Brookhaven, NY Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

Chapter 86, Stormwater Management and Erosion Control, was adopted in 2008 to satisfy the Town's SPDES stormwater discharge permit obligations under the state Environmental Conservation Law and federal Clean Water Act, and it was rewritten in its entirety in 2014. Section 86-3 sets the applicability trigger: any land development activity disturbing one acre or more, or any smaller disturbance that's part of a larger common plan of development even if the work happens on different schedules, falls under the chapter. Section 86-4 names the Commissioner of Planning, Environment and Land Management as the Stormwater Management Officer, who can accept, review, and approve stormwater pollution prevention plans, grant or deny conditional releases, retain a Town Board-appointed engineer to review submissions, and accept a licensed professional's certification that a plan meets the chapter's standards.

Section 86-6 spells out what a SWPPP must contain: site maps, soil descriptions, construction phasing, pollution-prevention measures for litter and construction chemicals, erosion and sediment control practice details, and a maintenance schedule, plus documentation of the state's mandatory five-step site planning process. Projects that fall into Condition A, B, C, or D, covering discharges to impaired waters, disturbances of five acres or more, one-to-five-acre disturbances outside single-family and existing farm uses, or sites next to surface waters, need added post-construction runoff controls and a plan sealed by a licensed engineer, landscape architect, or certified erosion-control professional. No construction can start until the Town confirms the developer's SWPPP has also been filed with NYSDEC.