For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning. Unless specifically defined below, words or phrases used in this chapter shall be interpreted so as to give them the meaning they have in common usage and to give this chapter its most reasonable application in light of its stated objectives. Where it states “means” is the literal definition.
“A” -ZONE. Areas subject to inundation by the 1% annual chance flood event. Because detailed hydraulic analyses have not been performed, no Base Flood Elevations (BFEs) or flood depths are shown.
“AE” ZONE. Areas subject to inundation by the 1% annual chance flood event determined by detailed methods. BFEs are shown within these zones.
ACCESSORY RESIDENTIAL STRUCTURE. A structure on the same parcel of property as the principal structure, used for parking of vehicles or typical residential equipment, or for limited storage. A SMALL ACCESSORY STRUCTURE is defined as one that has a footprint of less than 120 square feet, and a LOW VALUE ACCESSORY STRUCTURE as one that has a value of less than $1,000.
ADDITION (to an existing building) is an extension or increase in the floor area or height of a building or structure. Additions to existing buildings shall comply with the requirements for new construction regardless as to whether the addition is a substantial improvement or not. Where a firewall or load-bearing wall is provided between the addition and the existing building, the addition(s) shall be considered a separate building and must comply with the standards for new construction.
APPEAL. A request for a review of the building official’s interpretation of any provision of the chapter to the Construction Board of Adjustment and Appeal.
APPURTENANT STRUCTURE. A structure which is on the same parcel of property as the principal structure, the use of which is incidental to the use of the principal structure in light of its stated objectives.
AREA OF SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD. The land in the flood plain within a community, subject to a 1% or greater chance of flooding in any given year. For purposes of these regulations, the term “special flood hazard area (SFHA)” is synonymous in meaning with the phrase “area of special flood hazard”.
BASE FLOOD or 100 YEAR FLOOD. Means the flood having a 1% chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.
BASEMENT. Means area of a building having its floor subgrade (below ground level) on all sides.
BREAKAWAY WALL. Means a wall that is not part of the structural support of a building that is intended through its design and construction to collapse under specific lateral loading forces without causing damage to the elevated portion of the building or the supporting foundation system.
BUILDING. - See STRUCTURE.
BUILDING OFFICIAL. The individual charged with administration and enforcement of the building codes and flood plain regulations for the county.
BUILDING PERMIT. Includes mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and any other permits issued by the County Building Official.
COASTAL “AE” ZONE. Areas subject to inundation by at least 1% annual chance flood event as determined by detailed methods, and where wave action is expected with wave heights between 1.5 and 3.0 feet. COASTAL AE ZONES are landward of the VE Zone up to the Limit of Moderate Wave Action (LIMWA) line. This area may also be referred to as a Coastal “A” Zone.
COASTAL HIGH HAZARD AREA. Means an area of special flood hazard extending from offshore to the inland limit of a primary frontal dune along an open coast and any other area subject to flooding and high velocity waters caused by, but not limited to, hurricane wave wash. This includes zones V and VE.
CRITICAL FACILITY. Means a structure or facility that:
(1) Produces, uses, or stores highly volatile, flammable, explosive, toxic and/or water-reactive materials; or
(2) Is a hospital, nursing home, or housing likely to contain occupants who may not be sufficiently mobile to avoid death or injury during a flood; or
(3) Is a police station, fire station, vehicle and equipment storage facility or emergency operations center that is needed for flood response activities before, during or after a flood; or
(4) Is a public or private utility facility that is vital to maintaining or restoring normal services to flooded areas before, during or after a flood.
CRITICAL FEATURE. Means an integral and readily identifiable part of a flood protection system,
without which the flood protection provided by the entire system would be compromised.
CURVILINEAR LINE. Means the border on either a FHBM or FIRM that delineates the special flood, mudslide (i.e., mudflow) and/or flood-related erosion hazard areas and consists of a curved or contour line that follows the topography.
DATUM. National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29) on FIRMs dated November 17, 2004 or before and North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) on FIRMs dated after November 17, 2004.
DESIGN FLOOD ELEVATION. Base flood elevation (BFE) plus freeboard.
