It has been determined by the New York State
Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) that:
A. Land development activities and associated increases
in site impervious cover often alter the hydrologic response of local
watersheds and increase stormwater runoff rates and volumes, flooding,
stream channel erosion, or sediment transport and deposition;
B. This stormwater runoff contributes to increased quantities
of waterborne pollutants, including siltation of aquatic habitat for
fish and other desirable species;
C. Clearing and grading during construction tends to
increase soil erosion and add to the loss of native vegetation necessary
for terrestrial and aquatic habitat;
D. Improper design and construction of stormwater management
practices can increase the velocity of stormwater runoff, thereby
increasing stream bank erosion and sedimentation;
E. Impervious surfaces allow less water to percolate
into the soil, thereby decreasing groundwater recharge and stream
baseflow;
F. Substantial economic losses can result from these
adverse impacts on the waters of the state;
G. Stormwater runoff, soil erosion and nonpoint source
pollution can be controlled and minimized through the regulation of
stormwater runoff from land development activities;
H. The regulation of stormwater runoff discharges from
land development activities in order to control and minimize increases
in stormwater runoff rates and volumes, soil erosion, stream channel
erosion, and nonpoint source pollution associated with stormwater
runoff is in the public interest and will minimize threats to public
health and safety.
I. Regulation of land development activities by means
of performance standards governing stormwater management and site
design will produce development compatible with the natural functions
of a particular site or an entire watershed and thereby mitigate the
adverse effects of erosion and sedimentation from development.
The purpose of this chapter is to establish minimum stormwater management requirements and controls to protect and safeguard the general health, safety, and welfare of the public residing within the Village and to address the state's findings of fact in §
227-1 hereof. This chapter seeks to meet those purposes by achieving the following objectives:
A. Meet the requirements of minimum measures 4 and 5
of New York State's SPDES General Permit for Stormwater Discharges
from Municipal Separate Stormwater Sewer Systems (MS4s), Permit No.
GP-02-02, or as amended or revised;
B. Require land development and redevelopment activities
to conform to the substantive requirements of the NYS Department of
Environmental Conservation State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
(SPDES) General Permit for Construction Activities GP-02-01, or as
amended or revised;
C. Minimize increases in stormwater runoff from land
development and redevelopment activities in order to reduce flooding,
siltation, increases in stream temperature, and streambank erosion
and maintain the integrity of stream channels, watercourses or waterways;
D. Minimize increases in pollution caused by stormwater
runoff from land development and redevelopment activities which would
otherwise degrade local water quality;
E. Minimize the total annual volume of stormwater runoff
which flows from any specific site during and following development
and redevelopment to the maximum extent practicable; and
F. Reduce stormwater runoff rates and volumes, soil erosion
and nonpoint source pollution, wherever possible, through stormwater
management practices, devices and/or structures, and to ensure that
these management practices, devices and/or structures are properly
maintained and eliminate threats to public safety.
In accordance with § 10 of the Municipal
Home Rule Law of the State of New York, the Board of Trustees of the
Village of Ossining has the authority to enact local laws and amend
local laws and for the purpose of promoting the health, safety or
general welfare of the Village of Ossining and for the protection
and enhancement of its physical environment. The Board of Trustees
of the Village of Ossining may include in any such local law provisions
for the appointment of any municipal officer, employees, or independent
contractor to effectuate, administer and enforce such local law.
The following activities are exempt from review
under this chapter:
A. Agricultural activity as defined in this chapter.
B. Silvicultural activity, except that landing areas
and log haul roads are subject to this chapter.
C. Routine maintenance activities that disturb less than
one acre and are performed to maintain the original line and grade,
hydraulic capacity or original purpose of a facility.
D. Repairs to any stormwater management practice or facility
deemed necessary by the Stormwater Management Officer.
E. Any part of a subdivision if a plat for the subdivision
has been approved by the Village on or before the effective date of
this chapter.
F. Land development or redevelopment activities for which
a building permit has been approved on or before the effective date
of this chapter.
H. Installation of fence, sign, telephone, and electric
poles and other kinds of posts or poles.
I. Emergency activity immediately necessary to protect
life, property or natural resources.
