The definitions provided in the WPA regulations promulgated
by the Department of Environmental Protection under 310 CMR 10.00
shall apply to the bylaw and regulations except as explicitly modified
in the bylaw or in the regulations below:
Any form of draining, dumping, dredging, damming, discharging,
excavation, 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 surface water; the installation of
drainage, sewage and water systems; the discharging of pollutants
and the destruction of plant life.
The form(s) required by these regulations, together with
all plans or other documents provided by the person seeking a determination
or permit for activity subject to the bylaw.
Defined in the WPA regulations (310 CMR 10.54) as the portion
of the land surface which normally abuts and confines a water body.
It occurs between a water body and an upland. It may be partially
or fully vegetated or exposed soil, gravel or stone.
Defined in the WPA regulations (310 CMR 10.57) as an area
which floods from a rise in a bordering waterway or water body. Such
areas are likely to be significant to flood control and storm damage
prevention. The boundary is the estimated maximum lateral extent of
floodwater for the one-hundred-year-frequency storm. This boundary
is determined by the flood profile data prepared by the National Flood
Insurance Program.
Defined in the WPA regulations (310 CMR 10.55) as freshwater
wetlands which border on creeks, rivers, streams, ponds and lakes.
They include wetlands referred to as wet meadows, marshes, swamps
and bogs.
Includes all land within the area measured 100 feet horizontally
from the boundary of any wetland resource area as defined by the WPA
and from any wetland resource area, including isolated wetlands, vernal
pools and intermittent streams as defined in the bylaw and these regulations.
The only exceptions are riverfront areas, bordering lands subject
to flooding and isolated lands subject to flooding when not a vernal
pool. These are the only resource areas that do not have a protected
one-hundred-foot buffer zone.
Chapter 240, Wetlands, of the General Bylaws of the Town of South Hadley.
The vernal pool meets the criteria for certification described
in these regulations, but has not been certified by the Natural Heritage
and Endangered Species Program of the MA Division of Fisheries and
Wildlife.
The protected fifty-foot-wide strip of land adjacent to any
freshwater wetland, bank, or water body as described in the bylaw
and these regulations. Bordering Lands subject to flooding, isolated
lands subject to flooding that are not vernal pools, and the two-hundred-foot
riverfront area do not have a fifty-foot conservation zone. Vernal
pools have a conservation Zone of 25 feet to 50 feet depending on
the size of the pool. No activity or disturbance that would have a
detrimental effect on the conservation zone or wetland resource area
is allowed in this zone, including but not limited to grading, landscaping,
vegetation removal, dumping of landscaping materials, filling, excavating,
roadway or driveway construction, or construction of any kind, including
foundations, buildings, porches, decks, pools, septic systems, and
sheds. Stormwater management structures such as detention basins and
retention ponds that are regularly maintained as such, artificially
lined ponds, and constructed wastewater treatment lagoons are not
protected resource areas under the bylaw and do not have a conservation
zone. Construction of new stormwater structures is required to be
placed outside the fifty-foot conservation zone from wetland resource
areas. Minor activities allowed in the conservation zone include mowing,
gardening, and pruning within existing lawn, garden, or landscaped
areas.
A formal opinion rendered by the Commission as to whether
or not the bylaw applies to an area or activity.
Particular vertebrate species identified by NHESP as frequently
using vernal pools for all or a portion of their life cycle, but that
are able to successfully complete their life cycle in other types
of wetlands as well. Evidence of their presence can be used to certify
a vernal pool (NHESP Guidelines for the Certification of Vernal Pool
Habitat, 2010).
The extent of the building as viewed from overhead.
Any area where the topography is low and flat, where soils
are annually saturated or flooded, as demonstrated by the presence
of hydric soils, or where the vegetation community is composed of
species adapted to or characteristic of saturated or ponded conditions.
The presence of hydric soils or wetlands vegetation can be used to
define an area. The Commission recognizes that soils can be slow to
respond to changes in hydrologic conditions and will allow a wetland
delineation to be made without the presence of hydric soils in some
instances. Freshwater wetlands may include bordering and isolated
vegetated wetlands.
