This chapter shall be known and cited as the
"Erosion and Sediment Control Law" of the Village of Rye Brook.
This chapter is enacted pursuant to the authority
of the Village of Rye Brook to promote the public health, safety,
and general welfare of its citizenry under New York State Municipal
Home Rule Law, § 10, and New York Environmental Conservation
Law, Article 36, and other applicable provisions of state and federal
law.
A.Â
Findings. The Board of Trustees of the Village of
Rye Brook hereby finds that:
(1)Â
Excessive quantities of soil may erode from areas
undergoing development for certain uses, including, but not limited
to, the construction of dwelling units, commercial buildings, and
industrial plants, the building of roads and highways, and the creation
of recreation facilities.
(2)Â
The washing, blowing, and deposition of eroded soil
across and upon roadways endangers the health and safety of users
thereof by decreasing visibility and reducing traction of road vehicles.
(3)Â
Soil erosion necessitates the costly repair of gullies,
washed-out fills, and embankments.
(4)Â
Sediment from soil erosion clogs sewers and ditches
and pollutes and silts rivers, streams, lakes, harbors, and reservoirs.
(5)Â
Sediment limits the use of water and watercourses
for beneficial purposes, promotes the growth of undesirable aquatic
weeds, destroys fish and other desirable aquatic life, and is costly
and difficult to remove; and
(6)Â
Sediment reduces the channel capacity of watercourses
and increases the likelihood of flooding.
B.Â
Purpose. The Board of Trustees therefore declares
that the purpose of this chapter is to safeguard persons, protect
property, prevent damage to the environment, and promote the public
welfare by guiding, regulating, and controlling the design, construction,
use and maintenance of any development or other activity which disturbs
or breaks the topsoil or results in the movement of earth on land
situated in the Village of Rye Brook.
Unless specifically defined below, words and phrases used in this chapter shall be interpreted to have the meaning they have in common English usage, to give effect to the purpose set forth in § 118-3B and to provide reasonable application of this chapter.
Any work on an existing structure that changes the external
dimensions of such structure.
A request for a review of the Superintendent of Public Works/Village
Engineer's interpretation of any provision of this chapter or a request
for a variance.
[Amended 10-27-2020 by L.L. No. 9-2020]
Procedures and measures pertaining to construction activities,
which are intended to minimize water pollution, retain valuable topsoil,
and prevent erosion and sedimentation, and include, but are not limited
to, those practices contained in the Westchester County Best Management
Practices Manual and the NYSDEC Division of Water Technical and Operations
Guidance Series Nos. 5.1.8 and 5.1.10.
A series of manuals, prepared, published, and occasionally
amended by Westchester County and/or the NYSDEC, consisting of various
volumes on best management practices for certain described activities,
and, specifically, the volume for "Construction Related Activities."
The Village of Rye Brook Board of Trustees.
A permit issued by the Building Inspector for the construction,
erection, and alteration of a structure or building.
Formal attestation that the specific inspections and tests,
where required, have been performed, and that such tests comply with
the applicable requirements of this chapter.
The amount of material in excavation and/or fill measured
by the method of "average and areas."
Any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate,
including, but not limited to, buildings or other structures, mining,
dredging, filling, grading, paving, removal of vegetation, excavation,
blasting, or drilling operations.
Any permit, grant, or license issued by the Village, including,
but not limited to, building, grading, clearing, demolition, wetlands,
steep slope, and excavation permits, and subdivision and site plan
approvals.
A set of plans, with seal affixed, prepared by a New York
State licensed engineer, architect or landscape architect, indicating
the specific measures and sequencing to be used in controlling sediment
and erosion on a development site both during and after construction.
Any act by which organic matter, earth, sand, gravel, rock,
or any other similar material is cut into, dug, quarried, uncovered,
removed, displaced, or bulldozed, and shall include the conditions
resulting therefrom.
The vertical location of the existing ground surface prior
to excavation or filling.
Any act by which earth, sand, gravel, rock, or any other
material is deposited, placed, replaced, pushed, dumped, pulled, transported,
or moved by man to a new location and shall include the conditions
resulting therefrom.
The vertical location of the ground or pavement surface after
the grading work is completed and in accordance with the site development
plan.
Excavation or fill or any combination thereof and shall include
the conditions resulting from any excavation or fill.
Any land change which may result in soil erosion from water
or wind and the movement of soil into waters or onto lands, or increased
runoff of waters, including, but not limited to, actions such as clearing,
grading, excavating, transporting, and filling of land.
An engineer, architect or landscape architect licensed to
practice in the State of New York and retained by the owner of a property
when applying for a development permit.
Channels formed in the existing surface topography of the
earth prior to changes made by unnatural causes.
All contiguous land under one ownership.
Ground cover mature enough to control soil erosion satisfactorily
and to survive a storm event of ten-year frequency or less.
Any person to whom a site development permit is issued.
Any individual, firm, or corporation, public or private,
the State of New York and its agencies or political subdivisions,
and the United States of America, its agencies and instrumentalities,
and any agent, servant, officer, or employee of any of the foregoing.
Cutting vegetation to the ground or leaving it as stumpage,
complete extraction, or killing by spraying, or other means which
result in the destruction of otherwise healthy vegetation.
A lot or parcel of land or a contiguous combination thereof,
where grading work is performed as a single unified operation.
Altering terrain, altering vegetation or constructing improvements.
A permit issued by the Superintendent of Public Works/Village
Engineer for the construction or alteration of ground improvements
and structures for the control of erosion, runoff, and grading.
[Amended 10-27-2020 by L.L. No. 9-2020]
The map or drawn representation of a proposed development,
which is submitted to the Village for consideration and approval.
Measures which protect soil from the erosive forces of raindrop
impact and flowing water and include, but are not limited to, vegetative
establishment, mulching, and the early application of gravel base
on areas to be paved.
The first land-disturbing activity associated with a development,
including, but not limited to:
Any activity which removes the vegetative surface cover including
tree removal, clearing, and storage or removal of topsoil.
Any tract of land which is divided into two or more habitable
building sites, or parcels on any site along an existing or proposed
means of access, road, or street, for sale, lease, or rent, regardless
of whether the sites are to be sold or offered for sale or leased
for any period of time, are described by metes and bounds, or by reference
to a map or survey of the property or by any other method of description.
Subdivision also has any meaning it presently has under the laws of
the Village of Rye Brook.
A temporary structural span installed across a flowing watercourse
for use by construction traffic. Structures may include bridges, culverts,
round pipes, or pipe arches.
A grant of relief from the requirements of this chapter,
which permits a person to undertake construction in a manner otherwise
prohibited by this chapter where specific enforcement would result
in unnecessary hardship.
The Village of Rye Brook.
The Village of Rye Brook Board of Trustees.
The engineer for the Village of Rye Brook.
Any body of water, including, but not limited to, lakes,
ponds, rivers, streams, intermittent streams, and bodies of water
which are classified by the New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation under Part 6 of the New York Code of Rules and Regulations,
and/or delineated on the Hydrologic Features Map of the Westchester
County Environmental Planning Atlas, and/or delineated on the USGS
7:5-Minute Quadrangle Sheet(s) for the Village of Rye Brook.
