§ 18-3. Definitions.

(a)

Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meanings of words and terms used in this chapter shall be as set forth in S.C. Code § 48-14-20 and 26, and South Carolina Land Resources Conservation Commission Regulation 72-301, mutatis mutandis.

(b)

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:

Adverse impact is any modifications, alterations or effects on a feature or characteristics of community lands, water, beaches or wetlands, including their quality, quantity, hydrodynamics, surface area, species or natural uses, which are or may potentially be harmful or injurious to human health, welfare, safety or property, to biological productivity, diversity or stability, or which unreasonably interfere with the enjoyment of life or property, including outdoor recreation. The term includes secondary and cumulative as well as direct impacts.

Apartment building means a structure with three or more dwelling units on a single parcel of land where the land and units are under the same ownership.

Applicant is the record owner, or authorized representative, of a tract of land that is the site of development or development activity within the scope of this chapter.

City engineer means the duly designated staff person of the department of public works designated to perform the duties as specified in this chapter, or his duly authorized agent.

Commercial property means any site not exclusively residential as defined herein, including, but not limited to, hotels, motels, and apartment buildings or other rental properties.

Condominium means a structure with multiple dwelling units, each of which is under separate ownership, on a single parcel of land, where the owners share in common ownership of the common areas in the development. Condominiums can be owner occupied or non-owner occupied rental units.

Construction project means the building or assembly of any structure on a site or sites.

Demolition means the tearing-down of buildings and other structures.

Detention is the collection and storage of stormwater runoff in a surface or subsurface facility for subsequent controlled discharge to a watercourse or waterbody.

Developer means any person who engages in development either in his own behalf or as the agency of an owner of property.

Development or development activity is any activity that meets the applicability criteria of section 18-21 and includes the following:

(1)

The construction, installation, demolition or removal of a structure, impervious surface or drainage facility;

(2)

Clearing, scraping, grubbing, killing or otherwise removing the vegetation from a site;

(3)

Adding, removing, exposing, excavating, leveling, grading, digging, burrowing, dumping, piling, dredging or otherwise significantly disturbing the soil, mud, sand or rock of a site.

Director of public works means the duly designated director of the department of public works of the City of Myrtle Beach.

Drainage facility means any component of the drainage system.

Drainage system is the system through which water flows from the land. It includes all closed piped structures, watercourses, waterbodies and wetlands.

Duplex means two dwelling units that are attached either vertically or horizontally.

Easement means a grant or reservation by the owner of land for the use of such land by others for a specific purpose, and which will run with the land and be binding on all successors, heirs, and assigns.

Equivalent residential unit (ERU) means the average impervious area of a representative sample of all developed residential properties in the single family residential category. The equivalent residential unit is 5,000 square feet of impervious surface area.

Erosion is the wearing or washing away of soil by the action of wind or water.

Final stabilization means a uniform perennial vegetative cover with a density of 70 percent of native background vegetative cover established on all unpaved areas and areas not covered by permanent structures, or equivalent permanent stabilization measures such as riprap or geotextiles have been employed.

Flood is a temporary rise in the level of any waterbody, watercourse or wetland that results in the inundation of areas not ordinarily covered by water.

Hydrograph means a graph or discharge versus time for a selected outfall point.

Illicit discharge means any discharge to a municipals separate storm sewer or surface water that is not composed entirely of storm water except discharges pursuant to an NPDES permit (other than the NPDES permit for discharges from the municipal separate storm sewer) and discharges resulting from fire fighting activities.

Impervious surface means a surface that has been compacted or covered with a layer of material so that it is highly resistant to infiltration by water. The term includes most conventionally surfaced streets, roofs, sidewalks, parking lots and other similar structures.

Key outfall means any outfall to the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway from the jurisdictional city limit, any accessible major outfalls to the Atlantic Ocean, or any additional outfall determined to be significant by city personnel due to a waterbody or watercourse being placed on the 303(d) Impaired Water list.

Land disturbing activity means any use of the land by any person that results in a change in the natural cover or topography that may cause erosion and contribute to sediment and alter the quality and quantity of stormwater runoff.

Letter of acceptance means a written contract made by city personnel to accept the dedication of a stormwater drainage system for operation and maintenance purposes, and provides confirmed city ownership of fee simple titles or drainage easement access where appropriate.

Letter of agreement means a written notification of the willingness of the city to accept the operation and maintenance of a stormwater drainage system and a pledge by the property owner to grant drainage easements and/or fee simple titles of ownership to the city where appropriate.

Major municipal separate storm sewer outfall (or major outfall) means a municipal separate storm sewer outfall that discharges from a single pipe with an inside diameter of 36 inches or more or its equivalent (discharge from a single conveyance other than circular pipe which is associated with a drainage area of more than 50 acres); or for municipal separate storm sewers that receive storm water from lands zoned for industrial activity an outfall that discharges from a single pipe with an inside diameter of 12 inches or more or its equivalent (discharge from other than a circular pipe associated with a drainage area of two acres or more).

Mobile home means a dwelling unit built on axles that can be transported.

Mobile home park means a single parcel of land in which spaces are leased to mobile home owners; the owner of the land may also own and lease mobile homes on the parcel of land.

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, man-made channels, or storm drains):

(1)

Owned by the City of Myrtle Beach;

(2)

Designed or used for the collecting or conveying of stormwater; and

(3)

Which is not a combined sewer.

