(A) For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ADEQUATE DOWNSTREAM STORMWATER CAPACITY. A stormwater management system shall be considered ADEQUATE DOWNSTREAM STORMWATER CAPACITY if the system can be shown to store or convey up to and including the 100-year stormwater runoff without increasing damage to adjoining properties or to a point downstream known to the regulatory authority to be a restriction causing significant backwater.
ADVERSE IMPACT. A significant negative impact to land, water and associated resources resulting from a land disturbing activity. The negative impact includes increased risk of flooding; degradation of water quality; increased sedimentation; reduced groundwater recharge; negative impacts on aquatic organisms; negative impacts on wildlife and other resources; and threatened public health.
APPLICANT. A person, firm, or governmental agency who executes the necessary forms to obtain approval or a permit for land disturbing activity.
APPROPRIATE PLAN APPROVAL AGENCY. The commission, local government, or conservation district that is responsible in a jurisdiction for review and approval of stormwater management and sediment control plans.
ARCHITECT. An individual who, by reason of the individual’s general knowledge of the principles of architecture acquired by professional education and practical experience, is qualified to engage in the practice of architecture as attested by the individual’s registration as an architect.
AS-BUILT PLANS OR RECORD DRAWINGS. Upon completion of the development a registered professional engineer or land surveyor, in accordance with South Carolina law, shall certify construction drawings of what was built and that the development is built in accordance with the submitted plans and previous pre-development certifications (depicting conditions as they were actually constructed), or certify that the as-built conditions meet or exceed pre-post runoff requirements. As-built drawings should show contours, fence, cross section of oputlet structure showing orifice size and elevations.
BASE FLOOD. The flood having a 1% probability of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. The BASE FLOOD is also known as the 100-year frequency flood event.
BASE FLOOD ELEVATION (BFE). The elevation delineating the level of flooding resulting from the 1% chance (100-year flood) frequency storm event.
BASEMENT. Any area of a building having its floor subgrade (below grade level) on all sides.
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMPs). Physical, structural, and/or managerial practices that have been approved by Pickens County, that when used singly or in combination, prevent or reduce pollution of water and that have been incorporated by reference into this chapter as if fully set out therein.
BUFFER. An area of predominantly vegetated land to be left open, adjacent to drainage ways, wetlands, lakes, ponds or other surface waters for the purpose of eliminating or minimizing adverse impacts to such areas.
CERTIFIED EROSION PREVENTION AND SEDIMENT CONTROL INSPECTOR. A person with the responsibility for conduction inspections during construction and maintenance inspections after the land disturbing activity is completed as certified by SCDHEC.
CERTIFIED STORMWATER PLAN REVIEWER. A person with the responsibility for reviewing stormwater management and sediment control plans for an appropriate plan approval agency as certified by SCDHEC.
CHANNEL. Any river, stream, creek, brook, branch, natural or artificial depression, ponded area, lake, flowage, slough, ditch, conduit, culvert, gully, ravine, swale, wash, or natural or manmade drainage ways, in or into which surface or groundwater flows, either perennially or intermittently, continuously or periodically.
CHANNEL MODIFICATION. Alteration of a channel by changing the physical dimensions or materials of its bed or banks. CHANNEL MODIFICATION includes damming, rip-rapping or other armoring, widening, deepening, straightening, relocation and lining and significant removal of bottom or woody vegetation of the channel. CHANNEL MODIFICATION does not include the clearing of dead or dying vegetation, debris, or trash from the channel.
CITY. The City of Easley.
COMMUNITY WATER. Any and all rivers, streams, creeks, branches, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, drainage systems, springs, wetlands, wells and other bodies of surface or subsurface water, natural or artificial, lying within or forming a part of the boundaries of Pickens County.
CONTAMINANT. Any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter in water.
CONTROL STRUCTURE. A structure designed to control the rate of flow that passes through the structure, given a specific upstream and downstream water surface elevation.
DAM. All obstructions, wall embankments or barriers, together with their abutments and appurtenant works, if any, constructed for the purpose of storing or diverting water or creating a pool. Underground water storage tanks are not included.
DEED OR PLAT RESTRICTION. Permanent easements, covenants, deed restricted open spaces, outlets, reserved plat areas, and conservation easements dedicated to meet the requirements of this chapter, or public road rights of way that contain any part of the stormwater management system of a development.
