The purpose of this chapter is to provide for the health, safety,
and general welfare of the citizens of the Town of Goshen through
the regulation of nonstormwater discharges to the municipal separate
storm sewer system (MS4) to the maximum extent practicable as required
by federal and state law. This chapter establishes methods for controlling
the introduction of pollutants into the Town of Goshen's MS4
in order to comply with requirements of the State Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (SPDES) General Permit for Municipal Separate Storm
Sewer Systems and to meet Town objectives to protect the environment.
The objectives of this chapter are:
A. To meet the requirements of the SPDES General Permit for Stormwater
Discharges from MS4s, Permit No. GP-0-15-003, or as amended or revised;
B. To regulate the contribution of pollutants to the MS4 since such
systems are not designed to accept, process or discharge nonstormwater
wastes;
C. To prohibit illicit connections, activities and discharges to the
MS4;
D. To establish legal authority to carry out all inspection, surveillance
and monitoring procedures necessary to ensure compliance with this
chapter; and
E. To promote public awareness of the hazards involved in the improper
discharge of trash, yard waste, lawn chemicals, pet waste, wastewater,
grease, oil, petroleum products, cleaning products, paint products,
hazardous waste, sediment and other pollutants into the MS4.
Whenever used in this chapter, unless a different meaning is
stated in a definition applicable to only a portion of this chapter,
the following terms will have the meanings set forth below:
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMPs)
Schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, general
good housekeeping practices, pollution prevention and educational
practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices
to prevent or reduce the discharge of pollutants directly or indirectly
to stormwater, receiving waters, or stormwater conveyance systems.
BMPs also include treatment practices, operating procedures, and practices
to control site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or water disposal,
or drainage from raw materials storage.
CLEAN WATER ACT
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. § 1251
et seq.), and any subsequent amendments thereto.
CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY
Activities requiring authorization under the SPDES permit
for stormwater discharges from construction activity, GP-0-15-002,
as amended or revised. These activities include construction projects
resulting in land disturbance of one or more acres. Such activities
include, but are not limited to, clearing and grubbing, grading, excavating,
and demolition.
DEPARTMENT
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
Any material, including any substance, waste, or combination
thereof, which, because of its quantity, concentration, or physical,
chemical, or infectious characteristics, may cause, or significantly
contribute to, a substantial present or potential hazard to human
health, safety, property, or the environment when improperly treated,
stored, transported, disposed of, or otherwise managed.
ILLICIT CONNECTIONS
Any drain or conveyance, whether on the surface or subsurface,
which allows an illegal discharge to enter the MS4, including but
not limited to:
A.
Any conveyances which allow any nonstormwater discharge, including
treated or untreated sewage, process wastewater, and wash water, to
enter the MS4, and any connections to the storm drain system from
indoor drains and sinks, regardless of whether said drain or connection
had been previously allowed, permitted, or approved by an authorized
enforcement agency; or
B.
Any drain or conveyance connected from a commercial or industrial
land use to the MS4, which has not been documented in plans, maps,
or equivalent records and approved by an authorized enforcement agency.
ILLICIT DISCHARGE
Any direct or indirect nonstormwater discharge to the MS4, except as exempted in §
66-6A(1) of this chapter.
INDIVIDUAL SEWAGE TREATMENT SYSTEM
A facility serving one or more parcels of land or residential
households, or a private, commercial or institutional facility, that
treats sewage or other liquid wastes for discharge into the groundwaters
of New York State, except where a permit for such facility is required
under the applicable provisions of Article 17 of the Environmental
Conservation Law.
INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY
Activities requiring the SPDES permit for discharges from
industrial activities, except construction, GP-0-12-001, as amended
or revised.
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.
MUNICIPAL SEPARATE STORM SEWER SYSTEM
A conveyance or system of conveyances (including roads with
drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters,
ditches, man-made channels, or storm drains):
A.
Owned or operated by the Town of Goshen;
B.
Designed or used for collecting or conveying stormwater;
C.
Which is not a combined sewer; and
D.
Which is not part of a publicly owned treatment works (POTW)
as defined in 40 CFR 122.2.
PERSON
Any individual, association, organization, partnership, firm,
corporation or other entity recognized by law and acting as either
the owner or as the owner's agent.
POLLUTANT
Anything which causes or contributes to pollution. Pollutants
may include, but are not limited to, dredged spoil, filter backwash,
sold waste, incinerator residue, treated or untreated sewage, garbage,
sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive
materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand and industrial,
municipal, agricultural waste and ballast discharged into water, which
may cause or might reasonably be expected to cause pollution of the
waters of the state in contravention of the standards.
