§ 27-183. Definitions.

For the purposes of this article, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings described in this section.

Administrator is the city engineer or such other person as the city manager may designate.

City shall mean the City of Jackson, Michigan and its authorized agents.

Council shall mean the city council of the City of Jackson, Michigan.

Detention shall mean the prevention of, or to prevent, the discharge, directly or indirectly, of a given volume of stormwater runoff into the stormwater system by providing temporary on-site storage.

Discharge shall mean the flow of water from a project, site, aquifer, drainage basin, or other drainage facility.

Erosion shall mean the wearing or washing away of soil by the action of water.

Impervious area or surface means a surface area which is compacted or covered with material that is resistant to or impedes permeation by water, including but not limited to, most conventionally surfaced streets, roofs, sidewalks, patios, driveways, parking lots, and any other oiled, graveled, graded, or compacted surfaces.

MDNRE shall mean the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (formerly known as the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality).

NPDES means National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, a program to issue permits for discharges to receiving waters, established under the Federal Clean Water Act, and administered by the MDNRE.

Operation and maintenance includes any component of a stormwater system expenditure for materials, labor, utilities and other items for the management and uninterrupted operation of the stormwater system in a manner for which the stormwater system was designed and constructed.

Owner shall mean any person, firm, partnership, association, joint venture, corporation or other entity or combination of entities who alone, jointly, or severally with others hold(s) legal or equitable title to any real property. The term "owner" shall also include heirs, successors, and assigns.

Parcel shall mean a tract, or contiguous tracts, of land in the possession of, owned by, or recorded as property of the same claimant person.

Person shall mean any individual, association, organization, partnership, firm, public or private corporation or public agency.

Pervious area or surface is all land area that is not impervious.

Property means any land within the boundary of the city, both publicly and privately owned, including public and private rights-of-way.

Retention shall mean the prevention of, or to prevent, the discharge, directly or indirectly, of any stormwater volume into the stormwater system.

Stormwater means stormwater runoff, snowmelt runoff, footing drain discharges, surface runoff and drainage.

Stormwater management means one or more of the following:

• The quantitative control achieved by the stormwater system of the increased volume and rate of surface runoff caused by alterations to the land.

• The qualitative control achieved by the stormwater system, pollution prevention activities, and ordinances to reduce, eliminate or treat pollutants that might otherwise be carried by stormwater.

• Public education, information, and outreach programs designed to educate and inform the public on the potential impacts of stormwater.

Stormwater management plan shall mean the written documents and plans that contain the following elements which shall be used to guide the stormwater management program:

• September, 2010 City of Jackson, Michigan Stormwater Utility Feasibility Study prepared by Tetra Tech.

• December, 2003 Upper Grand River Watershed Management Plan prepared by Tetra Tech and the June 2006 Update.

• Geographic limits of the City of Jackson.

• Stormwater management services to be provided.

• The planning period covered by the stormwater management plan.

• Projected operation and maintenance and capital expenses for each year of the stormwater management plan planning period including steps taken to reduce expenses.

• Documentation of an analysis undertaken to evaluate the comparative cost-effectiveness of stormwater management alternatives. Projected impervious and pervious areas of each class of property.

• Projected impervious and pervious areas of each class of property.

• A description of the components of the stormwater system owned and operated by the city.

Stormwater management program means one (1) or more aspects of stormwater management undertaken for the purpose of complying with applicable federal, state and local law and regulation or the protection of the public health, safety, and welfare related to stormwater runoff.

Stormwater pollution prevention initiative (SWPPI). The SWPPI is a document that shows the city's commitments that would be needed to meet the goal of reducing the discharge of pollutants to the maximum extent practicable. It includes the portions of the watershed management plan that are applicable to the city.

Stormwater runoff shall mean flow on the surface of the ground, resulting from precipitation and snowmelt that does not infiltrate into the soil, including material dissolved or suspended in it.

Stormwater system means roads, streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, storm sewers and appurtenant features, lakes, ponds, channels, swales, storm drains, canals, creeks, catch basins, streams, gulches, gullies, flumes, culverts, siphons, retention or detention basins, dams, floodwalls, levees, pumping stations, and other like facilities, and natural watercourses and features located within the geographic limits of the city which are designed or used for collecting, storing, treating or conveying stormwater or through which stormwater is collected, stored, treated or conveyed, or any other physical means by which stormwater management is achieved.

Structure shall mean anything constructed or installed with a fixed location on or in the ground.

Surface waters shall mean any receiving waters existing on the surface of the ground, including but not limited to; brooks, streams, rivers, wetlands, ponds, or lakes.

Undeveloped shall mean the condition of a property unaltered by construction or the addition of impervious surface.

User shall mean a firm, person or property that directly or indirectly contributes stormwater to the stormwater system.

Water quality shall mean those characteristics that relate to the physical, chemical, biological or radiological integrity of water.

Water quantity shall mean those characteristics that relate to the rate and volume of the stormwater runoff to downstream areas.

Watershed shall mean an extent of land where stormwater runoff drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, or wetland. The watershed includes both the streams and rivers that convey the water as well as the land surfaces from which water drains into those channels, and is separated from adjacent watersheds by a topographic divide.

(Ord. No. 2013-22, § 2, 10-8-13, eff. 11-7-13)