The portion of the year when the soil temperature is at or
above biological zero at a depth of 50 cm (19.7 inches) below the
soil surface (NRCS Hydric Soil Criteria as posted on http://soils.usda.gov/use/hydric/criteria.html).
For the purposes of the bylaw, this period is from March 15 to October
15.
Soils that formed under conditions of saturation, flooding,
or ponding long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic
conditions in the upper part (Field Indicators for Identifying Hydric
Soils in New England). Hydric soils shall be determined under the
bylaw through use of the Field Indicators for Identifying Hydric Soils
in New England Manual.
Includes areas covered by man-made improvements that inhibit
the infiltration of precipitation and surface water to the ground,
including buildings, hard structures, macadam, stone and other similar
materials.
A section of a body of running water, such as a brook or
creek, which moves in a definite channel in the ground due to hydraulic
gradient, but experiences naturally occurring interruptions of flow.
These interruptions of flow must be adequately documented at least
once per day over four consecutive days in any consecutive twelve-month
period during non-drought conditions in areas not significantly impacted
by beaver or other impoundments.
Defined in the bylaw as an isolated depression or closed
basin at least 500 square feet in size, which serves as a ponding
area for run-off or high groundwater which has risen above the ground
surface.
Vegetated wetlands that do not border on rivers, streams,
ponds or lakes. They may include wet meadows, marshes, swamps, bogs
or vernal pools. In order to be protected under the bylaw they must
have at least 500 square feet of surface area.
Defined under these regulations the same as it is in the
WPA regulations, 310 CMR 10.04 [Agriculture, (b)].
Particular vertebrate and invertebrate species identified
by NHESP as requiring vernal pools for all or a portion of their life
cycle and that are unable to successfully complete their life cycle
without vernal pools. Evidence of their presence can be used to certify
a vernal pool (NHESP Guidelines for the Certification of Vernal Pool
Habitat, 2010).
Any of the following written authorizations issued by the
Conservation Commission under the bylaw and regulations: order of
conditions, order of resource area delineation, enforcement order,
extension of or amendment to an order of conditions. A permit is granted
or denied after an application is submitted, a public hearing or meeting
is held to discuss the proposed project, and the Commission makes
a decision as to the effect of the project upon wetland values protected
by the bylaw.
Any open body of fresh water with a surface area of at least
500 square feet, under non-drought conditions. Ponds may be either
naturally occurring or man-made by impoundment, excavation or other
methods. Ponds shall contain standing water except for periods of
extended drought. Periods of extended drought for purposes of this
regulation shall be those periods, in those specifically identified
geographic locations, determined to be at the "Advisory" or more severe
drought level by the Massachusetts Drought Management Task Force,
as established by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental
Affairs and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency in 2001,
in accordance with the Massachusetts Drought Management Plan (MDMP).
Notwithstanding the above, the following man-made bodies of
open water shall not be considered ponds and protected under the bylaw:
Basins or lagoons that are part of wastewater treatment plants;
Swimming pools or other basins with impervious linings; and
Man-made retention ponds and detention basins that are part
of a stormwater management system and have been maintained as such
at the time of the issuance of these regulations.
Includes all wetland areas subject to protection under the
Massachusetts Wetland Protection Act (MGL c. 131, § 40)
and the South Hadley Non-Zoning Wetlands Bylaw and Regulations, including
the one-hundred-foot buffer zone to vegetated wetlands, vernal pools
and intermittent streams.
Any natural flowing body of water that empties into any ocean,
lake, pond or other river. Rivers include streams that are perennial
because surface water flows within them throughout the year. Rivers
have a two-hundred-foot riverfront area associated with them. The
location of these water bodies is shown on the Streams and Rivers
Map in Appendix E.[1]
The area of land between a river's mean annual high
water line measured horizontally outward from the river and a parallel
line located 200 feet away. The riverfront area may include or overlap
other resource areas, including wetlands adjacent to the river, and
their buffer zones.
