As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
BOAT-LAUNCHING FACILITYA facility designed primarily for the launching and landing of watercraft and which may include an access ramp, docking area and parking spaces for vehicles and trailers.
CAMPGROUNDAny area or tract of land to accommodate two or more parties in temporary living quarters, including but not limited to tents, recreational vehicles or other shelters.
COASTAL WETLANDAll tidal and subtidal lands; all lands below any identifiable debris line left by tidal action; all lands with vegetation present that is tolerant of saltwater and occurs primarily in a saltwater or estuarine habitat; and any swamp, marsh, bog, beach, flat or other contiguous low land which is subject to tidal action during the maximum spring tide level as identified in tide tables published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Coastal wetlands may include portions of coastal sand dunes.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
Operations conducted for the public health, safety or general welfare, such as protection of resources from immediate destruction or loss, law enforcement and operations to rescue human beings, property and livestock from the threat of destruction or injury.
ESSENTIAL SERVICESThe construction, alteration or maintenance of gas, electrical or communication facilities; steam, fuel, electric power or water transmission or distribution lines, towers and related equipment; telephone cables or lines, poles and related equipment; gas, oil, water, slurry or other similar pipelines; municipal sewage lines, collection or supply systems; and associated storage tanks. Such systems may include towers, poles, wires, mains, drains, pipes, conduits, cables, fire alarms and police call boxes, traffic signals, hydrants and similar accessories but shall not include service drops or buildings which are necessary for the furnishing of such services.
FORESTED WETLANDFreshwater wetlands dominated by woody vegetation that is six meters (approximately 19.7 feet) tall or taller.
FOREST MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIESTimber cruising and other forest resource evaluation activities, pesticide or fertilizer application, management planning activities, timber stand improvement, pruning, regeneration of forest stands and other similar or associated activities, exclusive of timber harvesting and the construction, creation or maintenance of roads.
FRESHWATER WETLAND[Amended 1-11-1993 by Ord. No. 93-59]
A. Freshwater swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas other than forested wetlands which are:
(1) Of 10 or more contiguous acres or of less than 10 contiguous acres and adjacent to a surface water body, excluding any river, stream or brook, such that in a natural state the combined surface area is in excess of 10 acres; and
Inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and for a duration sufficient to support, and which under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of wetland vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soils.
Freshwater wetlands may contain small stream channels or inclusions of land that do not conform to the criteria of this definition.
FUNCTIONALLY WATER-DEPENDENT USESThose uses that require, for their primary purpose, location on submerged lands or that require direct access to, or location in, coastal and inland waters and which cannot be located away from these waters. The uses include, but are not limited to, commercial and recreational fishing and boating facilities, finfish and shellfish processing, fish storage and retail and wholesale fish marketing facilities, waterfront dock and port facilities, shipyards and boatbuilding facilities, marinas, navigation aides, basins and channels, industrial uses dependent upon waterborne transportation or requiring large volumes of cooling or processing water and which cannot reasonably be located or operated at an inland site and uses which primarily provide general public access to marine or tidal waters.
INDIVIDUAL PRIVATE CAMPSITEAn area of land which is not associated with a campground but which is developed for repeated camping by only one group, not to exceed 10 individuals, and which involves site improvements which may include, but not be limited to, gravel pads, parking areas, fireplaces or tent platforms.
MARINAA business establishment having frontage on navigable water and, as its principal use, providing for hire offshore moorings or docking facilities for boats and which may also provide accessory services, such as boat and related sales, boat repair and construction, indoor and outdoor storage of boats and marine equipment, bait and tackle shops and marine fuel service facilities.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
Hand sampling, test boring or other methods of determining the nature or extent of mineral resources which create minimal disturbance to the land and which include reasonable measures to restore the land to its original condition.
MINERAL EXTRACTIONAny operation within any twelve-month period which removes more than 100 cubic yards of soil, topsoil, loam, sand, gravel, clay, rock, peat or other like material from its natural location and to transport the product removed away from the extraction site.
