Connoquenessing Creek Watershed Conservation Plan - Western ...

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Connoquenessing Creek Watershed Conservation PlanChapter 3. Water Resourcescommunities to protect and enhance these important riparian zones and other important green areas, suchas:• Pennsylvania Stream ReLeaf Plan (DEP, 1997) and forest buffer tool kit (Alliance for theChesapeake Bay [ACB] & DEP, 1998)• Stream corridor restoration: principles, processes, and practices (Federal Interagency StreamRestoration Working Group, 1998)• Chesapeake Bay riparian handbook: A guide for establishing and maintaining riparian forestbuffers (Palone & Todd, 1997)• Riparian forest buffers: function and design for protection and enhancement of water resources(Welsch)• Pennsylvania’s Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (U.S. Department of AgricultureFarm Service Agency)Land PurchaseThere are several avenues a community may pursue to protect, restore, and conserve ripariancorridors. A municipality or conservation organization may seek the outright purchase or donation of landin a high quality riparian zone to protect it for future use, or they may seek to obtain areas in need ofrestoration. The municipality or conservation group then has control of the land and is responsible for allfinancial and maintenance obligations. Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources(DCNR) offers funds for land acquisition projects to protect and restore natural areas. Land acquired withthese funds must be available for public use. Another option for financing the purchase of the riparianland is to subdivide the area and sell the less sensitive sections to offset the costs.Conservation EasementsAnother way to protect riparian land is through the purchase of a conservation easement, a legalagreement between a landowner and land trust or local government that permanently restricts the type ofland use for that property to allow for the conservation of natural resources. The landowner maintainsownership of the land, but gives up some of the development rights. The conservation easementcompensates the landowner for the economic loss resulting from these restrictions, such as limited timberharvesting or grazing. The landowner may also receive a tax credit for the reduced value of the property.Within Pennsylvania, municipalities may hold conservation easements and use various taxing schemes toraise money for the acquisition of open space and agricultural land. The Recreation Use of Land andWater Act (# 586) and the Rails to Trails Act (#188) limit liability for property owners with easements oradjoining trails (ACB, 2004).Municipal PlanningMunicipalities have several options in regards to land use planning. County Comprehensive Plansare documents that address the timing and character of development. Although non-regulatory, theMunicipalities Planning Code states that zoning ordinances must be consistent with comprehensive plans,which should contain planning for natural and historic preservation (Pennsylvania MunicipalitiesPlanning Code).An Official Municipality Map designates existing and proposed open space reservations. If amunicipality wishes to set aside a landowner’s property for open space purposes, then the municipalityhas a legal obligation to buy the land within 12 months of the landowner’s decision to develop it.Ordinances can restrict activities within a certain distance of a stream, based on stream size, slope ofthe land, wetlands, etc. This may include limiting the building of structures prone to flooding, the removalof streamside vegetation, and the amount of earth disturbance in this zone. Typically, several zones are3-8
Connoquenessing Creek Watershed Conservation PlanChapter 3. Water Resourcesdelineated next to a stream, and restrictions increase in zones that are the closest. Structures presentbefore the ordinance is enacted are often exempt from these restrictions. Municipalities in Pennsylvaniathat have riparian ordinances and can be contacted for more information include Salford and HorshamTownship, Montgomery County; Kennett Township, Chester County; Warwick Township, LancasterCounty; and Radnor Township, Delaware County (ACB, 2004).Transferable Development RightsThis tool, which is discussed further in the Biological Resources Chapter, compensates propertyowners in areas where development is restricted, by allowing them to sell development rights to increasedevelopment densities in other areas.Density BonusesThis tool awards developers by allowing them to increase development density in exchange forconserving natural areas or contributing to an open space fund.Stormwater CreditsA stream buffer helps reduce stormwater runoff. Developers can receive stormwater credits, whichresult in construction of less costly stormwater management facilities, in exchange for maintaining orrestoring riparian buffers (ACB, 2004).StormwaterThe water running off impervious surfaces, such asstreets, buildings, and parking lots, as well as land duringstorm events is referred to as stormwater. Besides flooding,stormwater contributes a significant amount of pollution towaterways. Much of the unhealthy bacteria that enter streamsfrom manure lots and faulty sewage systems do so duringstorm events.In urban areas, impervious surface area is often linked tostream impacts, with significant impacts occurring at only 10Persistent stormwaterpercent impervious surface according to some studies(Schueler, 1995). Impervious surfaces are areas on the landscape where water cannot pass through to beabsorbed by the soil. Examples of impervious surfaces include hard surfaces, such as asphalt, concrete,rooftops, and highly compacted soils. Highly compacted soils often result from a lack of vegetation in anarea, which as mentioned before, also leads to water quality degradation.Water runs off the land until it infiltrates the soil, or it is incorporated into man-made systems thatfunnel it to a body of water. This leads to increased volume and velocity of water flowing into the stream,less groundwater flowing through the soil, and erosion of the stream bed. These changes result inflooding, loss and degradation of habitat, erosion, sedimentation, and physical changes in the stream.Small floods may increase by up to 10 times with increases in imperviousness from urbanization (Hollis,1975), and research in Pennsylvania has shown that brook trout are absent from streams in watershedswith just four percent impervious surface.Minimizing the amount of impervious surface is one approach to water resource protection, by usingsuch tools as performance zoning, residential design, and open space subdivision. Reducing impervioussurface not only has environmental benefits, but reduces social, economic, and development costs as well.Pennsylvania’s Stormwater Management Act of 1978 requires each county in Pennsylvania todevelop stormwater management plans for each of its watersheds, though some counties have yet to3-9
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