This chapter shall be known and may be cited
as the "Stormwater Management and Erosion and Sediment Control Local
Law of the Village of Pelham."
The Village of Pelham finds that:
A. Land development activities and associated increases
in site impervious cover often alter the hydrologic response of local
watersheds and increase stormwater runoff rates and volumes, flooding,
stream channel erosion or sediment transport and deposition;
B. This stormwater runoff contributes to increased quantities
of waterborne pollutants, including siltation of aquatic habitats
for fish and other desirable species;
C. Clearing and grading during construction tends to
increase soil erosion and add to the loss of native vegetation necessary
for terrestrial and aquatic habitats;
D. Improper design and construction of stormwater management
practices can increase the velocity of stormwater runoff and thus
increase streambank erosion and sedimentation;
E. Impervious surfaces allow less water to percolate
into the soil and in that way decrease groundwater recharge and stream
base flow;
F. Substantial economic losses can result from these
adverse impacts on the waters of the Village;
G. Stormwater runoff, soil erosion and nonpoint source
pollution can be controlled and minimized through the regulation of
stormwater runoff from land development activities;
H. The regulation of stormwater runoff discharges from
land development activities in order to control and minimize increases
in stormwater runoff rates and volumes, soil erosion, stream channel
erosion, and nonpoint source pollution associated with stormwater
runoff is in the public interest and will minimize threats to public
health and safety; and
I. Regulation of land development activities by means
of performance standards governing stormwater management and site
design will produce development compatible with the natural functions
of a particular site or an entire watershed and thereby mitigate the
adverse effects of erosion and sedimentation from development.
The purpose of this chapter is to establish minimum stormwater management requirements and controls to protect and safeguard the general health, safety, and welfare of the public residing within this jurisdiction and to address the findings of fact in §
83-2 hereof. This chapter seeks to meet those purposes by achieving the following objectives:
A. Meet the requirements of minimum measures 4 and 5
of the State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) General
Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Municipal Separate Stormwater
Sewer Systems (MS4s), Permit No. GP-02-02, as amended or revised;
B. Require land development activities to conform to
the substantive requirements of the New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES)
General Permit for Construction Activities GP-02-01, or as amended
or revised;
C. Minimize increases in stormwater runoff from land
development activities in order to reduce flooding, siltation, increases
in stream temperature, and streambank erosion and maintain the integrity
of stream channels;
D. Minimize increases in pollution caused by stormwater
runoff from land development activities that would otherwise degrade
local water quality;
E. Minimize the total annual volume of stormwater runoff
that flows from any specific site during and following development
to the maximum extent practicable; and
F. Reduce stormwater runoff rates and volumes, soil erosion
and nonpoint source pollution wherever possible through stormwater
management practices and to ensure that these management practices
are properly maintained and eliminate threats to public safety.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following
activities are exempt from review under this chapter:
A. Routine maintenance activities to an existing stormwater
management facility that disturb less than 2,000 square feet and are
performed to maintain the original line and grade, hydraulic capacity
or original purpose of a facility.
B. Repairs to any stormwater management practice or facility
deemed necessary by the Stormwater Management Officer.
C. Any part of a subdivision if a plat for the subdivision
was approved by the Village on or before the effective date of this
chapter.
D. Land development activities for which a building permit
was approved on or before the effective date of this chapter.
E. Installation of fence, sign, telephone, and electric
poles and other kinds of posts or poles.
F. Emergency activity immediately necessary to protect
life, property or natural resources, as determined by the Village
Building Inspector.
G. Activities of an individual engaging in home gardening,
such as growing flowers, vegetables and other plants primarily for
use by that person and his or her family.
H. Landscaping and horticultural activities in connection
with an existing structure.
The terms used in this chapter or in documents
prepared or reviewed under this chapter shall have the meanings set
forth in this section.
APPLICANT
A property owner or agent of a property owner who has filed
an application for a land development activity.
