2.1 As used in these Regulations:
Act means the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Act, sections 22a-36 through 22a-45a, inclusive, of the Connecticut General Statutes, as amended.
Agency means the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency of the Town of East Hampton, and includes its authorized agents.
Bogs are watercourses distinguished by evergreen trees and shrubs underlain by peat deposits, poor drainage, and highly acidic conditions.
Buffer means a zone whose length is identical to the wetlands and watercourses boundary and whose width is one hundred feet (100’). (see also Regulated Activity)
Clear-cutting means the cutting of trees in a fashion which removes all trees down to a two inch diameter at breast height.
Commission Member means a member of the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency of the Town of East Hampton.
Commissioner of Environmental Protection means the commissioner of the State of Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection.
Conservation Easement means an interest in land that is conveyed to the Town of East Hampton and recorded on the land records which restricts the use of land to its natural, scenic or open conditions.
Continual Flow means a flow of water which persists for an extended period of time; this flow may be interrupted during periods of drought or during the low flow period of the annual hydrological cycle, June through September, but it recurs in prolonged succession.
Deposit includes, but shall not be limited to fill, grade, dump, place, discharge or emit.
Designated agent means an individual(s) designated by the Agency to carry out its functions and purposes.
Discharge means emission of any water, substance, or material into wetlands or watercourses whether or not such substance causes pollution.
Disturb the natural and indigenous character of the wetland or watercourse means to alter the inland wetlands and watercourses by reason of removal or deposition of material, clearing the land, alternating or obstructing water flow, or pollution.
Essential to the farming operation means that the proposed activity is necessary and indispensable to sustain farming activities on an existing farm.
Farming means those activities set out in §1-1(q) of the Connecticut General Statutes. (See Appendix C.)
Feasible means able to be constructed or implemented consistent with sound engineering principles.
General Statutes means the General Statutes of Connecticut.
Grazing means using any tract of land to feed or supply farm animals with grass or pasture; to tend farm animals; feeding or growing silage and herbage.
Intermittent Watercourses shall be delineated by a defined permanent channel and bank and the occurrence of two or more of the following characteristics: (a) evidence of scour or deposits of recent alluvium or detritus, (b) the presence of standing or flowing water for a duration longer than a particular storm incident, and (c) the presence of hydrophytic vegetation.
License means the whole or any part of any permit, certificate or approval or similar form of permission which may be required of any person by the provisions of these Regulations.
Made Land means an area where the surface soil and subsoil has been stripped away and where earth or trash is used as filler materials. It may also include areas where the soil profiles have been disturbed through leveling or other means.
Management Practice means a practice, procedure, activity, structure or facility designed to prevent or minimize pollution or other environmental damage or to maintain or enhance existing environmental quality. Such management practices include, but are not limited to: erosion and sedimentation controls; restrictions on land use or development; construction setbacks from wetlands and watercourses; proper disposal of waste materials; procedures for equipment maintenance to prevent fuel spillage; construction methods to prevent flooding or disturbance of wetlands and watercourses; procedures for maintaining continuous stream flows; confining construction that must take place in watercourses to times when water flows are low and fish and wildlife will not be adversely affected.
Marshes watercouces that are distinguished by the absence of trees and shrubs and the dominance of soft-stemmed herbaceous plants. The water table in marshes is at or above the ground surface throughout the year and areas of open water six inches or more in depth are common, but seasonal water table fluctuations are encountered.
Material means any substance, solid or liquid, organic or inorganic, including, but not limited to: soil, sediment, aggregate, land, gravel, clay, bog, mud, debris, sand, refuse or waste.
Municipality means the Town of East Hampton, Middlesex County in the State of Connecticut.
Nurseries means areas used for propagating trees, shrubs or other plants for transplanting, sale, or for use as stock for grafting.
Permit means the whole or any part of any license, certificate or approval or similar form of permission which may be required of any person by the provisions of these Regulations and the Act or other municipal, state and federal laws.
Permittee means the person to whom such permit has been issued.
Person means any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company, limited liability company, organization or legal entity of any kind, including municipal corporations, governmental agencies or subdivisions thereof.
Pollution means harmful thermal effect or the contamination or rendering unclean or impure of any waters of the state by reason of any waste or other materials discharged or deposited therein by any public or private sewer or otherwise so as directly or indirectly to come in contact with any waters. This includes, but is not limited to, erosion and sedimentation resulting from any filling, land clearing or excavation activity.
Prudent means economically and otherwise reasonable in light of the social benefits to be derived from the proposed regulated activity provided cost may be considered in deciding what is prudent and further provided a mere showing of expense will not necessarily mean an alternative is imprudent.
Regulated Activity means any operation within or use of a wetland or watercourse involving removal or deposition of material, or any obstruction, construction, alteration or pollution, of such wetlands or watercourses, or any operation within or of any land which may disturb the natural and indigenous character of a wetland or watercourse, but shall not include the specified activities in Section 4 of these regulations or Section 22a-40 of the Connecticut General Statutes.
