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.
CPESC
Certified professional in erosion and sediment control.
CPSWQ
Certified professional in stormwater quality.
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, fill, or movement of material, including the
resulting conditions thereof.
IMPERVIOUS COVER
Those surfaces, improvements and structures that cannot effectively
infiltrate rainfall, snow melt 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.
NON-POINT 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, 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, 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 non-point 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.
303(d)
Section 303(d)(1)(C) of the Clean Water Act and EPA's implementing
regulations (40 CFR Part 130) require states to identify those water
bodies that do not meet water quality standards after application
of the technology-based effluent limitations required by the Act.
For these waters, states must consider the development of strategies,
including total maximum daily load (TMDL) analysis, for reducing the
pollutants that are causing the water quality standards expedience
in those water bodies.
TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOAD (TMDL)
A calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a
water body can receive and still meet water quality standards, and
an allocation of that amount to the pollutant's sources. A TMDL specifies
the allowable pollutant loading from all contributing sources (e.g.,
point sources, non-point sources, and natural background) at a level
necessary to attain the applicable water quality standards with seasonal
variations and a margin of safety that takes into account any lack
of knowledge concerning the relationship between the sources of the
pollutant and water quality. In essence, a TMDL defines the assimilative
capacity of the water body to absorb a pollutant and still meet water
quality standards.
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 nonexempt 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 (Empire State Chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation
Society, 2004, 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 Subsection
A, and the SWPPP shall be prepared by a licensed professional.
C. Water quality standards. Any land development activity
shall be in compliance with the stormwater law, and shall not have
any turbid waters leaving the site.