Ventura County Municipal Code Art. 1 General Provisions

The purpose of this Chapter is to prescribe regulations as mandated by the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly referred to as the Clean Water Act), codified at 33 U.S.C. §§ 1251 et seq., as amended, and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, California Water Code §§ 13000 et seq., to effectively prohibit non-stormwater discharges into the County Storm Drain System, and to reduce the discharge of pollutants in stormwater to the maximum extent practicable. The intent of this Chapter is to ensure the health, safety, and general welfare of County residents, and protect and enhance water quality by controlling the contribution of urban pollutants to runoff which enters the County Storm Drain System and Receiving Waters of the County of Ventura.

(Ord. No. 4450, 7-17-2012)

Unless otherwise defined, each capitalized term in this Chapter has the meaning given in this Section 6911.

a. "Authorized Inspector" shall mean the Director, and persons designated by and acting under the instruction and supervision of the Director.

b. "Basin plan" shall mean the Water Quality Control Plan for Coastal Watersheds of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, adopted by the Regional Board on June 13, 1994, as the same may be amended from time to time (see the LA Regional Water Quality Control Board website).

c. "Best Management Practices (BMPs)" shall mean activities, practices, and procedures to prevent or reduce, to the maximum extent that is technologically and economically feasible, the discharge of pollutants to the County Storm Drain System and Receiving Waters. Best Management Practices include, but are not limited to: public education and outreach; planning of development projects; treatment facilities to remove pollutants from stormwater; operation and maintenance procedures; and the prohibition of specific activities, practices, and procedures.

d. "Construction activity" shall mean any construction or demolition activity, clearing, grading, grubbing, or excavation or any other activity that results in a land disturbance. Construction activity does not include routine maintenance as defined in the Municipal Stormwater Permit, nor does it include emergency construction activities required to protect public health and safety.

e. "County" shall mean the County of Ventura.

f. "County discharge permit" shall mean an authorization, license or equivalent control document issued by the Director for a non-stormwater discharge for projects that are not otherwise subject to the requirements of a State General Permit and that is not prohibited by the Municipal Stormwater Permit (see Section 6920) or any other applicable order of the Regional Board, the State Board, or the EPA.

g. "County Storm Drain System" shall mean a conveyance or system of conveyances including roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, manmade channels, or storm drains, as defined in 40 CFR 122.26(b)(8):

(1) Owned or operated by the County;

(2) Designed or used for collecting or conveying stormwater;

(3) Which is not a combined sewer; and

(4) Which is not part of a Publicly Owned Treatment Works, as defined in 40 CFR 122.2.

h. "Co-permittee" shall mean any of the following entities: the Ventura County Watershed Protection District (VCWPD), the County, or the Cities of Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Ojai, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, San Buenaventura, Santa Paula, Simi Valley, or Thousand Oaks. Each co-permittee is responsible for compliance with the terms of the Municipal Stormwater Permit.

i. "Dechlorinated/debrominated swimming pool discharge" shall mean any swimming pool discharge with a residual chlorine or bromine level of 0.1 mg/L or less; and that does not contain any detergents, wastes, algaecides, or cyanuric acid in excess of 50 ppm, or any other chemicals including salts from pools commonly referred to as "salt water pools." The term does not include swimming pool filter backwash or swimming pool water containing bacteria.

j. "Development" shall mean any construction, rehabilitation, redevelopment or reconstruction of any public or private residential project (whether single-family, multi-unit or planned unit development); industrial, commercial, retail, and other non-residential projects, including public agency projects; or mass grading for future construction, for which either discretionary land use approval or ministerial permit is required.

k. "Director" shall mean the Director of Public Works of the County and person(s) designated by and acting under the instruction and supervision of the Director.

l. "Discharge" shall mean any addition, release, spill, leak, pump, flow, escape, leaching (including subsurface migration to groundwater), dumping or disposal of any liquid, semi-solid or solid substance.

m. "Discharge permit" shall mean an authorization, license or equivalent control document issued by the EPA, the State Board or the Regional Board, and includes NPDES general or individual permits; the Municipal Stormwater Permit; and any permit issued by the County pursuant to Section 6980.

