Agenda - 03-10-1987 - Laserfiche WebLink

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179 RURAL BUFFER IMPLEMENTATION MEASURE Water Quality Critical Area (WQCA) Description ', The Water Quality Critical Area (WQCA) is a zoning classification in the Orange County Zoning Ordinance. It is an overlay zone. That is, its requirements are added to the requirements of another zoning classification that has been applied to the land. The purpose of the district is to regulate the use of land and structures on that Land in the portions of water supply watersheds that drain directly into the reservoir and which drain into the main channels of trunk streams feeding into the reservoirs. The WQCA is similar to but more restrictive than the PV II . Stream buffers are required along both perennial and intermittent streams. Buffer width is measured as fifty (50) feet plus four (4) times the average use in elevation measured perpendicularly 250 feet from the centerline of the stream. The buffers are located at the outer edge of identi- fied floodplains . The maximum buffer width is Limited to 150 feet . Uses within the stream buffer are Limited to above ground and buried local distribution utility lines, farms, neighborhood utility facilities, public or private streets, bridges, and railroad rights-of-way. Existing vegetation in the stream buffer cannot be removed. Vegetation on the remainder of a lot in WQCA is to remain undisturbed to the maximum extent possible. No structures are permitted within t50 feet of the high water mark of the water supply reservoir. No new septic tank or its nitrification field is permitted within 300 feet of the water supply reservoir or a perennial or intermittent stream. In order to promote infiltration of stormwater runoff into the soil, a limit is placed on the area of a lot that can be made impervious to the infiltration of water. This Limit is set at 6X of the lot area. Residential lots are required to be at least 80,000 square feet. Industrial, office/institutional, and most commercial uses are not permitted in WQCA. All new developments in WQCA must install stormwater control measures to control the first one-half inch (1 /2") of runoff from impervious surfaces. This initial runoff con- tains most of the pollutants that accumulate on-site. Its control on-site prevents their entering the water supply.