Village of River Hills
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Chapter 15 Section 5

SECTION 15.05  DEFINITIONS.  In this ordinance:

(1)      “Agricultural facilities and practices” has the meaning given in s. 16 (1), Wis. Stats.

(2)      “Best management practice” or “BMP” means structural or non-structural measures, practices, techniques, or devices employed to avoid or minimize soil, sediment, or pollutants carried in runoff to waters of the

(3)      “Business day” means a day the office of the Village Engineer is routinely and customarily open for business.

(4)      “Cease and desist order” means a court−issued order to halt land disturbing construction activity that is being conducted without the required permit or in violation of a permit issued by the Village Engineer.

(5)      “Construction site” means an area upon which one or more land disturbing construction activities occur whenever such activity involves the excavating, filling, or grading of twenty (20) cubic yards or more per acre or comparable percentage of a parcel or lot, including areas that are part of a larger common plan of development or sale when multiple separate and distinct land disturbing construction activities may be taking place at different times on different schedules but under one plan. A long-range planning document that describes separate construction projects, such as a 20-year transportation improvement plan, is not a common plan of

(6)      “Control Plan” means a written description of the number, locations, sizes, and other pertinent information of control measures designed to meet the requirements of this ordinance.

(7)      “Design storm” means a hypothetical discrete rainstorm characterized by a specific duration, temporal distribution, rainfall intensity, return frequency, and total depth of

(8)      “Division of land” means the creation from one parcel of two (2) or more parcels or building sites of five (5) or fewer acres each in area when such creation occurs at one time or through the successive partition within a 5-year

(9)      “Erosion” means the process by which the land’s surface is worn away by the action of wind, water, ice, or gravity.

(10)      “Erosion and sediment control plan” means a comprehensive plan developed to address pollution caused by erosion and sedimentation of soil particles or rock fragments during

(11)      “Extraterritorial” means the unincorporated area within 3 miles of the corporate limits of a first-, second-, or third-class city, or within 1.5 miles of a fourth-class city or

(12)      “Excavate or Excavating” means the act of removing materials such as, but not limited to, earth, clay, soil, ground, stone, rocks and sand, from land, for the purpose of or which has the resultant effect of changing the existing contour of, or lowering, or raising, the elevation of said land or any part thereof.

(13)   “Fill Or Filling” means the act of placing, setting down or depositing solid fill on land for the purpose of, or which has the resulting effect of changing the existing contour or of raising the elevation of said land or any part thereof.

(14)      “Final stabilization” means that all land disturbing construction activities at the construction site have been completed and that a uniform perennial vegetative cover has been established with a density of at least 70 percent of the cover for the unpaved areas and areas not covered by permanent structures or that employ equivalent permanent stabilization measures.

(15)      “Land Development Activity” means the construction of buildings, roads, parking lots, paved storage areas and similar facilities.

(16)      “Land Disturbing Construction Activity” means any man-made alteration of the land surface resulting in a change in the topography or existing vegetative or non-vegetative soil cover that may result in runoff and lead to an increase in soil erosion and movement of sediment into waters of the State.  “Land disturbing construction activity” includes clearing and grubbing, demolition, excavating, pit trench dewatering, filling, and grading activities.

(17)      “Landowner” means any person holding fee title, an easement or other interest in property that allows the person to undertake cropping, livestock management, land disturbing construction activity, or maintenance of storm water BMPs on the

(18)      “Maximum extent practicable” means the highest level of performance that is achievable but is not equivalent to a performance standard identified in this ordinance as determined in accordance with Section 15.05.5 of this ordinance.

(19)      “Performance standard” means a narrative or measurable number specifying the minimum acceptable outcome for a facility or

(20)     “Permit” means a written authorization issued by the Village Manager or his/her designee to the applicant to conduct land disturbing construction activity or to discharge post-construction runoff to waters of the State.

(21)      “Person” shall mean and include any natural person, firm, corporation, partnership, or other legal entity.

(22)     “Pollutant” has the meaning given in s. 283.01 (13), Wis. Stats.

(23)      “Pollution” has the meaning given in 281.01 (10), Wis. Stats.

(24)      “Responsible party” means the landowner or any other entity performing services to meet the requirements of this ordinance through a contract or other agreement.

(25)      “Runoff” means storm water or precipitation including rain, snow, or ice melt or similar water that moves on the land surface via sheet or channelized

(26)      “Sediment” means settleable solid material that is transported by runoff, suspended within runoff, or deposited by runoff away from its original

(27)      “Set-Back” The area of a lot or parcel which is within twenty (20) feet from any lot line.

(28)      ”Silviculture activity” means activities including tree nursery operations, tree harvesting operations, reforestation, tree thinning, prescribed burning, and pest and fire control. Clearing and grubbing of an area of a construction site is not a “silviculture ”

(29)      “Site” means the entire area included in the legal description of the land on which the land disturbing construction activity is proposed in the permit

(30)      “Solid Fill”.  Solid fill is earth, clay, soil, ground, stone, rocks, broken concrete without reinforcement, if the same does not exceed eighteen (18) inches at its largest dimension, or any mixture or combination of the foregoing.

(31)      “Stop work order” means an order issued by the Village Engineer that requires that all construction activity on the site be

(32)      “Technical standard” means a document that specifies design, predicted performance, and operation and maintenance specifications for a material, device, or

(33)      “Transportation facility” means a highway, a railroad, a public mass transit facility, a public−use airport, a public trail, or any other public work for transportation purposes, such as harbor improvements under 85.095 (1) (b), Wis. Stats. “Transportation facility” does not include building sites for the construction of public buildings and buildings that are places of employment that are regulated by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources pursuant to s. 281.33, Wis. Stats.

(34)      “Waters of the State” includes those portions of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior within the boundaries of this state, and all lakes, bays, rivers, streams, springs, ponds, wells, impounding reservoirs, marshes, watercourses, drainage systems, and other surface water or groundwater, natural or artificial, public or private, within this state or its

(35)     “Wetland” means those areas where water is at, near, or above the land surface long enough to be capable of supporting aquatic or hydrophytic vegetation and which has soils indicative of wet conditions, which are two (2) acres or greater in size. The size of the wetland area shall be measured by the outer dimensions of the wetland area that is a contiguous wetland, regardless of whether the wetland area is contained on one or more parcels of land under single or multiple ownership.

(36)     “Wetland Alteration” means any filling, flooding, draining, dredging, tiling, excavating, temporary water level stabilization measures, or dike and dam construction in a wetland area.

(37)      “Wis. Code” means the Wisconsin Administrative Code, published under s. 35.93, Wis. Stats.

(38)      “Wis. ” means the Wisconsin Statutes published under s. 35.18 of the Wisconsin Statutes.