Scranton, PA Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

Chapter 405, Part 3, readopted by Ordinance No. 22-2024, is titled and may be cited as the 'City of Scranton Stormwater Management Ordinance' under Section 405-13. 1 et seq. , and Section 405-17 applies the ordinance to all regulated activities that may affect stormwater runoff, including land development and earth disturbance. Section 405-25 sets the operative rule: unless a project is exempt under Section 405-26, an applicant must prepare and get City approval of a stormwater management (SWM) site plan, and no regulated activity may begin until that written approval issues.

Approved plans must stay on site for the duration of the work. Section 405-26 carves out several exemptions from the plan-preparation requirement, most notably any regulated activity that creates less than 5,000 square feet of new impervious area or disturbs less than 5,000 square feet of land, along with agricultural plowing, forest management and home gardening performed to state erosion-control standards; exempt projects still must meet the erosion and sediment control requirements of Section 405-25E through L. For earth disturbance of one acre or more, Section 405-22(C) requires any waiver of the ordinance to be approved in advance by the state Department of Environmental Protection or the delegated county conservation district.

Section 405-48 makes noncompliance a summary offense punishable by a penalty of not more than $300, with each day of continued violation a separate violation, and Section 405-49 lets an aggrieved applicant appeal to the City Planning Commission within 30 days, then to the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas.