Sec. 754.102. - Definitions.

As used in this Chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: (a) Adjustment and Credit Manual is the Manual created and adopted by the City which shall contain the procedures and policies, including appeals, to allow the Director to award adjustments and credits to those applicants that have completed the appropriate forms and received approval from the City Engineer. (b) Best management practices ( BMPs) means those schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to prevent or reduce pollutants from entering the MS4 or being discharged from the MS4 so as to protect or restore the quality of surface waters in Duval County. BMPs include, but are not limited to, treatment methods and practices to control site runoff, spillage, leaks, sludge, waste disposal or runoff from raw material. (c) CAO shall mean the Chief Administrative Officer of the City, or the designee thereof. (d) City shall mean the consolidated City of Jacksonville, Florida, and its staff and elected officials, but shall not include the City of Jacksonville Beach, the City of Atlantic Beach, the City of Neptune Beach, and the Town of Baldwin. (e) Department shall mean the Public Works Department of the City. (f) Developed property shall mean any parcel of land that has been modified by the action of persons to reduce the land's natural ability to absorb and hold rainfall. These modifications include, but are not limited to, clearing, grading, cementing, filling, or compacting the natural ground, or erecting or constructing buildings, parking lots, driveways, patios, decks, walkways, and athletic courts. (g) Director means the Director of Public Works, who has been designated by Section 754.104 as the Director of the Stormwater Management Utility or his designee. (h) Discharge includes, but is not limited to, any spilling, leaking, seeping, pouring, emitting, emptying or dumping of any material, including liquids. (i) Drainage area shall mean the watershed (acreage) contributing surface water runoff to the City's storm drainage system. (j) Drainage System Rehabilitation (DSR). This program improves existing drainage conveyance systems with the purpose of restoring equivalent levels of protection (capacity and/or water quality benefits) to public property. In cases where project-specific funding requirements exceed $2,000,000, specific authorization for named projects that fall under the requirements of the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) will be followed. DSR Project types include, but are not limited to, piped systems, drainage swales, underdrain systems, outfalls, inlets, stormwater management facilities, etc. DSR projects of $2,000,000 in value or less shall not be required to follow the provisions of Section 122.605 (b), Ordinance Code, as to receiving separate approval by the City Council for projects that would otherwise have been required to be line-item approved. (k) Dwelling unit shall mean a building or part thereof occupied in whole or in part as the residence or living quarters of one or more persons, permanently or temporarily, continuously or transiently. (l) Illicit connection means any man-made conveyance connecting a non-stormwater discharge directly to a municipal storm sewer system. (m) Illicit discharge means any discharge to a municipal separate storm sewer system that is not composed entirely of storm water except discharges pursuant to a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit (other than the City's NPDES stormwater permit). The term also does not include water line flushing, landscape irrigation, diverted stream flows, rising underground waters, uncontaminated ground water infiltration (as defined at 40 CFR 35.2005(20)) to separate storm sewers, well point water discharges from potable water sources, foundation drains, air conditioning condensate, irrigation water, springs, water from crawl space pumps, footing drains, lawn watering, individual residential car washing, dechlorinated swimming pool discharges, flows from riparian habitats and wetlands, street wash waters, and discharges or flows from emergency fire fighting activities. (n) Impervious area or impervious surface shall mean a surface which has been compacted or covered with a layer of material so that it is resistant to infiltration by water, including semi-pervious surfaces such as compacted clay, gravel used as travelways, most conventionally surfaced streets, roofs, sidewalks, parking lots, or other similar surfaces. (o) Industrial activities mean activities which are conducted on properties designated for industrial land use according to local comprehensive plans and at facilities identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as requiring a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System stormwater permit under the definition of "Stormwater Discharge Associated with Industrial Activity" in 40 CFR 122.26. (p) Industrial and high risk runoff means discharges from landfills, hazardous waste treatment, storage, disposal and recovery facilities, facilities that have reported under the requirements of