DEFINITIONS
Ambient Air Quality - The general air quality surrounding buildings or other structures.
Bikeway - A bicycle path, in the form of a special reserved lane on a street or separate facility, such as in connection with a greenway.
Bufferyard - The portion of a yard where special plantings may be required by an Ordinance to separate and partially screen adjacent land uses providing more compatibility between uses.
Built Environment - One’s surroundings, including any alterations to the natural environment other than those due to natural processes.
Capital Improvements Program(CIP) - A detailed schedule of capital improvements that the local government expects to undertake within a given period (five years is a usual period).
Clustered Development - As it refers to subdivisions, a clustered development is one where building lots are grouped together through a transfer of allowable density within the subdivided tract. Lots smaller than those allowed in a regular subdivision are allowed, provided the remaining land is reserved as open space. Such a layout provides for more efficient provision of public services and infrastructure, and preserves open space.
Collector Streets - Streets within neighborhoods which collect traffic from local streets and channel it into the arterial system. Collector streets should be designed so as not to be used as shortcuts by non neighborhood traffic.
Complete Streets - A complete street is a road that is designed to be safe for drivers; bicyclists; transit vehicles and users; and pedestrians of all ages and abilities. The complete streets concept focuses not just on individual roads but on changing the decision-making and design process so that al users are routinely considered during the planning, designing, building and operating of all roadways. It is about policy and institutional change.
Comprehensive Plan - Compiled policies adopted by the Town Council, related to various aspects of the town, including: land use, housing, transportation, water/sewer, community facilities, natural environment, etc. Comprehensive Plan policies are used by the Council, boards and committees, developers and land owners, to guide the growth and development of the community.
Conservation Easement - The granting of a limited interest in property rights to achieve conservation objectives.
Critical Root Zone - The area under a tree which includes all land within the drip-line of the tree. The drip-line is measured by a vertical line extending from the outermost portion of the tree’s canopy to the ground. The critical root zone is that area where the roots of the tree must be maintained or protected for the tree’s survival.
Development Standards - Criteria to guide certain aspects of site development, such as architecture and landscaping, to ensure that the town’s character is protected and enhanced in accordance with the goals and objectives of the Comprehensive Plan.
Downtown Banner Program - A program in which the town periodically places banners on light posts in the downtown. These banners help delineate the downtown area and improve community identity.
Downtown Gateway Area (DGA) - That portion of the downtown lying west of the Downtown Core and centered on the US 421/Williams Road interchange.
Floodplains - The channel and area abutting a watercourse, which would be covered with water during the one hundred year flood as designated by reports and data provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Forsyth County Historic Properties Commission - The public body which reviews and designates local historic properties. This body also issues certificates of appropriateness for structural/architectural changes to designated properties.
Gateway - An entrance into an area or region.
Greenways - An open space network or pedestrian trail often located along streams connecting residential areas with parks and commercial centers. These may be developed as walking/bicycle paths or left as open space.
Growth Management - Is a concept describing community policies which influence the quality, quantity, location, timing, intensity, and character of Lewisville’s new development and existing open space.
Housing Density - The number of dwelling units allowed per acre of land.
Impervious Surface Cover - Any structure or material which significantly reduces or prevents natural absorption of stormwater into the soil. Impervious surface cover includes any built upon area including, but not limited to, buildings or other surfaces with roofs, sidewalks, driveways, parking lots, streets, and any concrete, stone, brick , asphalt, or gravel surface.
Inspections - City County Inspections Division works to ensure that the construction, alteration, or repair of structures in Forsyth County, Winston-Salem and other jurisdictions in the county adhere to the established building codes and standards.
Local Streets - Roads that provide neighborhoods with access to the collector and arterial road system. Local streets are intended to provide access into and out of neighborhoods, not through them.
Locally Designated Landmarks - Landmarks designated by the Town Council to be of historic value.
Low Density Residential Development - Is defined in this plan as a ratio of 0 to 4.8 housing units per acre of land.
Low Impact Development (LID) - is a term used to describe a land planning and engineering design approach to managing stormwater runoff. LID emphasizes conservation and use of on-site natural features to protect water quality.
Manufactured Housing - Housing units built at a site other than where the units will be located.
Minimum Housing Code - A set of standards that define a community’s minimum requirements for decent, safe, and sanitary housing.
Mixed Use Development - Areas where residential structures are predominant, but would also be appropriate for limited office and institutional type uses, and in which creates greater choices in living and working conditions.
Natural Environment - Soil, air, and water resources relatively undisturbed by people.
Open Space - The land used for recreation, resource protection, amenity, and/or bufferyards. Open space may include, but is not limited to, lawns, farmland, walkways, active recreation areas, playgrounds, wooded areas, greenways, vistas, wetlands.
Ordinance - An authoritative decree or law; a municipal regulation (Webster).
Overlay District - A zoning district placed over areas with standards for design, landscaping, or other regulations that are in addition to the underlying zoning classification.
Park and Ride Facilities - Outlying parking lots developed along public transit routes, to which commuters will drive in order to use public transit. These facilities encourage individuals to make fewer automobile trips to the Central Business District or employment centers.
Pedestrian Scale - A built environment whose atmosphere, size, and architectural detail, make it conducive to conducting one’s daily affairs by foot or bicycle. Public amenities and facilities usually associated with pedestrian scale include sidewalks, small plazas, and benches.
