Definitions. As used in this article, the following terms shall have
the meanings indicated:
ABANDONMENT
Failure to make application for license renewal within one
year of license revocation or expiration.
ACCESSORY USES
Uses clearly incidental and subordinate to a principal use
and located on the same lot as the principal use. Such uses must be
clearly spelled out in the application and license. Accessory uses
may include but are not limited to snow dumps, screening of materials
and crushing of materials.
ACTIVE EXTRACTION AREA
The pit itself, the actual hole in the ground, including
side slopes and adjoining areas with overburden removed, excluding
roads, structures, stockpiles, etc., which is being worked to produce
minerals and/or that is yet to be reclaimed.
AQUIFER
An underground bed or stratum of earth, gravel or porous
stone that contains water.
AVERAGE DAILY TRAFFIC (ADT)
The average number of vehicles per day that enter and exit
a premises or travel over a specific section of road.
BLASTING
The use of explosives to break up or otherwise aid in the
extraction or removal of rock or other consolidated natural formation.
BLASTING PLAN
A required written outline of all procedures and policies
regarding blasting where such activity is proposed to be used. Performance
standards for such plan are set forth in § 198-5B(8) of
this article.
BODY OF WATER
Includes the following:
(1)
POND or LAKEAny inland impoundment, natural or man-made, which collects and stores surface water.
(2)
STREAM or RIVERA free-flowing drainage outlet, with a defined channel lacking terrestrial vegetation and flowing water for more than three months during the year.
BORROW PIT
A development undertaken for the primary purpose of excavating
sand, gravel or fill. This does not include any excavation for rock
or clay.
BUFFER
A natural, undisturbed area or belt of land that contains
vegetation. A buffer area may be larger than specified in this article;
includes, but is not limited to, earthen berms planted with vegetation.
BUFFERYARD
An area that contains a belt of natural vertical vegetation tall enough and thick enough to visually screen the proposed activities from the adjacent area. Required bufferyard planting types and densities are identified in Chapter
300, Land Use, §
300-502.
CEO
Code Enforcement Officer.
COMMON SCHEME OF DEVELOPMENT
The process whereby contiguous parcels with existing or proposed
mineral extraction operations where the applicant or property owner
has at least a thirty-percent share in ownership or where mineral
extraction operations owned by a relative (as defined herein) are
reviewed as a single license application.
COMPLIANCE INSPECTION
An examination by the Code Enforcement Officer that shall
check for compliance of the operations with the conditions and requirements
of the license.
[Amended 2-17-2022 by Ord. No. 22-024]
DEEMED COMPLETE
That the material extracted sufficiently meets the section
and plan requirements outlined in the permit or license issued by
the Planning Board, or that the use has been abandoned for a period
of 24 months or more. For mineral extraction operations with an active
extraction area of 10 acres or more, 200 cubic yards of material shall
be processed or removed every two years, based on records maintained
by the owner of the operation, in order to avoid being considered
abandoned. For mineral extraction operations with an active extraction
area of less than 10 acres, 100 cubic yards of material shall be processed
or removed every two years, based on records maintained by the owner
of the operation, in order to avoid being considered abandoned.
DISPOSAL
The placing or storing of materials that are not going to
be used in any process or production in conjunction with the extraction
activity.
EDGE OF FOOTPRINT
The outermost boundary of the footprint of operation as defined
herein.
ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE AREAS
Wetlands, swamps, wildlife habitat areas delineated by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IF&W), prime agricultural areas, areas with steep slopes, areas with poorly drained soils, and floodplain areas (subject to a one-hundred-year flood); also includes protected natural resources. Environmentally sensitive areas shall specifically include all areas within the resource protection district, as defined in Chapter
300, Land Use.
FLAT ROCK MINING
Extraction with the primary purpose of the removal of solid
rock strata using low-velocity blasting or mechanical means.
FOOTPRINT OF OPERATION
The uppermost and outermost continuous edge, or rim, or outline
(drawn on a plan and physically staked on the ground) around the approved
active extraction area(s), unreclaimed area(s) and stockpile(s), and
all land upon which stumps, spoil, or other solid waste will be or
has been deposited; and any storage area that will be or has been
used in connection with the development, except a natural buffer strip.
The footprint of operation shall be the footprint so identified on
a site plan of the license and/or approved by the Planning Board.
[Amended 2-17-2022 by Ord. No. 22-024]
GROUNDWATER
The water beneath the surface of the ground, consisting largely
of surface water that has seeped down; the source of water in springs
and wells.
GUARANTEE
An irrevocable letter of credit issued by a financial institution
or a performance bond.
HANDLING
Any aggregate crushing, washing, screening, mixing or stockpiling
of sand, gravel, stone, rock, clay, or topsoil; to include any mining
of material.
