You received a postcard to notify you about proposed changes to the City of Pittsburgh’s Zoning Code (Title 9) and Stormwater Management Code (Title 13), because your property is within an area with specific stormwater management requirements under Allegheny County’s Act 167 Watershed Plan, likely the Monongahela or Girty's Run watersheds. This means that water that falls onto your property eventually drains into the Monongahela River or Girty's Run. See below for map of watersheds.

These requirements were currently housed within the Zoning Code (Title 9) but we are proposing to relocate them to the Stormwater Management Code (Title 13) in order to keep most stormwater-related regulations in a single section of code. This relocation of Act 167 language consists of a ‘map amendment’ per the Zoning Code and thus requires us to notify all properties in the affected area. The map boundaries include areas within the Monogahela River, Girty’s Run, and Squaw Run watersheds. Map boundaries are not changing.

The stormwater regulations of Title 13 apply to developments that disturb 10,000 square feet or more of earth, or create 5,000 square feet of new impervious area. In the Riverfront Zoning and Uptown Public Realm Districts, the threshold for stormwater requirements will remain at 5,000 square feet of disturbance.

This means the average homeowner/residential project will not be subject to the stormwater requirements proposed in this code.

Since the requirements of the stormwater management code (Title Thirteen) apply to projects that disturb 10,000 square feet or more of land, or create 5,000 square feet of new impervious area (for instance, paving a 50 x 100 sq. ft. area that was previously grass), the majority of homeowners will not be doing projects that trigger these requirements. For projects that hit those thresholds, development options are not restricted, there are just specific requirements for managing the stormwater on-site.

The major changes to Title Thirteen, the City's Stormwater Management Code, being proposed are:

• Requiring the use of a new model for stormwater calculations that will take climate change projections specifically for Pittsburgh into account.
• Incentives for innovative approaches to stormwater management.
• Establishment of Public Health and Safety Release Rate Areas, to create higher standards in areas known to flood.
• Creation of a two-step stormwater management plan approval system.

The Title Nine changes that went before Planning Commission and are recommended for approval at City Council include:

• Relocating code language from Title 9 to Title 13 in an effort to consolidate all stormwater-related regulations.
• Elimination of the Small Project Stormwater requirements in RIV and Uptown Zoning Districts.
• Increased thresholds for rainwater performance points in those two zoning districts.

This is a separate project from the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority's (PWSA's) proposal for a stormwater fee program. You can find information about that project here.

You can find the proposed code changes here, or by clicking the PDFs in the "Document Library" on this page.