The following definitions shall apply in the interpretation and implementation
of this bylaw:
ALTER
Includes the following activities when undertaken upon, within
or affecting resource areas protected by this bylaw:
(1)
Removal, excavation or dredging of soil, sand, gravel or aggregate
materials of any kind;
(2)
Changing of preexisting drainage characteristics, flushing characteristics,
salinity distribution, sedimentation patterns, flow patterns or flood
retention characteristics;
(3)
Drainage or other disturbance of water level or water table;
(4)
Dumping, discharging or filling with any material (including,
without limitation, bituminous material and concrete) which may degrade
water quality;
(5)
Placing of fill, or removal of material, which would alter elevation;
(6)
Driving of piles, erection, expansion or repair of buildings
or structures of any kind;
(7)
Placing of obstructions or objects in water;
(8)
Destruction of plant life, including cutting or trimming of
trees and shrubs;
(9)
Changing temperature, biochemical oxygen demand or other physical,
biological or chemical characteristics of any waters;
(10)
Any activities, changes or work which may cause or tend to contribute
to pollution of any body of water or groundwater;
(11)
Incremental activities which have, or may have, a cumulative
adverse impact on the resource areas protected by this bylaw; and
(12)
Destruction of wildlife habitats or state and federally listed
rare plant species.
BANK
Includes the land area which normally abuts and confines
a water body; the lower boundary being the mean annual low flow level,
and the upper boundary being the first observable break in the slope
or the mean annual flood level, whichever is higher.
PERSON
Includes any individual, group of individuals, association,
partnership, corporation, company, business organization, trust, estate,
the commonwealth or political subdivision thereof to the extent subject
to Town bylaws, administrative agency, public or quasi-public corporation
or body, this Town, and any other legal entity, its legal representatives,
agents or assigns.
POND
Shall follow the definition of 310 CMR 10.04, except that
the minimum size threshold shall be 5,000 square feet.
RARE SPECIES
Includes, without limitation, all vertebrate and invertebrate
animal and all plant species listed as endangered, threatened or of
special concern by the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game and
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, regardless of whether the site
in which they occur has been previously identified by the Division.
RESOURCE AREA
Includes any freshwater wetlands; marshes; wet meadows; bogs;
swamps; vernal pools; banks; reservoirs; lakes; ponds of defined size;
rivers; streams; creeks; beaches; estuaries; lands under water bodies;
lands subject to flooding or inundation by groundwater or surface
water; lands subject to flooding; and lands abutting any of the aforesaid
resource areas.
RESOURCE AREA VALUES
Includes public or private water supply, groundwater, flood
control, erosion and sedimentation control, storm damage prevention,
including water quality, water pollution control, fisheries, wildlife
habitat, rare species habitat, including rare plant species, agriculture,
aquaculture, and recreation values deemed important to the community.
VERNAL POOL
Includes, in addition to scientific definitions found in
the regulations under the Wetlands Protection Act, any confined basin
or depression not occurring in existing lawns, gardens, landscaped
areas or driveways which, at least in most years, holds water for
a minimum of two continuous months during the spring and/or summer,
contains at least 200 cubic feet of water at some time during most
years, is free of adult predatory fish populations, and provides essential
breeding and rearing habitat functions for amphibian, reptile or other
vernal pool community species, regardless of whether the site has
been certified by the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game. The
boundary of the resource area for vernal pools shall be 100 feet outward
from the mean annual high-water line defining the depression, but
shall not include existing lawns, gardens or landscaped or developed
areas.