The purpose of this chapter is to control the
placement and removal of soil in order to promote the safety, public
health, convenience and general welfare of the community. The adoption
and enforcement of this chapter is by no means a substitute for the
approval of the Gloucester County Soil Conservation District but is
meant to supplement District requirements with regards to soil placement
and removal.
The words or terms not interpreted or defined
by this chapter shall be used with common or standard utilization.
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter,
shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where
the context clearly indicates a different meaning.
APPLICANT
An individual person, developer, partnership, corporation,
or other entity or public or quasi-public agency requesting permission
to engage in land-disturbance activity.
AQUIFER
Any aquifer designated as such pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:9-6.
The aquifers represent groundwaters with the designated use of potable
water and conversion to potable water.
CONTAINMENT
Any hazardous substance, hazardous constituent, hazardous
waste or pollutant.
CONTAMINATED SITE
Any property, including but not limited to structures, sediment,
soil and water, that contains a contaminant which is present at such
levels of concentration as to require action pursuant to any federal
or state statutes or regulations.
CONTRACTOR
Any person engaged in the moving, delivery or placement of
fill from, in or upon any land in the Township.
CRITICAL AREA
A sediment-producing, highly erodible soil or severely eroded
area.
DEVELOPER
The legal or beneficial owner of a lot or any parcel of land
included in a proposed development, including the holder of an option
or contract to purchase, or any other applicant or person having an
enforceable proprietary interest in such land.
DISTURBANCE
Any activity involving the clearing, grading, transporting,
storing or filling of land.
ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
The Township Zoning Officer or person(s) designated by the
Township Committee in the absence of the Zoning Officer.
EXCAVATION or CUT
Any act by which soil or rock is cut into, dug, quarried,
uncovered, removed, displaced or relocated.
FARM
Any area which is used for the sole purpose of farming, which
provides for the use of land, within its capabilities and treatment,
within practical limits to grow and harvest produce or other crops,
the raising of animals for slaughter or the production of mild. The
raising of an animal as a hobby or as a pet is exempt from the requirements
of this chapter.
FILL and FILL MATERIAL
Any sand, gravel, earth, soil, dredged material, or other
material of any composition whatsoever, the placement of which upon
a site results in a change of topography of the site.
FLOOD HAZARD AREA
The floodway and additional portions of the floodplain that
are subject to flood flow at lesser depths and lower velocities than
the floodway and that are inundated by the flood hazard area designed
flood.
HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE
Any hazardous substance as defined pursuant to Section 3
of P.L. 1976, c. 141 (N.J.S.A. 58:10-23.11b), hazardous waste as defined
pursuant to Section 1 of P.L. 1976, c. 99 (N.J.S.A. 13:E-38), or pollutant
as defined pursuant to Section 3 of P.S. 1977, C. 74 (N.J.S.A. 58:10A-3).
LAND
Any ground, soil or earth, including marshes, swamps, drainageways
and areas not permanently covered by water within the Township.
LAND DISTURBANCE
Any activity involving the clearing, grading, transporting,
storing or filling of land.
LOT
Any parcel of land separated from other parcels or portions
as by a lawful subdivision or deed of record, by a survey map or by
a metes and bounds description.
MOVE
To dig, excavate, deposit, place, fill, grade, regrade, level
or otherwise alter or change the location or contour of any site;
or to transport and to supply fill material or soil from one parcel
or premises to another.
MULCHING
The application of plant residue or other suitable materials
to the land surface to conserve moisture, hold soil in place and aid
in establishing plant cover.
PERMIT
A certificate or other document issued to perform work or
other activity under this chapter.
PERMITTABLE EFFLUENT CONTAMINANT LEVELS
The dissolved priority pollutant plus-40 containment levels
within the effluent which are below the groundwater quality criteria
for Class IIA groundwater as set forth in N.J.A.C. 7:9-6.
PLAN
A scheme or design, which indicates land treatment measures,
including a schedule of the timing for their installation to minimize
soil erosion and sedimentation.
