Alamo Heights Municipal Storm Drainage System (MS4).
The system of conveyances, including but not limited to,
roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs,
gutters, ditches, creeks, streams, tributaries, man-made channels,
or storm drains, which:
(1)
Provide collection or conveyance of stormwater, rain water,
flood water, or other surface water; and
(2)
Are located on public property; and
(3)
Are not designed and intended to be part of the collection system
of a sanitary sewer system utilized by a publicly owned treatment
works (POTW) as defined in Title 40 C.F.R. 122.2.
Benefitted property:
Real property that is a parcel of property or lot within
the corporate boundaries of the City of Alamo Heights to which stormwater
drainage plans, programs, or services are made available and which
receives water, wastewater, or electric utility service from the City
of Alamo Heights. A parcel of property is a piece of land regardless
of size under one (1) ownership, such ownership being further defined
as the way in which property is legally described in duly recorded
legal documents in the official public records of real property of
the county in which the parcel of property is located. A lot is a
designated property shown on a recorded plat duly recorded in the
official public records of real property of the county in which the
recorded plat is located.
Best Management Practices (BMPs):
A technique or series of structural and non-structural techniques
and practices which, when used in an erosion control plan or considered
as part of a construction site's housekeeping efforts, are proven
to be effective in controlling construction-related runoff, erosion,
sedimentation, and associated pollutants.
Construction activity:
Clearing or grading of land, dozing or mechanical removal
of trees which dozing or mechanical removal disturbs the soil, excavation
for installation of utility lines, streets, drainage facilities, and
site preparation for housing and commercial development, as well as
on-going construction activities which produce waste products.
Director:
The Director of Public Works of the City of Alamo Heights
or designee(s).
EPA:
The United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Erosion:
The wearing away of the ground surface as a result of the
movement of wind, water and/or ice.
Final inspection:
Occurs after responsible party meets definition of final
stabilization and files a NOT, if required by state or federal law,
at which time the city will conduct a final inspection to verify compliance
with final stabilization and removal of temporary BMP's has occurred.
Final stabilization:
Reference to standards in the NPDES General Permit for Stormwater
Discharges for Construction Activities in EPA's Region 6 concerning
development acreage that: (1) where state or federally regulated development
acreage is concerned, all soil disturbing activities at the site have
been completed, and a uniform perennial vegetative cover, with a density
of seventy (70) percent of the native background vegetative cover
for the area has been established on all unpaved areas and areas not
covered by permanent structures or equivalent permanent stabilization
measures have been employed and (2) where local, individual lots associated
with residential or commercial construction are concerned, by either
(a) the responsible party complying with cover requirements guided
by federal or state standards recited above, or (b) the responsible
party establishing temporary stabilization including perimeter controls
and informing the home buyer or commercial purchaser in writing of
the need for and benefits of final stabilization.
Grade:
The vertical location of the ground surface.
Grading:
Any land disturbance or land fill, or combination thereof.
Household hazardous waste:
Waste from materials utilized for residential or housekeeping
purposes containing regulated substances which either singularly or
by its interaction with other wastes or by its accumulation in the
MS4 becomes injurious or potentially injurious to human, plant, or
animal life, or property. For purposes of this chapter household hazardous
wastes include but are not limited to paint, paint thinners, paint
solvents, beaches, and drain cleaners.
Impervious cover:
Ground surfaces including concrete or paved driveways, sidewalks,
parking lots, buildings and other improvements that resists the infiltration
of water, thereby resulting in water runoff. Impervious cover includes
any surface material or surface treatment or surface condition which
sheds fifty (50) percent or more of rainfall, or water, which falls
on it.
Impervious surface area:
For the purposes of calculation for this chapter, the total
square footage of all impervious cover on a developed property, excluding
public sidewalks.
Land fill:
Any human activity involving the disposition of soil, earth,
or other earthen or aggregate materials.
Measurable volume:
For purposes of determining a violation, the amount of sediment,
soil, soil material, or pollutant, shall be such volume as is capable
of being truly and correctly depicted in a photograph, motion picture,
or video recording of the sediment, soil, soil material, or pollutant
in question.
Municipal storm drainage system (MS4):
All natural and man-made collection and conduit facilities
within the corporate limits of the City of Alamo Heights and within
applicable limits of its extraterritorial jurisdiction, and for which
MS4 protection the City of Alamo Heights has been issued a National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit by EPA, which
collection and conduit facilities constitute a system of conveyances,
including but not limited to, roads with drainage systems, municipal
streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, creeks, streams, tributaries,
man-made channels, or storm drains, which provide collection or conveyance
of stormwater, rain water, flood water, or other surface water, and
may be located on public property, drainage easements, or other property,
and are not designated and intended to be part of the collection system
of a sanitary sewer system utilized by a publicly owned treatment
works (POTW) as defined by federal regulation at 40 CFR 122.2.
NOI:
Notice of intent filed by a responsible party with EPA or
TCEQ. This NOI is required under federal regulation, or future state
regulation, for certain construction activity. The NOI is part of
the federal general permit process for construction activity concerning
projects or runoff deemed to potentially impact waters of the United
States of America.
NOT: Notice of termination.
The notice required by EPA or TCEQ for sizeable projects
within the jurisdiction of either agency, which notice verifies "final
stabilization" of the site has been achieved, as described above;
EPA form 3510-7 terminating coverage under the NPDES general permit
or corresponding TCEQ form for the TPDES Texas Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System general permit.
NPDES:
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.
Ordinance:
This ordinance [Ordinance No. 1817] in its entirety, pertaining to Chapter
13, Code of Ordinances of the City of Alamo Heights.
Person:
Any individual, partnership, co-partnership, firm, company,
corporation, association, joint stock company, trust, estate, governmental
entity, or any other legal entity, or the legal representatives, agents,
or assigns thereof.
Pesticide:
Any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing,
destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest, and/or any substance
or mixture of substances intended for use as a plant regulator, defoliant,
or desiccant.
Pollutant:
Any substance introduced into the environment that adversely
affects a resource. Pollutant includes, but is not limited to, soil,
soil material, sediment, human waste, other wastes and debris generated
at construction sites.
Responsible party:
Any person or legal entity, individual or corporate, including
an owner, operator, contractor, or subcontractor, any or all of whom
may be engaged in, consent to, or actually perform a construction
project or construction activity.
Rubbish:
Inorganic solid waste including paper, rags, cartons, wood,
excelsior, furniture, rubber, plastics, glass, crockery, tin and aluminum
cans, metal furniture, and other like materials.
Soil and/or soil material:
Naturally occurring superficial deposits of earth mantle
overlaying bedrock or clay; any naturally occurring surface deposit
of sand, gravel, silt, clay, or any mixture thereof.
Stormwater:
Stormwater runoff, snow melt runoff, and surface runoff and
drainage, as per NPDES Permit No. TXS001901.
Stormwater Management Plan (SWMP):
The state or federally required plan for identifying and
implementing appropriate measures to reduce pollutants in stormwater
discharges into the city's municipal stormwater drainage systems (MS4),
which pollutants include eroded sediments. Protective measures include,
but are not limited to, natural and man-made collection components,
good housekeeping for site maintenance, and other common sense actions,
all frequently referred to as best management practices (BMPs).
TCEQ:
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Unit:
Single living, commercial or occupied space within a developed
property.
(Ordinance 1817 adopted 4/13/2009)
The director shall be responsible for the administration of
this chapter. The director shall develop necessary rules, regulations
and procedures necessary for the administration of the chapter including
a methodology for considering variances.
(Ordinance 1817 adopted 4/13/2009)
(a) Any person or entity who shall fail to comply with any provision of this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished in accordance with section
1-5 of this Code. Each day any violation or noncompliance shall continue shall be subject to being constituted as a separate offense.
(b) A civil
penalty in an amount not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000.00)
per violation of this chapter may be imposed. Each violation of a
particular section of this chapter shall constitute a separate offense,
and each day such an offense continues shall be considered a new violation
for purposes of enforcing this chapter. A culpable mental state is
not required to prove an offense under this ordinance.
(Ordinance 1817 adopted 4/13/2009)
(a) Any person
or entity who shall fail to comply with any provision of this chapter,
or who shall commit any of the acts described by this chapter, or
be guilty of any of the omissions thereof, shall be liable to injunctive
action prohibiting the violation of this chapter and shall be subject
to being mandatorily enjoined to immediately remediate any violations
of this chapter, and shall be liable and responsible for any and all
expenses that may be incurred by the city in connection with any such
action, omission or other violation, including reasonable attorneys'
fees.
(b) In addition
to any other remedies provided by this chapter, the City of Alamo
Heights may, at any time, seek legal and/or equitable remedies or
may file charges against any person, corporation, or other entity
believed to be in violation of this chapter.
(c) The use
of negotiated civil settlements or other methods of alternative dispute
resolution to reach a civil settlement is hereby authorized; provided
that the civil penalty imposed by any such agreement or settlement
is of a sufficient amount in relation to the violations to which they
provide a sanction.
(Ordinance 1817 adopted 4/13/2009)
The provisions of this article shall take precedence over those
of any other existing ordinance of the City of Alamo Heights which
may contain provisions that are less restrictive than those specified
in this article. However, nothing contained in this article shall
mitigate, interfere with, alter or repeal any provisions of any other
ordinance of the City of Alamo Heights not in conflict with the provisions
of this article. No provision of this chapter is intended to, nor
shall any part or portion hereof be construed, so as to conflict with
state or federal law.
(Ordinance 1817 adopted 4/13/2009)
If any provision of this chapter or the application thereof
to any person or circumstance shall be held to be void or invalid
for any reason, the remainder of this chapter and the application
of such provision to other persons and circumstances shall nevertheless
be valid, and the city council hereby declares that this chapter would
have been enacted without such invalid chapter.
(Ordinance 1817 adopted 4/13/2009)