Hempstead, NY Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

Chapter 161 defines construction activity at Section 161-2 as any activity requiring authorization under the SPDES permit for stormwater discharges from construction, GP-02-01 as amended, and specifically includes projects that disturb one acre or more of land through clearing and grubbing, grading, excavating, or demolition. Section 161-11, Industrial or construction activity discharges, ties that state permit directly to the Town's storm sewer system: anyone building under a construction-activity SPDES permit must comply with every term of that permit, and the Town may require proof of compliance, in a form it finds acceptable, before it will allow the site's stormwater to discharge into the municipal separate storm sewer system.

Because a construction site can also be an activity contaminating stormwater if it causes a violation of the MS4's own SPDES permit under Section 161-8, the Stormwater Management Officer can invoke Section 161-9's best-management-practices authority to require a builder, at the builder's own expense, to install structural and nonstructural erosion and sediment controls to keep pollutants such as sediment out of the MS4. The SMO may inspect a construction site as often as necessary under Section 161-12, require monitoring devices, and, per Section 161-10, suspend a site's MS4 access without notice if runoff presents an imminent danger.

A builder found out of compliance receives a written notice of violation under Section 161-14 that can order elimination of the discharge, remediation of any damage, and payment of a fine, appealable to the Town within 15 days under Section 161-15.