DEVELOPED AREA. Means an area of a community that is:
(1) A primarily urbanized, built-up area that is a minimum of 20 contiguous acres, has basic urban infrastructure including roads, utilities, communications, and public facilities, to sustain industrial, residential, and commercial activities, and
(a) Within which 75% or more of the parcels, tracts, or lots contain commercial, industrial, or residential structures or uses; or
(b) A single parcel, tract, or lot in which 75% of the area contains existing commercial or industrial structures or uses; or
(c) A subdivision developed at a density of at least two residential structures per acre within which 75% or more of the lots contain existing residential structures at the time the designation is adopted.
(2) Undeveloped parcel, tract, or lot, the combination of which is less than 20 acres and is contiguous on at least three sides to areas meeting the criteria of division (1)(a) above at the time the designation is adopted.
(3) A subdivision that is a minimum of 20 contiguous acres that has obtained all necessary government approvals, provided that the actual “start of construction” of structures has occurred on at least 10% of the lots or remaining lots of a subdivision of 10% of the maximum building coverage or remaining building coverage allowed for a single lot subdivision at the time the designation is adopted and construction of structures is underway. Residential subdivisions must meet the density criteria in division (1)(c) above of this definition.
DEVELOPMENT. Means any manmade change to improved or unimproved real estate including, but not limited to, buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavating, drilling operations, or storage of equipment or materials or comparable activity of operation; any material change in the use or appearance of any structure or in the land itself; the division of land into parcels; any change in the intensity of use of land (such as an increase in the number of dwelling units in a structure); and change from one use of another use; and any activity that alters a river, stream, lake, pond, canal, woodland, wetland, endangered species habitat, or other natural resource area. DEVELOPMENT does include agriculture and forestry operations.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS means the director of the Town of James Island Department of Public Works.
ELEVATED BUILDING. A non-basement building which has its lowest elevated floor raised above the ground level by means of fill, solid foundation perimeter walls, pilings, columns, piers, or shear walls.
EXISTING CONSTRUCTION. Means any structures for which the start of construction commenced before January 1, 1975. EXISTING CONSTRUCTION may also be referred to as “existing structures”.
EXISTING MANUFACTURED HOME PARK OR SUBDIVISION . Means 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) was completed before November 15,1973.
EXPANSION TO AN EXISTING MANUFACTURED HOME PARK OR SUBDIVISION. Means 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).
FARM STRUCTURE. A structure which is constructed on a farm, other than a residence or a structure attached to it, for use on the farm including, but not limited to, barns, sheds and poultry houses, but not including public livestock areas.
FEMA. Means the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
FLOOD or FLOODING. Means a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from:
(1) The overflow of inland or tidal waters; and/or
(2) The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source.
Note: A flood inundates a floodplain. Most floods fall into three major categories: riverine flooding, coastal flooding, and shallow flooding. Structures could fall in the floodplain.
FLOOD ELEVATION STUDY. Means an examination, evaluation and determination of flood hazards and, if appropriate, corresponding water surface elevations, or an examination, evaluation and determination of mudslide (i.e., mudflow) and/or flood-related erosion hazards.
FLOOD HAZARD BOUNDARY MAP (FHBM). Means an official map of a community, issued by the Federal Insurance Administrator, where the boundaries of the flood, mudslide (i.e., mudflow) and related erosion areas having special hazards have been designated.
FLOOD INSURANCE RATE MAP (FIRM). Means an official map of a community, on which the Federal Insurance Administrator has delineated both the areas of special flood hazard and the risk premium zones applicable to the community. A FIRM that has been made available digitally is called a Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map (DFIRM). A FIRM may also refer to a Flood Insurance Risk Map.
FLOOD INSURANCE STUDY. See FLOOD ELEVATION STUDY.
FLOOD PLAIN OR FLOOD-PRONE AREA. Means any land area susceptible to being inundated by water from any source.
FLOOD PLAIN MANAGEMENT. Means 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 flood plain management regulations.
FLOOD PLAIN MANAGEMENT REGULATIONS. Means such state or local regulations, in any combination thereof, which provide standards for the purpose of flood damage prevention and reduction.
FLOOD PROOFING. Means any combination of structural and non-structural additions, changes, or adjustments to structures which reduce or eliminate flood damage to real estate or improved real property, water and sanitary facilities, structures and their contents.
FLOODWAY. See REGULATORY FLOODWAY.
FLOODWAY ENCROACHMENT LINES. Means the lines marking the limits of floodways on federal, state and local flood plain maps.
FREEBOARD. A factor of safety usually expressed in feet above a mandatory base flood elevation for purposes of flood plain management.
