds that an organization issuing certificates of guarantee has violated an applicable law or regulation, the Director may immediately revoke any permit held by that organization’s members to which a certificate of guarantee applies.

(a) Installation inspections. (1) The Director, or a person designated by the applicant that is also qualified and approved by the Department to supervise construction, must inspect each best management practice under construction as needed to certify the system’s compliance with approved plans. The inspector must conduct each inspection as provided in a checklist or in any other manner that the Department has approved for each type of stormwater management system. The inspector must prepare a written inspection report that includes: (A) the date and location of the inspection; (B) whether construction complies with the approved stormwater management plan; (C) any variation from approved construction specifications; and (D) any violation of law or regulations that the inspector observes. (2) The Department must notify the applicant in writing if the inspector observes any violation of this Article during the inspection. The written notice must describe the nature of each violation and prescribe any corrective action needed. (3) Construction work on a stormwater management system must not proceed until the Department: (A) inspects and approves the work previously completed or the plans and certifications previously submitted ; and (B) furnishes the inspection reports to the applicant after each inspection. (4) Once construction is complete, the applicant must submit as-built plan certification to the Department to ensure that ESD planning techniques, treatment practices, and structural stormwater management measures and conveyance systems comply with the specifications in each approved plan. At a minimum, as-built certification must include a set of drawings comparing the approved stormwater management plan with what was constructed. The Director may require additional information if needed. (5) Each as-built plan submitted to the Department under this subsection must be prepared by a design professional or other person qualified and approved by the Department. (b) Maintenance of new stormwater management systems. (1) Before issuing a sediment control permit to develop any property that requires implementation of best management practices, the Department must require the property owner to execute an easement and an inspection and maintenance agreement that is binding on each later owner of the land to be served by any private stormwater management system. (2) The easement must give the County a perpetual right of access to the stormwater management system at all reasonable times to inspect, operate, monitor, install, construct, reconstruct, modify, maintain, clean, or repair any part of the stormwater management system in the area covered by the easement as needed to assure that the system remains in proper working condition under approved design and environmental standards. The inspection and maintenance agreement must require the owner to be responsible for all maintenance of any completed ESD treatment system and nonstructural maintenance of any on-site stormwater management facility if the development consists of residential property. Otherwise, the inspection and maintenance agreement must require the owner to be responsible forever for all maintenance of the entire on-site stormwater management system, including maintaining in good condition, and promptly repairing and restoring, each ESD practice, grade surface, wall, drain, dam and structure, vegetation, erosion and sediment control measure, and any other protective device. (3) The owner must record the easement and agreement in the County land records and deliver a certified copy of each recorded document to the Departments of Permitting Services and Environmental Protection before the Department may issue a completion certificate. (4) After the Department issues a completion certificate for construction of a new stormwater management facility, the County must perform all structural maintenance on the facility if the facility serves residential property unless the inspection and maintenance agreement requires the property owner to be responsible for structural maintenance of the facility. No other person may perform structural maintenance on a stormwater management facility that the County is required to structurally maintain without the County’s written consent. (5) Any repair or restoration and maintenance performed under this Section must comply with each previously approved or newly submitted plan and any reasonable corrective measure specified by the Director of Environmental Protection. (c) Maintenance of retrofitted or existing stormwater management systems. (1) The owner of a stormwater management facility that is not subject to subsection (b) must perform all structural maintenance needed to keep the facility in proper working condition. The owner of a residential property or a nonresidential property that contains a stormwater management facility built or retrofitted by the County, or a homeowners’ association that includes the residential property, may execute a stormwater management easement granting the County a perpetual right of access to inspect, operate, monitor, install, construct, reconstruct, modify, maintain, clean, or repair any part of the stormwater management facility in the easement as needed to assure that the facility remains in proper working condition under approved design standards. (2) If the owner of a stormwater management facility grants a stormwater management easement to the County, the owner must make any structural repairs needed to place the facility in proper working condition, as determined by the Department of Environmental Protection, before the County enters into an inspection and maintenance agreement with the owner that makes the County responsible for structural maintenance of the facility. After the owner and the County have agreed that the County will be responsible for structural maintenance of the facility, the owner must record in the County land records the easement and any other agreement executed in conjunction with the easement that binds any later owner of the land. The owner must deliver a certified copy of each recorded document to the Department of Environmental Protection. (3) After the Department of Environmental Protection receives a certified copy of the easement and agreements, the County must structurally maintain and inspect the facility as provided in subsection (b). (4) If a property contains a stormwater management system that was installed or retrofitted by the County under a sediment control permit, the inspection and maintenance agreement may require the County to maintain the system. (d) Maintenance inspections. (1) The Department of Environmental Protection must ensure preventive maintenance by inspecting all stormwater management systems. The inspection must occur during the first year of operation and then at least once every 3 years. (2) The Department of Environmental Protection must maintain an inspection report for each stormwater management system. Each report must include: (A) the date of inspection; (B) name of inspector; (C) the condition of each: (i) vegetation or filter medium; (ii) fence or other safety device; (iii) spillway, valve, or other control structure; (iv) embankment, slope, and safety bench; (v) reservoir or treatment area; (vi) inlet and outlet channel or structure; (vii) underground drainage; (viii) sediment and debris accumulation in storage and forebay areas; (ix) nonstructural practice to the extent practicable; and (x) other item that could affect the proper function of the stormwater management system; and (D) description of any needed maintenance. (3) The owner of any privately maintained stormwater management system must correct each deficiency discovered during the inspection within the time period specified in any written notice issued by the Director of Environmental Protection. (e) Abandonment instead of repair. If the Director of Environmental Protection finds that the stormwater management facility is no longer needed to control stormwater runoff or that the benefits of a repaired stormwater management facility are not justified by the cost of repair, the owner of the stormwater management facility must abandon the use of the facility for stormwater functions as the Director of Environmental Protection orders. Any order issued under this subsection must not restrict the facility from being used for any recreational or other purpose not related to stormwater control. (f) Nonstructural maintenance of stormwater management facilities. The owner of a stormwater management facility must perform routine inspection and nonstructural maintenance that impacts the effectiveness of routine structural maintenance, performed either privately or publicly. Among other actions, the owner must: (1) prevent the accumulation of solid waste on the property and the generalized growth of weeds or plants in violation of Section 58-3; (2) clear any woody vegetation, including trees and brush along with their root systems, within 25 feet of the facility’s control structure and within 15 feet of an upstream or downstream dam embankment; and (3) abate any other condition on the property that the Department of Environmental Protection reasonably finds may adversely affect the facility’s proper functioning. (g) Disposal of materials from maintenance. A person that transports materials or debris resulting from the repair, cleaning, or maintenance of a stormwater management facility must dispose of the materials at a facility that has a valid permit to accept the type of materials or debris being deposited. (h) Stop work order. (1) If a maintenance inspection reveals that the maintenance, repair, or restoration of a stormwater management facility is being performed in a manner that is hazardous, creates a nuisance, or endangers human life or the property of others, or is otherwise being performed in an unauthorized manner, the Director of Environmental Protection may, without advance notice, post a stop work order at the site directing that all maintenance, repair, or restoration activity must stop immediately. (2) The Director of Environmental Protection must provide written notice to the property owner, any designated representative of the property owner, or any on- site person in charge of the work when a stop work order is issued. That notice must specify the extent to which work is stopped and the conditions under which work may resume. (3) A person must not continue, or allow the continuance of, work on a stormwater management facility covered by a stop work order, except for work necessary to abate a nuisance or hazardous condition identified by the Director. (i) Emergency authority. If, after inspection, the Director of Environmental Protection finds that the condition of a privately maintained stormwater management facility presents an immediate danger to the public health or safety because of an unsafe condition, improper construction, or poor maintenance, the Director of Environmental Protection may take any needed action to protect the public and make the facility safe, including entering the property to make any needed repair. The County must assess any cost incurred as a result of the Director of Environmental Protection’s actions against each owner of the facility. The County may collect the costs in the same manner as real property taxes are collected against the property where the facility is located. In addition, the County may seek reimbursement under any other method legally available to collect debts owed to the County.

(a) The Department of Environmental Protection must create a Stormwater Management Loan Program. The Program must provide direct loans to eligible homeowners’ associations and other residential property owners to: (1) make structural repairs to restore a stormwater management facility to acceptable design standards before the owner petitions the County to assume responsibility for future structural maintenance of the facility under Section 19-28(d), or (2) cover the cost of abandoning a facility under Section 19-28(e). (b) The fund for the Program consists of: (1) all funds appropriated to the Program; (2) all payments on any loan from the Program; (3) all interest earned on funds in the Program; and (4) all funds received from any other public or private entity. (c) The County Executive must adopt regulations under method (2) to administer the Program. These regulations should include: (1) lending standards and priorities; (2) terms and conditions of loans; (3) application procedures; (4) procedures for loan applicants to request reconsideration of a decision to deny a loan or a decision on interest rates, terms, and conditions; and (5) collection procedures in cases of nonpayment or default.

