This chapter shall be known as the "Aquatic
Resource Protection Law" of the Town of Poughkeepsie.
Except where specifically defined herein, all
words used in this chapter shall carry their customary meanings. Words
used in the present tense include the future and the plural includes
the singular. The word "shall" is intended to be mandatory. As used
in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
ACTIVITY
Any act, action, deed, operation, or procedure by any individual
or individuals, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company,
organization, or other legal entity of any kind, including municipal
corporations, governmental agencies, or subdivisions.
AGRICULTURE/AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY
All activities, as defined in the NYS Agriculture and Markets
Law, directly related to the grazing, growing or raising of crops
or livestock, including, but not limited to, horticulture and fruit
production, on any property receiving Agricultural Value Assessment.
Timber harvesting, clear-cutting, draining and permanent alteration
of aquatic resources are not included in agricultural activities.
ALTER
To change, move, or disturb any vegetation, soil, drainageway,
or other natural material or system within an aquatic resource, as
defined by this chapter.
APPLICANT
Any individual or individuals, firm, partnership, association,
corporation, company, organization, or other legal entity of any kind,
including municipal corporations, governmental agencies, or subdivisions
thereof, who has a request for a permit to conduct a regulated activity
before the approval authority.
APPROVAL AUTHORITY
The administrative board, public official, or public employee
empowered to grant or deny permits under this chapter, to require
the posting of bonds as necessary, and to revoke or suspend a permit
where lack of compliance is established. The approval authority shall
be the Planning Board or the Building Inspector for the Town or as
the Town Board may appoint.
AQUATIC RESOURCE
Any wetland, watercourse, or water body and associated buffers.
BUFFER AREA
Protective areas or upland areas surrounding or adjacent
to any wetland, watercourse or water body that are subject to regulation.
The size and extent of the buffers shall be as follows:
A.
For aquatic resources of at least one acre but
less than five acres, the buffer shall be 25 feet. For aquatic resources
of at least five acres but less than nine acres, the buffer shall
be 50 feet. For aquatic resources of at least nine acres but less
than 12 acres, the buffer shall be 75 feet. For aquatic resources
of 12 acres or greater, the buffer shall be 100 feet. The buffers
cited above may be greater where designated by the approval authority.
The buffers shall be measured horizontally and in a direction perpendicular
to the aquatic resources boundary, thus the buffer boundary shall
parallel the aquatic resources boundary.
B.
The buffer for the Wappingers Creek shall be
50 feet beyond the streambank.
C.
The buffer for all streams other than the Wappingers
Creek shall be 25 feet from the streambank.
CLEAR-CUTTING
Any cutting of more than 30% of trees four inches or more
in diameter breast height (4.5 feet), including cutting of trees which
results in the total removal of one or more naturally occurring species,
whether or not the cutting meets or exceeds the 30% threshold, over
any ten-year cutting cycle as determined on the basis of wetland/buffer
area per lot or group of lots under single ownership.
CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
The individual(s) designated by the Town Board and charged
with the enforcement of the Town's building, fire, and zoning codes.
DCSWCD
Dutchess County Soil and Water Conservation District.
DEPOSIT
To fill, place, discharge, or dump any material.
DISCHARGE
The release of any water, substance, or material into an
aquatic resource whether or not such substance causes pollution. The
release of stormwater into an aquatic resource is excluded from the
definition of "discharge."
DRAIN
To deplete or empty of water by drawing off by degrees or
in increments; or to modify the hydrology so as to reduce the amount
of water within an aquatic resource.
DREDGE
To excavate or remove sediment, soil, mud, sand, shells,
gravel, or other aggregate or artificial fill.
ENHANCEMENT
Activities conducted in existing aquatic resources which
increase one or more aquatic functions.
EXCAVATE
To dig out and remove any material.
EXISTING LAND USE
A land use which, prior to the effective date of this chapter,
is either:
B.
Ongoing, as in the case of agriculture; or
C.
Has received final approval which has not expired;
or
D.
Under construction with appropriate permit(s).
FILLING
The depositing of material in an area to change the grade.
GRADING
To alter the natural elevation of the land greater than two
feet, or the addition/removal of greater than 50 cubic yards of material
from the project site.
MATERIAL
Liquid, solid, or gaseous substances, including, but not
limited to, soil, silt, gravel, rock, sand, clay, peat, mud, debris,
and refuse; any organic or inorganic compound, chemical agent, or
matter, including sewage, sewage sludge, or effluent; and agricultural,
industrial, or municipal solid waste.
MITIGATION
The restoration, creation, and/or enhancement of an aquatic
resource area for the purpose of compensating for unavoidable adverse
impacts that remain after all appropriate and practicable avoidance
and minimization has been achieved.
NYSDEC
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
PERMIT/AQUATIC RESOURCES
That form of written Town approval required by this chapter
for the conduct of a regulated activity.
POLLUTION
The presence in the environment of human-induced conditions
or contaminants in quantities or characteristics which are or may
be injurious to human, plant, or animal life or to property.
PROJECT
Any activity resulting in direct or indirect physical or
chemical impact on an aquatic resource, including, but not limited
to, any regulated activity. For the purpose of this chapter, a project
is considered the total action proposed or accomplished by one owner/developer
or partnership or other association of owners/developers.
REMOVE
To dig, dredge, suck, bulldoze, dragline, blast, mine, or
otherwise excavate or regrade, or the act thereof.
RESTORATION
Reestablishment of the aquatic resource characteristics and
function(s) at a site where they have ceased to exist or exist in
a substantially degraded state.
STATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY REVIEW ACT (SEQRA)
The law pursuant to Article 8 of the New York Environmental
Conservation Law providing for environmental quality review of actions
which may have a significant effect on the environment.
