As used in these regulations, the following
terms shall have the meanings indicated:
ACT
The Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Act, Sections 22a-36
through 22a-45, inclusive, of the Connecticut General Statutes, as
amended.
CLEARING LIMITS
The boundaries of any cutting, clearing, or grubbing of vegetation
associated with a project to conduct a regulated activity.
COMMISSION
The Conservation Commission of the Town of Somers.
CONSERVATION EASEMENT
A restrictive covenant running from the property owner to
the Town of Somers, which restrictive covenant shall attach to and
run with the land and be binding upon the property owner and his heirs,
successors and assigns. The effect of the conservation easement shall
be a legal agreement between the property owner and the Town, wherein
the property owner agrees to perpetually preserve, protect, conserve,
and maintain in a natural, scenic and open condition, all land contained
with the legal description encompassing the conservation easement.
By natural, scenic, and open condition it is hereby meant that the
land must remain undisturbed, i.e., no construction, no filling or
excavation, or other soil disturbance, no removal or destruction of
trees, shrubs or vegetation, other than safety hazards; and no activities
detrimental to natural drainage patterns, soil, vegetation, and wildlife.
The fee simple interest in the land contained within the conservation
easement shall remain with the owner of the land subject to the conservation
easement in favor of the Town.
BOGS
Areas distinguished by evergreen trees and shrubs underlain
by peat deposits, poor drainage, and highly acidic conditions.
CLEAR-CUTTING
The harvest of timber in a fashion which removes all trees
down to a two-inch diameter at breast height.
CONTINUAL FLOW
A flow of water which persists for an extended period of
time; this flow may be interrupted during periods of drought or during
the low flow period of the annual hydrological cycle, June through
September, but it recurs in prolonged succession.
DEPOSIT
Includes, but shall not be limited to fill, grade, dump,
place, discharge or emit.
DESIGNATED AGENT
An individual(s) designated by the Conservation Commission
to carry out its functions and purposes.
DISCHARGE
Emission of any water, substance, or material into wetlands
or watercourses whether or not such substance causes pollution.
FARMING
Use of land for the growing of crops, raising of livestock,
including horses, or other agricultural use.
FEASIBLE
Able to be constructed or implemented consistent with sound
engineering principles.
MANAGEMENT PRACTICE
A practice, procedure, activity, structure or facility designed
to prevent or minimize pollution or other environmental damage or
to maintain or enhance existing environmental quality. Such management
practices include, but are not limited to: erosion and sedimentation
controls; restrictions on land use or development; construction setbacks
from wetlands or watercourses; proper disposal of waste materials;
procedures for equipment maintenance to prevent fuel spillage; construction
methods to prevent flooding or disturbance of wetlands and watercourses;
procedures for maintaining continuous stream flows; confining construction
that must take place in watercourses to times when water flows are
low and fish and wildlife will not be adversely affected.
MARSHES
Areas with soils that exhibit aquatic moisture regimes and
are distinguished by the absence of trees and shrubs and the dominance
of soft-stemmed herbaceous plants. The water table in marshes is at
or above the ground surface throughout the year and areas of open
water six inches or more in depth are common, but seasonal water table
fluctuations are encountered.
MATERIAL
Any substance, solid or liquid, organic or inorganic, including
but not limited to: soil, sediment, aggregate, land, gravel, clay,
bog, peat, mud, debris, sand, refuse or waste.
NURSERIES
Land used for propagating trees, shrubs or other plants for
transplanting, sale, or for use as stock for grafting.
PERMIT
The whole or any part of any license, certificate or approval
or similar form of permission which may be required of any person
by the provisions of these regulations and the Act or other municipal,
state and federal law.
PERMITTEE
The person to whom a permit has been issued.
PERSON
Any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company, organization or legal entity of any kind, including municipal
corporations, governmental agencies or subdivisions thereof.
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. This includes, but is not limited to, erosion
and sedimentation resulting from any filling, land clearing or excavation
activity.
PRUDENT
Economically and otherwise reasonable in light of the social
benefits to be derived from the proposed regulated activity, provided
cost may be considered in deciding what is prudent and further provided
a mere showing of expense will not necessarily mean an alternative
is imprudent.