NORMAL HIGH-WATER LINEThat line which is apparent from visible markings, changes in the character of soils due to prolonged action of the water or changes in vegetation and which distinguishes between predominantly aquatic and predominantly terrestrial land. In the case of wetlands adjacent to rivers and great ponds, the normal high-water line is the upland edge of the wetland and not the edge of the open water.
OUTLET STREAMAny perennial or intermittent stream, as shown on the most recent edition of the seven-and-one-half-minute series or, if not available, a fifteen-minute series topographic map produced by the United States Geological Survey, that flows from a freshwater wetland.
[Amended 1-10-1994 by Ord. No. 94-55; 12-27-2000 by Ord. No. 01-62; at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
A place designed and equipped for the conduct of sports, leisure-time activities and other customary and usual recreational activities, excluding boat-launching facilities.
RECREATIONAL VEHICLEA vehicle or an attachment to a vehicle designed to be towed and designed for temporary sleeping or living quarters for one or more persons and which may include a pickup camper, travel trailer, tent trailer, camp trailer and motor home. In order to be considered as a vehicle and not as a structure, the unit must remain with its tires on the ground and must be registered with the State Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
A free-flowing body of water, including its associated floodplain wetlands, from that point at which it provides drainage for a watershed of 25 square miles to its mouth.
SALT MARSHAreas along coastal waters (most often along coastal bays) which support salt-tolerant species and where at average high tide during the growing season the soil is regularly inundated by tidal waters. The predominant species is salt-marsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora). More open areas often support widgeon grass, eelgrass and sago pondweed.
SALT MEADOWAreas which support salt-tolerant plant species bordering the landward side of salt marshes or open coastal water where the soil is saturated during the growing season but which is rarely inundated by tidal water. Indigenous plant species include salt-meadow cordgrass (Spartina patens) and black rush. Common threesquare occurs in fresher areas.
SHORE FRONTAGEThe length of a lot bordering on a water body measured in a straight line between the intersections of the lot lines with the shoreline at normal high-water elevation.
SHORELAND ZONEThe land area located within 250 feet, horizontal distance, of the normal high-water line of any great pond, river or saltwater body; within 75 feet of the upland edge of a coastal or freshwater wetland; or within 75 feet of the normal high-water line of a stream or outlet stream.
[Amended 12-27-2000 by Ord. No. 01-62]
A free-flowing body of water from the outlet of a great pond or the confluence of two perennial streams, as depicted on the most recent edition of a United States Geological Survey seven-and-one-half-minute series topographic map or, if not available, a fifteen-minute series topographic map, to the point where the body of water becomes a river or flows to another water body or wetland within a shoreland zone.
TIMBER HARVESTINGThe cutting and removal of trees from their growing site and the attendant operation of cutting and skidding machinery, but not the construction or creation of roads. Timber harvesting does not include the clearing of land for approved construction.
TRIBUTARY STREAMA channel between defined banks created by the action of surface water, whether intermittent or perennial, and which is characterized by the lack of upland vegetation or presence of aquatic vegetation and by the presence of a bed devoid of topsoil containing waterborne deposits on exposed soil, parent material or bedrock and which flows to a water body or wetland as defined. This definition does not include the term "stream" as defined elsewhere in this chapter and only applies to that portion of the tributary stream located within the shoreland zone of the receiving water body or wetland.
VEGETATIONAll live trees, shrubs, ground cover and other plants, including, without limitation, trees both over and under four inches in diameter measured at 4 1/2 feet above ground level.
WATER BODYAny great pond, river, stream, outlet stream or tidal area.
[Amended 12-27-2000 by Ord. No. 01-62]
Any project extending from one bank to the opposite bank of a river or stream, whether under, through or over the watercourse. Such projects include but may not be limited to roads, fords, bridges, culverts, water lines, sewer lines and cables, as well as maintenance work on these crossings.
WETLANDA freshwater or coastal wetland.
WETLANDS ASSOCIATED WITH GREAT PONDS AND RIVERSWetlands contiguous with or adjacent to a great pond or river and which, during normal high water, are connected by surface water to the great pond or river. Also included are wetlands which are separated from the great pond or river by a berm, causeway or similar feature less than 100 feet in width and which have a surface elevation at or below the normal high-water line of the great pond or river.