Natural systems means systems which predominantly consist of or use those communities of plants, animals, bacteria and other flora and fauna which naturally occur on the land, in the soil or in the water.

Non-compliance means a violation that meets one or more of the following criteria:

(1)

Failure to act in accordance with the parameters set forth in the written notice of violation, which states the nature of the violation and provides a reasonable time limit for the satisfactory correction thereof.

(2)

Unless a particular land disturbing activity is exempt by Standards of Stormwater Management and Sediment Reduction Regulation 72-302 "Exemptions, Waivers and Variances from Law", undertaking a land disturbing activity without an approved stormwater management and sediment control plan that meets or exceeds standards identified in Standards of Stormwater Management and Sediment Reduction Regulation 72-305 "Permit Application and Approval Process" and 72-307 "Specific Design Criteria, Minimum Standards, and Specifications".

(3)

Failure to be in compliance with the NPDES General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Large and Small Construction Activities [Permit No.: SCR100000].

(4)

Failure to be in compliance with the NPDES General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Regulated Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) [Permit No.: SCR030000].

(5)

Failure to be consistent with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management's (SCDHEC-OCRM's) Coastal Zone Management Plan [Coastal Zone Management Act, South Carolina State Law, Title 48, Chapter 39] Stormwater Management Guidelines.

NPDES means the national pollutant discharge elimination system as defined in section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Act and any subsequent amendment thereto; amendments of 1972 (Public Law 92-500).

Outfall is a point at which the drainage terminates and water is released into another conveyance.

Owner is the person in who is vested the fee ownership, dominion or title of property, i.e., the proprietor. This term may also include a tenant, if chargeable under his lease for the maintenance of the property, and any agent of the owner of tenant including a developer.

Person responsible for land disturbing activity means:

(1)

The person who has or represents having financial or operational control over the land disturbing activity; and/or

(2)

The owner or person in possession or control of the land who directly or indirectly allowed the land disturbing activity or who has benefited from it or who has failed to comply with any provision of this chapter.

Predevelopment conditions are those natural conditions that existed prior to any development as defined above.

Post construction conditions are those conditions that exist after any development or redevelopment takes place and the site or sites achieve final stabilization.

Receiving bodies of water shall mean any waterbodies, watercourses or wetlands into which surface waters flow.

Release rate is the volume of water passing off a site in a given period of time.

Residential property means any site developed exclusively for residential purposes, including single family homes, mobile homes, duplexes, townhouses, and owner occupied condominiums.

Retention refers to the collection and storage of runoff without subsequent discharge to surface waters except as may be added through overflow.

Sediment is solid material, whether mineral or organic, that is in suspension, is being transported, or has moved from its site of origin by air, water or gravity.

Site means any tract, lot or parcel of land or combination of tracts, lots or parcels of land which are in one ownership where development is to be performed as part of a unit, subdivision or project or in the case of multiple lot or area stormwater plans all of the individual properties contributing stormwater to the area system.

Stormwater means any flow occurring during or immediately following any form or natural precipitation and resulting therefrom.

Stormwater management facilities mean those structures or facilities that are designed for the collection, conveyance, storage, detention, treatment, and disposal of stormwater runoff into and through the drainage system.

Stormwater management fee means the monthly monetary amount charged to an owner of real property for the services provided by the stormwater management program.

Stormwater management and sediment control plan refers to the detailed analysis required by article II for activities described in section 18-21. The plan includes quantity and quality components.

Stormwater management program means the program established for the purposes of planning, designing, maintaining and financing stormwater management, sediment control, and flood control programs and projects.

Structure means anything constructed, installed or portable, the use of which requires a location on a parcel of land.

Subdivision is the use of land defined in the subdivision regulations of the city.

Swale is an open drainage conveyance with side slopes not greater than 17 percent and maximum depth not to exceed 12 inches.

Townhouse means a dwelling unit where the owner has interest in the land beneath the dwelling unit and may share in common ownership of the common areas in the development.

Vegetation means all plant growth, especially trees, shrubs, vines, ferns, mosses and grasses.

Water quality means those characteristics of stormwater runoff from a land disturbing activity that relate to the physical, chemical, biological, or radiological integrity of water.

Water quantity means those characteristics of stormwater runoff that relate to the rate and volume of stormwater runoff to downstream areas resulting from land disturbing activities.

Waterbody means any natural or artificial pond, lake, reservoir, ocean, swash or other area which ordinarily or intermittently contains water and which has a discernible shoreline.

Watercourse means any natural or artificial stream, river, creek, channel, ditch, canal, conduit, culvert, drain, waterway, gully, ravine, street, roadway, swale or wash in which water flows in a definite direction, either continuously or intermittently, and which has a definite channel, bed or banks, and shall include any adjacent area which is subject to flooding.

Watershed means the drainage area contributing stormwater runoff to a single point.

Watershed master plan means a plan for a designated watershed that analyzes the impact of existing and future land uses and land disturbing activities in the entire watershed and includes strategies to reduce nonpoint source pollution, to manage stormwater runoff and control flooding.

Wetlands means those areas where:

(1)

The soil is ordinarily saturated with water or flooded seasonally or having a water table within six inches of the ground surface at least three months of the year.

(2)

Wetlands vegetation is the dominant plant community.

(Ord. No. 2007-51, 8-14-07)