The following
definitions shall apply in the interpretation and implementation of
this bylaw:
ABUTTER
Any person possessing whole or partial ownership of property
directly adjacent to the property on which work is proposed. This
shall include owners of land directly opposite of any private or public
street or way, and abutters to the abutters within 300 feet of the
property line of the applicant, including any in another municipality
or across a body of water.
ACTIVITY
Any form of draining, dumping, dredging, damming, discharging,
excavating, filling, or grading; the erection, reconstruction, or
expansion of any buildings or structures; the driving of pilings;
the construction or improvement of roads and other ways; the changing
of runoff characteristics; the intercepting or diverting of groundwater
or surface water; the installation of drainage, sewage, and water
systems; the discharging of pollutants; the destruction of plant life;
and any other changing of the physical characteristics of land or
of the physical, biological, or chemical characteristics of water.
AESTHETICS
The visual and sensory character of natural conditions, including
but not limited to natural lighting, sounds, odors, and significant
trees and views or vistas as at the time are experienced by the public
from public ways, including waterways.
ALTER
To change the condition of any area subject to protection.
Examples of alteration include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1)
Removal, excavation, or dredging of soil, sand, gravel, or aggregate
materials of any kind.
(2)
Changing of preexisting drainage characteristics, flushing characteristics,
salinity distribution, sedimentation patterns, flow patterns, or flood
retention characteristics.
(3)
Drainage or other disturbance of water levels or water table.
(4)
Dumping, discharging, or filling with any material which may
degrade water quality.
(5)
Placing of fill, or removal of material, which would alter elevation.
(6)
Driving of piles, erection, or repair of buildings, or structures
of any kind.
(7)
Placing of obstructions or objects in water.
(8)
Destruction of plant life, including cutting of trees.
(9)
Changing temperature, biochemical oxygen demand, or other physical,
biological, or chemical characteristics of any waters.
(10)
Any activities, changes, or work which may cause or tend to
contribute to pollution of any body of water or groundwater.
(11)
Incremental activities which have, or may have, a cumulative
adverse impact on the resource areas protected by this bylaw.
BANK
Includes the land area which normally abuts and confines
a water body; the lower boundary being the mean annual low flow level,
and the upper boundary being the first observable break in the slope
or the mean annual flood level, whichever is higher.
BOG
Any area where standing or slowly running water is near or
at the surface during a normal growing season and where a vegetational
community has a significant portion of the groundwater or surface
covered with sphagnum moss (Sphagnum) and where the vegetational community
is made up of a significant portion of one or more of, but not limited
to nor necessarily all of, the following plants or groups of plants:
aster (Aster nemoralis), azaleas (Rhododendrum canadense and R. viscosum),
black spruce (Picea mariano), bog cotton (Eriophorum), cranberry (Vaccinium
macrocarpon), high-bush blueberry (Vaccinium Corymbosum), larch (Lariz
laricina), laurels (Kalmia angustifolia and K. polifolia), leatherleaf
(Chamaedaphne calyculata), orchids (Arethuse, Calopogon, Pogonia),
pitcher plants (Sarracenia purpurea), sedges (Cyperaceae), sundews
(Droseraceae), sweet gale (Myrica Gale), and white cedar (Charnaecyparis
thyoides).
BUFFER ZONE
An area of land extending within 200 feet of rivers, ponds and lakes, and lands within 100 feet of other resource areas as specified in §
95-2 of these bylaws. The buffer zones are resources afforded protection under this bylaw.
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE
A written determination by the Conservation Commission that
the proposed work or a portion thereof has been completed in accordance
with a pertinent order of conditions.
CONDITIONS
Those requirements set forth in an order of conditions issued
by the Conservation Commission for the purpose of permitting, regulating,
or prohibiting any activity that removes, fills, dredges, builds upon,
or alters an area subject to protection under this bylaw.
DATE OF ISSUANCE
The date an order of conditions, a determination, or a certificate
of compliance is mailed, as evidenced by a postmark, or the date it
is hand-delivered.
DATE OF RECEIPT
The date of delivery to an office, home, or usual place of
business by mail or hand delivery.
DEPARTMENT
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
(DEP).
DETERMINATION OF APPLICABILITY
A written finding by the Commission as to whether a site
or the activity proposed thereon is subject to the jurisdiction of
this bylaw.
DETERMINATION OF SIGNIFICANCE
A written finding by the Commission, after a public hearing, that the area on which the proposed work is to be done, or which the proposed work will alter, is significant to one or more of the values and interests identified in §
95-2 of these regulations.
DRIVEWAY
Any means of vehicle access to a parcel of land. Driveways
can occur as gravel, crushed stone, dirt, impervious materials such
as cement or bituminous concrete, or any other suitable material.
EROSION CONTROL
The prevention or reduction of the detachment or movement
of soil or rock fragments by water, wind, ice, and/or gravity or by
the action of a person or machine.
