(a) For the purpose of this chapter, certain rules or word usage apply to the text as follows:
(1) Words used in the present tense include the future tense, and the singular includes the plural, unless the context clearly indicates the contrary.
(2) The term "shall" is always mandatory and not discretionary. The word "may" is permissive. The term "should" is permissive but indicates strong suggestion.
(3) The word or term not interpreted or defined by this chapter shall be construed according to the rules of grammar and common usage so as to give these rules their most reasonable application.
(b) As used in this chapter, unless the context specifically indicates otherwise:
Adjustments means a modification in a nonresidential storm water user fee for certain activities that impact storm water runoff or impacts the City's costs of providing storm water management.
Agricultural property means a lot or parcel located within the City, regardless of the size of the building lot or the square footage of the buildings, classified as agricultural per County Auditor parcel classifications which for purposes of ERU determination will be classified as a single-family residential.
Apartment property means a non-single family residential lot or parcel on which is situated three or more dwelling units.
Approved plans means plans approved according to permits and plan review which will govern all storm water improvements, required or not, made within the City or changes or alternations to existing storm water facilities.
Best Management Practices (BMPs) means those practices recognized by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency which provide the best available and reasonable physical, structural, managerial, or behavioral activity to reduce or eliminate pollutant loads and/or concentrations leaving the site and no language contained in this BMP definition prohibits the City from accepting recognized alternative BMPs other than those recognized by these two agencies.
Brownfield means typically a former industrial or commercial site that is considered to be contaminated to varying extents, and certified as such by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
Buffer means a designated area adjacent to or part of a stream or wetland that is an integral part of the stream or wetland ecosystem (e.g. greenways). The critical function of riparian buffers includes shading, input of organic debris and coarse sediments, stabilization of banks, overflow during high water events and for maintenance of wildlife habitat.
Channel means a natural bed that conveys water; a ditch excavated for the flow of water.
City means the City of Elyria.
City Engineer means the City of Elyria City Engineer.
Clean Water Act or CWA means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq.), and any subsequent amendments thereto.
Clearing means any activity which removes the vegetative surface cover.
Code of Federal Regulations or CFR means the codification of the final rules published daily in the Federal Register. Title 40 of the CFR contains the environmental regulations.
Commencement of earth-disturbing activity means the initial disturbance of soils associated with clearing, grubbing, grading, placement of fill or excavating activities or other construction activities.
Condominium property means a lot or parcel of real estate in which individuals own their own unit and share joint ownership in common elements with other unit owners on which is situated a building containing single-story units on individual parcels according to the County Auditor records.
Condominium property multi-story means a lot or parcel of real estate in which individuals own their units and share joint ownership in common elements with other unit owners on which is situated in a building containing more than one story.
Construction activity means activities subject to NPDES Construction Permits.
Contaminated means containing the amount of any substance that will cause pollution of the MS4 or Waters of the State, or that will cause lethal or sub-lethal adverse effects on representative, sensitive aquatic monitoring organisms belonging to the City upon their exposure to samples of any discharge into the MS4 or Waters of the State.
Contamination means the presence of or entry into a public water supply system, storm water drainage system, the MS4 or Waters of the State of any substance which may be deleterious to the public health and/or the quality of water.
Control practice means any measure, either structural or nonstructural, that is determined to be the most effective, practical means of preventing or reducing point source or non-point source pollution inputs to storm water runoff and watercourses.
Credits means an ongoing reduction in a customer's storm water user charge given for certain qualifying activities that either reduce the impact of increased storm water runoff or reduce the City's costs of providing storm water management.
Debt service costs means the average annual principal and interest payments on all outstanding bonds or other comparable long-term capital obligations.
Developer means any person, firm, corporation, sole proprietorship, partnership, state agency or political subdivision thereof engaged in an earth-disturbing activity.
Discharge means any substance introduced to the Waters of the State or to surface runoff which is collected or channeled by the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) which do not lead to treatment works and/or the addition of any pollutant to the Waters of the State from a point source.
Discharger means any person who causes, allows, permits, or is otherwise responsible for a discharge, including but not limited to, any owner or operator of a construction site or industrial facility.
Disturbed means subject to erosion due to the removal of vegetative cover and/or earth-moving or land-moving activities.
Ditch means an open channel, either dug or natural, for the purpose of drainage or irrigation with intermittent flow.
Duplex property means a lot or parcel of real estate on which is situated a building containing two single-family dwelling units.
Duly authorized representative means a delegation of authority that is:
(1) Made in writing;
(2) Specifies either an individual or a position having responsibility for the overall operation of the regulated facility or activity or an individual or position having overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company. (A duly authorized representative may thus be either a named individual or any individual occupying a named position); and
(3) Submitted to the City Engineer.
Earth-disturbing activity means any clearing, grubbing, grading, excavating, filling or other alteration of the earth’s surface where natural or man-made ground cover is destroyed, which may result in or contribute to erosion and sediment pollution or changes in runoff.
Environmental Protection Agency or EPA means the United States Environmental Protection Agency or, where appropriate, a designation for the Administrator or other duly authorized official of such Agency.
