Unless specifically defined below, words or phrases used in these regulations shall be interpreted so as to give them the meaning they have in common usage and to give this ordinance its most reasonable application.
(1) Accessory Structure means a structure on the same lot with, and of a nature customarily incidental and subordinate to, the principal structure.
(2) Appeal means a request for review of the floodplain administrator’s interpretation of any provision of these regulations or a request for a variance.
(3) Area of special flood hazard means the land in the floodpain subject to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year. Areas of special flood hazard are designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as Zone A, AE, AH, AO, A1-30 and A99.
(4) Base Flood means the flood having a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. The base flood may also be referred to as the one percent (1%) chance annual flood or one-hundred (100) year flood.
(5) Basement means any area of the building having its floor subgrade (below ground level) on all sides.
(6) 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, excavation or drilling operations or storage of equipment or materials.
(7) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) means the agency with the overall responsibility for administering the National Flood Insurance Program.
(8) Fill means a deposit of earth material placed by artificial means.
(9) Flood or Flooding means a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from:
A. The overflow of inland or tidal waters, and/or
B. The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source.
(10) Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) means an official map on which the Federal Emergency Management Agency has delineated the areas of special flood hazard.
(11) Flood Insurance Risk Zones means the zones designations on FIRMs that indicate the magnitude of the flood hazard in specific areas of a community. Following are the zone definitions:
A. Zone A: Special flood hazard areas inundated by the 100-year flood; base flood elevations are not determined.
B. Zones A1-30 and Zone AE: Special flood hazard areas inundated by the 100-year flood; base flood elevations are determined.
C. Zone AO: Special flood hazard areas inundated by the 100-year flood; with flood depths of 1 to 3 feet (usually sheet flow on sloping terrain); average depths are determined.
D. Zone AH: Special flood hazard areas inundated by the 100-year flood; flood depths of 1 to 3 feet (usually areas of ponding); base flood elevations are determined.
E. Zone A99: Special flood hazard areas inundated by the 100-year flood to be protected from the 100-year flood by a Federal flood protection system under construction; no base flood elevations are determined.
F. Zone B and Zone X (shaded): Areas of 500-year flood; areas subject to the 100-year flood with average depths of less than 1 foot or with contributing drainage area less than 1 square mile; and areas protected by levees from the base flood.
G. Zone C and Zone X (unshaded): Areas determined to be outside the 500- year floodplain.
H. Zone X (Future Base Flood): Also known as area of future conditions flood hazard, the land area that would be inundated by the one percent annual chance flood based on future conditions hydrology.
(12) Flood Insurance Study (FIS) means the official report in which the Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided flood profiles, floodway boundaries, and the water surface elevations of the base flood.
(13) Floodway means the channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that have been reserved in order to pass the base flood discharge. A floodway is typically determined through a hydraulic and hydrologic engineering analysis such that the cumulative increase in the water surface elevation of the base flood discharge is no more than a designated height. In no case shall the designated height be more than one foot at any point within the community.
(14) Historic structure means any structure that is:
A. Listed individually in the National Register of Historic Places (a listing maintained by the U.S. Department of Interior) or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior as meeting the requirements for individual listings on the National Register;
B. 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; or
C. Individually listed on the State of Ohio's inventory of historic places maintained by the Ohio Historic Preservation Office.
(15) Hydrologic and hydraulic engineering analysis: is an analysis performed by a professional engineer, registered in the State of Ohio, in accordance with standard engineering practices as accepted by FEMA, used to determine flood elevations and/or floodway boundaries.
(16) Letter of Map Change (LOMC) is an official FEMA determination, by letter, to amend or revise effective Flood Insurance Rate Maps, Flood Boundary and Floodway Maps, and Flood Insurance Studies. LOMCs are broken down into the following categories:
A. Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) is a revision based on technical data showing that a property was incorrectly included in a designated special flood hazard area. A LOMA amends the current effective Flood Insurance Rate Map and establishes that a specific property is not located in a special flood hazard area.
B. Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) is a revision based on technical data that, usually due to manmade changes, shows changes to flood zones, flood elevations, floodplain and floodway delineations, and planimetric features. One common type of LOMR, a LOMR-F, is a determination concerning whether a structure or parcel has been elevated by fill above the base flood elevation and is, therefore, excluded from the special flood hazard area.
C. Conditional Letter of Map Revision (CLOMR) is a formal review and comment by FEMA as to whether a proposed project complies with the minimum National Flood Insurance Program floodplain management criteria. A CLOMR does not amend or revise effective Flood Insurance Rate Maps, Flood Boundary and Floodway Maps, or Flood Insurance Studies.
(17) Lowest floor means the lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area (including basement) of a structure. This definition excludes an “enclosure below the lowest floor” which is an unfinished or flood resistant enclosure usable solely for parking of vehicles, building access or storage, in an area other than a basement area, provided that such enclosure is built in accordance with the applicable design requirements specified in these regulations for enclosures below the lowest floor.
(18) Manufactured home means 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 connected to the required utilities. The term "manufactured home" does not include a "recreational vehicle". For the purposes of these regulations, a manufactured home includes manufactured homes and mobile homes as defined in Chapter 3733 of the Ohio Revised Code.
(19) Manufactured home park means as specified in the Ohio Administrative Code 3701-27-01, a manufactured home park means any tract of land upon which three or more manufactured homes, used for habitation are parked, either free of charge or for revenue purposes, and includes any roadway, building, structure, vehicle, or enclosure used or intended for use as part of the facilities of the park. A tract of land that is subdivided and the individual lots are not for rent or rented, but are for sale or sold for the purpose of installation of manufactured homes on the lots, is not a manufactured home park, even though three or more manufactured homes are parked thereon, if the roadways are dedicated to the local government authority.
(20) National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is a Federal program enabling property owners in participating communities to purchase insurance protection against losses from flooding. This insurance is designed to provide an insurance alternative to disaster assistance to meet the escalating costs of repairing damage to buildings and their contents caused by floods. Participation in the NFIP is based on an agreement between local communities and the Federal government that states if a community will adopt and enforce floodplain management regulations to reduce future flood risks to all development in special flood hazard areas, the Federal government will make flood insurance available within the community as a financial protection against flood loss.
(21) New construction means structures for which the "start of construction" commenced on or after the initial effective date of the Village of Johnstown’s Flood Insurance Rate Map, May 17, 1982, and includes any subsequent improvements to such structures.
(22) Recreational vehicle means a vehicle which is (1) built on a single chassis, (2) 400 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.
(23) Special Flood Hazard Area means the land in the floodplain subject to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year. Special flood hazard areas are designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Flood Insurance Rate Maps, Flood Insurance Studies, Flood Boundary and Floodway Maps and Flood Hazard Boundary Maps as Zones A, AE, AH, AO, A1-30, and A99. Special flood hazard areas may also refer to areas that are flood prone and designated from other federal state or local sources of data including but not limited to historical flood information reflecting high water marks, previous flood inundation areas, and flood prone soils associated with a watercourse.
(24) Start of construction means the date the building 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 a building.
(25) Structure means a walled and roofed building, manufactured home, or gas or liquid storage tank that is principally above ground.
(26) 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 fifty percent (50%) of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.
(27) Substantial Improvement means any reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition, or other improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50 percent 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, however, include:
A. Any improvement to a structure that is considered “new construction,”
B. 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 prior to the application for a development permit by the local code enforcement official and which are the minimum necessary to assure safe living conditions; or
C. Any alteration of a "historic structure," provided that the alteration would not preclude the structure's continued designation as a "historic structure".
(28) Variance means a grant of relief from the standards of these regulations consistent with the variance conditions herein.
(29) Violation means the failure of a structure or other development to be fully compliant with these regulations.
(Ord. 01-07. Passed 4-3-07.)