The following definitions shall apply in the
interpretation and implementation of this bylaw:
AGRICULTURE
Refers to the definition as provided by MGL c. 128, § 1A.
ALTER
Includes, without limitation, the following activities when
undertaken to, upon, within or affecting resource areas protected
by this bylaw:
A.
Removal, excavation or dredging of soil, sand,
gravel, or aggregate materials of any kind;
B.
Changing of preexisting drainage characteristics,
flushing characteristics, salinity distribution, sedimentation patterns,
flow patterns or flood retention characteristics;
C.
Drainage or other disturbance of water level
or water table;
D.
Dumping, discharging or filling with any material
which may degrade water quality;
E.
Placing of fill, or removal of material, which
would alter elevation;
F.
Driving of piles and erection, expansion or
repair of buildings or structures of any kind;
G.
Placing of obstructions or objects in water;
H.
Destruction of plant life, including cutting
or trimming of trees and shrubs;
I.
Changing temperature, biochemical oxygen demand
or other physical, biological, or chemical characteristics of any
waters;
J.
Any activities, changes or work which may cause
or tend to contribute to pollution of any body of water or groundwater;
K.
Incremental activities which have, or may have,
a cumulative adverse impact on the resource areas protected by this
bylaw.
BANK
Includes the land area which normally abuts and confines
a water body; the lower boundary being the mean annual low-flow level,
and the upper boundary being the first observable break in the slope
or the mean annual flood level, whichever is higher.
BUFFER ZONE
Includes twenty-five-foot no-build or no-alteration area
surrounding any type of wetland or vernal pool. It shall also include
all lands within 100 feet of a wetland or floodplain resource area,
and within 200 feet of a riverfront area, whether perennial or intermittent.
INTERMITTENT STREAM
Includes a body of water, including brooks and creeks, which
moves in a definite channel due to a hydraulic gradient, and which
flows within, into or out of areas subject to protection under the
Wetlands Protection Act. An intermittent stream, or ephemeral stream, does not
flow year round. It may flow in all seasons except during the driest
summer months, or only after precipitation, or when groundwater levels
or water from snowmelt are high. An ephemeral stream may have a fish
population.
PERENNIAL STREAM
Includes a body of water, including brooks and creeks, which
moves in a definite channel due to a hydraulic gradient, and which
flows within, into or out of areas subject to protection under the
Wetlands Protection Act. A perennial stream flows all year, except
during periods of drought, or unless it is subject to withdrawals
or controlled by dams or other restricting structures.
PERSON
Include any individual, group of individuals, association,
partnership, corporation, company, business organization, trust, estate,
the commonwealth or political subdivision thereof to the extent subject
to Town bylaws, administrative agency, public or quasi-public corporation
or body, this municipality, and any other legal entity, its legal
representatives, agents, or assigns.
POND
Follow the definition of 310 CMR 10.04 except that the size
threshold of 5,000 square feet shall apply.
RARE SPECIES
Includes, without limitation, all vertebrate and invertebrate
animals and all plant species listed as endangered, threatened, or
of special concern by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and
Wildlife and the National Heritage Endangered Species Program (NHESP),
regardless whether the site in which they occur has been previously
identified by the Division or Program.
VERNAL POOL
Includes, in addition to scientific definitions found in
the regulations under the Wetlands Protection Act, any confined basin
or depression not occurring in existing lawns, gardens, landscaped
areas or driveways which, at least in most years, holds water for
a minimum of two continuous months during the spring and/or summer,
contains at least 200 cubic feet of water at some time during most
years, is free of adult predatory fish populations, and provides essential
breeding and rearing habitat functions for amphibian, reptile or other
vernal pool community species, regardless of whether the site has
been certified by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.
The boundary of the resource area for vernal pools shall be 100 feet
outward from the mean annual high-water line defining the depression,
but shall not include existing lawns, gardens, landscaped or developed
areas.
This bylaw is adopted under the Home Rule Amendment
of the Massachusetts Constitution and the Home Rule statutes, independent
of the Wetlands Protection Act (MGL c. 131, § 40) and Regulations
(310 CMR 10.00) thereunder. It is the intention of this bylaw that
the purposes, jurisdiction, authority, exemptions, regulations, specifications,
standards and other requirements shall be interpreted and administered
as stricter than those under the Wetlands Protection Act and Regulations.
The invalidity of any section or provision of
this bylaw shall not invalidate any other section or provision thereof,
nor shall it invalidate any permit, approval or determination which
previously has been issued.
Applicants that have filed an application (notice
of intent, request for determination of applicability, or abbreviated
notice of resource area delineation) prior to the effective date of
this bylaw shall not be subject to this bylaw, but shall be regulated
exclusively by the provisions of the Wetlands Protection Act (MGL
c. 131, § 40).
This bylaw shall take effect upon approval of
the Attorney General, and after the bylaw has been posted, in accordance
with MGL c. 40, § 32.