For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
BUILDING. See STRUCTURE.
DEVELOPMENT.
(1) Any human-made change to improved or unimproved real estate including but not limited to:
(a) Construction, reconstruction or placement of a building or any addition to a building;
(b) Installing a manufactured home on a site, preparing a site for a manufactured home or installing a recreational vehicle on a site for more than 180 days;
(c) Installing utilities, erection of walls and fences, construction of roads or similar projects;
(d) Construction of flood control structures such as levees, dikes, dams, channel improvements and the like;
(e) Mining, dredging, filling, grading, excavation or drilling operations;
(f) Construction or reconstruction of bridges or culverts;
(g) Storage of materials; or
(h) Any other activity that might change the direction, height or velocity of flood or surface waters.
(2) The term does not include activities such as the maintenance of existing buildings and facilities such as painting, re-roofing, resurfacing roads or gardening, plowing, and similar agricultural practices that do not involve filling, grading, excavation or the construction of permanent buildings.
EXISTING 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 before the effective date of this chapter.
EXPANSION TO AN EXISTING MANU- FACTURED 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).
FBFM. Flood Boundary and Floodway Map.
FEMA. Federal Emergency Management Agency.
FHBM. Flood Hazard Boundary Map.
FIRM. Flood Insurance Rate Map.
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.
FLOODPLAIN. The channel proper and the areas adjoining any wetland, lake or watercourse which have been or hereafter may be covered by the regulatory flood. The floodplain includes both the floodway and the floodway fringe districts.
FLOOD PROTECTION GRADE (FPG). The elevation of the regulatory flood plus two feet at any given location in the SFHA.
FLOODWAY. The channel of a river or stream and those portions of the floodplains adjoining the channel which are reasonably required to efficiently carry and discharge the peak flood flow of the regulatory flood of any river or stream.
FLOODWAY FRINGE. Those portions of the floodplain lying outside the floodway.
LETTER OF MAP AMENDMENT (LOMA). An amendment to the currently effective FEMA map that establishes that a property is not located in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA). A LOMA is only issued by FEMA.
LETTER OF MAP REVISION (LOMR). An official revision to the currently effective FEMA map. It is issued by FEMA and changes flood zones, delineations and elevations.
LOWEST FLOOR. The lowest elevation described among the following:
(1) The lowest floor of a building;
(2) The basement floor;
(3) The garage floor, if the garage is connected to the building;
(4) The first floor of a building elevated on pilings or constructed on a crawl space;
(5) The floor level of an enclosure below an elevated building where the walls of the following requirements are satisfied:
(a) The walls are designed to automatically equalize hydrostatic flood forces by allowing for the entry and exit of flood water;
(b) At least two openings are designed and maintained for the entry and exit of flood water, and these openings provide a total area of at least one square inch for every one square foot of enclosed floor area subject to flooding. The bottom of an opening can be no more than one foot above grade. Doorways and windows do not qualify as openings under this clause.
MANUFACTURED HOME. A structure, transportable in one or more sections, which is built on a permanent chassis and is designed for use with or without a permanent foundation when attached to the required utilities. The term does not include a “recreational vehicle.”
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 this chapter.
RECREATIONAL VEHICLE. A vehicle which is built on a single chassis, 400 square feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projections, designed to be self-propelled or permanently towable by a light duty truck, and designed primarily not for use as a permanent dwelling, but as quarters for recreational camping, travel or seasonal use.
REGULATORY FLOOD. The flood having a 1% probability of being equaled or exceeded in any given year, as calculated by a method and procedure which is acceptable to and approved by the Indiana Natural Resources Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The regulatory flood elevation at any location is as defined in § 151.05. The term is also known as the “Base Flood.”
SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD AREA (SFHA). Those lands within the jurisdiction of the county that are subject to inundation by the regulatory flood. The SFHAs of the county are generally identified as such on the Flood Insurance Rate Map of the county prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and dated July 16, 1981.
STRUCTURE. A structure that is principally above ground and is enclosed by walls and a roof. The term includes a gas or liquid storage tank, a manufactured home or a prefabricated building. The term also includes recreational vehicles to be installed on a site for more than 180 days.
SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT. Any reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition or other improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50% of the market value of the structure before the start of construction of the improvement. This term includes structures which have incurred substantial damage regardless of the actual repair work performed. The term does not include improvements of structures to correct existing violations of state or local health, sanitary or safety code requirements or any alteration of a historic structure; provided, that the alteration will not preclude the structures continued designation as a historic structure.
(BCC Ord. 1994-53, passed 1-23-95; Am. BCC Ord. 2002-19, passed 6-3-02)