(a) The Director of Environmental Protection may establish a Watershed Restoration Grant Program. The purpose of the Program is to provide funds to non-profit organizations to perform water quality protection or improvement activities that would help the County satisfy applicable regulatory requirements of the County's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems permit. (b) To identify non-profit organizations to perform water quality protection or improvement activities, the Director of the Office of Procurement may issue a competitive solicitation under Chapter 11B that is limited to non-profit organizations. (c) The Director of Environmental Protection may also establish a supplemental grant program to offset the cost of paying the Charge assessed under Section 19-35 to an owner of an improved aircraft landing area that is exempt from County property taxes under Maryland Code, Tax-Property Art. § 8-302. Transition. Any regulation in effect when this Act takes effect that implements a function transferred to the Office of Procurement by this Act continues in effect, but any reference in any regulation to the Department of General Services, from which the function was transferred, must be treated as referring to the Office of Procurement, to which the function is transferred. The transfer of a function under this Act does not affect any right of a party to any legal proceeding begun before this Act took effect. Any responsibility or right granted by law, ordinance, regulation, delegation of authority, contract, or other document to the Department General Services in connection with this Procurement Law and Regulations is transferred to the Office of Procurement.

(a) The Executive may adopt regulations under method (2) to implement this Article. Any regulation adopted under this Article must not conflict with or waive any provision of this Chapter, and must not be less restrictive than applicable requirements under state or federal law. The regulations must establish a fee schedule for monetary contributions to be paid to the County when the Department waives any on-site stormwater management requirement. The regulations may also include design standards and other criteria or procedures necessary to implement this Article. (b) The Executive may adopt plan review fees and inspection fees under method (3) to cover the cost of administering this Article.

The following development activities are exempt from stormwater management requirements under this Article: (a) agricultural land management practices; (b) any addition or modification to an existing single family detached residential structure if the addition or modification does not disturb more than 5,000 square feet of land area; (c) any development not associated with the construction of a new residential or commercial building if the development does not disturb more than 5,000 square feet of land area; and (d) any land development activity that the Administration finds is subject to any State law that regulates stormwater management runoff.

Each new development or redevelopment project must comply with this Article, except when the Department issues final sediment control and stormwater management design plan approval for the property covered by the plan before May 4, 2010.

(a) The Executive must inform any incorporated municipality in the County that may regulate stormwater management of any proposed stormwater management facility, development or plan that could affect stormwater management in the municipality. The Board must inform any municipality of any functional master plan or preliminary plan of subdivision that may affect stormwater management in the municipality. (b) The County and the Board may enter into cooperative agreements with any incorporated municipality in the County concerning any matter relating to stormwater management, including the planning, design, construction, and maintenance of stormwater management facilities and monetary contributions for stormwater management. The County and the Board may enter into those cooperative agreements to coordinate stormwater management activities with any municipality to avoid duplication of effort and to minimize the costs associated with an effective stormwater management program. (c) If a municipality operates a stormwater management program that serves substantially the entire municipality and meets all applicable federal and State standards, the County must reimburse the municipality, subject to appropriation, for the cost of operating the program, limited to the amount the Director of Environmental Protection estimates the County would spend for that municipality if it were operating the program, by means of a cooperative agreement under subsection (b).

(a) As authorized by Section 52-17 (a) or Maryland Code, Environment Art., § 4-204, or both, the Director of Finance must annually impose and collect a Water Quality Protection Charge, as provided in this Section. The Director must collect the Charge in the same manner as County real property taxes, apply the same interest, penalties, and other remedies (including tax sale) if the Charge is not paid, and generally treat the Charge for collection and administration purposes as if it were a County real property tax. The Director may treat any unpaid Charge as a lien on the property to which the charge applies. (b) The Charge must be imposed on each property, as specified in regulations adopted by the Executive under Method (1) to administer this Section. The regulations may define different classes of real property, depending on the amount of impervious surface on the property, stormwater runoff from the property, and other relevant characteristics, for purposes of applying the Charge. (c) The Council must set the rate or rates for the Charge by a resolution adopted each year after holding a public hearing with at least 15 days’ notice. The resolution must be adopted no later than the date the Council approves the annual operating budget and presented to the Executive within 3 days after the Council adopts it. If the Executive disapproves a resolution adopted under this Section within 10 days after the Council adopts it and the Council readopts it by a vote of six Councilmembers, or if the Executive does not act within 10 days after the Council adopts it, the resolution takes effect. Unless the resolution specifies otherwise, the rates must take effect on the July 1 after the resolution is adopted. (d) In the resolution adopted under subsection (c), the Council may set a different rate for each type of property defined by regulation. If different rates are set, the rates must generally reflect the relative amount of impervious surface on each type of property. (e) (1) A property owner may apply for, and the Director of Environmental Protection must grant, a credit equal to a percentage, set by regulation, of the Charge if: (A) the property contains a stormwater management system for which the County does not perform structural maintenance that either treats on-site drainage only or both on-site drainage and off-site drainage from other properties located within the same drainage area; (B) the property does not contain a stormwater management system, but is located in the same drainage area as another that contains a stormwater management system for which the County does not perform structural maintenance and both properties have the same owner; (C) the property contains a stormwater management system built as part of a County-approved stormwater management participation project; or (D) the property does not contain a stormwater management system, but is located in the same drainage area as a property containing a stormwater management system built as part of a County-approved stormwater management participation project and both properties have the same owner. (2) To receive the credit, the property owner must apply to the Director of Environmental Protection in a form prescribed by the Director not later than September 30 of the year that payment of the Charge is due. Any credit granted under this subsection is valid for 3 years. (3) The Director of Environmental Protection may revoke a credit granted under paragraph (2) if the property owner does not continue to take the measures needed to assure that the stormwater management system remains in proper working condition by correcting any deficiencies discovered by the Director during a maintenance inspection. The Director must not reinstate a revoked credit until the property owner has sufficiently corrected the deficiencies to fully satisfy the property owner's maintenance obligations under Section 19-28. (4) The owner of an owner-occupied residential property, or any non-profit organization that can demonstrate substantial financial hardship may apply for an exemption from all or part of the Charge for that property, based on criteria set by regulation. To receive the exemption, the owner or organization must apply for the exemption to the Director of Finance not later than September 30 of the year that payment of the Charge is due. After reviewing the request for exemption, the Director of Finance must issue a written decision. The owner or organization may appeal the decision of the Director of Finance to the Maryland Tax Court. The appeal must be filed within 30 days after the date of the decision. (f) The Director must deposit funds raised by the Charge, and funds for this purpose from any other source, into a stormwater management fund. Funds in the stormwater management fund may be applied and pledged to pay debt service on debt obligations to finance the construction and related expenses of stormwater management facilities as approved in the Capital Improvements Program. Funds in the stormwater management fund must only be used for: (1) construction, operation, financing, and maintenance of stormwater management facilities, and related expenses, including debt service payments related to construction and related expenses of stormwater management facilities; (2) enforcement and administration of this Article; and (3) any other activity authorized by this Article or state law. (g) This Charge does not apply to any property located in a municipality in the County which notifies the County that it has imposed or intends to impose a similar charge to fund its stormwater management program in that municipality. (h) A person that believes that the Director of Environmental Protection has mistakenly assigned a Charge to the person’s property or computed the Charge incorrectly may apply to the Director of Environmental Protection in writing for a review of the Charge, and request an adjustment to correct any error, not later than September 30 of the year that payment of the Charge is due. (i) A property owner that believes that the Director of Environmental Protection has incorrectly calculated a credit, revoked the property owner’s credit or denied the property owner’s application for a credit under subsection (e)(1), (2), or (3), or denied the property owner’s request for an adjustment under subsection (h), may seek review of the Director’s decision by submitting a written request for review with supporting reasons to the Director of Finance within 30 days after the date of that decision. After reviewing the decision of the Director of Environmental Protection, the Director of Finance must notify the property owner in writing of the decision to affirm or reverse the decision of the Director of Environmental Protection. The property owner may appeal the decision of the Director of Finance to the Maryland Tax Court. The appeal must be filed within 30 days after the date of the decision of the Director of Finance. In COMCOR 19.35.01, any reference to the final decision of the Director of the Department of Environmental Protection must be treated as a reference to the Director’s recommended decision to the Director of the Department of Finance and any reference to an appeal to the Board of Appeals must be treated as a reference to an appeal to the Maryland Tax Court. Expedited Bill 34-12 amended County Code Section 19-35 to subject all properties not otherwise exempt under State law to the Water Quality Protection Charge, allow property owners to obtain credits for undertaking certain water quality protection measures on their properties, and authorize financial hardship exemptions for certain owner-occupants of residential properties. The effective date of Expedited Bill 34-12 was July 1, 2013. In Paul N. Chod v. Board of Appeals for Montgomery County (Civil No. 398704-V, entered July 23, 2015) the Circuit Court for Montgomery County opined that the Water Quality Protection Charge “is invalid per se because this charge need not reasonably relate to the stormwater management services provided by the County.” The County has appealed this decision. This Act is intended to correct the potential defect noted by the Circuit Court by designating the stormwater management charges imposed by Section 19-35 as an excise tax imposed under the general taxing authority of Montgomery County to levy excise taxes. This Act is not intended to alter the policy, purposes, or substance of Section 19-35. The County Council finds that: (a) Montgomery County had the authority in 2013 to adopt Section 19-35 under the County’s taxing authority – see Section 52-17; (b) This Act furthers the original purpose of Section 19-35 to require individual owners of property with impervious surfaces to pay a share of the public costs associated with mitigating and remediating the environmental impact of stormwater runoff throughout the County; (c) The legal defect in the adoption of Bill 34-12 (if any) was minor, because the County had in 2013 and continues to have the authority to levy and collect from property owners an excise tax for the purpose of producing revenue to fund the water quality protection measures needed to ameliorate the environmental impact of stormwater runoff; (d) All property owners have benefitted from water quality protection and restoration measures made possible by the revenues generated from the stormwater management charges imposed under Section 19-35; and (e) It is just and proper that this Act take effect as of July 1, 2013 in order that the public will continue to benefit from the water quality protection and restoration measures undertaken and to be undertaken as a result of the revenues provided by the Water Quality Protection Charge. (a) The Council declares that an emergency exists and that this legislation is necessary for the immediate protection of the public health and safety. This Act takes effect on July 1, 2013. Notwithstanding County Code Section 19-35(b), as amended by Section 1of this Act, the Director of Finance must phase in the Water Quality Protection Charge as provided in this Section. (b) The Director must phase in over 3 years any increase in the Charge that results from the application of Section 19-35(b), as amended by Section 1 of this Act, or any regulation adopted under that Section, by including: (1) only one-third of the additional impervious surface that has been added to the calculation of the Charge in the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2013; (2) only two-thirds of the additional impervious surface that has been added to the calculation of the Charge in the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2014; and (3) the full amount of the additional impervious surface that has been added to the calculation of the Charge in the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2015. (c) The phase-in established in this Section does not apply to any portion of the Charge that results from the inclusion in the calculation of the Charge of any impervious surface area that is created after June 30, 2013. (d) To receive a credit or exemption under Section 19-35(e) for the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2013, a property owner must apply to the Director of Environmental Protection or the Director of Finance, as applicable, not later than September 30, 2013.

