APPLICANT.Property owner or agent of a property owner who has applied for a site development permit.
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMPs).Structural measures (wetlands, ponds, sand filters, etc.), nonstructural measures (restrictive zoning, reduced impervious areas, etc.), or a combination of practices that are designed to function as effective, practicable means of minimizing the impacts of development and human activities on water quality and quantity.
BMP OWNER.Typically, the property owner. The BMP owner may also be the lessee of property in the case of long-term leases of commercial or industrial-zoned properties. The lessee is considered the BMP owner only if the lease specifically states that construction by the lessee must meet applicable local codes and regulations.
BUFFER STRIP.An existing, variable-width strip of vegetated land intended to protect water quality and terrestrial and aquatic habitat in an adjacent resource or area.
CHANNEL.A natural or artificial watercourse with a definite bed and banks that conduct continuously or periodically flowing water.
CITY.City of Southport, Indiana, and its employees or designees authorized to implement this chapter.
CLASS V INJECTION WELL.A type of well, which typically has a depth greater than its largest surface dimension, that emplaces fluids into the subsurface and does not meet the definitions of Class I through Class IV wells as defined under 40 CFR 146.5. While the term includes specific examples described in 40 CFR 144.81, septic systems that serve more than one single-family dwelling or provide service for nondomestic waste, dug wells, bored wells, improved sinkholes, French drains, infiltration sumps, and infiltration galleries, it does not include surface impoundments, trenches, or ditches that are wider than they are deep.
CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY.Land-disturbing activities and land-disturbing associated with the construction of infrastructure and structures. This term does not include routine ditch or road maintenance or minor landscaping projects.
CONSTRUCTION PLAN.A representation of an overall project, including infrastructure, project layout, and the stormwater pollution prevention plan.
CONSTRUCTION STORMWATER GENERAL PERMIT (CSGP).Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s Construction Stormwater General Permit (CSGP) regulates erosion and sediment control practices on construction projects disturbing greater than one acre of land.
DETENTION.The temporary storage of storm runoff in a stormwater management practice with the goals of controlling peak discharge rates and providing gravity settling of pollutants.
DETENTION FACILITY.A detention basin or alternative structure designed for temporary storage of stream flow or surface runoff and gradual release of stored water at controlled rates.
DEVELOPER.Any person who is financially responsible for construction activity or an owner of a property who sells or leases, or offers for sale or lease, any lots in a multiple-lot project.
EQUIVALENT.Producing or achieving similar results and performance.
EROSION.The detachment and movement of soil, sediment, or rock fragments by water, wind, ice, or gravity.
FILTER STRIP.An area of undisturbed or planted vegetation used to retard or collect sediment for the protection of watercourses, reservoirs, or adjacent properties.
FLOATABLE.Any liquid or solid that, due to its physical characteristics, will float on the surface of water. For this rule, the term does not include naturally occurring floatables, such as leaves or tree limbs.
GRADING.The excavation and filling of the land surface to a desired slope or elevation.
GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE.An approach to water management that protects, restores, or mimics the natural water cycle.
GROUND WATER.Such accumulations of underground water, natural or artificial, public and private, or parts thereof, which are wholly or partially within, flow through, or border upon this state. The term does not include manmade underground storage or conveyance structures.
IMPERVIOUS AREA.An area where the land surface has been altered in such a way that it decreases the amount of rainwater infiltration. Impervious surfaces include, but are not limited to, paved roads, paved driveways, rooftops, and parking lots.
INFILTRATION.The process of percolating stormwater into the subsoil.
INFILTRATION FACILITY.Any structure or device designed to infiltrate retained water into the subsurface. These facilities may be above grade or below grade.
INFILTRATION PRACTICES.Any structural system designed to facilitate the percolation of runoff through the soil to ground water. Examples include infiltration basins or trenches, dry wells, and porous pavement.
LAND DISTURBANCE ACTIVITY.Any manmade change of the land surface including, but not limited to, removing vegetative cover that exposes the underlying soil, excavating, filling, and grading.
LARGER COMMON PLAN OF DEVELOPMENT OR SALE.A plan, undertaken by a single project site owner or a group of project site owners acting in concert, to offer lots for sale or lease; where such land is contiguous or is known, designated, purchased, or advertised as a common unit or by a common name, such land must be presumed to be offered for sale or lease as part of a larger common plan. The term also includes phased or other construction activity by a single entity for its use.
LOW IMPACT DEVELOPMENT (LID).Systems and practices that use or mimic natural processes that result in the infiltration, evapotranspiration, or use of stormwater to protect water quality and associated aquatic habitat.
