It is hereby determined that:
A. Land development activities and associated increases
in site impervious cover often alter the hydrologic response of local watersheds
by increasing stormwater runoff rates and volumes, flooding, stream channel
erosion, and/or sediment transport and deposition.
B. This stormwater runoff contributes to increased quantities
of water-borne pollutants, including siltation of aquatic habitat for fish
and other desirable species.
C. Clearing and grading during construction tends to increase
the potential for soil erosion and add to the loss of native vegetation necessary
for terrestrial and aquatic habitats.
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 municipality.
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 this jurisdiction and to address the findings of fact in §
492-1 hereof. This chapter seeks to meet those purposes by achieving the following objectives:
A. Meet the requirements of minimum measures 4 and 5 of
the SPDES general permit for stormwater discharges from municipal separate
stormwater sewer systems (MS4s), Permit No. GP-02-02, as amended or revised;
B. Require land development 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, as amended or revised;
C. Minimize increases in stormwater runoff from land development
activities in order to reduce flooding, siltation, increases in stream temperature,
and streambank erosion and maintain the integrity of stream channels;
D. Minimize increases in pollution caused by stormwater
runoff from land development 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 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 and to ensure that these management practices are properly maintained
and eliminate threats to public safety.
In accordance with Article 10 of the Municipal Home Rule Law of the
State of New York, the Common Council 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 City of Peekskill and for the protection and enhancement
of its physical environment. The Common Council of the City of Peekskill 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 may be exempt from review by the Stormwater
Management Officer 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 received plat approval from the City of Peekskill on or before the effective
date of this chapter.
F. Land development activities for which final site plan
approval has been received from the City on or before the effective date of
this chapter.
G. Land development activities for which a building permit
has been issued on or before the effective date of this chapter.
I. Installation of fence, sign, telephone, and electric
poles and other kinds of posts or poles.
J. Emergency activity immediately necessary to protect life,
property or natural resources.
K. Activities of an individual engaging in home gardening
by growing flowers, vegetables and other plants primarily for use by that
person and his or her family.
L. Landscaping and horticultural activities in connection
with an existing structure.
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 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT
A legally recorded document that acts as a property deed restriction
and which provides for long-term maintenance of stormwater management practices.
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.
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.
STEEP SLOPES
Ground areas with a slope greater than 15% with a minimum area of
500 square feet which possesses one dimension of a minimum of 10 feet. Measurements
shall be made along a horizontal plane.
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.
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
An employee or officer designated by the municipality to accept and
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.
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.
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.
All land development 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 (New York State Soil and Water Conservation Committee, August
2005, most current version or its successor, hereafter referred to as the
"Erosion Control Manual").
B. Water quality standards. Any land development 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 City of Peekskill may require any person undertaking land development
activities regulated by this chapter to pay reasonable costs at prevailing
rates for review of SWPPPs, inspections, or SMP maintenance performed by the
City of Peekskill or performed by a third party for the City of Peekskill.
If the provisions of any article, section, subsection, paragraph, subdivision
or clause of this chapter shall be judged invalid by a court of competent
jurisdiction, such order or judgment shall not affect or invalidate the remainder
of any article, section, subsection, paragraph, subdivision or clause of this
chapter.