Source: https://ecode360.com/12654591
Timestamp: 2018-08-18 16:37:11
Document Index: 515626095

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 129', '§ 129', '§ 129', '§ 129', '§ 129', '§ 129', '§ 129', '§ 129', '§ 129', '§ 129', '§ 129', '§ 129', '§ 129', '§ 129', '§ 129', '§ 129', '§ 129', '§ 129', '§ 129', '§ 129']

Town of Geneva, NY Soil Erosion
§ 129-1 Authority.
§ 129-2 Enactment; title; compliance required.
§ 129-3 Purpose.
§ 129-4 Construal of provisions.
§ 129-6 Site preparation.
§ 129-7 Activities requiring a permit.
§ 129-8 Exempted activities.
§ 129-9 Permit application procedure.
§ 129-10 Contents of permit application.
§ 129-11 Standards for consideration in granting permit.
§ 129-12 Amendments.
§ 129-13 Fees; reimbursement of enforcement costs.
§ 129-14 Penalties for offenses; enforcement.
Chapter 129: Soil Erosion
[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Geneva 4-25-1997 by L.L. No. 3-1997 (Ch. 49 of the 1972 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
Chapter 129 : Soil Erosion
In accordance with Article 9 of the Town Law and the Municipal Home Rule Law of the State of New York, the Town Board of the Town of Geneva has the authority to enact local laws for the purpose of promoting the health, safety or general welfare of the Town of Geneva including the protection and preservation of the property of its inhabitants. By the same authority the Town Board of the Town of Geneva may include in any such local laws, provision for the appointment of any municipal officers or employees to effectuate and administer such local laws.
In order that site preparation and construction activities may be in compliance with the provisions of this chapter, this chapter is hereby adopted and shall be known and may be cited as the "Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control Local Law of the Town of Geneva."
Upon the filing of this chapter with the Secretary of State, all site preparation and construction activities requiring a permit under this chapter shall be in compliance with the provisions set forth herein.
It is the purpose of this chapter to protect public health, safety and welfare in the Town of Geneva by regulating site preparation and construction activities, including excavation, filling, grading and stripping, so as to prevent problems related to erosion, sediment or drainage. In relation to this purpose the chapter is intended:
To preserve the quality of the natural environment from such adverse effects of site preparation and construction as:
To protect people and properties from such adverse effects of site preparation and construction as:
To protect the Town of Geneva and other governmental bodies from having to undertake, at public expense, programs of repairing roads, flood-protection facilities and other public facilities.
To ensure that site preparation and construction are consistent with the Comprehensive Development Plan of the Town of Geneva.
The provisions of this chapter shall be held to be the minimum requirements adopted for the promotion of the public health, safety and welfare. Whenever the requirements of this chapter are at variance with the requirements of any other lawfully adopted rules, regulations or ordinances, the most restrictive or that imposing the higher standards shall govern.
The person duly designated by the Town Board of the Town of Geneva as the Code Enforcement Officer of the Town of Geneva.
Any natural or artificial stream, river, creek, ditch, channel, canal, conduit, culvert, drainageway, gully, ravine or wash in which water flows in a definite direction of course, either continuously or intermittently, and which has a definite channel and bed and banks, and any area adjacent thereto subject to inundation by reason of overflow, flood or stormwater.
No site preparation shall commence until a soil erosion and sedimentation control permit has been issued for any activity requiring a permit as listed in § 129-7.
None of the following activities shall be commenced until a permit has been issued under the provisions of this chapter.
Site preparation in connection with the subdivision of land into two or more parcels or as regulated under Chapter 136, Subdivision of Land, of the Town of Geneva.
Site preparation within wetlands regulated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation under the Freshwater Wetlands Act of the State of New York.
Site preparation within any high-density area (R-1 or R-2) as identified in the Official Zoning Map of the Town of Geneva,[1] and as established in the Zoning Laws of the Town of Geneva where more than 500 square feet of ground surface is to be disturbed for any reason, including the construction of any principal or accessory structure or use (including single-family residences), roads or driveways.
Site preparation within the one-hundred-year floodplain and/or floodway of any watercourse as regulated under Chapter 80, Flood Damage Prevention, and Chapter 165, Zoning, of the Town of Geneva.
Site preparation requiring site plan or special use permit approval as regulated in Chapter 165, Zoning, of the Town of Geneva.