FUNCTIONALLY DEPENDENT USE. Means a use which cannot perform its intended purpose unless it is located or carried out in close proximity to water, such as a docking or port facility necessary for the loading and unloading of cargo or passengers,
shipbuilding or ship repair. The term does not include long-term storage or related manufacturing facilities.
HAZARDOUS VELOCITIES. Hydrodynamic pressure must be considered in the design of any foundation system where velocity waters or the potential for debris flow exists. If flood velocities are excessive (greater than five feet per second), foundation systems other than solid foundations walls should be considered so that obstructions to damaging flood flows are minimized.
HIGHEST ADJACENT GRADE. Means the highest natural elevation of the ground surface, prior to construction, next to the proposed walls of a structure.
HISTORIC STRUCTURE. Means any structure that is:
(1) Listed individually in the National Register of Historic Places (a listing maintained by the Department of Interior) or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior as meeting the requirements for individual listing on the National Register;
(2) Certified or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior as contributing to the historical significance of a registered historic district or a district preliminarily determined by the Secretary to qualify as a registered historic district;
(3) Individually listed on a state inventory of historic places in states with historic preservation programs which have been approved by the Secretary of the Interior; or
(4) Individually listed on a local inventory of historic places that has been certified by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.
IMPROVEMENT. Any alteration, addition, or structural repair to an existing structure where “substantial improvement” or “substantial damage” is not a factor.
LAND CHARACTERISTIC is an attribute of land that can be measured or estimated.
LIMIT OF MODERATE WAVE ACTION (LIMWA) is the line shown on FIRMs to indicate the inland limit of the area expected to receive one- half foot or greater breaking waves during a 1% annual flood event.
LIMITED STORAGE. An area used for storage and intended to be limited to incidental items that can withstand exposure to the elements and have low flood damage potential. Such an area must be of flood resistant or breakaway material, void of utilities except for essential lighting and cannot be temperature controlled. If the area is located below the base flood elevation in an A, AE and A1-A30 zone it must meet the requirements of § 151.41(A)(4). If the area is located below the base flood elevation in a V, VE and V1-V30 zone it must meet the requirements of § 151.41(C).
LOW VALUE STRUCTURE. See ACCESSORY STRUCTURE.
LOWEST ADJACENT GRADE (LAG) is an elevation of the lowest ground surface that touches any deck support, exterior walls of a building or proposed building walls.
MANGROVE STAND. Means an assemblage of mangrove trees which is mostly low trees noted for a copious development of interlacing adventitious roots above the ground and which contain one or more of the following species: Black mangrove (Avicennia nitida); Red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle); White mangrove (Longunculariaracemosa); and buttonwood (Conocarpus erecta).
MANUFACTURED HOME. Means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which is built on a permanent chassis and is designed to meet HUD standards, for use with or without a permanent foundation when attached to the required utilities. The term MANUFACTURED HOME does not include a “recreational vehicle”.
MANUFACTURED HOME PARK OR SUBDIVISION. Means a parcel (or contiguous parcels) of land divided into two or more manufactured home lots for rent or sale.
MANUFACTURED HOME PERMANENT FOUNDATION. A foundation designed by a professional engineer registered in South Carolina, with said design subject to the approval of the building official. A bolt-on/bolt-off foundation system is considered as a permanent foundation for mobile homes placed into a manufactured home park.
MEAN SEA LEVEL. For the purpose of this chapter, the National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD) of 1929, North American Vertical Datum (NAVD) of 1988, or other datum, to which the base flood elevations shown on a community’s Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) are shown.
MODULAR BUILDING UNIT. A building or set of building components manufactured off-site and
transported to the point of use for installation or erection, with or without other specified components, as a finished building and not designed for ready removal to another site, and built in accordance to the Modular Construction Act of the State of South Carolina. This term is not to be limited to residential dwellings.
NEW CONSTRUCTION. Means, for flood plain management purposes, structures for which the start of construction commenced on or after the effective date of a Flood Plain Management Ordinance adopted by the community, November 15, 1973 and includes subsequent improvements to such structures. (Exception: An addition to an existing structure (built prior to November 15, 1973) is not considered “new construction” unless it is a substantial improvement.)
