The Mining/Excavation Overlay District provides
a means of authorizing mining and/or excavation activities within
the community, and minimizing potential adverse impacts from such
activities.
Except in Mining/Excavation Overlay Districts, and in conformity with an approved site plan and grading permit per Chapter
253, Regrading and Filling of Land, no person, firm, partnership, limited liability company or corporation shall strip, excavate or otherwise remove topsoil or subsoil for sale unless the proposed removal is exempted from the requirements of Chapter
253 pursuant to Town Code §
253-1 and/or the requirements of this code pursuant to this article.
The following terms shall have the meanings
indicated for purposes of this article:
MINERAL
Any naturally formed, usually inorganic, consolidated or
unconsolidated material located on or below the surface of the earth.
For purposes of this section, peat and topsoil shall be considered
minerals.
MINE SITE
The parcel of land where mining occurs.
MINING
A.
The extraction, removal or relocation of topsoil, overburden
and/or minerals from the earth including but not limited to the preparation
and processing of minerals, including any activities or processes
or parts thereof for the extraction or removal of minerals from their
original location and the preparation, washing, cleaning, crushing,
stockpiling or other suitable processing of minerals at the mine location
so as to make them suitable for commercial, industrial, or construction
use; the removal of such materials through sale or exchange, or for
commercial, industrial or municipal use; and the disposition of topsoil,
overburden, tailings and waste at the mine site.
B.
"Mining" shall not include:
(1)
The excavation, removal and disposition of minerals from construction
projects, except for activity which will result in the creation of
water bodies or erosion/sedimentation control structures, or
(2)
Excavations in aid of agricultural use.
OVERBURDEN
All of the earth, vegetation and other materials which lie
above or alongside a mineral deposit.
RECREATIONAL POND
Any body of water, natural or man-made, located on a site
for the principal purpose of aesthetic or recreational uses.
If any mine, excavation or pond is proposed
for expansion, the requirements of this section shall apply to the
application for such expansion, unless the mine, excavation or pond,
after expansion, shall qualify for one of the exemptions to this article.