Excavation or filling which exceeds a total of 20 cubic yards of material within any parcel or contiguous area.
Activities not meeting the criteria in § 129-7 herein.
Outside of the high-density areas and the floodplain overlay district, excavations for the basement and footings of single-family houses on a single lot and for septic tank systems, wells and swimming pools attendant to single-family homes on a single lot, not excepting, however, those excavations that are part of an activity required to obtain permits under § 129-7 or which exceed the limits for excavation as identified in § 129-7 herein.
Activities subject to permits under Chapter 165, Zoning, of the Town of Geneva for commercial excavation, if any such activities are regulated therein.
Household gardening and activities related to the maintenance of landscape features on existing developed lots, excepting such activities as are required to obtain permits under § 129-7.
Governmental activities to the extent such activities are exempted by law and limited to government properties.
Before any site preparation requiring a permit under § 129-7 of this chapter is commenced, three copies of a permit application shall have been filed with the Code Enforcement Officer, and this application shall have been approved and a permit shall have been granted pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
The Code Enforcement Officer shall determine if the application is complete as required by § 129-10 and whether such application will be reviewed and approved by the Code Enforcement Officer or by the Town Planning Board pursuant to Subsection C hereof.
The Code Enforcement Officer shall have the authority to review and approve, approve with modifications and conditions or disapprove all permits applied for pursuant to this chapter, except for the applications involving an activity which will otherwise require Town Planning Board review and approval as:
Subdivision of land as regulated under Chapter 136, Subdivision of Land, of the Town of Geneva.
Site development plan approval (see Chapter 123) or special use permit approval as required in Chapter 165, Zoning, of the Town of Geneva. For applications involving such activities, the Planning Board shall have review and approval authority and shall coordinate this permit approval with the underlying Planning Board review process.
The Code Enforcement Officer or Town Planning Board may, upon its discretion, refer any permit application hereunder to the Town Engineer and/or other agencies or officials for guidance and recommendations.
All permits hereunder shall be granted or denied within 60 days of the filing of the application thereof; unless the applicant and the Town Planning Board mutually consent to a time extension or, when applicable, the Town Planning Board shall follow the general procedures used by the Planning Board under the time frames specified for the review of subdivision applications in Chapter 136, Subdivision of Land, of the Town of Geneva or those provided for the review of site development plans in Chapters 123, Site Plan Review, and 165, Zoning, of the Town of Geneva.
The town may require as a condition of granting a permit pursuant to this chapter the provision of a performance bond or other surety instrument in a form and amount acceptable to the Geneva Town Board.
Any permit granted pursuant to this chapter shall be valid for a period of six months.
It shall be the responsibility of the Code Enforcement Officer to inspect sites as frequently as necessary to assure compliance with the terms of approved permits and the provisions of this chapter and to submit written notification of any violations of these terms or provisions to the Town Board and/or Planning Board.
If at any time during the effective period of a permit or upon its expiration the terms of the permit are violated, the town may revoke the permit and may require that the performance guaranty be forfeited to the town. If the applicant shall be unable to complete the project or any phase thereof within the specified time, the applicant shall, as soon as possible prior to the specified date of completion, present, in writing, a request for an extension of time, setting forth therein the reasons for the request, which extension may be granted in the discretion of the Code Enforcement Officer. Extension may be granted in three-month increments not to exceed six months of extension.
The property owner or designated agent initiates a request for permit by filing with the Town Code Enforcement Officer three copies of an application. The application shall consist of, at a minimum, the application form available from the town, the checklist completed by the applicant and appropriate maps, plans and/or sketches depicting the proposed site and showing the nature and scope of the proposed activities.
The map, plan or sketch submitted as part of an application for a permit pursuant to this chapter shall indicate the following:
Existing features, including structures, roads, watercourses, utility lines, etc., on the subject parcel and on adjacent parcels where appropriate.
Existing vegetative cover, including wooded areas, grass, brush or other cover on the subject parcel and on adjacent properties where appropriate.
Limits or extent of excavation, filling and/or grading proposed to be undertaken.
The disposition of soil and top soil, whether on site or off site, and the locations of any stockpiles to be placed on site.
