[Adopted 12-12-2007 by L.L. No. 18-2007]
The purpose of this article is to provide for the health, safety,
and general welfare of the citizens of the County of Ulster through
the regulation of stormwater and nonstormwater discharges, as regulated
hereunder, to the municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) to the
maximum extent practicable as required by federal and state law. This
article establishes methods for controlling the introduction of pollutants
into the MS4 in order for the County of Ulster to comply with requirements
of the SPDES general permit for municipal separate storm sewer systems.
A. Among the several purposes of this article are the following:
(1) To meet the requirements of the SPDES general permit for stormwater
discharges from MS4s, Permit No. GP-02-02, or as amended or revised;
(2) To regulate the contribution of pollutants to the MS4;
(3) To prohibit illicit connections, activities and discharges to the
MS4;
(4) To establish legal authority to carry out all inspection, monitoring
and enforcement procedures necessary to ensure compliance with this
article; and
(5) To promote public awareness of the hazards involved in the improper
discharge of trash, yard waste, lawn chemicals, pet waste, wastewater,
grease, oil, petroleum products, cleaning products, paint products,
hazardous waste, sediment and other pollutants into the MS4.
B. Based upon the record had before this Legislature, the following
findings are made in consideration of this article:
(1) This Legislature finds and determines that the regulation of nonstormwater
discharges to the County-owned municipal separate storm sewer system,
to the maximum extent practicable, is essential to protect the health,
safety and general welfare of the citizens of Ulster County.
(2) This Legislature further finds and determines that controlling the
introduction of polluted stormwater and nonstormwater pollutants into
the County-owned municipal separate storm sewer system is critical
in order to comply with requirements of the state Pollution Discharge
Elimination System General Permit No. GP-02-02 for municipal separate
storm sewer systems.
(3) In addition to the enforcement processes and penalties provided herein,
any condition caused or permitted to exist in violation of any of
the provisions of this article which is deemed to be an imminent threat
to public health, safety, and/or welfare may further be declared and
deemed a nuisance and may be summarily abated or restored at the violator's
expense, and/or a civil action to abate, enjoin, or otherwise compel
the cessation of such violation and/or nuisance may be taken in accordance
with the procedures set forth within this article.
(4) This article shall apply to all MS4 designated areas situate within
the County of Ulster.
Whenever used in this article, unless a different meaning is
stated in a definition applicable to only a portion of this article,
the following terms will be defined and shall have meanings set forth
below:
AGRICULTURAL STORMWATER RUNOFF
Any stormwater runoff from farm operations and other nonpoint
source agriculture and agricultural uses, but not discharges from
concentrated animal feeding operations as defined in 40 CFR 122.23
or discharges from concentrated aquatic animal production facilities
as defined in 40 CFR 122.24.
AGRICULTURE
All agricultural operations and activities related to a farm
operation, as such term is defined in § 301, Subdivision
11, of the Agriculture and Markets Law (AML) or governed by the AML
of the State of New York and the guidelines and opinions issued by
the New York State Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets to the
extent that such practices are consistent with 6 NYCRR 663.2 and not
excluded thereby.
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (also referred to as "BMPs")
Schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, general
good housekeeping practices, pollution prevention and educational
practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices
to prevent or reduce the discharge of pollutants directly or indirectly
to stormwater, receiving waters, or stormwater conveyance systems.
Best management practices also include treatment practices, operating
procedures, and practices to control site runoff, spillage or leaks,
sludge or water disposal, or drainage from raw materials storage.
CLEAN WATER ACT
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. § 1251
et seq.) and any subsequent amendments thereto.
CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY
Activities requiring authorization under the SPDES permit
for stormwater discharges from construction activity, GP-02-01 and
GP-02-02, as amended or revised. These activities include construction
projects resulting in land disturbance of one or more acres unless
otherwise excluded from regulation under GP-02-01 and/or GP-02-02.
Such activities include but are not limited to clearing and grubbing,
grading, excavating, and demolition.
COUNTY-OWNED MUNICIPAL SEPARATE STORM SEWER SYSTEM (also referred
to as "MS4")
A conveyance or system of conveyances (including roads with
drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, manholes,
gutters, ditches, man-made channels, or storm drains) owned or operated
by the County of Ulster which includes roads, infrastructure and facilities
designed or used for collecting or conveying stormwater that is not
a combined sewer and which is not part of a publicly owned treatment
works (POTW) as defined at 40 CFR 122.2. A copy of a listing of County-owned
roads and properties shall be included herein as Exhibit A and a copy shall be kept on file with the Clerk of the
Ulster County Legislature. Said listing shall include any and all
new roadways and County-owned properties as required under the MS4
regulations.