Engineer means a professional engineer registered in the State of Ohio according to Ohio R.C. Chapter 4733.
Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU) means a value, equivalent to 2,700 square feet of measured impervious area and is equal to the average amount of impervious area of single-family properties within the City.
Erosion means the wearing away of the ground surface as a result of the movement of wind, water, ice and/or earth-disturbing activities.
Erosion control means measures that prevent erosion.
Facility means any operation, including but not limited to construction sites, and any combination thereof, required by the Federal Clean Water Act to have a permit to discharge storm water associated with activities subject to NPDES permits.
Final stabilization means either of the following:
(1) All earth-disturbing activities at the site are complete and a uniform perennial vegetative cover has been established. All temporary erosion and sediment control practices are removed and disposed of and all trapped sediment is permanently stabilized to prevent further erosion;
(2) For individual lots in residential construction by either:
A. The homebuilder completing final stabilization as specified in paragraph (1) above, or
B. The homebuilder establishing temporary stabilization including perimeter controls for an individual lot prior to occupation of the home by the homeowner and informing the homeowner of the need for and benefits of final stabilization; or
(3) For construction projects on land used for agricultural purposes, final stabilization may be accomplished by returning the disturbed land to its pre-construction agricultural use. Areas disturbed that were previously used for agricultural activities shall meet the final stabilization criteria in paragraph (1) or (2) above.
Flood means an overflow of surface water onto lands not normally covered by water.
Grading means excavation or fill of material, including the resulting conditions thereof.
Hazardous material means any material, including any substance, 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 of, or otherwise managed.
Illegal connection means either of the following:
(1) Any drain or drainage system, whether on the surface or subsurface, which allows or has the potential to allow an illicit discharge to enter the municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) without a permit, regardless of whether said drain or connection had been previously allowed, permitted, or approved by a City Engineer; or
(2) Any drain or drainage system connected from a commercial or industrial land use to the MS4 which has not been documented in plans, maps, or equivalent records and approved by the City Engineer.
Illicit discharge means any direct or indirect non-storm water discharge to the MS4, except as exempted in this chapter.
Impervious area means area that has been paved and/or covered with buildings and materials, any of which include, but are not limited to, concrete, asphalt, rooftop, blacktop and gravel.
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.
Lot means a part of a subdivision plat recorded in the City or a parcel recorded by Lorain County.
Material means soil, sand, gravel, clay, or any other organic or inorganic material.
Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) means a conveyance or system of conveyances (including roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, man-made channels, or storm drains): (i) Owned or operated by a state, city, town, borough, county, parish, district, association, or other public body (created to or pursuant to state law) 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 Clean Water Act that discharges into waters of the United States; (ii) Designed or used for collecting or conveying storm water; (iii) Which is not a combined sewer; and (iv) Which is not normally part of a Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) as defined at 40 CFR 122.2.
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System or NPDES means a national program under Section 402 of the Clean Water Act for regulation of discharges of pollutants from point sources to waters of the United States.
Nonresidential property means all property that contains any impervious area not encompassed by the definition of single-family parcel, duplex parcel, agricultural and or certain condominium parcels.
Non-storm water discharge means any discharge to the MS4 that is not composed entirely of storm water.
NPDES Permit means a permit issued by EPA (or by a state under authority delegated pursuant to 33 USC § 1342(b)) that authorizes the discharge of pollutants to waters of the United States, whether the permit is applicable on an individual, group, or general area-wide basis.
Ohio EPA means the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
Operate means drive, conduct, work, run, manage, or control.
Operation and maintenance means those functions that result in expenditures during the useful life of the treatment works materials, labor, utilities and other items which are necessary for managing and operating the storm water system in a manner for which such works were designed and constructed. The term “operation and maintenance” includes replacement.
Operation and maintenance costs include all costs, direct and indirect, necessary to provide adequate storm water management on a continuing basis and to produce discharges to receiving water that conform with all related Federal, State and local requirements, including replacement costs.
Operator means the party or parties that either individually or taken together meet the following two criteria:
(1) Having operational control over the site specifications; and
(2) Having the day-to-day operational control of those activities at the site necessary to ensure compliance with the storm water permit.
Other service charges means tap charges, connection charges, area charges and other identifiable charges, other than user charges, and debt service charges.
Owner means any and all persons, natural or artificial, including any individual, firm, company, municipal or private corporation, partnership, co-partnership, joint stock company, trust, estate, association, society, institution, enterprise, governmental agency, State of Ohio, the United States of America or other legal entity, or their legal representatives, agents or assigns. The masculine gender includes the feminine, and the singular includes the plural where indicated by context.
Permanent easement means property titled to the City for the operation and maintenance of storm water drainage systems.
Permit means the storm water permit issued by the City for the construction or alteration of ground improvements and structures for the control of erosion, storm water runoff and grading.
Permittee means the applicant in whose name a valid permit is duly issued.
Person means any individual, owner, operator, association, organization, partnership, firm, corporation, municipal corporation, joint venture, agency, county or State agency, unincorporated associate, party, the Federal government, any combination thereof or other entity recognized by law.
Point source means any discernible, 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 collection 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 storm water runoff.
