Unless specifically defined below, words or phrases used in this article shall be interpreted so as to give them the meaning they have in common usage and to give this article its most reasonable application. The definitions below are the same as or based on the corresponding definitions in the stormwater management rules at N.J.A.C. 7:8-1.2 and other state sources.
AGRICULTURAL OR HORTICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT Construction and/or land uses normally associated with the production of food, fiber and livestock for sale. Such uses do not include the development of land for processing or sale of food and the manufacturing of agriculturally related products.
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMPs) "New Jersey Stormwater Best Management Practices Manual," adopted by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection ("Department") originally in February 2004, as updated and revised. Consult www.njstormwater.org for this manual and other pertinent information.
CATEGORY ONE WATERS or C-1 WATERS Those waters designated in the tables in N.J.A.C. 7:9B-1.15(c) through (h), for purposes of implementing the antidegradation policies set forth in N.J.A.C. 7:9B-1.5(d), for protection from measurable changes in water quality characteristics because of their clarity, color, scenic setting, other characteristics of aesthetic value, exceptional ecological significance, exceptional recreational significance, exceptional water supply significance, or exceptional fisheries resource(s).
CORE A pedestrian-oriented area of commercial and civic uses serving the surrounding municipality, generally including housing and access to public transportation.
COUNTY REVIEW AGENCY An agency designated by the County Board of Chosen Freeholders to review municipal stormwater management plans and implementing ordinance(s). The county review agency may either be:
A. A county planning agency; or
B. A county water resource association created under N.J.S.A. 58:16A-55.5, if the ordinance or resolution delegates authority to approve, conditionally approve, or disapprove municipal stormwater management plans and implementing ordinances.
DEPARTMENT The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
DESIGNATED CENTER A State Development and Redevelopment Plan Center as designated by the State Planning Commission, such as urban, regional, town, village, or hamlet.
DESIGN ENGINEER A person professionally qualified and duly licensed in New Jersey to perform engineering services that may include, but not necessarily be limited to, development of project requirements, creation and development of project design and preparation of drawings and specifications.
DEVELOPMENT The division of a parcel of land into two or more parcels, the construction, reconstruction, conversion, structural alteration, relocation or enlargement of any building or structure, any mining excavation or landfill, and any use or change in the use of any building or other structure, or land or extension of use of land, by any person, for which permission is required under Municipal Land Use Law, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq. In the case of development of agricultural lands, "development" means any activity that requires a state permit; any activity reviewed by the County Agricultural Development Board (CADB) and the State Agricultural Development Committee (SADC), and municipal review of any activity not exempted by the Right to Farm Act, N.J.S.A. 4:1C-1 et seq.
DISTURBANCE Any activity including the clearing, excavating, storing, grading, filling, or transportation of soil or any other activity that causes soil to be exposed to the danger of erosion.
DRAINAGE AREA A geographic area within which stormwater, sediments, or dissolved materials drain to a particular receiving water body or to a particular point along a receiving water body.
ENVIRONMENTALLY CRITICAL AREA An area or feature which is of significant environmental value, including but not limited to stream corridors; natural heritage priority sites; habitat of endangered or threatened species; large areas of contiguous open space or upland forest; steep slopes; and wellhead protection and groundwater recharge areas. Habitats of endangered or threatened species are identified using the Department's Landscape Project as approved by the Department's Endangered and Nongame Species Program.
EROSION The detachment and movement of soil or rock fragments by water, wind, ice or gravity.
GROUNDWATER A body of water below the surface of the land in a zone of saturation where the spaces between the soil or geological materials are fully saturated with water.
HUC-14 A watershed as defined by the United States Geological Survey with a fourteen-digit identifier; a subwatershed.
IMPERVIOUS SURFACE A surface that has been covered with a layer of material so that it is highly resistant of infiltration by water.
INFILTRATION The process by which water seeps into the soil from precipitation.
MAJOR DEVELOPMENT Any "development" that provides for ultimately disturbing the soil on one or more acres of land and/or any development that provides an additional 1/4 acre of impervious surface on a development site. This definition applies consistently to the term "major development" as used throughout this article. (Note: "Major development," for purposes of this article, is not identical to the definition in the Municipal Land Use Law or local zoning ordinances.)
MAXIMUM EXTENT PRACTICABLE Compliance with the specific objective to the greatest extent possible taking into account equitable considerations and competing factors, including but not limited to environmental benefits, pollutant removal effectiveness, regulatory compliance, ability to implement given site-specific environmental conditions, cost and technical or engineering feasibility.
NODE An area designated by the State Planning Commission concentrating facilities and activities that are not organized in a compact form.
NONSTRUCTURAL STORMWATER MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES Techniques that control or reduce stormwater runoff in the absence of stormwater structures (e.g., basins and piped conveyances), such as minimizing slopes, utilizing native vegetation, minimizing turf grass lawns, increasing time of concentration and maintaining and enhancing natural drainage features and characteristics.
NUTRIENT A chemical substance and/or compound, such as nitrate or phosphate, organic materials, etc., which is essential to and promotes the development of organisms.
