The terms used in this chapter or in documents
prepared or reviewed pursuant to or under this chapter shall have
the meaning as set forth in this section:
AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY
The activity of an active farm including grazing and watering
livestock, irrigating crops, harvesting crops, using land for growing
agricultural products, and cutting timber for sale, but shall not
include the operation of a dude ranch or similar operation, or the
construction of new structures associated with agricultural activities.
APPLICANT
A property owner or agent of a property owner who has filed
an application for a land development activity.
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMPs)
A measure that is implemented to protect water quality and
reduce the potential for pollution associated with stormwater runoff.
Any program, technology, process, siting criteria, operating method,
measure, or device that controls, prevents, removes, or reduces pollutants.
BUILDING
Any structure, either temporary or permanent, having walls
and a roof, designed for the shelter of any person, animal, or property,
and occupying more than 100 square feet of area.
CHANNEL
A natural or artificial watercourse with a definite bed and
banks that conducts continuously or periodically flowing water.
CLEARING
Any activity that removes the vegetative surface cover.
COMMENCEMENT OF CONSTRUCTION
The initial removal of vegetation and disturbance of soils
associated with clearing, grading, or excavating activities or other
construction activities.
DEDICATION
The deliberate appropriation of property by its owner for
general public use.
DEPARTMENT
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
DESIGN MANUAL
The New York State Stormwater Management Design Manual, as
hereafter amended or updated, that serves as the technical guideline
for stormwater management principles, methods and practices.
DEVELOPER
A person who undertakes land development activities.
EROSION CONTROL
A primary source control that is any practice that protects
the soil surface and prevents the soil particles from being detached
by rainfall or wind.
EROSION CONTROL MANUAL
The New York Standards and Specifications for Erosion and
Sediment Control manual, as hereafter amended or updated, that serves
as the technical guideline for erosion and sediment control measures
and practices, commonly known as the "Blue Book."
FINAL SITE STABILIZATION
Means that all soil-disturbing activities at the site have
been completed and a uniform, perennial vegetative cover with a density
of 80% has been established or equivalent stabilization measures (such
as the use of mulches or geotextiles) have been employed on all unpaved
areas not covered by permanent structures.
GRADING
Excavation or fill of material, including the resulting conditions
thereof.
IMPERVIOUS COVER
Those surfaces, improvements and structures that cannot effectively
infiltrate rainfall, snowmelt and water (e.g., building rooftops,
pavement, sidewalks, driveways, etc.).
INDUSTRIAL STORMWATER PERMIT
A State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit
issued to a commercial industry or group of industries which regulates
the pollutant levels associated with industrial stormwater discharges
or specifies on-site pollution control strategies.
INFILTRATION
The process of percolating stormwater into the subsoil.
JURISDICTIONAL WETLAND
An area that is inundated or saturated by surface water or
groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support a prevalence
of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions,
commonly known as "hydrophytic vegetation."
LAND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY
Construction activity including clearing, grading, excavating,
soil disturbance or placement of fill that results in land disturbance
of equal to or greater than one acre, or activities disturbing less
than one acre of total land area that is part of a larger common plan
of development or sale, even though multiple separate and distinct
land development activities may take place at different times on different
schedules.
LANDOWNER
The legal or beneficial owner of land, including those holding
the right to purchase or lease the land, or any other person holding
proprietary rights in the land.
LICENSED/CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL
As defined in NYSDEC SPDES General Construction Permit GP-02-01,
a person currently licensed to practice engineering in New York State
or is a certified professional in erosion and sediment control (CPESC).
MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT
A legally recorded document that acts as a property deed
restriction and which provides for the long-term maintenance of stormwater
management practices and facilities.
NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION
Pollution from any source other than from a discernible,
confined, or discrete conveyance, and shall include, but not be limited
to, pollutants from agricultural, silvicultural, mining, construction,
subsurface disposal and urban runoff sources.
