Lincoln Municipal Code Art. I General Provisions

The city council adopts this chapter based upon the following findings:

(1) The Federal Clean Water Act provides for the regulation and reduction of pollutants discharged into waters of the United States by extending National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System ("NPDES") requirements to storm water and urban runoff discharges into the city storm water conveyance system.

(2) Storm water flows from individual properties to the municipal storm drain system and then ultimately discharges to waters of the United States.

(3) The city has obtained permit coverage under the state of California's Waste Discharge Requirements for Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (Order No. 2003-0005-DWQ) and the National Pollutants Discharge Elimination System General Permit No. CAS000004 under the Clean Water Act. Under the provisions of this permit, the city is required to possess the necessary legal authority to implement appropriate procedures to regulate the entry of pollutants and non-storm water discharges into the city's storm water conveyance system.

(Ord. No. 826B, § 1(8.60.01), 10-23-2007)

The purpose of this chapter is to ensure the health, safety and general welfare of citizens, and to protect and enhance the water quality of watercourses and water bodies in a manner pursuant to and consistent with the Federal Clean Water Act by reducing pollutants in storm water discharges to the maximum extent practicable and by prohibiting non-storm water discharges to the storm water conveyance system.

(Ord. No. 826B, § 1(8.60.02), 10-23-2007)

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

"Applicant" means a property owner or agent of a property owner who is developing or redeveloping a site that meets the criteria defined in this chapter.

"Best management practices" means activities, practices, and procedures that prevent or reduce the discharge of pollutants directly or indirectly to the municipal storm drain system and waters of the United States. Best management practices include, but are not limited to: treatment facilities to remove pollutants from storm water; operating and maintenance procedures; facility management practices to control runoff, spillage or leaks of non-storm water, waste disposal, and drainage from materials storage; erosion and sediment control practices; and the prohibition of specific activities, practices and procedures and other such provisions as the city determines appropriate for the control of pollutants.

"Building" means any structure, either temporary or permanent, having walls and a roof, designed for the shelter of any person, animal, or property, and occupying more than 100 square feet of area.

"Channel" means a natural or artificial watercourse with a definite bed and banks that conducts continuously or periodically flowing water.

"City" means the city of Lincoln.

"Dedication" means the deliberate appropriation of property by its owner for general public use.

"Detention" means the temporary storage of storm runoff in a storm water management practice with the goals of controlling peak discharge rates and providing gravity settling of pollutants.

"Detention facility" means a detention basin or alternative structure designed for the purpose of temporary storage of surface runoff and gradual release of stored water at controlled rates.

"Developer" shall be defined as a person who develops real estate, especially by preparing a site for residential or commercial use.

"Drainage easement" means a legal right granted by a landowner to a grantee allowing the use of private land for storm water management purposes.

"Erosion and sediment control plan" means a plan that is designed to minimize the accelerated erosion and sediment runoff at a site during construction activities.

"Impervious surface" shall be defined as surfaces incapable of being infiltrated by water (e.g., building rooftops, pavement, sidewalks, driveways, etc.).

"Industrial activity" means activities subject to NPDES industrial permits as defined in 40 CFR, Section 122.26(b)(14).

"Industrial storm water permit" means a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit issued to a commercial industry or group of industries which regulates the pollutant levels associated with industrial storm water discharges or specifies on-site pollution control strategies.

"Infiltration" means the process of percolating storm water into the subsurface.

"Infiltration facility" shall be defined as any structure or device designed to infiltrate retained water to the subsurface. These facilities may be above grade or below grade.

"Jurisdictional wetland" means an area that is inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, commonly known as hydrophytic vegetation.

"Land disturbance activity" means any activity which removes existing vegetation or otherwise disturbs the surface of the land. This may include the grading, digging, cutting, scraping, or excavating of soil, placement of fill materials, paving, construction, substantial removal of vegetation, or any activity which bares soil or rock.

"Landowner" shall be defined as the legal or beneficial owner of land, including those holding the right to purchase or lease the land, or any other person holding proprietary rights in the land.

"Maintenance agreement" means a legally recorded document that acts as a property deed restriction, and which provides for long-term maintenance of storm water management practices.

"Maximum extent practicable (MEP)" means a technology-based standard established by Congress in the Clean Water Act Section 402(p)(3)(iii) for storm water discharge to apply to all small municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) operators regulated under the NPDES program. MEP is generally the result of emphasizing pollution prevention and source control best management practices as the preferred method of preventing water pollution. The MEP approach is an ever-evolving, flexible and advancing concept, which considers technical and economic feasibility. As knowledge about controlling urban runoff continues to evolve, so does MEP.

"Municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4)" means a conveyance or system of conveyances (including roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, manmade channels, or storm drains) owned by a state, county, city, town, or other public body, that is designed or used for collecting or conveying storm water, which is not a combined sewer, and which is not a part of a publicly owned treatment works.

"Non-storm water discharge" means any discharge to the storm drain system that is not composed entirely of storm water.

"Off-site facility" means a storm water management measure located outside the subject property boundary described in the permit application for land development activity.

"On-site facility" means a storm water management measure located within the subject property boundary described in the permit application for land development activity.

"Pollutant" means anything which causes or contributes to pollution. Pollutants may include, but are not limited to: paints, varnishes, and solvents; oil and other automotive fluids; non-hazardous liquid and solid waste and yard wastes; refuse, rubbish, garbage, litter or other discarded or abandoned objects, articles, and accumulations, so that they may cause or contribute to pollution; floatables; pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers; hazardous substances and wastes; sewage, fecal coliform and pathogens; dissolved and particulate metals; animal wastes; wastes and residues that result from constructing a building or structure (including, but not limited to, sediments, slurries, and concrete waste); and noxious or offensive matter of any kind.

"Recharge" means the replenishment of underground water reserves.

"Redevelopment" means the construction, alteration or improvement which result in five acres or more of disturbed soil area and where existing land use is high-density commercial, industrial, institutional or multi-family residential.

"Retention basin" means an area to hold water from a small surrounding drainage area that would otherwise flow into other areas.

"Runoff reduction measure" means site design components that reduce the amount of storm water runoff by promoting infiltration or reducing or disconnecting impervious surfaces.

"Stop work order" means an order issued which requires that all construction activity on a site be stopped.

"Storm water" shall be defined as any surface flow, runoff, and drainage consisting entirely of water from precipitation events.

"Storm water management" means the use of structural or non-structural practices that are designed to reduce storm water runoff pollutant loads, discharge volumes, and/or peak flow discharge rates.

"Source control measure" is a measure that prevents pollutants from entering storm water to begin with.

"Treatment measure" means measures, either structural or nonstructural, that are determined to be the most effective, practical means of preventing or reducing point source or non-point source pollution inputs to storm water runoff and water bodies.

"Watercourse" shall be defined as a permanent or intermittent stream or other body of water, either natural or manmade, which gathers or carries surface water.

"Waters of the United States" shall be defined as surface watercourses and water bodies as defined at 40 CFR section 122.2, including all natural waterways and definite channels and depressions in the earth that may carry water, even though such waterways may only carry water during rains and storms and may not carry storm water at and during all times and seasons.

"Waters of the State" shall be defined as all surface watercourses and water bodies, including lakes, bays, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, wells, rivers, streams, creeks, marshes, inlets, canals, and all other bodies of surface waters (Porter Cologne Act, Water Code section 13050 (e)). This definition includes, but is broader than, Waters of the United States.

(Ord. No. 826B, § 1(8.60.03), 10-23-2007)

This chapter shall be applicable to all subdivision or site plan applications, unless eligible for an exemption or granted a waiver by the city of Lincoln. This chapter applies to developments that fall within the following categories:

(1) Development on hillsides.

(2) Commercial developments that result in of 100,000 square feet or more of impervious surface area.

(3) Automotive repair shops.

(4) Retail gasoline outlets.

(5) Restaurants.

(6) Residential subdivisions with ten or more housing units.

(7) Parking lots of 5,000 square feet or more with 25 or more parking spaces and potentially exposed to storm water runoff.

The chapter may also apply to land development activities that are smaller than the minimum applicability criteria if such activities are part of a larger common plan of development that meets the applicability criteria. This chapter may also apply to redevelopment projects as deemed appropriate by the city of Lincoln.

(Ord. No. 826B, § 1(8.60.04), 10-23-2007)

This chapter is not intended to interfere with, abrogate, or annul any other ordinance, rule or regulation, stature, or other provision of law. The requirements of this chapter should be considered minimum requirements, and where any provision of this chapter imposes restrictions different from those imposed by any other ordinance, rule or regulation, or other provision of law, whichever provisions are more restrictive or impose higher protective standards for human health or the environment shall be considered to take precedence.

(Ord. No. 826B, § 1(8.60.05), 10-23-2007)

The city of Lincoln may furnish additional policy, criteria and information including specifications and standards, for the proper implementation of the requirements of this chapter and may provide such information in the form of a storm water design manual.

(Ord. No. 826B, § 1(8.60.06), 10-23-2007)