As used in this subchapter, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the following definitions apply:
ACCELERATED EROSION. Means any increase over the rate of natural erosion as a result of land-disturbing activity.
ACT. Means the North Carolina Sedimentation Pollution Control Act of 1973 and all rules and orders adopted pursuant to it.
ADEQUATE EROSION CONTROL MEASURE, STRUCTURE, or DEVICE. Means one which controls the soil material within the land area under responsible control of the person conducting the land-disturbing activity.
AFFILIATE. Means a person that directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, control, is controlled by, or is under common control of another person.
APPROVING AUTHORITY. Means the Division or other State or a local government agency that has been delegated erosion and sedimentation plan review responsibilities in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
BEING CONDUCTED. Means a land-disturbing activity has been initiated and not deemed complete by the approving authority.
BORROW. Means fill material which is required for on-site construction and is obtained from other locations.
BUFFER ZONE. Means the strip of land adjacent to a lake or natural watercourse.
COASTAL COUNTIES. Means the following counties: Beaufort, Bertie, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hertford, Hyde, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, Tyrrell and Washington.
COMMISSION. Means the North Carolina Sedimentation Control Commission.
COMPLETION OF CONSTRUCTION or DEVELOPMENT. Means that no further land-disturbing activity is required on a phase of a project except that which is necessary for establishing a permanent ground cover.
DEPARTMENT. Means the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.1
DIRECTOR. Means the Director of the Division of Land Resources of the Department of Environmental Quality. 2
DISCHARGE POINT or POINT OF DISCHARGE. Means that point where runoff leaves a tract of land where a land-disturbing activity has occurred or enters a lake or natural watercourse.
DISTRICT. Means the Watauga Soil and Water Conservation District created pursuant to G.S. Ch. 139, North Carolina General Statutes.
ENERGY DISSIPATER. Means a structure or a shaped channel section with mechanical armoring placed at the outlet of pipes or conduits to receive and break down the energy from high velocity flow.
EROSION. Means the wearing away of land surface by the action of wind, water, gravity, or any combination thereof.
GROUND COVER. Means any natural vegetative growth or other material which renders the soil surface stable against accelerated erosion.
HIGH QUALITY WATER (HQW) ZONES. Means areas in the coastal counties that are within 575 feet of High Quality Waters and for the remainder of the state areas that are within one mile and drain to HQW's.
HIGH QUALITY WATERS. Means those classified as such in 15A NCAC 2B .0224, which is herein incorporated by reference including subsequent amendments and additions.
LAKE or NATURAL WATERCOURSE. Means any stream, river, brook, swamp, sound, bay, creek, run, branch, canal, waterway, estuary, and any reservoir, lake or pond.
LAND-DISTURBING ACTIVITY. Means any use of the land by any person in residential, industrial, educational, institutional, or commercial development, highway and road construction and maintenance that results in a change in the natural cover or topography and that may cause or contribute to sedimentation.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT. Means any county, incorporated village, town or city, or any combination of counties, incorporated villages, towns and cities, acting through a joint program pursuant to the provisions of the Act.
NATURAL EROSION. Means the wearing away of the earth's surface by water, wind, or other natural agents under natural environmental conditions undisturbed by man.
PARENT. An affiliate that directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls another person.
PERSON. Means any individual, partnership, firm, association, joint venture, public or private corporation, trust, estate, commission, board, public or private institution, utility, cooperative, interstate body, or other legal entity.
PERSON CONDUCTING LAND-DISTURBING ACTIVITY. Means any person who may be held responsible for a violation unless expressly provided otherwise by this chapter, the Act, or any order adopted pursuant to this chapter or the Act.
PERSON WHO VIOLATES or VIOLATOR. As used in G.S. § 113A-64, means: any landowner or other person who has financial or operational control over the land-disturbing activity; or who has directly or indirectly allowed the activity, and who has failed to comply with any provision of the Act, the rules of this chapter or any order or local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Act as it imposes a duty upon that person.
PLAN. Means an erosion and sedimentation control plan.
SEDIMENT. Means solid particulate matter, both mineral and organic, that has been or is being transported by water, air, gravity, or ice from its site of origin.
SEDIMENTATION. Means the process by which sediment resulting from accelerated erosion has been or is being transported off the site or the land-disturbing activity or into a lake or natural watercourse.
SILTATION. Means sediment resulting from accelerated erosion which is settleable or removable by properly designed, constructed, and maintained control measures; and which has been transported from its point of origin within the site of a land-disturbing activity; and which has been deposited, or is in suspension in water.
STORM DRAINAGE FACILITIES. Means the system of inlets, conduits, channels, ditches and appurtenances which serve to collect and convey storm water through and from a given drainage area.
STORM WATER RUNOFF. Means the direct runoff of water resulting from precipitation in any form.
SUBSIDIARY. An affiliate that is directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controlled by another person.
TEN-YEAR STORM. Means a rainfall of an intensity that, based on historical data, is predicted by a method acceptable to the approving authority to be equaled or exceeded, on the average, once in ten years, and of a duration that will produce the maximum peak rate of runoff, for the watershed of interest under average antecedent wetness conditions.
TRACT. Means all contiguous land and bodies of water being disturbed or to be disturbed as a unit, regardless of ownership.
TWENTY-FIVE YEAR STORM. Means a rainfall of an intensity that, based on historical data, is predicted by a method acceptable to the approving authority to be equaled or exceeded, on the average, once in 25 years, and of a duration that will produce the maximum peak rate of runoff, from the watershed of interest under average antecedent wetness conditions.
UNCOVERED. Means the removal of ground cover from, on, or above the soil surface.
UNDERTAKEN. Means the initiating of any activity, or phase of activity, which results or will result in a change in the ground cover or topography of a tract of land.
VELOCITY. Means the speed of flow through the cross section perpendicular to the direction of the main channel at the peak flow of the storm of interest but not exceeding bank full flows.
WASTE. Means surplus materials resulting from on-site construction and disposed of at other locations.
(1989 Code, Title V, Ch. 51, Art. XVII, § 1701) (Ord. passed 11-14-1995; Ord. passed 2-8-2005; Ord. 2021-03, passed 6-8-2021)
Editor's note:
1 Amended February 8, 2005.
2 Amended February 8, 2005.