Tonawanda, NY Landscaping Rules: Rainwater Harvesting (2026)

Article 32's stormwater management provisions, § 215-32.11, direct nonresidential, mixed-use and multi-family projects to follow a hierarchy of preference when handling runoff. Subsection B puts green infrastructure first: where technically feasible, stormwater discharges must be directed to a green infrastructure system before falling back to a storm sewer or storm overflow sewer. Subsection C then defines what counts as green infrastructure, again as a 'should' rather than a 'shall': conservation of natural areas comes first, on-site infiltration practices such as bioretention cells, rain gardens, vegetated swales and porous pavement come second, and last on the list is capture and reuse of runoff through low-impact practices, expressly naming green roofs, blue roofs, and rain barrels or cisterns.

Because the hierarchy is a preference rather than a mandate, and because it only reaches nonresidential, mixed-use and multi-family development through development plan review, a Tonawanda homeowner is free to install a rain barrel under a downspout without any Town review, and a commercial developer can satisfy the stormwater standard through underground detention vaults or off-site facilities instead of rain barrels if on-site green infrastructure is not feasible under Subsection C(2), citing factors like high groundwater or shallow bedrock.