NEW DEVELOPMENT is any of the following actions undertaken by any person, including, without limitation, any public or private individual entity: a) division of combination of lots, tracts, or parcels of other divisions by plat or deed; b) the construction, installation, or alteration of land, a structure, impervious surface or drainage facility; c) clearing, scraping, grubbing or otherwise significantly disturbing the soil, vegetation, mud, sand or rock of a site, or changing the physical drainage characteristics of the site; or d) adding, removing, exposing, excavating, leveling, grading, digging, burrowing, dumping, piling, dredging, or otherwise disturbing the soil, vegetation, mud, sand or rock of a site. The transition from native landscapes to a developed condition reduces the infiltration, evapotranspiration, and surface roughness onsite, regardless of the amount of green space and BMPs implemented into the site design.
NEW MANUFACTURED HOME PARK OR SUBDIVISION. Means 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) was completed on or after November 15,1973.
PLANNING AND ZONING OFFICIAL. The individual charged with administration and enforcement of planning and zoning for the town.
PRIMARY OCEANFRONT SAND DUNE. Means a continuous or nearly continuous mound or ridge of sand with relatively steep seaward and landward slopes immediately landward and adjacent to the beach and subject to erosion and overtopping from high tides and waves during major coastal storms. The inland limit of the primary frontal dune occurs at the point where there is a distinct change from a relatively steep slope to a relatively mild slope.
RECREATIONAL VEHICLE. Means a vehicle, for flood insurance purposes, which is:
(1) Built on a single chassis;
(2) Four hundred square feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projection;
(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.
REDEVELOPMENT is a development on a previously developed site where the impervious surface on the previously developed site is equal to or greater than 20% of the total site or where any repair, reconstruction, or improvements, to that site or to any structures located on that site such that the cumulative costs of repairs, reconstruction, or improvements, over a five-year period equals or exceeds 49% of the fair market value of the property and the structures located on that property. The cost of repairs, reconstruction, or improvements includes remodeling of existing building interiors, resurfacing of paved areas, and exterior building changes. The cost of repairs excludes ordinary maintenance activities that do not materially increase or concentrate stormwater runoff, or cause additional nonpoint source pollution.
REPETITIVE LOSS. A building covered by a contract for flood insurance that has incurred flood related damages on two occasions during a ten-year period ending on the date of the event for which a second claim is made, in which the cost of repairing flood damage, on the average, equaled or exceeded 25% of the market value of the building at the time of each such flood event.
REPETITIVE LOSS AREA is an area with one or more repetitive loss structures and includes at-risk properties for flooding who may or may not be in a special flood hazard area (SFHA) as well as those who have made a flood insurance claim previously but do not qualify as a repetitive loss property.
REPETITIVE LOSS PROPERTY is an insurable building for which two or more claims of more than $1,000 were paid by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) within any rolling ten- year period, since 1978. A RL PROPERTY may or may not be currently insured by the NFIP.
RESILIENCE is the ability of a community to respond, adapt, and thrive under changing conditions, including, but not limited to, recurrent burdens and sudden disasters.
REGULATORY FLOODWAY. Means the channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than one-half of one foot.
REMEDY A VIOLATION. Means to bring the structure or other development into compliance with state or local flood plain management regulations, or, if this is not reasonably possible as provided in the standards for grant of a variance, to reduce the impacts of its noncompliance. Ways that impacts may be reduced include protecting the structure or other affected development from flood damages, implementing the enforcement provisions of the ordinance or otherwise deterring future similar violations, or reducing federal, state or local financial exposure with regard to the structure or other development.
RIVERINE. Means relating to, formed by, or resembling a river (including tributaries), stream, brook, etc.
SAND DUNE. Means naturally occurring accumulations of sand in ridges or mounds landward of the beach.
SEA LEVEL RISE is an increase in sea level that is primarily related to climate change: added water from melting ice sheets and glaciers and the expansion of seawater as it warms. Global sea level has been increasing over the past century, and the rate has increased in recent decades.
SECTION 1316 OF THE NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE ACT OF 1968. The Act provides that no new flood insurance shall be provided for any property found by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to have been declared by a state or local authority to be in violation of state of local ordinances.
SEVERE REPETITIVE LOSS PROPERTY is a property with at least four claims for buildings and/or contents of more than $5,000 or at least two building-only payments that cumulatively exceeded the value of the property.
SIXTY-YEAR SETBACK. Means a distance equal to 60 times the average annual long term recession rate at a site, measured from the reference feature.
