GA Code § 12-5-441 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 12 - Conservation and Natural Resources|Chapter 5 - Water Resources|Article 5 - Rivers and River Basins|Part 6 - Protection of Metropolitan Rivers|§ 12-5-441. Definitions

 As used in this part, the term:    "Applicant" means any person who requests the issuance of a certificate under this part.   "Area" means a standard metropolitan statistical area recognized by the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, and as set forth in Appendix C, County and City Data Book 1977: A Statistical Abstract Supplement, U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, which is located wholly within the State of Georgia and having a population of more than 1,000,000 according to the United States decennial census of 1970 or any future such census.   "Board" means the Board of Natural Resources.   Reserved.   "Certificate" means a building permit or other written authorization issued under this part and shall include, as a part thereof, the application and all documents supplied in support thereof and the approval by the governing authority together with any conditions thereto.  (5.1) "Commission" means a regional commission established pursuant to Article 2 of Chapter 8 of Title 50, including its predecessor, a "regional development center."    "Director" means the director of the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources.   "Flood plain" means that area adjacent to a major stream which is subject to being flooded with a probable frequency of at least once every 100 years. The regional commission shall delineate the flood plain and in doing so may utilize or adopt studies prepared by the Corps of Engineers, United States Army, or such other studies as the regional commission deems competent.   "Governing authority" means the governing authority of a political subdivision or, except for the purposes of paragraph (2) of subsection (c) of Code Section 12-5-445, a committee of such governing authority.   "Impoundment" means any body of water, formed by a dam, which is less than 25,000 acres in size.   "Land-disturbing activity" means scraping, plowing, clearing, dredging, grading, excavating, transporting, or filling of land or placement of any structure or impervious surface, dam, obstruction, or deposit.   "Major stream" means any stream or river, whether navigable or nonnavigable, which flows through any area and which is the source of at least 40 percent of the public water supply of any such area.   "Owner" means the record title owner, according to the deed records, of the land described in an application for a certificate and may or may not be the same person as the applicant. For purposes of this part, if the owner is a corporation, notice shall be given to the legal representative as delineated by records kept in the office of the Secretary of State.   "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, trust, entity, or authority and shall include the State of Georgia, its political subdivisions, and all its departments, boards, bureaus, commissions, or other agencies.   "Plan" means the comprehensive plan or plans prepared by the regional commission pursuant to Code Section 12-5-443.   "Political subdivision" means a county or a municipality in which the section of the river corridor to be affected or any part thereof is located.   "Public notice" means a legal notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the political subdivision at least once a week for two consecutive weeks.   "Stream corridor" means all land in the area in the watercourse, within 2,000 feet of the watercourse, or within the flood plain, whichever is greater.   "Tributary" means any flowing stream which flows into the major stream at a point which is within the stream corridor.   "Watercourse" means the banks of a major stream, including any impoundments thereon, in the area as defined by the low-water mark of such stream and any impoundments and including the entire bed of such stream and any impoundments and all islands therein, from the point where the stream enters the area downstream to the point where the stream leaves the area.     (Ga. L. 1973, p. 128, § 2; Ga. L. 1975, p. 837, §§ 1, 2; Code 1981, §12-5-441, enacted by Ga. L. 1982, p. 2107, § 4; Ga. L. 1983, p. 3, § 9; Ga. L. 1983, p. 1059, § 1; Ga. L. 1989, p. 1317, §§ 6.4, 6.5; Ga. L. 1998, p. 1394, § 1; Ga. L. 2008, p. 181, § 9/HB 1216.)   Code Commission notes.   - Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2008, "Article 2 of Chapter 8 of Title 50" was substituted for "this article" in paragraph (5.1).   JUDICIAL DECISIONS   Judicial review.    - Superior court erred by reversing the County Zoning Board of Appeals's decision based on the superior court's assessment that the second stop work order was issued due to electrical utility work because it re-weighed the evidence and then concluded as a matter of fact that the property owner intended to have topsoil delivered to the property in order to lay grass seed to the owner's horse paddock, while discounting conflicting evidence presented by the County that the property owner was stockpiling dirt in an area covered by the provisions of the Metropolitan River Protection Act, O.C.G.A. § 12-5-440 et seq. Forsyth County v. Mommies Props. LLC Four Cases, Ga. App. , 855 S.E.2d 126 (2021).    Cited in Kohler v. Van Peteghem, 330 Ga. App. 230, 767 S.E.2d 775 (2014), overruled on other grounds by Lee v. Smith, 307 Ga. 815, 838 S.E.2d 870 (2020).