INTERESTS
The wetland values (collectively, the "interests protected by this bylaw") specified in §
95-1 of this bylaw.
ISOLATED LAND SUBJECT TO FLOODING
An isolated depression or closed basin without an inlet or
outlet. It is an area which at least once a year confines standing
water to a volume of at least 1/8 acre-feet and to an average depth
of at least six inches.
NOTICE OF INTENT
The written application filed by any person intending to
remove, fill, dredge, or alter an area subject to protection under
the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, MGL c. 131, § 40,
and the Town of Millville Wetlands Bylaw.
NOTIFICATION OF NONSIGNIFICANCE
A written finding by the Commission, after a public hearing, that the area on which the proposed work is to be done, or which the proposed work will alter, is not significant to any of the interests identified in §§
95-1 and
95-2 of these regulations.
ORDER
An order of conditions, superseding order or final order,
whichever is applicable, issued pursuant to MGL c. 131, § 40,
and/or the Town of Millville Wetlands Protection Bylaw.
ORDER OF CONDITIONS
The document issued by the Conservation Commission containing
conditions which regulate or prohibit an activity under MGL c. 131,
§ 40, and/or the Town of Millville Wetlands Protection Bylaw.
PERSON
Includes any individual, group of individuals, association,
partnership, corporation, company, business organization, trust, estate,
the commonwealth or political subdivision thereof to the extent subject
to Town bylaws, administrative agency, public or quasi-public corporation
or body, this municipality, and any other legal entity, its legal
representatives, agents, or assigns.
PLANS
Such data, maps, engineering drawings, calculations, specifications,
schedules and other materials, if any, deemed necessary by the Conservation
Commission to describe the site and the activity, to determine the
applicability of this bylaw or to determine the impact of the proposal
upon the interests identified in this bylaw.
POND
(1)
Any open body of fresh water with a surface area observed or
recorded within the last 10 years of at least 5,000 square feet. Ponds
may be either naturally occurring or man-made by impoundment, excavation,
or otherwise. Ponds shall contain standing water except for periods
of extended drought. For purposes of this definition, "extended drought"
shall mean any period of four or more months during which the average
rainfall for each month is 50% or less of the ten-year average for
that same month.
(2)
Notwithstanding the above, the following man-made bodies of
open water shall not be considered ponds:
(a)
Basins or lagoons which are part of wastewater treatment plants;
(b)
Swimming pools or other impervious man-made basins; and
(c)
Individual gravel pits or quarries excavated from upland areas
unless inactive for five or more consecutive years.
PROTECTION OF WILDLIFE
Includes the protection of the ability of any resource area
to provide food, wildlife corridors, breeding habitat, overwintering,
or escape cover for wildlife.
RARE SPECIES
Includes, without limitation, all vertebrate and invertebrate
animal and plant species listed as endangered, threatened, or of special
concern by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, regardless
of whether the site in which they occur has been previously identified
by the Division.
REMOVE
To take away any type of material, thereby changing an elevation,
either temporarily or permanently. "Remove" also means the removal
of vegetation, either alive or dead.
RESOURCE AREA
Synonymous with "area subject to protection under this bylaw," each one of which is listed in §
95-2 of these regulations.
SEDIMENTATION CONTROL
The prevention or reduction of the collection or concentrations
of sand, soil, or rock fragments by the action of water, wind, ice,
gravity, person or machine.
STREAM
A body of running water, including brooks and creeks, which
moves in a definite channel in or under the ground due to hydraulic
gradient. A portion of a stream may flow through a culvert or beneath
a bridge. A stream may be intermittent (i.e., does not flow throughout
the year) or perennial. The classification of a stream may be made
based upon reference to USGS topographical maps, USGS StreamStats,
or any other reliable evidence available to the Commission. A stream
may also be man-made.
STRUCTURE
Any building, shed, deck, driveway, road, septic component,
dock, pier, bulkhead, revetment, groin, float, pipeline, fence, guardrail,
pool, tennis court or other playing surface, drainage component, storage
tank, etc.
VERNAL POOL
Includes a confined basin depression which, at least in most
years, holds water for a minimum of two continuous months during the
spring and/or summer, and which is free of adult fish populations,
as well as the area within 100 feet of the mean annual boundary of
such a depression, regardless of whether the site has been certified
by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. Vernal pools
shall include those mapped and certified by the Massachusetts Natural
Heritage and Endangered Species Program as well as those areas identified
in the field as eligible for certification by a professional wetlands
biologist or other expert.
WILDLIFE HABITAT
Areas having plant community composition and structure, hydrologic
regime, or other characteristics sufficient to provide shelter, nutrients,
growing conditions, or nesting or breeding sites conducive to the
propagation and preservation of wildlife. Migratory and overwintering
areas shall also be included as wildlife habitat.