For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ACCELERATED EROSION. Any increase over the rate of natural erosion as a result of land-disturbing activity.
ACT. The North Carolina Sedimentation Pollution Control Act of 1973 and all rules and orders adopted pursuant to it.
ADEQUATE EROSION CONTROL MEASURE, STRUCTURE, or DEVICE. One that controls the soil material within the land area under responsible control of the person conducting the land-disturbing activity.
AFFILIATE. A person that directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control of another person.
APPROVING AUTHORITY. The Department or other state or a local government agency that has been delegated erosion and sedimentation plan review responsibilities in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
BEING CONDUCTED. A land-disturbing activity has been initiated and not deemed complete by the approving authority.
BOARD. The Environmental Review Board as established by the joint resolution of the Lincolnton Mayor, Lincolnton City Council, and the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners, together with any amendments thereto.
BORROW. Fill material that is required for on-site construction and is obtained from other locations.
BUFFER ZONE. The strip of land adjacent to a lake or natural watercourse.
CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY. The document required by the State Building Code certifying that a new building shall not be occupied or a change made in occupancy, nature, or use of a building until after all required building and services systems have been inspected for compliance with the technical codes and other applicable laws and ordinances and released by the County Department of Developmental Services.
COMMISSION. The State Sedimentation Control Commission.
COMPLETION OF CONSTRUCTION or DEVELOPMENT. No further land-disturbing activity is required on a phase of a project except that which is necessary for establishing a permanent ground cover.
DEPARTMENT. The State Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
DIRECTOR. The Director of the Division of Land Resources of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
DISCHARGE POINT or POINT OF DISCHARGE. The point where runoff leaves a tract of land where a land-disturbing activity has occurred or enters a lake or natural watercourse.
DISTRICT. The Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District created pursuant to G.S. Chapter 139.
ENERGY DISSIPATER. A structure or a shaped channel section with mechanical armoring placed at the outlet of pipes or conduits to receive and break down the energy from high velocity flow.
EROSION. The wearing away of land surface by the action of wind, water, gravity, or any combination thereof.
GROUND COVER. Any natural vegetative growth or other material that renders the soil surface stable against accelerated erosion.
HIGH QUALITY WATER (HQW) ZONES. Areas within one mile and draining to HQWs.
HIGH QUALITY WATERS. Those classified as such in 15A NCAC 02B .0224, which is herein incorporated by reference, including subsequent amendments and additions.
LAKE or NATURAL WATERCOURSE. Any stream, river, brook, swamp, sound, bay, creek, run, branch, canal, waterway, estuary, and any reservoir, lake, or pond.
LAND-DISTURBING ACTIVITY. Any use of the land by any person in residential, industrial, educational, institutional, or commercial development, highway and road construction and maintenance
that results in a change in the natural cover or topography, and that may cause or contribute to sedimentation.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT. Any county, incorporated village, town, or city, or any combination of counties, incorporated villages, towns, and cities, acting through a joint program pursuant to the provisions of the Act.
NATURAL EROSION. The wearing away of the earth’s surface by water, wind, or other natural agents under natural environmental conditions undisturbed by humans.
PARENT. An affiliate that directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls another person.
PERSON. Any individual, partnership, firm, association, joint venture, public or private corporation, trust, estate, commission, board, public or private institution, utility, cooperative, interstate body, or other legal entity.
PERSON CONDUCTING LAND-DISTURBING ACTIVITY. Any person who may be held responsible for violation unless expressly provided otherwise by this chapter, the Act, or any order adopted pursuant to this chapter or the Act.
PERSON WHO VIOLATES or VIOLATOR. As used in G.S. § 113A-64, any landowner or other person who has financial or operational control over the land-disturbing activity; or who has directly or indirectly allowed the activity, and who has failed to comply with any provision of the Act, the rules of this chapter, or any order or local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Act as it imposes a duty upon that person.
PLAN. An erosion and sedimentation control plan.
SEDIMENT. Solid particulate matter, both mineral and organic, that has been or is being transported by water, air, or gravity from its site or origin.
SEDIMENTATION. The process by which sediment resulting from accelerated erosion has been or is being transported off the site of the land-disturbing activity or into a lake or watercourse.
SILTATION. Sediment resulting from accelerated erosion which is settleable or removable by properly designed, constructed, and maintained control measures; and which has been transported from its point of origin within the site of a land-disturbing activity; and which has been deposited, or is in suspension in water.
STORM DRAINAGE FACILITIES. The system of inlets, conduits, channels, ditches, and appurtenances that serve to collect and convey storm water through and from a given drainage area.
STORM WATER RUNOFF. The runoff of water resulting from precipitation in any form.
SUBSIDIARY. An affiliate that is directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controlled by another person.
TEN-YEAR STORM. A rainfall of an intensity that, based on historical data, is predicted by a method acceptable to the approving authority to be equaled or exceeded, on the average, once in ten years, and of a duration that will produce the maximum peak rate of runoff for the watershed of interest under average antecedent wetness conditions.
TRACT. All contiguous land and bodies of water being disturbed or is to be disturbed as a unit, regardless of ownership.
TWENTY-FIVE YEAR STORM. A rainfall of an intensity that, based on historical data, is predicted by a method acceptable to the approving authority to be equaled or exceeded, on the average, once in 25 years, and of a duration that will produce the maximum peak rate of runoff for the watershed of interest under average antecedent wetness conditions.
UNCOVERED. The removal of ground cover from, on, or above the soil surface.
UNDERTAKEN. The initiating of any activity, or phase of activity, that results or will result in a change in the ground cover or topography of a tract of land.
VELOCITY. The speed of flow through a cross section perpendicular to the direction of the main channel at the peak flow of the storm of interest, but not exceeding bank full flows.
WASTE. Surplus materials resulting from on-site land-disturbing activities and disposed of at other locations.
WATER SUPPLY WATERSHED. Any water supply watershed protection area regulated with various controls within the jurisdictional boundaries of Lincoln County or the City of Lincolnton.
WETLANDS. Land having the vegetative, soil and hydrologic characteristics to be regulated by §§ 401 and 404 of the Federal Clean Water Act, as defined by the United States Army Corp of Engineers and the State Division of Water Quality.
(Ord. passed 1-22-2007; Ord. passed 12-18-2023)