This chapter shall be known and may be cited
as the "Stormwater Management and Erosion and Sediment Control Local
Law of the Town of New Castle."
It is hereby determined that:
A. Land development activities and associated increases
in site-impervious cover often alter the hydrologic response of local
watersheds and increase stormwater runoff rates and volumes, flooding,
stream channel erosion, or sediment transport and deposition;
B. This stormwater runoff contributes to increased quantities
of waterborne pollutants, including siltation of aquatic habitat for
fish and other desirable species;
C. Clearing and grading during construction tends to
increase soil erosion and add to the loss of native vegetation necessary
for terrestrial and aquatic habitat;
D. Improper design and construction of stormwater management
practices can increase the velocity of stormwater runoff, thereby
increasing stream bank erosion and sedimentation;
E. Impervious surfaces allow less water to percolate
into the soil, thereby decreasing groundwater recharge and stream
baseflow;
F. Substantial economic losses can result from these
adverse impacts on the waters of the Town;
G. Stormwater runoff, soil erosion and nonpoint source
pollution can be controlled and minimized through the regulation of
stormwater runoff from land development activities;
H. The regulation of stormwater runoff discharges from
land development activities in order to control and minimize increases
in stormwater runoff rates and volumes, soil erosion, stream channel
erosion, and nonpoint source pollution associated with stormwater
runoff is in the public interest and will minimize threats to public
health and safety.
I. Regulation of land development activities by means
of performance standards governing stormwater management and site
design will produce development compatible with the natural functions
of a particular site or an entire watershed and thereby mitigate the
adverse effects of erosion and sedimentation from development.
The purpose of this chapter is to establish minimum stormwater management requirements and controls to protect and safeguard the general health, safety, and welfare of the public and to address the findings of fact in §
108A-2 hereof. This chapter seeks to meet those purposes by achieving the following objectives:
(1) Meet the requirements of minimum measures 4 and 5
of the SPDES General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Municipal
Separate Stormwater Sewer Systems (MS4s), Permit No. GP-02-02, or
as amended or revised;
(2) Require land development activities to conform to
the substantive requirements of the NYS Department of Environmental
Conservation State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES)
General Permit for Construction Activities GP-02-01, or as amended
or revised;
(3) Minimize increases in stormwater runoff from land
development activities in order to reduce flooding, siltation, increases
in stream temperature, and streambank erosion and maintain the integrity
of stream channels;
(4) Minimize increases in pollution caused by stormwater
runoff from land development activities which would otherwise degrade
local water quality;
(5) Minimize the total annual volume of stormwater runoff
which flows from any specific site during and following development
to the maximum extent practicable; and
(6) Reduce stormwater runoff rates and volumes, soil erosion
and nonpoint source pollution, wherever possible, through stormwater
management practices and to ensure that these management practices
are properly maintained and eliminate threats to public safety.
The following activities shall be exempt from
review under this chapter:
A. Agricultural activity as defined in this chapter.
B. Silvicultural activity, except that landing areas
and log haul roads are subject to this chapter.
C. Repairs and routine property maintenance activities
that disturb less than one acre and maintain the original line and
grade.
D. Repairs and routine maintenance to any stormwater
management practice deemed necessary by the Stormwater Management
Officer.
E. Land development activities for which a building permit
has been approved on or before the effective date of this chapter.
G. Installation of a fence, sign, telephone and electric
poles and other kinds of posts or poles.
H. Emergency activity immediately necessary to protect
life, property or natural resources.
I. Activities of an individual engaging in home gardening
by growing flowers, vegetables and other plants primarily for use
by that person and his or her family.
J. Horticultural activities in connection with an existing
structure.
The terms used in this chapter or in documents
prepared or reviewed under this chapter shall have the meaning as
set forth in this section.
AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY
The activity of an active farm, including grazing and watering
livestock, irrigating crops, harvesting crops, using land for growing
agricultural products, and cutting timber for sale, but shall not
include the operation of a dude ranch or similar operation, or the
construction of new structures associated with agricultural activities.
APPLICANT
A property owner or agent of a property owner who has filed
an application for a land development activity.
CHANNEL
A natural or artificial watercourse with a definite bed and
banks that conducts continuously or periodically flowing water.
CLEARING
Any activity that removes the vegetative surface cover.
DEDICATION
The deliberate appropriation of property by its owner for
general public use.