PRIORITY POLLUTANT PLUS 40 and PP +40
The priority pollutant list of 126 compounds and elements
developed by the Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to Section
307(a)(1) of the Clean Water Act and 40 nontargeted organic compounds
detected by gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) analysis.
For the purpose of this chapter, a PP +40 scan means the analysis
of a sample for all priority pollutants except those as analyzed using
GC/MS analytical methods. Nontargeted compound criteria shall be used
pursuant to the version of the Environmental Protection Agency's "Contract
Laboratory Program Statement of Work for Organic Analysis, Multi-Media,
Multi-Concentration" in effect as of the date which the laboratory
is performing the analysis.
REMEDIAL ACTION
Those actions taken at a site when hazardous materials have
been found, including the removal, treatment, containment, transportation,
the securing of or other engineering treatment measures, including
related operations and maintenance activities, whether of a permanent
nature or otherwise, designed to ensure that any discharge or placement
at the site is remediated in compliance with the applicable remediation
standards, including the sealing of or closure of wells and groundwater
supplies contaminated by the placement of hazardous materials.
REMEDIATION
All necessary actions to investigate and clean up any known,
suspected, or threatened discharge or placement of hazardous substances,
including, as necessary, identifying areas of concern and determining
the presence of hazardous substances and the collection and evaluation
of data adequate to determine whether or not discharged or placed
hazardous materials exist. In addition, remediation includes the determination
of the nature and extent of any discharged or placed hazardous substance,
identifying and evaluating any problems presented by the discharge
or placement and the performance of a remedial action.
SITE
Any plot or parcel or parcels of land.
SOIL
All unconsolidated mineral and organic material of any origin.
STREAM
Any natural or artificial watercourse, river, creek, ditch,
channel, canal, conduit, culvert, drain, waterway, gully, ravine or
wash, in which water flows in a definite direction of course, either
continuously or intermittently, and which has a definite channel and
shall include an area adjacent thereto subject to inundation by reason
of overflow or floodwater.
STRIPPING
Any activity which significantly disturbs vegetated or otherwise
stabilized soil surface, including clearing and grubbing operations.
The applicant shall file the required three
sets of plans with the application for the permit required under this
chapter and all other material or data in the time frame required
by the land use and land subdivision and site plan ordinances. The
plan and application shall show, include or contain the following:
A. The block, lot and street address of the property.
B. Proof of soil conservation district approval.
C. The title block with original signature and embossed
seal of the design professional who prepared the plan.
D. The identity and addresses of the owner and applicant.
E. The name of the individual who represents the applicant
and who is responsible for conformance with this chapter, including
the proper mailing address and telephone number where the individual
may be reached.
F. The name, address and telephone number of the contractor
who will be doing the actual work on the property.
G. During the course of the construction, any modification
or alteration of the approved plans requires approval by the authority
having jurisdiction, before the work is started.
H. A description of the proposed use of the site following
completion of work.
I. If the application is for a major subdivision or the
proposed work requires site plan approval by the Planning Board or
Zoning Board of Adjustment, provide a survey map prepared by a state-licensed
land surveyor showing the location of all property corners, with permanent
markers set at each corner point and a metes and bounds description
of the property, including the total land area.
J. An estimate, in cubic yards, of the quantity of fill
to be brought to the site with a description of the origin of the
soil or an estimate of the quantity, in cubic yards, of the material
to be removed from the site, with the destination of the soil included.
K. The proposed dates of commencement, completion and
maintenance of work.
L. An estimate of the type and number of earthmoving
machines to be used in the operation, the daily starting and finishing
times during which machines will be operated, and the means of protection
to prevent unauthorized access.
M. With the application there shall be filed the required
number of topographic maps of the site showing where the proposed
fill, placement or soil removal operation is to be conducted. Include
an engineering plan showing surrounding lands within 200 feet of the
perimeter of the site, prepared and certified by a licensed professional
civil engineer or land surveyor of the state, on a scale of not less
than one inch equals 100 feet, and as referred to in the United States
Coastal and Geodetic Survey data.
N. Proof that no contaminants exist in the soil, including
but not limited to results of tests for permissible effluent contaminant
levels, permissible soil/sediment contaminant levels and priority
pollutant plus-40 scans.
