Chelsea, MA Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

Sec. 30-220, Pollution prevention in the stormwater collection system, sits in the storm drains division of Chelsea's water and sewer chapter and ties directly into the city's small MS4 stormwater permit. Paragraph (2) requires the proponent of any construction project in the city to submit a plan to the DPW that manages sediment and erosion control, including stormwater and drainage, before or together with the building permit application, and the plan must be approved by the director before any building permits are approved and issued.

The same section separately requires proponents of development and redevelopment projects to submit a post-construction runoff management plan before occupancy is granted, addressing low impact development principles such as preserving natural areas, protecting tree cover and riparian buffers, limiting land disturbance and new impervious surface, and promoting vegetative stormwater controls and infiltration; an applicant who does not use LID practices must explain why. Paragraph (1) of the same section separately bans nonstormwater discharges to the city's small MS4 system under the illicit discharge detection and elimination plan, and gives a property owner seven days to comply with a director's order to stop such a discharge before the city acts and bills the owner for the cost.

The erosion and sediment plan requirement is reinforced by Sec. 30-223(b)(2), which requires an owner making a new or modified connection to the public drain to prepare and implement an erosion and sedimentation control plan to prevent soil erosion and sediment from reaching the public sewers and drains during and after construction. Violations of the chapter 30 water and sewer rules, including this permitting condition, are punishable under the chapter's noncriminal disposition schedule, enforced by DPW personnel or police officers.