For the purpose of this chapter, the following terms shall have the meaning herein indicated:
(a) “Accelerated erosion” means erosion caused by development activities that exceeds the natural processes by which the surface of the land is worn away by the action of water, wind, or chemical action.
(b) “Applicant” means a property owner or agent of a property owner who has filed an application for a storm water management permit.
(c) “Building” means any structure, either temporary or permanent, having walls and a roof, designed for the shelter of any person, animal, or property, and occupying more than 100 square feet of area.
(d) “Channel” means a natural or artificial watercourse with a definite bed and banks that conducts continuously or periodically flowing water.
(e) “Dedication” means the deliberate appropriation of property by its owner for general public use.
(f) “Detention” means the temporary storage of storm runoff in a storm water management practice with the goals of controlling peak discharge rates and providing gravity settling of pollutants.
(g) “Detention facility” means a detention basin or alternative structure designed for the purpose of temporary storage of stream flow or surface runoff and gradual release of stored water at controlled rates.
(h) “Developer” means a person who undertakes land disturbance activities.
(i) “Drainage easement” means a legal right granted by a landowner to a grantee allowing the use of private land for storm water management purposes.
(j) “Erosion and sediment control plan” is a plan that is designed to minimize the accelerated erosion and sediment runoff at a site during construction activities.
(k) “Fee in lieu” means a payment of money in place of meeting all or part of the storm water performance standards required by this chapter.
(l) “Hotspot” means an area where land use or activities generate highly contaminated runoff, with concentrations of pollutants in excess of those typically found in storm water.
(m) “Hydrologic soil group (HSG)” is a Natural Resource Conservation Service classification system in which soils are categorized into four runoff potential groups. The groups range from A soils, with high permeability and little runoff production, to D soils, which have low permeability rates and produce much more runoff.
(n) “Impervious cover” means those surfaces that cannot effectively infiltrate rainfall (e.g., building rooftops, pavement, sidewalks, driveways, etc).
(o) “Industrial storm water permit” means a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit issued to a commercial industry or group of industries which regulates the pollutant levels associated with industrial storm water discharges or specifies on-site pollution control strategies.
(p) “Infiltration” is the process of percolating storm water into the subsoil.
(q) “Infiltration facility” means any structure or device designed to infiltrate retained water to the subsurface. These facilities may be above grade or below grade.
(r) “Jurisdictional wetland” means an area that is inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, commonly known as hydrophytic vegetation.
(s) “Land disturbance activity” means any activity which changes the volume or peak flow discharge rate of rainfall runoff from the land surface. This may include the grading, digging, cutting, scraping, or excavating of soil, placement of fill materials, paving, construction, substantial removal of vegetation, or any activity which bares soil or rock or involves the diversion or piping of any natural or man-made watercourse.
(t) “Landowner” means the legal or beneficial owner of land, including those holding the right to purchase or lease the land, or any other person holding proprietary rights in the land.
(u) “Maintenance agreement” a legally recorded document that acts as a property deed restriction, and which provides for long-term maintenance of storm water management practices.
(v) “Nonpoint source pollution” means pollution from any source other than from any discernible, confined, and discrete conveyances, and shall include, but not be limited to, pollutants from agricultural, silvicultural, mining, construction, subsurface disposal and urban runoff sources.
(w) “Offset fee” is a monetary compensation paid to a local government for failure to meet pollutant load reduction targets.
(x) “Off-site facility” means a storm water management measure located outside the subject property boundary described in the permit application for land development activity.
(y) “On-site facility” means a storm water management measure located within the subject property boundary described in the permit application for land development activity.
(z) “Recharge” means the replenishment of underground water reserves.
(aa) “Redevelopment” means any construction, alteration or improvement exceeding 5,000 square feet in area where existing land use is high density commercial, industrial, institutional or multi-family residential.
(bb) “Stop work order” means an order issued which requires that all construction activity on a site be stopped.
(cc) “Storm water management” means the use of structural or non-structural practices that are designed to reduce storm water runoff pollutant loads, discharge volumes, peak flow discharge rates and detrimental changes in stream temperature that affect water quality and habitat.
(dd) “Storm water retrofit” means a storm water management practice designed for an existing development site that previously had either no storm water management practice in place or a practice inadequate to meet the storm water management requirements of the site.
(ee) “Storm water runoff” means flow on the surface of the ground, resulting from precipitation.
(ff) “Storm water treatment practices (STPs)” are measures, either structural or nonstructural, that are determined to be the most effective, practical means of preventing or reducing point source or nonpoint source pollution inputs to storm water runoff and water bodies.
(gg) “Water quality volume (WQV)” means the storage needed to capture and treat 90% of the average annual storm water runoff volume. Numerically (WQV) will vary as a function of long term rainfall statistical data.
(hh) “Watercourse” means a permanent or intermittent stream or other body of water, either natural or man-made, which gathers or carries surface water.
(Ord. 2014-42. Passed 1-5-15.)