DEPARTMENT
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS
The Ulster County Department of Public Works is the County
department of which the Stormwater Management Office forms a part
in accordance with the provisions of this article.
DISCHARGE
Any addition or introduction of any pollutant, stormwater,
or any other regulated substance whatsoever into the municipal separate
storm sewer system (MS4) or into waters of the United States.
DISCHARGER
Any person, as defined herein, who causes, allows, permits,
or is otherwise responsible for a discharge into a municipal storm
sewer.
EPA
The Environmental Protection Agency of the United States
of America.
FACILITY
Any lands and appurtenances, including but not limited to
construction sites, required by the Federal Clean Water Act to have
a permit to discharge stormwater associated with industrial activity
and/or any other regulated activity.
FARM OPERATION
The land and on-farm buildings, equipment, manure processing
and handling facilities, and practices which contribute to the production,
preparation and marketing of crops, livestock and livestock products
as a commercial enterprise. Such farm operation may consist of one
or more parcels of owned or rented land, which parcels may be contiguous
or noncontiguous to each other. (See § 301, Subdivision
11, of the Agriculture and Markets Law and the definition herein contained
for "agriculture.")
HAZARDOUS MATERIAL
Any material, including any substance, waste, or combination
thereof, which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical,
chemical, or infectious characteristics may cause, or significantly
contribute to, a present or potential hazard to human health, safety,
property, or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported,
disposed of, or otherwise managed.
ILLICIT CONNECTION
Any drain or conveyance, whether on the surface or subsurface,
which allows an illegal discharge to enter the County-owned municipal
separate storm sewer system, including but not limited to:
A.
Any conveyances as regulated under this article which allow
any nonstormwater discharge, including treated or untreated sewage,
process wastewater, and wash water, to enter the County-owned municipal
separate storm sewer system and any connections to the storm drain
system from indoor drains and sinks, regardless of whether said drain
or connection had been previously allowed, permitted, or approved
by an authorized enforcement agency; or
B.
Any drain or conveyance connected from a commercial or industrial
land use to the County-owned municipal separate storm sewer system
that has not been documented in plans, maps, or equivalent records
and lawfully approved by an authorized enforcement agency.
ILLICIT DISCHARGE
Any direct or indirect regulated nonstormwater discharge to the County-owned municipal separate storm sewer system, except as exempted in §
308-6 of this article.
ILLICIT DISCHARGE BOARD OF APPEALS
A County of Ulster appeals board consisting of, at minimum, one representative of each of the following departments and which representatives shall be appointed by the department heads of each of the departments so designated: the Department of the Environment, the Department of Health and the Planning Department. Said Board shall follow the procedures set forth within §
308-15 of this article.
INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY
Activities requiring the SPDES permit for discharges from
industrial activities except construction, GP-98-03, as amended or
revised.
MUNICIPAL SEPARATE STORM SEWER SYSTEM (MS4)
The system of conveyances (including but not limited to sidewalks,
roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs,
gutters, ditches, man-made channels, or storm drains) owned and/or
operated and/or maintained by the County and designed or used for
collecting or conveying stormwater.
NONSTORMWATER DISCHARGE
Any discharge to the County-owned municipal separate storm
sewer system that is not composed entirely of stormwater.
OPERATOR
The party or parties that either individually or taken together
meet the following two criteria:
A.
They have operational control over the site activities (including
the ability to make modifications in activities); and
B.
They have such operational control as to those activities at
the site necessary to ensure compliance with SWPPP requirements and
any related permit conditions.
PERSON
Any individual, association, organization, partnership, firm,
company, corporation, trust, estate, governmental entity (including
the County of Ulster), or other entity recognized by law and acting
as either the owner or as the owner's agent. This term shall
also include owners, operators, dischargers and all other entities
as set forth within this article.
POINT SOURCE
Any discernible, confined, and discrete conveyance, including
but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well,
fissure, container, concentrated animal feeding operation, landfill
leachate collection system, vessel or other floating craft from which
pollutants are or may be discharged and as regulated under this article
and/or the Clean Water Act.
