13-2-1: TERMS DEFINED:
Unless specifically defined below, words or phrases used in these regulations shall be interpreted as to give them the meaning they have in common usage and to give these regulations their most reasonable application.
ACCESSORY STRUCTURE: A structure that is accessory to, or in addition to, any use that is permitted in these regulations (e.g., a picnic shelter would be accessory to a campground). An accessory structure is secondary to the primary use that is permitted and complies with all other conditions imposed by these regulations and otherwise provided for by law.
ACT: Montana floodplain and floodway management act, 76-5-101 through 406, Montana Code Annotated.
ALTERATION: Any change or addition to a structure that either increases its external dimensions or increases its potential flood hazard.
APPEAL: A request for a review of the floodplain administrator's interpretation of any provisions of these regulations or a request for a variance.
AREA OF SHALLOW FLOODING: A designated AO, AH, AR/AO, AR/AH, or VO zone on the flood insurance rate map (FIRM) with a one percent (1%) or greater annual chance of flooding to an average depth of one to three feet (3') where a clearly defined channel does not exist, where the path of flooding is unpredictable, and where velocity flow may be evident. Such flooding is characterized by ponding or sheet flow.
ARTIFICIAL OBSTRUCTION; DEVELOPMENT: Any obstruction which is not natural and includes any dam, diversion, wall, riprap, embankment, levee, dike, pile, abutment, projection, revetment, excavation, channel rectification, bridge, conduit, culvert, building, refuse, automobile body, fill or other analogous structure or matter in, along, across, or projecting into any floodplain or floodway that may impede, retard, or change the direction of the flow of water, either in itself or by catching or collecting debris carried by the water, or that is placed where the natural flow of the water would carry the same downstream to the damage or detriment of either life or property.
BASE FLOOD: A flood having a one percent (1%) chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. A base flood is the same as a 100-year flood, and the terms are used interchangeably.
BASE FLOOD ELEVATION (BFE): The elevation above sea level of the base flood in relation to the North American vertical datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) unless otherwise specified in the flood hazard study. Previous FIRMs may have been published in the national geodetic vertical datum of 1929 (NGVD 29).
BASEMENT: Any area of the building having its floor subgrade (below ground level) on all sides.
BUILDING: Any walled and roofed enclosure.
CHANNEL: The geographical area within either the natural or artificial banks of a watercourse or drainway.
CHANNELIZATION PROJECT: The excavation and/or construction of an artificial channel for the purpose of diverting the entire flow of a stream from its established course.
DESIGNATED FLOODPLAIN: A floodplain whose limits have been designated and established by order of the department of natural resources and conservation, state of Montana.
DESIGNATED FLOODWAY: A floodway whose limits have been designated and established by order of the department of natural resources and conservation, state of Montana.
DEVELOPMENT: Any manmade change to improved or unimproved real estate, including, but not limited to, buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation or drilling operations or storage of equipment or materials.
DRAINWAY: Any depression two feet (2') or more below the surrounding land serving to give direction to a current of water less than nine (9) months of the year and having a bed and well defined banks.
DWELLING: A permanent building for human habitation, a place for living purposes.
ELEVATED BUILDING: For insurance purposes, a nonbasement building which has its lowest elevated floor raised above ground level by foundation walls, shear walls, posts, piers, pilings, or columns.
EROSION: The process of the gradual wearing away of land masses. This peril is not per se covered under the flood insurance program.
ESTABLISH: To construct, place, insert, or excavate.
EXISTING CONSTRUCTION: For the purposes of determining rates, structures for which the "start of construction" commenced on or before the effective date of the town of Ennis FIRM and FIS. "Existing construction" may also be referred to as "existing structures".
EXISTING MANUFACTURED HOME PARK OR SUBDIVISION: A manufactured home park or subdivision where the construction of facilities for servicing the manufactured home lots is completed on or before the effective date of the town of Ennis FIRM and FIS. This includes, at a minimum, the installation of utilities, the construction of streets, and either final site grading or the pouring of concrete pads.
EXPANSION TO AN EXISTING MANUFACTURED HOME PARK OR SUBDIVISION: The preparation of additional sites by the construction of facilities for servicing the lots on which the manufactured homes are to be affixed (including the installation of utilities, the construction of streets, and either final site grading or the pouring of concrete pads).
