(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. (1980 L.M.C., ch. 60, § 3; 1996 L.M.C., ch. 4, § 1; 1985 L.M.C., ch. 27, § 1; 2001 L.M.C., ch. 27, § 1; 2002 L.M.C., ch. 3, § 1; 2010 L.M.C., ch. 34, § 1; 2013 L.M.C., ch. 11, § 1.)
Editor’s note — Former §§ 19-29, “Inspection and maintenance of off-site storm water management facilities,” and 19-30, “Inspection and maintenance of on-site storm water management facilities,” were repealed, re-enacted with amendments, renumbered § 19-28, and retitled pursuant to 2002 L.M.C., ch. 3, § 1.
Former §§ 19-26, “On-site requirements; waivers,” and 19-28, “County participation in on-site facilites,” were repealed, re-enacted with amendments, renumbered § 19-24, and retitled pursuant to 2002 L.M.C., ch. 3, § 1.