EPCRA Title 3, Section 313, and any other industrial or commercial discharge which the Director determines is contributing a substantial pollutant loading to the MS4. (q) Inspection includes, but is not limited to, a review of all components of a stormwater management system, records on operation and maintenance of facilities and the results of any monitoring performed in compliance with State, federal or local regulations or permit conditions. (r) Multifamily residential properties shall mean and include all duplex, condo, trailer, apartment and other properties containing more than one dwelling unit. Common areas associated with such properties shall be included in the charge to the multifamily units on such properties. (s) Municipal separate storm sewer system or MS4 means that conveyance or system of conveyances (including roads with drainage systems, streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, man-made channels, pipes, head walls, manholes and storm drains) governed by the MS4, designed or used for collecting or conveying storm water, which is not a combined sewer, and which is not part of a publicly owned treatment works as defined in 40 CFR 122.2. (t) Nonresidential properties shall mean and include all property zoned or used for commercial, industrial, retail, governmental, or other nonresidential purposes and shall include all developed real property in the City not classified as single-family or multifamily as defined in this Section. (u) Owner shall mean the person in whom the ownership, dominion or title of property is vested. The term may include a tenant, if chargeable under a lease agreement for the maintenance of the property, and any agent of the owner or tenant, including a developer. (v) Person shall mean any person, firm, individual, partnership corporation, organization or association of any kind. (w) Receiving water shall mean those creeks, streams, rivers, lakes, sinkholes, and other bodies of water into which surface waters are directed, either naturally or in manmade ditches, pipes, or open systems. (x) Credit factor shall mean the numeric value generated utilizing the Adjustment and Credit Manual developed by the City, and amended as needed. (y) Service charge or service fee shall have the same meaning as User Fee. (z) Single Family Unit (SFU) shall mean the basic unit for the computation of stormwater service charges and is defined as 3100 square feet of impervious area, which represents the estimated average impervious area for all developed, detached single-family dwelling units in the City. (aa) Storm sewer refers to a municipal storm sewer. (bb) Stormwater means stormwater runoff, surface runoff and drainage. (cc) Stormwater detention basin shall mean a facility, either natural or manmade, that collects and contains stormwater runoff and allows the release of the stormwater through a structure that is designed to control the rate of the release of the stormwater, as acknowledged by the Director or designee. (dd) Stormwater detention/retention basin shall mean a facility, either natural or manmade, that performs a combination of both a stormwater detention basin and a retention basin, as acknowledged by the Director or designee. (ee) City's/State's Stormwater management system shall mean and include all natural and manmade elements used to convey stormwater from the first point of impact with the surface of the earth to a suitable receiving water body or location internal or external to the boundaries of the City. The stormwater management system includes all pipes, channels, streams, ditches, wetlands, sinkholes, detention/retention basins, ponds, and other stormwater conveyance and treatment facilities, and includes TMDL compliance requirements. (ff) Stormwater retention basin shall mean a facility, either natural or manmade, that collects and contains stormwater runoff and only allows the release of the stormwater runoff by one or more of the following: evaporation, percolation into the natural ground and/or percolation into a manmade filtration system that may convey the stormwater runoff to a stormwater management system, as acknowledged by the Director or designee. (gg) TMDL shall mean the Total Maximum Daily Load nutrient load requirements with which the City shall be required to comply. (hh) User Fee or Service Charge shall mean the fee or charge for stormwater service established pursuant to this ordinance. (ii) User Fee Adjustment shall mean the adjustment of the user fee assessed to a particular parcel based upon errors or mistakes in the fee or charge for that parcel. (jj) User Fee Credit shall mean the credit for stormwater management services provided by the applicant for a specific parcel and awarded by the Director in accordance with the Adjustment and Credit Manual. (kk) User Fee Reduction shall mean the Reduction of the User Fee to a specific parcel based upon this ordinance. An application from the Owner or Owner's Agent and approval to award this credit will be the responsibility of the Director. (Ord. 2007-836-E, § 2; Ord. 2008-129-E, § 1; Ord. 2015-426-E , §§ 1, 2; Ord. 2025-146-E , § 1)