New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 7 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Chapter 8 - STORMWATER MANAGEMENT › Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 7:8-1.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter,
				  shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates
				  otherwise.
"CAFRA Planning Map" means the geographic depiction of the
				  boundaries for Coastal Planning Areas, CAFRA Centers, CAFRA Cores, and CAFRA
				  Nodes pursuant to
				  N.J.A.C.
				  7:7-13.16.
"CAFRA Centers, Cores, or Nodes" means those areas within
				  boundaries accepted by the Department pursuant to
				  N.J.A.C.
				  7:7-13.
"Community basin" means an infiltration basin, sand filter
				  designed to infiltrate, standard constructed wetland, or wet pond, established
				  in accordance with
				  N.J.A.C.
				  7:8-4.2(c)14, that is
				  designed and constructed in accordance with the New Jersey Stormwater Best
				  Management Practices Manual, or an alternate design, approved in accordance
				  with N.J.A.C.
				  7:8-5.2(g), for an
				  infiltration basin, sand filter designed to infiltrate, standard constructed
				  wetland, or wet pond and that complies with the requirements of this
				  chapter.
"Compaction" means the increase in soil bulk density.
"Contributory drainage area" means the area from which
				  stormwater runoff drains to a stormwater management measure, not including the
				  area of the stormwater management measure itself.
"Core" means a pedestrian-oriented area of commercial and
				  civic uses serving the surrounding municipality, generally including housing
				  and access to public transportation.
"County review agency" means an agency designated by the
				  County Board of Chosen Freeholders to review municipal stormwater management
				  plans and implementing ordinance(s). The county review agency may either
				  be:
1. A county planning agency;
				or
2. A county water resources
				association created under
				N.J.S.A.
				58:16A-55.5, if the ordinance or resolution
				delegates authority to approve, conditionally approve, or disapprove municipal
				stormwater management plans and implementing ordinances.
"Department" means the Department of Environmental
				  Protection.
"Designated Center" means a State Development and
				  Redevelopment Plan Center as designated by the State Planning Commission such
				  as urban, regional, town, village, or hamlet.
"Design engineer" means a person professionally qualified
				  and duly licensed in New Jersey to perform engineering services that may
				  include, but not necessarily be limited to, development of project
				  requirements, creation and development of project design and preparation of
				  drawings and specifications.
"Development" means the division of a parcel of land into
				  two or more parcels, the construction, reconstruction, conversion, structural
				  alteration, relocation or enlargement of any building or structure, any mining
				  excavation or landfill, and any use or change in the use of any building or
				  other structure, or land or extension of use of land, for which permission is
				  required under the Municipal Land Use Law,
				  N.J.S.A.
				  40:55D-1 et seq.
In the case of development on agricultural land, development
				  means: any activity that requires a State permit; any activity reviewed by the
				  County Agricultural Boards (CAB) and the State Agricultural Development
				  Committee (SADC), and municipal review of any activity not exempted by the
				  Right to Farm Act,
				  N.J.S.A.
				  4:1C-1 et seq.
"Disturbance" means the placement or reconstruction of
				  impervious surface or motor vehicle surface, or exposure and/or movement of
				  soil or bedrock or clearing, cutting, or removing of vegetation. Milling and
				  repaving is not considered disturbance for the purposes of this
				  definition.
"Drainage area" means a geographic area within which
				  stormwater runoff, sediments, or dissolved materials drain to a particular
				  receiving waterbody or to a particular point along a receiving
				  waterbody.
"Environmentally constrained area" means the following areas
				  where the physical alteration of the land is in some way restricted, either
				  through regulation, easement, deed restriction or ownership such as: wetlands,
				  floodplains, threatened and endangered species sites or designated habitats,
				  and parks and preserves. Habitats of endangered or threatened species are
				  identified using the Department's Landscape Project as approved by the
				  Department's Endangered and Nongame Species Program.
"Environmentally critical area" means an area or feature
				  which is of significant environmental value, including, but not limited to:
				  stream corridors; natural heritage priority sites; habitats of endangered or
				  threatened species; large areas of contiguous open space or upland forest;
				  steep slopes; and well head protection and groundwater recharge areas. Habitats
				  of endangered or threatened species are identified using the Department's
				  Landscape Project as approved by the Department's Endangered and Nongame
				  Species Program.
"Empowerment Neighborhoods" means neighborhoods designated
				  by the Urban Coordinating Council "in consultation and conjunction with" the
				  New Jersey Redevelopment Authority pursuant to
				  N.J.S.A.
				  55:19-69.
"Erosion" means the detachment and movement of soil or rock
				  fragments by water, wind, ice or gravity.
"Green infrastructure" means a stormwater management measure
				  that manages stormwater close to its source by:
1. Treating stormwater runoff through
				infiltration into subsoil;
2.
				Treating stormwater runoff through filtration by vegetation or soil;
				or
3. Storing stormwater runoff for
				reuse.
"HUC 14" or "hydrologic unit code 14" means an area within
				  which water drains to a particular receiving surface water body, also known as
				  a subwatershed, which is identified by a 14-digit hydrologic unit boundary
				  designation, delineated within New Jersey by the United States Geological
				  Survey.
