As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY
The activity of an active farm including grazing and watering
livestock, irrigating crops, harvesting crops, using land for growing
agricultural products, but shall not include the operation of a horse-riding
facility 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.
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMPs)
Procedures and measures pertaining to construction activities
which are intended to minimize water pollution, retain valuable topsoil,
and prevent erosion and sedimentation, and include, but are not limited
to, those practices identified in the Town of Cazenovia best management
practices guidelines.
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES GUIDELINES
A collection of stormwater management tools, prepared and
published, and occasionally amended, by the Town of Cazenovia, consisting
of various best management practices for certain described activities.
Examples include: grass buffer filter strips, terraced filter strips,
ecology embankments, enhanced grass swales, wet biofiltration swales,
porous and modular block pavements, detention and retention basins,
sand or organic media filters, porous asphalt or concrete, constructed
wetlands, rain gardens, infiltrating and noninfiltrating planter boxes
and strips, eco-roofs, and other emerging stormwater management technologies,
subject to the approval of the Planning Board (see Schedule A for
additional information).
BUILDING
Any structure, either temporary or permanent, having walls
and/or a roof, designed for the shelter of any person, animal, or
property, and occupying more than 100 square feet of area.
BUILDING PERMIT
A permit issued by the Town pursuant to Chapter
61 for the construction, erection, and alteration of a structure or building.
CAZENOVIA LAKE WATERSHED ZONE
A critical environmental area surrounding Cazenovia Lake
that serves as a supplemental water supply for the Town and Village
of Cazenovia as more specifically shown on the Cazenovia Lake Watershed
Map (identified as "Cazenovia Lake Watershed - Map Prepared by the
Madison County Planning Department") attached hereto as Schedule B and on file with the Town of Cazenovia Codes Enforcement
Office.
CERTIFICATION
A formal attestation that the specific inspections and tests,
where required, have been performed and that such tests comply with
the applicable requirements of this chapter.
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.
DEVELOPER
A person who undertakes land development activities.
DEVELOPMENT
Any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate,
including, but not limited to, buildings or other structures, mining,
dredging, filling, grading, paving, removal of vegetation, excavation,
blasting, or drilling operations.
EROSION AND SEDIMENT CONTROL PLAN
A set of plans prepared by a New York State licensed engineer,
landscape architect, or certified erosion control specialist indicating
the specific measures and sequencing to be used in controlling sediment
and erosion on a development site both during, and after, construction.
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."
EXCAVATION
Any act by which organic matter, earth, sand, gravel, rock,
or any other similar material is cut into, dug, quarried, uncovered,
removed, displaced, or bulldozed, and shall include the conditions
resulting therefrom.
FILL
Any act by which earth, sand, gravel, rock, or any other
material is deposited, placed, replaced, pushed, dumped, pulled, transported,
or moved by man and shall include the conditions resulting therefrom.
FINAL GRADE
The vertical location of the ground or pavement surface after
the grading work is completed and in accordance with the site development
plan.
GRADING
Excavation or fill of material, including the resulting conditions
thereof, and shall include the conditions resulting from any excavation
or fill.
HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE
Routine work performed on public roadways and rights-of-way,
including but not limited to repairs, regrading, resurfacing, trenching
and other similar activities.
IMPERVIOUS COVER
Those surfaces, improvements and structures that cannot effectively
infiltrate rainfall, snowmelt and water (e.g., building rooftops,
pavement, sidewalks, driveways, etc.).
IMPERVIOUS SURFACE
Any surface which adsorbs less than approximately 50% of
stormwater which falls on it or cross it. The following surfaces are
considered impervious by the Town of Cazenovia:
[Amended 4-11-2011 by L.L. No. 1-2011]
A.
Concrete pavements, regardless of the amount of porosity or
perviousness of the concrete.
B.
Asphalt pavements, regardless of the amount of porosity or perviousness
of the asphalt.
C.
Driveways made with paving blocks, regardless of the porosity
or perviousness of the blocks or the spacing of the joints between
blocks.
D.
Gravel and crushed stone.
H.
Pools with less than 4.5 inches of freeboard.
J.
Patios and walkways made with bricks, pavers or flagstones,
regardless of the porosity or perviousness of the materials or the
amount of space between joints.
K.
Wooden decks with tight joints such as ship lap or tongue and
groove.
L.
Other surfaces which adsorb less than 50% of stormwater falling
into or crossing the surface at any time during the lifespan of the
material, based on the judgment of the Town Engineer.
INFILTRATION
The process of percolating stormwater into the subsoil.
INTERMITTENT STREAM
A stream or portion of a stream that flows only in direct
response to precipitation. It receives little or no water from springs
and no long-term continued supply from melting snow or other sources.
It is dry for a large part of the year, typically more than three
months.
LAND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY
Construction and demolition activity including clearing,
grading, excavating, soil disturbance or placement of fill that results
in land disturbance of equal to or greater than one acre, or activities
of less than one acre of total land area that are part of a larger
common plan of development which will ultimately be equal to or greater
than one acre of disturbance in aggregate, even though multiple separate
and distinct land development activities may take place at different
times on different schedules. Notwithstanding the foregoing, land
development activities within the Town of Cazenovia Lake Watershed
Zone and the Riparian Corridors which are more specifically defined
in the attached Schedules B and C, will be subject to a more stringent threshold limit of
10,000 square feet of land disturbance, such that within those areas,
disturbance of land equal to or greater than 10,000 square feet shall
constitute a land development activity.