FEMA (THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY): The agency that manages compliance with the national flood insurance program (NFIP) and provides flood hazard studies and maps.
FIRM: Flood insurance rate map published by FEMA.
FLOOD: The water of any watercourse or drainway that is above the bank or outside the channel and banks of the watercourse or drainway.
FLOOD INSURANCE RATE MAP: The map on which FEMA has delineated the 100-year floodplain, the base flood elevations (BFE) and the risk premium zones.
FLOOD INSURANCE STUDY: The report in which FEMA has provided flood profiles, as well as the flood boundary/floodway map and the water surface profiles.
FLOOD OF 100-YEAR FREQUENCY: A flood magnitude that has a one percent (1%) chance of occurring in any given year commonly referred to as the base flood.
FLOOD PRONE AREA: The area of special flood hazard as identified on the United States geological survey maps.
FLOODPLAIN: The areas subject to these regulations, generally the channel of a river or stream and the area adjoining a river or stream, which would be covered by floodwater of a base flood except for designated shallow flooding areas that receive less than one foot (1') of water per occurrence. The floodplain consists of a floodway and a floodway fringe.
FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT: The operation of an overall program of corrective and preventive measures for reducing flood damage, including, but not limited to, emergency preparedness plans, flood control works and floodplain management regulations.
FLOODPROOFING: 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, HVAC systems, structures and their contents (e.g., elevating a furnace and/or electrical outlets within a structure 2 feet or more above the BFE).
FLOODWAY: The channel of a stream and the adjacent overbank areas that must be reserved in order to discharge a base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than one-half foot (1/2').
FLOODWAY FRINGE: The portion of the floodplain outside the limits of the floodway.
FREEBOARD: A factor of safety usually expressed in feet above a flood level for 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, bridge openings, and the hydrological effect of urbanization of the watershed.
HAG: Highest adjacent grade. This is required on the elevation certificate showing the elevation of the highest grade adjacent to a proposed development for flood insurance purposes.
HVAC: Heating, ventilating and air conditioning.
HIGHEST ADJACENT GRADE: The highest natural elevation of the ground surface prior to construction next to the proposed walls of a structure.
HYDRAULICS: The depth of water (elevation) in a drainageway, watercourse, river or stream channel.
HYDROLOGY: The discharge in cubic feet per second (CFS) of water in a drainageway, watercourse, river or stream channel.
LAG: Lowest adjacent grade. This is required on the elevation certificate showing the elevation of the lowest grade adjacent to a proposed development for flood insurance purposes.
LEVEE: A manmade embankment, usually earthen, designed and constructed in accordance with the sound engineering practices to contain, control, or divert the flow of water to provide protection from temporary flooding. For a levee structure to be reflected on the FEMA FIRMs as providing flood protection, the levee structure must meet the requirements set forth in 44 CFR 65.10.
LEVEE SYSTEM: A flood protection system that consists of a levee, or levees, and associated structures, such as drainage and closure devices, which are constructed and operated in accordance with sound engineering practices.
LOWEST FLOOR: The lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area (including basement). Any floor used for living purposes which includes working, storage, sleeping, cooking and eating, or recreation or any combination thereof. This includes any floor that could be converted to such a use such as a basement or crawl space. (An unfinished or flood resistant enclosure, usable solely for parking of vehicles, building access or storage in an area other than a basement area is not considered a building's lowest floor.) The lowest floor is a determinate for the flood insurance premium for a building, home or business.
MTDEQ: Montana department of environmental quality.
MTDNRC (MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION): The department responsible for the comprehensive program for the delineation of designated floodplains and designated floodways for each watercourse and drainway in the state.
MANUFACTURED HOME: A structure, also referred to as a mobile home, that is transportable in one or more sections, built on a permanent chassis, and designed to be used with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities. This does not include "recreational vehicles".
MANUFACTURED HOME PARK OR SUBDIVISION: A parcel or contiguous parcels of land divided into two (2) or more manufactured home lots for rent or sale.
MEAN SEA LEVEL: The North American vertical datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) or other datum to which base flood elevations are referenced.
NAVD 88: North American vertical datum of 1988. The official vertical datum for the United States.
