Except as provided in these regulations, the definitions of terms shall be as set forth in the Wetlands Protection Act (MGL c. 131, § 40) and Regulations (310 CMR 10.00).
Shall mean those property owners where land abuts the subject land described in a plan subject to Commission review including those across a traveled way, across a body of water, and those within 300 feet of the subject parcel lot lines.
Means any form of draining, dumping, dredging, damming, discharging, excavating, filling, or grading; the erection, reconstruction, or expansion of any buildings or structures; the driving of pilings or erection of walls; the construction or improvement of roads and other ways; the changing of runoff characteristics; the intercepting or diverting of groundwater or surface water; the installation of drainage, sewage, or water systems; the discharging of pollutants; the destruction of plant life; or any other changing of the physical characteristics of land, or of the physical, biological, or chemical characteristics of water.
Means the ability of a site or project to continue providing the interests protected by the bylaw (resource area functions and values) despite predicted shifts in long term/prevailing weather conditions. Adaptation and resilience can be achieved through the protection of natural areas and/or the incorporation of measures designed to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Means, without limitation, the following actions when undertaken upon or affecting any of the areas subject to protection under the bylaw and listed in § 330-3A of these regulations:
Removal, excavation, or dredging of soil, sand, gravel, or aggregate materials of any kind;
Changing the preexisting drainage characteristics, flushing characteristics, sedimentation patterns, flow patterns, or flood retention characteristics;
Drainage, or other disturbance of water level or water table;
Dumping, discharging, or filling with any material which may degrade water quality;
Placing of fill, or removal of material which would alter elevation;
Driving of piles, erection, expansion or repair of buildings, or structures of any kind;
Placement of obstructions or objects in water;
Destruction of plant life including cutting or trimming of trees and shrubs;
Changing temperature, biochemical oxygen demand, or other physical or chemical characteristics of any waters;
Any activities, changes, or work which cause or tend to contribute to pollution of any body of water or groundwater;
Incremental activities which have, or may have, a cumulative adverse impact on the resource areas protected by the bylaw.
Means a change in a proposed project that the Commission deems of sufficient magnitude to require the imposition of additional conditions to ensure adequate protection of resource areas and interests covered under the bylaw and regulations.
Means a person filing an application for a permit, or a person on whose behalf an application is filed.
Means the permit application filed by any person intending to remove, fill, dredge, or alter any resource area under the Upton Wetlands Protection Bylaw.
Means depressions or closed basins that serve as ponding areas for runoff, snowmelt, heavy precipitation, or high groundwater that has risen above the ground surface, and areas which flood from a rise in a bordering waterway or water body as defined in the Wetlands Protection Act Regulations (310 CMR 10.57). Land shown as being inundated during the 1% and 0.2% annual chance flood depicted on the current Flood Insurance Rate Map are also areas subject to flooding. Vernal pools are areas subject to flooding subject to enhanced protection as described elsewhere in the regulations.
Means any area specified in § 330-3A and is used synonymously with "resource area."
Means that area of land extending 100 feet horizontally from the boundary of any resource area specified in § 330-3A(1).
Means the Upton Wetlands Protection Bylaw.[1]
Means a written determination by the Commission that the proposed work or a portion thereof has been completed in accordance with a permit.
Means those requirements set forth in a written permit issued by the Commission for the purpose of permitting, regulating, or prohibiting any activity that removes, fills, dredges, builds upon, or alters any resource area.
Means that body comprised of members lawfully appointed pursuant to MGL c. 40, § 8C.
Means a written finding by the Commission as to whether an area or an activity is subject to the jurisdiction of the bylaw.
Means a written notice issued by the Commission requiring the cessation of all activities that are in violation of MGL c. 131, § 10, or of the bylaw.
Mean, but are not necessarily limited to, i) extreme heat, ii) the timing, frequency, intensity, and amount of precipitation, iii) rising water levels, iv) increased intensity and/or frequency of storm events or extreme weather events (floods, hurricanes, ice storms and tornadoes), and v) frequency, intensity and duration of droughts.
Means the resource values (collectively, the "interests protected by the bylaw") specified in § 330-2 of these regulations.