DESIGN STORM EVENT. A hypothetical storm event, of a given intensity, frequency interval and duration, used in the analysis and design of a stormwater facility.
DETENTION FACILITY. A manmade structure for the temporary storage of stormwater runoff with controlled release during or immediately following a storm.
DEVELOPED PROPERTY. Real property which has been altered from its natural state by the addition and attachment of any improvements such as buildings, structures or other impervious area. For new construction, property shall be considered developed upon final approval of site improvements by the city.
DEVELOP.
(a) Completion of a final plat, replat, or manmade change to real estate by private or public agencies including:
1. Construction, reconstruction, repair, or placement of a building or any addition to a building or any addition to a building;
2. Installation of a manufactured home on a site, preparation of a site for a manufactured home, or the placement of a recreational vehicle on a site for more than 180 days;
3. Drilling, mining, installation of utilities, construction of roads, bridges, or similar projects;
4. Clearing of land as an adjunct of construction;
5. Construction or erections of levees, walls, fences, dams, or culverts; channel modification; filling, dredging, grading, excavating, paving, or other alterations of the ground surface; storage of materials; deposit of solid or liquid waste;
6. Any other activity that might change the direction, height, volume or velocity of flood or surface water, including the drainage of wetlands and removal of vegetation to the extent such that the wetland would no longer meet the criteria of supporting hydrophitic vegetation as defined in this chapter except that which would be considered appropriate for management purposes.
(b) DEVELOPMENT does not include maintenance of existing buildings and facilities such as resurfacing of roadways when the road elevation is not increased, or gardening, or plowing, and similar agriculture practices outside of the regulatory floodplain involving filling or grading as part of a Natural Resources Conservation Service designed and approved conservation project. Additionally, DEVELOPMENT does not include fence installation, pole placement, drilling or other minor auxiliary construction activity which does not affect stormwater runoff rates or volumes as long as the development activity is not located in a regulatory floodplain, wetland, or channel.
DEVELOPER. A person undertaking, or for whose benefit, activities covered by state and federal regulations and this chapter are commenced and/or carried out.
DISCHARGE. 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 waters of the State.
DRAINAGE AREA. The land area contributing runoff to a single point.
EASEMENT. 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.
EROSION. 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.
EROSION AND SEDIMENT CONTROL PLAN. A written plan (including drawings or other graphic representations) that is designed to minimize the accelerated erosion and sediment runoff at a site during construction activities.
FEMA. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and its regulations codified as 44 CFR 59-79 effective as of October 1, 1986.
FLOOD. A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from overflow of inland or tidal waves, or the unusual and rapid accumulation of runoff of surface waters from any source.
FLOOD FREQUENCY. A period of years, based on a statistical analysis, during which a flood of a stated magnitude may be expected to be equaled or exceeded.
GRADING. Excavating, filling (including hydraulic fill) or stockpiling of earth material, or any combination thereof, including the land in its excavated or filled condition.
HOTSPOT (PRIORITY AREA). An area where land use or activities generate highly contaminated runoff, with concentrations of pollutants in excess of those typically found in stormwater.
ILLICIT CONNECTIONS. Illegal and/or unauthorized connections to the municipal separate stormwater system whether or not such connections result in discharges into that system.
ILLICIT DISCHARGE. Defined at South Carolina Water Pollution Control Permits Regulation 61-9 122.26(b) (2) and refers to any discharges to a small municipal separate storm sewer system (SMS4) that is not composed of storm water, except discharges authorized under an NPDES permit (other than the NPDES permit for discharges from the SMS4) and discharges resulting from fire fighting related activities.
INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT PRACTICE (IMP). A LID practice or combination of practices that are the most effective and practicable (including technological, economic, and institutional considerations) means of controlling the pre-development site hydrology.
LAND DISTURBING ACTIVITY. 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.
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT.
(a) 1. A person who is licensed to practice landscape architecture in this State; or
2. Landscape architecture is the performance of professional services, such as consultation, investigation, research, planning, design, preparation of drawings and specifications, and responsible inspection in connection with the development of land areas where, and to the extent that, the dominant purpose of the services is the preservation, enhancement, or determination of proper site design, natural land features, planting, naturalistic and aesthetic values, the settings and approaches to structures or other improvements, the setting of grades and determining drainage and providing for drainage structures, and the consideration and determining of environmental problems.
