§ 7.5-223. Definitions.

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Applicant means a person submitting a post-development stormwater management application and plan for approval.

Channel means a natural or artificial watercourse with a definite bed and banks that conducts continuously or periodically flowing water.

City means the City of Cartersville, Georgia, a municipal corporation of the State of Georgia.

Conservation easement means an agreement between a land owner and the City of Cartersville or other government agency or land trust that permanently protects open space or greenspace on the owner's land by limiting the amount and type of development that can take place, but continues to leave the remainder of the fee interest in private ownership.

Detention means the temporary storage of stormwater runoff in a stormwater management facility for the purpose of controlling the peak discharge.

Detention facility means a detention basin or structure designed for the detention of stormwater runoff and gradual release of stored water at controlled rates.

Developer means a person who undertakes land development activities.

Development means a land development or land development project.

Drainage easement means an easement appurtenant or attached to a tract or parcel of land allowing the owner of adjacent tracts or other persons to discharge stormwater runoff onto the tract or parcel of land subject to the drainage easement.

Erosion and sedimentation control plan means a plan that is designed to minimize the accelerated erosion and sediment runoff at a site during land disturbance activities.

Extended detention means the detention of stormwater runoff for an extended period, typically twenty-four (24) hours' or greater.

Extreme flood protection means measures taken to prevent adverse impacts from large low-frequency storm events with a return frequency of one hundred (100) years or more.

Flooding means a volume of surface water that is too great to be confined within the banks or walls of a conveyance or stream channel and that overflows onto adjacent lands.

Greenspace or open space means permanently protected areas of the site that are preserved in a natural state.

Hotspot means an area where the use of the land has the potential to generate highly contaminated runoff, with concentrations of pollutants in excess of those typically found in stormwater.

Hydrologic soil group (HSG) means a Natural Resource Conservation Service classification system in which soils are categorized into four (4) runoff potential groups. The groups range from group A soils, with high permeability and little runoff produced, to group D soils, which have low permeability rates and produce much more runoff.

Impervious cover means a surface composed of any material that significantly impedes or prevents the natural infiltration of water into soil. Impervious surfaces include, but are not limited to, rooftops, buildings, streets and roads, and any concrete or asphalt surface.

Industrial stormwater permit means a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit issued to an industry or group of industries which regulates the pollutant levels associated with industrial stormwater discharges or specifies on-site pollution control strategies.

Infiltration means the process of percolating stormwater runoff into the subsoil.

Inspection and maintenance agreement means a written agreement providing for the long-term inspection and maintenance of stormwater management facilities and practices on a site or with respect to a land development project, which when properly recorded in the deed records constitutes a restriction on the title to a site or other land involved in a land development project.

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.

Land development means any land change, including, but not limited to, clearing, digging, grubbing, stripping, removal of vegetation, dredging, grading, excavating, transporting and filling of land, construction, paving, and any other installation of impervious cover.

Land development activities means those actions or activities which comprise, facilitate or result in land development.

Land development project means a discrete land development undertaking.

New development means a land development activity on a previously undeveloped site.

Nonpoint source pollution means a form of water pollution that does not originate from a discrete point such as a sewage treatment plant or industrial discharge, but involves the transport of pollutants such as sediment, fertilizers, pesticides, heavy metals, oil, grease, bacteria, organic materials and other contaminants from land to surface water and groundwater via mechanisms such as precipitation, stormwater runoff, and leaching. Nonpoint source pollution is a by-product of land use practices such as agricultural, silvicultural, mining, construction, subsurface disposal and urban runoff sources.

Nonstructural stormwater management practice or nonstructural practice means any natural or planted vegetation or other nonstructural component of the stormwater management plan that provides for or enhances stormwater quantity and/or quality control or other stormwater management benefits, and includes, but is not limited to, riparian buffers, open and greenspace areas, overland flow filtration areas, natural depressions, and vegetated channels.

Off-site facility means a stormwater management facility located outside the boundaries of the site.

On-site facility means a stormwater management facility located within the boundaries of the site.

Overbank flood protection means measures taken to prevent an increase in the frequency and magnitude of out-of-bank flooding (i.e. flow events that exceed the capacity of the channel and enter the floodplain), and that are intended to protect downstream properties from flooding for the two-year through twenty-five-year frequency storm events.

Owner means the legal or beneficial owner of a site, including but not limited to, a mortgagee or vendee in possession, receiver, executor, trustee, lessee or other person, firm or corporation in control of the site.

Permit means the permit issued by the City of Cartersville to the applicant which is required for undertaking any land development activity.

Person means, except to the extent exempted from this article, any individual, partnership, firm, association, joint venture, public or private corporation, trust, estate, commission, board, public or private institution, utility, cooperative, city, county or other political subdivision of the state, any interstate body or any other legal entity.

Post-development refers to the time period, or the conditions that may reasonably be expected or anticipated to exist, after completion of the land development activity on a site as the context may require.

Pre-development refers to the time period, or the conditions that exist, on a site prior to the commencement of a land development project and at the time that plans for the land development of a site are approved by the plan approving authority. Where phased development or plan approval occurs (preliminary grading, roads and utilities, etc.), the existing conditions at the time prior to the first item being approved or permitted shall establish pre-development conditions.

Project means a land development project.

Redevelopment means a land development project on a previously developed site, but excludes ordinary maintenance activities, remodeling of existing buildings, resurfacing of paved areas, and exterior changes or improvements which do not materially increase or concentrate stormwater runoff, or cause additional nonpoint source pollution.

Regional stormwater management facility or regional facility means stormwater management facilities designed to control stormwater runoff from multiple properties, where the owners or developers of the individual properties may assist in the financing of the facility, and the requirement for on-site controls is either eliminated or reduced.

Runoff means stormwater runoff.

Site means the parcel of land being developed, or the portion thereof on which the land development project is located.

Stormwater better site design means nonstructural site design approaches and techniques that can reduce a site's impact on the watershed and can provide for nonstructural stormwater management. Stormwater better site design includes conserving and protecting natural areas and greenspace, reducing impervious cover and using natural features for stormwater management.

Stormwater management means the collection, conveyance, storage, treatment and disposal of stormwater runoff in a manner intended to prevent increased flood damage, streambank channel erosion, habitat degradation and water quality degradation, and to enhance and promote the public health, safety and general welfare.

Stormwater management facility means any infrastructure that controls or conveys stormwater runoff.

Stormwater management measure means any stormwater management facility or nonstructural stormwater practice.

Stormwater management plan means a document describing how existing runoff characteristics will be affected by a land development project and containing measures for complying with the provisions of this article.

Stormwater management system means the entire set of structural and nonstructural stormwater management facilities and practices that are used to capture, convey and control the quantity and quality of the stormwater runoff from a site.

Stormwater retrofit means a stormwater management practice designed for a currently developed site that previously had either no stormwater management practice in place or a practice inadequate to meet the stormwater management requirements of the site.

Stormwater runoff means the flow of surface water resulting from precipitation.

Structural stormwater control means a structural stormwater management facility or device that controls stormwater runoff and changes the characteristics of that runoff including, but not limited to, the quantity and quality, the period of release or the velocity of flow of such runoff.

Subdivision means the division of a tract or parcel of land resulting in one (1) or more new lots or building sites for the purpose, whether immediately or in the future, of sale, other transfer of ownership or land development, and includes divisions of land resulting from or made in connection with the layout or development of a new street or roadway or a change in an existing street or roadway.

(Ord. No. 61-06, § 1, 8-17-06)