NFIP: National flood insurance program; 44 CFR chapter I parts 59-79.
NEW CONSTRUCTION: Structures, which include, new "stick built" or "moved" on structures, for which construction, substantial improvement, or alteration commences on or after the effective date of the town of Ennis FIRM and FIS.
NEW MANUFACTURED HOME PARK OR SUBDIVISION: A manufactured home park or subdivision for which the construction of facilities for servicing the lots on which the manufactured homes are to be affixed (including, at a minimum, the installation of utilities, the construction of streets, and either final site grading or the pouring of concrete pads) is completed on or after the effective date of floodplain management regulations adopted by a community.
OFFICIAL FLOODPLAIN MAPS: The flood insurance rate maps (FIRMs) and flood boundary/floodway maps adopted and provided by the FEMA and/or MTDNRC for the town of Ennis.
100-YEAR FLOOD: A flood having a one percent (1%) chance of occurring in any given year. A 100-year flood has nearly a twenty three percent (23%) chance of occurring in a twenty five (25) year period. A 100-year flood is the same as a base flood.
RECREATIONAL VEHICLE: A vehicle which is:
   A.   Built on a single chassis;
   B.   Four hundred (400) square feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projections;
   C.   Designed to be self-propelled or permanently towable by a light duty truck; and
   D.   Designed primarily for use as temporary living quarters for recreation, camping, travel, or seasonal use, not for use as a permanent dwelling.
RIPRAP: Stone, rocks, concrete blocks, or analogous material that is placed along the banks or bed of a stream to alleviate erosion.
RIVERINE: Relating to, formed by, or resembling a river (including tributaries), stream, brook, etc.
SETBACK: The amount of distance between the stream bank of the river or stream and the proposed use, where the stream bank is the 100-year flood boundary.
SHEET FLOW AREA: See definition of Area Of Shallow Flooding.
SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD AREA: The land in the floodplain within a community subject to inundation by a one percent (1%) or greater chance of flooding in any given year, i.e., the 100-year floodplain.
START OF CONSTRUCTION: Commencement of clearing, grading, filling, or excavating to prepare a site for construction. It includes substantial improvement, and means the date the building permit was issued provided the actual start of construction, repair, reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition, placement, or other improvement was within one hundred eighty (180) days of the permit date. The actual start means either the first placement of permanent construction of a structure on a site, such as the pouring of slab or footings, the installation of piles, the construction of columns, or any work beyond the stage of excavation; or the placement of a manufactured home on a foundation. 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 a substantial improvement, 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.
STRUCTURE: A walled and roofed building, manufactured home, a gas or liquid storage tank, bridge, culvert, dam, diversion, wall, revetment, dike, or other projection that may impede, retard, or alter the pattern of flow of water.
SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE: Damage sustained by a structure where the cost of restoring the structure to its condition before damage would equal or exceed fifty percent (50%) of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.
SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT: Any repair, reconstruction, or improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds fifty percent (50%) of the market value of the structure either:
   A.   Before the improvement or repair is started, or
   B.   If the structure has been damaged, and is being restored, before the damage occurred.
For the purposes of this definition, substantial improvement is considered to occur when the first construction to any wall, ceiling, floor, or other structural part of the building commences. The term does not include:
   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 state inventory of historic places.
SUITABLE FILL: Fill material which is stable, compacted, well graded, pervious and generally unaffected by water and frost, devoid of trash or similar foreign matter, devoid of tree stumps or other organic material, and is fitting for the purpose of supporting the intended use and/or permanent structure.
USGS: United States geological survey. The agency which developed the maps of the "flood prone areas".
VARIANCE: A grant of relief from the requirements of these regulations that would permit construction in a manner otherwise prohibited by these regulations.
VIOLATION: The failure of a structure or other development to be fully compliant with these regulations or the floodplain permit issued. A structure or other development without a floodplain permit, an elevation certificate, certification by a licensed engineer or architect of compliance with these regulations, or other evidence of compliance is presumed to be in violation until such time as documentation is provided.
WATER SURFACE ELEVATION: The height, in relation to the North American vertical datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) (or other datum, where specified), of floods of various magnitudes and frequencies in the floodplains of riverine areas. (Ord. 136, 5-19-2011)