For the purposes of this title, and unless stated otherwise, the following terms shall have the meaning herein indicated:
(1) “Abbreviated Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWP3)” means the written document that sets forth the plans and practices to be used to meet the requirements of this regulation.
(2) “Acre” means a measurement of land equaling 43,560 square feet.
(3) “Administrator” means the person or entity having the responsibility and duty of administering and ensuring the compliance with this regulation.
(4) “As-built survey” means a survey shown on a plan or drawing prepared and stamped by a registered professional surveyor indicating the actual dimensions, elevations, and locations of any structures, underground utilities, swales, detention facilities, and sewage treatment facilities after construction has been completed.
(5) “Best management practice” or “BMP”, also stormwater control measure “SCM” means any practice or combination of practices that is determined to be the most effective, prohibitions of practices, general good housekeeping practices, pollution prevention and educational practices, maintenance procedures, practicable (including technological, economic, and institutional considerations) means of preventing or reducing the amount of pollution generated by nonpoint sources of pollution to a level compatible with water quality goals. BMPs may include structural practices, conservation practices, and operation and maintenance procedures. BMPs also include treatment practices, operating procedures, and practices to control site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or water disposal, or drainage from raw materials storage.
(6) “Buffer” means the 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. Construction activities in this area are restricted or prohibited.
(7) “Channel” means a natural stream that conveys water or a ditch or channel excavated for the natural flow of water.
(8) “Clean Water Act” - Pub. L. 92-500, as amended Pub. L. 95-576, Pub. L. 96-483, Pub. L. 97-117, and Pub. L. 100-4, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq. Referred to as the Federal Water Pollution Control Act or the Federal Water Pollution Control Act or the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972.
(9) “Commencement of construction” means the initial disturbance of soils associated with clearing, grubbing, placement of fill, or excavating activities or other construction activities.
(10) “Community” means the Village of Cuyahoga Heights, State of Ohio, and its designated agents and representatives.
(11) “Comprehensive Storm Water Management Plan” means the Riparian Setback Plan, the Post-Construction Water Quality Plan, and the Construction Site Conservation Plan that are developed for a site. The Comprehensive Storm Water Management Plan so developed will serve as the Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWP3) required by Ohio EPA as part of the NPDES Storm Water Permit for General Construction.
(12) “Concentrated storm water runoff” means surface water runoff which converges and flows primarily through water conveyance features such as swales, gullies, waterways, channels or storm sewers, and which exceeds the maximum specified flow rates of filters or perimeter controls intended to control sheet flow.
(13) “Construction entrance” means the permitted points of ingress and egress to development areas regulated under this regulation.
(14) “Conservation” means the wise use and management of natural resources.
(15) “County SWCD” means the Cuyahoga County Soil and Water Conservation District.
(16) “Critical storm” means a storm that is determined by calculation of the percentage increase in volume of runoff by a proposed development area for the one year twenty-four-hour event. The critical storm is used to calculate the maximum allowable stormwater discharge rate from a developed site.
(17) “Cut and fill slopes” means a portion of land surface or area from which soil material is excavated and/or filled.
(18) “Denuded area” means a portion of land surface on which the vegetation or other soil stabilization features have been removed, destroyed, or covered, and which may result in or contribute to erosion and sedimentation.
(19) “Detention basin” means a storm water management pond that remains dry between storm events. Storm water management ponds include a properly engineered or designed volume which is dedicated to the temporary storage and slow release of runoff waters.
(20) “Development area” means any tract, lot, or parcel of land, or combination of tracts, lots or parcels of land, which are in one ownership or are contiguous and in diverse ownership, where earth-disturbing activity is to be performed.
(21) “Development drainage area” means a combination of each hydraulically unique watershed with individual outlet points on the development area.
(22) “Dewatering volume” see current Ohio Rainwater and Land Development Manual.
(23) “Discharge” means the addition of any pollutant to surface waters of the State from a point source.
(24) “Disturbance” means any clearing, grading, excavating, filling, or other alteration of land surface where natural or manmade cover is destroyed in a manner that exposes the underlying soils.
(25) “'Disturbed area” means an area of land subject to erosion due to the removal of vegetative cover and/or soil-disturbing activities such as clearing, grading, excavating, filling, or alteration of the land surface that could expose the underlying soil.
(26) “Ditch” means an excavation, either dug or natural, for the purpose of drainage or irrigation, and having intermittent flow. Ditches do not have any Federal or State jurisdiction governing them, only local jurisdiction.
