For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ADJACENT. An area where the property lines are contiguous, or are separated by a street, alley, easement or right-of-way.
ALLEY. A public right-of-way which affords secondary means of access to properties abutting upon a street.
APPLICANT. The individual or legal entity requesting permission or approval to subdivide or develop land within the jurisdiction of the village. An APPLICANT shall have a sufficient proprietary interest in the property that is subject to the application to qualify for review and approval under this chapter.
ARCHITECTURAL FEATURE. An element of building design intended to be functional or ornamental.
BERM. A mound of dirt used for screening or landscaping purposes.
BLOCK. A tract of land bounded by street rights-of-way, or by a combination of street rights-of-way and public parks, cemeteries, railroad and utility rights-of-way, bulkhead lines or shore lines of waterways, or corporate boundary lines.
BORDER PLANTINGS/FOUNDATION PLANTINGS. Perennial flowers, shrubs or bushes of various height and diameter used to screen building foundations, appurtenances and property boundaries.
BUFFER. A visual screen constructed of wood, concrete block or landscape material in such a manner that the view of adjacent property will be completely or partially obscured from the use contemplated, so noise, solid waste or other objectionable influences will be avoided.
BUILDABLE ACREAGE. A parcel of land or portion of an existing tract or lot of record with sufficient area and dimensional configuration to be developed independently of preceding improvements and in accordance with village zoning and subdivision standards.
BUILDING. An enclosed structure, constructed partially or wholly above ground, with a permanent roof separated on all sides from adjacent open space by exterior or party walls, which is permanently affixed to the ground.
BUILDING SETBACK. The minimum horizontal distance between any property line and a building on the property.
CHARACTER. Special physical characteristics of an existing or proposed building or structure or an area that set it apart from its surrounding and contributes to it individually. CHARACTER-defining considerations, include, but are not limited to, building height, shape, materials, orientation and architectural style and features, as well as the site’s interior spaces and relationship to the surrounding area.
COMMERCIAL ENTRY. The entryway of a commercial building that would be perceived by the public to be an entrance available for public use.
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN. The “Village of Elwood, Illinois Comprehensive Plan Amendment update per village,” or amendments thereto.
CONCEPT PLAN. A drawing or any other accompanying information which shows existing and proposed development conditions as proposed in this chapter.
CONIFERS. Coniferous (Evergreen) tree, cone-bearing with year-round green coloration such as pine, spruce, fir, cedar and the like.
CUL-DE-SAC. A street permanently terminated by a vehicle turnaround.
DATUM PLANE. A reference level from which ground elevations are based. The datum plane is at mean sea level as established by the United States Geological Survey NAVD 88.
DETENTION BASIN. A covered or uncovered reservoir designed to hold an accumulation of storm water runoff so as to reduce peak flow in a storm water drainage system.
DEVELOPER. A person, group of persons, organization or other entity who petitions the village according to this chapter for the purpose of improving or subdividing land; may also be referred to as OWNER or APPLICANT depending on the context.
DEVELOPED AREA. That portion of a plot or parcel upon which a building, structure, pavement or other improvements have been placed.
DEVELOPMENT. Any subdivision or change to improved or unimproved real property including single lots and shall not be limited to buildings or other structures, milling, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation or drilling operations located within the planning jurisdiction of the village.
DWELLING UNIT. A single unit providing complete, independent living facilities for one or more persons, including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation.
EASEMENT. A grant by a property owner for the use of a portion of the owner’s property by another person or other legal entity or the general public for a specified purpose or purposes.
ELEVATION. The vertical distance of an existing point from a stated datum plane.
ENGINEER. An Illinois-licensed professional engineer.
FACADE. The elevation or exterior face of the building.
FILL. Any act by which earth, sand, gravel, rock or other material is deposited, placed, replaced, pushed, dumped, pulled, transported or moved to a new location and shall include the conditions resulting therefrom.
FINAL PLAT. The plan or plat of subdivision intended for recording and any other accompanying material as described herein.
FLOOD FRINGE. The portion of the floodplain outside of the regulatory floodway.
FLOODPLAIN. The land typically adjacent to a body of water with ground surface elevations at or below the base flood or the 100-year frequency flood elevation. The FLOODPLAIN is also known as the SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD AREA (SFHA).
FLOOD ROUTE. The overland route that flood waters would naturally flow.
