Unless specifically defined below, words or phrases used in this chapter
shall be interpreted so as to give them the meaning they have in common usage
and to give this chapter its most reasonable application. Where common definitions
exist, the definitions below are the same as or based on the corresponding
definitions in the Stormwater Management Rules at N.J.A.C. 7:8-1.2.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
AGRICULTURAL OR HORTICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
Construction for the purposes of supporting common farmsite activities,
including but not limited to the production, harvesting, storage, grading,
packaging, processing, and the wholesale and retail marketing of crops, plants,
animals, and other related commodities and the use and application of techniques
and methods of soil preparation and management, fertilization, weed, disease,
and pest control, disposal of farm waste, irrigation, drainage and water management,
and grazing.
AGRICULTURE or HORTICULTURE or AGRICULTURAL OR HORTICULTURAL USE
The use of the land for common farmsite activities, including but
not limited to production, harvesting, storage, grading, packaging, processing
and the wholesale and retail marketing of crops, plants, animals and other
related commodities and the use and application of techniques and methods
of soil preparation and management, fertilization, weed, disease and pest
control, disposal of farm waste, irrigation, drainage, and water management,
and grazing.
BMP
Best management practices as contained in the New Jersey Stormwater
Best Management Practices Manual dated April 2004 and as updated, available
from www.njstormwater.com.
CATEGORY 1 (C1) WATERS
Waters of the state, including unnamed waterways that appear on Soil
Survey and USGS Topographic Quadrangle within the same HUC-14 watershed, designated
in N.J.A.C. 7:9B-1.15(c) through (h) for purposes of implementing the anti-degradation
policies set forth at N.J.A.C. 7:9B-1.5(d) for protection from measurable
changes in water quality characteristics because of their clarity, color,
scenic setting, other characteristics of aesthetic value, exceptional ecological
significance, exceptional recreational significance, exceptional water supply
significance, or exceptional fisheries resource(s).
COMPACTION
The increase in soil bulk density caused by subjecting soil to greater
than normal loading. Compaction can also decrease soil infiltration and permeability
rates.
CORE
A pedestrian-oriented area of commercial and civic uses serving the
surrounding municipality, generally including housing and access to public
transportation.
COUNTY REVIEW AGENCY
The Hunterdon County Planning Board, as designated by the County
Board of Chosen Freeholders to review municipal stormwater management plans
and implementing ordinance(s).
DEPARTMENT
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
DESIGNATED CENTER
A State Development and Redevelopment Plan Center, such as urban,
regional, town, village, or hamlet, as designated by the State Planning Commission.
DESIGN ENGINEER
A person professionally qualified and duly licensed in New Jersey
to perform engineering services that may include, but not necessarily be limited
to, development of project requirements, creation and development of project
design and preparation of drawings and specifications.
DEVELOPMENT
The division of a parcel of land into two or more parcels, the construction,
reconstruction, conversion, structural alteration, relocation or enlargement
of any building or structure, any mining excavation or landfill, and any use
or change in the use of any building or other structure, or land or extension
of use of land, by any person, for which permission is required under the
Municipal Land Use Law, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq. In the case of development
of agricultural lands, "development" means any activity that requires a state
permit; any activity reviewed by the County Agricultural Board (CAB) and the
State Agricultural Development Committee (SADC), and municipal review of any
activity not exempted by the Right to Farm Act, N.J.S.A. 4:1C-1 et seq.
DISTURBANCE
Any activity including the clearing, excavating, storing, grading,
filling or transportation of soil or any other activity that causes soil to
be exposed to the danger of erosion.
DRAINAGE AREA
A geographic area within which stormwater, sediments, or dissolved
materials drain to a particular receiving water body or to a particular point
along a receiving water body.
ENVIRONMENTALLY CRITICAL AREA
An area or feature which is of significant environmental value, including
but not limited to stream corridors; natural heritage priority sites; habitat
of endangered or threatened species; large areas of contiguous open space
or upland forest; steep slopes; well head protection areas; and groundwater
recharge areas. Habitats of endangered or threatened species are those identified
by the Department's Landscape Project as approved by the Department's Endangered
and Nongame Species Program, or by the Department pursuant to the Highlands
Act at N.J.S.A. 13:20-32k and 13:20-34a(4).
EROSION
The detachment and movement of soil or rock fragments by water, wind,
ice or gravity.
GROUNDWATER
A body of water below the surface of the land in a zone of saturation
where the spaces between the soil or geological materials are fully saturated
with water.
HIGHLANDS ACT
The Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act, P.L. 2004, c. 120,
codified at N.J.S.A. 13:20-1 et seq., as amended.
HUC-14
A watershed as defined by the United States Geological Survey, with
a fourteen-digit identifier; a subwatershed.
IMPERVIOUS SURFACE
A surface that has been covered with a layer of material so that
it is highly resistant to infiltration by water relative to natural conditions
in the area.