In this Article and any regulations issued under it, these words and phrases have the following meanings: Accessory/appurtenant structure: A structure that is located on the same lot as a principal structure and has a use that is incidental to the use of the principal structure. Basement: Any area of a building having its floor below ground level on all sides. Any other bottom floor of a building is a first floor. Certificate of Occupancy: A form issued by the Department certifying that a structure has been built consistent with an approved floodplain district permit plan and may be legally inhabited for the intended purpose. Department: The Department of Permitting Services. Developer: A person for whose benefit any activity regulated by this article is started or carried on. An individual who builds a single-family house for the individual's own occupancy is not a developer. Development: Any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, including any building or other structure, dredging, fill, grading, paving, clearing, excavation, dumping, extraction, or storage of equipment or materials. Development includes subdivision of land. Director: The Director of the Department of Permitting Services, or a duly authorized agent. Elevation certificate: A form prepared and distributed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency using Mean Sea Level as established by the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 and verifying the elevation at which a floor is constructed. Flood: A temporary inundation of normally dry land areas. Floodplain: (a) A relatively flat or low land area adjoining a river, stream, pond, stormwater management structure, or watercourse subject to partial or complete inundation; or (b) An area subject to unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface water as a result of an upstream dam failure. Floodplain district: Any area specified in Executive regulations that is subject to inundation in a 100-year storm. This includes any waterway with a drainage area of 30 acres or larger. Floodplain district permit: A permit issued by the Department under this article authorizing land-disturbing and construction activities. Floodplain district permit plan: A set of representational drawings or other documents submitted by an applicant to obtain a floodplain district permit that contains the information and specifications the Department requires to minimize the safety hazards of or the negative hydraulic and environmental impacts associated with development in or near a floodplain. Floodproofing: Any combination of structural and non-structural additions or changes to a property or structure which reduce or eliminate flood damage. Floodway: The channel and adjacent land area required to discharge the waters of the 100-year flood of a watercourse without increasing the water surface elevations. Flood Fringe: That portion of the floodplain outside the floodway. Historical Structure: A structure listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places, the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties, a local inventory of historic places certified by the Maryland Historic Trust or the Secretary of the Interior, or preliminarily determined as meeting the requirements for such listing by the Maryland Historic Trust or the Secretary of the Interior, or determined as contributing to the historic significance of a historic district registered with the Secretary of the Interior. Land disturbing activity: (a) any earth movement or land change which may result in soil erosion from water or wind; (b) the movement of sediments into state waters or onto land, including tilling, clearing, grading, excavating, stripping, filling, and related activities; or (c) covering land with an impermeable material. Lowest floor: The lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area of a building, including a basement. An unfinished or flood-resistant enclosure, usable only for parking motor vehicles, building access, or storage, is not a building's lowest floor if the enclosure does not violate the applicable non-elevation design requirements of the National Flood Insurance Program. Manufactured home: A structure that is: (a) transportable in one or more sections; (b) built on a permanent chassis; and (c) designed for use with or without a permanent foundation connected to the required utilities. Manufactured home also includes a park trailer, travel trailer, or similar vehicle, when placed on a site for more than 180 consecutive days. Manufactured home park: A parcel or contiguous parcels of land divided into two or more manufactured home lots for rent or sale. New construction: Any structure for which construction began on or after the date of entry into the Regular Program or the date this Article took effect, whichever occurred first. 100-year flood: A flood that has a one percent chance of being equalled or exceeded in a given year. Unless otherwise stated, this calculation is based on the contributing watershed being completely under existing zoning. Permanent construction: Any structure built or placed on a site for more than 180 consecutive days. Permittee: Any person who receives a permit under this article. Person: Any individual, corporation, partnership, joint venture, firm, unincorporated association, municipal, county or state agency, or any combination. Principally above ground: Any structure with at least 51 percent of the actual cash value of the structure, not including the land value, above ground. Recreational Vehicle: A vehicle built on a single chassis which is 400 square feet or less at the longest horizontal projection, self propelled or towable, and designed primarily for temporary living while traveling or camping. Start of construction: The earlier of: (a) The date the building permit was issued, if construction, repair, reconstruction, placement, substantial improvement, or other improvement starts within 180 days after the permit is issued; or (b) The actual start of construction, which means either: (1) the first placement or permanent construction of a structure on a site, such as the pouring of a slab or footings; or (2) any work beyond the excavation stage. Structure: A walled or roofed building that is principally above ground and affixed to a permanent site or location. Structure includes a utility shed, barn, gas or liquid storage tank, building foundation, platform, deck, swimming pool, bulkhead, or greenhouse. Subdivision: The division or redivision of any lot, tract, or parcel of land by any means into two or more lots, tracts, parcels, or other divisions of land. Subdivision includes a change in existing lot lines for the immediate or future purpose of lease, transfer of ownership, building, or development. Substantial Damage: Damage of any origin sustained by a structure if the cost of restoring the structure to its previous condition is at least 50% of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred. Substantial improvement: Any repair, reconstruction, or improvement of a structure, if the total cumulative cost equals or exceeds 50 percent of the market value of the structure either: (a) Before the improvement or repair is started; or (b) Before the damage occurred, if the structure has been damaged and is being restored. Substantial improvement occurs when the first alteration of any wall, ceiling, floor, or other structural part of a building begins, whether or not that alteration affects the external dimensions of the structure. Substantial improvement does not include: (a) Any improvements of a structure to comply with State or local health, sanitary, or safety codes which is necessary to assure safe living conditions; or (b) Any alteration of a structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places or the State Inventory of Historic Places. Temporary development: Any structure or construction (a) used in construction work, such as a construction shed, seat, canopy, tent or fence; or (b) for a temporary purpose, such as a reviewing stand, fair, carnival or flea market, which is completely removed after 180 days or less. Watercourse: Any natural or artificial waterway including a stream, river, creek, ditch, channel, canal, conduit, culvert, drain, waterway, gully, ravine, or wash, in which water flows either continuously or intermittently. Wetland means any land which is: (1) considered private wetland or State wetland under Title 16 of the Environment Article of the Maryland Code; or (2) defined as a wetland under the procedures described in the most recent Federal manual for Identifying and Delineating a Jurisdictional Wetland.