STREAM
Any watercourse which appears as a solid blue line on the
2003 Aquatic Resources Map of the Town.
STREAMBANK
The outermost edge of a stream channel.
STREAM CHANNEL
The area of a stream that transports bankfull flow. Bankfull
flow is the point at which flooding may just begin to escape the channel
and enter the floodplain. On average, bankfull discharge will occur
once every 1.5 years.
STRUCTURE
Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires
location on or in the ground or attachment to something having location
on the ground. The term includes, but is not limited to, buildings,
tennis courts and swimming pools.
TIMBER HARVESTING
Any activity which may alter the physical characteristics
of any forested land, including, but not limited to, any activity
involving or associated with the cutting of trees, except that the
following activities shall not be considered to be timber harvesting:
A.
The routine maintenance of roads, easements, and rights-of-way
and the clearing of farm fence lines; and
B.
The clearing of approved subdivision roads, site plans, and
public utility easements.
TOWN
Town of Poughkeepsie.
TOWN BOARD
The duly elected Town Board of the Town of Poughkeepsie.
TOWN CLERK
The duly elected Town Clerk of the Town of Poughkeepsie.
TOWN ENGINEER
Any person or firm employed by the Town of Poughkeepsie as
the Town Engineer.
USACOE
United States Army Corp of Engineers.
WATER BODY
Any natural or artificial, permanent, ephemeral, or intermittent,
public or private pond, lake, reservoir, or other area which usually
or intermittently contains water and which has a discernible shoreline
of a water body.
WATERCOURSE
Any natural or artificial, permanent or intermittent, public
or private water body or water segment, such as rivers, streams, brooks,
waterways or natural drainage swales that is contained within, flows
through, or borders the Town of Poughkeepsie.
WETLAND
All areas of 1/10 acre or greater in area that comprise hydric
soils or soils that possess characteristics associated with reducing
soil conditions, and/or are saturated by surface or groundwater at
a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal
circumstances do support, a prevalence of hydrophytic vegetation as
defined by The Federal Interagency Committee for Wetlands Delineation,
1987, in the Federal Manual for Identifying and Delineating Jurisdictional
Wetlands, Washington, D.C., and adopted by the USACOE, United States
Environmental Protection Agency, and the United States Fish and Wildlife
Service, or as amended and updated. Hydric soils referenced above
shall include Canandaigua(Ca), Carlisle(Cc), Fluvaquents(Ff), Halsey(Ha),
Hydraquents(Hy), Livingston(Lv), Medisaprists(Hy), Palms(Pc), Sun(Su),
Wayland(Wy), and potential hydric soils Kingsbury and Rhinebeck(Kn),
Linlithgo(Ln), Massena A(MnA), Massena B(MnB), Punsit(Pz), Udorthents(Ue),
Fredon(Fr), and Raynham Silt Loam(Ra), as listed in the revised Dutchess
County Soil Survey Series or such revised, updated and adjusted soil
surveys as may be completed.
WETLAND BOUNDARY
The outer limits of the environmental characteristics of
a wetland, as defined under "wetland" in this section and as properly
delineated, as defined under "wetland delineation" in this section.
WETLAND DELINEATION
The process of determining wetlands and their boundaries.
The boundaries of a wetland shall ordinarily be determined by field
investigation, flagging and survey by qualified professionals such
as Dutchess County Soil and Water Conservation District. A wetland
delineation by the NYSDEC or USACOE shall constitute delineation for
purposes of this chapter.
WETLANDS DELINEATION MANUAL
Common name given to the 1987 manual produced by the USACOE
referenced in the definition of "wetland" above, which presents approaches
and methods for identifying and delineating wetlands for purposes
of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. It is designed to assist users
in making wetland determinations using a multiparameter (soil, hydrology,
and vegetation) approach.
ZBA
The duly appointed Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town.
The approval authority of permits for regulated
activities under this chapter shall be:
A. The Planning Board for any project where site plan
approval, subdivision approval, major land contour permit, or floodplain
development permit is required; or
B. The Building Inspector for any project where a building permit is required, other than in §
116-6A above, or any nonexempt project as required in §
116-5C; or
C. The Zoning Department for minor land contour permits.
[Amended 6-3-2009 by L.L. No. 22-2009]
Any observed violation by the Code Enforcement Officer shall
subject the project to a stop-work order. Additionally, any person
convicted of having violated any provision of this chapter or any
condition attached by the approval authority in a permit issued pursuant
to this chapter shall, for the first offense, be punishable by a fine
of not less than $500 but not more than $1,000. For each subsequent
offense, such person shall be punishable by a fine of not less than
$1,000 but not more than $10,000. Each consecutive day of violation
may be considered a separate offense. Payment of such penalty shall
not preclude corrective action and/or the removal of conditions found
to be in violation of this chapter.
Where practical difficulties, unnecessary hardships
and results inconsistent with the general purpose of the chapter or
certain provisions thereof are encountered, the applicant may appeal
to the Town Board for relief from any provision set forth herein.
The approval authority may require the posting
of a performance bond or other collateral as a condition of approval.
The amount of the performance bond or other collateral shall be computed
by the Town Engineer, but no more than one performance bond for any
one project need be posted, and the Town Engineer may include amounts
necessary to ensure compliance with this chapter in any security given
pursuant to the subdivision, site plan or other permitting regulations
of the Town.
Where this chapter imposes greater restrictions
than are imposed by the provision of any law, ordinance, or regulation,
this chapter shall control. Where greater restrictions are imposed
by any law, ordinance, or regulation than are imposed by this chapter,
such greater restriction shall control.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section
or part of this regulation shall be adjudged by any court of competent
jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair
or invalidate the remainder thereof but shall be confined in its operation
to the clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part thereof directly
involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been
rendered or as determined by such judgment.