Projects or applications for a permit pursuant to this chapter involving fewer than 400 cubic yards of cut or fill or fewer than 30,000 square feet of surface area disturbed by cut or fill shall require a sketch plan to an approximate scale. Projects or applications for a permit pursuant to this chapter involving more than 400 cubic yards of cut or fill or more than 30,000 square feet of surface area disturbed by either cut or fill will require a plan prepared by an engineer, architect or landscape architect licensed to practice said profession by the State of New York.
In granting a permit under this chapter the standards and considerations taken into account shall include the following:
Excavation, filling, grading and stripping shall be permitted to be undertaken only in such locations and in such a manner so as to minimize the potential of erosion and sediment and so as to minimize any threat to the health, safety and welfare of neighboring property owners and the general public.
Site preparation and construction shall not adversely affect the free flow of water by encroaching on, blocking or restricting watercourses, except as permitted by approved detention systems.
All fill material shall be of a composition suitable for ultimate use of the fill, free from rubbish and unsuitable construction debris, and carefully restricted in its content of brush, stumps, tree debris and soft or easily compressible material.
Topsoil which is excavated from a site shall be stockpiled and used for the restoration of the site, and such stockpiles shall be seeded or otherwise treated to minimize the effects of erosion, if the pile is to remain for a period of more than 90 days.
All drainage systems shall be designed to adequately handle anticipated flows both within the site and from the entire upstream drainage basin.
There shall be provided such measures as benches, berms, terraces, diversions and sediment, debris and retention basins, where necessary, to minimize erosion and sediment.
Drainage systems, planting and other erosion- or sediment-control devices shall be maintained as necessary to provide adequate protection against erosion and sediment and to insure long-term performance.
Surface drainage features will be preferred over subterranean systems utilizing catch basins and piping systems. Such surface drainage features shall utilize erosion-preventing surface material according to generally accepted engineering practices.
The Town Board may, from time to time, on its own motion, on petition or on recommendation of the Town Planning Board, and in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, amend, supplement or repeal the regulations or provisions of this chapter.
The Town Board may, from time to time and by resolution, establish appropriate fees for the review and processing of the permits under this chapter. Said fees may include recovery of town expenses for engineering review of any erosion-control plan. The fee schedule adopted shall be available from the Clerk of the Town of Geneva.
Whenever the Code Enforcement Officer or any officer of the Town of Geneva shall determine that Chapter 129, Soil Erosion, of the Geneva Code shall be required to be enforced, the costs incurred by said officer for consultation fees with engineers, attorneys or other professionals or costs incurred in enforcement of compliance with this Code, including but not limited to the costs of meeting the requirements of Article 6 of the Environmental Conservation Law (SEQR), shall be reimbursed by the real property owner before a building permit, certificate of occupancy, or other permit, may be issued, and if the real property owner fails to make such reimbursement, then said reimbursement costs levied pursuant to this chapter are hereby made a lien on the premises, and if the same is not paid within 30 days after it shall be deemed payable, the same shall be certified to the County Treasurer's office, which shall place the same on the real property tax roll for that year, with interest, and penalties allowed by law, and be collected as other town taxes are collected.
[Added 7-12-2001 by L.L. No. 6-2001]
If there is any damage due to a violation of this chapter or if any soil, liquid or other material is caused to be deposited upon or to roll, flow or wash upon any public property, private property or right-of-way in violation of this chapter, the person, firm, partnership, corporation or other party responsible shall be notified and shall cause the same to be removed from such property or way within 36 hours of notice. In the event of an immediate danger to the public health or safety, notice shall be given by the most expeditious means, and the violation shall be remedied immediately. In the event that it is not so remedied, the town shall cause such remedy as necessary, and the cost incurred by the town shall be paid to the town by the party who failed to so remedy and shall be a debt owed to the town, above and beyond any approved performance guaranty.
Any person, firm, partnership, corporation or other party who violates any provision of this chapter shall be guilty of a violation and subject to a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $100 for the first offense. Any subsequent violation of the provisions of this chapter shall be a violation and, upon conviction, such person shall be subject to the penalties prescribed in Chapter 1, General Provisions, Article III. The imposition of any such penalty for the violation of this chapter shall not excuse such violation nor permit the continuance thereof. The application of the above penalty or penalties for a violation of the provisions of this chapter shall not be held to prevent the removal of conditions prohibited by this chapter by such legal means as may be proper.
The Code Enforcement Officer, as designated by the Town Board of the Town of Geneva, shall have the authority to issue appearance tickets when the provisions of this Code are violated.