(a) A person must not engage in any land-disturbing activity within the floodplain district or within 25 feet of any boundary of the district unless the Department issues a floodplain district permit, except as provided in this section. (b) A floodplain district permit is not required for: (1) Any minor land-disturbing activity that: (A) Disturbs less than 5000 square feet of ground surface area; (B) Is promptly stabilized to prevent erosion and sedimentation; and (C) Does not substantially block or impede the flow of water or change the cross-section of the floodplain. (2) (A) Any accepted agricultural land management practice, except that construction of agricultural structures requires a floodplain district permit; or (B) Any nursery operation, such as the removal or transplanting of cultivated sod, shrubs, and trees. (3) Any federal or state project exempted under State or Federal law if the proposed work is performed on State or Federally-owned land. (c) A person may engage in land-disturbing activity in the floodplain district or within 25 feet of any boundary of the district before a permit is issued if: (1) the activity is required to prevent or reduce an imminent and serious threat to life, health, or property, or to maintain or repair electricity, gas, water, or telephone service in an emergency; (2) the Director is notified, and proper sediment and erosion controls are installed, within 24 hours after the activity begins; and (3) an appropriate permit application is filed within 72 hours if the activity is not complete by that time. The Director at any time may order any work done before a permit is issued to be modified as necessary to comply with this Article.

(a) To obtain a floodplain district permit, an applicant must file an application in writing on a form furnished by the Department. The owner of the property where the land-disturbing activity is to be performed, or the owner's authorized agent, must sign the application. (b) A permit must be issued only in the name of the current property owner. (c) A separate permit must be issued for each non-contiguous site. (d) A permit may be transferred to a later owner, if the later owner files an application form and pays a transfer fee and the Director approves the transfer. (e) An application for a permit must be accompanied by: (1) An erosion and sediment control plan approved by the Department, where required by law; and (2) The permit fee. (f) Plans must be prepared and certified by: (1) A registered professional engineer, registered land surveyor, or architect; or (2) Another person approved by the Department. (g) Each floodplain district permit plan must comply with this article and applicable regulations.

(a) Any major modification of an approved plan must be submitted to the Department and may be approved or disapproved in the same manner as the original plan. (b) In an emergency situation, the Director may require the installation of interim flood protection measures to protect stream channels, other property, or the public from damage or danger. Any required measure must remain in effect until adequate modifications to an approved plan are approved and implemented. (c) The Department's field representative may authorize minor field modifications that are consistent with this article and applicable regulations.

(a) In granting a floodplain district permit, the Director may attach conditions that the Director finds: (1) Are reasonably necessary to prevent undue risk to public or private property; or (2) Will prevent the operation from being conducted in a manner hazardous to life or property. (b) Those conditions may include: (1) Erecting or installing walls, drains, dams, plantings, erosion and sediment control measures or devices; (2) Furnishing necessary easements; or (3) A specified method of performing the work. (c) Each condition must be identified on the approved floodplain district permit plan. (d) The approved plan is a condition of the permit. (e) A person must not violate any permit condition.

Any permit issued under this article expires one year after the date of issuance. The Director may renew a permit for up to one additional year.

(a) The Department may enter any property subject to this article to inspect the property and enforce this article. (b) Any activity in conjunction with a permit must not proceed until the Department has issued the permit. All work must be performed in accordance with the approved plan and permit. (c) The permittee must notify the Department 48 hours before starting any activity in conjunction with a permit. The permittee or its representative must attend a pre-construction meeting with the Department unless the Department waives the meeting. (d) The permittee must keep a copy of the approved floodplain district permit plan and the permit available on site for inspection by the Department. (e) The Director must inspect each site that has a floodplain district permit plan to ensure compliance with the approved plan and all permit requirements. (f) If the permittee fails to comply with any requirement under this article, the Director must inspect the work and notify the permittee in writing. The notice must state: (1) The nature of the violation; (2) Any practice or plan deficiencies; (3) Any required corrective action; and (4) A reasonable time for compliance. (g) The permittee must promptly correct any portion of the work that does not comply. (h) The Department may make additional inspections as necessary, and may waive any inspection except the final inspection under section 19-43. (i) The Department must maintain a record of each inspection, including the date, location or project identification, whether the approved plan and permit conditions have been complied with and, if a violation exists, the enforcement action taken.

(a) The Director may revoke or suspend any permit issued under this article, after the Department serves written notice on the permittee, for: (1) Violation of the approved plan or any other condition of thepermit; (2) Violation of any applicable law or regulation relating to the work; (3) The existence of any hazard or danger to human life or the property of others; or (4) Failure of the approved plan to achieve required objectives because of site characteristics or conditions. (b) In addition to the authority to revoke or suspend a permit under subsection (a), the Director may order that all construction activity in conjunction with a permit must stop immediately if: (1) Any construction activity violates a condition or requirement of a County permit, application, or approved plan, or this article or applicable regulations; (2) The Department delivers a written warning to the permittee or its representative that lists corrective measures required and the time by which the corrections must be made; and (3) The permittee does not make all corrections within the specified time. (c) The Department must provide a report to the permittee or its representative when a stop work order is issued. The report must specify the extent to which work must be stopped and the conditions under which work may resume. (d) The permittee is responsible for the actions of its agents, and must notify any agent when a stop work order affects an area within which the agent is working or may work. An agent is any person who acts under the direction, with the permission, or to the benefit of the permittee. (e) A person must not continue, or permit the continuance of, work in an area covered by a stop work order.

(a) Immediately after a project is finished, the permittee must notify the Department and schedule a final inspection. (b) If, after final inspection, the Director finds that all work subject to inspection has been satisfactorily completed in accordance with this article, the permit, approved plans, and regulations, the Director must issue a completion certificate to the permittee. The Director may recommend release of the certificate of occupancy, where applicable, after receiving a completed Elevation Certificate from the developer, at that time.

(a) The Director may recommend written regulations to administer this article, may hold public hearings on any proposed regulation, and must obtain approval from the Floodplain Division of the Maryland Water Resources Administration before forwarding any regulation to the County Executive for adoption. (b) The regulations must include but are not limited to the following: (1) Accepted floodplain datum sources; (2) Floodplain restrictions; and (3) Minimum plan requirements. (c) The County Executive may adopt regulations authorized by subsection (a) under Method (2). (d) The Director may recommend regulations, to be adopted by the County Executive under Method (3), to set, increase, or decrease permit fees. (e) Any regulation adopted under this article must not conflict with or waive any provision of this chapter, and must not be less restrictive than regulations of the Maryland Water Resources Administration.

(a) The water quality goals of the County are to: (1) protect, maintain, and restore high quality chemical, physical, and biological conditions in the waters of the state in the County; (2) reverse past trends of stream deterioration through improved water management practices; (3) maintain physical, chemical, biological, and stream habitat conditions in County streams that support aquatic life along with appropriate recreational, water supply, and other water uses; (4) restore County streams, damaged by inadequate water management practices of the past, by reestablishing the flow regime, chemistry, physical conditions, and biological diversity of natural stream systems as closely as possible; (5) help fulfill interjurisdictional commitments to restore and maintain the integrity of the Anacostia River, the Potomac River, the Patuxent River, and the Chesapeake Bay; and (6) promote and support educational and volunteer initiatives that enhance public awareness and increase direct participation in stream stewardship and the reduction of water pollution. (b) The federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and state water quality standards require that the County establish regulations governing discharges into protected waters of the state. (c) To accomplish the purposes of this Chapter, the County Council has established this Article. In administering and enforcing this Article, the County should consider the economic impact of any action it takes or requires. (d) The County must work in conjunction with municipalities, counties, agencies of the state, and the federal government to establish interagency agreements and to take other steps necessary to accomplish the purposes of this Chapter.

