For the purpose of these regulations, the following terms shall have the meanings as provided herein.
“Damaged or Diseased Trees” – trees that have split trunks; broken tops; heart rot; insect or fungus problems that will lead to imminent death; undercut root systems that put the tree in imminent danger of falling; lean as a result of root failure that puts the tree in imminent danger of falling; or any other condition that puts the tree in imminent danger of being uprooted or falling into or along a watercourse or on to a building or structure.
“Designated Watercourse” – a river or stream within the City that is in conformity with the criteria set forth in this Chapter.
“Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)” – the agency with overall responsibility for administering the National Flood Insurance Program.
“Impervious Cover” – any paved, hardened or structural surface regardless of its composition including (but not limited to) buildings, roads, driveways, parking lots, loading/unloading spaces, decks, patios, and swimming pools.
“Land Development Activity” – any change to the surface area of a lot including (but not limited to) clearing, grubbing, stripping, removal of vegetation, dredging, grading, excavating, cut and fill, construction of buildings or structures, paving, and any other installation of impervious cover.
“Ohio Environmental Protection Agency” – the governmental agency referred to herein as the Ohio EPA.
“One Hundred Year Floodplain” - any land susceptible to being inundated by water from a base flood. The base flood is the flood that has a one percent or greater chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. The one hundred year floodplain shall be identified by the FEMA maps of the City.
“Ordinary High Water Mark” – the point of the bank to which the presence and action of surface water is so continuous as to leave an area marked by erosion, destruction or prevention of woody terrestrial vegetation, predominance of aquatic vegetation or other easily recognized characteristic. The ordinary high water mark defines the bed of a watercourse.
“Riparian Area” – naturally vegetated land adjacent to designated watercourses that, if appropriately sized, helps to stabilize stream banks, limit erosion, reduce flood size flows and/or filter and settle out runoff pollutants or performs other functions consistent with the purposes of these regulations.
“Riparian Setback” – the real property adjacent to a designated watercourse located within the area defined by the criteria set forth in this Chapter.
“Soil and Water Conservation District (CSWCD) – the Cuyahoga County, Ohio Soil and Water Conservation District, organized under Chapter 1515 of the Ohio Revised Code, including the Board of Supervisors and its designated employees.
“Soil Disturbing Activity” – clearing, grading, excavating, filling or other alteration of the earth’s surface where natural or human made groundcover is destroyed and which may result in, or contribute to, erosion and sediment pollution.
“Utility Service Lines” – public or private lines servicing septic systems, sanitary sewers, storm sewers, water, electricity, natural gas, telephone, cable television and other digital transmissions, and other utilities on individual lots as well as public and private lines servicing utilities to more than one lot.
“Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP)” – a facility at the end of a sanitary collection system, which processes the influent waste and discharges water to a receiving stream, treated to the standards of the Ohio EPA.
“Watercourse” – any brook, channel, creek, river, or stream having banks, a defined bed, and definite direction of flow, either continuously or intermittently flowing.
“Wetland” – those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, including swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.