(a) Interpretations.
(1) For the purpose of this article, the following interpretations shall apply:
A. Words used in the present tense include the future tense.
B. The singular includes the plural.
C. The plural includes the singular.
D. The Term "shall" or "will” is always mandatory.
E. The word "building" or "structure" shall be construed as if followed by the phrase "or part thereof.
F. The word "Ordinance" shall refer to the Floodplain Ordinance.
(b) Definitions. Unless specifically defined below, words and phrases used in this article shall be interpreted so as to give this article its most reasonable application.
(1) Appurtenant structure: A structure on the same parcel of property as the principal structure and the use of which is incidental to the use of the principal structure. This does not include a gas or liquid storage tank.
(2) Base Flood: The flood, which has been selected to serve as the basis upon which the floodplain management provisions of this and other ordinances have been prepared; for purposes of this Ordinance, the one-hundred (100) year flood.
(3) Basement: Any area of the building having its floor sub grade (below ground level) on all sides.
(4) Certificate of compliance: A certification that the entire development, including the elevation of fill or the lowest floor of a structure is in compliance with all of the provisions of this Ordinance.
(5) Contractor - WV State Code 21-11-3(c): A person who in any capacity for compensation, other than as an employee of another, undertakes, offers to undertake, purports to have the capacity to undertake, or submits a bid to construct, alter, repair, add to, subtract from, improve, move, wreck or demolish any building, highway, road, railroad, structure or excavation associated with a project, any individual or group of individuals, corporation, partnership, association or other entity, including State and local governments and agencies.
(6) Principally above ground: Where at least 51 percent of the actual cash value of a structure, less land value, is above ground.
(7) Recreational vehicle: A vehicle which is:
A. Built on a single chassis;
B. 400 square feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projection;
C. Designed to be self-propelled or permanently towable by a light duty truck; and
D. Designed primarily not for use as a permanent dwelling but as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel, or seasonal use.
(8) Registered Professional Engineer: A person who has been duly registered or licensed as a registered professional engineer by the West Virginia State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers as required under WV State Code Article 13 et seq.
(9) Remedy a Violation: To bring a structure or other development into compliance with the requirements of this Ordinance, or, if full compliance is not possible, to reduce the adverse impacts of the non-compliance to the greatest extent feasible.
(10) Reasonably safe from flooding: Means base flood waters will not inundate the land or damage structures to be removed from the special flood hazard area and that any subsurface waters related to the base flood will not damage existing or proposed buildings.
(11) Start of Construction: The date the permit was issued, including permits for substantial improvement or substantial damage, provided the actual start of construction, repair, reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition, placement, or other improvement was within 180 days of the permit date. The actual start means either the first placement of permanent construction on a site, such as the pouring of slab or footings, the installation of piles, the construction of columns, or any work beyond initial excavation, or the placement of a manufactured home on a foundation. Although a permit must be obtained prior to beginning, 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, footings, 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 part of the main structure. For an alteration, 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.
(12) State Coordinating Office: The West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
(13) Stream: As defined in WV State Code 7-1-3U, any watercourse, whether natural or man-made, distinguishable by banks and a bed, regardless of their size, through which water flows continually or intermittently, regardless of its volume.
(14) Structure: A walled and roofed building, including a gas or liquid storage tank that is principally above ground, as well as a manufactured home.
(15) 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 percent of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred. Substantial damage also means cumulative flood-related damages sustained by a structure on two separate occasions during a 10 year period for which the cost of repairs at the time of each flood event equals or exceeds 25 percent of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred. See "Substantial Improvement."
(16) Substantial Improvement:
A. Any repair, reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition, or other improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50 percent of the market value of the structure before the Start of Construction of the improvement.
B. This term includes structures, which have incurred "substantial damage", as defined herein regardless of the actual repair work performed. The term does not, however, include any project for improvement of a structure to correct existing violation of 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.
C. Historic structures undergoing repair or rehabilitation that would constitute a substantial improvement as defined above, must comply with all Ordinance requirements that do not preclude the structure's continued designation as a historic structure. Documentation that a specific Ordinance requirement will cause removal of the structure from the National Register of Historic Places or the State Inventory of Historic Places must be obtained from the Secretary of the Interior or the State Historic Preservation Officer. Any exemption from Ordinance requirements will be the minimum necessary to preserve the historic character and design of the structure.
D. For the purpose of this definition 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.
(17) Top of Bank: The lines depicted on the FIRM maps delineating each side of a stream indicate the top of bank. In the field a professional familiar with fluvial geomorphology should document the top of bank. When a professional is not employed the top of the bank will be considered to be the top of the first significant slope landward of the water’s edge when it is followed by at least 50 feet of relatively flat land.
(18) Violation: The failure of any structure or development to be fully compliant with all requirements of this article.
(Ord. 623. Passed 11-19-07.)