For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply: Words used in the singular shall include the plural, and the plural shall include the singular; words used in the present tense shall include the future tense. The word "shall" is mandatory and not discretionary. The word "may" is permissive. Words not defined in this section shall be construed to have the meaning given by common and ordinary use as defined in the latest edition of Webster's Dictionary.
(1) "As built plans" means drawings depicting conditions as they were actually constructed.
(2) "Best management practices " or "BMPs " are physical, structural, and/or managerial practices that, when used singly or in combination, prevent or reduce pollution of water, that have been approved by the City of Cookeville, and that have been incorporated by reference into this chapter as if fully set out therein.
[NOTE: See § 14-704(1) for recommended BMP manual.]
(3) "Building Permit Applicant or Applicant" means anyone applying for a building or grading permit.
(4) "Channel" means a natural or artificial watercourse with a definite bed and banks that conducts flowing water continuously or periodically.
(5) "Civil penalties" under the authority provided in Tennessee Code Annotated § 68-221-1106, the city declares that any person violating the provisions of this chapter may be assessed a civil penalty by the city of not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) and not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) per day for each day of violation. Each day of violation shall constitute a separate violation.
(6) "Common plan of development or sale" is broadly defined as any announcement or documentation (including a sign, public notice or hearing, sales pitch, advertisement, drawing, permit application, zoning request, computer design, etc.) or physical demarcation (including boundary signs, lot stakes, surveyor markings, etc.) indicating construction activities may occur on a specific plot. A common plan of development or sale identifies a situation in which multiple areas of disturbance are occurring on contiguous areas. This applies because the activities may take place at different times, on different schedules, by different operators.
(7) "Contaminant" means any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter in water.
(8) "de minimus discharges " are water discharges that pose insignificant threat to water quality and the environment.
(9) "Design storm event" means a hypothetical storm event of a given frequency, interval and duration, used in the analysis and design of a stormwater facility. The estimated design rainfall amounts for any return period interval (i.e. 2-yr, 5-yr, 10-yr, etc.), in terms of either 24-hour depths or intensities for any duration, can be found by accessing the following NOAA National Weather Service Atlas 14 data for Tennessee: http://hdsc.nws.noaa.gov/hdsc/pfds/pfds map cont.html
(10) "Discharge " means dispose, deposit, spill, pour, inject, seep, dump, leak or place by any means, or that which is disposed, deposited, spilled, poured, injected, seeped, dumped, leaked, or placed by any means including any direct or indirect entry of any solid or liquid matter into the municipal separate storm sewer system.
(11) "Easement" means an acquired privilege or right of use or enjoyment that a person, party, firm, corporation, municipality or other legal entity has in the land of another.
(12) "Erosion " means the removal of soil particles by the action of water, wind, ice or other geological agents, whether naturally occurring or acting in conjunction with or promoted by anthropogenic activities or effects.
(13) "First flush " means the initial or early stages of stormwater runoff from a storm event which commonly delivers a disproportionately large amount of previously accumulated pollutants due to the rapid rate of runoff. The first flush is defined in the City of Cookeville Stormwater Management Design Guidelines.
(14) "Hotspot" ("priority area") means an area where land use or activities generate highly contaminated runoff, with concentrations of pollutants in excess of those typically found in stormwater.
(15) "Illicit connections " means illegal and/or unauthorized connections to the municipal separate stormwater system whether or not such connections result in discharges into that system.
(16) "Illicit discharge " means any discharge to the municipal separate storm sewer system that is not composed entirely of stormwater and not specifically exempted under § 14-706
(2).
(17) "Improved sinkhole " is a natural surface depression that has been altered in order to direct fluids into the hole opening. Improved sinkhole is a type of injection well regulated under TDEC's Underground Injection Control (UIC) program. Underground injection constitutes an intentional disposal of waste water in natural depressions, open fractures, and crevices (such as those commonly associated with weathering of limestone).
(18) "Inspector" An inspector is a person that has successfully completed (has a valid certification from) the "Fundamentals of Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control Level I" course or equivalent course. An inspector performs and documents the required inspections, paying particular attention to time-sensitive permit requirements such as stabilization and maintenance activities. An inspector may also have the following responsibilities:
(a) Oversee the requirements of other construction-related permits, such as Aquatic Resources Alteration Permit (ARAP) or Corps of Engineers permit for construction activities in or around waters of the state;
(b) Update field SWPPPs;
(c) Conduct pre-construction inspection to verify that undisturbed areas have been properly marked and initial measures have been installed; and
(d) Inform the permit holder of activities that may be necessary to gain or remain in compliance with the Construction General Permit (CGP) and other environmental permits.
(19) "Land disturbing activity" means any activity on property that results in a change in the existing soil cover (both vegetative and non-vegetative) and/or the existing soil topography. Land-disturbing activities include, but are not limited to, development, re-development, demolition, construction, reconstruction, clearing, grading, filling, and excavation. Excludes agricultural activities.