n. "Discharger" shall mean any person causing a discharge.

o. "EPA" shall mean the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States of America.

p. "General plan" shall mean the General Plan of the County of Ventura.

q. "Hearing Officer" shall mean the Director or the Director's designee, who shall preside at the administrative hearings authorized by this Chapter and issue final decisions on matters raised therein.

r. "Illicit connection" shall mean any conveyance or drainage system pipeline, conduit, inlet, or outlet that is connected to the County Storm Drain System without a permit or County authorization. It also means any engineered conveyance through which the discharge of any pollutant or illicit discharge to the County Storm Drain System occurs or may occur. The term illicit connection shall not include connections to the County Storm Drain System that are authorized by a Co-permittee with jurisdiction over the system at the location at which the connection is made.

s. "Illicit discharge" shall mean any discharge to the County Storm Drain System that is prohibited under local, state, or federal statute, ordinance, code, or regulation, and includes all non-stormwater discharges except discharges pursuant to a Municipal Stormwater Permit and discharges that are identified in Section 6920 of this Chapter, or authorized by the Regional Board Executive Officer.

t. "Invoice for costs" shall mean an invoice for the actual costs and expenses of the County, including, but not limited to, administrative overhead, salaries and other expenses recoverable under state law, incurred during any inspection or investigation conducted pursuant to Section 6960 of this Chapter, where a notice of violation or other enforcement option under Article 7 of this Chapter is utilized to obtain compliance with this Chapter.

u. "Municipal stormwater permit" shall mean the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit No. CAS004002 Waste Discharge Requirements For Stormwater (Wet Weather) and Non-Stormwater (Dry Weather) Discharges From the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems Within the Ventura County Watershed Protection District, County of Ventura, and the Incorporated Cities Therein, Order No. R4-2010-0108, as amended from time to time.

v. "National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit" shall mean the permit authorized by the Clean Water Act and issued by EPA, State Board, or Regional Board. The NPDES Permit can be issued as an individual NPDES Permit tailored for a specific discharge or a general NPDES Permit developed to cover multiple facilities within a specific category.

w. "Non-stormwater discharge" shall mean any discharge to the County Storm Drain System that is not composed entirely of stormwater.

x. "New development" shall mean projects as identified in the Municipal Stormwater Permit.

y. "Occupant" shall mean any person who dwells, resides or works at the property.

z. "Owner" shall mean the person shown on the most recently issued equalized assessment roll for the property or as otherwise appears in the current records of the County.

aa. "Owner's agent" shall mean any person authorized to apply for, sign and file documents necessary to obtain a development discretionary land use approval or permit on behalf of the owner.

bb. "Person" shall mean any individual, firm, association, corporation, partnership, government entity or subdivision, trust, estate, cooperative association, joint venture, business entity, or other similar entity, or the agent, employee or representative of any of them.

cc. "Pollutant" shall mean any liquid, solid or semi-solid substances, or combination thereof, including, but not limited to:

(1) Artificial materials, chips or pieces of natural or man-made materials (including but not limited to floatable plastics, wood or metal shavings);

(2) Household waste (including but not limited to trash, paper, plastics, lawn clippings and yard wastes; animal fecal materials; pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers; used oil and fluids from vehicles, lawn mowers and other common household equipment);

(3) Metals (including but not limited to cadmium, lead, zinc, copper, silver, nickel, chromium) and non-metals (including but not limited to phosphorus and arsenic);

(4) Petroleum hydrocarbons (including but not limited to fuels, lubricants, hydraulic fluids, surfactants, waste oils, solvents, coolants and grease);

(5) Soil, sediment and particulate materials;

(6) Animal waste (including but not limited to discharge from confinement facilities, kennels, pens, recreational facilities, stables, show facilities, and polo fields);

(7) Substances having a pH less than 6.5 or greater than 8.5 or unusual coloration, or turbidity, or containing fecal coliform, Escherichia coli, fecal streptococcus, enterococcus, or other pathogens;

