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.