(b) This practice includes the design of tangible objects, drainage structures and systems, and features as are incidental and necessary to an overall or ongoing landscape plan and site design, and the landscape architect may certify the design of the tangible objects, drainage structures and systems, features as to structural soundness and as to compliance with all requirements and standards of a government or subdivision of it.
(c) This practice does not include the design of structures, drainage structures and systems, and features which are not incidental and necessary to an overall landscape plan and site design and which have separate and self-contained purposes such as are ordinarily included in the practice of engineering or architecture and does not include the making of land surveys or final plats for official approval or recordation.
(d) Nothing contained in this definition precludes a duly licensed landscape architect from performing the services described in the first sentence of this definition in connection with the settings, approaches, or environment for buildings, structures, or facilities.
(e) Nothing contained in this chapter may be construed as authorizing a landscape architect to engage in the practice of architecture, engineering, or land surveying as these terms are defined in S.C. Code § 40-28-150 and in this chapter, except that a landscape architect may prepare and certify all design, grading, drainage, and construction plans for roads and site-related projects which are incidental and necessary to an overall or ongoing landscape plan and site design.
LARGE CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY. The construction industrial activity as defined at § 122.26(b)(14)(x) of S.C. Regulation 61-9 and incorporated here by reference. A LARGE CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY includes clearing, grading, and excavating resulting in a land disturbance that will disturb equal to or greater than five acres of total land area but is part of a larger common plan of development or sale that will ultimately disturb equal to or greater than five acres. LARGE CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY does not include routine maintenance that is performed to maintain the original line and grade, hydraulic capacity, or original purpose of the site.
LOW IMPACT DEVELOPMENT (LID). The integration of site ecological and environmental goal and requirements into all phases of urban planning and design from the individual residential lot level to the entire watershed.
MAINTENANCE. 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.
MUNICIPAL SEPARATE STORMWATER SYSTEM (MS4) or SEPARATE STORM SEWER SYSTEM. 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, manmade channels, and storm drains.
NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM PERMIT (NPDES PERMIT). A permit issued to a discharger pursuant to regulations for all point source discharges into surface waters.
OFF-SITE FACILITY. A structural BMP located outside the subject property boundary described in the permit application for land development activity.
ON-SITE FACILITY. A structural BMP located within the subject property boundary described in the permit application for land development activity.
PEAK FLOW. The maximum instantaneous rate of flow of water at a particular point resulting from a storm event.
PERSON. Any and all persons, natural or artificial, including any individual, firm or association and any county, municipal or private corporation organized or existing under the laws of this or any other state or country.
PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LAND DISTURBING ACTIVITY.
(a) The person who has or represents having financial or operational control over the land disturbing activity; and/or
(b) The landowner or person in possession or control of the land who directly or indirectly allowed the land disturbing activity or has benefited from it or who has failed to comply with any provision of this chapter, or local ordinance adopted pursuant to the act as imposes a duty upon him or her.
PRIORITY AREA. See HOTSPOT.
PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER. As defined in the S.C. Code Title 40, a Category A license holder who, by reason of his or her special knowledge of the mathematical and physical sciences and the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design, acquired by professional education and practical experience, is qualified to practice engineering, all as attested by his or her legal license a registration as a professional in this state.
PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR. As defined in the S.C. Code Title 40, means a person who is qualified to practice any discipline of Tier A or Tier B land surveying in this state, as attested by his or her license and registration as a Tier A or Tier B professional land surveyor in this state.
RUNOFF. Precipitation from rain or snowmelt flows over the ground. Impervious surfaces like driveways, sidewalks, and streets prevent stormwater from naturally soaking into the ground.
SEDIMENT. 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.
SEDIMENTATION. Soil particles suspended in stormwater that can settle in streambeds and disrupt the natural flow of the stream.
SMALL CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY. Includes clearing, grading, and excavation resulting in a land disturbance that:
(a) Will disturb equal to or greater than one acre and less than five acres of land;
(b) Will disturb less than one acre of total land area but is part of a larger common plan of development or sale that will ultimately disturb equal to or greater than one acre and less than five acres.
