Unless specifically defined below, words or phrases used in this chapter shall be interpreted so as to give them the meaning they have in common usage and to give this chapter its most reasonable application.

"Actuarial or risk premium rates" means those rates established by the administrator pursuant to individual community studies and investigations which are undertaken to provide flood insurance in accordance with Section 1307 of the Flood Emergency Management Act of 1968 and the accepted actuarial principles. Risk premium rates include provisions for operating costs and allowances.

"Appeal" means a request for a review of the city engineer/inspector's interpretation of any provision of this chapter or a request for a variance.

"Area of shallow flooding" means a designated AO or AH zone on a community's flood insurance rate map (FIRM) with a one percent or greater annual chance of flooding to an average depth of one to three feet where a clearly defined channel is unpredictable and where velocity flow may be evident. Such flooding is characterized by ponding or sheet flow.

"Area of special flood hazard" means the land in the flood plain within a community subject to one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year.

"Base flood" means the flood having one percent chance of being equalled or exceeded in any given year.

"Development" means any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, including but not limited to buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation or drilling operations, or storage of equipment or materials.

"Existing construction" means (for the purposes of determining rates) structures for which the start of construction commenced before the effective date of the FIRM or before January 1, 1975, for FIRMs effective before that date. Existing construction may also be referred to as existing structures.

"Existing manufactured home park or subdivision" means a manufactured home park or subdivision for which the construction of facilities for servicing the lots on which the manufactured homes are to be affixed (including, at a minimum, the installation of utilities, the construction of streets, and either final site grading or the pouring of concrete pads) is completed before the effective date of the floodplain management regulations adopted by a community.

"Fair market value." See "Market value."

"Flood" or "flooding" means a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation or normally dry land areas from:

1. The overflow inland waters;

2. The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source.

"Flood insurance rate map (FIRM)" means an official map of a community on which the flood insurance study has delineated the flood hazard boundaries and the zone establishing insurance rates applicable to the community.

"Flood insurance study" is the official report provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The report contains flood profiles, as well as flood boundary/floodway map and the water surface elevation of the base flood.

"Floodproofing" means any combination of structural and nonstructural additions, changes, or adjustments to structures that reduce or eliminate flood damage to real estate or improved real property, water and sanitary facilities, or structures and their contents.

"Floodway" or "regulatory floodway" means the channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than one foot.

"Floodway fringe" means that area of the floodplain, outside of the floodway, that on the average is likely to be flooded once every one hundred (100) years (i.e., that has a one percent chance of flood occurrence in any one year).

"Freeboard" means a factor of safety usually expressed in feet above a flood level for purposes of floodplain management. Freeboard tends to compensate for the many unknown factors that could contribute to flood heights greater than the height calculated for a selected size flood and floodway conditions, such as wave action, clogged bridge openings, and a hydrological effect of urbanization of the watershed.

"Highest adjacent grade" means the highest natural elevation of the ground surface prior to construction next to the proposed walls of a structure.

"Historic structure" means any structure that is:

1. Listed individually in the National Register of Historic Places (a listing maintained by the Department of Interior) or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior as meeting the requirements for individual listing on the National Register;

2. Certified or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior as contributing to the historical significance of a registered historic district or a district preliminarily determined by the Secretary to qualify as a registered historic district;

3. Individually listed on a state inventory of historic places in states with historic preservation programs which have been approved by the Secretary of the Interior; or

4. Individually listed on a local inventory of historic places in communities with historic preservation programs that have been certified either:

a. By an approved state program as determined by the Secretary of the Interior, or

b. Directly by the Secretary of the Interior in states without approved programs.

"Lowest floor" means the lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area (including basement). An unfinished or flood-resistant enclosure, usable solely for parking of vehicles, building access or storage, in an area other than a basement area, is not considered a building's lowest floor, provided that such enclosure is not built so as to render the structure in violation of the applicable non-elevation design requirements of this chapter.

"Manufactured home" means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which is built on a permanent chassis and is designed for use with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities. For floodplain management purposes the term manufactured home also includes park trailers, travel trailers and other similar vehicles.

"Manufactured home park or subdivision" means a parcel (or contiguous parcels) of land divided into two or more manufactured home lots for rent or sale.

"Market value" or "fair market value" means an estimate of what is fair, economic, just and equitable value under normal local market conditions.

"New construction" means, for the purposes of determining insurance rates, structures for which the start of construction commenced on or after the effective date of an initial FIRM or after December 31, 1974, whichever is later, and includes any subsequent improvements to such structures. For floodplain management purposes, "new construction" means structures for which the start of construction commenced on or after the effective date of a floodplain management regulation adopted by a community and includes any subsequent improvements to such structures.

"Recreational vehicle" means a vehicle which is: (1) built on a single chassis; (2) four hundred (400) square feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projections; (3) designed to be self-propelled or permanently towable by a light-duty truck; and (4) designed primarily not for use as a permanent dwelling but as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel or seasonal use.

"Start of construction" (for other than new construction or substantial improvements under the Coastal Barrier Resources Act (Public L. 97-348)) includes substantial improvement, and means the date the building permit was issued, provided the actual start of construction, repair, reconstruction, rehabilitation and addition, placement, or other improvement was within one hundred eighty (180) days of the permit date. The actual start means the first placement of permanent construction of a structure on a site, such as the pouring of slab or footings, the installation of piles, the construction of columns, or any work beyond the stage of excavation or the placement of a manufactured home on a foundation. Permanent construction does not include land preparation, such as clearing, grading and filling; nor does it include the installation of streets and/or walkways; nor does it include excavation for a basement, footings, piers, or foundations or the erection of forms; nor does it include the installation on the property of accessory buildings, such as garages or sheds not occupied as dwelling units or not part of the main structure. For a substantial improvement, the actual start of construction means the first alteration of any wall, ceiling, floor or other structural part of a building, whether or not that alteration effects the external dimensions of the building.

"Structure" means a walled and roofed building that is principally above ground, as well as a manufactured home, or a gas or liquid storage tank that is principally above ground.

"Substantial damage" means damage of any origin sustained by a structure whereby the cost of restoring the structure to its before-damaged condition would equal or exceed fifty (50) percent of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.

"Substantial improvement" means any reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition or other improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds fifty (50) percent of the market value of the structure before the start of construction of the improvement. This term includes structures which have incurred substantial damage, regardless of the actual repair work performed. The term does not, however, include either (1) any project for improvement of a structure to correct existing violations of state or local health, sanitary or safety code specifications which have been identified by the local code enforcement official and which are the minimum necessary to assure safe living conditions, or (2) any alterations of a historic structure, provided that the alteration will not preclude the structures continued designation as a historic structure.

"Variance" means a grant of relief to a person from the requirements of this chapter which permits construction in a manner otherwise prohibited by this chapter where specific enforcement would result in unnecessary hardship.

"Violation" means the failure of a structure or other development to be fully compliant with the community's floodplain management regulations. A structure or other development without the elevation certificate, other certifications, or other evidence of compliance required by this chapter is presumed to be in violation until such time as that documentation is provided. (Ord. G-898 § 5, 2000; Ord. G-655 § 1, 1991; prior code § 18-605)