Howell, NJ Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

Howell Township Code Article XXIV of the Land Use chapter (§§ 188-212 to 188-222.1), added June 11, 2024, sets minimum stormwater requirements for major development. It applies to nonresidential major developments, to the parts of residential major developments not preempted by the Residential Site Improvement Standards, and to every major development the Township itself undertakes. Major development means disturbance of one or more acres since February 2, 2004, creation of 1/4 acre or more of regulated impervious surface since February 2, 2004, or 1/4 acre or more of regulated motor vehicle surface since March 2, 2021.

Section 188-214 requires measures that provide erosion control, groundwater recharge, runoff quantity control and runoff quality treatment, with recharge, quality and quantity met by incorporating green infrastructure. Section 188-215 supplies the numbers. Quality: 80% total suspended solids removal for the net increase of motor vehicle surface, using a water quality design storm of 1.25 inches of rainfall in two hours. Recharge: maintain 100% of the average annual preconstruction groundwater recharge volume, or infiltrate the increase in runoff volume for the projected two-year storm. Quantity: post-construction runoff hydrographs for the two-, ten- and 100-year storms cannot exceed preconstruction hydrographs, or peak rates are held to 50%, 75% and 80% of preconstruction rates for those storms. Stormwater from areas of high pollutant loading and areas with high risks for spills of toxic materials, such as gas stations and vehicle maintenance facilities, is not recharged. Measures must avoid concentrated-flow impacts on threatened and endangered species habitat, naming swamp pink and bog turtle (§ 188-215B). Dry wells face a 1 acre contributory drainage limit and manufactured treatment devices 2.5 acres.

Maintenance is set by § 188-221: the design engineer prepares a maintenance plan with a maintenance schedule over a twenty-five-year period. After written notice from the Township, the responsible person has 14 days to repair or maintain the facility, or the Township of Howell or Monmouth County does the work and bills the cost, and nonpayment becomes a lien on the property. Basin access calls for a 15-foot minimum easement and a 12-foot roadway, plus a 25-foot perimeter along at least one side. A single-family developer can petition the Township Council for a waiver from the homeowners' association requirement, and the Council decides within 45 days.

Separate rules cover existing private lots. Under §§ 188-208 and 188-209, repaving or resurfacing a surface in direct contact with a storm drain inlet on private property, other than a lot with one single-family house, requires an inlet with grate clear spaces of no more than 7.0 square inches or 0.5 inch across the smallest dimension. Chapter 275 separately prohibits spilling, dumping or disposal of materials other than stormwater into the Township's municipal separate storm sewer system (§ 275-3).