Code of Maine Rules › 06 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › 096 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION - GENERAL › Chapter 501 - STORMWATER MANAGEMENT COMPENSATION FEES AND MITIGATION CREDIT › Section 096-501-2 - Definitions

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
A.
Compensation fee utilization
				plan.
"Compensation fee utilization plan" means a plan that specifies how
				funds received as a compensation fee payment will be allocated to reduce the
				impact of stormwater pollution to an impaired water resource.
B.
Developed area.
"Developed
				area" means an impervious area, landscaped area, or unrevegetated area.
				Developed area includes all disturbed areasexcept an area that is returned to a
				condition that existed prior to the disturbance and is revegetated within one
				calendar year of being disturbed, provided the area is not mowed more than
				twice per year.
C.
Direct
				watershed of a waterbody or wetland.
"Direct watershed of a waterbody or
				wetland" means the land area that drains via overland flow, drainageways,
				waterbodies, or wetlands to a given waterbody or wetland without first passing
				through a lake or pond.
D.
Disturbed area.
Disturbed area" means all land areas that are stripped,
				graded, grubbed, filled, bulldozed or excavated at any time during the site
				preparation or removal of vegetation for, or construction of, a project.
				"Disturbed area" does not include maintenance. A land area on which the cutting
				of trees, without grubbing, stump removal, disturbance or exposure of soil has
				taken place is not considered a "disturbed area".
E.
Drainageway.
"Drainageway"
				means a natural or man-made channel or course to or from which surface
				discharge of water may occur. Drainageways include, but are not limited to
				streams (whether intermittent or perennial), swales, ditches, pipes, culverts,
				and wetlands with localized discharge of water.
F.
High use parking lot.
"High
				use parking lot" means a commercial or other parking lot where parking is used
				most days and each visit is typically for a duration of less than two
				consecutive hours, such as a parking lot serving a convenience store,
				high-turnover restaurant, shopping center, or supermarket.
G.
Impervious area.
"Impervious
				area" means the total area of a parcel covered with a low-permeability material
				that is highly resistant to infiltration by water, such as asphalt, concrete,
				or rooftop, and areas such as gravel roads and unpaved parking areas that will
				be compacted through design or use to reduce their permeability. Common
				impervious areas include, but are not limited to, rooftops, walkways, patios,
				driveways, parking lots or storage areas, concrete or asphalt paving, gravel
				roads, packed earthen materials, and macadam or other surfaces which similarly
				impede the natural infiltration of stormwater. Pervious pavement, pervious
				pavers, pervious concrete and underdrained artificial turf fields are all
				considered impervious.
H.
Infiltration.
"Infiltration" means the process by which runoff
				percolates through the unsaturated overburden and fractured bedrock to the
				water table, including any process specifically used to meet all or part of the
				stormwater standards of this Chapter by actively directing all or part of the
				stormwater into the soil. For the purposes of this Chapter, infiltration does
				not include:
(1)  Incidental wetting of soil
				in ditches, detention basins or the equivalent;
(2)  Wetting of underdrained basins, dry
				swales, or similar filtration systems that do not subsequently discharge to
				groundwater; or
(3)  Wetting of
				buffers meeting Department requirements for use as stormwater control.
Discharge of runoff to areas of the site where the water will
				  collect and percolate into the ground is considered infiltration if the volume,
				  rate, or quality of the discharge does not meet Department standards for use of
				  the area as a stormwater treatment buffer. Underdrained swales, underdrained
				  ponds, and similar practices that discharge to surface waters or to buffer
				  strips meeting Department requirements in 06-096 CMR ch. 500, Appendix F for
				  stormwater buffers are not considered infiltration systems, although these may
				  be used to treat runoff prior to discharge to an infiltration area.