§ 72-745. Definitions.

Unless specifically defined below or in section 72-2, as amended, words or phrases used in this division shall be interpreted so as to give them the meaning they have in common usage and to give this division its most reasonable application consistent with the purpose and objectives stated herein.

The below listed definitions are to be used for floodplain management purposes only, unless specifically referred to in another portion of the land development code. If there is a conflict between these definitions and the definitions in the glossary of the land development code, as amended, the definitions listed below shall control:

Accessory structure (appurtenant structure): A structure that is located on the same parcel of property as the principal structure and the use of which is incidental to the use of the principal structure. Accessory structures typically constitute a minimal investment, are not to be used for human habitation, and are designed to have minimal flood damage potential. Examples of accessory structures are detached garages 400 square feet or less, carports, storage sheds on permanent foundations 400 square feet or less, storage sheds on skids, pole barns, and hay sheds.

Area of shallow flooding: A designated AO or AH zone on the community's flood insurance rate map (FIRM) with base flood depths from one to three feet where a clearly defined channel does not exist, where the path of flooding is unpredictable and indeterminate, and where velocity flow may be evident. Such flooding is characterized by ponding or sheet flow.

Building: See Structure.

Coastal high hazard area: An area of special flood hazard extending from offshore to the inland limit of a primary frontal dune along an open coast and any other area subject to high velocity wave action from storms or seismic sources. The area is designated on the FIRM as zone V1 — V30, VE, or V.

Development: Any manmade change to improved or unimproved real estate, including, but not limited to, buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavating, drilling operations, and storage of materials and equipment.

Elevated building: A nonbasement building built to have the lowest floor elevated above the ground level by foundation walls, posts, piers, columns, pilings, or shear walls.

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 construction: Means, for the purposes of floodplain management, structures for which the start of construction commenced before November 11, 1973. This term may also be referred to as "existing structures."

Existing manufactured home park or subdivision: 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) was completed before November 11, 1973.

Expansion to an existing manufactured home park or 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, the construction of streets, and either final site grading or the pouring of concrete pads).

Flood or flooding means:

(1)

A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from:

a.

The overflow of inland or tidal waters.

b.

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

c.

Mudslides (i.e., mudflows) which are proximately caused by flooding as defined in paragraph (1)b. of this definition and are akin to a river of liquid and flowing mud on the surface of normally dry land areas, as when earth is carried by a current of water and deposited along the path of the current.

(2)

The collapse or subsidence of land along a shore of a lake or other body of water as the 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 a flash flood or an abnormal tidal surge or by some similarly unusual and unforeseeable event which results in flooding as defined in paragraph (1)a. of this definition.

Flood boundary and floodway map (FBFM): The official map of the community on which the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has delineated the areas of special flood hazard and regulatory floodways.

Flood insurance rate map (FIRM): An official map of the community, issued by FEMA, which delineated both the areas of special flood hazard and the risk premium zones applicable to the community.

Flood insurance study (FIS): The official hydrology and hydraulics report provided by FEMA. The study contains an examination, evaluation, and determination of flood hazards, and, if appropriate, corresponding water surface elevations, or an examination, evaluation, and determination of mudslide (i.e., mudflow) and other flood-related erosion hazards. The study may also contain flood profiles, as well as the FIRM, FHBM (where applicable), and other related data and information.

Floodplain: Any land area susceptible to being inundated by water from any source (see definition of "flooding").

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.

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.

Free of obstruction: Any type of lower area enclosure or other construction element that will not obstruct the flow of velocity water and wave action beneath the lowest horizontal structural member of the lowest floor of an elevated building during a base flood event. This requirement applies to the structures in velocity zones (V-zones).

Freeboard: The additional height, usually expressed as a factor of safety in feet, above a flood level for purposes of floodplain management. Freeboard tends to compensate for many unknown factors, such as wave action, blockage of bridge or culvert openings, and hydrological effect of urbanization of the watershed, which could contribute to flood heights greater than the heights calculated for a selected frequency flood and floodway conditions.