INFILTRATION
The process by which water from precipitation seeps into the soil
to a level below the normal root soil of plant species.
KARST TERRAIN
An area where karst topography, with its characteristic surface and
subterranean features, is developed as a result of the dissolution of limestone,
dolomite, or other soluble rock. Characteristic physiographic features present
in karst terrains include but are not limited to sinkholes, sinking streams,
caves, blind valleys, large springs and subterranean drainage. See also "limestone
area."
LIMESTONE AREA
An area of Hunterdon County underlain by carbonate sedimentary rock
consisting chiefly of calcium carbonate. Limestone is commonly used as a general
term for the class of rocks that consist of at least 80% calcium or magnesium
carbonate. See also "karst terrain."
LOW-IMPACT DEVELOPMENT (LID)
Methods incorporating design measures to replicate pre-development
hydrology to reduce the impacts of development at a lot-level basis, treating
rainwater where it falls by creating conditions that allow the water to infiltrate
back into the ground. LID emphasizes greater infiltration of stormwater on
site rather than regarding the stormwater as a nuisance condition and disposable.
MAINTENANCE PLAN
A document required for all major development projects for stormwater
management maintenance. The document shall contain specific preventive maintenance
tasks and schedules; cost estimates, including estimated cost of sediment,
debris, or trash removal; and the name, address, and telephone number of the
person or persons responsible for preventive and corrective maintenance (including
replacement).
MAJOR DEVELOPMENT
Any development that provides for ultimately disturbing one or more
acres of land or would create 1/4 acre or more of impervious surface.
MAXIMUM EXTENT PRACTICABLE
Compliance with the specific objective to the greatest extent possible
taking into account equitable considerations and competing factors, including
but not limited to environmental benefits, pollutant removal effectiveness,
regulatory compliance, ability to implement given site-specific environmental
conditions, cost and technical or engineering feasibility.
MITIGATION
An action by an applicant providing compensation or offset actions
for on-site stormwater management requirements where the applicant has demonstrated
the inability or impracticality of strict compliance with the stormwater management
requirements set forth in N.J.A.C. 7:8, in an adopted regional stormwater
management plan, or in this local ordinance, and has received a waiver from
strict compliance from the municipality. Mitigation, for the purposes of this
chapter, includes both the mitigation plan detailing how the project's failure
to strictly comply will be compensated, and the implementation of the approved
mitigation plan within the same HUC-14 within which the subject project is
proposed (if possible and practical), or a contribution of funding toward
a regional stormwater control project, or provision for equivalent treatment
at an alternate location, or other equivalent water quality benefit.
NODE
An area designated by the State Planning Commission concentrating
facilities and activities that are not organized in a compact form.
NONSTRUCTURAL STORMWATER MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES
Techniques that control or reduce stormwater runoff in the absence
of stormwater structures (e.g., basins and piped conveyances), such as minimizing
site disturbance, preserving important site features, including but not limited
to natural vegetation, reducing and disconnecting impervious cover, minimizing
slopes, utilizing native vegetation, minimizing turf grass lawns, increasing
time of concentration and maintaining and enhancing natural drainage features
and characteristics.
NUTRIENT
A chemical element or compound, such as nitrogen or phosphorus, which
is essential to and promotes the development of plants, algae and other organisms
or vegetation.
NUTRIENT CONCENTRATION
The amount of a nutrient in a defined volume of water (such as milligrams
of nitrogen per liter). The relationship between nutrient concentration and
nutrient load can vary and depends on the surface water flow, the volume of
water in the water body or aquifer, and watershed characteristics.
NUTRIENT LOAD
The total amount of a nutrient such as nitrogen or phosphorus entering
the water during a given time, such as "tons of nitrogen per year" or "pounds
of phosphorus per day." Nutrients may enter the water from runoff, groundwater
recharge, point source discharges, or the air (in the form of wet deposition
such as rain or snow as well as dry deposition).
PERMEABLE
A surface or land cover capable of transmitting or percolating a
significant amount of precipitation into the underlying soils.
PERSON
Any individual, corporation, company, partnership, firm, association,
the Township of Franklin, or political subdivision of this state subject to
municipal jurisdiction pursuant to the Municipal Land Use Law, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1
et seq.
POLLUTANT
Any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, filter backwash,
sewage, garbage, refuse, oil, grease, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes,
biological materials, medical wastes, radioactive substance (except those
regulated under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. § 2011
et seq.), thermal waste, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar
dirt, industrial, municipal, agricultural, and construction waste or runoff,
or other residue discharged directly or indirectly to the land, groundwaters
or surface waters of the state, or to a domestic treatment works. "Pollutant"
includes both hazardous and nonhazardous pollutants.
POLLUTION
The man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical,
biological, and radiological integrity of water to the extent that the pollutant
concentration or level violates either the Groundwater Quality Standards (N.J.A.C.
7:9-6) or the Surface Water Quality Standards (N.J.A.C. 7:9B) of New Jersey.
