As used in this chapter the following words
shall have the meanings indicated:
The area lying outside the seventy-five-foot vegetative buffer
but within the one-hundred-foot regulated area.
The cultivation and harvesting of native products, including
fish, shellfish and vegetation, that are produced naturally in wetlands,
and the installation of cribs, racks and other in-water structures
for the cultivation of these products.
A walk, or a stairway down a bluff, constructed of planking,
which can be at ground level or elevated over vegetation and which
cannot be more than five feet wide.
The causeway footprint shall be calculated from the outermost
projections of the building/structure using a direct overhead view
and including conditioned and nonconditioned spaces.
[Added 12-2-2011 by L.L.
No. 7-2011]
To fill, place, effect, indirectly discharge or dump any
material.
Any disruption or displacement of wetlands, substrate or
bottom sediments or contours. It also means the excavation or creation
of a water body which is to be connected to the wetland. The excavation
or removal of sediment, soil, mud, sand, gravel or other aggregate
from any wetland or adjacent regulated area for the direct or indirect
purpose of establishing or increasing water depth, increasing the
surface or crosssectional area of a waterway or obtaining such sediment,
soil, mud, sand, gravel, shells or other aggregate.
The construction of an addition to an existing structure.
The placement of material on, over or within the regulated
area.
The outside perimeter of an existing foundation for a structure,
including any covered porches attached to said structure but excluding
patios, decks, stairways, steps, or balconies.
Soil, stones, sand, gravel, clay, bog, peat, mud, debris
and refuse or any other organic or inorganic substance, whether liquid,
solid or gaseous, or any combination thereof.
The erection of a structure in a location where no structure
previously stood, whether freestanding or attached to an existing
structure.
That form of town approval required by this chapter for conducting
a regulated activity on, over or within the regulated area.
Any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company, organization or legal entity of any kind, including municipal
corporations, governmental agencies or subdivisions thereof.
The presence in the environment of conditions or contaminates
in quantities or characteristics which are or may be injurious to
human, plant, marine life, wildlife or other animal life or to property
or which unreasonably interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of
the benefits of such wetlands as may be affected thereby.
An alteration to any part of an existing structure which
replaces 50% or more of the existing structure, including walls, roofs,
floors, wiring, plumbing and insulation, as calculated by the Building
Inspector pursuant to the Building Department policy.
[Amended 5-25-2007 by L.L. No. 5-2007]
Activities requiring a permit, including but not limited
to:
Dredging, disturbing, excavating or mining,
either directly or indirectly;
Dumping, filling, or depositing, either directly
or indirectly;
Disturbing, clearing, cutting or removing vegetation;
Erecting or expanding any buildings or structures
including docks, bulkhead, boardwalks, driveways, tennis courts, or
pools;
Constructing or expanding roads;
Installing utilities, septic systems, sumps
or catchment basins;
Driving pilings or placing any obstructions,
whether or not changing the ebb and flow of the water;
Any form of pollution, including but not limited
to installing an on-site sewage disposal system, running sewer outfall,
discharging sewage treatment effluent, rainwater runoff, water discharge
from a swimming pool, or other liquefied wastes into or so as to drain
into a wetland and which occur within the regulated area;
Any other activity which impacts any of the
functions or benefits of wetlands.
The area in, on or over a wetland and within 100 feet of
the landward boundary of a tidal wetland or within 100 feet of the
landward boundary of a freshwater wetland, as measured horizontally.
It shall consist of the seventy-five-foot vegetative buffer plus the
twenty-five-foot adjacent regulated area.
An alteration to any part of an existing structure which
replaces less than 50% of the existing structure, including walls,
roofs, floors, wiring, plumbing and insulation, as calculated by the
Building Inspector pursuant to the Building Department policy.
[Amended 5-25-2007 by L.L. No. 5-2007]
State Environmental Quality Review Act.
The Town of Shelter Island.
The Town Board of the Town of Shelter Island.
The Town Clerk of the Town of Shelter Island.
