Town of York Stormwater Regulations

In York, stormwater (rain or snow melt) is collected by the Town’s ditches and catch basins and passed to the Town’s natural resources without treatment.  This infrastructure provides drainage that protects roads and the built environment from failure and flooding.

The Town is required to comply with a General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems.  The General Permit is issued approximately every 5 years by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.  

The General Permit requires that the Town pass ordinances to protect stormwater from pollution in many ways.  Developers and Residents should be familiar with Town Ordinances that protect stormwater as follows: 

1.  Erosion and Sedimentation Control during construction:  The Town must ensure that construction sites install and maintain good erosion and sedimentation controls.  
   1. Commercial sites and subdivisions that disturb one or more acres of land must comply with Erosion and Sedimentation Control Standards in Appendix A to the Site Plan and Subdivision Regulations.  These sites are required to go through Planning Board approval prior to breaking ground, and then will require at least 4 inspections by Code Enforcement Officers.  
   2. Smaller sites, and single family homes must also control erosion and sedimentation whenever they disturb land.  The Code Enforcement Office has created a handout for these smaller sites.
       
2. Maintenance of Stormwater Infrastructure Post-Construction:  The Town must ensure that private property owners maintain their stormwater infrastructure after construction is completed.  This includes:

1. Inspecting and cleaning catch basins
2. Conducting sweeping of paved surfaces each spring at a minimum, 
3. Inspecting and cleaning ditches, swales and any stormwater treatment systems such as underdrained grassed soil filters or subsurface detention systems
4. Large sites that disturb one or more acres of land must also hire a Qualified Post Construction Stormwater Inspector to do an annual inspection of the facilities and provide a certification and report to the Town.

3. Prohibiting discharge of pollutants into the storm drain system:  The Town also has a Non-Stormwater Discharge Ordinances that identifies what can and cannot be discharged into the Town’s storm drain system.  Generally, clean groundwater and stormwater may be discharged into the storm drain system, and pollutants such as sanitary wastewater, paint brush/bucket wash water, dry wall wastes, carpet cleaning discharges, yard waste, pet waste, cigarette butts, and other litter may NOT be discharged to the Town’s catch basins or ditch system.   

For more detailed information and the official requirements associated with these ordinances, see the Town’s Ordinances page.  

For more information on how the Town is regulated by this permit program, see the Public Works Drainage page:  Drainage - York DPW (yorkpublicworks.org)