(27) “Drainage” means the removal of excess surface water or groundwater from land by surface or subsurface drains.
(28) “Drainage watershed” means the total contributing drainage area to a BMP, i.e., the watershed directed to the practice. This includes offsite contributing drainage.
(29) “Drainage way” means any natural or manmade channel, ditch, or waterway that conveys surface water in a concentrated manner by gravity.
(30) “Dumping” means the grading, pushing, piling, throwing, unloading, or placing of soil or other material.
(31) “Earth disturbing activity” means any grading, excavating, filling, or other alteration of the earth's surface where natural or man-made ground cover is destroyed.
(32) “Earth material” means soil, sediment, rock, sand, gravel, and organic material or residue associated with or attached to the soil.
(33) “Erosion” means the process by which the land surface is worn away by the action of water, wind, ice, or gravity.
(34) “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.
(35) “Existing” means in existence at the time of the passage of these regulations.
(36) “'Extended detention facility” means a storm water control measure that replaces and/or enhances traditional detention facilities by releasing the runoff collected during the storm water quality event over at least twenty-four to forty-eight hours, retarding flow and allowing pollutants to settle within the facility.
(37) “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 eighty percent coverage for the area has been established or equivalent stabilization practices, such as the use of mulches or geotextiles, have been employed. Temporary stabilization has been removed or adapted and all trapped sediment is permanently stabilized to prevent further erosion.
(38) “Floatable material” means, in general, any foreign matter that may float or remain suspended in the water column, and includes, but is not limited to, plastic, aluminum cans, wood products, bottles, and paper products.
(39) “Frequency storm” means a rainfall event of a magnitude having a specified average recurrence interval and is calculated with Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA Type II twenty-four hour curves or depth-duration frequency curves.
(40) “Grading” means an earth disturbing activity such as excavation, stripping, cutting, filling, stockpiling, or any combination thereof.
(41) “Green infrastructure” means wet weather management approaches and technologies that utilize, enhance, or mimic the natural hydrologic cycle processes of infiltration, evapotranspiration, and reuse.
(42) “Grubbing” means removing, clearing, or scalping material such as roots, stumps or sod.
(43) “Hazardous material” means any material including any substances, waste, or combination thereof which, because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics may cause, or significantly contribute to, a substantial present or potential hazard to human health, safety, property, or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed, or otherwise managed.
(44) “Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC)” means a cataloging system developed by the United States Geological Survey and the National Resource Conservation Service to identify watersheds in the United States. Water quality improvements shall be implemented in the same Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) twelve watershed unit as the proposed development project.
(45) “Illicit discharge” means, as defined at C.F.R. 122.26(b)(2), any discharge to an MS4 that is not composed entirely of storm water, except for those discharges to an MS4 pursuant to a NPDES permit or noted in Section 1268.04.
(46) “Illegal connection” means any drain or conveyance, whether on the surface or subsurface, that allows an illicit discharge to enter the MS4.
(47) “Impervious” means that which does not allow infiltration.
(48) “Impervious cover” means any surface that cannot effectively absorb or infiltrate water. This may include roads, streets, parking lots, rooftops, sidewalks, and other areas not covered by vegetation.
(49) “Infiltration control measure” means a storm water control measure that does not discharge to a water resource during the storm water quality event, requiring collected runoff to either infiltrate into the ground water and/or be consumed by evapotranspiration, thereby retaining storm water pollutants in the facility.
(50) “Landscape architect” means a professional landscape architect registered in the State of Ohio.
(51) “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.
(52) “Low impact development (LID)” means a site design approach, which seeks to integrate hydrologically functional design with pollution prevention measures to compensate for land development impacts on hydrology and water quality. LID's goal is to mimic natural hydrology and processes by using small-scale, decentralized practices that infiltrate, evaporate, detain, and transpire stormwater. LID stormwater control measures (SCMs) are uniformly and strategically located throughout the site.
(53) “Maintenance organization” means the homeowner's association, business association, or any other applicable organization or individual entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining common areas, easements, and other similar matters with respect to the property.
(54) “Maximum extent practicable (MEP)” means the technology-based discharge standard for Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems to reduce pollutants in storm water discharges that was established by the Clean Water Act 402(p).
