(a) As used in this Chapter, the following words and phrases mean:
(1) "Accessory Structure" a structure that is located on an improved parcel of land and usable only for purposes customarily incidental and subordinate to the use made of the principal structure occupying that parcel;
(2) "Appeal" a review of the interpretation accorded a provision of this Chapter by the Zoning Commissioner that is undertaken by the Planning Commission and all judicial proceedings subsequently convened to review the determination of the Commission;
(3) "Area of Special Flood Hazard" land subject to a one percent (1%) or greater chance of flooding in any given year and designated Zone "A", "AE", "AH”, "AO", "A1-A30" or "A99" on the Flood Insurance Rate Map or otherwise designated as land subject to inundation by waters of the base flood by the Federal Emergency Management Agency;
(4) "Base Flood" the flood having a one percent (1%) chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. On average, a flood of this magnitude occurs once in 100 years although it may occur in any given year. The term "base flood" has the same meaning as "100 year flood", "regional flood" or "intermediate regional flood" as used in certain published federal regulations and technical manuals and may be defined in terms of elevations and discharges at various locations along a stream;
(5) "Base (100-Year) Flood Elevation (BFE)” the water surface elevation of the base flood in relation to a specified datum, usually the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 or the North American Vertical Datum of 1988, and usually expressed in Feet Mean Sea Level (MSL). In Zone AO areas, the base flood elevation is the lowest adjacent natural grade elevation plus the depth number (from 1 to 3 feet);
(6) "Basement" any area of a building that has its floor below ground level on all sides;
(7) "Commissioner" the duly appointed Engineer of the City of Defiance charged with administration and enforcement of this Chapter;
(8) "Development” any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate including, but not limited to: the construction or improvement of buildings and other structures; the conduct of mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavating or drilling operations; and the storage of equipment or materials;
(9) "Enclosure Below the Lowest Floor" see "Lowest Floor”;
(10) "Executive Order 11988 (Floodplain Management)" issued by President Carter in 1977, this order requires that no federally assisted activities be conducted in or have the potential to affect identified special flood hazard areas, unless there is no practicable alternative;
(11) "Existing Structure" a structure for which the start of construction occurred prior to the effective date of the initial Flood Insurance Rate Map for the City of Defiance, Ohio;
(12) "Federal Emergency Management Agency” the agency of the United States responsible for administration of the National Flood Insurance Program;
(13) "Fill" a deposit of earth material placed by artificial means;
(14) "Flood" or "Flooding" a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from the overflow of one or more watercourses or from unusual accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source;
(15) "Flood Hazard Boundary Map" (FHBM) a map on which the Federal Emergency Management Agency has delineated flood areas within a geographic area for which a Flood Insurance Rate Map has not been published;
(16) "Flood Insurance Rate Map" (FIRM) a map on which the Federal Emergency Management Agency has delineated the areas of special flood hazard within a specific geographic area. Unless the context indicates generic use of the term, "Flood Insurance Rate Map" means the "Flood Insurance Rate Map Defiance County, Ohio and Incorporated Areas" as promulgated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency with an effective date of March 9, 2021, including all revisions thereto of which the City has received notice;
(17) "Flood Insurance Risk Zones" zone designations on FHBMs and FIRMs that indicate the magnitude of the flood hazard in specific areas of a community. Following are the zone definitions:
A. "Zone A" special flood hazard areas inundated by the 100-year flood in any given year: base flood elevations are not determined.
B. “Zone A 1-30" and "Zone AE" special flood hazard areas inundated by the 100-year flood in any given year: base flood elevations are determined.
C. "Zone AO" special flood hazard areas inundated by the 100-year flood in any given year: with flood depths of one to three feet (usually sheet flow on sloping terrain): average depths are determined.
D. "Zone AH" special flood hazard areas inundated by the 100-year flood in any given year: flood depths of one to three feet (usually areas of ponding): base flood elevations are determined.
E. "Zone A99" special flood hazard areas inundated by the 100-year flood to be protected from the 100-year flood by a Federal flood protection system under construction: no base flood elevations are determined.