In this Article, the following words and phrases have the following meanings: (a) Agriculture means the business, science and art of cultivating and managing the soil, growing, harvesting, and selling sod, crops and livestock, and the products of forestry, horticulture and hydroponics; breeding or raising livestock, poultry, fish, game, and fur-bearing animals; dairying, beekeeping and similar activities. (b) Aquatic life means a diverse macroinvertebrate amphibian and fish population consistent with the State-designated water use classification or the support potential of the existing stream flow, water quality, and habitat quality. (c) Balanced indigenous community means a biotic community typically characterized by diversity, the capacity to sustain itself through cyclic seasonal changes, presence of necessary food chain species, and a lack of domination by pollutant-tolerant species. This community may include historically non-native species introduced in connection with a program of wildlife management and species whose presence or abundance results from substantial, irreversible environmental modifications. Normally, however, this community does not include species whose presence or abundance is attributable to: (1) the introduction of pollutants that will be eliminated by compliance by all sources with effluent limitations; and (2) alternate effluent limitations imposed under state regulations. (d) Best management practices means sediment and erosion control and stormwater management practices approved by the Department of Permitting Services or agricultural runoff control practices approved by the Soil Conservation District to mitigate adverse effects of land use activities, runoff, sedimentation, and nonpoint source pollution on stream bank erosion, stream hydrology, surface and groundwater water quality, stream habitat, aquatic life, and groundwater replenishment. (e) County means Montgomery County. (f) Department means the County Department of Environmental Protection. (g) Director means the Director of the Department of Environmental Protection or an authorized designee or agent. (h) Discharge means adding, introducing, releasing, leaking, spilling, casting, throwing or emitting any pollutant, or placing any pollutant in a location where it is likely to pollute waters of the state in the County. (i) Erosion means the process by which ground surface is worn away by the action of wind, water, ice, or gravity. (j) Groundwater means underground water in a zone of saturation or water contained or moving among soils and sands or held within geologic formations under the ground surface. (k) Industrial waste means any liquid, gaseous, solid, slurry, or other waste substance, or any combination of these, resulting from any process or industry, manufacturing, trade or business. (l) Nonpoint source means a diffuse source of pollution that does not result from a pollutant discharge at a specific, single location (such as a single pipe) but generally results from human or human-induced activities which introduce pollutants into waters of the state in the County through land runoff, precipitation, atmospheric deposition, or percolation. (m) Person means any individual, corporation, partnership, joint venture, agency, unincorporated association, municipality, County, state or federal agency, or any combination of them. (n) Plan for compliance a plan submitted to the Director by a person who causes or permits a violation of this Article which establishes specific corrective actions to be taken and dates by which each action must be completed to abate or mitigate the impacts of the violation. (o) Point source means any discernable confined and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, or vessel or other floating craft, from which any pollutant is or may be discharged. (p) Pollutant means any liquid, gaseous, solid, radioactive, hazardous, or other substance which, when discharged directly or indirectly into waters of the state in the County as a point source or nonpoint source, or when applied to or stored on natural or man-made land surfaces, subsurfaces, or other surfaces connected to these surfaces in a manner other than as authorized by applicable permits, regulations, or manufacturer's instructions, has potential to or does: (1) interfere with state or County designated water uses; (2) obstruct or cause damage to waters of the state in the County; (3) change water color, odor, or useability as a drinking water source through causes not attributable to natural stream processes affecting surface water or subsurface processes affecting groundwater; (4) add an unnatural surface film on the water; (5) adversely change other chemical, biological, thermal, or physical conditions in any surface water or stream channel; (6) degrade the quality of ground water; or (7) harm human life, aquatic life, or terrestrial plant and wildlife. Pollutant includes dredged soil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, wastewater, wastewater sludge, chemical waste, biological materials, radioactive materials, rock, sand, dust, industrial waste, medical waste, sediment, nutrient, toxic substance, pesticide, herbicide, trace metal, automotive fluid, petroleum-based substance, and oxygen-demanding material. (q) Pollute means to discharge pollutants into waters of the state in the County. (r) Pollution means the direct or indirect distribution of pollutants into waters of this state in the County. (s) Restore means to recreate, where feasible, stable and well-shaded riffle, run, stream meander, and pool structures and aquatic habitat conditions with the goal of supporting more balanced indigenous communities in surface waters that have been damaged by excessive or inadequately controlled stormwater flows and nonpoint source pollution discharges from upland watershed development. (t) Sediment means soils or other particulate materials eroded or otherwise separated by parent materials and transported or deposited by the action of wind, water, ice, or gravity or by illegal dumping. (u) Sedimentation means the action or process of forming or depositing sediment in a manner which adversely impacts, or has the potential to adversely impact the physical and biological diversity of wetlands and waters of the state in the County. (v) Soil Conservation and Water Quality Plan means a land use plan for a farm approved by the Soil Conservation District in accordance with Department of Agriculture (USDA) Soil Conservation Service standards and specifications to make the best possible use of soil and water resources in carrying out agriculture while minimizing the movement of sediment, animal wastes, nutrients, or agricultural chemicals into waters of the state in the County. (w) Soil Conservation District means the Montgomery Soil Conservation District, which prepares and approves soil conservation and water quality plans. (x) Stream channel means a part of a water course either naturally or artificially created which contains an intermittent or perennial base flow of groundwater origin. (y) State designated water uses means uses specified in state water quality standards. (z) Surface Waters means all waters of the state other than ground waters, which include ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, tidal and nontidal wetlands, public ditches, tax ditches, and public drainage systems except those designed and used to collect, convey, or dispose of sanitary sewage. (aa) Toxic substance means any liquid, gaseous, or solid substance in a concentration which, when applied to, discharged to, or deposited in waters of the state in the County, may, in the judgment of the Department, exert a detrimental effect on humans or on the propagation, cultivation, or conservation of terrestrial or aquatic life. (bb) Waters of the state means both surface waters and ground waters within the boundaries of the State of Maryland and subject to its jurisdiction.

The Director must administer and enforce this Article. (a) The Director must coordinate programs relating to water pollution abatement and seek the cooperation and assistance of all County agencies, municipalities and regional agencies, and state regulatory agencies when their programs affect the County. (b) The County Executive, subject to confirmation by the Council, must appoint a Water Quality Advisory Group, composed of up to 3 non-voting representatives of government agencies and 15 voting members. The voting members should consist of up to 3 representatives each of academic and scientific experts, environmental groups, the agricultural community, and the business community, with the rest from the public at large. The Group must recommend to the Executive and the Council by March 1 each year water quality goals, objectives, policies, and programs. Each member must be appointed for a 3-year term unless appointed to fill the balance of an unexpired term. The Group each year must select a chair and any other officer it finds necessary. The Group must not engage in any advocacy activity at the State or federal levels unless that activity is approved by the Office of Intergovernmental Relations. (c) The Director may recommend regulations to establish water use classes and water quality standards or criteria which exceed minimum state water use classes, standards, or criteria as set forth in state regulations, or for other purposes necessary to administer this Article. The Executive may adopt regulations for these purposes under method (1). (d) This Article and any regulations adopted under it must not waive any requirement imposed by the federal Clean Water Act, the state Department of the Environment, or the state Department of Natural Resources.

(a) A person must not discharge, or cause to flow from a storage system or other container, any pollutant into waters of the state in the County except in concentrations or quantities explicitly authorized by an approved National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System discharge permit or by a plan for compliance, or that are consistent with the utilization of approved best management practices. (b) A person must not connect any apparatus discharging any pollutant, in any quantity, to any part of the waters of the state in the County except as explicitly authorized by an approved National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System discharge permit or by a plan for compliance, or as results from approved best management practices. (c) A person must not improperly store, handle, or apply any pollutant in a manner that will cause its exposure to rainfall or runoff and discharge as point source or nonpoint source pollution into waters of the state in the County except in concentrations or quantities authorized by an approved National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System discharge permit or by a plan for compliance, or as results from approved best management practices.

(a) The Director must regulate waters of the state in the County according to state water quality standards and designated water uses set forth in state regulations If the Director finds that more stringent standards than those adopted by the state are necessary, such standards may be established by regulation adopted under Section 19-49(c). (b) The Director may order: (1) the abatement of any discharge and correction of any pollution of waters of the state in the County; and (2) the abatement and correction of any degradation of riparian habitat and aquatic life, caused by a failure to design, install, operate, or maintain sediment control, stormwater management, or agricultural best management practices in accordance with an approved sediment control plan, stormwater plan, sediment control permit, Soil Conservation and Water Quality Plan, or plan for compliance. (c) If illegal pollutant discharges from properties engaged in agriculture impair aquatic life or public health, cause stream habitat degradation, or result in water quality standards or criteria violations, the Department must pursue correction of these violations in conjunction with the Soil Conservation District and, if necessary, the state Department of the Environment. Abatement of any violations must be handled in accordance with a memorandum of understanding between the Department and the Soil Conservation District regarding the specific notification and enforcement procedures to be followed in cases of water pollution caused by agriculture. (d) Best management practices used to comply with this Article must be designed, installed, operated, and maintained in accordance with sediment control plans, stormwater management plans, or sediment control permits approved by the Department of Permitting Services. Agricultural best management practices must be designed, installed, operated, and maintained in accordance with Soil Conservation and Water Quality Plans approved by the Soil Conservation District.

