§ 17-5. Definitions.
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.
Accessory Structure, low-cost and small:
(1)
A structure that is solely for the parking of no more than two (2) cars; or limited storage (small, low cost sheds).
(2)
One hundred twenty (120) square feet or less.
Administrative Appeals Board: A board authorized to hear and decide appeals and requests for variances from the requirements of this chapter. Any variance granted by the Administrative Appeals Board must be approved by the Floodplain Board.
Appeal: A request for a review of the Floodplain Administrator's interpretation of any provision of this chapter or a request for a variance.
Area of shallow flooding: A designated AO or AH Zone on a community's Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) with a one percent (l%) or greater annual chance of flooding to an average depth of one (1) to three (3) feet where a clearly defined channel does not exist, where the path of flooding is unpredictable, and where velocity flow may be evident. Such flooding is characterized by ponding or sheet flow.
Area of special flood hazard: The land in the floodplain within a community subject to a one percent (1%) or greater chance of flooding in any given year. This area is designated as zone A, AE, AO, AH, and A1-30 on the FIRM and other areas determined by the criteria adopted by the city's director of water resources (see "Special Flood Hazard Area").
Base flood: The flood having a one percent (1%) chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.
Base Flood Elevation (BFE): The elevation shown on the Flood Insurance Rate Map for Zones AE, AH, Al-30, VE and Vl-V30 that indicate the water surface elevation resulting from a flood that has a one percent (1%) or greater chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.
Basement: Any area of the building having its floor sub-grade, i.e., below ground level on all sides.
Breakaway walls: Any type of wall, whether solid or lattice, and whether constructed of concrete, masonry, wood, metal, plastic or any other suitable building material which is not part of the structural support of the building and which is so designed as to breakaway, during the base flood, without damage to the structural integrity of the building on which it is used or any structure to which it might be carried by flood waters.
Building: See "Structure."
Critical feature: An integral and readily identifiable part of a flood protection system without which the flood protection provided by the entire system would be compromised.
Delineated floodplain: That area delineated and mapped as floodplain, as approved by the Federal Insurance Administration and as shown on the official flood insurance rate map of the city.
Development: Any manmade 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 located within the area of special flood hazard.
Encroachment: The advance or infringement of uses, plant growth, fill, excavation, buildings, permanent structures or development into a floodplain, which may impede or alter the flow capacity of a floodplain.
Existing manufactured home park or manufactured home subdivision: A parcel (or contiguous parcels) of land divided into two (2) or more manufactured home lots for rent or sale for which the construction of facilities for servicing the lot on which the manufactured home is to be affixed (including, at a minimum, the installation of utilities, either final site grading or the pouring of concrete pads, and the construction of streets) is completed before December 6, 1984.
Expansion to an existing manufactured home park or manufactured home subdivision. The preparation of additional sites by the construction of facilities for servicing the lots on which the manufactured homes are to be affixed (including the installation of utilities, either final site grading or pouring of concrete pads, or the construction of streets).
Financial assistance: Any form of loan, grant, guaranty, insurance, payment, rebate, subsidy, disaster assistance loan or grant, or any other form of direct or indirect federal assistance, other than general or special revenue sharing or formula grants made to states.
Flood or flooding: A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from:
(1)
The overflow of flood waters; and/or
(2)
The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source; and/or
(3)
The collapse or subsidence of land along the shore of a lake or other body of water as a result of erosion or undermining caused by waves or currents of water exceeding anticipated cyclical levels or suddenly caused by an unusually high water level in a natural body of water, accompanied by a severe storm, or by an unanticipated force of nature, such as flash flood or an abnormal tidal surge, or by some similarly unusual and unforeseeable event which results in flooding.
Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM): The official map on which the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has delineated both the areas of special flood hazards and the risk premium zones applicable to the community.
Flood Insurance Study (FIS): The official report provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that includes flood profiles, the flood boundary floodway map, and the water surface elevation of the base flood.
Floodplain: Any land area susceptible to being inundated by water from any source. See "flood or flooding."
Floodplain Administrator: The public works administrator or his designee who is assigned to administer and enforce the floodplain management regulations.
Floodplain Board: The City Council of the City of Glendale shall be the Floodplain Board. In the event the Floodplain Board must recuse itself from deciding a matter, the Board of Directors of the Flood Control District of Maricopa County shall hear such Floodplain disputes or variances to provide the appropriate enforcement of this ordinance.
Floodplain management regulations: Zoning ordinances, subdivision regulations, building codes, health regulations, special purpose ordinances (such as floodplain ordinance, grading ordinance and erosion control ordinance) and other applications of police power. The term describes such state or local regulations in any combination thereof, which provide standards for the purpose of flood damage prevention and reduction.
