The terms used under this chapter shall have
the meanings as set forth in this section.
AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY
Activity defined as "open farming" or "other agriculture" in Chapter
85 of the Town Code.
A.
OPEN FARMINGIncludes the cultivation of the soil for food products and other useful or valuable growths of the field.
B.
OTHER AGRICULTUREAgricultural uses not included in the foregoing definition of "open farming," but including greenhouses, dairies and the raising of livestock, roosters and other poultry, except when such poultry consists solely of a total of six or fewer ducks or geese or female chickens or any combination thereof per residential premises, regardless of size.
APPLICANT
A property owner who has filed an application for a land
development activity.
BUILDING
Any structure meeting the definition of "building" as defined in Chapter
85 of the Town Code. A structure having a roof supported by columns or walls, and when separated by a party wall without openings, it shall be deemed a separate building.
CLEARING
The removal of any existing natural vegetation located on
a lot, parcel or site, exclusive of vegetation associated with active
agricultural or horticultural activity or formalized landscaped and/or
turf areas.
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 or fill of material, including the resulting conditions
thereof.
GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE
Those approaches that essentially infiltrate, evapotranspirate
or reuse stormwater, with significant utilization of soils and vegetation
rather than traditional hardscape collection, conveyance and storage
structures.
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.
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 common plan of
development, notwithstanding that multiple and distinct activities
may occur at different times and/or 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 provides for long-term maintenance
of stormwater management practices.
MUNICIPAL SEPARATE STORM SEWER SYSTEM (MS4)
A conveyance or system of conveyances (including roads with
drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters,
ditches, man-made channels, or storm drains) that is owned or operated
by the Town and designed or used for collecting or conveying stormwater;
the MS4, as defined, is not a combined sewer or part of a publicly
owned treatment works (POTW) as defined at 40 CFR 122.2.
NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION
Pollution, from any sources 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.
PERSON
One or more of the following: any individual, owner, lease
holder, entity, corporation, agent, company, parent company, subsidiary,
limited-liability company, substantially owned affiliated-entity,
successor, partnership, joint venture, association, legal representative,
agent or any other form of doing business.
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, including, but not limited to, nitrogen, phosphorus and
pathogens, that have been identified as a cause of impairment to 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, tidal wetlands and freshwater
wetlands.
STABILIZATION
The use of practices that prevent exposed soil from eroding.
STOP-WORK ORDER
An order issued that requires that all construction activity
on a site be stopped.
STORMWATER
Rainwater, surface runoff, snowmelt and drainage.
STORMWATER HOT SPOT
A land use or activity that generates higher concentrations
of hydrocarbons, trace metals or toxicants that 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 or reducing
point source or nonpoint source pollution inputs to stormwater runoff
and water bodies, while minimizing potential flood damage.
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) LIST OF IMPAIRED WATERS
NYSDEC-published list, and any amendments thereto, of all
surface waters in the State for which beneficial uses of the water
(i.e., drinking, recreation, aquatic habitat, and industrial) are
impaired by pollutants, as required by Section 303(d) of the Federal
Clean Water Act. 303(d) listed waters include estuaries, lakes, and
streams that fall short of State surface water quality standards and
are not expected to improve within the next two years.
TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOAD (TMDL)
The maximum amount of a pollutant allowed to be released
into a water body so as not to impair uses of the water, allocated
among the sources of that pollutant.
WATERCOURSE
A permanent or intermittent stream or other body of water,
either natural or man-made, which gathers or carries surface water.
WATERWAY
Any natural or artificial fresh or marine body of water commonly
known as a stream, river, creek, lake, pond, estuary, bay, harbor,
ocean, and the like. A waterway includes those areas defined as lands
underwater.
WETLANDS
Areas that meet the definition of "tidal wetland" or "freshwater wetland" as defined in Chapter
81 of the Town Code.
The requirements under this chapter shall be
applicable to all land development activities as follows:
A. Disturbance of one acre or more; or
B. Disturbance of less than one acre that is part of
a larger common plan of development, notwithstanding multiple and
distinct activities may occur at different times and/or different
schedules.
The following activities may be exempt from
review under this chapter:
A. Agricultural activity as defined in this chapter.
B. Routine maintenance activities that disturb less than
two acres and are performed to maintain the original line and grade,
hydraulic capacity or original purpose of a facility.
C. Repairs to any stormwater management practice or facility
deemed necessary by the Stormwater Management Officer.
D. Any part of a subdivision if a plat for the subdivision
has been approved by the Planning Board of the Town of Brookhaven
on or before the effective date of this chapter.
E. Land development activities for which a building permit
has been approved on or before the effective date of this chapter.
G. Installation of fence, sign, telephone, and electric
poles and other kinds of posts or poles.
H. Emergency measure immediately necessary to protect
life, property or natural resources. The Stormwater Management Officer
shall be notified in writing within 48 hours of the commencement of
the emergency. The Stormwater Management Officer shall review and
determine the sufficiency of the emergency measure and advise the
landowner and/or developer if additional protective measures are required.
I. Activities of an individual engaging in home gardening
by growing flowers, vegetable and other plants primarily for use by
that person and his or her family.
J. Landscaping and horticultural activities in connection
with an existing structure.
K. Resurfacing or repair of an existing paved surface,
which does not decrease the permeability of the paved surface, nor
expand the area of pavement.
All 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 specifications and standards
for stormwater management. Stormwater management practices that are
designed and constructed in accordance with the documents set forth
herein 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, or any amendments
thereto, 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 (or most current version), or any amendments thereto,
hereafter referred to as the "Erosion Control Manual.")
B. Equivalence to technical standards. Where stormwater
management practices are not in accordance with the technical specifications
or standards, the applicant or developer must demonstrate to the satisfaction
of the Stormwater Management Officer that the SWPPP, as prepared by
a New York State registered landscape architect (RLA), a certified
professional in sediment and erosion control (CPESC) or a professional
engineer (PE) licensed in the State of New York, is equivalent to
the technical specifications or standards.
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.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision,
section, or part of this chapter or the application thereof to any
person, individual, corporation, firm, partnership, entity, or circumstance
shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid
or unconstitutional, such order or judgment shall not affect, impair,
or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its
operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section,
or part of this chapter, or in its application to the person, individual,
corporation, firm, partnership, entity, or circumstance directly involved
in the controversy in which such order or judgment shall be rendered.