The terms used in this article or in documents
prepared or reviewed under this article shall have the meanings 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.
BUILDING
Any structure, either temporary or permanent, having walls
and a roof, designed for the shelter of any person, animal, or property,
and occupying more than 100 square feet of area.
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."
EXEMPT ACTIVITIES
The following activities are considered exempt from review:
agricultural activity as defined herein; silvicultural activity, except
landing areas and log haul roads; routine maintenance activities that
disturb less than five acres and are performed to maintain the original
line and grade, hydraulic capacity or original purpose of a facility;
repairs to any stormwater management practice or facility deemed necessary
by the Stormwater Management Officer; any part of a subdivision if
a plat for the subdivision has been approved (subdivision plat has
been signed) by the Planning Board of the Town of Carmel on or before
December 17, 2008; land development activities for which a building
permit has been approved on or before December 17, 2008; cemetery
graves; installation of fence, sign, telephone, and electric poles
and other kinds of posts or poles; emergency activity immediately
necessary to protect life, property or natural resources; activities
of an individual engaging in home gardening by growing flowers, vegetable
and other plants primarily for use by that person and his or her family;
landscaping and horticultural activities in connection with an existing
structure.
GRADING
Excavation or fill of material, including the resulting conditions
thereof.
IMPERVIOUS COVER
Those surfaces, improvements and structures that cannot effectively
infiltrate rainfall, snowmelt 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
An area that is inundated or saturated by surface water or
groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support a prevalence
of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions,
commonly known as "hydrophytic vegetation."
LAND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY
Construction activity, including clearing, grading, excavating,
soil disturbance or placement of fill, that results in land disturbance
of equal to or greater than 5,000 square feet, or activities disturbing
less than one acre of total land area that is part of a larger common
plan of development or sale, even though multiple separate and distinct
land development activities may take place at different times on different
schedules.
[Amended 4-8-2015 by L.L.
No. 1-2015]
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 acts as 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.
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 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 OFFICER
The Town of Carmel Town Engineer or an employee or officer
designated by the Town Board of the Town of Carmel to accept and review
stormwater pollution prevention plans, forward the plans to the applicable
municipal board and inspect stormwater management practices.
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.
WATERCOURSE
A permanent or intermittent stream or other body of water,
either natural or man-made, which gathers or carries surface water.
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. Technical standards. 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 article:
(1) The New York State Stormwater Management Design Manual
(New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, most current
version or its successor, 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, 2004, most current version or its successor, hereafter referred
to as the "Erosion Control Manual"). The New York State technical
guidance documents may be ordered from the Department. An order form
as well as downloadable versions of the manuals are available on the
Internet at: http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dow/toolbox/escstandards/index.html
and http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dow/toolbox/swmanual/.
B. Equivalence to technical standards. Where stormwater management practices are not in accordance with technical standards, the applicant or developer must demonstrate equivalence to the technical standards set forth in §
156-82A, and the SWPPP shall be prepared by a licensed professional.
C. Water quality standards. 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.
After construction, the owner or operator of
permanent stormwater management practices installed in accordance
with this article shall ensure they are operated and maintained to
achieve the goals of this article. Proper operation and maintenance
also includes as a minimum, the following:
A. A preventive/corrective maintenance program for all
critical facilities and systems of treatment and control (or related
appurtenances) which are installed or used by the owner or operator
to achieve the goals of this article.
B. Written procedures for operation and maintenance and
training new maintenance personnel.
C. Discharges from the SMPs shall not exceed design criteria or cause or contribute to water quality standard violations in accordance with §
156-82C.
The Town of Carmel shall approve a formal maintenance
agreement for stormwater management facilities binding on all subsequent
landowners and recorded in the office of the Putnam County Clerk as
a deed restriction on the property prior to final plan approval. The
maintenance agreement shall be in a form as contained hereinafter. The Town of Carmel, in lieu of a maintenance agreement,
at its sole discretion may accept dedication of any existing or future
stormwater management facility, provided such facility meets all the
requirements of this article and includes adequate and perpetual access
and sufficient area, by easement or otherwise, for inspection and
regular maintenance.
Prior to the issuance of any approval that has
a stormwater management facility as one of the requirements, the applicant
or developer must execute a maintenance easement agreement that shall
be binding on all subsequent landowners served by the stormwater management
facility. The easement shall provide for access to the facility at
reasonable times for periodic inspection by the Town of Carmel to
ensure that the facility is maintained in proper working condition
to meet design standards and any other provisions established by this
article. The easement shall be recorded by the grantor in the office
of the Putnam County Clerk after approval by the counsel for the Town
of Carmel.
The Town of Carmel may require any person undertaking
land development activities regulated by this article to pay reasonable
costs at prevailing rates for review of SWPPPs, inspections or SMP
maintenance performed by the Town of Carmel or performed by a third
party for the Town of Carmel.