(55) “Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System” or “MS4" means, as defined at 40 C.F.R. 122.26(b)(8), a conveyance or system or conveyances (including roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, manmade channels, or storm drains):
A. Owned or operated by a State, village, town, borough, county, parish, district, municipality, township, association, or other public body (created by or pursuant to State law) having jurisdiction over sewage, industrial wastes, including special districts under State law such as a sewer district, or similar entity, or an Indian tribe or an Indian tribal organization, or a designated and approved management agency under Section 208 of the Clean Water Act that discharges to waters of the United States;
B. Designated or used for collecting or conveying storm water;
C. Which is not a combined sewer; and
D. Which is not a part of a publicly owned treatment works as defined at 40 C.F.R. 122.2.
(56) “National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System” means the national program for issuing, modifying, enforcing, revoking and reissuing, termination, and monitoring and enforcing permits and enforcing pretreatment requirements, under Sections 307, 402, 318, 405 under the Clean Water Act.
(57) “Natural Resources Conservation Service” or “NRCS” means an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service (SCS).
(58) “NPDES Permit” means a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit issued by Ohio EPA under the authority of the USEPA and derived from the Federal Clean Water Act.
(59) “Non-storm water discharge” means any discharge to the storm drain system that is not composed entirely of storm water.
(60) “Non-structural storm water control measure (SCM)” means storm water runoff control and treatment techniques that use natural processes and features to control runoff and/or reduce pollution levels.
(61) “ODNR” means the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
(62) “Operator” means any party associated with a construction project that meets either of the following two criteria:
A. The party has operational control over construction plans and specifications, including the ability to make modifications to those plans and specifications; or
B. The party has day-to-day operational control of those activities at a project which are necessary to ensure compliance with a Stormwater Prevention Plan (SWP3) for the site or other permit conditions (e.g. they are authorized to direct workers at a site to carry out activities required by the SWP3 or comply with other permit conditions.
(63) “Off-lot discharging home sewage treatment system” means a system designed to treat home sewage on-site and discharges treated wastewater effluent off the property into a storm water or surface water conveyance or system.
(64) “Ohio EPA” means the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
(65) “Ordinary high water mark” means the point of the bank or shore to which the presence and action of surface water is so continuous as to leave a district marked by erosion, destruction, or prevention of woody terrestrial vegetation, predominance of aquatic vegetation, or other easily recognized characteristic.
(66) “Outfall” means an area where water flows from a structure such as a conduit, storm sewer, improved channel, or drain and the area immediately beyond the structure which is impacted by the velocity of flow in the structure.
(67) “Owner/operator” means any individual, association, organization, partnership, firm, corporation, or other entity recognized by law and acting as either the owner or on the owner's behalf. The owner or operator of any “facility or activity” subject to regulation under the NPDES program.
(68) “Parcel” means a tract of land occupied or intended to be occupied by a use, building, or group or 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 Cuyahoga County Auditor's Office.
(69) “Percent imperviousness” means the impervious area divided by the total area of the project site.
(70) “Permanent stabilization” means the establishment of permanent vegetation, decorative landscape mulching, matting, sod, rip rap, and landscaping techniques used to provide permanent erosion control on areas where construction operations are complete or where no further disturbance is expected for at least one year.
(71) “Person” means any individual, corporation, partnership, joint venture, agency, unincorporated association, municipal corporation, township, county, State agency, the Federal government, or any combination thereof.
(72) “Phasing” means clearing a parcel of land in distinct sections, with the stabilization of each section before the clearing of the next.
(73) “Point source” means any discernable, confined, and discrete conveyance including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, landfill leachate collecting system, vessel, or the floating craft from which pollutants are or may be discharged. This term does not include return flows from irrigated agriculture or agricultural stormwater runoff.
(74) “Pollutant” means anything which causes or contributes to pollution. “Pollutants” may include, but are not limited to the following: paints, varnishes, and solvents; oil and other petrochemical fluids; non-hazardous liquid and solid wastes and yard wastes; refuse, rubbish, garbage, litter, or other discarded or abandoned objects, so that same may cause or contribute to pollution; floatables; pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers when applied in excess of Federal, State or local standards; hazardous substances and wastes; sewage, fecal coliform and pathogens; dissolved and particulate metals; wastes and residues that result from constructing a building or structure; and noxious or offensive matter of any kind.
(75) “'Post-development” means the conditions that exist following the completion of soil-disturbing activity in terms of topography, vegetation, land use, and the rate, volume, quality, or direction of storm water runoff.