"Impervious surface" means a surface that has been covered
				  with a layer of material so that it is highly resistant to infiltration by
				  water.
"Infiltration" is the process by which water seeps into the
				  soil from precipitation.
"Lead planning agency" means one or more public entities
				  having stormwater management planning authority designated by the regional
				  stormwater management planning committee pursuant to
				  N.J.A.C.
				  7:8-3.2, that serves as the primary
				  representative of the committee.
"Major development" means an individual "development," as
				  well as multiple developments that individually or collectively result
				  in:
1. The disturbance of one or more
				acres of land since February 2, 2004;
2. The creation of one-quarter acre or more
				of "regulated impervious surface" since February 2, 2004;
3. The creation of one-quarter acre or more
				of "regulated motor vehicle surface" since March 2, 2021; or
4. A combination of 2 and 3 above that totals
				an area of one-quarter acre or more. The same surface shall not be counted
				twice when determining if the combination area equals one-quarter acre or more.
Major development includes all developments that are part of
				  a common plan of development or sale (for example, phased residential
				  development) that collectively or individually meet any one or more of
				  paragraphs 1, 2, 3, or 4 above. Projects undertaken by any government agency
				  that otherwise meet the definition of "major development" but which do not
				  require approval under the Municipal Land Use Law,
				  N.J.S.A.
				  40:55D-1 et seq., are also considered "major
				  development."
"Motor vehicle" means land vehicles propelled other than by
				  muscular power, such as automobiles, motorcycles, autocycles, and low speed
				  vehicles. For the purposes of this definition, motor vehicle does not include
				  farm equipment, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, motorized wheelchairs,
				  go-carts, gas buggies, golf carts, ski-slope grooming machines, or vehicles
				  that run only on rails or tracks.
"Motor vehicle surface" means any pervious or impervious
				  surface that is intended to be used by "motor vehicles" and/or aircraft, and is
				  directly exposed to precipitation including, but not limited to, driveways,
				  parking areas, parking garages, roads, racetracks, and runways.
"Municipality" means any city, borough, town, township, or
				  village.
"New Jersey Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMP)
				  Manual" or "BMP Manual" means the manual maintained by the Department
				  providing, in part, design specifications, removal rates, calculation methods,
				  and soil testing procedures approved by the Department as being capable of
				  contributing to achievement of the stormwater management standards specified in
				  this chapter. The manual is periodically amended by the Department as necessary
				  to provide design specifications on additional best management practices and
				  new information on already included practices reflecting the best available
				  current information regarding the particular practice and the Department's
				  determination as to the ability of that best management practice to contribute
				  to compliance with the standards contained in this chapter. Alternative
				  stormwater management measures, removal rates, or calculation methods may be
				  utilized, subject to any limitations specified in this chapter, provided the
				  design engineer demonstrates to the review agency, in accordance with
				  N.J.A.C.
				  7:8-5.2(g), that the
				  proposed measure and its design will contribute to achievement of the design
				  and performance standards established by this chapter.
"Node" means an area designated by the State Planning
				  Commission concentrating facilities and activities which are not organized in a
				  compact form.
"Nutrient" means a chemical element or compound, such as
				  nitrogen or phosphorus, which is essential to and promotes the development of
				  organisms.
"Person" means any individual, corporation, company,
				  partnership, firm, association, political subdivision of this State and any
				  state, interstate or Federal agency.
"Pollutant" means any dredged spoil, solid waste,
				  incinerator residue, filter backwash, sewage, garbage, refuse, oil, grease,
				  sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, medical
				  wastes, radioactive substance (except those regulated under the Atomic Energy
				  Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. §§ 2011. et seq.)), thermal waste,
				  wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, industrial, municipal,
				  agricultural, and construction waste or runoff or other residue discharged
				  directly or indirectly to the land, groundwaters or surface waters of the
				  State, or to a domestic treatment works. "Pollutant" includes both hazardous
				  and nonhazardous pollutants.
"Public roadway or railroad" means a pathway for use by motor
				  vehicles or trains that is intended for public use and is constructed by, or on
				  behalf of, a public transportation entity. A public roadway or railroad does
				  not include a roadway or railroad constructed as part of a private development,
				  regardless of whether the roadway or railroad is ultimately to be dedicated to
				  and/or maintained by a governmental entity.
"Public transportation entity" means a Federal, State,
				  county, or municipal government, an independent State authority, or a
				  statutorily authorized public-private partnership program pursuant to
				  P.L.
				  2018, c. 90 (N.J.S.A.
				  40A:11-52 et seq.), that performs a public
				  roadway or railroad project that includes new construction, expansion,
				  reconstruction, or improvement of a public roadway or railroad.
"Recharge" means the amount of water from precipitation that
				  infiltrates into the ground and is not evapotranspired.
"Regulated impervious surface" means any of the following,
				  alone or in combination:
1. A net
				increase of impervious surface;
2.