PREMISES
Any building, lot, parcel of land, or portion of land, whether
improved or unimproved, including adjacent sidewalks and parking strips.
SPECIAL CONDITIONS
A.
Discharge compliance with water quality standards. The condition
that applies where a municipality has been notified that the discharge
of stormwater authorized under their MS4 permit may have caused or
has the reasonable potential to cause or contribute to the violation
of an applicable water quality standard. Under this condition, the
municipality must take all necessary actions to ensure future discharges
do not cause or contribute to a violation of water quality standards.
B.
303(d) listed waters. The condition in the Town's MS4 permit
that applies where the MS4 discharges to a 303(d) listed water. Under
this condition the stormwater management program must ensure no increase
of the listed pollutant of concern to the 303(d) listed water.
C.
Total maximum daily load (TMDL) strategy. The condition in the
Town's MS4 permit where a TMDL, including requirements for control
of stormwater discharges, has been approved by EPA for a water body
or watershed into which the MS4 discharges. If the discharge from
the MS4 did not meet the TMDL stormwater allocations prior to September
10, 2003, the municipality was required to modify its stormwater management
program to ensure that reduction of the pollutant of concern specified
in the TMDL is achieved.
D.
The condition in the Town's MS4 permit that applies if
a TMDL is approved in the future by the EPA for any waterbody or watershed
into which an MS4 discharges. Under this condition the municipality
must review the applicable TMDL to see if it includes requirements
for control of stormwater discharges. If an MS4 is not meeting the
TMDL stormwater allocations, the municipality must, within six months
of the TMDL's approval, modify its stormwater management program
to ensure that reduction of the pollutant of concern specified in
the TMDL is achieved.
STORM DRAINAGE SYSTEM
Publicly owned facilities by which stormwater is collected
and/or conveyed, including, but not limited to, any roads with drainage
systems, municipal streets, gutters, curbs, inlets, piped storm drains,
pumping facilities, retention and detention basins, natural and human-made
or altered drainage channels, reservoirs, and other drainage structures.
STORMWATER
Any rainwater, surface flow, surface runoff, snowmelt and
drainage consisting entirely of water from any form of natural precipitation,
and resulting from such precipitation.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT OFFICER (SMO)
An employee or officer designated by the Town of Goshen to
enforce this chapter. The SMO may also be designated by the Town of
Goshen to accept and review stormwater pollution prevention plans,
forward the plans to the applicable municipal board and inspect stormwater
management practices.
TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOAD (TMDL)
The maximum amount of a pollutant to be allowed to be released
into a waterbody so as not to impair uses of the water, allocated
among the sources of that pollutant.
WASTEWATER
Any water or other liquid, other than uncontaminated stormwater,
discharged from a facility.
WATERCOURSE
A permanent or intermittent stream or other body of water,
either natural or man-made, which gathers or carries surface water.
This chapter shall apply to all water entering the MS4 generated
on any developed and undeveloped lands, unless explicitly exempted
by the Stormwater Management Officer.
The Town shall designate a Stormwater Management Officer (SMO)
who shall administer, implement, and enforce the provisions of this
chapter. Such powers granted or duties imposed upon the authorized
enforcement official may be delegated, in writing, by the SMO as may
be authorized by the Town. The SMO may review plans, engage the services
of a registered professional engineer to review plans, specifications
and related documents with the cost paid through an escrow, or accept
the certification of a licensed professional that plans/remediation
conform to the requirements of this chapter.
The provisions of this chapter are hereby declared to be severable.
If any provision, clause, sentence, or paragraph of this chapter or
the application thereof to any person, establishment, or circumstances
shall be held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the other
provisions or application of this chapter.
Best management practices. Where the SMO has identified illicit discharges as defined in §
66-2, or activities contaminating stormwater as defined in §
66-7, the Town may require implementation of best management practices (BMPs) to control those illicit discharges and activities.
A. The owner or operator of a commercial or industrial establishment
shall provide, at their own expense, reasonable protection from accidental
discharge of prohibited materials or other wastes into the MS4 through
the use of these structural and nonstructural BMPs.
B. Any person responsible for a property or premises, which is, or may
be, the source of an illicit discharge or an activity contaminating
stormwater may be required to implement, at said person's expense,
additional structural and nonstructural BMPs to prevent the further
discharge of pollutants to the MS4.
