For the purpose of this chapter, certain words and terms used herein are defined as follows:
See "farming operation."
A property owner or agent of a property owner who has filed an application for a land development activity.
Methods, measures or practices to prevent or reduce surface runoff and/or water pollution, including but not limited to structural and nonstructural stormwater management practices and operation and maintenance procedures.
Any structure, either temporary or permanent, or extension thereof or addition thereto, having a roof supported by such things as columns, posts, piers or walls and intended for the shelter, business, housing or enclosing of any persons, animals or property.
A natural or artificial watercourse, with a definite bed and banks, that conducts continuously or periodically flowing water.
Any removal of 30% or more trees that are each eight inches or more in DBH on properties greater than 0.5 acre. For purposes of this calculation, trees located within wetlands, watercourses or adjacent buffer areas. or located within an excessively steep slope (greater than 25%), which are injured and/or removed, shall be counted double.
[Added 11-30-2023 by L.L. No. 11-2023]
Any activity that removes the vegetative surface cover.
The area that includes all wetlands and the area surrounding the same based on hydrological soil grouping and all watercourses and adjacent contributory surfaces based on hydrological soil grouping and slope percentage as fully defined in Chapter 78.
The deliberate appropriation of property by its owner for general public use.
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.
An impoundment designed to collect and retard stormwater runoff by temporarily storing the runoff and releasing it at a predetermined rate. Detention basins are designed to drain completely shortly after any given rainfall event and are dry until the next rainfall event.
A person who undertakes land development activities.
A standard measurement of trees made at 4 1/2 feet above ground level on the uphill side.
[Added 11-30-2023 by L.L. No. 11-2023]
The wearing away of land surface by water or wind which occurs naturally from weather or runoff but is often intensified by human activity.
The most recent version of the New York Standards and Specifications for Erosion and Sediment Control Manual, commonly known as the "Blue Book."
Any operation on a parcel of land, not less than four acres, that is used for soil-dependent cultivation of agricultural crop production and/or the raising of livestock, poultry or dairy products, the raising of fur-bearing animals, the keeping of horses and livery or boarding stables, but excluding riding academies and dog kennels.
Excavation or fill of material, including the resulting conditions thereof.
See “impervious surface.”
A surface that has been compacted or covered with a layer of material so that it is resistant to infiltration by water. It includes semipervious surfaces, such as compacted clayey soils, as well as most conventionally surfaced streets, roofs, sidewalks, parking lots, and other similar surfaces. "Net increase of impervious surface" refers to the difference between the existing coverage and the total impervious surface proposed.
A State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit issued to a commercial industry or group of industries that regulates the pollutant levels associated with industrial stormwater discharges or specifies on-site pollution control strategies.
The process of percolating stormwater into the subsoil.
A defined channel in which surface water is absent during a portion of the year as groundwater levels drop below the channel bottom.
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.” This includes any area that meets the definition of “wetlands” according to Chapter 78, Freshwater Wetlands.
Construction activity, including clearing, clear-cutting, grubbing, grading, excavating, soil disturbance or placement of fill, that results in land disturbance of equal to or greater than 5,000 square feet. Any activity that requires review, approval and/or permitting under the Town's requirements and regulations for fill, wetlands, sand and gravel and tree removal, streets and sidewalks, subdivision and site development plans, regardless of the size in area of the activity, is also considered a land development activity.
[Amended 11-30-2023 by L.L. No. 11-2023]
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.
A legally recorded document that acts as a property deed restriction and which provides for long-term maintenance of stormwater management practices.
Pollution from any source other than from any discernible, confined, and discrete conveyances, and shall include but not be limited to pollutants from agricultural, mining, construction, subsurface disposal and urban runoff sources.
Passive site-design approaches or regulatory approaches that provide water quality improvement or reduce or minimize the generation of stormwater runoff without requiring the construction of specific or discrete stormwater management control structures.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
Clearing a parcel of land in distinct pieces or parts, with the stabilization of each piece completed before the clearing of the next.
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.
Land development activity.
The replenishment of underground water reserves.
Measures that prevent eroded sediment from leaving the site.
Cold-water fisheries, shellfish beds, swimming beaches, groundwater recharge areas, water supply reservoirs, and habitats for threatened, endangered or special-concern species.
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 of land.
A permit under the New York State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) issued to municipalities to regulate discharges from municipal separate storm sewers for compliance with EPA established water quality standards and/or to specify stormwater control standards.
The use of practices that prevent exposed soil from eroding.
An order issued that requires that all land development activity and/or construction activity on a site is stopped.
Rainwater, surface runoff, snow melt and drainage.
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.
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.
One or a series of stormwater management practices installed, stabilized and operating for the purpose of controlling stormwater runoff.
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 non-point-source pollution inputs to stormwater runoff and water bodies.
A plan for controlling stormwater runoff and pollutants from a site during and after construction activities.
Flow on the surface of the ground resulting from precipitation.
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.
A permanent or intermittent stream or other body of water, either natural or man-made, that gathers or carries surface water. This includes any area that meets the definition of a “watercourse” according to Chapter 78, Freshwater Wetlands.
A channel that directs surface runoff to a watercourse or to the public storm drain. This includes any area that meets the definition of a “waterway” according to Chapter 78, Freshwater Wetlands.
Lands and water meeting the criteria identified in § 78-2A of the Town of Southeast Code.