1133.07 DEFINITIONS FOR CHAPTER 1173 EROSION AND SEDIMENT CONTROL.

   The following definitions apply generally to the whole of the zoning and subdivision codes and specifically to Chapter 1173, Erosion and Sediment Control.

   (a)    “Abbreviated Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan” means the written document that sets forth the plans and practices to be used to meet the requirements of this regulation.

   (b)   “Acre” means a measurement of area equaling 43,560 square feet.

   (c)   “Best Management Practices” means schedule of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices (both structural and non-structural) to prevent or reduce the pollution of water resources and wetlands. Best management practices also include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control construction site runoff, spillage, or leaks; sludge or waste disposal; or drainage from raw material storage.

   (d)   “Community.” Throughout this regulation, this shall refer to the City of Aurora, its designated representatives, boards, or commissions.

   (e)    “Construction entrance” means the permitted points of ingress and egress to development areas regulated under this regulation.

   (f)   “Development area” means a parcel or contiguous parcels owned by one person or persons, or operated as one development unit, and used or being developed for commercial, industrial, residential, institutional, or other construction or alteration that changes runoff characteristics.

   (g)   “Disturbed area” means an area of land subject to erosion due to the removal of vegetative cover and/or soil disturbing activities.

   (h)   “Drainage” (1) The area of land contributing surface water to a specific point. (2) The removal of excess surface water or groundwater from land by surface or subsurface drains.

   (i)   “Erosion” means the process by which the land surface is worn away by the action of wind, water, ice, gravity, or any combination of those forces.

   (j)   “Erosion and sediment control” means the control of soil, both mineral and organic, to minimize the removal of soil from the land surface and to prevent its transport from a disturbed area by means of wind, water, ice, gravity, or any combination of those forces.

   (k)   “Final stabilization” means all soil disturbing activities at the site have been completed and a uniform perennial vegetative cover with a density of at least 80% coverage for the area has been established or equivalent stabilization measures, such as the use of mulches or geotextiles, have been employed.

   (l)   “Landscape Architect” means a Professional Landscape Architect registered in the State of Ohio.

   (m)   “Larger common plan of development or sale” means a contiguous area where multiple separate and distinct construction activities may be taking place at different times on different schedules under one plan.

   (n)   “Maximum extent practicable” means the level of pollutant reduction that site owners of small municipal separate storm sewer systems regulated under 40 C.F.R. Parts 9, 122, 123, and 124, referred to as NPDES Storm Water Phase II, must meet.

   (o)   “NPDES”: National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. A regulatory program in the Federal Clean Water Act that prohibits the discharge of pollutants into surface waters of the United States without a permit.

   (p)   “Parcel” means a tract of land occupied or intended to be occupied by a use, building or group of buildings and their accessory uses and buildings as a unit, together with such open spaces and driveways as are provided and required. A parcel may contain more than one contiguous lot individually identified by a ‘Permanent Parcel Number’ assigned by the Portage County Auditor’s Office.

   (q)   “Person” means any individual, corporation, firm, trust, commission, board, public or private partnership, joint venture, agency, unincorporated association, municipal corporation, county or state agency, the federal government, other legal entity, or an agent thereof.

   (r)   “Phasing” means clearing a parcel of land in distinct sections, with the stabilization of each section before the clearing of the next.

   (s)   “Professional Engineer” means a Professional Engineer registered in the State of Ohio.

   (t)   “Rainwater and Land Development” means Ohio’s standards for storm water management, land development, and urban stream protection. The most current edition of these standards shall be used with this regulation.

   (u)   “Runoff” means the portion of rainfall, melted snow, or irrigation water that flows across the ground surface and is eventually conveyed to water resources or wetlands.

   (v)   “Sediment” means the soils or other surface materials that are transported or deposited by the action of wind, water, ice, gravity, or any combination of those forces, as a product of erosion.

   (w)   “Sedimentation” means the deposition or settling of sediment.

   (x)   “Setback” means a designated transition area around water resources or wetlands that is left in a natural, usually vegetated, state so as to protect the water resources or wetlands from runoff pollution. Soil disturbing activities in this area are restricted by this regulation.

   (y)   “Soil disturbing activity” means clearing, grading, excavating, filling, or other alteration of the earth’s surface where natural or human made ground cover is destroyed and that may result in, or contribute to, erosion and sediment pollution.

   (z)   “Soil and Water Conservation District” means an entity organized under Chapter 1515 of the Ohio Revised Code referring to either the Portage County Soil and Water Conservation District Board or its designated employee(s).

   (aa)   “Stabilization” means the use of best management practices, such as seeding and mulching, that reduce or prevent soil erosion by water, wind, ice, gravity, or a combination of those forces.

   (bb)   “Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan” means the written document that sets forth the plans and practices to be used to meet the requirements of this regulation.

   (cc)   “Unstable soils” means a portion of land that is identified by the City of Aurora Engineer as prone to slipping, sloughing, or landslides, or is identified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service methodology as having a low soil strength.

   (dd)   “Water resource” means any public or private body of water including lakes and ponds, as well as any brook, creek, river, or stream having banks, a defined bed, and a definite direction of flow, either continuously or intermittently flowing.

   (ee)   “Wetland” means those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, including swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas (40 CFR 232, as amended).
(Ord. 2005-016. Passed 4-11-05.)