The terms used in this chapter or in documents prepared
or reviewed pursuant to or under this chapter 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.
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMPs)
A measure that is implemented to protect water quality and
reduce the potential for pollution associated with stormwater runoff.
Any program, technology, process, siting criteria, operating method,
measure, or device that controls, prevents, removes, or reduces pollutants.
BUILDING
Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls,
used or intended to be used for the shelter or enclosure of persons,
animals or property and used for residential, business or industrial
purposes.
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.
COMMENCEMENT OF CONSTRUCTION
Means the initial removal of vegetation and disturbance of
soils associated with clearing, grading, or excavating activities
or other construction activities.
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, as
hereafter amended or updated, that serves as the technical guideline
for stormwater management principles, methods and practices.
DEVELOPER
A person who undertakes land development activities.
DISTURBANCE
All land preparation activities involving the movement, placement,
removal, transfer or shifting of soil and/or vegetation, including
but not limited to, clearing draining, filling, grading, regrading
or the building of structures or the placement of improvements on
land, including the construction of individual sidewalks, paths, roads
or driveways. The condition of land disturbance shall be deemed to
continue until the area of disturbance is returned to its original
state or to a state complying with a permit for such disturbance granted
in accordance with this chapter.
EROSION CONTROL
Erosion control is a primary source control that is any practice
that protects the soil surface and prevents the soil particles from
being detached by rainfall or wind.
EROSION CONTROL MANUAL
The New York Standards and Specifications for Erosion and
Sediment Control manual, as hereafter amended or updated, that serves
as the technical guideline for erosion and sediment control measures
and practices, commonly known as the "Blue Book."
FINAL APPROVAL
(1)
In the case of the subdivision of land, final
plat approval or conditional approval of a final plat as such terms
are defined in § 276 of the Town Law.
(2)
In the case of a site plan not involving the
subdivision of land, adoption by the Planning Board of a resolution
granting approval.
(3)
In those cases not covered by Subsections
(1) and
(2) above, the issuance of a building permit or other authorization for the commencement of the development, alteration or improvement of property, or for those developments, alterations or improvements for which the Town of Kent does not require such permits, the actual commencement of the development, alteration or improvement of property.
FINAL SITE STABILIZATION
Means that all soil-disturbing activities at the site have
been completed and a uniform, perennial vegetative cover with a density
of 80% has been established or equivalent stabilization measures (such
as the use of mulches or geotextiles) have been employed on all unpaved
areas not covered by permanent structures.
GRADING
Excavation or fill of material, including the resulting conditions
thereof.
IMPERVIOUS COVER
Those surfaces, improvements and structures that cannot effectively
infiltrate rainfall, snowmelt and water (e.g., building rooftops,
pavement, sidewalks, driveways, etc.).
INDUSTRIAL STORMWATER PERMIT
A State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) 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 5,000 square feet, or activities disturbing
less than 5,000 square feet 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.
[Amended 5-6-2014 by L.L. No. 1-2014]
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.
LICENSED/CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL
As defined in NYSDEC SPDES General Construction Permit, as
hereafter amended or revised, a person currently licensed to practice
engineering in New York State or is a certified professional in erosion
and sediment control (CPESC).
MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT
A legally recorded document that acts as a property deed
restriction and which provides for the long-term maintenance of stormwater
management practices and facilities.
NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION
Pollution from any source other than from a discernible,
confined, or discrete conveyance, and shall include, but not be limited
to, pollutants from agricultural, silvicultural, mining, construction,
subsurface disposal and urban runoff sources.
OWNER/OPERATOR
The owner/operator is the person, persons, or legal entity
that owns or leases the property on which the construction activity
is occurring. The owner/operator is the ultimate responsible party
for implementation of the SWPPP.
PHASING
Clearing a parcel of land in distinct pieces or parts, with
the stabilization of each piece completed before the clearing of the
next. As per the NYSDEC General Construction Permit, as hereafter
amended or revised, no more than five acres of land disturbance may
occur at any one time without written approval by the Department.
PLANNING BOARD ENGINEER
A professional engineer licensed by the State of New York
working as an employee or consultant for the Town of Kent Planning
Board.
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.
QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL
As defined in NYSDEC SPDES General Construction Permit, as
hereafter amended or revised, a person knowledgeable in the principles
and practice of erosion and sediment controls, such as a licensed
professional engineer, and certified professional in erosion and sediment
control (CPESC), or soil scientist.
RECHARGE
The replenishment of underground water reserves.
SEDIMENT CONTROL
A secondary measure; any practice that traps the soil particles
after they have been detached and moved by water or wind, preventing
the eroded sediment from leaving the site.
SENSITIVE AREAS
Coldwater fisheries, shellfish beds, swimming beaches, groundwater
recharge areas, water supply reservoirs, steep slopes, and habitats
for threatened, endangered or special concern species.
SPDES GENERAL PERMIT FOR CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES
A permit under the New York State Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System (SPDES) issued to developers of construction activities to
regulate disturbance of 5,000 square feet or more of land, or as such
permit standards may be hereafter amended or revised.
[Amended 5-6-2014 by L.L. No. 1-2014]
STABILIZATION
The use of practices that prevent exposed soil from eroding,
or by means of covering or maintaining an existing cover over soil.
Cover can be vegetative (e.g., grass, trees, shrubs, seed and mulch,
or turf) or nonvegetative (e.g., geotextiles, riprap, or gabions).
STEEP SLOPES
All ground areas having a topographical gradient equal to
or greater than 15% measured by utilizing two-foot contours.
STOP-WORK ORDER
An order issued which requires that all construction activity
on a site be stopped.
STORMWATER
Means that portion of precipitation that, once having fallen
to the ground, is in excess of the evaporative or infiltrative capacity
of soils, or the retentive capacity of surface features, which flows
or will flow off the land by surface runoff to waters of the state.
The term "stormwater" includes, but is not limited to, rainwater,
surface runoff, snowmelt and drainage.
STORMWATER HOTSPOT
A land use or activity that generates higher concentrations
of hydrocarbons, trace metals or toxicants than are found in typical
stormwater runoff, based on monitoring studies, or as classified in
the New York State Stormwater Design Manual.
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 (SMO)
An employee or officer designated by the municipality to
accept review and approve stormwater pollution prevention plans, forward
the plans to the applicable municipal board and inspect stormwater
management practices. Plan reviews and site inspections may be delegated
to a consulting engineer and/or a consultant paid for through the
applicant's escrow account; however, a municipal employee or board
member must make the final approval.
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 RUNOFF
Flow on the surface of the ground resulting from precipitation
or snowmelt.
STRUCTURE
A static construction or assembly of materials, the use or
occupancy of which requires a fixed location on the ground or attachment
to an object having such fixed location. Structures shall include,
but not be limited to, buildings, stadiums, sheds, storage bins, garages,
display stands, platforms or pads, towers, walls, fences, swimming
pools, driveways, roads, tennis courts, gasoline pumps, billboards,
signs, and mobile dwellings.
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.
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.