All waters bordering on or within the boundaries of the Town
of Shelter Island subject to fluctuation in depth from peak lunar,
storm or normal tidal action, and including but not limited to all
brackish and salt waters of streams, ponds, creeks, estuaries, bays
and inlets.
Excepted activities which are not regulated by this chapter
include but are not limited to repairs, normal beach grooming or cleanup,
maintenance of preexisting nonconforming structures when normal and
customary and/or in compliance with an approved maintenance program,
maintaining native vegetation.
[Added 12-2-2011 by L.L.
No. 7-2011]
There shall be a shoreline vegetative buffer which extends
75 feet landward from the most landward point of tidal or freshwater
wetlands, as those terms are defined herein.
TIDAL WETLANDS:
Any persistent and/or intermittent water body
or area characterized by the dominance of submerged and/or transitional
wetland plant species as listed in the Environmental Conservation
Law, Article 25-0103, or as may be amended.
All lands generally covered or intermittently
covered with, or which border on or lie beneath tidal waters such
as banks, beaches, bogs, salt marsh, swamps, meadows, flats, bars,
shoals, littoral zones, high marsh and salt meadow or other low lands
subject to tidal action, including those areas now or formerly connected
to tidal waters and including waters immediately adjacent to bulkheads.
All banks, bogs, meadows, flats and tidal marsh
subject to such tides, and upon which grow or may grow some or any
of the following: salt hay (Spartina patens and Distichlis spicata),
black grass (Juncus gerardi), saltworts (Salicornia ssp.), sea lavender
(Limonium carolinianum), tall cordgrass, (Spartina pectinata and Spartina
cynosuroides), hightide bush (Iva frutenscens), cattails (Typha angustifolia
and Typha latifolia), groundsel (Baccharis halmilifolia), marsh mallow
(Hybiscus palustris) and the intertidal zone, including low marsh
cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora).
Lands and water substantially enclosed by aquatic
or semiaquatic vegetation as set forth in this subsection, the regulation
of which is necessary to protect and preserve the vegetation.
FRESHWATER WETLANDS:
Lands and submerged lands, commonly called "marshes,"
"ponds," "swamps," "sloughs," "bogs," "flats" and the like, regardless
of the type or amount of vegetation growing thereon or the absence
of same.
All such lands upon which grow any of the following
plant species or vegetation:
Wet meadow consisting of such plants as sedges
(Carex spp.), rushes (Juncus spp.), coarse grasses and sometimes cattails
(Typha spp.).
Emergent marsh, including, among others, cattails
(Typha spp.), purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), swamp loosestrife
(Decodon verticillatus), arrowheads (Sagittaria spp.), reeds (Phragmites
communis), bur-reeds (Sparganium spp.), pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata),
wild rice (Zizania aquatica), water plantain (Alisma plantago-aquatica),
bulrushes (Scirpus spp.) and arrow arum.
Deciduous swamp consisting of live deciduous
trees over 15 feet in height such as American elm (Ulmus americana),
red maple (Acer rubrum), silver maple (Acer saccharinum), red ash
(Fraxinus pennsylvanica), black ash (Fraximus nigra), swamp white
oak (Quercas bicolor) and willows (Salix spp.).
Coniferous swamp consisting of live coniferous
trees over 15 feet in height, such as black spruce (Picca mariana),
white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides), red spruce (picea rubens), balsam
fir (Abies balsamea), Northern white pine (Pinus strobus) and American
larch (Larix laricina).
Shrub swamp consisting of vegetation less than
15 feet in height, such as alders (Alnus spp.), willows, leatherleaf,
bog rosemary (Andromeda glaucophylla), sweet gale, buttonbush (Cephalanthus
occidentalis), highbush cranberry, red osier dogwood (Coitus spp.)
and sphagnum moss (Sphagnum spp.) in bog mats.
Floating vegetation such as duckweed (Lemna
spp.), watermeal (Wolffia spp.), waterlily (Nymphaea odorata), water
shield (Brasneia schreberi) and spatterdock (Nuphar spp.).