PERSON Any individual(s), corporation, company, partnership, firm, association, Township of Hillside, or political subdivision of this state subject to municipal jurisdiction pursuant to the Municipal Land Use Law, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
POLLUTANT Any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, filter backwash, sewage, garbage, refuse, oil, grease, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, medical wastes, radioactive substances [except those regulated under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. § 2011 et seq.)] thermal waste, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, industrial, municipal, agricultural, residential, and construction waste or runoff, or other residue discharged directly or indirectly to the land, groundwaters or surface waters of the state, or to a domestic treatment works. "Pollutant" includes both hazardous and nonhazardous pollutants.
RECHARGE The amount of water from precipitation that infiltrates into the ground and is not evapotranspired (including evaporated or transpired).
SEDIMENT Solid material, mineral or organic, that is in suspension, is being transported, or has been moved from its site of origin by air, water or gravity as a product of erosion.
SITE The lot or lots upon which a major development is to occur or has occurred.
SOIL All unconsolidated mineral and organic material of any origin.
SPECIAL RESOURCE WATERS Water bodies receiving special protections due to their drinking water status or role as high-quality habitat for threatened and endangered species or species of commercial or recreational importance. This includes waterways so designated through the New Jersey Stormwater Management Rules (N.J.A.C. 7:8) because of exceptional ecological significance, exceptional water supply significance, exceptional recreational significance, exceptional shellfish resource, or exceptional fisheries resource. Waters so designated are protected by a three-hundred-foot buffer extending on either side of the waterway measured perpendicular from top-of-bank or center of channel for waterways lacking a define top-of-bank; see the definition of "Category One Waters or C-1 Waters."
STATE PLAN POLICY MAP The geographic application of the state development and redevelopment plan's goals and statewide policies, and the official map of these goals and policies.
STORMWATER Water resulting from precipitation (including rain and snow) that runs off the land's surface, is transmitted to the subsurface, or is captured by separate storm sewers or other sewage or drainage facilities, or conveyed by snow removal equipment.
STORMWATER COORDINATOR The person(s) designated by the governing body to review all development applications for compliance with federal, state, and local stormwater control and stormwater management requirements. Unless a different officer is appointed by the Township Council, the Township Public Work Director shall serve as the Stormwater Coordinator.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT BASIN An excavation or embankment and related areas designated to retain stormwater runoff. A stormwater management basin may either be normally dry (that is, a detention basin or infiltration basin), retain water in a permanent pool (a retention basin), or be planted mainly with wetland vegetation (most constructed stormwater wetlands).
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT MEASURE Any structural or nonstructural strategy, practice, technology, process, program, or other method intended to control or reduce stormwater runoff and associated pollutants, to induce or control the infiltration or groundwater recharge of stormwater or to eliminate illicit or illegal nonstormwater discharges into stormwater conveyances.
STORMWATER RUNOFF Stormwater flow on the surface or in the storm sewers, resulting from precipitation.
STRUCTURAL STORMWATER TECHNIQUE A stormwater management measure that involves control of concentrated stormwater runoff or infiltration such as stormwater basins, piped conveyance systems and manufactured stormwater devices, and can include various types of basins, filters, surfaces, and devices located on individual lots in a residential development or throughout a commercial, industrial, or institutional development site in areas not typically suited for larger, centralized structural facilities.
THREATENED AND/OR ENDANGERED SPECIES Those species whose prospects for survival in New Jersey are in immediate danger because of loss or change in habitat, overexploitation, predation, competition, disease, disturbance or contamination. Assistance is needed to prevent future extinction in New Jersey and those which may become endangered if conditions surrounding them begin to or continue to deteriorate. This definition includes protection of habitats of these species.
TIDAL FLOOD HAZARD AREA A flood hazard area which may be influenced by stormwater runoff from inland areas but which is primarily caused by the Atlantic Ocean.
TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLIDS or TSS Total suspended solids (TSS) are those solids in water that can be separated from water by man-made or natural filtration or by centrifuging. TSS can include a wide variety of material, such as soil, decaying plant and animal matter, as well as organic and nonorganic matter.
VEGETATION and/or VEGETATED BUFFER Plant life and plant cover in soil, but not lawns. A suggested list of native and noninvasive species appropriate for use for purposes of this article is attached as Appendix A. This is not exclusive. In addition, the terms "vegetation" and/or "vegetative buffer" are meant to be consistent with other NJDEP definitions, i.e., contained in the Freshwater Wetlands Regulations, etc., derived from the New Jersey Stormwater Best Management Practices Manual, Chapter 7, Tables 7-9 and 7-10.
WATERS OF THE STATE The ocean and its estuaries, all springs, streams, wetlands, and bodies of surface water or groundwater, whether natural or artificial, within the boundaries of the State of New Jersey or subject to its jurisdiction.
WETLANDS or WETLAND An area that is inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances does support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, commonly known as "hydrophytic vegetation."
Any person, entity, or association who erects, constructs, alters, repairs, converts, maintains, fails to maintain as required in §
188-77 hereof, or otherwise uses any building, structure or land in violation of this article, shall be subject to a fine of not more than $2,000 and/or a term of imprisonment of not more than 30 days, or both. Each day that a violation persists shall be a separate violation hereof.