(a) If the Director requires the owner or operator of any industrial site to prepare and implement a site control plan to mitigate and eliminate pollution caused by activities at the site, the Director may require the owner or operator, in compliance with the plan, to: (1) maintain records to demonstrate compliance; (2) prepare and file reports necessary to demonstrate compliance; and (3) sample and provide physical, biological, or chemical analysis of discharges by using: (A) a state certified laboratory; and (B) sampling methods where, when and how the Department requires. (b) Upon request of the Department, the owner or operator must provide any records, manifests, and invoices for review. If the documents are not available at the time of the request, the owner or operator must produce the records within the time designated by the Director.

(a) The Department may enter a site at any time during normal business hours, and at other reasonable times, to inspect, investigate, or monitor activities subject to this Article. If the person in charge of the site does not consent to any entry by the Department, the Director must obtain an administrative search warrant from a court with jurisdiction by showing that reasonable administrative standards for inspecting the site have been met. (b) If a discharge is observed which represents an immediate hazard to public health or safety, or aquatic life, the Director or employees of the Department of Police, the Department of Fire and Rescue Services, and any other agent of the County designated by the County Executive, may enter any property or structure, except a dwelling, as necessary to prevent or stop the hazard. (c) A person must not hinder, prevent, or unreasonably refuse to permit any inspection, investigation, or monitoring under this Article. (d) Upon finding a violation of this Article, the Director may issue a notice of violation, stop order, or corrective order to any person causing or permitting the violation. (e) Any person who causes or permits a violation of this Article to occur must submit a plan for compliance when required by the Department. A plan for compliance and any amendment to it must be approved by the Director. If the violation involves a person engaged in agriculture, a plan for compliance must be developed under Section 19-51(c). (f) A person who has submitted a plan for compliance that has been approved by the Director is not in violation of this Chapter as long as the person acts in accordance with the plan for compliance. (g) The Director of Permitting Services may issue a stop work order to any person who violates this Article when performing activities authorized by a building permit or sediment control permit issued under Chapter 8 or Chapter 19. (h) In addition to any other remedy allowed by law, the Department may seek injunctive or other appropriate judicial relief to prevent or stop any violation of this Article.

(a) In an immediate danger to the public health or safety, the Director must notify the responsible party by the most expeditious means, and the party who was notified must remove the illegal discharge or pollutant by the time stated in the notice. If it is not so removed, the Department may remove, mitigate, and clean up any illegal discharge or pollutant. The cost of that removal, mitigation, and clean-up must be paid to the County by the person who did not remove, mitigate, and clean up the illegal discharge and pollutant, and is a debt due to the County. The cost of removal, mitigation, and clean-up is a lien upon all real property. The cost of removal, mitigation, and clean-up may be listed on the tax bill and may be collected in the manner of ordinary taxes. This Section does not restrict the Department from proceeding directly with alternative enforcement procedures under Section 19-53. (b) If, after an inspection by the Department, the Director finds that a pollutant discharge poses an immediate hazard to the public health or safety or to the waters of the state in the County, the Director must take action necessary to abate the pollutant discharge, protect the public, and mitigate any damage that the pollutant discharge has caused to the affected waters. Any cost incurred in carrying out actions under this subsection must be paid by the owner under subsection (a). (c) The Director may establish fees and charges necessary to administer and enforce this Article as provided in regulations adopted under method (3).

(a) The County Council finds that streams, rivers, wetlands, and other sensitive environmental features in Montgomery County constitute an important natural resource. Protecting, maintaining, and restoring the biological, physical, and chemical integrity of the waters in the County will protect the public health and general welfare, provide for a varied aquatic life, appropriate recreational uses, and other water uses, and serve the purposes of applicable federal and state laws and regulations. Protection of fragile watershed areas will help restore and maintain the integrity of the Anacostia River, Potomac River, and Patuxent River within Montgomery County and the Chesapeake Bay. (b) The purposes of this Article are to: (1) implement monitoring programs in special protection areas to help attain the goals of the County's water quality laws and regulations; (2) establish coordinated procedures, performance goals, and requirements for development in special protection areas that will mitigate adverse impacts on water resource areas during and after construction or other land-disturbing activities; (3) ensure no net wetland loss as a result of development; (4) authorize a fee to administer and enforce this Article, including monitoring development impacts on streams in special protection areas; and (5) provide a focused and coordinated approach for County water quality protection and monitoring in special protection areas.

In this Article, the following words and phrases have the following meanings: Best Management Practices means techniques that are most effective in eliminating or reducing the amount of pollution or other detrimental impact to a watershed or wetland. Best Management Practices Monitoring Plan means a written plan that documents the scientific work necessary to assess the effectiveness of best management practices in maintaining water quality. DEP Director means the Director of the Department of Environmental Protection or the Director’s designee. Department or DPS means the Department of Permitting Services. Director or DPS Director means the Director of the Department of Permitting Services or the Director's designee. Erosion and Sediment Control Concept Plan means a statement or drawing or both describing how erosion and sediment, resulting from a development, will be controlled or managed to minimize the discharge of pollutants into surface waters. Land Use Plan means the County's General Plan (“On Wedges and Corridors”) and all amendments or additions, including master plans, sector plans, and functional plans, adopted by the District Council. Planning Director means the Director of the Montgomery County Planning Department or the Director's designee. Special Protection Area means a geographic area where: (1) existing water resources, or other environmental features directly relating to those water resources, are of high quality or unusually sensitive; and (2) proposed land uses would threaten the quality or preservation of those resources or features in the absence of special water quality protection measures which are closely coordinated with appropriate land use controls. Stormwater Management Concept Plan means a statement or drawing or both describing how water quality impacts and stormwater, resulting from a development, will be controlled or managed to minimize the discharge of pollutants into surface waters. Stormwater Management Plan is defined in Section 19-21. Stream Monitoring Plan means a statement prepared by the Department of Environmental Protection describing the location of monitoring stations and the nature, form, and frequency of monitoring to be conducted to evaluate the impacts of development on water resources in a special protection area. A plan must also describe what will be monitored with regard to faunal groups, streams and riparian habitat features, biological features, and physical and chemical properties. Stream Monitoring Program means activities conducted by the Department of Environmental Protection to carry out a stream monitoring plan for property in a special protection area, including: (1) an inventory and evaluation of water resources to measure baseline conditions; and (2) an assessment of any impairment of the biological, chemical, and physical integrity of the stream over time related to development impacts in any special protection area. Technical Manual means a detailed guidance document prepared jointly by the Departments of Environmental Protection and Permitting Services, in consultation with the Planning Board, and used to implement this Article. Water Quality Certification means State authorization required under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act for any federally permitted activity impacting jurisdictional waters of the United States, certifying that the activity complies with Maryland's water quality standards.

(a) Designation. The Council may designate a geographic area as a special protection area by identifying the area in: (1) a land use plan; (2) the Comprehensive Water Supply and Sewer System Plan; (3) a watershed plan; or (4) a resolution adopted after at least 15 days notice and a public hearing. (b) Privately owned property. Except as otherwise expressly provided in this Chapter, the requirements for a water quality inventory and a preliminary and final water quality plan under Section 19-64 apply in any area designated as a special protection area to a person proposing a land-disturbing activity on privately owned property: (1) who is required by law to obtain approval of a development plan, diagrammatic plan, schematic development plan, project plan, special exception, sketch plan, floating zone plan, conditional use, preliminary plan of subdivision, or site plan; or (2) who is seeking approval of an amendment to an approved development plan, diagrammatic plan, schematic development plan, project plan, special exception, sketch plan, floating zone plan, conditional use, preliminary plan of subdivision, or site plan. (c) Publicly owned property. Before engaging in any land-disturbing on publicly owned property in an area designated as a special protection area, the applying agency or department should prepare a combined preliminary and final water quality plan. (d) Recorded plats. This Article does not apply to any project on property which would otherwise be subject to the requirements of this Section that has a valid, approved record plat for the entirety of the project and for which no amendment is required to accommodate the project on or before October 31, 1994.

(a) Any applicant covered by Section 19-62 whose property is in a special protection area must submit a water quality inventory. (b) An applicant who submits a water quality inventory under Section 19-64(a) and whose development does not exceed the following limits need not submit a water quality plan, unless the applicant is specifically required to submit a water quality plan in a land use plan, watershed plan, Comprehensive Water Supply and Sewer System Plan, or Council resolution designating a special protection area, if: (1) a project on property zoned for agricultural, residential, or mixed use contains: (A) a proposed impervious area of less than 8% of the total land area covered by the development approval application; or (B) a cumulative land area of 10 acres or less, and a proposed impervious area of less than 15% of the total land area covered by the development approval application; (2) a project on property zoned for industrial or commercial use consists of a cumulative land area of 2 acres or less covered by the development approval application. (c) An applicant must not avoid the application of this Article by submitting piecemeal applications for property under common or related ownership. (d) If an application for new or additional development approval is submitted for property that was either: (1) previously approved for development, and exempt under subsection (b); or (2) part of a larger tract of land located in a special protection area that was: (A) approved for development under this Article; and (B) under common or related ownership when it was approved for development; the Department or Planning Board, as applicable, in reviewing an application under this Article must assess the cumulative impact of all previously approved development.

