A. As part of a VESCP, a district or locality is authorized to adopt more stringent soil erosion and sediment control regulations or ordinances than those necessary to ensure compliance with the Board‘s regulations, provided that the more stringent regulations or ordinances are based upon factual findings of local or regional comprehensive watershed management studies or findings developed through the implementation of an MS4 permit or a locally adopted watershed management study and are determined by the district or locality to be necessary to prevent any further degradation to water resources, to address total maximum daily load requirements, to protect exceptional state waters, or to address specific existing water pollution including nutrient and sediment loadings, stream channel erosion, depleted groundwater resources, or excessive localized flooding within the watershed and that prior to adopting more stringent regulations or ordinances, a public hearing is held. Notice of such hearing shall be given by publication once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the locality seeking to adopt the ordinance, with the first publication appearing no more than 14 days before the hearing. The VESCP authority shall report to the Board when more stringent stormwater management regulations or ordinances are determined to be necessary pursuant to this section. However, this section shall not be construed to authorize any district or locality to impose any more stringent regulations for plan approval or permit issuance than those specified in §§ 62.1-44.15:55 and 62.1-44.15:57.

Terms Used In Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:65 v2

  • Board: means the State Water Control Board. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.3
  • Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
  • plan: means a document containing material for the conservation of soil and water resources of a unit or group of units of land. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:51
  • Pollution: means such alteration of the physical, chemical, or biological properties of any state waters as will or is likely to create a nuisance or render such waters (a) harmful or detrimental or injurious to the public health, safety, or welfare or to the health of animals, fish, or aquatic life; (b) unsuitable with reasonable treatment for use as present or possible future sources of public water supply; or (c) unsuitable for recreational, commercial, industrial, agricultural, or other reasonable uses, provided that (i) an alteration of the physical, chemical, or biological property of state waters or a discharge or deposit of sewage, industrial wastes or other wastes to state waters by any owner which by itself is not sufficient to cause pollution but which, in combination with such alteration of or discharge or deposit to state waters by other owners, is sufficient to cause pollution; (ii) the discharge of untreated sewage by any owner into state waters; and (iii) contributing to the contravention of standards of water quality duly established by the Board, are "pollution" for the terms and purposes of this chapter. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.3
  • State waters: means all water, on the surface and under the ground, wholly or partially within or bordering the Commonwealth or within its jurisdiction, including wetlands. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.3
  • VESCP: means a program approved by the Board that has been established by a VESCP authority for the effective control of soil erosion, sediment deposition, and nonagricultural runoff associated with a land-disturbing activity to prevent the unreasonable degradation of properties, stream channels, waters, and other natural resources and shall include such items where applicable as local ordinances, rules, permit requirements, annual standards and specifications, policies and guidelines, technical materials, and requirements for plan review, inspection, enforcement where authorized in this article, and evaluation consistent with the requirements of this article and its associated regulations. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:51
  • VESCP authority: means an authority approved by the Board to operate a Virginia Erosion and Sediment Control Program. See Virginia Code 62.1-44.15:51

B. Any provisions of an erosion and sediment control program in existence before July 1, 2012, that contains more stringent provisions than this article shall be exempt from the analysis requirements of subsection A.

1973, c. 486, § 21-89.12; 1988, c. 891, § 10.1-570; 2012, cc. 785, 819; 2013, cc. 756, 793; 2023, cc. 506, 507.

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