SMALL ACCESSORY STRUCTURES. See ACCESSORY STRUCTURE.
SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD AREA (SFHA). See AREA OF SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD.
SPECIAL HAZARD AREA. Means an area having special flood, mudslide (i.e., mudflow), or flood-related erosion hazards, and shown on a flood hazard boundary map or flood insurance rate map.
START OF CONSTRUCTION. For other than new construction or substantial improvements under the Coastal Barrier Resources Act (Pub. L. 97-348), includes substantial improvement, and means the date the construction permit was issued, provided the actual start of construction, repair, reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition placement, or other improvement was within 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.
STEM WALLS are a solid perimeter foundation wall on a continuous spread footing backfilled to the underside of the floor slab. Refer to Flood Elevation Diagram Number 1B.
STRUCTURE. Means, for flood plain management purposes, a walled and roofed building, including gas or liquid storage tanks, that is principally above ground, as well as modular and manufactured homes.
SUBDIVISION is all divisions of a tract or parcel of land into two or more lots, building sites, or other divisions for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of sale, lease, or building development, and includes all division of land involving a new street or change in existing streets, and includes resubdivision which would involve the further division or relocation of lot lines of any lot or lots within a subdivision previously made and approved or recorded according to law; or, the alteration of any streets or the establishment of any new streets within any subdivision previously made and approved or recorded according to law, and includes combination of lots of record. (Stormwater and Planning/Zoning)
SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE. Means damage of any origin sustained by a structure whereby the cost of restoring the structure to its before-damaged condition would equal or exceed 50% of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred as determined by the Building Official. Flood plain management requirements for new construction apply to substantial damage.
SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT. Means any reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition or other improvement of a structure, taking place during any five consecutive years in the life of a building, the cumulative cost of which equals or exceeds 50% of the market value of the existing structure at the date of “start of construction” of the improvement as determined by the Building Official. This term includes structures which have incurred “substantial damage,” regardless of the actual repair work performed. The term does not, however, include either:
(1) Any project for improvement of a structure to correct existing violations of state or local health, sanitary, or safety code specifications which have been identified by the local code enforcement official and which are the minimum necessary to assure safe living conditions; or
(2) Any alteration of a historic structure provided that the alteration will not preclude the structure’s continued designation as a historic structure.
THIRTY-YEAR SETBACK. Means a distance equal to 30 times the average annual long term recession rate at a site, measured from the reference feature.
UNNUMBERED A ZONE is a zone without base flood elevations determined. These are still considered special flood hazard areas.
VARIANCE. A grant of relief from the requirements of this chapter which permits construction in a manner otherwise prohibited by this chapter where specific enforcement would result in exceptional hardship.
VE ZONE. High risk areas subject to inundation by at least a 1% annual chance flood event as determined by detailed methods, and where wave action is expected with wave heights of more than three feet. BFEs or base flood depths are shown within these zones.
VIOLATION. Means the failure of a structure or other development to be fully compliant with the city’s flood plain management regulations. A structure or
other development without the elevation certificate, other certifications, or other evidence of compliance required in this chapter is presumed to be in violation until such time as that documentation is provided.
WATER SURFACE ELEVATION. The height of floods of various magnitudes and frequencies in the flood plains of coastal or riverine areas.
WATERSHEDS are areas of land that drain to a single point, bounded by higher elevations at the edges. Within a watershed, water travels over land until it reaches a body of water, and as the water passes farther downstream, draining a larger area, eventually everything leads to the ocean. In coastal areas, wetlands border the land, and many of the local streams and creeks enter wetlands border the land, and many of the local streams and creeks enter wetlands before discharging to the ocean. Wetlands perform a crucial function in the watershed, intercepting pollutants carried downstream and removing them from the water in a natural treatment process. Additionally, wetlands slow the water down, acting as a buffer for hurricanes and reducing severity of flooding.
X ZONE (SHADED). Moderate risk areas within the 0.2% annual chance flood plain, areas of 1% annual chance flooding where the average depths are less than one foot. No BFEs or base flood depths are shown within these zones.
X ZONE (UNSHADED). Minimal risk areas outside the 1% and 0.2% annual chance flood plains. No BFEs or base flood depths are shown within these zones.
(Ord. 2016-14, passed 1-19-2017; Ord. 2020-11, passed 12-17-2020)