REGULATED ACTIVITY
Any operation within or use of a wetland or watercourse involving
removal or deposition of material, or any obstruction, construction,
alteration or pollution, of such wetlands or watercourses, but shall
not include the specified activities in Section 22a-40 of the Connecticut
General Statutes. Furthermore, any clearing, grubbing, filling, grading,
paving, excavating, constructing, depositing or removing of material
and discharging of storm water on the land within 100 feet measured
horizontally from the boundary of any wetland or watercourse is a
regulated activity. The Commission may rule that any other activity
located within such upland review area or in any other non-wetland
or non-watercourse area is likely to impact or affect wetlands or
watercourses and is a regulated activity.
REGULATED AREA
Any wetlands or watercourses as defined in these regulations.
REMOVE
Includes, but shall not be limited to, drain, excavate, mine,
dig, dredge, suck, grub, clear cut timber, bulldoze, dragline or blast.
RENDERING UNCLEAN OR IMPURE
Any alteration of the physical, chemical or biological properties
of any waters of the state, including, but not limited to, change
in odor, color, turbidity or taste.
SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ACTIVITY
Any activity, including, but not limited to, the following
activities which may have a major effect or significant impact.
A.
Any activity involving deposition or removal
of material which will or may have a major effect or significant impact
on the regulated area or on another part of the inland wetland or
watercourse system.
B.
Any activity which substantially changes the
natural channel or may inhibit the natural dynamics of a watercourse
system.
C.
Any activity which substantially diminishes
the natural capacity of an inland wetland or watercourse to: support
desirable fisheries, wildlife, or other biological life; prevent flooding;
supply water; assimilate waste; facilitate drainage; provide recreation
or open space; or perform other functions.
D.
Any activity which is likely to cause or has
the potential to cause substantial turbidity, siltation or sedimentation
in a wetland or watercourse.
E.
Any activity which causes a substantial diminution
of flow of a natural watercourse or groundwater levels of the regulated
area.
F.
Any activity which is likely to cause or has
the potential to cause pollution of a wetland or watercourse.
G.
Any activity which damages or destroys unique
wetland or watercourse areas or such areas having demonstrable scientific
or educational value.
SOIL SCIENTIST
An individual duly qualified in accordance with standards
set by the federal Office of Personnel Management.
SUBMERGED LANDS
Those lands which are inundated by water on a seasonal or
more frequent basis.
SWAMPS
Areas with soils that exhibit aquic moisture regimes and
are distinguished by the dominance of wetland trees and shrubs.
WASTE
Sewage or any substance, liquid, gaseous, solid or radioactive,
which may pollute or tend to pollute any of the wetlands or watercourses
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 Sections 22a-28 through 22a-35, inclusive, of the Connecticut
General Statutes. Intermittent watercourses shall be delineated by
a defined permanent channel and bank and the occurrence of two or
more of the following characteristics: (a) evidence of scour or deposits
of recent alluvium or detritus, (b) the presence of standing or flowing
water for a duration longer than a particular storm incident, and
(c) the presence of hydrophytic vegetation.
WETLANDS
Land, including submerged land as defined in this section,
not regulated pursuant to Sections 22a-28 through 22a-35, inclusive,
of the Connecticut General Statutes, which consists of any of the
soil types designated as poorly drained, very poorly drained, alluvial
and flood plain by the National Cooperative Soils Survey, as it may
be amended from time to time, of the Soil Conservation Service of
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Such areas may include
filled, graded, or excavated sites which possess an aquic (saturated)
soil moisture regime as defined by the USDA Cooperative Soil Survey.
Nothing in these regulations shall obviate the
requirements for the applicant to obtain any other assents, permits
or licenses required by law or regulation by the Town of Somers, the
State of Connecticut or the government of the United States, including
any approval required by the Connecticut Department of Environmental
Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Obtaining such assents,
permits or licenses is the sole responsibility of the applicant.
These regulations are effective upon filing
in the Office of the Town Clerk and publication of a notice of such
filing in a newspaper having general circulation in the Town of Somers.