For the purpose of this chapter, certain words
and terms used herein are defined as follows:
APPLICANT
A property owner or agent of a property owner who has filed
an application for a land development activity.
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE (BMP)
Methods, measures or practices to prevent or reduce surface
runoff and/or water pollution, including but not limited to structural
and nonstructural stormwater management practices and operation and
maintenance procedures.
BUILDING
Any structure, either temporary or permanent, or extension
thereof or addition thereto, having a roof supported by such things
as columns, posts, piers or walls and intended for the shelter, business,
housing or enclosing of any persons, animals or property.
CHANNEL
A natural or artificial watercourse, with a definite bed
and banks, that conducts continuously or periodically flowing water.
CLEAR-CUTTING
Any removal of 30% or more trees that are each eight inches
or more in DBH on properties greater than 0.5 acre. For purposes of
this calculation, trees located within wetlands, watercourses or adjacent
buffer areas. or located within an excessively steep slope (greater
than 25%), which are injured and/or removed, shall be counted double.
[Added 11-30-2023 by L.L. No. 11-2023]
CLEARING
Any activity that removes the vegetative surface cover.
CONTROLLED AREA
The area that includes all wetlands and the area surrounding the same based on hydrological soil grouping and all watercourses and adjacent contributory surfaces based on hydrological soil grouping and slope percentage as fully defined in Chapter
78.
DEDICATION
The deliberate appropriation of property by its owner for
general public use.
DESIGN MANUAL
The New York State Stormwater Management Design Manual, most
recent version, including applicable updates, that serves as the official
guide for stormwater management principles, methods and practices.
DETENTION BASIN
An impoundment designed to collect and retard stormwater
runoff by temporarily storing the runoff and releasing it at a predetermined
rate. Detention basins are designed to drain completely shortly after
any given rainfall event and are dry until the next rainfall event.
DEVELOPER
A person who undertakes land development activities.
DIAMETER AT BREAST HEIGHT (DBH)
A standard measurement of trees made at 4 1/2 feet above
ground level on the uphill side.
[Added 11-30-2023 by L.L. No. 11-2023]
EROSION
The wearing away of land surface by water or wind which occurs
naturally from weather or runoff but is often intensified by human
activity.
EROSION CONTROL MANUAL
The most recent version of the New York Standards and Specifications
for Erosion and Sediment Control Manual, commonly known as the "Blue
Book."
FARMING OPERATION
Any operation on a parcel of land, not less than four acres,
that is used for soil-dependent cultivation of agricultural crop production
and/or the raising of livestock, poultry or dairy products, the raising
of fur-bearing animals, the keeping of horses and livery or boarding
stables, but excluding riding academies and dog kennels.
GRADING
Excavation or fill of material, including the resulting conditions
thereof.
IMPERVIOUS SURFACE
A surface that has been compacted or covered with a layer
of material so that it is resistant to infiltration by water. It includes
semipervious surfaces, such as compacted clayey soils, as well as
most conventionally surfaced streets, roofs, sidewalks, parking lots,
and other similar surfaces. "Net increase of impervious surface" refers
to the difference between the existing coverage and the total impervious
surface proposed.
INDUSTRIAL STORMWATER PERMIT
A State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit issued
to a commercial industry or group of industries that regulates the
pollutant levels associated with industrial stormwater discharges
or specifies on-site pollution control strategies.
INFILTRATION
The process of percolating stormwater into the subsoil.
INTERMITTENT STREAM
A defined channel in which surface water is absent during
a portion of the year as groundwater levels drop below the channel
bottom.
JURISDICTIONAL WETLAND
An area that is inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, commonly known as “hydrophytic vegetation.” This includes any area that meets the definition of “wetlands” according to Chapter
78, Freshwater Wetlands.
LAND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY
Construction activity, including clearing, clear-cutting,
grubbing, grading, excavating, soil disturbance or placement of fill,
that results in land disturbance of equal to or greater than 5,000
square feet. Any activity that requires review, approval and/or permitting
under the Town's requirements and regulations for fill, wetlands,
sand and gravel and tree removal, streets and sidewalks, subdivision
and site development plans, regardless of the size in area of the
activity, is also considered a land development activity.
[Amended 11-30-2023 by L.L. No. 11-2023]
LANDOWNER
The legal or beneficial owner of land, including those holding
the right to purchase or lease the land, or any other person holding
proprietary rights in the land.
MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT
A legally recorded document that acts as a property deed
restriction and which provides for long-term maintenance of stormwater
management practices.
NON-POINT-SOURCE POLLUTION
Pollution from any source other than from any discernible,
confined, and discrete conveyances, and shall include but not be limited
to pollutants from agricultural, mining, construction, subsurface
disposal and urban runoff sources.
NONSTRUCTURAL STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
Passive site-design approaches or regulatory approaches that
provide water quality improvement or reduce or minimize the generation
of stormwater runoff without requiring the construction of specific
or discrete stormwater management control structures.
NYSDEC
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
PHASING
Clearing a parcel of land in distinct pieces or parts, with
the stabilization of each piece completed before the clearing of the
next.
POLLUTANT OF CONCERN
Sediment or a water quality measurement that addresses sediment
(such as total suspended solids, turbidity or siltation) and any other
pollutant that has been identified as a cause of impairment of any
water body that will receive a discharge from the land development
activity.
RECHARGE
The replenishment of underground water reserves.
SENSITIVE AREAS
Cold-water fisheries, shellfish beds, swimming beaches, groundwater
recharge areas, water supply reservoirs, and habitats for threatened,
endangered or special-concern species.
STABILIZATION
The use of practices that prevent exposed soil from eroding.
STOP-WORK ORDER
An order issued that requires that all land development activity
and/or construction activity on a site is stopped.
STORMWATER
Rainwater, surface runoff, snow melt and drainage.
STORMWATER HOTSPOT
A land use or activity that generates higher concentrations
of hydrocarbons, trace metals or toxicants than are found in typical
stormwater runoff, based on monitoring studies.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT
The use of structural or nonstructural practices that are
designed to reduce stormwater runoff and mitigate its adverse impacts
on property, natural resources and the environment.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT FACILITY
One or a series of stormwater management practices installed,
stabilized and operating for the purpose of controlling stormwater
runoff.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (SMPs)
Measures, either structural or nonstructural, that are determined
to be the most-effective, practical means of preventing flood damage
and preventing or reducing point-source or non-point-source pollution
inputs to stormwater runoff and water bodies.
SURFACE WATERS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
Lakes, bays, sounds, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs,
wells, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, marshes, inlets, canals,
the Atlantic Ocean within the territorial seas of the State of New
York, and all other bodies of surface water, natural or artificial,
inland or coastal, fresh or salt, public or private (except those
private waters that do not combine or effect a junction with natural
surface or underground waters), which are wholly or partially within
or bordering the state or within its jurisdiction. Storm sewers and
waste treatment systems, including treatment ponds or lagoons, which
also meet the criteria of this definition, are not waters of the state.
This exclusion applies only to man-made bodies of water which neither
were originally created in waters of the state (such as a disposal
area in wetlands) nor resulted from impoundment of waters of the state.
WATERCOURSE
A permanent or intermittent stream or other body of water, either natural or man-made, that gathers or carries surface water. This includes any area that meets the definition of a “watercourse” according to Chapter
78, Freshwater Wetlands.
WATERWAY
A channel that directs surface runoff to a watercourse or to the public storm drain. This includes any area that meets the definition of a “waterway” according to Chapter
78, Freshwater Wetlands.
WETLANDS
Lands and water meeting the criteria identified in § 78-2A
of the Town of Southeast Code.