§ 86-2. Definitions.

The terms used under this chapter shall have the meanings as set forth in this section.

AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY

Activity defined as "open farming" or "other agriculture" in Chapter 85 of the Town Code.

A. 

OPEN FARMING

Includes the cultivation of the soil for food products and other useful or valuable growths of the field.

B. 

OTHER AGRICULTURE

Agricultural uses not included in the foregoing definition of "open farming," but including greenhouses, dairies and the raising of livestock, roosters and other poultry, except when such poultry consists solely of a total of six or fewer ducks or geese or female chickens or any combination thereof per residential premises, regardless of size.

APPLICANT

A property owner who has filed an application for a land development activity.

BUILDING

Any structure meeting the definition of "building" as defined in Chapter 85 of the Town Code. A structure having a roof supported by columns or walls, and when separated by a party wall without openings, it shall be deemed a separate building.

CLEARING

The removal of any existing natural vegetation located on a lot, parcel or site, exclusive of vegetation associated with active agricultural or horticultural activity or formalized landscaped and/or turf areas.

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, that 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.

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE

Those approaches that essentially infiltrate, evapotranspirate or reuse stormwater, with significant utilization of soils and vegetation rather than traditional hardscape collection, conveyance and storage structures.

IMPERVIOUS COVER

Those surfaces, improvements and structures that cannot effectively infiltrate rainfall, snow melt 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, 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.

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 one acre, or activities disturbing less than one acre of total land area that is part of a common plan of development, notwithstanding that multiple and distinct activities may occur at different times and/or different schedules.

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.

LIGHT, IMAGING, DETECTION AND RANGING (LIDAR) SYSTEM

A three-dimensional laser scan that provides high-definition surveying for architectural, as-built, and engineering surveys.

MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT

A legally recorded document that provides for long-term maintenance of stormwater management practices.

MUNICIPAL SEPARATE STORM SEWER SYSTEM (MS4)

A conveyance or system of conveyances (including roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, man-made channels, or storm drains) that is owned or operated by the Town and designed or used for collecting or conveying stormwater; the MS4, as defined, is not a combined sewer or part of a publicly owned treatment works (POTW) as defined at 40 CFR 122.2.

NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION

Pollution, from any sources other than from any discernible, confined, and discrete conveyances, and shall include, but not be limited to, pollutants from agricultural, silvicultural, mining, construction, subsurface disposal and urban runoff sources.

PERSON

One or more of the following: any individual, owner, lease holder, entity, corporation, agent, company, parent company, subsidiary, limited-liability company, substantially owned affiliated-entity, successor, partnership, joint venture, association, legal representative, agent or any other form of doing business.

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, including, but not limited to, nitrogen, phosphorus and pathogens, that have been identified as a cause of impairment to any water body that will receive a discharge from the land development activity.

RECHARGE

The replenishment of underground water reserves.

SEDIMENT CONTROL

Measures that prevent eroded sediment from leaving the site.

SENSITIVE AREAS

Cold-water fisheries, shellfish beds, swimming beaches, groundwater recharge areas, water supply reservoirs, habitats for threatened, endangered or special concern species, tidal wetlands and freshwater wetlands.

SPDES GENERAL PERMIT FOR CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES GP-0-10-001

A permit under the New York State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) issued to developers of construction activities to regulate disturbance of one or more acres of land.

SPDES GENERAL PERMIT FOR STORMWATER DISCHARGES FROM MUNICIPAL SEPARATE STORMWATER SEWER SYSTEMS GP-0-10-002

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.

STABILIZATION

The use of practices that prevent exposed soil from eroding.

STOP-WORK ORDER

An order issued that requires that all construction activity on a site be stopped.

STORMWATER

Rainwater, surface runoff, snowmelt and drainage.

STORMWATER HOT SPOT

A land use or activity that generates higher concentrations of hydrocarbons, trace metals or toxicants that 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 for the purpose of controlling stormwater runoff.

STORMWATER MANAGEMENT OFFICER

An employee or officer designated by the municipality to accept and review stormwater pollution prevention plans, forward the plans to the applicable municipal board and inspect stormwater management practices.

STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (SMPs)

Measures, either structural or nonstructural, that are determined to be the most effective, practical means of preventing or reducing point source or nonpoint source pollution inputs to stormwater runoff and water bodies, while minimizing potential flood damage.

STORMWATER POLLUTION PREVENTION PLAN (SWPPP)

A plan for controlling stormwater runoff and pollutants from a site during and after construction activities.

STORMWATER RUNOFF

Flow on the surface of the ground, resulting from precipitation.

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.

303(d) LIST OF IMPAIRED WATERS

NYSDEC-published list, and any amendments thereto, of all surface waters in the State for which beneficial uses of the water (i.e., drinking, recreation, aquatic habitat, and industrial) are impaired by pollutants, as required by Section 303(d) of the Federal Clean Water Act. 303(d) listed waters include estuaries, lakes, and streams that fall short of State surface water quality standards and are not expected to improve within the next two years.

TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOAD (TMDL)

The maximum amount of a pollutant allowed to be released into a water body so as not to impair uses of the water, allocated among the sources of that pollutant.

WATERCOURSE

A permanent or intermittent stream or other body of water, either natural or man-made, which gathers or carries surface water.

WATERWAY

Any natural or artificial fresh or marine body of water commonly known as a stream, river, creek, lake, pond, estuary, bay, harbor, ocean, and the like. A waterway includes those areas defined as lands underwater.

WETLANDS

Areas that meet the definition of "tidal wetland" or "freshwater wetland" as defined in Chapter 81 of the Town Code.