CHAPTER 3 DEVELOPMENT DESIGN CREDITS and TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLIDS REMOVAL CRITERIA Stormwater Management Credits for Permanent

Protection of Natural Areas Protection of water quality begins with site design. The preservation of natural areas in a non disturbed condition is the single most effective BMP for reduction of NPS pollutants from developing areas. As stated earlier in this manual, non structural practices can reduce the volume and velocity of stormwater leaving a site, thereby reducing the size and cost of stormwater management structures. Additionally, they reduce the amount of NPS pollutants generated through this reduced runoff, reduced pollutant availability, and increased adsorption and filtration. Consequently, the Division of Watershed Management is developing a system of credits designed to encourage this principle. This section describes three different types of non-structural site planning practices, minimum implementation criteria, and stormwater management credits. Credit 1. Conservation of Natural Areas Credit 2. Disconnection of Runoff Credit 3. Environmentally Sensitive Design In general, the stormwater sizing criteria provide a strong incentive to reduce the amount of impervious cover at development sites. This is reflected in calculations for the water quality volumes and stormwater quantity volumes that must be managed to satisfy regulations. Significant reductions in impervious cover and site disturbance result in smaller required storage and treatment volumes. This means lower costs for structural BMP construction and maintenance. These credits are an integral part of a projects overall stormwater management plan and BMP treatment volume calculation. Therefore, use of these credits will be documented at the initial design stage, included on final site clearing plans, and certified with a set of asbuilts. If a planned credit is not properly implemented, storage and treatment volumes will be increased accordingly, and larger or additional stormwater BMPs will be required.

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Credit 1. Conservation of Natural Areas This credit is given when natural areas on a site are conserved in their pre construction condition and left completely undisturbed. This results in the maintaining of natural hydrologic and water quality characteristics. A basic WQV (water quality volume) credit is granted for all conservation areas PERMANENTLY PROTECTED UNDER CONSERVATION EASEMENTS OR OTHER LOCALLY ACCEPTABLE METHODS. Examples include: Woodland areas Buffers of wetlands and riparian areas Steep slope areas Karst or sinkhole hazard areas

Managed turf such as playgrounds, parks, and athletic fields are not considered acceptable forms of natural areas. Under this credit, the site designer can: 1. Subtract conservation areas from total site area when computing the WQV required to be treated with BMPs to meet the 80% total suspended solids (TSS) removal requirement. (Described later in this chapter). 2. Use a CN (USDA-NRCS TR-55 Curve Number) for woods in good condition for all areas permanently protected under this criteria when calculating the stormwater volume required for control. Criteria for Conservation of Natural Areas credit: 1. The conservation area shall not be disturbed during project construction. 2. The conservation area shall be protected by having the limits of disturbance clearly shown on all construction drawings and delineated on the site. 3. The conservation area shall be located on the development site and within an acceptable conservation easement or other enforceable regulation that ensures perpetual protection. The easement or regulation will clearly specify how the natural area vegetation shall be managed and boundaries will be marked. Credit 2. Disconnection of Runoff

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This credit is given for practices that disconnect both rooftop and ground surface impervious cover from a direct conveyance off site and instead direct it to pervious areas where it is either infiltrated into the soil or filtered by vegetation. This credit can be obtained by grading the site to promote overland vegetative filtering or providing bioretention areas on small residential or commercial lots. The pervious area receiving the disconnected flow MUST BE OF SUFFICIENT AREA AND/OR POROSITY TO FILTER (detain 12 hours) AND/OR INFILTRATE THE WQV. Calculations are required for verification.
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Under this credit, the site designer can: 1. Subtract these disconnected impervious areas from the other impervious areas on the site requiring treatment as part of the WQV. Criteria for Disconnection of Runoff credit: 1. Runoff cannot be generated from a hotspot. (Chapter 4, Table 3) 2. The maximum contributing impervious area flow length shall be 100 feet. 3. The disconnection shall drain continuously through a vegetated channel, swale, riparian forest buffer, or filter strip to the property line or BMP. 4. The flow length of the disconnection shall not be less than 1.5 times the contributing impervious flow length. 5. The disconnection shall consist of at least 80% USDA hydrologic soil groups A and B and have an average slope not exceeding 4%. Credit 3. Environmentally Sensitive Design This credit is given when a group of environmental site design techniques are applied to residential subdivision development. The credit eliminates the need for additional structural BMPs to meet the 80% TSS removal criteria. It also greatly reduces the stormwater volume required for control. Generally, this credit combines Credit 1 and Credit 2. Criteria for Environmentally Sensitive Design credit: 1. Total site impervious cover is less than 15%. 2. Clustering techniques are used. 3. Rooftop and ground surface impervious cover is disconnected in accordance with the criteria in Credit 2. 4. Grass waterways per the Standard contained within the manual are used to convey street runoff instead of curb and gutter. 5. A minimum of 30% of the site is protected in natural conservation areas in accordance with the criteria in Credit 1. 6. All runoff ultimately leaving the site is directed as sheet flow to a filter strip or riparian forest buffer per the Standard contained within the manual.

