The following terms, phrases and words, and their derivatives, shall have the meanings given herein, unless the context otherwise requires:
(a) "Activity" means any use, operation, development or action caused by any person, including, but not limited to, constructing or erecting buildings or other structures; depositing or removing material; dredging; ditching; draining or diverting water; pumping or discharging surface water; grading; land balancing; and excavation.
(b) "Aquatic vegetation" means plants and plant life forms which naturally occur in, at, near, or predominantly near water.
(c) "Bottomland" means all land area of a lake, stream or watercourse which lies below the ordinary high water mark and which may or may not be covered by water.
(d) "Buffer area." No specific wetland buffer or construction setback from wetlands or watercourses is provided for under this chapter. Construction setbacks and setbacks from proposed structures and roadways are specified in the Zoning Code of the Village of Franklin.
(e) "Channel" means the geographical area within the natural or artificial banks of a watercourse required to convey continuously or intermittently flowing water under normal or average flow conditions.
(f) "Contiguous wetland" means those wetlands adjacent to a stream, drain, lake or pond. A pond consists of one acre or more of permanent, open water.
(g) "Drainageway" means any drain, pipe, stream, creek or swale which serves to transport water runoff to the primary watercourse system.
(h) "Fill material" means any soil, sand, gravel, rocks, clay, peat, debris, refuse, waste or any other material which displaces soil or water or reduces water retention potential.
(i) "Final wetland determination" means a formal, scientific inventory and analysis of a wetland or watercourse, by the Village consultants, to determine its boundaries, to describe its biotic and hydrogeologic setting and to suggest remedial measures or alternative designs to minimize disruption to the wetland resulting from proposed development.
(j) "Minor projects" means a proposed activity that would contribute ten cubic yards or less of fill material in a defined wetland or watercourse, such as installation of a utility, driveway or accessory building on an existing lot of record.
(k) "Ordinary high water" means the line between upland and bottomland which persists through successive changes in water levels, below which the presence and action of the water is so common or recurrent that the character of the land is markedly distinct from the upland and is apparent in the soil itself, in the configuration of the surface of the soil and in the vegetation. On an inland lake which has a level established by law, the term "ordinary high water mark" means the high establishing level. When water returns to its natural level as a result of the permanent removal or abandonment of a dam, the term means the natural ordinary high water mark.
(l) "Owner" means any person who has dominion over, control of, title to and/or any other proprietary interest in wetland and watercourse areas, or title to an obstruction, natural or otherwise, to wetland and watercourse properties.
(m) "Permit or use permit" means the Village approval required for any activity in a wetland or watercourse except those activities described in Section 1226.08.
(n) "Person" means any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company, organization or legal entity of any kind, including governmental agencies conducting operations within the Village of Franklin.
(o) "Preliminary wetland determination" means an in-office review of existing wetland and watercourse inventories by the Building Official or another duly authorized representative of the Village.
(p) "Runoff" means surface discharge of precipitation to a watercourse or low area.
(q) "Seasonal" means any intermittent or temporary activity which occurs annually and is subject to interruption from changes in weather, water level or time of year, and may involve annual removal and replacement of a device or structure.
(r) "Structure" means any assembly of materials above or below the surface of the land or water, including, but not limited to, houses, buildings, bulkheads, piers, docks, landings, dams, waterway obstructions, towers and utility transmission devices.
(s) "Temporary" means a time period as specified in the use permit or, if unspecified, an uninterruptible time period less than one year in duration.
(t) "Upland" means the land area adjoining a lake, stream, watercourse or wetland above the ordinary high water mark, the uses of which are essentially nonaquatic.
(u) "Watercourse" means any waterway, drainageway, drain, river, stream, lake, pond or any body of surface water having beds, banks and continuous or intermittent flow.
(v) "Wetlands" means lands characterized by the presence of water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, wetland vegetation or aquatic life and are commonly referred to as bogs, swamps or marshes.
(w) "Wetlands Map" means the Wetlands Map of the Village of Franklin, as amended and updated from time to time, a copy of which shall be on file with the Village Clerk.
(Ord. 190. Passed 5-9-94.)