The inland wetlands and watercourses of the
Town of Stratford are an indispensable and irreplaceable but fragile
natural resource with which the citizens of the Town of Stratford
have been endowed. The wetlands and watercourses are an interrelated
web of nature essential to an adequate supply of surface and underground
water, to hydrological stability and control of flooding and erosion,
to the recharging and purification of groundwater and to the existence
of many forms of animal, aquatic and plant life. Many inland wetlands
and watercourses have been destroyed or are in danger of destruction
because of unregulated use by reason of the deposition, filling or
removal of material, the diversion or obstruction of water flow, the
erection of structures and other uses, all of which have despoiled,
polluted and eliminated wetlands and watercourses. Such unregulated
activity has had and will continue to have a significant, adverse
impact on the environment and ecology of the region and has imperiled
and will continue to imperil the quality of the environment, thus
adversely affecting the ecological, scenic, historic and recreational
values and benefits of the Town for its citizens now and forever more.
The preservation and protection of the wetlands and watercourses from
random, unnecessary, undesirable and unregulated uses, disturbance
or destruction is in the public interest and is essential to the health,
welfare and safety of the citizens of the Town. It is therefore the
purpose of this chapter, to protect the citizens of the Town of Stratford
by making provisions for the protection, preservation, maintenance
and use of the inland wetlands and watercourses by minimizing their
disturbance and pollution; maintaining and improving water quality
in accordance with the highest standards set by federal, state or
local authority; preventing damage from erosion, turbidity or siltation;
preventing the loss of fish and other beneficial aquatic organisms,
wildlife and vegetation and the destruction of the natural habitats
thereof; deterring and inhibiting the danger of flooding and pollution;
protecting the quality of wetlands and watercourses for their conservational,
economic, aesthetic, recreational and other public and private uses
and values; and protecting the Town's potable freshwater supplies
from the dangers of drought, overdraft, pollution, misuse and mismanagement
by providing an orderly process to balance the need for the economic
growth of the Town and the use of its land with the need to protect
its environment and ecology in order to forever guarantee to the people
of the Town of Stratford the safety of such natural resources for
their benefit and enjoyment and for the benefit and enjoyment of generations
yet unborn.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
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 state, whether or not such substance causes pollution.
INLAND WETLANDS AGENCY
The Stratford Inland Wetlands Commission established pursuant
to and acting under Section 22a-42 of the Connecticut General Statutes,
as amended by Section 5 of P.A. 87-533.
LICENSE
The whole or any part of any permit, certificate of approval
or similar form of permission which may be required of any person
by the provisions of Sections 22a-36 to 22a-45, inclusive, of the
Connecticut General Statutes, as amended by P.A. 87-533.
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.
MUNICIPALITY
Any Town, consolidated Town and city, consolidated Town and
Borough, city or Borough.
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.
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 wetland or watercourse, but shall
not include the specified activities in Section 22a-40 of the Connecticut
General Statutes, as amended by Section 2 of P.A. 87-533.
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 of the state, including but not limited to change
in odor, color, turbidity or taste.
SOIL SCIENTIST
An individual duly qualified in accordance with standards
set by the United States Civil Service Commission.
WASTE
Sewage or any substance, liquid, gaseous, solid or radioactive,
which may pollute or tend to pollute any of the waters of the state.
WATERCOURSES
Rivers, streams, brooks, waterways, lakes, ponds, marshes,
swamps, bogs and all other bodies of water, natural or artificial,
public or private, which are contained within, flow through or border
upon this state or any portion thereof, not regulated pursuant to
Sections 22a-28 to 22a-35, inclusive, of the Connecticut General Statutes.
WETLANDS
Land, including submerged land, not regulated pursuant to
Sections 22a-28 to 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 "floodplain" by the National
Cooperative Soils Survey, as may be amended from time to time, of
the Soil Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture.