This chapter shall affect such land within the
Village of Pleasantville and activities conducted thereon as are set
forth and defined hereafter and shall be binding upon all departments,
boards and official acts of the Village of Pleasantville.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
DEPOSIT
To fill, place, eject, discharge or dump any material, but
not including stormwater.
MATERIALS
Soil, sand, gravel, clay, bog, peat, mud, debris and refuse
or any other organic or inorganic substance, whether liquid, solid
or gaseous, or any combination thereof.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, partnership, association, trust, corporation,
company, organization or legal entity of any kind, including municipal
corporations, governmental agencies or subdivisions thereof.
VILLAGE BOARD
The Village Board of Trustees of the Village of Pleasantville,
New York.
WATERCOURSE
Any water body, natural or artificial, such as but not limited
to a pond, reservoir, lake, river, stream or brook.
WETLANDS
A.
Includes all lands and submerged lands known
as "bogs," "marshes," "swamps," "fresh meadows" and estuarine areas
having types of soils such as Alden or Sun of glacial till origin,
Carlisle or Palms muck or alluvial soils (fluvaquental), including
adjacent and peripheral land with vegetation evidencing the same habitat,
whether inundated at any given time or not, and shall more specifically
mean and include:
(1)
FLOODPLAINSFlat, low-lying areas bordering a watercourse which are seasonally flooded to the limits expected in a one-hundred-year flood and areas of special flood hazard as defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency on the latest Flood Insurance Study Maps prepared for the Village of Pleasantville.
(2)
FRESH MEADOWSWaterlogged soil containing such vegetation as sedges, rushes, grasses and various broad-leaved plants.
(3)
SHALLOW FRESH MARSHESAreas bordering on lakes, ponds, deep marshes and wet areas of a depth of six inches, with vegetation such as cattails or hybrids thereof, bulrushes or hybrids thereof and arrowheads or other species of sagitaria.
(4)
DEEP FRESH MARSHESArea covered with water of depths from six inches to three feet with such vegetation as cattails or hybrids thereof, reeds or other species of sparganium, wild rice and bulrushes.
(5)
SHRUB SWAMPSWaterlogged soil with vegetation such as alders, buttonbush and dogwoods.
(7)
BOGSUsually waterlogged, acid soil with both woody and herbaceous plants in the heath family, as well as sedges and sphagnum mosses.
B.
Notwithstanding definitions of wetlands based
on vegetation [Subsection A(1) through (7) above], wetlands in general
shall be defined by types of soil, when such information is available.
WETLANDS CONTROL DISTRICT MAP
The map of Pleasantville prepared by the Conservation Advisory Council and now on file in the Village Office which shows all Wetlands Control Districts within the Village. This map shall serve as a guide to the approximate boundaries of wetlands and watercourses, but shall not, in itself, define the boundaries (see §
182-7).
The following activities may be carried out
within or adjacent to a Wetland Control District as a matter of right
except where the Village Board of Trustees may determine that the
activity violates or threatens to violate the intent of this chapter.
A. Outdoor recreation, including use of existing play
and sporting areas; the use of existing field trails for nature study,
hiking or horseback riding; and swimming, skin diving, boating, trapping,
hunting or fishing where otherwise legally permitted.
B. Maintenance of existing roads, lawns, plantings and
walls without an increase in dimensions.
C. Conduct of agricultural operations such as grazing, farming, gardening and harvesting of crops where otherwise permitted, including prudent and legal use of chemicals [see §
182-5A(5)].
D. Operation and maintenance of such dams, retaining
walls, terraces, sluices, culverts or other water control structures
or devices as were in existence on the effective date of this chapter
or were later approved under other provisions of this chapter.
E. Incidental removal of brush and small trees (the trunk
less than three-inch diameter at four feet from the ground) which
would result in no appreciable effect upon the runoff or drainage
into any wetland, water body or watercourse.