OWNER/OPERATOR
The person, persons, or legal entity that owns or leases
the property on which the construction activity is occurring. The
owner/operator is the ultimate responsible party for implementation
of the SWPPP.
PHASING
Clearing a parcel of land in distinct pieces or parts, with
the stabilization of each piece completed before the clearing of the
next. As per NYSDEC General Construction Permit GP-02-01, no more
than five acres of land disturbance may occur at any one time without
written approval by the Department.
POLLUTANT OF CONCERN
Sediment or a water quality measurement that addresses sediment
(such as total suspended solids, turbidity or siltation) and any other
pollutant that has been identified as a cause of impairment of any
water body that will receive a discharge from the land development
activity.
QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL
As defined in NYSDEC SPDES General Construction Permit GP-02-01,
a person knowledgeable in the principles and practice of erosion and
sediment controls, such as a licensed professional engineer, and certified
professional in erosion and sediment control (CPESC), or soil scientist.
RECHARGE
The replenishment of underground water reserves.
SEDIMENT CONTROL
A secondary measure; any practice that traps the soil particles
after they have been detached and moved by water or wind, preventing
the eroded sediment from leaving the site.
SENSITIVE AREAS
Cold water fisheries, shellfish beds, swimming beaches, groundwater
recharge areas, water supply reservoirs, steep slopes, and habitats
for threatened, endangered or special concern species.
STABILIZATION
The use of practices that prevent exposed soil from eroding,
or by means of covering or maintaining an existing cover over soil.
Cover can be vegetative (e.g., grass, trees, shrubs, seed and mulch,
or turf) or nonvegetative (e.g., geotextiles, riprap, or gabions).
STOP-WORK ORDER
An order issued which requires that all construction activity
on a site be stopped.
STORMWATER
Rainwater, surface runoff, snowmelt and drainage.
STORMWATER HOTSPOT
A land use or activity that generates higher concentrations
of hydrocarbons, trace metals or toxicants than are found in typical
stormwater runoff, based on monitoring studies, or as classified in
the New York State Stormwater Design Manual.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT
The use of structural or nonstructural practices that are
designed to reduce stormwater runoff and mitigate its adverse impacts
on property, natural resources and the environment.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT FACILITY
One or a series of stormwater management practices installed,
stabilized and operating for the purpose of controlling stormwater
runoff.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT OFFICER (SMO)
An employee or officer designated by the municipality to
accept review and approve stormwater pollution prevention plans, forward
the plans to the applicable municipal board and inspect stormwater
management practices. Plan reviews and site inspections may be delegated
to a consulting engineer and/or a consultant paid for through the
applicant's escrow account; however, a municipal employee or board
member must make the final approval.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (SMPs)
Measures, either structural or nonstructural, that are determined
to be the most effective, practical means of preventing flood damage
and preventing or reducing point source or nonpoint source pollution
definputs to stormwater runoff and water bodies.
STORMWATER RUNOFF
Flow on the surface of the ground resulting from precipitation
or snowmelt.
SURFACE WATERS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
Lakes, bays, sounds, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs,
wells, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, marshes, inlets, canals,
the Atlantic Ocean within the territorial seas of the State of New
York and all other bodies of surface water, natural or artificial,
inland or coastal, fresh or salt, public or private (except those
private waters that do not combine or effect a junction with natural
surface or underground waters), which are wholly or partially within
or bordering the state or within its jurisdiction. Storm sewers and
waste treatment systems, including treatment ponds or lagoons which
also meet the criteria of this definition, are not waters of the state.
This exclusion applies only to man-made bodies of water which neither
were originally created in waters of the state (such as a disposal
area in wetlands) nor resulted from impoundment of waters of the state.
TOWN
The Town of LaGrange.
WATERCOURSE
A permanent or intermittent stream or other body of water,
either natural or man-made, which gathers or carries surface water.
WATERWAY
A channel that directs surface runoff to a watercourse or
to the public storm drain.