F. "Zone B” and "Zone X (shaded)" areas of the 500-year flood: areas subject to the 100-year flood with average depths of less than 1 foot or with contributing drainage area less than 1 square mile; and areas protected by levees from the base flood.
G. "Zone C" and "Zone X (unshaded)" areas determined to be outside the 500-year floodplain.
(18) "Flood Insurance Study (FIS)" a report in which the Federal Emergency Management Agency has projected water surface elevations of the base flood, flood profiles and floodway boundaries (sometimes shown on Flood Boundary and Floodway Maps) within a specific geographic area and all addenda thereto and current revisions thereof. Unless the context indicates generic use of the term, "Flood Insurance Study" means the report entitled, "Flood Insurance Study Defiance County, Ohio and Incorporated Areas", and the accompanying "Flood Insurance Rate Map Defiance County, Ohio and Incorporated Areas” as promulgated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency with an effective date of March 9, 2021, including all revisions thereto.
(19) "Flood Fringe" the portion of the Flood Plain that is not within the boundaries of the Floodway;
(20) "Flood Plain" a watercourse and all adjacent land subject to inundation by overflow therefrom during the occurrence of the base flood. "Flood Plain" is synonymous with Area of Special Flood Hazard and encompasses all land designated Zone "A”, “AE”, “AH”, “AO”, A1-A30" or “A99" on the Flood Insurance Rate Map;
(21) "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 one foot. The Floodway consists of those portions of the flood plain:
A. Designated "Floodway" by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or
B. Determined by the Commissioner to be in the floodway based on supplemental data reviewed in compliance with Section 1333.07(c) of this Chapter.
(22) "Flood Proofing" the use of damage resistant materials and construction techniques conforming to the "Flood Proofing Regulations" to reduce or eliminate flood damage to structures and other real estate improvements and safeguard the contents thereof;
(23) "Flood Proofing Regulations" the materials specifications and design standards published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as document number NFIP Technical Bulletin 3, dated January 2021, pertaining to construction or improvement of non-residential structures located in areas of special flood hazard and all subsequent revisions thereof;
(24) “Flood Protection Elevation”, or “FPE”, is the base flood elevation plus one foot of freeboard. In areas where no base flood elevations exist from any authoritative source, the flood protection elevation can be historical flood elevations, or base flood elevations determined and/or approved by the floodplain administrator;
(25) "Floodway" a floodway is the channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that have been reserved in order to pass the base flood discharge. A floodway is typically determined through a hydraulic and hydrologic engineering analysis such that the cumulative increase in the water surface elevation of the base flood discharge is no more than a designated height. In no case shall the designated height be more than one foot at any point within the community. The floodway is an extremely hazardous area, and is usually categorized by any of the following: moderate to high velocity flood waters, high potential for debris and projectile impacts, and moderate to high erosion forces;
(26) "Freeboard" a factor of safety usually expressed in feet above a flood level for the 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, obstructed bridge openings, debris and ice jams, and the hydrologic effect of urbanization in a watershed;
(27) "Historic Structure" any structure that is:
A. Individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places (a listing maintained by the U.S. Department of Interior) or that has preliminarily been determined to meet the requirements for such listing by the Secretary of the Interior;
B. Certified as contributing to the historical significance of a registered historic district or of a district that has preliminarily been determined to meet the requirements for such certification by the Secretary of the Interior; or
C. Individually listed on an inventory of historic places maintained by the State of Ohio, County of Defiance or City of Defiance in accordance with an historic preservation program that has been certified by the Secretary of the Interior or by the Ohio Historical Society in conformity with requirements approved by the Secretary of the Interior.