J. Activities of an individual engaging in home gardening
by growing flowers, vegetable and other plants primarily for use by
that person and his or her family.
K. Landscaping and horticultural activities in connection
with an existing structure on less than one acre.
The terms used in this chapter or in documents
prepared or reviewed 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 or redevelopment activity.
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.
CLEARING
Any activity that removes the vegetative surface cover.
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, most
recent version, including applicable updates, that serves as the official
guide for stormwater management principles, methods and practices.
DEVELOPER
A person who undertakes land development activities.
EPA
Environmental Protection Agency.
EROSION
The removal of soil particles by the action of water, wind,
ice or other geological agents.
EROSION CONTROL MANUAL
The most recent version of the "New York Standards and Specifications
for Erosion and Sediment Control" manual, commonly known as the "Blue
Book."
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 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/REDEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY
Construction activity including clearing, grading, excavating,
soil disturbance or placement of fill that results in land disturbance
of equal to or greater than 2,500 square feet, or activities disturbing
less than a quarter 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 or redevelopment 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
A person currently licensed to practice engineering in New
York State or 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 long-term maintenance of stormwater
management practices.
NYSDEC
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
NONPOINT 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, silvicultural, mining, construction,
subsurface disposal and urban runoff sources.
PHASING
Clearing a parcel of land in distinct pieces or parts, with
the stabilization of each piece completed before the clearing of the
next.
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.
PROJECT
Land development or redevelopment activity.
RECHARGE
The replenishment of underground water reserves.
SENSITIVE AREAS
Cold water fisheries, shellfish beds, swimming beaches, groundwater
recharge areas, water supply reservoirs, and habitats for threatened,
endangered or special concern species.
STABILIZATION
The use of practices that prevent exposed soil from eroding.
STOP-WORK ORDER
An order issued which requires that all construction activity
on a site be stopped.
STORMWATER
Rainwater, surface runoff, subsurface drainage and snowmelt.
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.
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)
The Village Engineer of the Village of Ossining or person
designated to serve by the Village Engineer, including professional
consultants. The SMO is to review stormwater pollution prevention
plans, forward the plans to the applicable municipal board and inspect
stormwater management practices.
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
inputs to stormwater runoff and water bodies.
STREAM CHANNEL
A natural or artificial watercourse with a definite bed and
banks that conducts continuously or periodically flowing water (see
also "watercourse;" "waterway").
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.
VILLAGE ENGINEER
The Village Engineer of the Village of Ossining or duly authorized
deputies, agents or representatives, including employees of other
Village Departments that are designated by the Village Engineer.
WATERCOURSE
A permanent or intermittent stream or other body of water,
either natural or man-made, which gathers or carries surface water
(see also "stream channel;" "waterway").
WATERWAY
A channel that directs surface runoff to a watercourse or
to the public storm drain (see also "stream channel;" "watercourse").
All land development or redevelopment activities
shall be subject to the following performance and design criteria:
A. Technical standards. For the purpose of this chapter,
the following documents shall serve as the official guides and specifications
for stormwater management. Stormwater management practices that are
designed and constructed in accordance with these technical documents
shall be presumed to meet the standards imposed by this chapter:
(1) The New York State Stormwater Management Design Manual
(New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, most current
version or its successor, hereafter referred to as the "Design Manual");
(2) New York Standards and Specifications for Erosion
and Sediment Control, (Empire State Chapter of the Soil and Water
Conservation Society, 2005, most current version or its successor,
hereafter referred to as the "Erosion Control Manual").
B. Equivalence to technical standards. Where stormwater management practices are not in accordance with technical standards, the applicant or developer must demonstrate equivalence to the technical standards set forth in §
227-8A of this chapter and the SWPPP shall be prepared by a licensed professional.
C. Water quality standards. Any land development or redevelopment
activity shall not cause an increase in turbidity that will result
in substantial visible contrast to natural conditions in surface waters
of the State of New York.
The Village may require any person undertaking
land development or redevelopment activities regulated by this chapter
to pay reasonable costs in accordance with the at prevailing rates
for review of SWPPPs, inspections, or SWMP maintenance performed by
the Village or performed by a third party for the Village.