§ 85-723. Standards.

All proposed development located within the Compatible Growth Area of the Central Pine Barrens shall comply with the following standards (as also set forth in the Plan) unless a hardship exemption has been issued by the Commission. The Town of Brookhaven shall ensure compliance with these standards by requesting comments and/or analysis from the appropriate state, county and other agencies upon project application review pursuant to SEQRA. In the event that a proposed development project is inconsistent with the standards set forth in §§ 85-718 through 85-726, or is rendered inconsistent due to modification or amendment, the Town shall notify the Commission and afford the applicant opportunity to either revise the development proposal to render it conforming to the applicable standards or obtain a hardship exemption from the Commission. Where standards contained in §§ 85-718 through 85-726 differ from state, county, or local law, the stricter standards apply. The following standards are applicable to all proposed development in the Central Pine Barrens Area:

A. 

Nitrate-nitrogen.

(1) 

Suffolk County Sanitary Code Article 6 compliance. All development proposals subject to Article 6 of the Suffolk County Sanitary Code shall meet all applicable requirements of the Suffolk County Department of Health Services. Projects which require variances from the provisions of Article 6 shall meet all the requirements of the Suffolk County Department of Health Service's Board of Review in order to be deemed to have met the requirements of this standard.

(2) 

Sewage treatment plant discharge. Where deemed practical by the county or state, sewage treatment plant discharge shall be outside and downgradient of the Central Pine Barrens. Denitrification or other systems that are approved by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation or the Suffolk County Department of Health Services may be used in lieu of sewage treatment plants.

(3) 

Suffolk County Sanitary Code Articles 7 and 12 compliance. All development projects must comply with the provisions of Articles 7 and 12 of the Suffolk County Sanitary Code, including any provisions for variances or waivers if needed, and all applicable state laws and regulations in order to ensure that all necessary water resource and watershed management infrastructure shall be in place prior to, or as part of, the commencement of construction.

B. 

Wellhead protection. Significant discharges and public supply well locations. The location of nearby public supply wells shall be considered in all applications involving significant discharges to groundwater, as required under the New York State Environmental Conservation Law Article 17.

C. 

Wetlands and surface waters.

(1) 

Nondisturbance buffers. Development proposals for sites containing or abutting freshwater or tidal wetlands or surface waters must be separated by a nondisturbance buffer area which shall be no less than required by the New York State Tidal Wetlands or Freshwater Wetlands, and/or Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers Act and/or Chapter 81 of the Town of Brookhaven Code, Wetlands and Waterways. Distances shall be measured horizontally from the wetland edge as mapped by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Town of Brookhaven. Projects which require variances or exceptions from these laws, and associated regulations, shall meet all requirements imposed in a permit by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Town of Brookhaven in order to be deemed to have met the requirements of the standard.

(2) 

Buffer delineations, covenants and conservation easements. Buffer areas shall be delineated on the site plan or subdivision map, and covenants and/or conservation easements, pursuant to the New York State Environmental Conservation Law and Chapter 81 of the Town of Brookhaven Code, Wetlands and Waterways, shall be imposed to protect these areas as deemed necessary.

(3) 

Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers Act compliance. Development proposals shall conform to the provisions of the Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers Act, where applicable. Projects which require variances or exceptions under the New York State Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers Act shall meet all requirements imposed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in order to be deemed to have met the requirements of this standard.

Editor's Note: See Environmental Conservation Law § 15-2701 et seq.

D. 

Stormwater runoff/stormwater recharge. Development projects must provide that all stormwater runoff originating from development on the property is recharged on site unless surplus capacity exists in an off-site drainage system.

E. 

Natural vegetation and plant habitat.

(1) 

Vegetation clearance limits. Clearing is defined, for the purposes of this standard, as the removal of any portion of the natural vegetation found on a site, exclusive of any vegetation associated with active agricultural or horticultural activity or formalized landscape and turf areas. Excessive clearing of natural vegetation can result in severe soil erosion, excessive stormwater runoff, and the destruction or reduction of Pine Barrens plant and wildlife habitat.

(a) 

The clearance of natural vegetation shall be strictly limited. Site plans, surveys and subdivision maps shall delineate the existing naturally vegetated areas and calculate those portions of the site that are already cleared due to previous activities.

(b) 

Areas of the site proposed to be cleared combined with previously cleared areas shall not exceed the percentages in Figure 5-1 herein. These percentages shall be taken over the total site, including, but not limited to, roads, building sites and drainage facilities. The clearance standard that would be applied to a project site if developed under the existing residential zoning category shall be applied if the proposal involves multifamily units, planned retirement units, attached housing, or clustering. Residential development within residentially zoned areas shall comply with the residential clearing limit categories contained in Figure 5-1. Commercial development in residentially zoned areas shall comply with the "Commercial, Industrial and Other or Mixed Use" clearing limit category. Site plans, surveys and subdivision maps shall delineate the clearing limit line and calculations for clearing to demonstrate compliance with this standard.

Editor's Note: Figure 5-1 is included as an attachment to this chapter.

(c) 

To the extent that a portion of a site includes Core property, and for the purpose of calculating the clearance limits, the site shall be construed to be the combined Core and Compatible Growth Area portions. However, the Core portion may not be cleared except in accordance with Section 5.2 of the Plan.

(2) 

Unfragmented open space.

(a) 

Subdivision and site plan design shall support the preservation of natural vegetation in large unbroken blocks that allow contiguous open spaces to be established when adjacent parcels are developed. Subdivision and site plan designs should also be configured in such a way as to prioritize the preservation of native Pine Barrens vegetation to the maximum extent practicable.

(b) 

For the purpose of §§ 85-718 through 85-726, native Pine Barrens vegetation shall include pitch pines and various species of oak trees, understory and ground cover plants such as blueberry, wintergreen, bearberry, and bracken fern, grasses and sedges such as little bluestem, Pennsylvania sedge and indian grass, as well as those ecological communities listed in Sections 5.6 and 5.7 in Chapter 5, Volume 2, of the Plan.

(c) 

It is recognized that the preservation of nonnative but ecologically important habitats may be consistent with the intent and goals of the Plan when such action would result in the creation of large contiguous natural open space areas and the protection of rare, threatened or endangered species or their habitat.

(3) 

Fertilizer-dependent vegetation limits. No more than 15% of an entire development project site shall be established in fertilizer-dependent vegetation, including formalized turf areas. Generally, nonnative species require fertilization; therefore, planting of such nonnative species shall be limited to the maximum extent practicable. The use of the nonnative plants in Figure 5-2 is specifically not recommended.

Editor's Note: Figure 5-2 is included as an attachment to this chapter.

(4) 

Native plantings. Development projects shall consider the native planting suggestions contained in Figure 5-2.

F. 

Species and communities of special concern. Where a significant adverse impact upon a habitat essential to those species identified on the New York State maintained lists as rare, threatened, endangered or of special concern, or upon natural communities classified by the New York State Natural Heritage Program as G1, G2, G3 or S1, S2 or S3, or on any federally listed endangered or threatened species is proposed, the appropriate mitigation measures as determined by the appropriate state, county or Town agency shall be taken to protect these species.

G. 

Coordinated design for open space management. All applications must specify the entity/agency to which dedicated open space will be transferred.

H. 

Commercial and industrial development. All commercial and industrial development applications shall comply with the provisions of the Suffolk County Sanitary Code as applied by the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, and all other applicable federal, state or local laws. Projects which require variances from the provisions of the Suffolk County Sanitary Code shall meet all requirements of the Department of Health Service's Board of Review in order to be deemed to have met the requirements of this standard.