For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
BASE FLOOD. The flood having a 1% probability of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. The BASE FLOOD is also known as the 100-YEAR FLOOD. The base flood elevation at any location is as defined in § 157.03 of this chapter.
BASE FLOOD ELEVATION (BFE). The elevation in relation to mean sea level of the crest of the base flood.
BUILDING. A structure that is principally above ground and is enclosed by walls and a roof, including manufactured homes, prefabricated buildings and gas or liquid storage tanks. The term also includes recreational vehicles and travel trailers installed on a site for more than 180 days per year.
CRITICAL FACILITY. Any public or private facility which, if flooded, would create an added dimension to the disaster or would increase the hazard to life and health. Examples are public buildings, emergency operations and communication centers, health care facilities and nursing homes, schools and toxic waste treatment, handling or storage facilities.
DEVELOPMENT.
(1) Any human-made change to real estate including, but not necessarily limited to:
(a) Demolition, construction, reconstruction, repair, placement of a building or any structural alteration to a building;
(b) Substantial improvement of an existing building;
(c) Installation of a manufactured home on a site, preparing a site for a manufactured home or installing a travel trailer on a site for more than 180 days per year;
(d) Installation of utilities, construction of roads, bridges, culverts or similar projects;
(e) Construction or erection of levees, dams, walls or fences;
(f) Drilling, mining, filling, dredging, grading, excavating, paving or other alterations of the ground surface;
(g) Storage of materials including the placement of gas and liquid storage tanks; and
(h) Channel modifications or any other activity that might change the direction, height or velocity of flood or surface waters.
(2) DEVELOPMENT does not include routine maintenance of existing buildings and facilities; resurfacing roads; or gardening, plowing and similar practices that do not involve filling, grading or construction of levees.
FEMA. The Federal Emergency Management Agency.
FLOOD. A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from the overflow, the unusual and rapid accumulation or the run-off of surface waters from any source.
FLOOD FRINGE. The portion of the floodplain outside of the regulatory floodway.
FLOOD INSURANCE RATE MAP. A map prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that depicts the floodplain or special flood hazard area (SFHA) within a community. This map includes insurance rate zones and may or may not depict floodways and show base flood elevations.
FLOODPLAIN or SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD AREA (SFHA). Are synonymous. Those lands within the jurisdiction of the city that are subject to inundation by the base flood. The floodplains of the city are generally identified as such on the county-wide Flood Insurance Rate Map of St. Clair County, prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and dated 11-5-2003. FLOODPLAIN also includes those areas of known flooding as identified by the community.
FLOOD-PROOFING. Any combination of structural or non-structural additions, changes or adjustments to structures which reduce or eliminate flood damage to real estate, property and their contents.
FLOOD-PROOFING CERTIFICATE. A form published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that is used to certify that a building has been designed and constructed to be structurally dry flood-proofed to the flood protection elevation.
FLOOD PROTECTION ELEVATION or FPE. The elevation of the base flood, plus one foot of freeboard at any given location in the floodplain.
FLOODWAY. The portion of the floodplain required to store and convey the base flood. The FLOODWAY for the floodplains of Catawba Creek and Richland Creek shall be as delineated on the countywide Flood Insurance Rate Map of St. Clair County, prepared by FEMA and dated 11-5-2003. The FLOODWAYS for each of the remaining floodplains of the city shall be according to the best data available from federal, state or other sources.
IDNR/OWR. Illinois Department of Natural Resources/Office of Water Resources.
MANUFACTURED HOME. A structure transportable in one or more sections, that is built on a permanent chassis and is designed to be used with or without a permanent foundation when connected to required utilities.
NFIP. National Flood Insurance Program.
REPETITIVE LOSS. Flood related damages sustained by a structure on two separate occasions during a ten-year period for which the cost of repairs at the time of each such flood event on the average equals or exceeds 25% of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.
SFHA. See definition of FLOODPLAIN.
SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE. Damage of any origin sustained by a structure whereby the cost of restoring the structure to its before damage condition would equal or exceed 50% of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred regardless of actual repair work performed. Volunteer labor and materials must be included in this determination.
SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT.
(1) Any reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition or improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50% of the market value of the structure before the improvement or repair is started.
(2) 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, however, include either:
(a) Any project for improvement of a structure to comply with existing state or local health, sanitary or safety code specifications which are solely necessary to assure safe living conditions; or
(b) Any alteration of a structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places or the state’s Register of Historic Places.
TRAVEL TRAILER or RECREATIONAL VEHICLE. A vehicle which is:
(1) Built on a single chassis;
(2) Four hundred square feet or less in size;
(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.
(1960 Code, § 15-1-2) (Ord. 6591, passed 11-3-2003)