Rule A: Definitions

For the purposes of these rules, the following words have the meanings set forth below.

References in these rules to specific sections of the Minnesota Statutes include any amendments, revisions or recodification of those sections.

Beds of protected waters

all portions of protected waters and wetlands located below the ordinary high water level.

Best management practices (BMPs)

measures taken to minimize negative effects on the environment as documented in the Minnesota Construction Site Erosion and Sediment Control Planning Handbook (MBWSR, 1988) and Protecting Water Quality in Urban Areas (MPCA, 1989).

Criteria

specific details, methods and specifications that apply to all permits and reviews and that guide implementation of the District’s goals and policies.

Detention basin

any natural or man-made depression that stores storm-water runoff temporarily.

Development

any proposal to subdivide land, any land disturbing activity or creation of impervious surface, including but not limited to, municipal road construction or improvement and construction or reconstruction of stormwater conveyance systems, except that plowing as part of an on-going farming operation shall not be considered development.

District

the Rice Creek Watershed District established under the Minnesota Watershed Law, Minnesota Statutes Chapter 103D.

Drainage system

a system of a ditch or tile, or both, to drain property, including laterals, improvements, and improvements of outlets.

Effective impervious area

area of land which is incapable of either infiltrating rainfall or retaining runoff on site for a one-year, twenty-four hour storm.

Equal encroachment

a method of determining the location of encroachment lines so that flood plain lands on both sides of a stream are capable of conveying a proportionate share of flood flows.

Excavation

the displacement or removal of sediment or other material.

Floodplain

the area adjoining a watercourse or natural or man-made water basin, including the area around lakes, marshes and lowlands, that is inundated during a 100-year flood.

Floodway

the channel of the watercourse, the bed of water basins, and those portions of the adjoining floodplains that must be kept free of encroachment so that the 100-year flood may be carried without increasing the 100-year flood elevation by more than 0.5 feet.

Floodway fringe

the area between the floodway and the boundary of the 100-year flood.

Governmental project

projects sponsored or paid for by a governmental agency.

Landlocked basin

a basin that does not have a natural outlet at or below the 100-year flood elevation, as determined by the 100-year ten-day runoff event.

Low floor

the lowest level of a structure, usually the basement or walk-out level.

Major drainageway

any drainageway having a tributary area of 200 acres or greater.

Municipality

any city or township wholly or partly within the Rice Creek Watershed District.

NURP

Nationwide Urban Runoff Program (see Appendix).

Ordinary high water level (OHW)

the elevation delineating the highest water level which has been maintained for a sufficient period of time to leave evidence upon the landscape. The ordinary high water level is commonly that point where the natural vegetation changes from predominantly aquatic to predominantly terrestrial.

Parcel

any quantity of land capable of being described with such definiteness that its location and boundaries may be established.

Person

any natural person, partnership, unincorporated association, corporation, limited liability company, municipal corporation, state agency, political subdivision of the State of Minnesota.

Public ditch

a county or judicial ditch over which the District has jurisdiction, or a ditch or tile established, constructed, or transferred to the District and over which the District has jurisdiction under Minnesota Statutes Chapters 103D, 103E, or 103B.

Public waters

all waters identified as public waters under Minnesota Statutes section 103G.005, subdivision 15.

Public waters wetlands

all wetlands identified as public waters wetlands under Minnesota Statutes section 103G.005, subdivision 15a.

Redevelopment

any proposal to subdivide or re-subdivide land, any land-disturbing activity or creation of impervious surface on a developed site.

Sedimentation basin

a natural or man-made depression that temporarily stores storm-water runoff for the purpose of allowing a portion of the suspended solids in the runoff to settle out.

Setback

The minimum horizontal distance between a structure or sanitary facility and the ordinary high water mark or between a structure or sanitary facility and a road, highway, or property line.

Shoreland zone

land areas within 1,000 feet of the OHW of a public waters lake or 300 feet of a public waters watercourse.

Standards

a preferred or desired level of quantity, quality, or value.

Subdivision, subdivide

the separation of an area, parcel, or tract of land under single ownership into two or more parcels, tracts, lots.

Waterbasin

an enclosed natural depression with definable banks capable of containing water, that may be partly filled with waters of the state.

Watercourse

a channel that has definable beds and banks capable of conducting confined runoff from adjacent land.

Wetland

any area identified as wetlands under Minnesota Statutes section 103G.005, subdivision 19.