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The following words when used in this chapter shall have the following meanings. Where ambiguity exists, technical words or phrases shall be interpreted in accordance with the city’s surface water management manual; nontechnical words or phrases will be given their dictionary meaning.

A. “Base rate” means the monthly charge for service from the storm drainage utility to recover costs incurred by the utility such as administrative, billing and collection.

B. “Best management practices (BMPs)” means the schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures and structural and/or managerial practices that, when used singly or in combination, prevent or reduce the release of pollutants and other adverse impacts to waters of Washington State.

C. “Channel” (also called “ditch”) means a constructed depression that collects and conveys storm water, often from a public or private road. Channels and ditches are considered storm drainage systems.

D. “Charge in lieu of assessment” means a charge made by the city on property which has not previously participated in the cost of a public storm drainage line directly serving the property.

E. “Connection” means the connection of all storm drainage disposal lines and flow from contributing surface area from all development on a property to a public or private storm drainage system.

F. “Culvert” means a pipe or structure placed within a ditch or channel and then covered with fill to provide for non-storm water uses such as but not limited to vehicular or pedestrian access to a property. Culverts are considered storm drainage systems.

G. “Detention” means the temporary storage of storm and surface water runoff with provisions for the controlled off-site surface release of the stored water.

H. “Director” means the director of community development and public works of the city of Auburn or designee.

I. “Emerging technology” means water quality treatment technologies that are currently being evaluated for performance.

J. “Engineering construction standards and engineering design standards” means the requirements adopted under Chapter 12.04 ACC for storm drainage, sanitary sewer, transportation, and water facility design and construction.

K. “Equivalent service unit (ESU)” means a configuration of development or impervious surfaces estimated to contribute an amount of runoff to the city’s storm drainage system which is approximately equal to that created by the average single-family residential parcel. One ESU is equal to 2,600 square feet of impervious surface area or any portion thereof.

L. “Hard surface” means an impervious surface, a permeable pavement, or a vegetated roof.

M. “Illicit connection” means any manmade conveyance that is connected to a municipal separate storm sewer without a permit, excluding roof drains and other similar type connections. Examples include sanitary sewer connections, floor drains, channels, pipelines, conduits, inlets, or outlets that are connected directly to the municipal separate storm sewer system.

N. “Illicit discharge” means any discharge to a municipal separate storm sewer that is not composed entirely of storm water except discharges pursuant to a NPDES permit (other than the NPDES permit for discharges from the municipal separate storm sewer) and discharges resulting from firefighting activities.

O. “Impervious surface” means a hard surface area that either prevents or retards the entry of water into the soil mantle as under natural conditions prior to development. Impervious surface also means a hard surface area which causes water to run off in greater quantities or at an increased rate of flow from the flow under natural conditions prior to development. Common impervious surfaces include, but are not limited to, rooftops, walkways, patios, driveways, parking lots, storage areas, standard Portland cement concrete (PCC) or asphalt cement concrete (AC) paving, gravel roads, packed earthen materials, and oiled macadam or other surfaces which similarly impede the natural infiltration of storm water. Open, uncovered, retention/detention facilities shall not be considered as impervious surfaces for the purpose of determining whether the thresholds for application of minimum requirements are exceeded. Open, uncovered retention/detention facilities shall be considered impervious surfaces for purposes of runoff modeling.

P. “Land disturbing activity” means any activity that results in movement of earth, or a change in the existing soil cover (both vegetative and nonvegetative) and/or the existing soil topography. Land disturbing activities include, but are not limited to, clearing, grading, filling, and excavation. Compaction that is associated with stabilization of structures and road construction shall also be considered land disturbing activity. Vegetation maintenance practices are not considered land disturbing activity.

Q. “Low impact development (LID)” means a storm water management and land development strategy applied at the parcel and subdivision scale that emphasizes conservation and use of on-site natural features integrated with engineered, small-scale hydrologic controls to more closely mimic predevelopment hydrologic functions.