RECHARGE
The amount of water from precipitation that infiltrates into the
ground and becomes part of a groundwater body.
REVIEW AGENCY (MUNICIPAL)
The municipal body or official that is responsible for the review
of a major development project for compliance with the stormwater management
requirements.
SEDIMENT
Solid material, mineral or organic, that is in suspension and is
being transported or has been moved from its site of origin by air, water
or gravity as a product of erosion.
SITE
The lot or lots upon which a major development is to occur or has
occurred.
SOIL
All unconsolidated mineral and organic material of any origin.
SOURCE MATERIAL
Any material(s) or machinery, located at an industrial facility,
that is directly or indirectly related to process, manufacturing, or other
industrial activities, that could be a source of pollutants in any industrial
stormwater discharge to ground or surface water. Source materials include
but are not limited to raw materials, intermediate products, final products,
waste materials, by-products, industrial machinery and fuels, and lubricants,
solvents, and detergents that are related to process, manufacturing, or other
industrial activities that are exposed to stormwater.
SPECIAL RESOURCE WATERS
Water bodies receiving special protections due to their drinking
water status or role as high-quality habitat for threatened and endangered
species or species of commercial or recreational importance. This includes
waterways so designated through the New Jersey Stormwater Management Rules
(N.J.A.C. 7:8) because of exceptional ecological significance, exceptional
water supply significance, exceptional recreational significance, exceptional
shellfish resource, or exceptional fisheries resource. Waters so designated
are protected by a three-hundred-foot buffer extending on either side of the
waterway measured perpendicular from top of bank or center of channel for
waterways lacking a defined top of bank.
STATE PLAN POLICY MAP
The geographic application of the State Development and Redevelopment
Plan's goals and statewide policies, and the official map of these goals and
policies.
STORMWATER
Water resulting from precipitation (including rain and snow) that
runs off the land's surface, is transmitted to the subsurface, or is captured
by separate storm sewers or other sewage or drainage facilities, or conveyed
by snow removal equipment.
STORMWATER RUNOFF
The flow of stormwater on or across the surface of the ground, in
drainage facilities or in storm sewers.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT BASIN
An excavation or embankment and related areas designed to retain
stormwater runoff. A stormwater management basin may either be normally dry
(that is, a detention basin or infiltration basin), retain water in a permanent
pool (a retention basin), or be planted mainly with wetland vegetation (a
constructed stormwater wetland).
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT MEASURE
Any structural or nonstructural strategy, practice, technology, process,
program, or other method intended to control or reduce stormwater runoff and
associated pollutants, or to induce or control the infiltration or groundwater
recharge of stormwater or to eliminate illicit or illegal nonstormwater discharges
into stormwater conveyances.
STREAM BUFFER
A strip of land located immediately adjacent to a stream channel
consisting of natural, undisturbed vegetative cover, which serves as a transition
area between uplands and riparian lands. A stream buffer may encompass wetlands,
may be contained with a floodplain or floodway or may extend beyond a wetland,
floodplain or floodway boundary.
STRUCTURAL STORMWATER TECHNIQUES
A stormwater management measure that involves control of concentrated
stormwater runoff or infiltration such as stormwater basins, piped conveyance
systems and manufactured stormwater devices, and can include various types
of basins, filters, surfaces, and devices located on individual lots in a
residential development or throughout a commercial, industrial, or institutional
development site in areas not typically suited for larger, centralized structural
facilities.
THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES
Endangered species are those whose prospects for survival in New
Jersey are in immediate danger because of a loss or change in habitat, overexploitation,
predation, competition, disease, disturbance or contamination. Assistance
is needed to prevent future extinction in New Jersey. Threatened species are
those who may become endangered if conditions surrounding them begin to or
continue to deteriorate. Habitats of endangered or threatened species are
those identified by the Department's Landscape Project as approved by the
Department's Endangered and Nongame Species Program or by the Department pursuant
to the Highlands Act at N.J.S.A. 13:20-32k and 13:20-34a(4).
TIME OF CONCENTRATION
The time it takes for stormwater runoff to travel from the hydraulically
most distant point of the watershed to the point of interest within a watershed.
TRANSITION AREA
An area of protected upland adjacent to a freshwater wetland that
minimizes adverse impacts on the wetland or serves as an integral component
of the wetlands ecosystem. Also called "buffer area."
URBAN REDEVELOPMENT AREA
Previously developed portions of areas delineated on the State Plan
Policy Map (SPPM) as the Metropolitan Planning Area (PA1), Designated Centers,
Cores or Nodes.
WATERS OF THE STATE
The ocean and its estuaries, all springs, streams, wetlands, and
bodies of surface or groundwater, whether natural or artificial, within the
boundaries of the State of New Jersey or subject to its jurisdiction.
WETLANDS or WETLAND
An area that is inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater
at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances
does support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated
soil conditions, commonly known as hydrophytic vegetation.