Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of the terms used herein shall be as follows:
(a) "City" is the City of Martinsburg, West Virginia, and its duly elected and appointed officers and employees, including the Martinsburg City Council and the Martinsburg Stormwater Utility.
(b) "Customer" is any person or entity, of any kind, that is the legal owner of real property containing impervious area within the Martinsburg Stormwater Utility's Service area as defined by this article.
(c) "Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU)" of impervious area shall mean the median impervious coverage of detached dwelling unit properties in the City of Martinsburg as determined by the City, and shall be used as the basis for determining stormwater service charges to dwelling unit properties or classes of dwelling unit properties and other properties. Two thousand two hundred eighty (2,280) square feet of impervious area shall be one equivalent residential unit (ERU).
(d) "Martinsburg Urban Watershed" is all areas within the corporate boundaries of the City of Martinsburg and those areas outside of said corporate boundaries from which stormwater or surface water naturally drains into the city.
(e) "Impervious area" means any portion of real property covered by buildings, structures, pavement, gravel or other material that significantly inhibits stormwater from penetrating the soil.
(f) "Multi-unit property" is a residential, non-residential or commercial property of any size that has located upon the property structures capable of housing two (2) or more residents or tenants, at least one of which having no ownership interest in the property.
(g) "MS4" means municipal separate storm sewer system. The City of Martinsburg is a regulated MS4 under the NPDES program.
(h) "NPDES" means National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. A permitting program with authority from the Clean Water Act.
(i) "Non-residential customer" means any owner of property not defined as a residential customer and includes, but is not limited to, owners of multi-unit, commercial and industrial property and governmental entities that own property within the Martinsburg Stormwater Utility's Service area.
(j) "Non-stormwater" is all flows to the stormwater system not defined as a pollutant or stormwater in this article or as so determined by the City. This may include, but is not limited to, cooling water, process water, ground water from a purge well and dechlorinated swimming pool discharge.
(k) "Pervious area" is all real property that is not impervious.
(l) "Pollutant" means any liquid or non-liquid material including, but not limited to, dredged soil, solid waste, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, grease, petroleum products, munitions, chemical waste, detergents, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, silt, dirt, industrial, municipal and agricultural waste, gasses entrained in water, paints, oil and other automotive fluids, soil, rubbish, debris, materials containing fecal coliform, fecal streptococcus, and enterococcus, heavy metals, hazardous wastes, yard waste from commercial landscaping operations, animal waste, materials that result from the process of building, and offensive matter of any kind which, when discharged to water, causes or contributes to water pollution and/or the degradation of water quality.
(m) "Pollution" is the degradation of the physical, thermal, chemical, biological or radioactive properties of the watercourses and water supplies located in or running through the City and/or the discharge of any pollutant to the watercourses and water supplies located in or running through the City which will or is likely to create a nuisance or to render such waters harmful, detrimental or injurious to public health, safety or welfare or to the beneficial use of the water and/or the water environment.
(n) "Real property" as used in this article, is land and fixtures and improvements upon that land, but does not include publicly owned streets or sidewalks.
(o) "Residential customer" means the owner of real property on which is located one single family dwelling.
(p) "Service area" is, initially, all areas within the corporate boundaries of the City.
(q) "Stormwater" includes atmospheric precipitation, surface runoff water, groundwater discharge and floodwater.
(r) "Stormwater management" is the process of collection, conveyance, storage, treatment and/or disposal of stormwater to reasonably manage the magnitude and frequency of runoff to minimize the impact of the runoff upon the water quality of the receiving stream and the other hazards associated with stormwater, including, but not limited to, pollution and flooding.
(s) "Stormwater system" includes all real property, fixtures and personal property of the Martinsburg Stormwater Utility, including, but not limited to, stormwater sewers, drains, ditches, streets, retention/detention structures, floodwalls, dams, and river impoundments, used for collecting, conveying, storing, treating and/or disposal of stormwater and non-stormwater.
(t) "Stormwater utility fee" is a flat rate charge or a charge based on square feet of impervious land area.
(u) "Stormwater utility service charge" is a charge for services rendered by the Martinsburg Stormwater Utility, including, but not limited to, fees for permit applications, stormwater management plan review, flood protection activities, inspection, and other services.
(Ord. 2021-12. Passed 10-14-21.)