Floodproofed: Watertight with walls substantially impermeable to the passage of water and with structural components having the capability of restricting hydrostatic and hydrodynamic loads and effects of buoyancy.
Floodproofing: Any combination of structural and nonstructural additions, changes, or adjustments to structures which reduce or eliminate flood damage to real estate or improved real property, water and sanitary facilities, structures and their contents.
Flood protection system: Those physical structural works for which funds have been authorized, appropriated, and expended and which have been constructed specifically to modify flooding in order to reduce the extent of the area within a community subject to a "special flood hazard" and the extent of the depths of associated flooding. Such a system typically includes dams, reservoirs, levees or dikes. These specialized flood modifying works are those constructed in conformance with sound engineering standards.
Flood-related erosion: The collapse or subsidence of land along the shore of a lake or other body of water as a result of undermining caused by waves or currents of water exceeding anticipated cyclical levels or suddenly caused by an unusually high water level in a natural body of water, accompanied by a severe storm, or by an unanticipated force of nature, such as a flash flood or an abnormal tidal surge, or by some similarly unusual and unforeseeable event which results in flooding.
Flood-related erosion area or Flood-related erosion-prone area: A land area adjoining the shore of a lake or other body of water, which due to the composition of the shoreline or bank and high water levels or wind-driven currents, is likely to suffer flood-related erosion damage.
Flood-related erosion area management: The operation of an overall program of corrective and preventative measures for reducing flood-related erosion damage, including but not limited to emergency preparedness plans, flood-related erosion control works, and floodplain management regulations.
Floodway: 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 a designated height. Also referred to as "Regulatory Floodway."
Fraud and victimization: As related to Section 17-29 of this ordinance, means that the variance granted must not cause fraud on, or victimization of, the public. In examining this requirement, the City Council will consider the fact that every newly constructed building adds to government responsibilities and remains a part of the community for fifty to one hundred years. Buildings that are permitted to be constructed below the base flood elevation are subject during all those years to increased risk of damage from floods, while future owners of the property and the community as a whole are subject to all the costs, inconvenience, danger, and suffering that those increased flood damages bring. In addition, future owners may purchase the property, unaware that it is subject to potential flood damage, and can be insured only at very high flood insurance rates.
Functionally dependent use: A use which cannot perform its intended purpose unless it is located or carried out in close proximity to water. The term includes only docking facilities, port facilities that are necessary for the loading and unloading of cargo or passengers, and ship building and ship repair facilities, but does not include long-term storage or related manufacturing facilities.
Governing body: The local governing unit, i.e., county or municipality that is empowered to adopt and implement regulations to provide for the public health, safety and general welfare of its citizenry.
Hardship: As referenced in Section 17-29 of this ordinance, the definition of exceptional hardship is the hardship that would result from a failure to grant the requested variance. The Floodplain Board requires that the variance be exceptional, and peculiar to the property involved. Mere economic or financial hardship alone is not exceptional. Inconvenience, aesthetic considerations, physical handicaps, personal preferences, or the disapproval of one's neighbors likewise cannot, as a rule, qualify as an exceptional hardship. The problems listed may be resolved, or may be required to be resolved, through other means without granting a variance, even if the alternative is more expensive, or requires the property owner to build elsewhere or put the parcel to a difference use other than originally intended.
Highest adjacent grade: The highest natural elevation of the ground surface prior to construction next to the proposed walls of a structure.
Historic Structure: 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 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 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.
Levee: A manmade structure, usually an earthen embankment, designed and constructed in accordance with sound engineering practices to contain, control, or divert the flow of water so as to provide protection from temporary flooding.
Levee system: A flood protection system which consists of a levee, or levees, and associated structures, such as closure and drainage devices, which are constructed and operated in accordance with sound engineering practices.
Lowest floor: 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: 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 mobile homes, park trailers, travel trailers and other similar vehicles placed on a site for greater than one hundred eighty (180) consecutive days.
Manufactured home park or subdivision: A parcel (or contiguous parcels) of land divided into two (2) or more manufactured home lots for sale or rent.
Market value: Defined in the substantial damage and substantial improvement procedures.
Mean sea level: For purposes of the National Flood Insurance Program, the National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD) of 1929, North American Vertical Datum (NAVD) of 1988, or other datum, to which Base Flood elevations shown on a community's Flood Insurance Rate Map are referenced.