(76) “Pre-construction meeting” means meeting prior to construction between all parties associated with the construction of the project, including government agencies, contractors and owners, to review agency requirements and plans as submitted and approved.
(77) “Pre-development” means the conditions that exist prior to the initiation of soil-disturbing activity in terms of topography, vegetation, land use, and the rate, volume, quality, or direction of storm water runoff.
(78) “Professional engineer” means a person registered in the State of Ohio as a professional engineer, with specific education and experience in water resources engineering, acting in strict conformance with the Code of Ethics of the Ohio Board of Registration for Engineers and Surveyors.
(79) “Public water” means any storm water which is conveyed from a public street.
(80) “Qualified inspection personnel” means a person knowledgeable in the principles and practice of erosion and sediment controls, who possesses the skills to assess all conditions at the construction site that could impact storm water quality and to assess the effectiveness of any sediment and erosion control measures selected to control the quality of storm water discharges from the construction activity.
(81) “Rainwater and Land Development” means Ohio's standards for stormwater management, land development, and stream protection. The most current edition of these standards shall be used with this regulation.
(82) “Redevelopment” means the demolition or removal of existing structures or land uses and construction of new ones without increasing the runoff coefficient used to calculate the water quality volume.
(83) “Retention basin” means a storm water management pond that maintains a permanent pool of water. These storm water management ponds include a properly engineered/designed volume dedicated to the temporary storage and slow release of runoff waters.
(84) “Riparian area” means a naturally vegetated land adjacent to watercourses which, if appropriately sized, helps to stabilize stream banks, limit erosion, reduce flood flows, and/or filter and settle out runoff pollutants, or which performs other functions consistent with the purposes of these regulations.
(85) “Riparian and wetland setback” means those lands within the Village which are alongside streams where earth disturbing activities will not take place and natural vegetation will not be removed.
(86) “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.
(87) “Runoff coefficient” means the fraction of rainfall that will appear at the conveyance as runoff.
(88) “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 wind, water, gravity or ice, and has come to rest on the earth's surface either on dry land or in a body of water.
(89) “Sediment settling pond” means a temporary sediment pond that releases runoff at a controlled rate. It is designed to slowly release runoff, detaining it long enough to allow most of the sediment to settle out of the water. The outlet structure is usually a designed pipe riser and barrel. The entire structure is removed after construction. Permanent storm water detention structures can be modified to function as temporary sediment basins.
(90) “Sediment storage volume” - see current edition of Rainwater and Land Development.
(91) “Sedimentation” means the deposition of sediment in water resources.
(92) “Setback” means a designated transition area around water resources that is left in a natural, usually vegetated, state to protect the water resources from runoff pollution. Soil disturbing activities in this area are restricted by this regulation.
(93) “Sediment control” means the limiting of sediment being transported by controlling erosion or detaining sediment-laden water and, allowing the sediment to settle out.
(94) “Sediment barrier” means a sediment control device such as a geotextile silt fence or a grass filter strip, usually capable of controlling only small flow rates. (Straw bale barriers are not acceptable.)
(95) “Sediment pollution” means a failure to use management or conservation practices to control wind or water erosion of the soil and to minimize the degradation of water resources by soil sediment in conjunction with land grading, excavating, filling, or other soil disturbing activities on land used or being developed for commercial, industrial, residential, or other purposes.
(96) “Settling pond” means a runoff detention structure, such as a sediment basin or sediment trap, which detains sediment-laden runoff, allowing sediment to settle out.
(97) “Sheet flow” means water runoff in a thin uniform layer or rills and which is of small enough quantity to be treated by sediment barriers.
(98) “Site owner/operator” 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 that is responsible for the overall construction site.
(99) “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, increased storm water quantity and/or decreased storm water quality.
(100) “Sloughing” means a slip or downward movement of an extended layer of soil resulting from the undermining action of water or the earth disturbing activity of man.
(101) “Soil” means unconsolidated erodible earth material consisting of minerals and/or organics.
(102) “Soil and Water Conservation District, USDA” means the Federal agency now titled the “Natural Resources Conservation Service,” which is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture organized under Ohio R.C. Chapter 1515.
(103) “Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Plan” means a written and/or drawn soil erosion and sediment pollution control plan to minimize erosion and prevent off-site sedimentation throughout all earth disturbing activities on a development area.
(104) “Soil erosion and sediment control practices” means conservation measures used to control sediment pollution and including structural practices, vegetative practices, and management techniques.