SMALL MUNICIPAL SEPARATE STORM SEWER SYSTEM (SMS4). Defined at South Carolina Water Pollution Control Permits Regulation § 61-9 122.26 (b)(16) and refers to all small separate storm sewer systems that are owned or operated by the United States, a state, city, town, boroughs, county, parish, district, association, or other public body (created by or pursuant to state law) having jurisdiction over disposal of sewage, industrial wastes, storm water, or other wastes, including special districts under state law such as a sewer district, flood control district or drainage district, or similar entity, or an Indian tribe or an authorized Indian tribal organization, or a designated and approved management agency under section 208 of the CWA that discharges to waters of the United States, but is not defined as “large” or “medium” municipal separate storm sewer system. This term includes systems similar to separate storm sewer systems in municipalities, such as systems at military bases, large hospital or prison complexes, and highways and other thoroughfares. The term does not include separate storm sewers in very discrete areas, such as individual buildings.
STABILIZATION. Providing adequate measures, vegetative and/or structural, that will prevent erosion from occurring.
STORMWATER. Stormwater runoff, snow melt runoff, surface runoff, street wash waters related to street cleaning or maintenance, infiltration and drainage.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT. The programs to maintain quality and quantity of stormwater runoff to pre-development levels.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT FACILITIES. The drainage structures, conduits, ditches, combined sewers, sewers, and all device appurtenances by means of which stormwater is collected, transported, pumped, treated or disposed of.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PLAN (SWMP). 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.
STORMWATER RUNOFF. Flow on the surface of the ground, resulting from precipitation.
STRUCTURAL BMPS. Devices that are constructed to provide control of stormwater runoff.
SURFACE WATER. Includes waters upon the surface of the earth in bounds created naturally or artificially including, but not limited to, streams, other watercourses, lakes and reservoirs.
SWPPP. Stormwater pollution prevention plan.
TIER B LAND SURVEYOR. Includes all rights and privileges of the Tier A land boundary surveying discipline defined in S.C. Code § 40-22-20(23)(a); and in addition to these rights and privileges, TIER B LAND SURVEYING includes, for subdivisions, preparing and furnishing subdivision plans for sedimentation and erosion control and storm drainage systems, if the systems do not require the structural design of system components and are restricted to the use, where relevant, of any standards prescribed by local, state, or federal authorities. Regulations defining the scope of the additional powers granted to TIER B land surveyors must be promulgated by the board.
WATERCOURSE. A permanent or intermittent stream or other body of water, either natural or manmade, that gathers or carries surface water.
WATERS OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA or WATER OF THE STATE. Lakes, bays, sounds, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, wells, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, marshes, inlets, canals, the Atlantic Ocean within the territorial limits of the State, and all other bodies of surface or underground water, natural or artificial, public or private, inland or coastal, fresh or salt, which are wholly or partially within or bordering the State or within its jurisdiction and all waters of the United States within the political boundaries of the State of South Carolina. Waste treatment systems, including treatment ponds or lagoons designed to meet the requirements of CWA are not waters of the South Carolina. This exclusion applies only to manmade bodies of water which 12 neither were originally created in waters of South Carolina (such as disposal areas in wetlands) nor resulted from the impoundment of waters of South Carolina.
WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES or WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES. All waters, which are currently used, were used in the past, or may be susceptible to use in interstate or foreign commerce, including all water, which are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide;
(a) All interstate waters, including interstate “wetlands;”
(b) All other waters such as interstate lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sand flats, wetlands, sloughs, wet meadows, or natural ponds the use, degradation, or destruction of which would affect or could affect interstate or foreign commerce including any such waters;
(c) All impoundments of waters otherwise defined as waters of South Carolina under this definition;
(d) Tributaries of waters identified in divisions (a) through (d) of this definition;
(e) The territorial sea; and
(f) Wetlands adjacent to waters (other that water that are themselves wetlands) identified in divisions (a) through (f) of this definition.
WATERSHED. All the land area that contributes runoff to a particular point along a waterway.
(B) 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 fixture tense.
(C) The word “shall” is mandatory and not discretionary. The word “may” is permissive.
(D) 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.
(Ord. 2008-06, passed 4-14-08)