New construction: For the purposes of determining insurance rates, structures for which the "start of construction" commenced on or after the effective date of an initial Flood Insurance Rate Map 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 December 6, 1984, and includes any subsequent improvements to such structure.
New manufactured home park or manufactured home subdivision: A parcel (or contiguous parcels) of land divided into two (2) or more manufactured home lots for rent or sale for which the construction of facilities for servicing the lot (including, at a minimum, the installation of utilities, either final site grading or the pouring of concrete pads, and the construction of streets) is completed on or after December 6, 1984.
Obstruction: Includes, but is not limited to, any dam, wall, wharf, embankment, levee, dike, pile, abutment, protection, excavation, channelization, bridge, conduit, culvert, building, wire, fence, rock, gravel, refuse, fill, structure, vegetation or other material in, along, across, or projecting into any watercourse which may alter, impede, retard or change the direction and/or velocity of the flow of water, or due to its location, its propensity to snare or collect debris carried by the flow of water, or its likelihood of being carried downstream.
One-hundred-year flood or 100-year flood: The flood having a one percent (1%) chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. See "Base flood".
Person: Any individual or his agent, firm, partnership, association, corporation, or agent of the aforementioned groups, or the state of any agency or political subdivision thereof.
Program: The national flood insurance program authorized by 42 U.S.C. §§ 4001-4128, as amended.
Program deficiency: A defect in a community's floodplain management regulations or administrative procedures that impairs effective implementation of those floodplain management regulations or of the NFIP standards.
Public safety and nuisance: As related to Section 17-12 of this ordinance, means that the granting of a variance must not result in anything which is injurious to safety or health of an entire community or neighborhood, or any considerable number of persons, or unlawfully obstructs the free passage or use, in the customary manner, of any navigable lake, or river, bay, stream, canal, or basin.
Reach: The longitudinal segments of a stream, wash or watercourse which may include, but not be limited to, the segment of the flood hazard area where flood heights are primarily controlled by man-made or natural obstructions or constrictions.
Recreational vehicle. For purposes of this Article only, a recreational vehicle is defined as a vehicle which is:
(1)
Built on a single chassis;
(2)
400 square feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projection;
(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 a temporary living quarters for recreational, camping travel, or seasonal use.
Regulatory Flood Elevation (RFE): An elevation one (1) foot above the Base Flood Elevation for a watercourse for which the base flood elevation has been determined and shall be determined by the criteria developed by the Director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources for all other watercourses.
Remedy a violation: To bring the structure or other development into compliance with state or local floodplain management regulations, or, if this is not possible, to reduce the impacts of its noncompliance. Ways that impacts may be reduced include protecting the structure or other affected development from flood damages, implementing the enforcement provisions of the ordinance or otherwise deterring future similar violations, or reducing federal financial exposure with regard to the structure or other development.
Riverine: Relating to, formed by, or resembling a river (including tributaries), stream, brook, etc.
Sheet flow area: See "Area of shallow flooding".
Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA): An area in the floodplain subject to a one percent (1%) or greater chance of flooding in any given year. It is shown on the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) as zone A, AO, Al-30, AE, A99 or AH.
Start of construction: Includes substantial improvement and other proposed new development and means the date building permit was issued, provided the actual start of construction, repair, reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition, placement, or other improvement was within 180 days from the date of the permit. The actual start date means either the first placement of permanent construction of a structure on a site, such as the pouring of slabs 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, footing, piers or foundations or the erection of temporary 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 as 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 affects the external dimensions of the building.
Structure: A walled and roofed building, including a gas or liquid storage tank that is principally above ground; a manufactured home is a structure.
Substantial damage: 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 percent (50%) of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.
Substantial improvement: Any reconstruction, or improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds fifty percent (50%) 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. However, the term does not include either:
(1)
Any project for improvement of a structure required to comply with existing violations or to comply with 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 alteration of a "historic structure," provided that the alteration will not preclude the structure's continued designation as a "historic structure."
Variance: A grant of relief from the requirements of this chapter which permits construction in a manner that would otherwise be prohibited by this chapter.
Violation: 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 in this chapter is presumed to be in violation until such time as that documentation is provided.
Watercourse: Any lake, river, creek, stream, wash or other body of water having banks and beds through which waters flow at least periodically. The term may include specifically designated areas in which substantial flood damage may occur.
Water Surface Elevation (WSE): The height, in relation to the National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NVGD) of 1929, North American Vertical Datum (NAVD) of 1988, or other datum, of floods of various magnitudes and frequencies in the floodplains of coastal or riverine areas.
(Res. No. 4742, § 1(Exh. A), 11-13-13)