FLOOD WAY. The channel and that portion of the floodplain adjacent to a stream or watercourse which is needed to store and convey the anticipated existing and future 100-year frequency flood discharge with no more than a one-tenth-foot increase in stage due to any loss of flood conveyance or storage and no more than a 10% increase in velocities.
FRONTAGE. The portion of a property or lot abutting a right-of-way along what would be considered the front yard.
GRADE. The slope of land, or improvements thereon expressed in percent.
GROUND COVER. Low-growing plants planted in such a manner as to form a continuous cover over the ground.
IMPROVEMENT. Construction of buildings, drive areas, parking area, walkways, storm water retention/detention areas, lighting facilities, utilities, curb/gutter, signage and landscaping as placed on a parcel, lot or tract of land.
LANDSCAPE DEVELOPMENT. Trees, shrubs, ground cover, vines, grasses or earthen berms installed in planting areas for the purpose of fulfilling the requirements of this chapter, but shall not include rock nor artificial plant materials.
LIVING GROUND COVERAGES. Grass from sod or seed, other low lying planted material no more than 12 inches in height used for erosion control. Not including pollen producing varieties, not briars, brambles, nor plants generally accepted as weeds.
LOT. A parcel of land comprising one unit of the several that are created in the recorded division, subdivision or resubdivision of land.
LOT, CORNER. A lot located at the intersection of two streets or a lot bounded on two sides by a curving street and any two chords of which form an angle of 120 degrees or less measured on the lot side
MORTON ARBORETUM. A privately-endowed educational foundation for practical, scientific research work in horticulture and agriculture, particularly in the growth and culture of trees, shrubs and vines by means of a great outdoor museum arranged for convenient study of every species, variety and hybrid of the woody plants of the world able to support the climate of Illinois.
NET DEVELOPMENT AREA. The improvement portions of a parcel, lot or tract of land including the land required to meet minimum setback standards as established by the village zoning ordinances.
ORNAMENTAL TREES. Deciduous trees generally smaller in stature than shade trees and ranging in size up to 25 feet.
OUTLOT. A lot that is reserved for a specific purpose or purposes.
OWNER. Any individual or other legal entity having a fee simple interest in the land which is subject of an application under this chapter.
PARCEL. A continuous area or acreage of land which can be described as provided for in the Plat Act of the Illinois Compiled Statues.
PARKWAY. The part of the public street right-of-way not occupied by the street pavement and located between the back of the curb and the sidewalk as well as the dividing strip of a roadway.
PAVED GROUND SURFACE AREA. Any paved surface area (excepting public right-of-way) used for the purpose of driving, parking, storing or displaying of vehicles, boats, trailers and mobile homes, including new and used car lots and other open lot uses.
PAVEMENT. The portion of a street, or access easement, or driveway intended to bear vehicular traffic, not including curbs.
PEDESTRIAN WALKWAY or CROSSWALK. A right-of-way across or within a block, for use by pedestrians whether designated as a pedestrian walkway or crosswalk or however designated; and may include utilities where necessary.
PLAN COMMISSION. The Plan Commission of the village.
PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT (PUD). A parcel of and/or contiguous parcels of land meeting the minimum size requirements of the zoning ordinance and sufficient in size to create its own character controlled by a single landowner or by a group of landowners in common agreement as to control, to be developed as a single entity; the character of which is compatible with adjacent parcels, and the intent of the zoning district or districts in which it is located; the developers may be granted relief from specific land use regulations and design standards, and may be granted a variation(s) in return for assurances of an overall quality of development, including any specific features which will provide exceptional benefit to the community as a whole and which would not otherwise be required by the Zoning Ordinance. The area of a planned development shall remain under one ownership or unified control unless safeguards are provided that, in the opinion of the Plan Commission, will provide for the continuation of the original planned unit development concept and as modified from time to time by the Plan Commission and approved by the Village Board.
PLANS. Bound set of prints typically prepared by an engineer and/or architect or similar professional depicting the work to be done to fully construct the improvements proposed for a development.
PLANTING AREA. Any area designed for landscape planting having a minimum of 25 square feet of actual plantable area.
PRELIMINARY PLAT. A plat showing proposed subdivision data, as described within, subject to village approval.
PROTECTIVE COVENANTS. Protective covenants are contracts entered into between private parties and constitute a restriction on the use of all private property within a subdivision for the benefit of property owners; and to provide mutual protection against undesirable aspects of development which would tend to affect aesthetics.