Hardship: As related to variances from this division, means the exceptional hardship associated with the land that would result from a failure to grant the requested variance and must be exceptional, unusual, 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, even if the alternative is more expensive, or requires the property owner to build elsewhere or put the parcel to a different use than originally intended.

Highest adjacent grade: The highest natural elevation of the ground surface, prior to the start of 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; or

(2)

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

(3)

Individually listed on the Florida Inventory of Historic Places, which has 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 the approved Florida program as determined by the Secretary of the Interior; or

b.

Directly by the Secretary of the Interior.

Lowest adjacent grade: The lowest elevation, after the completion of construction, of the ground, sidewalk, patio, deck support, or basement entryway immediately next to the structure.

Lowest floor: The lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area (including basement). An unfinished or flood-resistant enclosure, used solely for parking of vehicles, building access, or storage, in an area other than a basement, 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 nonelevation design standards of this division.

Manufactured home: A building, transportable in one or more sections, which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities. The term also includes park trailers, travel trailers, and similar transportable structures placed on a site for 180 consecutive days or longer and intended to be improved property.

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

Market value: The building value, which is the property value excluding the land value and that of the detached accessory structures and other improvements on-site (as agreed to between a willing buyer and seller) as established by what the local real estate market will bear. Market value can be established by an independent certified appraisal (other than a limited or curbside appraisal, or one based on income approach), actual cash value (replacement cost depreciated for age and quality of construction of building), or adjusted tax-assessed values.

Mean sea level: The average height of the sea for all stages of the tide. It is used as a reference for establishing various elevations within the floodplain. For purposes of this division, the term is synonymous with National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD) of 1929, or North American Vertical Datum (NAVD) of 1988.

New construction: Any structure for which the "start of construction" commenced on or after November 11, 1973. The term also includes any subsequent improvements to such structures.

New manufactured home park or subdivision: 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) was completed on or after November 11, 1973.

Principally above ground: At least 51 percent of the actual cash value of the structure is above ground.

Reasonably safe from flooding: Base floodwaters will not inundate the land or damage structures to be removed from the SFHA and that any subsurface waters related to the base flood will not damage existing or proposed buildings.

Recreational vehicle: means a vehicle that is:

(1)

Built on a single chassis;

(2)

Four hundred 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 temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel or seasonal use.

Regulatory 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.

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

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 50 percent of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.

Substantial improvement: Any alteration, repair, reconstruction, or improvement of a building, the cost of which equals or exceeds over a five-year period, a cumulative total of 50 percent of the building's market value as determined by the property appraiser or a certified appraisal either: (1) before the alteration, repair, reconstruction or improvement is started; or (2) if the structure has been damaged and is being restored, before the damage occurred. For the purpose of this definition, "substantial improvement" is considered to occur when the first alteration of any wall, ceiling, floor or other structural part of the building commences, whether or not that alteration affects the external dimensions of the structure. The term does not include: (1) any alteration, repair, reconstruction or improvement of a building to comply with existing state or local health, sanitary or safety codes that are solely necessary to assure safe living conditions; or (2) any alteration of a building listed on the National Register of Historic Places or a state inventory of historic places.

Substantially improved existing manufactured home parks or subdivisions: When the repair, reconstruction, rehabilitation or improvement of the streets, utilities and pads equals or exceeds 50 percent of the value of the streets, utilities and pads before the repair, reconstruction or improvement commenced.

Variance: A variance is a grant of relief from the requirements of this division.

Violation: The failure of a structure or other development to be fully compliant with the requirements of this division. A structure or other development without the elevation certificate, other certifications, or other evidence of compliance required in this division is presumed to be in violation until such time as that documentation is provided.

Watercourse: A lake, river, creek, stream, wash, channel or other topographic feature on or over which waters flow at least periodically. Watercourse includes specifically designated areas in which substantial flood damage may occur.

See section 72-2 for the remainder of definitions.

(Ord. No. 2011-24, § I, 9-8-11; Ord. No. 2013-20, § VII, 12-12-13)