(28) "Hydrologic and hydraulic engineering analysis" an analysis performed by a professional engineer, registered in the State of Ohio, in accordance with standard engineering practices as accepted by FEMA, used to determine flood elevations and/or floodway boundaries;
(29) "Letter of Map Change (LOMC)" an official FEMA determination, by letter. to amend or revise effective Flood Insurance Rate Maps, Flood Boundary and Floodway Maps, and Flood Insurance Studies. LOMCs are broken down into the following categories:
A. "Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA)" a revision based on technical data showing that a property was incorrectly included in a designated special flood hazard area. A LOMA amends the current effective Flood Insurance Rate Map and establishes that a specific property is not located in a special flood hazard area;
B. "Letter of Map Revision (LOMR)" a revision based on technical data that. usually due to manmade changes, shows changes to flood zones, flood elevations, floodplain and floodway delineations, and planimetric features. One common type of LOMR a LOMR-F, is a determination concerning whether a structure or parcel has been elevated by fill above the base flood elevation and is, therefore, excluded form the special flood hazard area;
C. "Conditional Letter of Map Revision (CLOMR)" a comment by FEMA regarding a proposed project that would, upon construction, affect the hydrologic or hydraulic characteristics of a flooding source and thus result in the modification of the existing regulatory floodway, the effective base flood elevations, or the special flood hazard area. A CLOMR does not amend or revise effective Flood Insurance Rate Maps, Flood Boundary and Floodway maps, or Flood Insurance Studies.
(30) "Lowest Floor" the lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area (including basement) of any structure except an unfinished or flood resistant enclosure other than a basement that is constructed in accordance with Section 1333.15(d)(5) and usable solely for parking vehicles, building access or storage;
(31) "Manufactured Home" a structure, transportable in one or more sections, that is built on a permanent chassis and designed for use with or without a permanent foundation when connected to required utilities. "Manufactured Home" does not include a “recreational vehicle". For the purposes of these regulations, a manufactured home includes manufactured homes and mobile homes as defined in Chapter 4781 of the Ohio Revised Code;
(32) "Mean Sea Level" for purposes of the National Flood Insurance Program, the National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD) of 1929 or other datum, to which base flood elevations shown on a community's Flood Insurance Rate Map are referenced;
(33) "Manufactured Home Park" as specified in the Ohio Adm. Code 4781-12-01 (K), any tract of land upon which three or more manufactured homes, used for habitation are parked, either free of charge or for revenue purposes, and includes any roadway, building, structure, vehicle, or enclosure used or intended for use as part of the facilities of the park. A tract of land that is subdivided and the individual lots are not for rent or rented, but are for sale or sold for the purpose of installation of manufactured homes on the lots, is not a manufactured home park, even though three or more manufactured homes are parked thereon, if the roadways are dedicated to the local government authority. Manufactured home park does not include any tract of land used solely for the storage or display for ale of manufactured homes;
(34) "National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) a Federal program enabling property owners in participating communities to purchase insurance protection against losses from flooding. This insurance is designed to provide an insurance alternative to disaster assistance to meet the escalating costs of repairing damage to buildings and their contents caused by floods. Participation in the NFIP is based on an agreement between local communities and the Federal government that states if a community will adopt and enforce floodplain management regulations to reduce future flood risks to all development in special flood hazard areas, the Federal government will make flood insurance available within the community as a financial protection against flood loss;
(35) "New Construction" structure(s) for which the start of construction commenced on or after the effective date of a floodplain regulation adopted by the City of Defiance and includes any subsequent improvements to such structures. 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 March 4, 1985 or after December 31, 1974, whichever is later, and includes any subsequent improvements to such structures;
(36) "Ohio Department of Natural Resources" the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water, or such other agency as may hereafter be designated the coordinating agency for administration of the National Flood Insurance Program in the State of Ohio;
(37) "Owner" a person possessed of any freehold or leasehold interest of record in land subject to regulation under this Chapter;
(38) "Person" any individual or group of individuals, corporation, partnership, association, or any other entity, including state and local governments and agencies. An agency is further defined in the Ohio Revised Code 111.15(A)(2) as any governmental entity of the state and includes, but is not limited to, any board, department, division, commission, bureau, society, council, institution, state college or university, community college district technical college district, or state community college. Agency does not include the general assembly, the controlling board, the adjutant general's department or any court;