RECONSTRUCTION. Rehabilitation or replacement of a structure or structures on property which either have been damaged, altered or removed.
RESUBDIVISION. The rearrangement of a portion of land previously subdivided, subject to the same constraints that apply to subdivision.
RIGHT-OF-WAY. A general term denoting land, property or interest therein, acquired for or used as a roadway, pedestrian way, bike path, railroad route, utility route or other public or quasi-public use.
SHADE TREE. Deciduous (Hardwood) tree having a mature height of 25 feet or greater and having a broad spread of branches with leaves providing shade during summer months and shedding leaves each autumn.
SHRUB. A woody plant that usually remains low (minimum two feet in height) and produces shoots or trunks from the base. It is not usually tree-like nor single stemmed.
SITE. A lot or parcel of land or a contiguous combination thereof.
STREET. A publicly or privately owned right-of-way or easement which affords a means of access by vehicles to abutting and local properties, whether designated as a street, avenue, highway, road, boulevard, lane or similar terminology, but excepting driveways to buildings. STREETS are generally classified as follows in the following divisions.
(1) ARTERIAL STREET. A street which is intended to serve as a large volume traffic-way for both the immediate village area and the county and as a principal or major arterial, parkway, highway or equivalent term to identify those streets comprising the basic structure of the street plan.
(2) COLLECTOR STREET. A street whose primary function is to collect and distribute local subdivision traffic to arterial and primary streets.
(3) LOCAL STREETS. The following are local streets serving primarily a land access function.
(a) CONSTRUCTION ROUTE. A route designated for all construction traffic.
(b) HALF-STREET. A street of less than the total required width along one or more property lines of a subdivision.
(c) INDUSTRIAL STREET. A street of limited continuity used primarily for access to abutting and local industrial or office research properties
(d) PRIVATE STREET. A street which is not publicly owned or dedicated for public use, including an easement of access to private property.
(e) RESIDENTIAL STREET. A street of limited continuity used primarily for access to abutting and local residential and commercial properties.
SUBDIVIDER. The person or persons responsible for preparing and recording the plats of the subdivision and for carrying out all appropriate requirements including responsibility for public improvements installation relating thereto as outlined in the development standards.
SUBDIVISION. The division of any parcel of land, vacant or improved, into two or more parcels or lots, including plan unit developments.
SUPERVISOR OF PUBLIC WORKS. The person designated by the Board of Trustees and Village Administrator to administrate the water, sewer and street construction and maintenance activities of the village.
TREE. Any self-supporting woody plant which usually produces one main trunk and which normally grows to a minimum of 15 feet in height.
(1) CONIFEROUS TREE. Evergreen tree.
(2) OVERSTORY/CANOPY TREE. Deciduous tree with a normal growth over 30 feet.
(3) UNDERSTORY/ORNAMENTAL TREE. Deciduous tree with a normal growth 30 feet or less.
TREE CITY USA. A program sponsored by The National Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service and National Association of State Foresters.
TREE SUPERINTENDENT. The Supervisor of Public Works or his or her designee shall serve as the Village Tree Superintendent who has the responsibility to study, investigate, counsel and develop and/or update annually and administer a written plan for the care, preservation, pruning, planting, replanting, removal or disposition of trees and shrubs along streets and in other public areas.
UTILITIES. Services provided by public or quasi-public agencies including but not limited to telephone communication, electrical power, gas, cable television signals, steam, telegraph signals.
VILLAGE. The Village of Elwood, Will County, Illinois.
VILLAGE ADMINISTRATOR. The person designated by the Board of Trustees as to administer overall activities of the village and its subordinate departments, as designated by the Board of Trustees.
VILLAGE ATTORNEY. The person or firm designated by the village to administer and provide general legal services for the village.
VILLAGE BOARD. The President and Board of Trustees of the village.
VILLAGE ENGINEER. The person or organization designated by the village to administer and conduct the engineering activities of the village.
VILLAGE PLANNER. The person or organization designated by the village to administer and conduct the planning activities of the village.
VINES. Any of a group of woody or herbaceous plants which may climb by twining, by means of aerial rootlets tendrils or which may simply sprawl over the ground of other plants.
ZONING ORDINANCE. The official Zoning Ordinance of the village as last amended.
(Ord. 808, passed 4-19-2006)