For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context indicates or requires a different meaning.
BASE FLOOD. The flood having a 1% probability of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. The BASE FLOOD is also known as the 100-YEAR FLOOD. The base flood elevation at any location is as defined in § 15.10.015.
BASE FLOOD ELEVATION (BFE). The elevation in relation to mean sea level of the crest of the base flood.
BUILDING. A structure that is principally above ground and is enclosed by walls and a roof, including manufactured homes, prefabricated buildings, and gas or liquid storage tanks. The term also includes recreational vehicles and travel trailers installed on a site for more than 180 days per year.
CRITICAL FACILITY. Any public or private facility which, if flooded, would create an added dimension to the disaster or would increase the hazard to life and health. Examples are public buildings, emergency operations and communication centers, health care facilities and nursing homes, schools and toxic waste treatment, handling or storage facilities.
DEVELOPMENT. Any human-made change to real estate including, but not necessarily limited to:
(1) Demolition, construction, recon- struction, repair, placement of a building, or any structural alteration to a building;
(2) Substantial improvement of an existing building;
(3) Installation of a manufactured home on a site, preparing a site for a manufactured home, or installing a travel trailer on a site for more than 180 days per year;
(4) Installation of utilities, construction of roads, bridges, culverts or similar projects;
(5) Construction or erection of levees, dams, walls or fences;
(6) Drilling, mining, filling, dredging, grading, excavating, paving or other alterations of the ground surface;
(7) Storage of materials including the placement of gas and liquid storage tanks; and
(8) Channel modifications or any other activity that might change the direction, height or velocity of flood or surface waters.
DEVELOPMENT. Does not include routine maintenance of existing buildings and facilities; resurfacing road; or gardening, plowing and similar practices that do not involve filling, grading or construction of levees.
FEMA. Federal Emergency Management Agency.
FLOOD. A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from the overflow, the unusual and rapid accumulation, or the runoff of surface waters from any source.
FLOOD FRINGE. That portion of the floodplain outside of the regulatory floodway.
FLOOD INSURANCE RATE MAP. A map prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that depicts the floodplain or special flood hazard area (SFHA) within a community. This map includes insurance rate zones and may or may not depict floodways and show base flood elevations.
FLOODPLAIN and SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD AREA (SERA). Are synonymous. Those lands within the jurisdiction of the Village of Gardner that are subject to inundation by the base flood. The floodplains of the Village of Gardner are generally identified as such on the flood insurance rate map of the Village of Gardner prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and dated June 18, 1987, as amended. The floodplains of those parts of unincorporated Grundy County that are within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the village or that may be annexed into the village are generally identified as such on the flood insurance rate map prepared for Grundy County by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and dated December 15, 1994. FLOODPLAIN also includes those areas of known flooding as identified by the community.
FLOODPROOFING. Any combination of structural or nonstructural additions, changes or adjustments to structures which reduce or eliminate flood damage to real estate, property and their contents.
FLOODPROOFING CERTIFICATE. A form published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that is used to certify that a building has been designed and constructed to be structurally dry floodproofed to the flood protection elevation.
FLOOD PROTECTION ELEVATION or FPE. The elevation of the base flood plus one foot of freeboard at any given location in the floodplain.
FLOODWAY. That portion of the floodplain required to store and convey the base flood. The floodways for each of the floodplains of the Village of Gardner shall be according to the best data available from federal, state or other sources.
FREEBOARD. A flood protection elevation requirement designed as a safety factor which is usually expressed in terms of a specified amount of feet above a calculated flood level. FREEBOARD requirements add height above the base flood elevation to account for future flood fringe developments, uncertainties inherent with methodologies, lack of data, debris that accompanies the base flood and flood levels higher than that of the base flood. Freeboard compensates for the effects of any factors that contribute to flood heights greater than those calculated. These factors include, but are not limited to, ice jambs, debris accumulation, wave action, obstruction of bridge openings and floodways, the effects of urbanization on the hydrology of the watershed, loss of flood storage areas due to development and aggradation of a river or stream bed. FREEBOARD may be applied not just to the elevation of the lowest floor or flood proofing level, but also to the level of protection provided to all components of the structure. All structure utilities, including ductwork, must be elevated or protected to the freeboard level and all portions of the structure below the freeboard level must be constructed using materials resistant to flood damage.
IDNR/OWR. Illinois Department of Natural Resources/Office of Water Resources.
MANUFACTURED HOME. A structure transportable in one or more sections that is built on a permanent chassis and is designed to be used with or without a permanent foundation when connected to required utilities.
NFIP. National Flood Insurance Program.
REPETITIVE LOSS. Flood related damages sustained by a structure on two separate occasions during a ten-year period for which the cost of repairs at the time of each flood event on the average equals or exceeds 25% of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.
SFHA. See definition of FLOODPLAIN.
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% of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred regardless of actual repair work performed. Volunteer labor and materials must be included in this determination.
SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT. Any reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition or improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50% of the market value of the structure before the improvement or repair is started. SUBSTANTIAL 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. The term does not, however, include either:
(1) 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
(2) Any alteration of a structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places or the Illinois Register of Historic Places.
TRAVEL TRAILER or RECREATIONAL VEHICLE. A vehicle which is:
(1) Built on a single chassis;
(2) Four hundred square feet or less in size;
(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.
(Ord. VG08-002, § 15.09.020, passed 3-10-2008)