Pollutant means anything which causes or contributes to pollution.
Pollution means the alteration of the physical, thermal, chemical, or biological quality of, or the contamination of, any Waters of the State, that renders the water harmful, detrimental, or injurious to humans, animal life, vegetation, or property, or to the public health, safety, or welfare, or impairs the usefulness or the public enjoyment of the water for any lawful or reasonable purpose.
Premises means any building, lot, parcel of land, or portion of land whether improved or unimproved, including but not limited to adjacent sidewalks and parking strips.
Private storm water facilities means various storm water and drainage works under the control and/or ownership of the City, County, State and/or Federal government which may include inlets, conduits, pipes, pumping stations, manholes, structures, channels, outlets, retention or detention basins, other structural components and equipment designed to transport, move or regulate storm water.
Public storm water facilities means various storm water and drainage works under the control and/or ownership of the City, County, State and/or Federal government which may include natural streams, inlets, conduits, pipes, pumping stations, manholes, structures, channels, outlets, retention or detention basins, other structural or not structural components and equipment designed to transport, move or regulate storm water.
Release means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing into groundwater, subsurface soils, surface soils, the municipal separate storm sewer system or the Waters of the State.
Replacement costs means the expenditures for obtaining and installing equipment, accessories or appurtenances which are necessary during the service life of the treatment works to maintain the capacity and performance for which such works were designed or constructed.
Runoff means the portion of rainfall, snow melt, or irrigation water flowing over the ground surface that is eventually returned to streams.
Sediment means soils or other surface materials, including but not limited to, rock, sand, gravel, and organic material or residue associated with or attached to the solid that can be transported or deposited by the action of wind, water, ice or gravity as a product of erosion.
Sediment control means measures that prevent eroded sediment from leaving the site.
Sedimentation means the process or action of deposition sediment that is determined to have been caused by erosion.
Shall is mandatory and “may” is permissive.
Single-family residential parcel means all single-family residential parcels located within the City regardless of the size of the building lot or the square footage of the building.
Site means the entire area of land surrounding a discharge or land-disturbing activity.
Soil erosion means the movement of soils that occurs as a result of human activities and development.
Square footage of impervious area means, for the purpose of assigning an appropriate number of ERUs to a parcel or real property, the square footage of all impervious area using the outside boundary dimensions of the impervious area to include the total enclosed square footage, without regard for topographic features of the enclosed surface.
Stabilization means the use of vegetative and/or structural practices that prevent exposed soil from eroding.
State means the State of Ohio.
Stop work order means a notice issued by the City Engineer, or authorized representative, to the permittee to require the permittee to cease earth-disturbing activities.
Storm water means storm water runoff, snow melt, and surface runoff, subsurface water and drainage according to 40 C.F.R. 122.26(b)(13).
Storm water drainage system means all facilities, channels, and areas which serve to convey, filter, collect and/or receive storm water.
Storm water pollution prevention plan or SWP3 means a set of plans and specifications prepared by or under the direction of an engineer indicating the specific measures and sequencing to be used to manage storm water on a development site before, during and after construction and shows the details of any earth-disturbing activity on the site.
Storm water runoff means surface water runoff which converges and flows primarily through storm water drainage system features such as swales, gullies, watercourses, channels or storm sewers.
Storm water service charge means a charge assessed to users of the City's storm water system.
Storm water system means all man-made facilities, structures, and natural watercourses owned, operated and/or maintained by the City, used for collection and conducting storm water to, through, and from drainage areas to the points of final outlet including, but not limited to, any and all of the following: conduits and appurtenant features, canals, creeks, catch basins, ditches, streams, gulches, gullies, flumes, culverts, siphons, streets, curbs, gutters, dams, flood walls, levees, and pumping stations, lift stations, including the USEPA definition of a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System.
Stream means any naturally occurring perennial or intermittent stream, river, or creek flowing within a defined bed and banks, whether or not flow may be seasonally intermittent.
Structure means anything manufactured, constructed or erected which is normally attached to or positioned on land, including but not limited to buildings, portable structures, earthen structures, roads, parking lots, and paved storage areas.
Temporary stabilization means the establishment of temporary vegetation, mulching, geotextiles, sod, preservation of existing vegetation and other techniques capable of establishing cover over disturbed areas to provide erosion control between construction operations.
Uncontaminated means not containing a harmful quantity of any substance.
Watercourse means any natural or improved body of water in which water resides or flows either continuously or intermittently, including but not limited to, lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, creeks, ditches, channels, canals, conduits, gutters, culverts, drains, gullies, swales, or washes.
Waters of the State means groundwater, percolating or otherwise, lakes, bays, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, rivers, streams, creeks, wetlands, marshes, inlets, canals inside the territorial limits of the State, and all other bodies of surface water, natural or artificial, navigable or non-navigable, and including the bed and banks of all watercourses and bodies of surface water that are wholly or partially inside or bordering the State or inside the jurisdiction of the State.
Watershed means a region draining to a specific river, river stream or body of water.
Wetland means an area that is inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater 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.
(Ord. 2008-18. Passed 2-19-08; Ord. 2014-71. Passed 8-4-14.)