(105) “Soil stabilization” means vegetative or structural soil cover that controls erosion, including, but not limited to, permanent and temporary seeding, mulch, sod, and pavement.
(106) “Soil survey” means the official soil survey produced by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA in cooperation with the Division of Soil and Water Conservation, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and the local board of county commissioners.
(107) “Stabilization” means the use of BMPs or SCMs that reduce or prevent soil erosion by stormwater runoff, trench dewatering, wind, ice, gravity, or a combination thereof.
(108) “Steep slopes” means slopes that are fifteen percent or greater in grade.
(109) “Storm water” means any surface flow, runoff, and drainage consisting entirely of water from any form of natural precipitation and resulting from such precipitation.
(110) “Storm water control structure” means the practice used to control accelerated storm water runoff from development areas.
(111) “Storm water conveyance” means all storm sewers, channels, streams, ponds, lakes, and the like, used for conveying concentrated storm water runoff or for storing storm water runoff.
(112) “Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan” or “SWP3” means the plan required by the Ohio EPA to meet the requirements of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit program for construction activities.
(113) “Stream” means a body of water running or flowing on the earth's surface, or a channel with a defined bed and banks in which such flow occurs. Flow may be seasonally intermittent.
(114) “Surface outlet” means a dewatering device that only draws water from the surface of the water.
(115) “Subdivisions, minor and major” - see Ohio Administrative Code 711.001 for definition.
(116) “SWM” means storm water management. Stormwater management practices SWMP also stormwater control measures SCMs. Any constructed facility, structure, or device that prevents or reduces the discharge of pollutants to water resources and controls stormwater volume and rate.
(117) “Temporary stabilization” means the establishment of temporary vegetation, mulching, geotextiles, sod, preservation of existing vegetation, and other techniques capable of quickly establishing cover over disturbed areas to provide erosion control between construction phases.
(118) “Topsoil” means the upper layer of soil that is usually darker in color and richer in organic matter and nutrients than subsoil.
(119) “Total maximum daily load (TMDL)” means the sum of the existing and/or projected point source, non-point source, and background loads for a pollutant to a specified watershed, water body, or water body segment. A TMDL sets and allocates the maximum amount of a pollutant that may be introduced into the water and still ensures attainment and maintenance of water quality standards. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has approved a TMDL guide which can be found at http://www.neohiostormwater.com.
(120) “Unstable soil” means a portion of land surface or area which is prone to slipping, sloughing, landslides, or is identified by Natural Resources Conservation Service methodology as having a low soil strength.
(121) “USEPA” means the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
(122) “Village” means the Village of Cuyahoga Heights, its designated representatives, boards, or commissions.
(123) “Wastewater” means the spent water of a community. From the standpoint of a source, it may be a combination of the liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants, and institutions.
(124) “Water quality volume (WQv)” means the volume of stormwater runoff which must be captured and treated prior to discharge from the developed site after construction is complete. WQv is based on the expected runoff generated by the mean storm precipitation volume from post construction site conditions at which rapidly diminishing returns in the number of runoff events captured begins to occur.
(125) “Watercourse” means any natural, perennial, or intermittent channel with a defined bed and banks, stream, river, or brook.
(126) “Water resources” also “surface waters of the State” means all streams, lakes, ponds, wetlands, water courses, waterways, drainage systems, and all other bodies or accumulations of surface water, either natural or artificial, which are situated wholly or partly within, or border upon this State, or are within its jurisdiction, except those private waters which do not combine or affect a junction with natural surface waters.
(127) “Water resource crossing” means any bridge, box, arch, culvert, truss, or other type of structure intended to convey people, animals, vehicles, or materials from one side of a watercourse to another. This does not include private, noncommercial footbridges or pole-mounted aerial electric or telecommunication lines, nor does it include below-grade utility lines.
(128) “Watershed” means the total drainage area contributing storm water runoff to a single point.
(129) “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). Wetlands shall be delineated by a site survey approved by the Village using delineation protocols accepted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Ohio EPA at the time of application of this regulation. If a conflict exists between the delineation protocols of these two agencies, the delineation protocol that results in the most inclusive area of wetlands shall apply.
(130) “Wetland setback” means those lands adjacent to wetlands where earth disturbing activities will not take place and natural vegetation will not be removed.
(Ord. 2014-119. Passed 2-11-15; Ord. 2017-31. Passed 5-10-17.)