(39) "Policy" the Standard Flood Insurance Policy issued under the National Flood Insurance Program;
(40) "Premium” the total sum payable as premium by an insured for coverage provided under a Policy;
(41) "Recreational Vehicle" 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 temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel, or seasonal use;
(42) "Registered Professional Architect" a person registered to engage in the practice of architecture pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 4703.01 and 4703.19;
(43) "Registered Professional Engineer" a person registered as a professional engineer pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4733;
(44) “Registered Professional Surveyor" a person registered as a professional surveyor pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4733;
(45) "Special Flood Hazard Area" also known as "Areas of Special Flood Hazard", is the land in the floodplain subject to a one percent (1%) or greater chance of flooding in any given year. Special flood hazard areas are designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Flood Insurance Rate Maps, Flood Insurance Studies, Flood Boundary and Floodway Maps and Flood Hazard Boundary Maps as Zones A, AE, AH, AO, A 1-30 or A99. Special flood hazard areas may also refer to areas that are flood prone and designated from other federal state or local sources of data including but not limited to historical flood information reflecting high water marks, previous flood inundation areas, and flood prone soils associated with a watercourse;
(46) "Start of Construction" means the date on which a building permit is issued provided that the actual start of construction occurs within 180 days following the date on which such permit is issued. In the following contexts, "actual start of construction" means:
A. In connection with construction of a new structure, "actual start of construction" means the performance of work beyond the stage of excavation such as the pouring of a slab or footings, the installation of piles or the construction of columns;
B. In connection with the reconstruction, repair, rehabilitation or enlargement of an existing structure, "actual start of construction” means the first alteration of a wall, ceiling, floor or other structural part whether or not that alteration affects the external dimensions of the structure;
C. In connection with the placement of a manufactured home, "actual start of construction” means the physical placement of the manufactured home on a foundation at the site.
(47) "Start of construction" does not include land preparation or the erection of temporary forms for the pouring of foundations, footings, basements, pilings, piers or columns. Start of construction does not include the improvement of real estate by the installation of streets, sidewalks or utility facilities or the construction, erection or placement of accessory structures on a site;
(48) "Structure" shall be accorded the definition provided by Section 1311.01 of the Codified Ordinances and includes, but is not limited to, the Federal regulatory definition of walled or roofed buildings, including mobile homes and gas or liquid storage tanks;
(49) "Substantial Damage" means:
A. Damage to a structure by any cause to such extent that the cost of restoring the structure to its condition before the occurrence of the loss would equal or exceed one-half of the fair market value of the structure immediately prior to the occurrence of the loss: or,
B. Flood related damage sustained by a structure on two separate occasions during a period of ten years for which the cost of repairs at the time of each such flood event, on average, equals or exceeds twenty-five percent (25%) of the fair market value of the structure before the damage occurred.
(50) "Substantial Improvement" means: repair, reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition, or other improvement of any structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds one-half of the market value of the structure before the start of construction of such improvement. "Substantial improvement” includes the repair or restoration of structures that have sustained "substantial damage". Substantial Improvement does not include:
A. Any improvement that is minimally necessary to comply with an Order to correct an existing violation of a health, sanitary or safety regulation issued by the Fire Chief, Fire Prevention Officer, County Health Department, Building Inspector or similar code enforcement official; or
B. Any improvement or alteration of an Historic Structure unless the improvement will disqualify the structure from continued designation as an Historic Structure.
(51) “Variance" a grant of relief from the standards of this Chapter by the Planning Commission to accommodate site specific conditions in conformity with the variance standards of this Chapter;
(52) "Violation" a failure of a structure or other development to be fully compliant with these regulations;
(53) "Water Surface Elevation" the height of the surface of floodwater in relation to mean sea level;
(54) "Watercourse" means any river, stream, tributary, natural drainage way or artificial channel for water, whether perennial or intermittent, that is identified for flood insurance analysis on the Flood Insurance Rate Map.
(Ord. 8289. Passed 3-2-21.)