MUNICIPAL SEPARATE STORM SEWER SYSTEM (MS4).A conveyance or system of conveyances, including roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, manmade channels, or storm drains that is:
(A) Owned or operated by a federal, state, city, town, county, district, association, or other public body (created by or under state law having jurisdiction over stormwater, including special districts under state law such as sewer district, flood control district, or drainage district, or similar entity, or a designated and approved management agency under Section 208 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1288) that discharges into waters of the state; or privately owned stormwater utility, hospital, university, or college having jurisdiction over stormwater that discharges into waters of the state;
Designed or used for collecting or conveying stormwater;
Not a combined sewer; and
Not part of a publicly owned treatment works (POTW) as defined at 40 CFR 122.2.
NON-POINT SOURCE POLLUTION.Pollution from any source other than from any discernible, confined, and discrete conveyances, and shall include, but not be limited to, pollutants from agricultural, mining, construction, subsurface disposal, and urban runoff sources.
OPEN SPACE.Any land area devoid of any disturbed or impervious surfaces created by industrial, commercial, residential, agricultural, or other manmade activities.
POLLUTANT OF CONCERN.Any pollutant that has been documented via analytical data as a cause of impairment in any waterbody, or to another MS4, to which the MS4 discharges.
POST-CONSTRUCTION RUNOFF CONTROL PLAN.A plan designed to permanently control the quantity of stormwater runoff, minimize erosion and sediment runoff, and reduce the migration of various pollutants from developed areas (e.g., parking lots, driveways, rooftops, etc.) upon completion of construction/reconstruction activities.
PROJECT SITE.The entire area on which construction activity is to be performed.
PROJECT SITE OWNER/OPERATOR.A developer or a person or entity that has financial and operational control of construction activities and project plans and specifications, including the authority to approve the expenditure of funds and the ability to make modifications to plans and specifications.
RECEIVING STREAM or RECEIVING WATER.A waterbody that receives a discharge from an outfall. The term does not include private drains, retention and detention basins, or constructed wetlands used as treatment.
RECHARGE.The replenishment of underground water reserves.
REDEVELOPMENT.Any construction, alteration, or improvement where structures are removed and/or replaced. Where the disturbance caused by redevelopment activities disturbs less than one acre, no post-construction runoff control plan shall be required.
RUNOFF.Water that originates during a precipitation event and flows over the land rather than infiltrating into the ground or evaporating.
SEDIMENT.Solid material (both mineral and organic) that is in suspension, is being transported, or has been moved from its site of origin by air, water, gravity, or ice and has come to rest on the earth’s surface.
SENSITIVE AREA.A waterbody identified as needing priority protection or remediation based on:
(A) Having threatened or endangered species or their habitat;
Usage as public surface water supply intake;
Usage for full body contact recreation, such as bathing beaches; or
Exceptional use classification as found in 327 IAC 2-1-11(b), outstanding state resource water classification as found in 327 IAC 2-1-2(3) and 327 IAC 2-1.5-19(b).
SITE.A parcel of land or a contiguous combination thereof, where grading work is performed as a single unified operation.
SITE DEVELOPMENT PERMIT.A permit issued by the municipality for the construction or alteration of ground improvements and structures for the control of erosion, runoff, and grading.
SOIL.The unconsolidated mineral and organic material on the surface of the earth that serves as the natural medium for the growth of plants.
SOLID WASTE.Any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, sludge from a water supply treatment plant, sludge from an air pollution control facility, or other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, or agricultural operations or from community activities. The term does not include:
(A) Solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage, or irrigation return flows or industrial discharges, that are point sources subject to permits under section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act amendments (33 U.S.C. 1342);
Source, special nuclear, or byproduct material (as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.));
Manures or crop residues returned to the soil at the point of generation as fertilizers or soil conditioners as part of a total farm operation; or
Vegetative matter at composting facilities registered under IC 13-20-10.
STORMWATER QUALITY MEASURE.A practice, or a combination of practices, to control or minimize pollutants associated with stormwater runoff.
TREAT.Improving the stormwater runoff quality, reducing runoff volume, reducing peak flow, or any combination thereof.
TREATMENT TRAIN.More than one BMP in series treating stormwater runoff. Such configurations are necessary when BMPs individually cannot meet the 80% TSS reduction goal.
TSS.Total suspended solids.
VEGETATIVE PRACTICES.Utilizing various forms of vegetation to enhance pollutant removal, maintain and improve natural site hydrology, promote healthier habitats, and increase aesthetic appeal. Examples include, but are not limited to, grass swales, filter strips, buffer strips, constructed wetlands, and rain gardens.
WATERCOURSE.Any body of water, including, but not limited to, lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, and bodies of water delineated by the City.
WATER QUALITY VOLUME (WQv).The storage needed to capture and treat the runoff from the first one inch of rainfall. In numerical terms, it is equivalent to an inch of rainfall multiplied by the volumetric runoff coefficient and the site area. Refer to the City of Indianapolis Storm Water Design and Construction Specifications Manual for the equation and variable descriptions.
WATERSHED.The total drainage area contributing runoff to a single point.
(Ord. 5.09, passed 2-19-2007; Am. Ord. 2024.03, passed 6-17-2024. Formerly 5.12.020)