C. Compliance with all terms and conditions of a valid SPDES permit
authorizing the discharge of stormwater associated with industrial
activity, to the extent practicable, shall be deemed compliance with
the provisions of this section.
D. These BMPs shall be part of a stormwater pollution prevention plan
(SWPPP) as necessary for compliance with requirements of the SPDES
permit.
Any person subject to an industrial or construction activity
SPDES stormwater discharge permit shall comply with all provisions
of such permit. Proof of compliance with said permit may be required
in a form acceptable to the Town and/or SMO prior to the allowing
of discharges to the MS4.
Every person owning property through which a watercourse passes,
or such person's lessee, shall keep and maintain that part of
the watercourse within the property free of trash, debris, excessive
vegetation, and other obstacles that would pollute, contaminate, or
significantly retard the flow of water through the watercourse. In
addition, the owner or lessee shall maintain existing, privately owned
structures within or adjacent to a watercourse so that such structures
will not become a hazard to the use, function, or physical integrity
of the watercourse.
Notwithstanding other requirements of law, as soon as any person
responsible for a facility or operation or responsible for emergency
response for a facility or operation has information of any known
or suspected release of materials which are resulting or may result
in illegal discharges or pollutants discharging into the MS4, said
person shall take all necessary steps to ensure the discovery, containment,
and cleanup of such release. In the event of such a release of hazardous
materials, said person shall immediately notify emergency response
agencies of the occurrence via emergency dispatch services. In the
event of a release of nonhazardous materials, said person shall notify
the SMO, in person or by phone or facsimile, no later than the next
business day. Notifications in person or by phone shall be confirmed
by written notice addressed and mailed to the SMO within three business
days of the phone notice. If the discharge of prohibited materials
emanates from a commercial or industrial establishment, the owner
or operator of such establishment shall also retain an on-site written
record of the discharge and the actions taken to prevent its recurrence.
Such records shall be retained for at least three years.
Any person receiving a notice of violation may appeal the determination
of the SMO to the Town Board within 15 days of its issuance, which
shall hear the appeal within 30 days after the filing of the appeal;
and within five days of making its decision, the Town Board shall
file its decision in the office of the Town Clerk and mail a copy
of its decision by certified mail to the discharger.
If the violation has not been corrected pursuant to the requirements
set forth in the notice of violation or, in the event of an appeal,
within 15 days of the decision of the Town Board upholding the decision
of the SMO, then representatives of the Town shall be permitted to
enter upon the subject private property and are authorized to take
any and all measures necessary to abate the violation and/or restore
the property. It shall be unlawful for any person, owner, agent or
person in possession of any premises to refuse to allow the Town or
its designated contractor to enter upon the premises for the purposes
set forth above.
Within 30 days after abatement of the violation, the owner of
the property will be notified of the cost of abatement, including
administrative costs. If the amount due is not paid within 30 days,
or within a timely manner as determined by the decision of the Town
Board, the charges shall become a special assessment against the property
and shall constitute a lien on the property for the amount of the
assessment.
It shall be unlawful for any person to violate any provision
or fail to comply with any of the requirements of this chapter. If
a person has violated or continues to violate the provisions of this
Chapter, the SMO may petition for a preliminary or permanent injunction
restraining the person from activities which would create further
violations or compelling the person to perform abatement or remediation
of the violation.
In lieu of enforcement proceedings, penalties and remedies authorized
by this chapter, upon the recommendation of the Town Attorney and
concurrence of the SMO, the Town may impose upon a violator alternative
remedies in such cases where the violation was unintentional, the
violator has no history of previous violations, the environmental
damage was minimal, the violator acted quickly to remedy the violation
or the violator cooperated in the investigation and resolution of
the violation. Such alternative remedies may consist of one or more
of the following (this list is not meant to be all-inclusive): storm
drain stenciling or storm drain marking, attendance at compliance
workshops, or river, stream or creek cleanup activities.
In addition to the enforcement processes and penalties provided,
any condition caused or permitted to exist in violation of any of
the provisions of this chapter is a threat to public health, safety,
and welfare, and is declared and deemed a nuisance, and may be summarily
abated or restored at the violator's expense and/or a civil action
to abate, enjoin, or otherwise compel the cessation of such nuisance
may be taken.
The remedies listed in this chapter are not exclusive of any
other remedies available under any applicable federal, state or local
law and it is within the discretion of the authorized enforcement
agency to seek cumulative remedies.