As used in this chapter:
(a) "Bulkheading" means the protection of fill material from erosion through the use of a retaining wall.
(b) "Cut" means the portion of land surface or area from which earth has been removed or will be removed by excavation. "Cut" also means the depth below the original ground surface to the excavated surface.
(c) "Debris basin" means a barrier or dam built across a waterway or other suitable location to retain rock, sand, gravel, silt or other materials.
(d) "Development" means any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, including, but not limited to, buildings or other structures and mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavating or drilling operations.
(e) "Erosion" means the wearing away of the land surface by the action of wind, water or gravity.
(f) "Flood Boundary and Floodway Map" means that map or those maps prepared by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development which indicate the location of the floodway and floodway fringe areas within the City, copies of which are available for examination at the City Clerk's office.
(g) "Flood Insurance Rate Map" means that map or those maps prepared by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development which classify the flood plain into various zones for purposes of determining flood insurance rates within the City, copies of which are available for examination at the Municipal Building.
(h) "Flood Insurance Study" means a study prepared by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development which examines, evaluates and determines flood hazards and, if appropriate, corresponding water surface elevations for the City.
(i) "Floodproofing" means 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.
(j) "Floodway" means the channel of the watercourse and those portions of the adjoining flood plain which carry and discharge the intermediate regional flood, as determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and as indicated on the Flood Boundary and Floodway Map.
(k) "Floodway fringe" means that portion of the intermediate regional flood plain located outside of the floodway which may generally be considered as the backwater area of the intermediate regional flood.
(l) "Grading" means any stripping, cutting, filling, stockpiling, or any combination thereof, and includes the land in its cut or filled condition.
(m) "Grading permit" means a permit issued to authorize grading under the City Building Code.
(n) "Intermediate regional flood" means a flood which is representative of large floods known to have occurred generally in the area and which is reasonably characteristic of what can be expected to occur in a particular stream. The intermediate regional flood generally has a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.
(o) "Intermediate regional flood plain" means the area inundated by the intermediate regional flood. This is the flood plain area which shall be regulated by the standards and criteria of this chapter, as indicated on the Flood Boundary and Floodway Map and as indicated in the Flood Insurance Study.
(p) "Mulching" means the application of plant or other suitable materials on the soil surface to conserve moisture, hold soil in place and aid in establishing plant cover.
(q) "Obstruction" means any dam, wall, wharf, embankment, levee, dike, pile, abutment, projection, excavation, bridge, conduit, culvert, building, wire, fence, rock, gravel, refuse, fill, structure or matter in, along, across or projecting into any channel, watercourse or regional flood hazard area which may impede, retard or change the direction of the flow of water or that is placed where the flow of water might carry the same downstream to damage life or property.
(r) "Sediment" means solid material, both mineral and organic, that is in suspension, is being transported or has been moved from its site of origin by air, water or gravity as a product of erosion.
(s) "Sediment pool" means the reservoir space allotted to the accumulation of submerged sediment during the life of the debris basin.
(t) "Soil" means all unconsolidated mineral and organic material of whatever origin that overlies bedrock which can be readily excavated.
(u) "Substantial improvement" means any repair, reconstruction or improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds fifty percent of the market value of the structure either before the improvement or repair is started or, if the structure has been damaged, and is being restored, before the damage occurred. For purposes of this definition, substantial improvement is considered to occur when the first alteration of any structural part of the building commences, whether or not that alteration affects the external dimensions of the structure. The term does not include any project for improvement of a structure to comply with existing State, County or City health, sanitary or safety code specifications, which are solely necessary to assure safe living conditions, or any alteration of a structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places or the State Register of Historic Places.
(v) "Temporary protection" means stabilization of erosive or sediment producing areas.
(w) "Vegetative protection" means stabilization of erosive or sediment producing areas by covering the soil with:
(1) Permanent seeding, producing long-term vegetative cover;
(2) Short-term seeding, producing temporary vegetative cover; or
(3) Sodding, producing areas covered with a turf of perennial sod-forming grass.
(x) "Watercourse" means any natural or artificial watercourse, stream, river, creek, ditch, channel, canal, conduit, culvert, drain, waterway, gully, ravine or wash in which water flows in a definite direction or course, either continuously or intermittently, and which has a definite channel, bed and banks, including any area adjacent thereto subject to inundation by reason of overflow or flood water.
(Ord. 78-7. Passed 9-25-78.)