F. Removal of debris or refuse.
G. Any action taken by a legally empowered public body
to preserve and protect the public health and well-being.
General boundaries of Wetlands Control Districts are shown on the Pleasantville Wetlands Control District Map. Exact boundaries will be interpreted by the Planning Commission when necessary, according to the definitions of "wetlands" and "watercourse" in §
182-3. Exact boundaries shall be interpreted after appropriate field survey work by qualified staff members of the United States Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service assigned to the Westchester County Soil and Water Conservation District or the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, subject to recommendations submitted by the Conservation Advisory Council.
Where the Planning Commission finds that, because of the special circumstances of a particular case, extraordinary hardship may result from strict compliance with the provisions of this chapter, it may adjust, upon request of the applicant, the provisions of §§
182-4,
182-5 and
182-6 so that substantial justice may be done and the public interest secured; provided, however, that any such adjustment will implement the spirit and intent of this chapter. In permitting any such adjustment, the Planning Commission shall attach such conditions as are, in its judgment, necessary to secure substantially the objectives of the standard or requirement so adjusted. For purposes of this section, construction of additions to existing residential structures within the regulated area as delineated on the Wetlands Control Map, provided that such existing structure was completed prior to the effective date of the Wetlands Control Law, is to be considered a regulated activity and thus eligible for review and consideration by the Planning Commission pursuant to the procedures of this section. Notwithstanding this section, only the Zoning Board of Appeals is empowered to grant variances to the stipulations of Chapter
185, Zoning. In all cases where a wetland or watercourse is the basis for considering the granting of a variance, the Zoning Board of Appeals shall refer the matter to the Conservation Advisory Council and other agencies it deems appropriate for review and report.
All appeals to this chapter shall be carried
out according to the Municipal Code of the Village of Pleasantville,
which provides for appeal first to the Zoning Board of Appeals, then
to the Village Board of Trustees and then to the Supreme Court, Westchester
County.
[Amended 4-28-1997 by L.L. No. 4-1997]
Any person, as defined herein in §
182-3, who violates or is an accessory to the violation of any provision of this chapter or who fails to comply with any of the requirements thereof shall be liable for the penalties set forth in § 71-2303 of the Environmental Conservation Law. Each offense shall be a separate and distinct offense, and, in the case of a continuing offense, each day's continuance thereof shall be deemed a separate and distinct offense. Whenever a violation of this chapter is alleged, any person may file a complaint in regard thereto. All such complaints must be in writing and shall be filed with the Building Department, which shall record such complaints and immediately investigate and report thereon to the Village Board of Trustees, which shall refer such complaints to the Village Legal Department.
In their interpretation and application, the
provisions of this chapter shall be held to be the minimum requirements
adopted for the promotion of the public health, safety, general welfare
and for the preservation, proper maintenance and utilization of natural
resources. Whenever the requirements of this chapter are at variance
with the requirements of any other lawfully adopted rules, regulations
or ordinances, the most restrictive or that imposing the highest standards
shall govern.
This chapter or any part thereof, including
the Wetlands Control District Map, may be amended, supplemented or
repealed from time to time by the Village Board of Trustees on its
own motion or on petition as provided in the Village Law. Every such
proposed amendment shall be referred by the Village Board of Trustees
to the Planning Commission and the Conservation Advisory Council for
written reports before any public hearing which may be held by the
Village Board of Trustees pursuant to the Village Law. The Village
Board of Trustees shall not take action on any such amendment without
such reports from the Planning Commission and Conservation Advisory
Council unless such Commission or Council shall fail to report within
30 days after its regularly scheduled meeting next following the receipt
of such referral, but in no case later than within 45 days after the
receipt of such referral by the Village Board of Trustees.
This chapter shall become effective 60 days
after it and its associated Wetlands Control District Map are adopted
by the Village Board of Trustees, as provided by the Environmental
Conservation Law, Article 24, Title 5, § 24-0501, Paragraph
6.