(a) Water quality inventory submittal. A person who is required under Section 19-62 to comply with this Article must submit the following documents as part of a proposed development plan, diagrammatic plan, schematic development plan, project plan, preliminary plan of subdivision, site plan, special exception, sketch plan, floating zone plan, or conditional use, whichever is first required. Each submission must be reviewed by the receiving agency as part of the plan or permit application, as provided by law. (1) Stormwater management concept plan; (2) Erosion and sediment control concept plan; (3) Documentation showing avoidance or minimization of impacts on environmentally sensitive areas and priority forest conservation areas as specified in the Planning Board's Environmental Guidelines, and an analysis of available alternatives; (4) Preliminary plan describing the proposed development which minimizes impervious area and, if applicable, meets imperviousness limits for the project as are required in a land use plan, watershed plan, or Comprehensive Water Supply and Sewer System Plan; and (5) Any other information required in the technical manual. (b) Preliminary water quality plan submission. Except where exempt under this Article, a person must submit the following, in addition to any information required for a water quality inventory, as part of a complete application for development approval as provided in Section 19-65: (1) Description of the development proposal and all submissions normally required by law or regulation; (2) Documentation of application for state or federal wetland permit; (3) Description of any other mitigation techniques proposed by the applicant or required by applicable guidelines, law, or regulations; and (4) Documentation of anticipated performance on water quality of each proposed measure, individually and together. (c) Final water quality plan submission. A final water quality plan must be submitted as provided in Section 19-65 and must include the following: (1) Stormwater management concept plan, revised as required by the Director, that identifies all proposed mitigation techniques and an analysis of how these measures will meet applicable performance criteria; (2) Erosion and sediment control concept plan, revised as required by the Director; (3) Proposed compliance program, revised as required by the Director, that describes the installation and inspection of all stormwater management facilities; (4) Draft maintenance agreements and easements covering routine maintenance, long-term repair or replacement of any stormwater management facility or other facilities required by the water quality plan, and an assurance of access to the facilities for inspection and monitoring; (5) Copy of valid water quality certification approved by state and federal agencies or, if not available, a report on the status of the certification review and a copy of any revision made to the certification application; (6) Terms, conditions, and requirements as established in the approved preliminary water quality plan, or in the case of a preliminary water quality plan in conjunction with a development approval before the District Council, the terms, conditions, and requirements as required to be revised by the Planning Board or DPS Director to conform to the District Council action on the development plan, schematic plan, floating zone plan, or diagrammatic plan; (7) Any other information required in the technical manual.

(a) General. (1) Coordinated with project review. Water quality review, including submittal and review of the preliminary and final water quality plans, where required, must be done in conjunction with the review process for a development plan, diagrammatic plan, schematic development plan, project plan, preliminary plan of subdivision, site plan, sketch plan, floating zone plan, conditional use, or special exception in accordance with this Section. The Planning Director must coordinate review of the water quality plan with the DPS Director. (2) Division of approval responsibilities. To avoid duplication of effort, responsibilities for review and approval of water quality plans are divided as follows: (A) In acting on a preliminary or final water quality plan, the Planning Board has lead agency responsibility for: (i) Conformity with all policies in the Planning Board's Environmental Guidelines which apply to special protection areas; (ii) Conformity with any policy or requirement for special protection areas, including limits on impervious area, in a land use plan, watershed plan, or the Comprehensive Water Supply and Sewer System Plan; and (iii) Any other element of the plan in which the Planning Board has primary lead agency design, review, and approval responsibility. (B) In acting on a preliminary or final water quality plan, the Planning Board's approval must conform to the approval of the DPS Director on any element for which the DPS Director has lead agency responsibility. Those elements include: (i) Performance goals for the approved best management practices; (ii) Stormwater management concept plan; (iii) Erosion and sediment control concept plan; and (iv) Any other element of the plan for which the Department has primary lead agency design, review, and approval responsibility. (C) The Department of Environmental Protection has the lead agency responsibility for the monitoring program, including the monitoring of streams and best management practices. (3) Amendments and minor modifications to an approved plan. (A) Significant amendment. Any written request to amend a development approval which involves any significant alteration to a water quality plan must undergo review as described in subsection (b), except as otherwise modified by regulation. (B) Minor modification. The Planning Director or the DPS Director may approve a modification to an approved water quality plan, for any element in their respective jurisdictions, which is consistent with this Chapter if: (i) inspections or design evaluations reveal minor inadequacies in the plan; or (ii) the modification is required by permit conditions and does not significantly affect site layout. (C) Emergency situation. The Planning Director or the DPS Director may approve a modification or exception to an approved water quality plan for any element in their respective jurisdictions where necessary in an emergency situation. (b) Application. (1) The applicant must submit to the Planning Director a preliminary water quality plan as part of a complete application for a development plan, diagrammatic plan, schematic plan, project plan, sketch plan, floating zone plan, preliminary plan of subdivision, or site plan, whichever is first required. For a special exception or conditional use that is subject to this Chapter, the applicant must submit a preliminary water quality plan as part of the special exception or conditional use application to the Board of Appeals. For a project on publicly owned property, the agency or department should submit the water quality plan in conjunction with the mandatory referral process. (2) If the development proposal requires more than one of the approvals listed in paragraph (1), the applicant must submit a preliminary water quality plan to the Planning Director in conjunction with the first approval and a final water quality plan in conjunction with the last approval. (3) If only one approval listed in paragraph (1) is required, an applicant, with the approval of the Planning Board, must submit a combined preliminary and final water quality plan. (c) Review. After receiving a preliminary or final water quality plan, the Planning Director must refer the plan to the DPS Director and other reviewing agencies. The DPS Director must transmit to the Planning Director within the time limits for acting on a plan established by law: (1) Findings on compliance with this Chapter of any: (A) stormwater management concept plan; (B) erosion and sediment control concept plan; (C) stream monitoring plan and best management practices monitoring plan as prepared and implemented by the Department of Environmental Protection; (D) maintenance agreements and easements; and (E) other element of a plan in which the Department has primary lead agency review and approval responsibility. (2) Comments, if any, on any element of a plan in which the Planning Board has primary lead agency review and approval responsibility, including any determination of conformance with a land use plan, watershed plan, or the Planning Board's Environmental Guidelines. (d) Condition of approval. (1) In the case of a water quality plan in conjunction with an amendment to a development plan, schematic development plan, diagrammatic plan, sketch plan, or floating zone plan, Planning Board action on the water quality plan must conform to Section 7.2.1.E or Section 7.7.1.B of Chapter 59. (2) In the case of a water quality plan in conjunction with a special exception, the Planning Board, after holding a public hearing and finding that the plan meets the standards of this Article, must approve a water quality plan and forward the approved plan to the Board of Appeals with its recommendation on the special exception in accordance with Section 59-G-1.2. (3) The final water quality plan, as amended by the Planning Board, must be a condition of approval of the development application and must conform to: (A) changes made by the DPS Director to elements that are in DPS's jurisdiction under subsection (a)(2); (B) any requirements and limits of the state water quality certification and wetland permit, as approved or, if not yet approved, as applied for, and other regulatory approvals, not inconsistent with the certification or permit; (C) any regulations and guidelines, including any policies or requirements in a land use plan, watershed plan, or Comprehensive Water Supply and Sewer System Plan concerning water quality protection in a special protection area; (D) any bond provisions required under Sections 19-10 and 19-32, and any element in the water quality plan required by the Planning Board; and (E) any other condition necessary to implement this Article. (4) For a water quality plan for a project on public property, the Planning Board, after public hearing which may be conducted when the Board considers a mandatory referral application, must determine if the plan meets the standards of this Article. The applying agency or department should not engage in land-disturbing activities that are inconsistent with the approved combined water quality plan unless the applying agency has found that the water quality protection measures it would otherwise use meet the purposes of this Chapter.

