[Amended 6-13-2026]
Unless specifically defined in this chapter, words and phrases used in this chapter shall have the same meaning as they have at common law and to give this chapter its most reasonable application.
Any excavation or removal, handling or storage of sand, gravel, borrow, rock, clay, minerals, or topsoil, including but not limited to sand or gravel pits, clay pits, borrow pits, quarries, mines, and topsoil mining or removal.
The land area from which the overburden will be or has been removed; land upon which stumps, spoil, or other solid waste will be or has been deposited; and any storage area that will be or has been used in connection with the development, except a natural buffer strip.
Excavation operations that exceed the approved area or footprint.
Any washing, screening, crushing, mixing or storage of sand, gravel, stone, rock, clay, topsoil, or any other material of any kind from either on- or off-site; to include any washing or screening operations; concrete mix or asphalt batching plants; blasting or mining of material; storage of material from off-site; disposal, placing, or storing of any materials that are not going to be used in any process or production in conjunction with the extraction facility; or ore concentration processes.
That line of the shores and banks of nontidal water which is apparent because of the different character of the soil or the vegetation due to the prolonged action of the water. Relative to vegetation, it is that line where the vegetation changes from predominantly aquatic to predominantly terrestrial (by way of illustration, aquatic vegetation includes but is not limited to the following plant and plant groups: water lily, pond lily, pickerelweed, cattail, wild rice, sedges, rushes, and marsh grasses; and terrestrial vegetation includes but is not limited to the following plants and plant groups: upland grasses, aster, lady slipper, wintergreen, partridgeberry, sarsaparilla, pines, cedars, oaks, ash, alders, elms, and maples). In places where the shore or bank is of such character, the high-water mark shall be estimated from places where it can be determined by the above method.
The restoration or continued maintenance of the area of land affected by mining under a reclamation plan. This may include, but is not limited to, grading and shaping of the land; the creation of lakes or ponds; the planting of forests; the seeding of grasses, legumes, or crops for harvest; or the enhancement of wildlife and aquatic resources.
A plan which depicts how the project will be restored or maintained after excavation is complete. Such a plan usually includes final grading and revegetation plans of any given phase.
Any public ways and private ways, including collector streets, minor streets, private streets, areas on activity plans designated as rights-of-way, and common driveways for vehicular access, designed and constructed in accordance with Chapter 153, Roads and Driveways, of the Code of the Town of Wales.
The nearest horizontal distance from a property line or the normal high-water line of a water body or tributary stream, or upland edge of a wetland, to the nearest part of a structure, road, parking space, or other regulated object or area.
All of the land area disturbed or otherwise developed for the extraction, removal, processing, or storage of sand, gravel, clay, minerals, stone, rock, or topsoil, including any access roads and cleared areas adjacent to a pit or excavated area.
Any water flowing on the surface, either channelized or by sheet flow, including, but not limited to, rivers, streams, brooks, ponds, lakes and any swamp, marsh, bog or other contiguous lowland where water is periodically ponded on the surface.
The extraction area, including side slopes and adjoining areas with overburden removed, excluding roads.