§ 28-3. Definitions.
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
Accelerated erosion means any increase over the rate of natural erosion as a result of land-disturbing activity.
Act means 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 means one which controls the soil material within the land area under responsible control of the person conducting the land-disturbing activity.
Affiliate means a person that directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control of another person.
Being conducted means a land-disturbing activity has been initiated and permanent stabilization of the site has not been completed.
Borrow means fill material which is required for onsite construction and which is obtained from other locations.
Buffer zone means the strip of land adjacent to a lake or natural watercourse.
Coastal counties means the following counties: Beaufort, Bertie, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hertford, Hyde, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, Tyrrell, and Washington.
Commission means the North Carolina Sedimentation Control Commission.
Completion of construction or development means that 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 means the state department of environment and natural resources.
Director means the director of the division of land resources of the department of environment and natural resources.
Discharge point means that point at which runoff leaves a tract of land.
District means the Dare Soil and Water Conservation District created pursuant to G.S. ch. 139.
Energy dissipator means 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 means the wearing away of land surface by the action of wind, water, gravity or any combination thereof.
Ground cover means any natural vegetative growth or other material which renders the soil surface stable against accelerated erosion.
High quality water (HQW) zones means for the coastal counties areas within 575 feet of high quality waters and for the remainder of the state are areas within one mile and drain to HQW's.
High quality waters means those classified as such in 15A NCAC 2B.0101(e)(5) - General Procedures, which is incorporated in this section by reference to include further amendments pursuant to G.S. 150B-14(c).
Lake or natural watercourse means any stream, river, brook, swamp, sound, bay, creek, run, branch, canal, waterway or estuary and any reservoir, lake or pond, natural or impounded, in which sediment may be moved or carried in suspension, and which could be damaged by accumulation of sediment.
Land disturbing activity means 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, excluding disturbance allowable for site investigations consistent with chapter 34, Stormwater, Fill and Runoff Management.
Local government means 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.
Nags Head (Town of) Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control Ordinance means this chapter. This chapter shall also include the Act and all rules and orders adopted pursuant to the Act or this chapter.
Natural erosion means the wearing away of the earth's surface by water, wind or other natural agents under natural environmental conditions undisturbed by man.
Parent means an affiliate that directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls another person.
Person means 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 means any person who may be held responsible for a violation unless expressly provided otherwise by this chapter, the Act or any order adopted pursuant to this chapter or the Act.
Person responsible for the violation means:
(1)
The developer or other person who has or holds himself out as having financial or operational control over the land-disturbing activity; or
(2)
The landowner or person in possession or control of the land when he has, directly or indirectly, allowed the land-disturbing activity or has benefited from it, or failed to comply with any duty imposed by any provision of this chapter, the Act, or any order adopted pursuant to this chapter or the Act.
Phase of grading means one of two types of grading, rough or fine.
Plan means an erosion and sedimentation control plan.
Sediment means solid particulate matter, both mineral and organic, that has been or is being transported by water, air, gravity or ice from its site of origin.
Sedimentation means 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 natural watercourse.
Siltation means 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 means the system of inlets, conduits, channels, ditches and appurtenances which serve to collect and convey stormwater through and from a given drainage area.
Stormwater runoff means the flow of surface water resulting from precipitation.
Subsidiary means an affiliate that is directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controlled by another person.
Ten-year storm means the surface runoff resulting from a rainfall of an intensity expected to be equalled or exceeded, on the average, once in ten years, and of a duration which will produce the maximum peak rate of runoff, from the watershed of interest under average antecedent wetness conditions.
Tract means all contiguous land and bodies of water being disturbed or to be disturbed as a unit, regardless of ownership.
Twenty-five year storm means the stormwater runoff resulting from a rainfall of an intensity expected to be equaled or exceeded, on the average, once in 25 years, and of a duration which will produce the maximum peak rate of runoff, from the watershed of interest under average antecedent wetness conditions.
Uncovered means the removal of ground cover from, on or above the soil surface.
Undertaken means the initiating of any activity or phase of activity which results or will result in a change in the ground cover or topography of a tract of land.
Velocity means the average velocity of flow through the cross section of the main channel at the peak flow of the storm of interest. The cross section of the main channel shall be that area defined by the geometry of the channel plus the area of flow below the flood height defined by vertical lines at the main channel banks. Overload flows are not to be included for the purpose of computing velocity of flow.
Waste means surplus materials resulting from onsite construction and disposed of at other locations.
Working days means days exclusive of Saturday and Sunday during which weather conditions or soil conditions permit land-disturbing activity to be undertaken.
(Ord. No. 09-04-017, § I, 4-1-2009; Ord. No. 14-01-002, Pt. III, 1-8-2014)
Cross reference
Definitions generally, § I-2.