As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
ADVERSE IMPACTS
Any modifications, alterations or effects on a feature or
characteristic of public waters, wetlands or adjacent lands, including
their quality, quantity, hydrology, surface area, species composition,
living resources, aesthetics or usefulness for human or natural uses
which are or may potentially be harmful or injurious to human health,
welfare, safety or property, to biological productivity, diversity
or stability or which unreasonably interfere with the enjoyment of
life or property, including outdoor recreation.
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, which serves as the official
guide for stormwater management principles, methods and practices.
DETENTION STRUCTURE
A permanent structure for the temporary storage of runoff,
designed so as not to create a permanent pool of water, which gradually
releases water over 24 hours at a rate not exceeding the predevelopment
rate of runoff. This structure is used to control the peak discharge
rates of stormwater and provide gravity settling of pollutants.
DEVELOPER
Any person who engages in development either as the owner
or the agent of the owner of property.
DEVELOPMENT or DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY
(1)
Construction, installation, alteration, demolition or removal
of a structure, impervious surface or drainage facility.
(2)
Clearing, scraping, grubbing or otherwise removing or killing
the vegetation of a site; or
(3)
Adding, removing, exposing, excavating, leveling, grading, digging,
burrowing, dumping, piling, dredging or otherwise significantly disturbing
the soil, mud, sand or rock of a site.
DRAINAGE SYSTEM
The system through which the water flows from the land. It
includes stormwater, watercourses, water bodies, groundwater and wetlands.
EROSION
The wearing away or washing away of soil by the action of
wind or water.
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."
FIRST FLUSH
The first 1/2 inch of runoff or the runoff generated from
a one-year storm event, whichever is greater, from all land areas
that have been made more impervious than predevelopment conditions
through land clearing, grading, construction and/or development activities.
FLOOD
The temporary rise in the level of any water body, watercourse
or wetland which results in the inundation of areas not ordinarily
covered by water.
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, gravel areas, etc.).
IMPERVIOUS SURFACE
A surface which has been compacted or covered with a layer
of material so that it is highly resistant to infiltration by water.
It includes semi-impervious areas such as compacted clay, as well
as most conventionally surfaced streets, roofs, sidewalks, parking
lots and other similar structures.
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 pollution control strategies.
INFILTRATION
The process of percolating stormwater into the subsoil.
INFILTRATION BASIN
A permanent structure designed to recharge stormwater runoff
to groundwater.
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 one acre, 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.
MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT
A legally recorded document that acts as a property deed
restriction, and which provides for long-term maintenance of stormwater
management practices.
NATURAL SYSTEMS
Systems which predominately consist of or use those communities
of plants, animals, bacteria and other flora and fauna which occur
indigenously on the land, in the soil or in the water.
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.
OWNER
The person in whom is vested the fee ownership, dominion
or title of property, i.e., the proprietor. This term may also include
a tenant, if chargeable under his lease for the maintenance of the
property, and any agent of the owner or tenant, including a developer.
PERSON
Any and all persons, natural or artificial, and includes
any individual, firm, corporation, government agency, business trust,
partnership, association, two or more persons having a joint or common
interest or any other legal entity.
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.
RECEIVING BODIES OF WATER
Any water bodies, watercourses or wetlands into which surface
waters flow either naturally, in man-made ditches or in closed conduit
systems.
RECHARGE
The replenishment of underground water reserves.
RETENTION STRUCTURE
A permanent structure which provides for the storage of runoff
by means of a permanent pool of water without release except by means
of evaporation, infiltration or attenuated release when runoff volume
exceeds the permanent storage capacity.
SEDIMENT
The fine particulate material, whether mineral or organic,
that is in suspension or has settled in a water body.
SEDIMENT FACILITY
Any structure or area which is designed to hold runoff water
until suspended particles have settled.
SENSITIVE AREAS
Cold water fisheries, shellfish beds, swimming beaches, groundwater
recharge areas, water supply reservoirs, and habitats for threatened,
endangered or special concern species.
SITE
Any tract, lot or parcel of land, or combination of tracts,
lots or parcels of land, which are in one ownership or are contiguous
and in diverse ownership where development is to be performed as part
of a unit, subdivision or project.
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
An employee or officer designated by the municipality to
accept and review stormwater pollution prevention plans, forward the
plans to the applicable municipal board and inspect stormwater management
practices. Plan reviews and site inspections may be delegated to a
consulting engineer and/or a consultant paid for through the applicant's
escrow account; however, a municipal employee or board member must
make the final approval.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (SMP)
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.
STRUCTURE
That which is built or constructed, an edifice or building
or any piece of work artificially built or composed of parts joined
together in some definite manner, but shall not include fences or
signs.
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.
VEGETATION
All plant growth, including trees, shrubs, herbs, vines,
ferns, mosses and grasses.
WATER BODY
Any natural or artificial pond, lake, reservoir or other
area which ordinarily or intermittently contains water and which has
a discernible shoreline.
WATERCOURSE
A permanent or intermittent stream or other body of water,
either natural or man-made, which gathers or carries surface water.
WATERSHED
A drainage area or basin contributing to the flow of water
in a receiving body of water.
WATERS OR PUBLIC WATERS
Any and all water on or beneath the surface of the ground.
It includes the water in any watercourse, water body or drainage system.
It also includes diffused surface water and water standing, percolating
or flowing beneath the surface of the ground.
WATERWAY
A channel that directs surface runoff to a watercourse or
to the public storm drain.
WETLANDS
Any area meeting the requirements of the "Federal Manual
for Identifying and Delineating Jurisdictional Wetlands" (latest edition),
and/or any area identified by the New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation (NYSDEC) as being a state-protected wetland.