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.
NYSDEC
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
PARCEL
All contiguous land under one ownership.
PERMANENT VEGETATION
Groundcover mature enough to control soil erosion satisfactorily
and to survive severe weather conditions.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, or corporation, public or private,
the State of New York and its agencies or political subdivisions,
and the United States of America, its agencies and instrumentalities,
and any agent, servant, officer, or employee of any of the foregoing.
PERVIOUS
The ability to pass water through a solid or semisolid material.
PHASING
Clearing a parcel of land in distinct pieces or parts, with
the stabilization of each piece completed before the clearing of the
next.
PLANNING BOARD
A group of individuals with site plan and subdivision review
and approval authority for parcels to be developed within the jurisdictional
limits of the Town of Cazenovia.
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.
REMOVAL
Cutting vegetation to the ground or leaving it as stumpage,
complete extraction, or killing by spraying.
RETENTION
A drainage area that does not allow precipitation to escape
as runoff; the difference between total precipitation and total runoff.
RIPARIAN CORRIDORS
All areas within 100 linear feet of the center line of Chittenango
Creek, Limestone Creek and DEC classified tributary streams, all as
depicted on the map titled "Town of Cazenovia 100 Foot Classified
Stream Buffers" prepared by the Madison County Planning Department
and dated April 2008, a copy of which is attached hereto as Schedule
C and on file with the Town of Cazenovia Codes Enforcement
Office.
SEMI-PERVIOUS SURFACE
Any man-made or nonnatural (including newly introduced materials)
surface which adsorbs more than approximately 50% of the stormwater
which falls on it or crosses it. Semi-pervious surfaces shall be considered
50% impervious for the purpose of calculating the total impervious
cover of a site. The following surfaces are considered semi-pervious
by the Town of Cazenovia:
[Added 4-11-2011 by L.L. No. 1-2011]
A.
Wooden decks with loose joints of at least 1/8 inch.
B.
Other man made or nonnatural (including newly introduced materials)
surfaces which adsorb more than 50% of the stormwater falling onto
or crossing the surface at any time during the lifespan of the material,
based on the judgment of the Town Engineer.
SITE
A lot or parcel of land or a contiguous combination thereof
where grading work is performed as a single unified operation.
SITE PLAN
The map or drawn representation of a proposed development,
which is submitted to the Town Planning Board for consideration, review,
and approval.
SOIL STABILIZATION
Measures which protect soil from the erosive forces of raindrop
impact and flowing water and include, but are not limited to, vegetative
establishment, mulching, and the early application of gravel base
on areas to be paved.
STABILIZATION
The use of practices that prevent exposed soil from eroding.
START OF CONSTRUCTION
The first land-disturbing activity associated with a development,
including land preparation such as clearing, grading, and filling;
installation of streets and walkways; excavation for basements, footings,
piers, or foundations; erection of temporary forms; and installation
of accessory buildings such as garages.
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 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
An employee or officer designated by the Town 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.
STORMWATER RUNOFF
Flow on the surface of the ground resulting from precipitation
and/or snowmelt.
STRIPPING
Any activity which removes the vegetative surface cover including
tree removal, clearing, and storage or removal of topsoil.
SUBDIVISION
Any tract of land which is divided into two or more habitable
building sites, or parcels on any site along an existing or proposed
street, highway, easement, or right-of-way, or other means or proposed
means of access, road, or street, for sale, lease, or rent, regardless
of whether the sites are to be sold or offered for sale or leased
for any period of time, are described by metes and bounds, or by reference
to a map or survey of the property or by any other method of description.
"Subdivision" also has any meaning it presently has under the existing
laws of the Town of Cazenovia.
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 nor resulted from impoundment
of waters of the state.
TEMPORARY STREAM CROSSING
A temporary structural span installed across a flowing watercourse
for use by construction traffic. Structures may include bridges, round
pipes, or pipe arches.
WATERCOURSE
A permanent or intermittent stream or other body of water
(lakes, ponds, rivers, etc.), either natural or man-made, which holds,
gathers or carries surface water, or as classified by the New York
State Department of Environmental Conservation under Part 6 of the
New York Code of Rules and Regulations, and/or delineated as a hydrologic
feature on the USGS 7.5-Minute Quadrangle Sheets.
The following activities shall be exempt from
review under this chapter:
A. Agricultural activity as defined in this chapter.
B. Routine maintenance activities (lawn care, shrubbery
maintenance and similar 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.
C. Repairs to any stormwater management practice or facility
deemed necessary by the Stormwater Management Officer.
D. Land development activities for which a building permit
or other Town Planning Board or Zoning Board of Appeals approval has
been granted on or before the effective date of this chapter.
F. Installation of fence, sign, telephone, and electric
poles and other kinds of posts or poles.
G. Emergency activity immediately necessary to protect
life, property or natural resources.
H. Activities of an individual engaging in home gardening
by growing flowers, and/or vegetables primarily for use by that person
and his or her family.
I. Highway maintenance performed by or on behalf of the
Town of Cazenovia Highway Department.