Piedmont Land Conservancy - An organization funded by the state and private donations which permanently protects important lands to conserve our region’s rivers and streams, natural and scenic areas, wildlife habitat, and farm land for present and future generations.
Planned Residential Development (PRD) - A residentially zoned area, planned and developed as a unit, which is characterized by environmentally sensitive design through the use of flexible development standards.
Planning Board - The appointed body whose purpose is to make recommendations to the Elected Body regarding land use matters.
Preferred Land Use Plan - Preferred Land Use Map adopted by Town of Lewisville.
Setback - The minimum required horizontal distance between a structure and the lot line or street centerline.
Single Family Detached Unit - A home built on its site that shares no common walls with another unit.
Site Plan - A drawing of the development of a particular tract of land. Usually included are the size of structures and their orientation on the lot, lot size and configuration, topography and grading, paving areas, parking and landscaping.
Solid Waste - Commonly known as trash or garbage, is a waste type consisting of everyday items we consume and discard. It predominantly includes food wastes, yard wastes, containers and product packaging, and other miscellaneous inorganic wastes from residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial sources. Examples of inorganic wastes are appliances, newspapers, clothing, food scrapes, boxes, disposable tableware, office and classroom paper, furniture, wood pallets, rubber tires, and cafeteria wastes. The collection is performed by the municipality or its contractor within a given area.
Solid Waste Disposal - The final placement of refuse that is not salvaged or recycled.
Special Intense Development Allocation (SIDA) - Also known as the 10/70 Rule. This watershed regulation allows the town to designate 10% of its land area within the Yadkin River Watershed IV to be developed at an impervious surface coverage of 70%, rather than the standard requirements of 24% or 36% allowable impervious surface coverage for watershed lands. (See Water Supply Watershed Regulations below for more information.)
Specimen Tree - Any tree that is determined to be of high value to the community because of its species, size, age, health or other professionally defined criteria.
Stormwater Management Program - A program, including structural design guidelines and regulation, designed to lessen the negative impacts of runoff from urban surfaces, such as roads and parking lots, that result from precipitation.
Stream Buffer - The strip of land adjacent to a lake or natural watercourse, the width of which is measured from the edge of the water to the nearest edge of the developed area. Often, the outer 25% of the stream buffer contains natural or artificial means of confining visible siltation.
Stub Out Streets - Temporary “dead-end” streets which could be opened to provide access to adjoining properties.
Thoroughfares - An existing or proposed freeway/expressway, major thoroughfare, or minor thoroughfare as shown on the Forsyth County Thoroughfare Plan.
Thoroughfare, Major - A category of streets identified on the Forsyth County Thoroughfare Plan, which functions as the primary traffic arteries of the community. These arteries function to move intra-city and inter-city traffic, yet they may also provide access to abutting property. Major thoroughfares range from two-lane streets carrying minor traffic volumes to major thoroughfares with four or more traffic lanes.
Thoroughfare, Minor - A category of streets identified on the Forsyth County Thoroughfare Plan, which collect traffic from collector and local streets and carry it to the major thoroughfares. They may supplement major thoroughfares by facilitating minor traffic movements. These streets may also provide access to abutting property.
Thoroughfare Plan - A map adopted by each municipality, Forsyth County, the Transportation Advisory Committee, and the North Carolina Department of Transportation, contained in Vision 2005 as subsequently amended and showing the location of existing and proposed freeways/expressways, major thoroughfares and minor thoroughfares. The Thoroughfare Plan map is on file in the office of the Winston-Salem Department of Transportation.
Transit Corridor - An area of land on either side of fixed bus or fixed guideway transit service. The width of this corridor varies depending upon the type of transit service and is defined as the area in which transit service influences a number of factors, including land use and individual travel patterns.
Tree Protection Ordinance - Local regulations intended to conserve and protect trees, vegetation, and woodlands for environmental and/or aesthetic objectives. This ordinance may include tree planting and reforestation requirements. Such ordinances may apply to public and/or private lands.
Unified Development Ordinances (UDO) - The compilation of regulations that affect land use including the Zoning Ordinance, the Environmental Ordinance, and the Subdivision Ordinance/Regulations. Lewisville has adopted the UDO as its regulatory authority.
USAC of E - U. S. Army Corps of Engineers
Water Supply Watershed - An area from which water drains to a point of impoundment, and the water is then used principally as a source for a public water supply.
Water Supply Watershed Regulations - Watersheds are regulated by the State of North Carolina and/or by local jurisdictions. Watershed regulations restrict such things as density and impervious surface cover for land within the designated watershed area. A large portion of Lewisville is in the Yadkin River Watershed IV, which is controlled by local watershed regulations. (See SIDA above for more information on Lewisville’s watershed regulations.)
Wetlands - Areas inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration able to support a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.
Xeriscaping - The use of landscaping and gardening with drought tolerant plants that minimizes water usage.
Zoning Board of Adjustment - A quasi-judicial board charged with hearing appeals from the Zoning Administrator’s decisions; granting in specified circumstances special exceptions, special-use permits or conditional-use permits under the zoning ordinance; and issuing variances under the zoning ordinance, all pursuant to provisions of Part 3 of Article 19 of Chapter 160A of the General Statutes and the zoning ordinance.