A body of flowing water, including brooks and creeks, which
moves in a channel in the ground due to a hydraulic gradient, and
which flows within, into or out of an area subject to protection under
the Wetlands Protection Act or the bylaw. A portion of a stream may
flow through a culvert or beneath a bridge. Such a body of running
water that does not flow throughout the year (i.e., that is intermittent)
is also considered a stream even if it is upgradient of, and more
than 100 feet from, all bogs, swamps, wet meadows, and marshes.
Include, but are not limited to, buildings, foundations and
footings associated with buildings, pilings, impervious pads, sonotubes
associated with porches, patios, decks, house additions and sheds.
The term also includes pools, permanent fencing, walls, new pavement
and impervious surface.
As it applies to the conservation zone, includes any land
not covered by impervious surfaces and supporting the growth of a
plant community, except areas that are actively maintained as lawns
or gardens. An area that was previously cleared or landscaped, but
which is in a process of succession back to a natural plant community,
shall be deemed undisturbed vegetation regardless of the presence
of invasive or nonnative species.
The resource area values protected by the bylaw. These include:
protection of public or private water supply, protection of groundwater,
flood control, erosion and sedimentation control, storm damage prevention,
prevention of water pollution, protection of fisheries and wildlife
habitat, and rare species habitat, including rare plant species, recreation
and agriculture.
Areas where the soils are annually saturated and/or at least
50% of the plant community consists of obligate or facultative wetland
plant species. Vegetated wetlands include bogs, marshes, wet meadows
and swamps.
Defined in the bylaw and includes any confined basin or depression
not occurring in existing lawns, gardens, landscaped areas, or driveways
which, in at least most years, holds water for a minimum of two continuous
months during the spring and/or summer, is at least 500 square feet
in size at some time during most years, is free of established reproducing
fish populations, and provides essential breeding and rearing habitat
functions for amphibian, reptile, or other vernal pool community species,
regardless of whether the site has been certified by the NHESP. Under
the bylaw, only certified vernal pools and potentially certifiable
vernal pools as shown on a map created for the regulations shall be
protected.
Includes all wetland resource areas and adjacent upland resource
areas within 100 feet of a vernal pool that have natural features
suitable for nesting, feeding, overland dispersal, movement to breeding
ponds, basking, cover and/or aestivation by reptiles, amphibians or
mammals that depend on vernal pools for a portion of their life cycle.
The water in a lake, pond or stream which extends from the
bottom sediments to the water surface.
Those species listed as occurring in bogs, marshes, swamps,
or wet meadows in the WPA, as well as any plant species known to occur
primarily in wetlands, including all species classified as Obligate,
Facultative Wetland, or Facultative+ or Facultative according to the
most recent edition of the National List of Wetland Indicators published
by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Obligate wetland plants
are estimated to occur in wetlands under natural conditions 99% of
the time; Facultative wetland plants 67% to 99%; and Facultative indicates
plants estimated to occur in wetlands 34% to 66% of the time. A plus
(+) or minus (-) indicates an emphasis on the higher end or lower
end of the range of percentage of occurrence. Only Facultative+ and
Facultative plants are considered wetland indicator plants, while
all Facultative Wetland and Obligate plants are included as wetland
indicator plants.
Those areas subject to the bylaw which, due to their plant
community composition and structure, hydrologic regime or other characteristics,
provide food, shelter, migratory or over-wintering areas or breeding
areas for wildlife.
[1]
Editor's Note: Appendix E is included as an attachment to this chapter.
The following abbreviations are used in these regulations:
|
ACP
|
Application for conservation permit
|
|
ANRAD
|
Abbreviated notice of resource area delineation
|
|
BVW
|
Bordering vegetated wetland
|
|
Ch. and sec.
|
Chapter and section
|
|
COC
|
Certificate of compliance
|
|
CMR
|
Code of Massachusetts Regulations
|
|
DEP
|
Department of Environmental Protection
|
|
DOA
|
Determination of applicability
|
|
EOEEA
|
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
|
|
LUW
|
Land under water
|
|
MGL
|
Massachusetts General Laws
|
|
NHESP
|
MA Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program
|
|
NOI
|
Notice of intent
|
|
OOC
|
Order of conditions
|
|
ORAD
|
Order of resource area delineation
|
|
RFD
|
Request for determination
|
|
WPA
|
Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, MGL c. 131, § 40
|
