New Stormwater Regulations Set to Take Effect in Delaware
The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s (DNREC) revised stormwater regulations went into effect on February 11, 2019. The revision corrected a procedural flaw relating to the DNREC’s imposition of mandatory requirements contained in its Technical Documents. The Technical Documents, which prior to the revision were not formally adopted, are now incorporated into the stormwater regulations. Any stormwater management plan that was approved under the previous regulations where construction did not commence by December 31, 2019 must be resubmitted and approved under the new regulation. Construction is deemed commenced when structures or infrastructure is visible. “General earth moving” is not sufficient to be considered commenced construction.
Further, approvals for multi-phase projects which have begun construction are extended, however, any phase which has not commenced construction may only be extended provided that phase’s plan was approved with the project’s overall stormwater management plan. If the phase was not included in the project’s overall plan, then a separate approval must be sought in 2020.
