[Amended 1-26-2004]
The following are Wetlands and Watercourses Regulations adopted by the Conservation Commission pursuant to Chapter
20, Article
VII, Conservation Commission, of the Code of the Town of Old Lyme for the purposes therein enunciated and in accordance with the provisions of the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Act (1972 Public Act 155, as amended).
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
APPLICANT
Any person, or his agents or representatives, seeking a license to
conduct, or cause to be conducted, regulated activities.
COMMISSION
The Inland Wetlands Commission.
[Amended 1-26-2004]
DEPOSIT
Includes, but shall not be limited to, fill, grade, dump, place,
discharge or emit.
DISCHARGE
The emission of any water, substance or material into waters of the
Town, whether or not causing pollution.
LICENSE
The whole or any part of any permit, certificate or approval required
of any person by the provisions of these regulations.
LICENSEE
Any applicant, or his agents or representatives, who is granted a
license.
MATERIAL
Any substance, solid or liquid, organic or inorganic, including but
not limited to soil, sediment, aggregate, land, gravel, clay, bog, mud, debris,
sand, refuse or waste.
PERSON
Any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, limited
liability company, company, organization or legal entity of any kind, including
municipal corporations, governmental agencies or subdivisions thereof.
[Amended 1-27-2003]
POLLUTION
Harmful thermal effect or the contamination or rendering unclean
or impure of any waters of the state by reason of any waste or other materials
discharged or deposited therein by any public or private sewer or otherwise
so as directly or indirectly to come in contact with any waters.
[Amended 1-27-2003]
REGULATED ACTIVITY
Any activity, except the activities specified in §
197-3 hereof, taking place in, or within 100 feet of, a wetland or watercourse involving, but not limited to, the following:
A.
Installation of a subsurface sewage system, sewage discharge or overflow,
or privy vault;
B.
Removal or the deposit of any material or materials;
C.
Placement or construction of any structure or building;
D.
Obstruction, alteration or pollution of such wetlands or watercourses;
or
E.
Any other activity or change deemed by the Commission to be detrimental
to wetlands or watercourses.
REMOVE
Includes, but shall not be limited to, drain, excavate, mine, dig,
dredge, suck, bulldoze, dragline or blast.
RENDERING UNCLEAN OR IMPURE
Any alteration of the physical, chemical or biological properties
of any of the waters in the Town, including but not limited to change in odor,
color, turbidity or taste.
RESIDENTIAL HOME
A building designed for permanent occupancy as a dwelling and so
occupied by one or more families.
SIGNIFICANT IMPACT or MAJOR EFFECT
A.
Any activity involving a deposition of material which will have a substantial
adverse effect on the regulated area or on another part of the wetland or
watercourse system;
B.
Any activity involving a removal of material which will have a substantial
adverse effect on the regulated area or on another part of the wetland or
watercourse system;
C.
Any activity which changes or will change substantially the natural
channel or may inhibit the natural dynamics of a watercourse system;
D.
Any activity which diminishes or will diminish substantially the capacity
of a wetland or watercourse to support desirable biological life, prevent
flooding, supply water, assimilate waste, and facilitate drainage; or
E.
Any activity which will result in degrading a watercourse or the surface
and/or ground water of a wetland, such degradation to be measured by standards
of the Water Compliance Division of the Connecticut Department of Environmental
Protection, where applicable.
SOIL SCIENTIST
An individual duly qualified in accordance with standards set by
the Federal Office of Personnel Management.
TOWN
The Town of Old Lyme.
WASTE
Sewage or any substance, liquid, gaseous, solid or radioactive, which
may pollute or tend to pollute any of the waters of the Town.
WATERCOURSES
Rivers, streams, brooks, waterways, lakes, ponds, marshes, swamps,
bogs, and all other bodies of water, natural or artificial, vernal or intermittent,
public or private, which are contained within, flow through, or border upon
the Town or any portion thereof, not regulated pursuant to C.G.S. §§ 22a-28
to 22a-35, inclusive, as amended. Intermittent watercourses shall be delineated
by a defined permanent channel and bank and the occurrence of two or more
of the following characteristics: evidence of scour or deposits of recent
alluvium or detritus; the presence of standing or flowing water for a duration
longer than a particular storm incident; and the presence of hydrophytic vegetation.
A.
MARSHA watercourse normally covered with shallow water, subject to seasonal variations, which ordinarily supports a vegetation comprised of herbaceous, soft-stemmed plants, examples of which are described under "Plants of the Marshes" in a Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection publication titled "Inland Wetland Plants of Connecticut" prepared by the Connecticut Arboretum and dated May 1973.
B.
SWAMPA watercourse where the water table normally is at or near the surface of the ground and which ordinarily supports a vegetation dominated by an association of trees or shrubs, examples of which are described under "Plants of the Swamps" in the publication referred to in Subsection
A hereof.
C.
BOGA poorly drained watercourse normally containing an accumulation of organic material (peat) which ordinarily supports a vegetation of bog plants, examples of which are described under "Plants of the Bogs" in the publication referred to in Subsection
A hereof.
WETLANDS
Land, including submerged land, not regulated pursuant to C.G.S.
§§ 22a-28 to 22a-35 inclusive, as amended, which consists of
any of the soil types designated as poorly drained, very poorly drained, alluvial,
and floodplain by the National Cooperative Soil Survey, as it may be amended
from time to time, of the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the United
States Department of Agriculture.
Subject to the provisions of §
197-15 hereof, regulated activities are prohibited except as they may be licensed by the Commission as hereinafter provided.
The boundaries of the wetlands and watercourses of the Town are shown on a map titled "Old Lyme Conservation Commission Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Inventory" adopted April 9, 1974, which map is on file in the office of the Town Clerk. Said boundaries may be changed, and the changes shown by amendments to said map, as provided in §
197-19 hereof.
Any regulated activity legally existing prior to the effective date
of these regulations shall be exempt therefrom and permitted to continue,
provided that no new or expanded regulated activity shall be permitted after
May 24, 1974, except by license granted under the provisions of these regulations.
These regulations shall become effective upon filing in the office of
the Town Clerk of Old Lyme after approval thereof by the Commissioner of Environmental
Protection and publication of notice of their adoption in a newspaper having
a general circulation in the Town.
Any person aggrieved by any regulation, order, decision or action made
pursuant to these regulations by the Commission, or any person owning or occupying
land which abuts any portion of land or is within a radius of 90 feet of the
wetland or watercourse involved in any such regulation, order, decision or
action, may, within 15 days after the publication of such regulation, order,
decision or action, appeal to the Superior Court for the County of New London.
Such appeal shall be made returnable to said Court in the same manner as that
prescribed for civil actions brought to said Court. Such appeal shall state
the reason upon which it is predicated and shall not stay proceedings on the
regulation, order, decision or action of the Commission, but the Court may,
on application and after notice, grant a restraining order.