O. The present and proposed grades on a fifty-foot grid
layout with contour lines at two-foot intervals for the property up
to and including five acres; or for more than five acres, one-hundred-foot
grids with contour lines at five-foot intervals. If topographic maps
are obtained by aerial topography, the required grid layout may be
superimposed on it. Where access to adjoining lands is not permitted,
the contour lines of the perimeter lands shall be taken from available
state maps or data or from United States Coastal and Geodetic Survey
Map of the particular area.
P. The grades of all abutting streets and lands within
200 feet of the property.
Q. The existing elevations of all buildings, structures,
streets, streams, bodies of water and watercourses, natural and artificial,
as well as all proposed elevations of the areas to be modified.
R. All existing structures, land features, showing all
existing surface and subsurface water drainage conditions and provisions,
both on site and off site. Include all existing and proposed elevations
of these drainage systems including the profiles of any new construction.
If the work is on a watercourse, provide cross sections at fifty-foot
intervals in addition to the proposed profile.
S. Show all wooded areas in the property under construction,
locating all trees with a diameter of six inches or larger. All trees
and shrubs to be retained shall be protected at the drop line with
the erection of protective snow fencing. Include protection erection
details.
T. Show the proposed slopes and lateral supports at the
limits of the area upon completion of the proposed work. Define how
the area filled or the material removed will not impact the adjacent
areas, create hazard, or adversely affect the slope, swale or drainage
of all abutting property.
U. Show where all materials, good and bad, shall be stockpiled
on site.
V. Show the location and provide a description of one
benchmark elevation for each 20 acres of land.
All lots where fill material is deposited shall
have clean fill and/or topsoil deposited which shall be graded to
allow complete surface draining of the lot into local storm sewer
systems or existing natural drainage courses. No regrading of a lot
shall be permitted which would create or aggravate stagnation or a
drainage problem on site or on adjacent properties or which will violate
this chapter. Grading shall be limited to areas shown on a plan approved
pursuant to this chapter or an approved site plan, or subdivision
or approved grading plan. Any topsoil disturbed during approved excavation
and grading operations shall be redistributed throughout the site.
The requirements of this section shall be enforced by the Township
Zoning Officer, in consultation with the Township Engineer and shall
be in addition to any other applicable county, state or federal approval(s)
or permit(s).
All necessary soil removal and soil placement
control measures installed under this chapter shall be adequately
maintained during construction and for a minimum of one year after
completion of the subject project or until such measures are permanently
stabilized, as determined by the Township Zoning Officer in consultation
with the Township Engineer; however, such period shall not exceed
two years. The Township Zoning Officer, acting as Township agent,
shall give the applicant a certificate upon request indicating the
date on which the measures called for in the approved plans were completed.
All trees and shrubs to be retained shall be protected at the drop
line with the erection of protective snow fencing. Nothing in this
section shall affect the right of the Township to enforce maintenance
requirements of structures that are to be perpetually maintained by
the developer or owner of the property or structure.
Under this chapter, no temporary certificate
of occupancy or certificate of occupancy for a building on a lot shall
be issued unless there has been compliance with the provisions of
the approved permit. The Township Engineer must file a formal report
of such compliance with the Construction Official so that a temporary
certificate of occupancy or certificate of occupancy may be issued.
The Township Zoning Officer, acting on behalf
of the Township, may issue a stop-work order if a project subject
to this chapter is not being executed in accordance with the permit
or if there is any violation of this chapter.
The following activities are specifically exempt
from this chapter:
A. The use of land for gardening primarily for home consumption.
B. The agricultural use of lands when operated with a
farm conservation plan approved by the local soil conservation district.
C. The construction of a swimming pool, patio or deck
at a single-family dwelling.
D. Landscaping of an existing single-family dwelling.
E. Any movement of 15 cubic yards or less of material.
F. Activity that is part of a State Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) remediation project, as certified to by the Township
Health Officer.
G. Any activity that is part of a septic system repair,
replacement and/or removal project, as certified to by the Township
Health Officer.