				The total area of impervious surface collected by a new stormwater conveyance
				system (for the purpose of this definition, a "new stormwater conveyance
				system" is a stormwater conveyance system that is constructed where one did not
				exist immediately prior to its construction or an existing system for which a
				new discharge location is created);
3. The total area of impervious surface
				proposed to be newly collected by an existing stormwater conveyance system;
				and/or
4. The total area of
				impervious surface collected by an existing stormwater conveyance system where
				the capacity of that conveyance system is increased.
"Regulated motor vehicle surface" means any of the following,
				  alone or in combination:
1. A net
				increase in motor vehicle surface; and/or
2. The total area of motor vehicle surface
				that is currently receiving water quality treatment either by vegetation or
				soil, by an existing stormwater management measure, or by treatment at a
				wastewater treatment plant, where the water quality treatment will be modified
				or removed.
"Sediment" means solid material, mineral or organic, that is
				  in suspension, is being transported, or has been moved from its site of origin
				  by air, water or gravity as a product of erosion.
"Site" means the lot or lots upon which a major development
				  is to occur or has occurred.
"Soil" means all unconsolidated mineral and organic material
				  of any origin.
"State Development and Redevelopment Plan Metropolitan
				  Planning Area (PA1)" means an area delineated on the State Plan Policy Map and
				  adopted by the State Planning Commission that is intended to be the focus for
				  much of the State's future redevelopment and revitalization efforts.
"State Plan Policy Map" is defined as the geographic
				  application of the State Development and Redevelopment Plan's goals and
				  Statewide policies, and the official map of these goals and policies.
"Stormwater" means water resulting from precipitation
				  (including rain and snow) that runs off the land's surface, is transmitted to
				  the subsurface, or is captured by separate storm sewers or other sewage or
				  drainage facilities, or conveyed by snow removal equipment.
"Stormwater runoff" means water flow on the surface of the
				  ground or in storm sewers, resulting from precipitation.
"Stormwater management basin" means an excavation or
				  embankment and related areas designed to retain stormwater runoff. A stormwater
				  management basin may either be normally dry (that is, a detention basin or
				  infiltration basin), retain water in a permanent pool (a retention basin), or
				  be planted mainly with wetland vegetation (most constructed stormwater
				  wetlands).
"Stormwater management measure" means any practice,
				  technology, process, program, or other method intended to control or reduce
				  stormwater runoff and associated pollutants, or to induce or control the
				  infiltration or groundwater recharge of stormwater or to eliminate illicit or
				  illegal nonstormwater discharges into stormwater conveyances.
"Stormwater management planning agency" means a public body
				  authorized by legislation to prepare stormwater management plans.
"Stormwater management planning area" means the geographic
				  area for which a stormwater management planning agency is authorized to prepare
				  stormwater management plans, or a specific portion of that area identified in a
				  stormwater management plan prepared by that agency.
"Tidal Flood Hazard Area" means a flood hazard area in which
				  the flood elevation resulting from the two-, 10-, or 100-year storm, as
				  applicable, is governed by tidal flooding from the Atlantic Ocean. Flooding in
				  a tidal flood hazard area may be contributed to, or influenced by, stormwater
				  runoff from inland areas, but the depth of flooding generated by the tidal rise
				  and fall of the Atlantic Ocean is greater than flooding from any fluvial
				  sources. In some situations, depending upon the extent of the storm surge from
				  a particular storm event, a flood hazard area may be tidal in the 100-year
				  storm, but fluvial in more frequent storm events.
"Urban Coordinating Council Empowerment Neighborhood" means
				  a neighborhood given priority access to State resources through the New Jersey
				  Redevelopment Authority.
"Urban Enterprise Zones" means a zone designated by the New
				  Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Authority pursuant to the New Jersey Urban
				  Enterprise Zones Act,
				  N.J.S.A.
				  52:27H-60 et seq.
"Urban Redevelopment Area" is defined as previously
				  developed portions of areas:
1.
				Delineated on the State Plan Policy Map (SPPM) as the Metropolitan Planning
				Area (PA1), Designated Centers, Cores or Nodes;
2. Designated as CAFRA Centers, Cores or
				Nodes;
3. Designated as Urban
				Enterprise Zones; and
4. Designated
				as Urban Coordinating Council Empowerment Neighborhoods.
"Water control structure" means a structure within, or
				  adjacent to, a water, which intentionally or coincidentally alters the
				  hydraulic capacity, the flood elevation resulting from the two-, 10-, or
				  100-year storm, flood hazard area limit, and/or floodway limit of the water.
				  Examples of a water control structure may include a bridge, culvert, dam,
				  embankment, ford (if above grade), retaining wall, and weir.
"Waters of the State" means the ocean and its estuaries, all
				  springs, streams, wetlands, and bodies of surface or groundwater, whether
				  natural or artificial, within the boundaries of the State of New Jersey or
				  subject to its jurisdiction.
"Wetlands" or "wetland" means an area that is inundated or
				  saturated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and duration
				  sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances does support, a
				  prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil
				  conditions, commonly known as hydrophytic
				  vegetation.