DEPARTMENT
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
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.
DEVELOPER
A person who undertakes land development activities.
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."
GRADING
Excavation or fill of material, including the resulting conditions
thereof.
IMPERVIOUS COVER
Those surfaces, improvements and structures that cannot effectively
infiltrate rainfall, snow melt and water (e.g., building rooftops,
pavement, sidewalks, driveways, etc).
INDUSTRIAL STORMWATER PERMIT
A State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit issued
to a commercial industry or group of industries which 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.
JURISDICTIONAL WETLAND
A.
All areas of at least 1/10 of an acre, and all
areas regardless of size within an Environmental Protection Overlay
District, that comprise hydric soils and/or are inundated or saturated
by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient
to support, and under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence
of hydrophytic vegetation as defined by the Federal Interagency Committee
for Wetlands Delineation 1989; Federal Manual for Identifying and
Delineating Jurisdictional Wetlands; United States Army Corps of Engineers,
United States Environmental Protection Agency, United States Fish
and Wildlife Service, and U.S.D.A. Soil Conservation Service, Washington,
D.C.; Cooperative Technical Publication.
B.
Watercourses as defined herein.
C.
Any area either larger or smaller than 1/10
of an acre, meeting all other requirements of a wetland, within 100
feet of other similar areas shall be considered as one wetland if
the total of the areas is greater than 1/10 of an acre.
LAND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY
Any construction activity, including clearing, grading, excavating,
soil disturbance or placement of fill, that results in land disturbance
equal to or greater than 5,000 square feet or the creation of new
impervious area as follows:
[Amended 4-14-2009 by L.L. No. 4-2009; 4-30-2024 by L.L. No. 5-2024]
A.
Properties located within an R-1/4A District: creation of greater
than 250 square feet new impervious area;
B.
Properties located within an R-1/2A District: creation of greater
than 500 square feet new impervious area;
C.
Properties located within an R-1A and R-2A Districts: creation
of greater than 1,000 square feet new impervious area;
D.
All commercially zoned, nonresidential, properties: creation
of greater than 1,000 square feet new impervious area.
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 constitutes a property deed
restriction, and which provides for long-term maintenance of stormwater
management practices.
NONPOINT 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, silvicultural, mining, construction,
subsurface disposal and urban runoff sources.
PERSON
Any individual or individuals, firm, partnership, association,
corporation, company, organization or other legal entity of any kind,
including municipal corporations, governmental agencies or subdivisions
thereof.
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, 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 which requires that all land development
activity and/or other construction activity on a site be stopped.
STORMWATER
Rainwater, surface runoff, snowmelt 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 nonpoint 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.
TOWN
The Town of New Castle, New York.
WATERCOURSE
Any natural or artificial, permanent or intermittent, public
or private surface water body or surface water segment, such as ponds,
lakes, reservoirs, rivers, streams, brooks or waterways, that are
contained within, flow through or border on the Town.
WATERWAY
A channel that directs surface runoff to a watercourse or
to the public storm drain.
All land development activities shall be subject
to the following performance and design criteria:
A. For the purpose of this chapter, the following documents
shall serve as the official guides and specifications for stormwater
management. Stormwater management practices that are designed and
constructed in accordance with these technical documents shall be
presumed to meet the standards imposed by this chapter.
(1) The "New York State Stormwater Management Design Manual"
(New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, most recent
version, including applicable updates, hereafter referred to as the
"Design Manual");
(2) "New York Standards and Specifications for Erosion
and Sediment Control", (Empire State Chapter of the Soil and Water
Conservation Society, 2005, most recent version including applicable
updates, hereafter referred to as the "Erosion Control Manual").
B. Where stormwater management practices are not in accordance with technical standards, the applicant or developer must demonstrate equivalence to the technical standards as set forth in §
108A-8 and the SWPPP shall be prepared by a professional engineer or certified professional in erosion and sediment control or in stormwater quality or other professional deemed qualified by the Department.
C. Any land development activity shall not cause an increase
in turbidity that will result in substantial visible contrast to natural
conditions in surface waters of the state of New York.
If the provisions of any article, section, subsection,
paragraph, subdivision or clause of this chapter shall be judged invalid
by a court of competent jurisdiction, such order of judgment shall
not affect or invalidate the remainder of any article, section, subsection,
paragraph, subdivision or clause of this chapter.