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Some examples of recommended site design practices to incorporate within this credit are: - Narrower roads - Smaller cul-de-sac or cul-de-sac with green middles. - Pervious road shoulders, parking areas, and driveways - Reduced parking lot ratios - Angled one-way parking

Shared drives Shorter dwelling setbacks Narrow sidewalks; one side of street sidewalks Limits for percent disturbance of lots

The Total Suspended Solids (TSS) Removal Criteria The following steps are part of the BMP selection and sizing considerations. The calculations provide the total suspended solids (TSS) removal rate of a stormwater management system, and they also identify the necessary volume to meet New Jersey recharge criteria. This 80% removal rate is required by the 1993 issued United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 6217(g) Coastal Zone management measures guidance: After construction is completed and the site is permanently stabilized, (BMPs shall) reduce the average annual TSS loadings by 80% Table 1 shows the median TSS removal rate measure through research or projected for the approved stormwater BMPs listed in Chapter 4c. This table is adapted from several sources of stormwater BMP monitoring data from the Center for Watershed Protection (Brown and Schueler, 1997), as well as consultation with experts in the field. It should be noted that the median values were obtained from a range of research studies that varied widely in respect to geography, climate, design, treatment volume, sampling intensity, and calculation method for removal efficiency. In particular, the averages for some pond and wetland designs reflect facilities that were undersized or poorly designed, which can tend to shift removal averages downward. As can be seen from the data, many BMPs on the list are capable of meeting the 80% TSS removal requirement. Some of the BMPs, however, had median removal rates that ranged from 60% to 75%. In addition, performance monitoring data was not available to assess Bioretention and TSS removal rates had to be projected based on the performance of similar systems. Procedure for estimating TSS removal

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1. Assume TSS load is equal to 1.0 (100%) at the outset. For each drainage area, list the BMPs in sequence that are collecting stormwater from the site, beginning with the most up-gradient BMP. Pretreatment and conveyance BMPs will typically precede treatment BMPs. For each drainage area, list the BMP TSS removal rates in sequence. 2. The TSS removal rates are not additive from one BMP to the next. Rather, the estimated removal rates must be applied consecutively to the TSS load remaining from treatment by the previous BMPs.

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For each drainage area, apply the estimated BMP removal rate in the order in which they occur in the treatment train. For an example of three BMPs in a drainage area, this calculation methodology is illustrated in the following example. Table 1. BMPs Currently Acceptable in NJ and TSS Removal Rates NJ Acceptable BMPs

Extended Detention Basin Wet Pond Stormwater Wetland Bioretention System Perimeter Sand Filter Surface Sand Filter Manufactured Treatment Devices Enhanced Swale Dry Well Pervious Paving Infiltration Structure w/ Filter Strip Filter Strip Riparian Forest Buffer

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TSS Removal Rate, % 70 80 80 80 80 ** 60 80 60 70 60 70 80*

* Indicates TSS removal is estimated through comparison with similar BMP and/or modeling. ** The manufactured treatment devices shall be determined on a case-by-case basis for adequacy in meeting or contributing to meeting New Jersey runoff criteria. Often, the devices should be included as part of a treatment train of practices and should not be utilized as the sole method of water quality control.

3. After all of the BMPs have been accounted for and the removal rates applied, the final TSS amount remaining for each drainage area should be 20% or less, meaning 80% or greater removal. If the final removal rate is less than 80%, the system will need to be amended to meet the EPA standard. Note: It is critical to compute the rate for each drainage area. For example, rooftops, if serviced by their own system of dry wells, should be calculated as a separate drainage system.

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Example: A preliminary stormwater management system design calls for an extended detention basin to collect runoff from a small commercial parking lot. Stormwater will then be routed to a wet pond and finally released in sheet flow across a filter strip for final quality control. All rooftop runoff will be routed into dry wells for ground water recharge. a. For parking lot and sidewalk drainage area ONLY: Extended Detention (ED) Basin 70% Riparian Forest Buffer 70%

First, apply the ED Basin TSS removal: 1.0 x 0.70 = 0.70 1.0 0.70 = 0.30 TSS load remaining

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Second, apply the riparian forest buffer TSS removal: 0.30 remaining TSS x 0.70 = 0.21 0.30 0.21 = 0.09 TSS load remaining TSS removal for the system = 1.0 0.09 = 0.91. This exceeds the 0.80 requirement, and constitutes a successful system design for this drainage area. b. For rooftop drainage area: dry well TSS removal rate = 80%. 1.0 x 0.80 = 0.80. This meets the 80% removal requirement and constitutes a successful design for the rooftop drainage area. The Recharge Volume Recommendation The intent of this recharge recommendation criteria is to maintain existing groundwater recharge rates at developing sites as much as is feasible. This in turn helps preserve natural water table levels which maintains stream baseflow and wetland systems. However, because development increases impervious surfaces, a net decrease in recharge rates is inevitable. The criteria for maintaining recharge is based upon the planned impervious cover and average annual recharge rate of the hydrologic soil groups (HSG) and the land cover at the site as determined from USDA Cooperative Soil Survey mapping and the TR55 Urban Hydrology for Small Watershed. Any volume that has been recharged can be deducted from the WQV, which may results in smaller stormwater quality structures. It should be noted that at present, a regulation is not yet in place that makes these recharge recommendations mandatory. However, it is the intention of the Department that maintaining existing recharge to the maximum extent practicable be implemented in the site design process now.

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