Submergent vegetation such as pondweeds (Potamogeton
spp.), naiads (Najas spp.), coontail (Ceratophyllum demersum), water
milfoils (Nitella spp.), wild celery (Vallisneria americana), muskgrass,
stonewort, water smartweed (Polygonum amphibium) and bladderworts
(Ultricularia spp.).
Lands and water substantially enclosed by aquatic,
semiaquatic or dead vegetation as set forth in this subsection, the
regulation of which is necessary to protect and preserve the vegetation;
or
The duly appointed Wetlands Officer of the Town of Shelter
Island.
This chapter shall apply to all lands and lands
under water over which the Town of Shelter Island has jurisdiction
but shall not apply to the Incorporated Village of Dering Harbor.
It shall be the duty of the Wetlands Officer
to administer and enforce the provisions of this chapter.
A.
Whenever the Wetlands Officer has reasonable grounds
to believe that operations regulated hereby are being conducted in
violation of the provisions of this chapter or not in compliance with
a permit issued pursuant to this chapter as it presently or formerly
may have existed, he shall notify the owner of the property, or the
owner's agent or the person performing such operations to suspend
all operations until such notice of violation has been rescinded.
B.
Such notice shall be in writing, shall specify the
violation and conditions which must be complied with and the time
within which the compliance must be completed before operations may
be resumed. Such notice shall also inform the alleged violator of
the right to apply for a hearing before the Town Board before assessment
of a civil penalty, as hereinafter provided.
C.
Such notice shall be served by personal service upon
the alleged violator, or by posting same in a conspicuous place on
the premises where operations are being conducted and mailing a copy
to such person by certified mail to the last known address.
D.
In the event that the person upon whom a notice of
violation has been served shall fail to immediately cease operations
or comply with said notice, any permit issued pursuant to this chapter
shall be suspended.
A.
Any person who violates, disobeys or disregards any provision of
the chapter shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $25,000.
[Amended 11-4-2014 by L.L. No. 9-2014]
B.
Any disturbance of the vegetative buffer that exceeds the standards specified in § 129-3, must be restored in its entirety, by submission of a revegetation plan which satisfies the Town Board and by the installation of native vegetation, as designated in a list prepared by the Conservation Advisory Council, to restore the vegetative buffer.
C.
Before assessment of a civil penalty, the alleged
violator shall be afforded the opportunity for a hearing before the
Town Board, provided that a written request is filed with the Town
Clerk within 10 days after service of the notice of violation.
D.
In addition to the above, any person who violates
any provision of this chapter shall be guilty of an offense punishable
by a fine not less than $1,500. For a second and each subsequent offense,
the violator shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine
not exceeding $3,000 or a term of imprisonment not to exceed 15 days,
or both.
[Amended 4-18-2008 by L.L. No. 3-2008]
E.
Any offender may be ordered by the court to restore
the affected wetland to its condition prior to the offense, insofar
as that is possible. The court shall specify a reasonable time for
the completion of such restoration, which shall be effected under
the supervision of the Town Board of Shelter Island.
F.
In the case of a continuing offense, each day shall
be deemed a separate and distinct offense.
G.
In addition to the above-provided penalties, the town
shall have the right to seek equitable relief to restrain any violation
or threatened violation of any provision of this chapter.
[Amended 12-2-2011 by L.L. No. 7-2011]
Any person aggrieved by the issuance, denial,
suspension, or revocation of a permit, waiver, variance, or other
decision made under this chapter may seek judicial review pursuant
to Article 78 of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules. Such proceedings
shall be instituted within 30 days after the filing of a decision
in the Office of the Town Clerk. In the event that the court may find
that the determination challenged therein constitutes the equivalent
of a taking without compensation, and the land so regulated otherwise
meets the interest and objectives of this chapter, it may, at the
election of the Town Board, either set aside the determination or
require the Town to acquire the property or such rights in them as
have been taken, proceeding under the power of eminent domain.
If any provision of this chapter shall be held
for any reason to be invalid, such determination shall not invalidate
any other provision hereof.
This chapter shall be effective upon filing
with the Secretary of State.