(8) Waste materials and wastewater generated on construction sites and by construction activities (including but not limited to painting, staining; use of sealants, glues, limes; excessive pesticides, fertilizers or herbicides; use of wood preservatives and solvents; disturbance of asbestos fibers, paint flakes or stucco fragments; application of oils, lubricants, hydraulic, radiator or battery fluids; construction equipment washing, concrete pouring and cutting slurry wastes, and cleanup wash water or use of concrete detergents; steam cleaning or sand blasting residues; use of chemical degreasing or diluting agents; and superchlorinated water generated by potable water line flushing);

(9) Materials causing an increase in biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand or total organic carbon;

(10) Materials which contain base/neutral or acid extractable organic compounds; or

(11) Pollutants as defined in § 502(6) of the Clean Water Act, codified at 33 U.S.C. 1362(6) and incorporated by California Water Code § 13373.

dd. "Post-Construction Stormwater Management Plan (PCSMP)" shall mean a plan that defines the strategy and describes the design, placement and implementation of stormwater retention and stormwater treatment BMPs to effectively prevent non-stormwater discharges and reduce pollutants in stormwater discharges to the maximum extent practicable, for post-construction urban runoff to the County Storm Drain System.

ee. "Receiving waters" shall mean all surface water bodies identified in the basin plan (see definition of Basin Plan).

ff. "Redevelopment" shall mean land-disturbing activity that results in the creation, addition, or replacement of five thousand (5,000) square feet or more of impervious surface area on an already developed site as defined in the Municipal Stormwater Permit, or as amended. For an existing single-family dwelling and accessory structures, Redevelopment shall mean projects that create, add, or replace ten thousand (10,000) square feet of impervious area. Redevelopment does not include routine maintenance as defined in the Municipal Stormwater Permit, nor does it include emergency construction activities required to protect public health and safety (see Section 6951).

gg. "Regional Board" shall mean the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Los Angeles Region.

hh. "Responsible party" shall mean the person(s) identified in and responsible for compliance with the provisions of a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan, Stormwater Pollution Control Plan, or Post-Construction Stormwater Management Plan.

ii. "State Board" shall mean the California State Water Resources Control Board.

jj. "State General Permit" shall mean a permit issued by the State Board or the Regional Board pursuant to 40 CFR § 122 and 123 to regulate a category of point sources. The term State General Permit includes, but is not limited to, the General Permit for Stormwater Discharges Associated with Construction Activity and the General Industrial Activities Stormwater Permit and the terms and requirements of both. In the event the EPA revokes the in-lieu permitting authority of the State Board, then the term State General Permit shall also refer to any EPA administered stormwater control program for industrial, construction, and any other category of activities.

kk. "Stormwater" shall mean any surface flow, runoff, and/or drainage associated with rain storm events and/or snow melt, as defined in 40 CFR 122.26(b)(13).

ll. "Stormwater Pollution Control Plan (SWPCP)" shall mean a plan or equivalent form, as required by the Municipal Stormwater Permit or by the Director, identifying potential pollutant sources from a construction site with less than one acre of soil disturbance and describing proposed design, placement and implementation of BMPs, to effectively prevent non-stormwater discharges and reduce pollutants in stormwater discharges to the County Storm Drain System, to the maximum extent practicable, during construction activities.

mm. "Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP)" shall mean a plan, as required by a State General Permit, identifying potential pollutant sources and describing the design, placement and implementation of BMPs, to effectively prevent non-stormwater discharges and reduce pollutants in stormwater discharges during activities covered by the State General Permit.

nn. "Treatment" shall mean the application of engineered systems that use physical, chemical, or biological processes to remove pollutants. Such processes include, but are not limited to, filtration, gravity settling, media absorption, biodegradation, biological uptake, chemical oxidation, and UV radiation.

oo. "Unincorporated urban areas" shall mean areas designated in the general plan land use map as urban or existing community.

pp. "Ventura County Technical Guidance Manual for Stormwater Quality Control Measures" shall mean the County technical guidance manual for stormwater quality measures required by the Municipal Stormwater Permit, as amended from time to time.

(Ord. No. 4450, 7-17-2012)