POLLUTANT
Includes, but is not limited to, dredged spoil, solid waste,
incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, filter backwash,
munitions, hazardous waste, chemical wastes, biological materials,
toxic materials, radioactive materials, wrecked or discarded equipment,
rock, sand, cellar dirt, and industrial, municipal, recreational,
regulated, and agricultural waste and other regulated wastes discharged
into the municipal separate storm sewer system which may cause or
might reasonably be expected to cause pollution of the waters of the
state in contravention of the standards set forth within this article
and the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq.).
PREMISES
Any building, structure, lot, parcel of land, or portion
of land, whether improved or unimproved, including adjacent sidewalks,
parking strips, roadways and other appurtenances.
RELEASE
Any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying,
discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing
of illicit discharges into surface water, groundwater, subsurface
soils, surface soils and/or by any other direct or indirect discharge
which is made to the municipal separate stormwater sewer system (MS4),
the waters of New York State and/or the waters of the United States.
SPECIAL CONDITION
The condition in the County-owned municipal separate storm
sewer system permit that applies if a TMDL is approved in the future
by EPA for any water body or watershed into which a County-owned municipal
separate storm sewer system discharges. Under this condition the municipality
must review the applicable TMDL to see if it includes requirements
for control of stormwater discharges. If an MS4 is not meeting the
TMDL stormwater allocations, the municipality must, within six months
of the TMDL's approval, modify its stormwater management program
to take all necessary actions to ensure that reduction of the pollutant
of concern specified in the TMDL is achieved.
SPECIAL CONDITION 303(d) LISTED WATERS
The condition in the County-owned municipal separate storm
sewer system permit that applies where the County-owned municipal
separate storm sewer system discharges to a 303(d) listed water. Under
this condition the County stormwater management program must ensure
no increase of the listed pollutant of concern to the 303(d) listed
water.
SPECIAL CONDITION DISCHARGE COMPLIANCE WITH WATER QUALITY STANDARDS
The condition that applies where a municipality has been
notified pursuant to this article that the discharge of stormwater
authorized under its County-owned municipal separate storm sewer system
permit may have caused, or has the reasonable potential to cause or
contribute to, the violation of an applicable water quality standard.
Under this condition the municipality must take all necessary actions
to ensure future discharges do not cause or contribute to a violation
of water quality standards.
SPECIAL CONDITION TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOAD (TMDL) STRATEGY
The condition in the County-owned municipal separate storm
sewer system permit where a TMDL, including requirements for control
of stormwater discharges, has been approved by EPA for a water body
or watershed into which the County-owned municipal separate storm
sewer system discharges.
STORMWATER
Rainwater, surface runoff, snowmelt and drainage.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT OFFICE
The County office that is responsible for administering,
enforcing and promulgating regulations and fees pursuant to this article.
Upon adoption of this article, said office shall be designated by
the County Legislature as being a part of and organized as a division
of and under the County of Ulster Department of Public Works, and
the Stormwater Management Officer shall be appointed by the department
head of the Ulster County Department of Public Works. Budgetary, employment
and other customary administrative procedures associated with the
Stormwater Management Office shall be the responsibility of the Ulster
County Department of Public Works.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT OFFICER (also referred to as "SMO")
A person, persons, or other public official(s) designated
by the Stormwater Management Office to monitor activities, inspect
areas and enforce this article. The Stormwater Management Officer
may also be designated to accept, review, and inspect stormwater pollution
prevention plans, among his/her other responsibilities.
STORMWATER POLLUTION PREVENTION PLAN
A plan required by a SPDES permit to discharge stormwater
associated with regulated activities, including but not limited to
industrial activities and construction, and which describes and provides
for pollutants in stormwater discharges associated with regulated
activities.
303(d) LIST
A list of all surface waters in the state for which beneficial
uses of the water (drinking, recreation, aquatic habitat, and industrial
use) are impaired by pollutants, prepared periodically by the Department
as required by Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. 303(d) listed waters are estuaries, lakes and streams
that fall short of state surface water quality standards and are not
expected to improve within the next two years.
WASTEWATER
Any water that is not stormwater, is contaminated with pollutants
and is or will be discarded. This term shall not include stormwater
which is not contaminated by pollutants.
This article shall apply to all water entering the County-owned
municipal separate storm sewer system within MS4 designated areas
as generated on any developed and undeveloped lands unless explicitly
exempted hereunder or unless explicitly exempted by the Department
acting as the authorized enforcement agency.