(20) "Maintenance" means any activity that is necessary to keep a stormwater facility in good working order so as to function as designed. Maintenance shall include complete reconstruction of a stormwater facility if reconstruction is needed in order to restore the facility to its original operational design parameters. Maintenance shall also include the correction of any problem on the site property that may directly impair the functions of the stormwater facility.
(21) "Maintenance agreement" means a document recorded in the land records that acts as a property deed restriction, and which provides for long-term maintenance of stormwater management practices.
(22) "Municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4)" ("Municipal separate stormwater system") means the conveyances owned or operated by the municipality for the collection and transportation of stormwater, including the roads and streets and their drainage systems, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, man-made channels, and storm drains, and where context indicates, it means the municipality that owns the separate storm sewer system.
(23) "National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit" (NPDES permit) means a permit issued pursuant to 33 U.S.C. 1342.
(24) "Off-site facility" means a structural BMP located outside the subject property boundary described in the permit application for land development activity.
(25) "Peak flow" means the maximum instantaneous rate of flow of water at a particular point resulting from a storm event.
(26) "Person" means any and all persons, natural or artificial, including any individual, firm or association and any municipal or private corporation organized or existing under the laws of this or any other state or country.
(27) "Redevelopment" is defined as land development on a previously developed site which disturbs fifty percent (50%) or more of the existing developed site. Redevelopment does not include ordinary maintenance activities, such as repaving existing paved areas, remodeling existing buildings, reroofing, and cosmetic changes to existing buildings.
(28) "Runoff" means that portion of the precipitation on a drainage area that is discharged from the area into the municipal separate stormwater system.
(29) "Sediment" means solid material, both mineral and organic, that is in suspension, is being transported, or has been moved from its site of origin by air, water, gravity, or ice and has come to rest on the earth's surface either above or below sea level.
(30) "Sedimentation" means soil particles suspended in stormwater that can settle in stream beds and may disrupt the natural flow of the stream.
(31) "Soils Report" means a study of soils on a subject property with the primary purpose of characterizing and describing the soils. The soils report shall be prepared by a soils engineer or geologist licensed in the State of Tennessee, who shall be directly involved in the soil characterization either by performing the investigation or by directly supervising employees.
(32) "Stabilization" means providing adequate measures, vegetative and/or structural, that will prevent erosion from occurring.
(33) "Stormwater" means stormwater runoff, snow melt runoff, surface runoff, street wash waters related to street cleaning or maintenance, infiltration and drainage.
(34) "Stormwater management" means the programs to maintain quality and quantity of stormwater runoff to pre-development levels.
(35) "Stormwater management facilities" means the drainage structures, conduits, ponds, ditches, combined sewers, sewers, and all device appurtenances by means of which stormwater is collected, transported, pumped, treated or disposed of.
(36) "Stormwater management plan" means the set of drawings and other documents that comprise all the information and specifications for the programs, drainage systems, structures, BMPs, concepts and techniques intended to maintain or restore quality and quantity of stormwater runoff to pre-development levels.
(37) "Stormwater runoff” means flow on the surface of the ground, resulting from precipitation.
(38) "Stormwater utility" means the stormwater utility created by ordinance of the city to administer the stormwater management ordinance, and other stormwater rules and regulations adopted by the municipality.
(39) “Stream" is a linear surface water that is not a Wet-Weather Conveyance as determined by a Qualified Hydrological Professions.
(40) "Structural BMPs" means devices that are constructed to provide control of stormwater runoff.
(41) "Surface water" includes waters upon the surface of the earth in bounds created naturally or artificially including, but not limited to, streams, other water courses, lakes and reservoirs.
(42) "Watercourse" means a permanent or intermittent stream or other body of water, either natural or man-made, which gathers or carries surface water.
(43) "Watershed" means all the land area that contributes runoff to a particular point along a waterway.
(44) "Waters" or "waters of the state" means any and all water, public or private, on or beneath the surface of the ground, which are contained within, flow through or border upon Tennessee or any portion thereof except those bodies of water confined to and retained within the limits of private property in single ownership which do not combine or effect a junction with natural surface or underground waters.
(45) "Wetland(s)" means those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted to life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands include, but are not limited to, swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.
(46) "Wet Weather Conveyance" are man-made or natural watercourses, including natural watercourses that have been modified by channelization, that flow only in direct response to precipitation runoff in their immediate locality and whose channels are above the groundwater table and are not suitable for drinking water supplies; and in which hydrological and biological analyses indicate that, under normal weather conditions, due to naturally occurring ephemeral or low flow, there is not sufficient water to support fish or multiple populations of obligate lotic aquatic organisms whose life cycle includes an aquatic phase of at least two months.
(as added by Ord. #004-06-11, July 2004, and amended by Ord. #015-01-01, February 2015, and Ord. #O16-09-21, November 2016)