The terms used in this local law or in documents
prepared or reviewed under this local law 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 roof, designed for the shelter of any person, animal, or property.
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.
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 principals, 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, snow melt and water (e.g., building rooftops,
pavement, sidewalks, driveways, etc.).
INDUSTRIAL STORMWATER PERMIT
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 and source other than from any discernible,
confined, and discrete conveyances, and shall include, but not limited
to, pollutants from agricultural, silvicultural, mining, construction,
subsurface disposal and urban runoff surfaces.
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 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 hydocarbons, trace metals or toxins 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 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.
STORMWATER PROGRAM COORDINATOR
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.
[Amended 6-25-2024 by L.L. No. 5-2024]
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 the 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.
It shall be unlawful for any person, developer or entity to undertake or engage in land development activity as that term is defined in §
120-6 herein without complying with the terms and requirements of this local law which includes obtaining a land development activity permit from the Town. The permit application shall be on a form prescribed by the Town. The permit application fee shall be an amount established and amended from time to time by resolution of the Town Board.
No application for approval of a land development
activity shall be reviewed until the appropriate board has received
a stormwater pollution prevention plan (SPPP) prepared in accordance
with the specifications in this local law.
The applicant shall assure that all other applicable
environmental permits have been or will be acquired for the land development
activity prior to approval of the final stormwater design plan.
A copy of the SPPP shall be retained at the
site of the land development activity during construction from the
date of initiation of construction activities to the date of final
stabilization.
All land development activities shall be subject
to the following performance and design criteria:
A. Technical standards. For the purpose of this local
law, 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
law:
(1) 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 Article 2, Section 3.1 and the SPPP shall be
prepared by a licensed professional.
C. 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.
Prior to the issuance of any approval that has
a stormwater management facility as one of the requirements, the applicant
or developer must execute a maintenance easement agreement that shall
be binding on all subsequent landowners served by the stormwater management
facility. The easement shall provide for access to the facility at
reasonable times for periodic inspection by the Town of Moreau to
ensure that the facility is maintained in proper working condition
to meet design standards and any other provisions established by this
local law. The easement shall be recorded by the grantor in the office
of the County Clerk after approval by the counsel for the Town of
Moreau.
The owner or operator of permanent stormwater
management practices installed in accordance with this law shall ensure
they are operated and maintained to achieve the goals of this law.
Proper operation and maintenance also includes as a minimum, the following:
A. A preventive/corrective maintenance program for all
critical facilities and systems of treatment and control (or related
appurtenances) which are installed or used by the owner or operator
to achieve the goals of this law.
B. Written procedures for operation and maintenance and
training new maintenance personnel.
C. Discharges from the SMPs shall not exceed design criteria or cause or contribute to water quality standard violations in accordance with §
120-11C hereof.
The Town of Moreau shall approve a formal maintenance
agreement for stormwater management facilities binding on all subsequent
landowners and recorded in the office of the County Clerk as a deed
restriction on the property prior to final plan approval. The maintenance
agreement shall be consistent with the terms and conditions of Schedule
B of this local law entitled Sample Stormwater Control Facility Maintenance
Agreement. The Town of Moreau, in lieu of a maintenance agreement,
at its sole discretion may accept dedication of any existing or future
stormwater management facility, provided such facility meets all the
requirements of this local law and includes adequate and perpetual
access and sufficient area, by easement or otherwise, for inspection
and regular maintenance.