INACTIVE
Mineral extraction that has ceased for 12 consecutive months
prior to the passage of this article, in any areas where mining extraction
activity had previously occurred.
MAXIMUM SEASONAL HIGH GROUNDWATER LEVEL
The upper level at which the groundwater table normally is
located during the season of the year when such levels are at their
highest. In order to determine such level, a test pit reviewed by
a soil analyst or groundwater data for a minimum of one year must
be gathered and analyzed. Adjustments may be made by the Planning
Board for extreme seasonal variations.
MEASURABLE BLASTING DUST
Dust from a quarry blast that is capable of being measured,
but does not require an actual measurement.
[Added 9-4-2014 by Ord.
No. 14-149]
MINERAL EXTRACTION ACTIVITY
Any operation where soil, topsoil, loam, sand, gravel, clay,
rock, peat, or other mined material is removed from its natural location
or where it is handled.
MINERAL EXTRACTION SITE OR AREA
All of the land area disturbed or otherwise developed for
the extraction, removal, handling, processing, or storage of sand,
gravel, clay, minerals, stone, rock, or topsoil; including any access
roads and cleared areas adjacent to a pit or excavated area, structures,
office building, parking lots and stockpiles.
PHASING OF OPERATIONS
A plan of completion of the operations in separate and distinct
sequences that have a complete beginning and ending for predetermined
areas. In the context of this article, all phases must be structured
so that they stand on their own, shall be inspected for completeness
at the end of each phase and have reclamation of area completed at
the end of each phase.
PIT
See "active extraction area."
PREBLAST SURVEY
Documentation, prior to the initiation of blasting, of the
condition of buildings, structures, wells or other infrastructure
and of protected natural resources, historic sites and unusual natural
areas.
PROCESSING
Any washing, crushing, or similar processing of on-site material
that does not inherently change the nature of the product.
PRODUCTION BLASTING
A blasting operation carried out on a regular basis for the
purpose of production of material.
PROJECTIONS OF GROUNDWATER QUALITY
An analysis of the potential changes to existing groundwater
quality by examining the processes, chemical by-products and outflow
of a proposed operation.
PROTECTED NATURAL RESOURCE
Wetlands, significant wildlife habitat, fragile mountain
areas, freshwater wetlands, bog, marsh, rivers, streams or brooks,
as the terms are defined in applicable City or state law.
QUARRY
A place where rock or large stone is excavated and/or extracted.
QUARRYING
The excavation and/or extraction of rock or large stone from
a quarry.
RECLAIMED AREA
Land within the footprint of operation that has already been
reclaimed.
RECLAMATION
The restoration of the footprint of operation to conditions
similar to what existed prior to the operation or that will be compatible
with what existed prior to the operation or which is prepared for
future development for a use permitted in the zoning district in which
it is located on the area of land affected by mineral extraction or
mining under a reclamation plan. This may include, but is not limited
to, grading and shaping of the land, the planting of forests, the
seeding of grasses, legumes, or crops for harvest, or the enhancement
of wildlife and aquatic resources.
RECLAMATION AREA
Land within the footprint of the mineral extraction area
that was previously excavated or mined, and is now being prepared,
or available, for reclamation.
RECLAMATION PLAN
A plan which depicts how the project area will be reclaimed
after excavation is complete. Such a plan shall include final grading
and revegetation plans and conceptual redevelopment plans, if any,
of any given phase.
RELATIVE
A spouse, parent, grandparent, brother, sister, child, aunt,
uncle, cousin, domestic cohabitant or grandchild related by blood,
marriage or adoption, or other individuals where the intent is to
circumvent this article.
SETBACK
The horizontal distance, in feet, from a lot line or referred
location to the nearest part of a structure or activity.
SETBACK FROM WATER
The horizontal distance, in feet, from the normal high water
mark to the nearest part of a structure or activity.
STOCKPILE(S)
Area(s) where either man-made or natural materials are being
piled up temporarily, either undercover or exposed to the elements,
for future processing. These piles are only for materials that are
necessary for mineral extraction activities and associated uses which
have been approved by the license and/or Planning Board.
[Amended 2-17-2022 by Ord. No. 22-024]
STOP-WORK ORDER
An order from the City of Augusta to cease a specified activity.
SUBSTANTIAL DEVIATION
Changes made to a specified plan that are materially at variance
with the original instructions of operation so as to constitute a
different plan for most intents and purposes.
TOPSOIL
The top layer of soil that is predominantly fertile and ordinarily
moved in tillage or the equivalent of such a layer in uncultivated
soils.
UNRECLAIMED AREA
Land within the footprint of operations of the gravel pit
that has been excavated or mined and has not been reclaimed.
WATER TABLE
The upper surface of groundwater or that level below which
the soil is seasonally saturated with water.