It is hereby determined that:
A. Land development activities and associated increases in site impervious
cover often alter the hydrologic response of local watersheds and
increase stormwater runoff rates and volumes, flooding, stream channel
erosion, or sediment transport and disposition;
B. This runoff contributes to increased quantities of waterborne pollutants,
including siltation of aquatic habitat for fish and other desirable
species;
C. Clearing and grading during construction tends to increase soil erosion
and add to the loss of native vegetation necessary for terrestrial
and aquatic habitat;
D. Improper design and construction of stormwater management practices
can increase the velocity of stormwater runoff, thereby increasing
stream bank erosion and sedimentation;
E. Impervious surfaces allow less water to percolate into the soil,
thereby increasing groundwater recharge and stream baseflow;
F. Substantial economic losses can result from these adverse impacts
on the waters of the municipality;
G. Stormwater runoff, soil erosion and nonpoint source pollution can
be controlled through the regulation of stormwater runoff from land
development activities;
H. The regulation of stormwater runoff discharges from land development
activities in order to control and minimize increases in stormwater
runoff rates and volumes, soil erosion, and nonpoint source pollution
associated with stormwater runoff rates and volumes, soil erosion,
stream channel erosion, and nonpoint source pollution associated with
stormwater runoff is in the public interest and will minimize threats
to public health and safety;
I. Regulation of land development activities by means of performance
standards governing stormwater management and site design will produce
development compatible with the natural functions of a particular
site or an entire watershed and thereby mitigate the adverse effects
of erosion and sedimentation from development.
The purpose of this chapter is to establish minimum stormwater requirements and controls to protect and safeguard the general health, safety and welfare of the public residing within the jurisdiction and to address the findings of fact in §
204-1. This chapter seeks to meet those purposes by achieving the following objectives:
A. Meet the requirements of minimum measures 4 and 5 of the SPDES General
Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Municipal Separate Stormwater
Sewer Systems (MS4s), Permit No. GP-0-15-003, or as amended or revised;
B. Require land development activities to conform to the substantive
requirements of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) General Permit
for Construction Activities GP-0-15-002, or as amended or revised;
C. Minimize increases in stormwater runoff from land development activities
in order to reduce flooding, siltation, increases in stream temperature,
and streambank erosion and to maintain the integrity of stream channels;
D. Minimize increases in pollution caused by stormwater runoff from
land development activities which would otherwise degrade local water
quality;
E. Minimize the total annual volume of stormwater runoff which flows
from any specific site during and following development to the maximum
extent practicable; and
F. Reduce stormwater runoff rates and volumes, soil erosion and nonpoint
source pollution, wherever possible, through stormwater management
practices and to ensure that these management practices are properly
maintained and eliminate those threats to public safety.
In accordance with Article
10 of the Municipal Home Rule Law of the State of New York, the Town of Oyster Bay has the authority to enact and amend local laws for the purposes of promoting the health, safety and welfare of the residents of the Town of Oyster Bay, and protecting and enhancing its physical environment. In any such local law, the Town Board of the Town of Oyster Bay may provide for the appointment of any municipal officer, employee or independent contractor to effectuate, administer and enforce such local law.
The following activities may be exempt from review under this
chapter:
A. Agricultural activity, as defined in this chapter;
B. Routine maintenance activities that disturb less than five acres,
and that are performed to maintain the original line and grade, hydraulic
capacity or original purpose of a facility;
C. Repairs to any stormwater management practice or facility deemed
necessary by the Stormwater Management Officer;
D. Any part of a subdivision if a plat for the subdivision has been
approved by the Town of Oyster Bay, or the County of Nassau, before
the effective date of this chapter;
E. Land development activities for which a building permit has been
approved on or before the effective date of this chapter;
G. Installation of fence, sign, telephone and electric poles, and other
kinds of poles or posts;
H. Emergency activity immediately necessary to protect life, property
or natural resources;
I. Activities of an individual engaging in home gardening by growing
flowers, vegetables and other plants primarily for use by that person
and his or her family; and
J. Landscaping and horticultural activities in connection with an existing
structure.
The terms used in this chapter or in documents prepared or reviewed
under this chapter shall have the meanings set forth in this section.
AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY
The activity of an active farm, including grazing and watering
livestock, irrigating 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 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.
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 most recent version of the New York State Stormwater
Management Design Manual, including updates, that serves as the official
guide for stormwater management principles, methods and practices.
DEVELOPER
A person who undertakes land development activities.
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."
GRADING
Excavation or fill 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, etc.).
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 on-site pollution control strategies.
INFILTRATION
The process of percolating stormwater into the subsoil.
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
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.
LANDOWNER
The legal or beneficial owner of land, including those holding
the right to purchase or lease the land, or any person holding proprietary
rights in the land.
MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT
A legally recorded document that acts as a property deed
restriction, and which provides for long-term maintenance of stormwater
management practices.
NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION
Pollution from any source other than from 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.
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 (such as total suspended
solids, turbidity, or siltation) and any other pollutant identified
as a cause of impairment of any water body that will receive a discharge
from the land development activity.
QUALIFIED INSPECTOR
A person that is knowledgeable in the principles and practices
of erosion and sediment control, such as a licensed professional engineer,
certified professional in erosion and sediment control (CPESC), registered
landscape architect, or other Department-endorsed individual(s). It
can also mean someone working under the direct supervision of, and
at the same company as, the licensed professional engineer or registered
landscape architect, provided that person has training in the principles
and practices of erosion and sediment control. Training in the principles
and practices of erosion and sediment control means that the individual
working under the direct supervision of the licensed professional
engineer or registered landscape architect has received four hours
of Department-endorsed training in proper erosion and sediment control
principles from a Soil and Water Conservation District, or other Department-endorsed
entity. After receiving the initial training, the individual working
under the direct supervision of the licensed professional engineer
or registered landscape architect shall receive four hours of training
every three years. It can also mean a person that meets the qualified
professional qualifications in addition to the qualified inspector
qualifications. (NOTE: Inspections of any post-construction stormwater
management practices that include structural components, such as a
dam for an impoundment, shall be performed by a licensed professional
engineer.)
QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL
A person that is knowledgeable in the principles and practices
of stormwater management and treatment, such as a licensed professional
engineer, registered landscape architect or other Department-endorsed
individual(s). Individuals preparing SWPPPs that require the post-construction
stormwater management practice component must have an understanding
of the principles of hydrology, water quality management practice
design, water quantity control design, and, in many cases, the principles
of hydraulics. All components of the SWPPP that involve the practice
of engineering, as defined by the NYS Education Law (see Article 145),
shall be prepared by, or under the direct supervision of, a professional
engineer licensed to practice in the State of New York.
RECHARGE
The replenishment of underground water reserves.
SENSITIVE AREAS
Cold water fisheries, shellfish beds, swimming beaches, groundwater
recharge areas, water supply reservoirs, habitats for threatened,
endangered or special concern species.
STABILIZATION
The use of practices that prevent exposed soil from eroding.
STOP-WORK ORDER
An order issued that 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 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
management runoff.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT OFFICER
The Commissioner of the Department of Public Works, or his
or her designee, who shall be responsible to enforce this chapter,
and to accept and review stormwater pollution prevention plans, forward
the plans to the applicable municipal board and inspect stormwater
management practices.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (SMPs)
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.
SURFACE WATERS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
The 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 waste treatment ponds or lagoons
which also meet the criteria of this definition, are not waters of
the state. This exclusion only applies to man-made bodies of water
that 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.
WATERCOURSE
A permanent or intermittent stream or other body of water,
either natural or man-made, which gathers or carries surface water.
WATERWAY
A channel that directs surface runoff to a watercourse or
to the public storm drain.
All land development activities shall be subject to the following
performance and design criteria:
A. Technical standards. For the purposes of this chapter, the following
documents shall serve as the official guides and specifications for
stormwater management. Stormwater management practices that are designed
and constructed in accordance with these technical documents shall
be presumed to meet the standards imposed by this chapter.
(1) The New York State Stormwater Management Design Manual (the New York
State Department of Environmental Conservation, most current version,
or its successor, hereinafter referred to as the "Design Manual").
(2) New York State Standards and Specifications for Erosion and Sediment
Control, dated November 2016, or as amended or revised, hereinafter
referred to as the "Erosion Control Manual".
B. Equivalence to technical standards. Where stormwater management practices are not in accordance with technical standards, the applicant, or developer, must demonstrate equivalence to the technical standards set forth in Subsection
A, and the SWPPP shall be prepared by a licensed professional.
C. Water quality standards. Any land development activity shall not
cause an increase in turbidity that will result in substantial visible
contrast to natural conditions in the surface waters of the State
of New York.
For stormwater pollution prevention plan provisions relating
to subdivision plat approval, see §§ 246-5.4.1.6.2
and 246-5.4.1.9.2.
The Town of Oyster Bay may require any person undertaking land
development activities regulated by this chapter to pay reasonable
costs at prevailing rates for review of SWPPPs, inspections or SMP
maintenance performed by the Town of Oyster Bay or by a third party
for the Town of Oyster Bay.
If the provisions of any article, section, subsection, paragraph,
subdivision, clause, phrase, or sentence of this chapter shall be
judged invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, such order of
judgment shall not affect or invalidate the remainder of any article,
section, subsection, paragraph, subdivision, clause, phrase or sentence
of this chapter.