R. “National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)” means the national program for issuing, modifying, revoking, and reissuing, terminating, monitoring, and enforcing permits, and imposing and enforcing pretreatment requirements, under Sections 307, 402, 318, and 405 of the federal Clean Water Act, for the discharge of pollutants to surface waters of the state from point sources. These permits are referred to as NPDES permits and in Washington State are administered by the Department of Ecology.

S. “New development” means land disturbing activities, including Class IV – general forest practices that are conversions from timber land to other uses; structural development, including construction or installation of a building or other structure; creation of hard surfaces; and subdivision, short subdivision and binding site plans, as defined and applied in Chapter 58.17 RCW. Projects meeting the definition of redevelopment shall not be considered new development.

T. “Parcel” means the smallest separately segregated unit or plot of land having an identified owner, boundaries, and surface area which is documented for tax purpose and given a tax lot number by the appropriate county assessor for the county in which the parcel is sited.

U. “Parcel, developed” means any parcel which has been altered by grading or filling of the ground surface, or by construction of any improvements or other hard surface.

V. “Parcel, non-single-family” means any parcel of developed land other than single-family or two-family (duplex) residential.

W. “Parcel, single-family residential” means any parcel of land having on it a single detached dwelling unit which is designed for occupancy by one family or a similar group of people.

X. “Parcel, two-family (duplex) residential” means any parcel of developed land having one duplex (two-family dwelling) per lot.

Y. “Parcel, undeveloped” means any parcel which has not been altered from its natural state by grading or filling of the ground surface, or by construction of any improvements or hard surfaces.

Z. “Private storm drainage facilities” means those storm drainage facilities that are not public storm drainage facilities.

AA. “Public storm drainage facilities” means those storm drainage facilities that provide storm water management for public roadways and city-owned properties, and that are owned and maintained by the city.

BB. “Redevelopment” means, on a site that is already substantially developed (i.e., has 35 percent or more of existing hard surface coverage), the creation or addition of hard surfaces; the expansion of a building footprint or addition or replacement of a structure; structural development including construction, installation or expansion of a building or other structure; replacement of hard surface that is not part of a routine maintenance activity; and land disturbing activities.

CC. “Retention” means the storage of storm and surface water runoff with no provisions for off-site surface release of the stored water other than by evaporation, infiltration, and low impact development strategies.

DD. “Runoff” means water that travels across the land surfaces and discharges to water bodies either directly or through a collection and conveyance system. See also “Storm water.”

EE. “Source control BMP” means a structure or operation that is intended to prevent pollutants from coming into contact with storm water through physical separation of areas or careful management of activities that are sources of pollutants. Source control BMPs can be divided into two types. Structural source control BMPs are physical, structural, or mechanical devices or facilities that are intended to prevent pollutants from entering storm water. Operational source control BMPs are nonstructural practices that prevent or reduce pollutants from entering the storm water.

FF. “Storm drainage facility” means any natural stream/creek or constructed component of Auburn’s storm drainage system or other storm drainage system.

GG. “Storm drainage system” means the total system of storm drainage facilities as described in ACC 13.48.030.

HH. “Storm water” means runoff during and following precipitation and snowmelt events, including surface runoff and drainage.

II. “SWMM” as referred to in this chapter means the City of Auburn Surface Water Management Manual as adopted in Chapter 12.04 ACC.

JJ. “Utility” means the city storm drainage utility created by the ordinance codified in this chapter.

KK. “Watercourse” means a channel, either natural or manmade, in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.

LL. “Water quality treatment” means an engineered and approved facility to remove contaminants in the existing flow regime of storm water generated from a developed parcel pursuant to applicable design standards in place at the time of approval. (Ord. 6851 § 1 (Exh. A), 2022; Ord. 6617 § 9, 2016; Ord. 6283 § 3, 2009; Ord. 6251 § 2, 2009; Ord. 5853 § 1, 2004; Ord. 5530 § 1, 2001; Ord. 5359 § 1, 2000; Ord. 5293 § 2, 1999; Ord. 5212 § 1 (Exh. J), 1999; Ord. 5146 § 1, 1998; Ord. 4492 § 4, 1991.)