Furthermore, any clearing, grubbing filling, grading, paving, excavating, construction, depositing or removing of material and discharging of storm water within the following upland review areas is a regulated activity: (1) within 100 feet measured horizontally from the boundary of any wetland or watercourse, (2) within 150 feet horizontally from the boundary of the Salmon River, and (3) within 150 feet horizontally from the boundary of the Connecticut River. The Agency may rule that any other activity located within such upland review area or in any other non-wetland or non watercourse area is likely to impact or affect wetlands or watercourses and is a regulated activity.
Regulated Area means any wetland or watercourse or upland review area as defined herein.
Remove includes, but shall not be limited to, drain, excavate, mine, dig, dredge, suck, grub or clear-cut timber, bulldoze, dragline or blast.
Rendering Unclean or Impure means any alteration of the physical, chemical or biological properties of any waters of the state, including, but not limited to, change in odor, color, turbidity or taste.
Significant impact (activity) means any activity, including but not limited to, the following activities which may have a major effect or significant impact.
1. Any activity involving a deposition or removal of material which will or may have a major effect or significant impact on the regulated area or on another part of the inland wetland or watercourse system.
2. Any activity which substantially diminishes the natural channel or may inhibit the natural dynamics of a watercourse system.
3. Any activity which substantially diminishes the natural capacity of an inland wetland or watercourse to: support desirable fisheries, wildlife, or other biological life; or to prevent flooding; supply water; assimilate waste; facilitate drainage, provide recreation or open space; or to perform other functions.
4. Any activity which is likely to cause or has the potential to cause substantial turbidity, siltation or sedimentation in a wetland or watercourse.
5. Any activity which causes a substantial diminution of flow of a natural watercourse or groundwater levels of the regulated area.
6. Any activity which is likely to cause or has the potential to cause pollution of a wetland or watercourse.
7. Any activity which damages or destroys unique wetland or watercourse areas or such areas having demonstrable scientific or educational value.
8. A significant decrease in the minimum low flow of a watercourse during a period of drought.
9. An actual or potential pollution of a watercourse.
10. A reduction of natural capacity of an inland wetland or watercourse to support desirable biological life and/or function effectively as a part of the total wetland or watercourse ecosystem including loss of productivity of an economic resource.
11. A loss of unique area and/or undisturbed area as valuable for scientific or educational purposes in wetlands or watercourses.
12. Recreation which may result in destruction of wildlife habitat or scenic values of wetlands or watercourses.
13. A conflict with the community Plan of Development or Open Space Plan, which may result from incompatible uses, loss of amenities as applicable.
14. The creation of conditions which may adversely affect the health, welfare and safety of individual or the community, which may be incurred when unsuitable development occurs in swamps, marshes, along watercourses, in areas subject to flooding or in any other wetlands.
Soil Scientist means an individual duly qualified in accordance with standards set by the Federal Office of Personnel Management.
Swamps are watercourses that and are distinguished by the dominance of wetland trees and shrubs.
Submerged Lands means those lands which are inundated by water on a seasonal or more frequent basis.
Town means the Town of East Hampton, Middlesex County in the State of Connecticut.
Upland Review Area that area which is located 100 feet measured horizontally from the edge of a wetland or watercourse, within 150 feet measured horizontally from the boundary of the Salmon River or within 150 feet measured horizontally from the boundary of the Connecticut River.
Upland Review Area Disturbance construction activities within 100 feet measured horizontally from the edge of a wetland or watercourse, within 150 feet measured horizontally from the boundary of the Salomon River or within 150 feet measured horizontally from the boundary of the Connecticut River.
Waste means sewage or any substance, liquid, gaseous, solid or radioactive, which may pollute or tend to pollute any of the wetlands or watercourses of the Town.
Watercourses means rivers, streams, brooks, waterways, lakes, ponds, marshes, swamps, bogs and all other bodies of water, natural or artificial, vernal or intermittent, public or private, which are contained within, flow through, or border upon the Town or any portion thereof not regulated pursuant to Section 22a-28 through 22a-35 inclusive. Intermittent watercourses shall be delineated by a defined permanent channel and bank and the occurrence of two or more of the following characteristics: A(A) Evidence of scour or deposits of recent alluvium of detritus. (B) the presence of standing or flowing water for a duration longer than a particular storm incident, and (C) the presence of hydrophytic vegetation.
Wetlands means land, including submerged land as defined in this section not regulated pursuant to Sections 22a-28 through 22a-35 inclusive, of the Connecticut General Statutes, which consists of any of the soil types designated as poorly drained, very poorly drained, alluvial and flood plain by the National Cooperative Soils Survey, as it may be amended from time to time, of the Soil Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Such areas may include filled, graded, or excavated sites which possess an aquic (saturated) soil moisture regime as defined by the USDA cooperative Soil Survey.
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