BUILDING
Any structure, either temporary or permanent, having walls
and a roof, designed for the shelter of any person, animal, or property,
and occupying more than 100 square feet.
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.
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, most
recent version including applicable updates, which serves as the official
guide for stormwater management principles, methods and practices.
DEVELOPER
A person who undertakes land development activities.
EROSION CONTROL MANUAL
The most recent version of the New York Standards and Specifications
for Erosion and Sediment Control Manual, commonly known as the "Blue
Book."
GRADING
Excavation or fill of material, including the resulting conditions
thereof.
IMPERVIOUS SURFACES
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 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.
INFILTRATION
The process of percolating stormwater into the subsoil.
LAND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY
Construction activity including clearing, grading, excavating,
soil disturbance or placement of fill that results in land disturbance
of 2,000 square feet or more or that creates more than 1,000 square
feet of new impervious area.
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.
MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT
A legally recorded document that acts as a property deed
restriction and provides for long-term maintenance of stormwater management
practices.
NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION
Pollution from any source other than from any discernible,
confined and discrete conveyances, and shall include but not be limited
to pollutants from agriculture, mining, construction, subsurface disposal
and urban runoff sources.
PHASING
Clearing a parcel of land in distinct pieces or parts, with
the stabilization of each piece completed before the clearing of the
next.
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.
RECHARGE
The replenishment of underground water reserves.
SENSITIVE AREAS
Coldwater fisheries, shellfish beds, swimming beaches, groundwater
recharge areas, water supply reservoirs, and habitats for threatened,
endangered or special concern species.
STABILIZATION
The use of practices that prevent exposed soil from eroding.
STOP-WORK ORDER
A order issued which requires that all construction activity
on a site to be stopped.
STORMWATER
Rainwater, surface runoff, snowmelt and drainage.
STORMWATER HOTSPOT
A land use or activity that generates higher concentrations
of hydrocarbons, trace metals or toxic materials than are found in
typical stormwater runoff, based on monitoring studies.
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 in order to control stormwater runoff.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT OFFICER
The Building Inspector or his representative as designated
by the Mayor and the Village Board of Trustees to accept and review
stormwater pollution prevention plans to determine whether the plans
comply with all applicable law, to approve plans or forward the plans
to the appropriate Village boards, and conduct inspections to ensure
that stormwater pollution prevention plans are followed.
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.
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 that
also meet the criteria of this definition, are not waters of the state.
This exclusion applies only to man-made bodies of water which were
neither 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 fabricated, which gathers or carries surface water.
WATERWAY
A channel that directs surface runoff to a watercourse or
to the public storm drain.
No application for approval of a land development
activity shall be reviewed until the appropriate approving authority
has received a stormwater pollution prevention plan (SWPPP) prepared
in accordance with the specifications of this chapter.
The SWPPP shall be prepared by a licensed landscape
architect or certified professional in erosion and sedimentation control
or in stormwater quality or professional engineer or other professional
deemed qualified by the Department and must be signed by the professional
preparing the plan, who shall certify that the design of all stormwater
management practices meets the requirements in this chapter.
The applicant shall assure that all other applicable
environmental permits have been or will be acquired for the land development
activity prior to approval of the final stormwater design plan.
A copy of the approved SWPPP shall be retained
at the site of the land development activity during construction,
from the date of initiation of construction activities to the date
of final stabilization.
In accordance with Chapter
70, the Village of Pelham may require any person undertaking land development activities regulated by this chapter to pay reasonable costs at prevailing rates for review of SWPPPs, inspections, or SMP maintenance performed by the Village or performed by a third party for the Village.
If the provisions of any article, section, subsection,
paragraph, subdivision or clause of this chapter shall be judged invalid
by a court of competent jurisdiction, such order of judgment shall
not affect or invalidate the remainder of any article, section, subsection,
paragraph, subdivision or clause of this chapter.