Wet meadows, marshes, swamps and bogs where the topography is typically low and flat and where soils are annually saturated such that groundwater, flowing or standing surface water provides a significant part of the supporting substrate for a plant community. Isolated wetlands are generally found within depressions and do not border creeks, rivers, streams, ponds, lakes or other bodies of water or wetlands. Wetland indicator plants shall include but not necessarily be limited to those plant species identified in the Act. Wetland indicator plants are also those classified in the indicator categories of Facultative, Facultative Wetland+, Facultative Wetland, Facultative Wetland-, or Obligate Wetland in the National List of Plant Species That Occur in Wetlands: Massachusetts (Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2016). The presence of hydric soils or other indicators of wetland hydrology will also be considered when delineating wetland boundaries. The boundary of isolated wetlands is the line within which the vegetation community is substantially characterized by wetland indicator species and within which hydric soils or other indicators of wetland hydrology are present. When vegetation appears to have been altered or is absent, the boundary is the line within which hydric soils and/or indicators of wetland hydrology are present.
Means more than half of the members of the Commission then in office.
Means the written application for permit filed by any person intending to remove, fill, dredge, or alter any resource area under the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act (MGL c. 131, § 40).
Means but is not limited to debris, dams, weirs, sluice gates, docks, bulkheads, pilings, and floats.
Means the written document issued by the Commission containing conditions which regulate or prohibit an activity in a resource area under the Wetlands Protection Act.
Means the person who own the property upon which the activity(ies) is (are) proposed.
Means the document issued by the Commission containing conditions which regulate or prohibit an activity under the bylaw. The Commission in an appropriate case may combine the permit or other action on an application issued under the bylaw with the order of conditions issued under the Wetlands Protection Act (MGL c. 131, § 40).
Means any individual, group of individuals, association, partnership, corporation, company, business organization, trust, estate, the commonwealth or political subdivision thereof to the extent subject to Town bylaws, administrative agency, public or quasi-public corporation or body, the Town of Upton, or any other legal entity, its legal representatives, agents, or assigns.
Mean such data, maps, engineering drawings, calculations, specifications, schedules, and other materials, if any, deemed necessary by the Commission to describe the area and the activity; to determine the applicability of the bylaw; or to determine the impact of the proposal upon the interests identified in the bylaw.
Means any open body of fresh water, at least 2,000 square feet or larger, either naturally occurring or man-made, which has standing water due to natural causes throughout the year during most years. Basins or lagoons which are part of waste water treatment plants shall not be considered ponds, nor shall swimming pools or other impervious man-made retention or detention basins.
Means the majority of the duly appointed members of the Commission that when duly assembled is legally empowered to transact business.
Means those areas providing habitat for species of wildlife and/or plants listed as endangered, threatened or of special concern by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife regardless of whether the site in which they occur has been previously identified by the Division.
Means a written request made by any person to the Commission for a determination as to whether an area or activity is subject to the bylaw.
Means any area specified in § 330-3A and is synonymous with area subject to protection under the bylaw.
Means any naturally flowing body of water that empties to any ocean, lake, pond, or river, and which flows throughout the year.
Means the area within 200 feet of rivers (includes perennial streams), lakes or ponds (20,000 square feet or larger).
Means any body of running water, including brooks and creeks, which moves in a definite channel in the ground due to the hydrologic gradient. A portion of a stream may flow through a culvert or beneath a bridge. A stream may be intermittent (does not flow throughout the year) or perennial (flows throughout the year during most years). A stream is located downgradient of and hydrologically connected to a wetland.
Means the Town of Upton.
Means, in addition to scientific definitions found in 310 CMR 10.00, any confined basin or depression not occurring in existing lawns, gardens, landscaped areas or driveways, which, at least in most years, holds water for a minimum of two continuous months during the spring and/or summer, contains at least 200 cubic feet of water at some time during most years, is free of adult predatory fish populations, and provides essential breeding and rearing habitat functions for amphibians, reptiles, or other vernal pool community species, regardless of whether the site has been certified the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. The boundary of the resource area for vernal pools shall be 100 feet outward from the mean annual high-water line defining the depression, but shall not include existing lawns, gardens, landscaped or developed areas.
Is defined in the Wetlands Protection Act, MGL c. 131, § 40.