Reading, PA Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

, Act 167), the Municipalities Planning Code and the Third Class City Code, Chapter 505's Watershed Stormwater Management Ordinance applies to areas of the City within the Schuylkill River and Tulpehocken Creek Watersheds, as delineated in the chapter's Appendix D (§505-105A). It reaches only permanent structural and nonstructural best management practices built as part of a defined list of 'regulated activities' (§505-105D): land development, subdivisions, alteration of the natural hydrologic regime, construction or reconstruction of impervious or semipervious surfaces such as driveways, parking lots and roads, new buildings or additions, redevelopment that increases runoff or changes a discharge point, diversion piping or channel encroachments, stormwater BMPs, regulated earth disturbance, City permit-regulated construction, and even older approvals resubmitted more than five years after their original approval.

Section 505-106 makes clear that an approval under this chapter does not excuse an applicant from any other required permit, and that local design criteria such as inlet spacing and outlet structure design stay governed by other municipal ordinances. The chapter's stated purpose (§505-103) is to minimize impervious surfaces, control accelerated runoff and erosion, protect groundwater recharge and meet state water-quality standards under 25 Pa. 4a. Compliance is checked against an approved drainage plan that must stay on site throughout construction, with the Municipal Engineer or a designee handling inspections (§505-197).