§ 27-332. Definitions.

The definitions in this article apply only to this article. The general definitions of this chapter [section 27-4] shall apply unless in conflict with a definition contained herein.

Alteration means any human activity that causes negative impacts to regulated aquatic resource or jurisdictional wetlands, including but not limited to dredging or filling, excavation of drainage ditches in or adjacent to jurisdictional wetlands, installation and operation of hydraulic pumps in or adjacent to jurisdictional wetlands, wells, or other devices or practices in the vicinity that may affect the hydrology of the wetland. "Alteration" also means the destruction or removal of plant life through any activity, including mowing at lower than six (6) inches and which negatively impacts the wetland. "Alteration" in the context of mangroves shall mean anything other than trimming of mangroves, as defined in the Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act, Section 403.9321, F.S. et seq., as amended.

Applicant means any person that requires a license and has made application for such license to EPGMD.

Buffer means an upland area intended to protect wetlands from alteration or adverse impacts or to provide additional ecological values to mitigation areas.

Clean fill means material that does not contain solid waste or materials capable of decomposition or materials which will cause water quality degradation beyond those state and Broward County water quality standards which apply to the water body or wetland being filled, i.e., native organic soils, or nonputrescible construction debris.

Conceptual review means a review of land for the presence of wetland conditions and an analysis of the potential impacts to any identified wetland areas as a result of a proposed development plan or activity.

Contaminant or contamination means any substance that is harmful to plant, animal or human life in the quantity and/or quality present.

Creation or created means a human activity that causes a wetland area to exist at a location that was previously an upland area.

Ditch means a trench, dug for the purpose of draining water from the land or for transporting water for use on the land and is not built for navigational purposes.

Dock means a facility, such as, but not limited to, piers, walkways or other structures, that are constructed within a waterward area and is for the purpose of mooring a vessel.

Dredging means removal of benthic material, by any means, from beneath regulated surface waters or from within jurisdictional wetlands as defined by this article. It also means the enlargement or creation of a water body which is, or is to be, connected to regulated surface waters or jurisdictional wetlands, as defined herein, directly or via other dredging or excavation.

EPGMD means the Broward County Environmental Protection and Growth Management Department.

Enhancement means a human activity that increases or improves one (1) or more of the functional values of an existing wetland area.

Environmental resource license means an approval issued by EPGMD for activities involving dredging and filling an aquatic resource, wetland alteration, mangrove alteration or mitigation banking, as defined by this section.

Excavation means the disruption or displacement of soil from an upland area that creates a water body.

Filling means the deposition, by any means, of materials in or on regulated aquatic resources or jurisdictional wetlands as defined by this article.

Functional values means those ecological values provided by wetland resources, including but not necessarily limited to flood storage, flood conveyance, groundwater recharge and discharge, erosion control, wave attenuation, water quality enhancement and protection, nutrient removal, food chain support, fish and wildlife habitat, nursery and breeding grounds.

Hydrophyte means plant life adapted to growth and reproduction under periodically saturated root zone conditions during at least a portion of the growing season.

Impact means any activity which negatively affects any regulated aquatic or wetland resource; such as, but not limited to, construction, demolition, mowing, accidental occurrences, ship groundings, and cable drags.

In-kind means the creation or enhancement of a wetland area with functional values or vegetation, hydrology or soils that are the same as those of an impacted wetland.

Interim successful mitigation project means a mitigation project that has been approved by EPGMD as successfully created, or enhanced as a result of appropriate wetland planting or construction activities but has not yet been certified by EPGMD as a successful mitigation project that is providing the required wetland functional values.

Isolated wetland means a wetland that is not hydrologically connected through surface flows to streams, wetlands or other surface waters.

Jurisdictional wetland means those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and a duration sufficient to support, and under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soils, and which would satisfy the requirements of a jurisdictional determination. Soils present in wetlands generally are classified as hydric or alluvial, or possess characteristics that are associated with reducing soil conditions. The prevalent vegetation in wetlands generally consists of facultative or obligate hydrophytic macrophytes that are typically adapted to areas having soil conditions described above, including but not necessarily limited to, swamps, marshes, bogs, sloughs, wet meadows, river floodplains, mud flats, and wet prairies, whether or not adjacent to a surface water body. The term "wetland(s)" as used in this chapter means jurisdictional wetland.

Maintenance means an activity that sustains an area to its original design or construction specifications whichever is most restrictive.

Mitigation means compensation for, or replacement of, lost or impacted wetland areas and functional values by the creation of new wetland areas or by the enhancement of existing wetland areas.

Mitigation bank means a project within the mitigation service area designated and licensed for the purpose of providing compensation for wetland impacts, and includes a resource analysis, credit assignment system and long-term maintenance plan that assures persistence of the mitigation bank and the wetland functional values.

Mitigation service area means the geographic area within which the mitigation credits from a mitigation bank may be used to offset adverse wetland impacts.

Mixing zone means an area, or volume of water containing the point of discharge and within which an opportunity for the dispersion of the discharge has been authorized by EPGMD.

Regulated aquatic and wetland resources means all rivers, lakes, streams, springs, canals, ditches, impoundments, wetlands, and all other bodies of water, whether artificial or natural, including fresh, brackish, saline, tidal, surface or underground.

Solid waste means garbage, rubbish, refuse, sludge or other discarded solid or semisolid material resulting from domestic, commercial, industrial, agricultural or governmental activities or operations. This includes but is not necessarily limited to wood, putrescible construction and demolition debris, and asphalt or other asphaltic material.

Significant benthic community means an assemblage of organisms occupying the benthic substrate that is composed of economically important shellfish, hard or soft corals, seagrasses, or a diverse macroinvertebrate association.

Unified Mitigation Assessment Method (UMAM) as set forth in Chapter 62-345, F.A.C., means a technique used to determine the amount of mitigation needed to offset adverse impacts to wetlands and other surface waters and to award and deduct mitigation bank credit.

Voluntarily created wetlands means wetlands that have been purposefully created apart from requirements of any entity, including but not limited to federal, state or local regulatory agencies.

Wetland Benefit Index (WBI) means the technique utilized by EPGMD for quantifying wetland values and functions. The system assigns numerical values to ecological components creating a value-based scale from 0.25 to 1.0 where 0.25 is the poorest quality wetland and 1.0 is the highest quality wetland. A rebuttable presumption for preservation or enhancement is created when a given wetland is ranked at or above 0.8 WBI.

(Ord. No. 90-49, § 1(27-11.02), 12-18-90; Ord. No. 93-49, § 1, 11-23-93; Ord. No. 1999-55, § 1, 10-12-99; Ord. No. 2004-39, § 1, 11-09-04; Ord. No. 2005-11, § 9, 5-24-05; Ord. No. 2007-34, § 2, 11-27-07; Ord. No. 2009-56, § 1, 8-25-09)