(a) Enforcement agreement. Each final water quality plan must contain an enforceable agreement, including an approved financial security instrument, with the Planning Board and the DPS Director, requiring maintenance of all facilities required by the plan. The financial security instrument may be combined with any other financial security instrument required by this Chapter. (b) Transference of responsibility. Each approved final water quality plan for a residential project must provide that neither ownership nor maintenance of any feature of the water quality plan may be transferred to the County, a homeowners association, or any resident until the DPS Director or the Planning Board, depending on which is the lead agency to review the feature, finds that: (1) each feature has been installed in accordance with the specifications shown on the approved plan; (2) each feature has been verified, by inspection to have been operational and functioning as designed for a reasonable period of time after construction of all units and facilities associated with the last phase of the development project; and (3) homeowners association documents include detailed instructions and a schedule concerning how the facilities and features operate and should be maintained, and assure adequate funding for routine and long term inspections, repair and maintenance of all features shown on the approved plan. (c) Appeals. (1) An aggrieved person may appeal a final decision by the Planning Board or the DPS Director concerning a final development approval or permit in which the provisions of this Article are applied. (A) A final decision by the Planning Board occurs when a written opinion concerning a development approval which requires the implementation of a final water quality plan is mailed. (B) A final decision by the DPS Director occurs when the Department has approved, rejected, issued, modified, or revoked a permit which requires the implementation of a final water quality plan. (2) An appeal of a final decision by the Planning Board must be filed with the Circuit Court within 30 days after the written opinion is mailed. The DPS Director may intervene as a party in any appeal involving the implementation of a final water quality plan. The Board of Appeals does not have jurisdiction to hear any appeal arising from a final decision by the Planning Board under this Article. (3) An administrative appeal of a decision by the DPS Director must be filed with the Board of Appeals within 30 days after the decision is made. The Planning Board may present evidence to the Board of Appeals concerning any element of a final water quality plan that relates to its lead agency authority, if relevant to the appeal. (d) Event of default. (1) Events of default are: (A) Required stormwater management facilities, erosion and sediment control facilities, or other mitigation techniques have not been installed or maintained in a correct manner. (B) An applicant has not complied with any other requirement of a water quality plan or this Article. (C) Required fees have not been paid to support a stream monitoring program. (2) If an event of default occurs, the Planning Board or the DPS Director, as applicable, may, in addition to any other remedy already permitted under this Chapter: (A) issue an order prohibiting the applicant from performing any further land-disturbing activities on any developed or undeveloped phase of the project until the applicant is in compliance, or revoking or suspending a permit under Section 19-9. (B) issue a citation for a Class A violation. Each day a violation continues is a separate offense. (C) take any legal action under Section 1-20 or Chapter 50. (e) Waiver. (1) Written request. An applicant may apply for a waiver from this Article or any regulation adopted under it if enforcement would result in undue hardship to the applicant. The application must be directed to either the Planning Board or the DPS Director, as applicable. (2) Review and action. After consulting reviewing agencies and holding a public hearing, the Planning Board or the DPS Director, as applicable, may waive any requirement if the applicant shows by clear and convincing evidence that: (A) the application of some or all requirements of this Article would result in undue hardship to the applicant because of events or circumstances not caused or facilitated by the applicant; (B) the applicant would still comply with all applicable federal, state, or County water quality standards; and (C) the relief sought is the minimum needed to prevent hardship.

(a) Stream monitoring program. (1) Program. The Director of Environmental Protection must design, develop, and implement a stream monitoring program as described in regulations adopted under this Chapter. (2) Priorities. The Director of Environmental Protection must set priorities for monitoring subwatershed areas before development. Priorities must be based on anticipated timing of development within a 2-year period, as indicated by the Planning Director. (b) Regulations; technical manual; environmental guidelines; performance goals. The Departments of Permitting Services and Environmental Protection, after consulting the Planning Board, must jointly adopt regulations, including a technical manual and necessary procedures, under method (2) to administer this Chapter. The Departments and the Board must carry out their functions under this Article in accordance with these regulations. The regulations must include: (1) procedures and standards for preparing a water quality inventory, preliminary or final water quality plans, and a combined preliminary/final water quality plan; (2) procedures to enhance coordination between the Department and the applicant where a wetland permit or water quality certification is also required; (3) supplementary requirements for stormwater management and erosion and sediment control concept plans for special protection areas; (4) criteria for distinguishing minor and significant amendments or modifications; (5) standards for water quality protective measures during and after construction, including special restrictions or standards required for special protection areas; (6) model language for an enforcement agreement or a homeowners association maintenance agreement; (7) other appropriate program requirements consistent with this Article. (c) Annual Report. The Directors of Environmental Protection and Permitting Services jointly must prepare an annual report, in coordination with the Planning Board, to the County Council that describes the effectiveness of best management practices and the observed impact of development on the biological integrity of streams in special protection areas. A copy of the report must be sent to the Planning Board and other responsible agencies. (d) Fee. (1) The Directors of Environmental Protection and Permitting Services may set a fee in an amount not to exceed the reasonable cost of administering, implementing, and enforcing their respective duties under this Article. The fee, including the time when it must be paid, must be set by regulation under Method (3). The Planning Board may set a fee under Chapter 50. A person to whom this Article applies must pay the fees. (2) The fees established under this subsection may be based on the size of a tract or other relevant factor and are intended to offset the cost of: (A) permit review and enforcement of conditions; and (B) monitoring of streams and best management practices to determine the impact of a particular development on stream water quality as well as the effectiveness of certain best management practices in maintaining stream water quality.

(a) Definitions. As used in this Section: Coal tar pavement sealant means a pavement sealant that contains coal tar, coal tar pitch, coal tar pitch volatiles, RT-12, refined tar, or a variation of those substances assigned the chemical abstracts service (“CAS”) number 65996-92-1, 65996-93-2, 65996-89-6, or 8007-45-2. Director means the Director of the Department of Environmental Protection or the Director’s designee. High-PAH pavement sealant means a pavement sealant containing: (1) steam-cracked petroleum residues, steam-cracked asphalt, pyrolysis fuel oil, heavy fuel oil, ethylene tar, ethylene cracker residue, or a variation of those substances assigned the CAS number 64742-90-1 or 69013-21-4; or (2) more than 0.1% (1000 ppm) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, by weight, using a standard testing protocol for determining the PAH content of a pavement sealant approved by the Director. PAH means Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons. Pavement sealant means a material intended to be surface applied to an asphalt or concrete surface, including a driveway or parking lot, to protect or seal the asphalt or concrete. Pavement sealant does not include material applied to a roof. (b) Use of coal tar or high-PAH pavement sealants prohibited. (1) A person must not use a coal tar or high-PAH pavement sealant in the County. (2) Both the property owner and the applicator have violated this Section if a coal tar or high-PAH pavement sealant is applied in the County. (c) Sale. A person must not sell or offer for sale a coal tar or a high-PAH pavement sealant in the County. (d) Enforcement. The Director must: (1) publish a list of pavement sealants acceptable for use on asphalt and concrete in the County that are not coal tar or high-PAH pavement sealants; (2) ensure all pavement sealants on the list in paragraph (1) have been tested using a standard testing protocol for determining the PAH content of a pavement sealant approved by the Director; and (3) generally enforce this Section.

The Director of Environmental Protection may, within 5 working days after the Department of Permitting Services issues any permit or other approval under this Chapter, suspend, revoke, or modify that permit or approval if the DEP Director finds that the issuance of the permit or approval did not protect the water resources of the County to the extent required by this Chapter or otherwise did not comply with this Chapter. The recipient of any permit or other approval under this Chapter must not take any action allowed by the permit or approval during that 5-day period. Any person aggrieved by an action of the DEP Director under this Section may appeal that action to the Board of Appeals within 30 days after the action is taken. A decision by the DEP Director not to suspend, revoke, or modify a permit or approval under this Section is not appealable, and must not be considered in any later appeal of the issuance of a permit or other approval or in any other proceeding.

Any violation of this Chapter is a Class A violation. However, notwithstanding Section 1-19, the maximum penalty for a civil violation of Article I is $1,000 for an initial or repeat offense. Each day a violation continues is a separate offense.

(a) If any clearing, construction, or development allowed by any permit issued by the Department of Permitting Services under this Chapter would result in the trimming, cutting, removal, or injury of any roadside tree (as defined in Section 49-35) or any tree located in a State right-of-way in the County, the Director must not issue that permit until: (1) the applicant obtains a roadside tree care permit as necessary from the State Department of Natural Resources; and (2) the applicant has submitted, in connection with the permit applied for under this Chapter, and the Director has approved, a site-specific tree protection plan that meets the requirements of Section 49-36A(d), unless the applicant is engaged in an activity described in Section 49-36A(b)(2). (b) The Department must approve or reject each proposed tree protection plan within 30 days after receiving it. If the Department does not act on a proposed plan within 30 days, the plan is approved by default. The Department may require further information after a proposed plan is submitted, and may extend this deadline once for an additional 15 days to receive any needed information. The Department also may extend this deadline at the request of the applicant. (c) The County Executive may adopt regulations under Method (2) to specify standards and practices needed to protect and maintain roadside trees, including construction practices needed to prevent or minimize damage to roadside trees, under this Section. These regulations must be at least as stringent as applicable state roadside tree care standards and requirements.