The Stormwater Management Officer (SMO) shall administer, implement,
and enforce the provisions of this article. Such powers granted or
duties imposed upon and granted to the authorized enforcement official
may be delegated in writing by the Stormwater Management Officer as
may be authorized by the Stormwater Management Office. Such written
delegation shall be kept and maintained within the Stormwater Management
Officer's files, and copies shall further be provided by the
Stormwater Management Officer to the County Attorney. The Stormwater
Management Office shall possess the authority to promulgate rules
and regulations as necessary to administer, enforce and forward this
article and its purposes, including but not limited to the institution
and use of permits, forms, fees and other regulatory mechanisms to
advance the purposes of this article.
No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged into the County-owned municipal separate storm sewer system any materials other than lawful discharges of stormwater, except as provided in §
308-6. The commencement, conduct or continuance of any illegal discharge to the County-owned municipal separate storm sewer system is prohibited except as described in §
308-6.
The construction, use, maintenance or continued existence of
illicit connections to the County-owned municipal separate storm sewer
system is prohibited. This prohibition expressly includes, without
limitation, connections made in the past, regardless of whether the
connection was permissible under law and whether all lawful approvals
were granted and/or regardless of whether the connection was previously
unregulated pursuant to practices applicable or prevailing at the
time of connection. A person is considered to be in violation of this
article if the person illegally connects a line conveying sewage to
the County-owned municipal separate storm sewer system or allows such
an illegal connection to continue.
Any person subject to an industrial or construction activity
SPDES stormwater discharge permit shall comply with all provisions
of such permit. Proof of compliance with said permit may be required
in a form reasonably acceptable to the Stormwater Management Officer
prior to the allowing of discharges to the County-owned municipal
separate storm sewer system. Upon such proof being provided, the Stormwater
Management Officer shall render his/her determination as to acceptability
and shall provide the person with a written confirmation of such determination.
Notwithstanding any other requirements of law, as soon as any
person responsible for a facility or operation, or responsible for
emergency response for a facility or operation, has information of
any known or suspected release of materials which are resulting or
may result in illicit discharges or pollutants discharging into the
County-owned municipal separate storm sewer system, said person shall
take such necessary steps to ensure the discovery, containment, and
cleanup of such release. In the event of such a release of hazardous
materials, said person shall immediately notify emergency response
agencies of the occurrence via emergency dispatch services and/or
the County Stormwater Management Officer. In the event of a release
of nonhazardous materials, said person shall notify the County Stormwater
Management Officer in person or by telephone or facsimile no later
than the next business day. Notifications in person or by telephone
shall be confirmed by written notice addressed and mailed to the County
within three business days of the telephone notice. If the discharge
of prohibited materials emanates from a commercial or industrial establishment,
the owner or operator of such establishment shall also retain an on-site
written record of the discharge and the actions taken to prevent its
recurrence. Such records shall be promptly provided to the Stormwater
Management Officer and such records shall be retained on site for
at least five years.
It shall be unlawful for any person to violate any provision
or fail to comply with any of the requirements of this article. If
a person has violated or continues to violate the provisions of this
article, the Stormwater Management Officer may petition for a preliminary
or permanent injunction restraining the person from activities which
would create further violations or compelling the person to perform
abatement and/or remediation of the violation and/or for such other
further relief as any court of competent jurisdiction may order.
[Amended 8-17-2010 by L.L. No. 3-2010]
The remedies listed in this article are not exclusive of any
other remedies available under any applicable federal, state or local
law, and it is within the discretion of the Stormwater Management
Office to make such determinations. Nothing in this article shall
be read to preclude the enforcement by the County of Ulster of any
other laws as may be applicable to illicit discharges, including but
not limited to statutory authorizations as set forth within the New
York State Highway Law, the New York State County Law and the New
York State Public Health Law.
The Stormwater Management Officer shall submit an annual report
to the County Legislature not later than the first day of November
of each year concerning the administration, efficacy and enforcement
of this article. Such reports and recommendations shall assist the
County to monitor and evaluate the extent to which the intent and
purpose of this article have been served.
This article has been duly reviewed and a determination as to
significance upon the environment and associated findings have been
rendered by the County in accordance with the State Environmental
Quality Review Act (SEQRA) prior to this article's adoption by the County (6 NYCRR
617 et seq.).
Where the standards and legal requirements of this article are
in conflict with other environmental and/or land use regulations and/or
other environmental protective measures, the more restrictive standards
and legal requirements shall apply.
This article shall be interpreted under, construed by and governed
pursuant to the laws of the State of New York.