City of Lancaster

Environmental Overlay Districts

The City of Lancaster developed Environmental Overlay Districts to minimize the impacts of future development on the town’s natural resources. The overlays provide better pollutant removal, temperature control, groundwater recharge, flood control, aquatic habitat protection and aquifer sustainability. In 2008, the Lancaster Town Meeting approved a stormwater bylaw incorporating many of the stormwater-related recommendations from this project. The environmental overlay model that was developed can also be used to evaluate the effect of future sewering and other management scenarios on the local hydrologic cycle.

Final report:

• Cover and Contents (0.1 MB)
• Section 1: Overview (0.04 MB)
• Section 2: Methodology (0.7 MB)
• Section 3: Existing Conditions (5.6 MB)
• Section 4: Buildout Assessment (0.04 MB)
• Section 5: Environmental Overlay Districts (4.9 MB)
• Section 6: Water Balance (0.2 MB)
• Section 7: Stormwater BMP Restoration and Offset Locations (0.7 MB)
• Section 8: Recommendations (0.06 MB)
• Appendix A: Example Steep Slope Language (0.01 MB)