§ 407-2. Definitions.
Latest version.
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The following definitions shall apply in the interpretation and implementation of this bylaw.A.The term "person" shall include any individual, group of individuals, association, partnership, corporation, company, business organizations, trust, estate, the Commonwealth or political subdivision thereof to the extent subject to town bylaws, administrative agencies, public or quasi-public corporations of bodies, the Town of Rockland, and any other legal entity, its legal representatives, agents or assigns.B.The term "alter" shall include, without limitation, the following actions when undertaken in areas subject to this bylaw:(1)Removal, excavation or dredging of soil, sand, gravel, or aggregate materials of any kind;(2)Changing drainage characteristics, flushing characteristics, salinity distributions, sedimentation patterns, flow patterns and flood retention characteristics;(3)Drainage or other disturbances of water level or water table;(4)Dumping, discharging or filing with any material which may degrade water quality;(5)Driving of piles, erection of buildings or structures of any kind;(6)Placing of obstructions whether or not they interfere with the flow of water;(7)Destruction of plant life, including cutting of trees;(8)Changing of water temperature, biochemical oxygen demand or other physical or chemical characteristics of the water;(9)Placement of a Title V subsurface disposal system for new construction within 100 feet of any area subject to protection under the bylaw.C.The term "banks" shall mean that part of land adjoining any body of water which confines the water.D.The term "vernal pool" shall include, in addition to scientific definitions found in the regulations under the Wetlands Protection Act, any confined basin or depression not occurring in existing lawns, gardens, landscaped areas or driveways which, at least in most years, holds water for a minimum of two continuous months during the spring and/or summer, contains at least 200 cubic feet of water at some time during most years, is free of adult predatory fish populations, and provides essential breeding and rearing habitat functions for amphibian, reptile or other vernal pool community species, regardless of whether the site has been certified by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. The boundary of the resource area for vernal pools shall be 100 feet outward from the mean annual high-water line defining the depression, but shall not include existing lawns, gardens, landscaped or developed areas.Editor's Note: See M.G.L. c. 131, § 40.