For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
100-YEAR FLOOD. The BASE FLOOD.
100-YEAR FLOODPLAIN. The “area of special flood hazard.”
ACCESSORY USE. A use which is incidental and subordinate to the principal use of the parcel of land on which it is located.
APPEAL. A request for a review of the Floodplain Administrator’s interpretation of any provision of this chapter.
AREA OF SHALLOW FLOODING. A designated AO or AH zone on the flood insurance rate map. The base flood depths range from one to three feet; a clearly defined channel does not exist; the path of flooding is unpredictable and undetermined; and velocity flow may be evident. The flooding is characterized by ponding or sheet flow.
AREA OF SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD. The area subject to flooding during the base flood. It includes the areas shown as A, A1-A30, AE, AO, AH and A99 in the flood insurance study, on a flood insurance rate map or a flood boundary and floodway map. It is also known as the 100-year floodplain or special flood hazard area. The AREA OF SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD consists of the floodway and the floodway fringe.
BASE FLOOD. A flood which has a 1% chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year, also called the 100-YEAR FLOOD. BASE FLOOD is the term used throughout this chapter.
BASEMENT. Any area of the building having its floor subgrade or below ground level on all sides.
BUILDING. See STRUCTURE.
CITY. The City Of Red Bluff, California.
DEVELOPMENT. 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.
ENCROACHMENT. The advance or infringement of uses, obstructions, fill, excavation, buildings, structures, fences, trash, debris or development into a floodplain, which may impede or alter the flow capacity of a floodplain.
ESSENTIAL FACILITY. Facilities necessary to maintain or enhance emergency services, including, but not limited to Police Department and Fire Department facilities; hospitals, emergency shelters, facilities listed in Table 16K of the California Building Code, and other facilities necessary to maintain or enhance public health and safety as determined by the Floodplain Administrator.
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 the initial floodplain management regulations adopted by the city.
EXPANSION TO AN EXISTING MANUFACTURED 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.
FLOOD, FLOODING or FLOOD WATER. A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of land areas from the overflow of inland waters; the unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source; and/or mudslides.
FLOOD BOUNDARY AND FLOODWAY MAP or FBFM. The official map on which the Federal Emergency Management Agency or Federal Insurance Administration has delineated both the areas of special flood hazards and the floodway.
FLOOD HAZARD BOUNDARY MAP or FHBM. The official map on which the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or Federal Insurance Administration (FIA) has delineated the areas of flood hazards.
FLOOD INSURANCE RATE MAP or FIRM. The official map on which the Federal Emergency Management Agency or Federal Insurance Administration has delineated both the areas of special flood hazards and the risk premium zones applicable to the community.
FLOOD INSURANCE STUDY or FIS. The official report provided by the Federal Insurance Administration that includes flood profiles, the flood insurance rate map, the flood boundary and floodway map and the water surface elevation of the base flood.
FLOODPLAIN or FLOOD-PRONE AREA. Any land area susceptible to being inundated by water from any source.
FLOODPLAIN ADMINISTRATOR. The individual appointed to administer and enforce the floodplain management regulations is the Community Development Director or designee.
FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT. 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, floodplain management regulations and open space plans.
FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT REGULATIONS. This chapter and other zoning ordinances, subdivision regulations, building codes, health regulations, special purpose ordinances, such as grading and erosion control, and other applications of police power which control development in flood-prone areas. This term describes federal, state or local regulations in any combination thereof which provide standards for preventing and reducing flood loss and damage.
FLOODPROOFING. Any combination of structural and nonstructural additions, changes or adjustments to nonresidential structures, which reduce or eliminate flood damage to real estate or improved real property, water and sanitary facilities, structures and their contents.
FLOODWAY. 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 base (100-year) flood (water) surface elevation more than one foot. It is also referred to as REGULATORY FLOODWAY.
FLOODWAY ENCROACHMENT LINES. The lines marking the limits of floodways on federal, state and local floodplain maps.
FLOODWAY FRINGE. The area of the floodplain on either side of the “regulatory floodway” where encroachment may be permitted.
FRAUD AND VICTIMIZATION. As related to §§ 26.6-1 et seq. of this chapter, the variance granted must not cause fraud on or victimization of the public. In examining this requirement, the City Council will consider the fact that every newly constructed building adds to government responsibilities and remains a part of the community for 50 to 100 years. Buildings that are permitted to be constructed below the base flood elevation are subject during all those years to increased risk of damage from floods, while future owners of the property and the community as a whole are subject to all the costs, inconvenience, danger and suffering that those increased flood damages bring. In addition, future owners may purchase the property, unaware that it is subject to potential flood damage, and can be insured only at very high flood insurance rates.
FUNCTIONALLY DEPENDENT USE. A use which cannot perform its intended purpose unless it is located or carried out in close proximity to water. The term includes only docking facilities, port facilities that are necessary for the loading and unloading of cargo or passengers, and ship building and ship repair facilities, and does not include long-term storage or related manufacturing facilities.
GOVERNING BODY. The City Council.
HARDSHIP. The exceptional hardship that would result from a failure to grant the requested variance. The City Council requires that the variance be exceptional, unusual and peculiar to the property involved. ECONOMIC OR FINANCIAL HARDSHIP alone is not exceptional. Inconvenience, aesthetic considerations, physical handicaps, personal preferences or the disapproval of one’s neighbors likewise cannot, as a rule, qualify as an exceptional HARDSHIP. All of these problems can be resolved through other means without granting a variance, even if the alternative is more expensive, or requires the property owner to build elsewhere or put the parcel to a different use than originally intended.
HIGHEST ADJACENT GRADE. The highest natural elevation of the ground surface prior to construction next to the proposed walls of a structure.
HISTORIC STRUCTURE. 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 Interior; or
(4) Individually listed on a local inventory of historic places in communities with historic preservation programs that have been certified either by an approved state program, as determined by the Secretary of the Interior or directly by the Secretary of the Interior in states without approved programs.
LEVEE. A manmade structure, usually an earthen embankment, designed and constructed in accordance with sound engineering practices to contain, control or divert the flow of water so as to provide protection from temporary flooding.
LEVEE SYSTEM. A flood protection system which consists of a levee or levees and associated structures, such as closure and drainage devices, which are constructed and operated in accord with sound engineering practices.
LOWEST FLOOR. The lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area, including basement. An unfinished or flood-resistant enclosure, usable solely for parking of vehicles, building access or storage in an area other than a basement area is not considered a building’s lowest floor, provided that the enclosure is not built so as to render the structure in violation of the applicable nonelevation design requirements of this chapter.
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. MANUFACTURED HOME does not include a “recreational vehicle.”
MANUFACTURED HOME PARK OR SUBDIVISION. A parcel or contiguous parcels of land divided into two or more manufactured home lots for rent or sale.
MARKET VALUE. Determined by estimating the cost to replace the structure in new condition and adjusting that cost figure by the amount of depreciation which has occurred since the structure was constructed. The cost of replacement of the structure shall be based on a square foot cost factor determined by reference to a building cost estimating guide recognized by the building construction industry. The amount of depreciation shall be determined by taking into account the age and physical deterioration of the structure and functional obsolescence as approved by the Floodplain Administrator, but shall not include economic or other forms of external obsolescence. Use of replacement costs or accrued depreciation factors different from those contained in recognized building cost estimating guides may be considered only if the factors are included in a report prepared by an independent professional appraiser and supported by written explanation of the differences.
MEAN SEA LEVEL. For purposes of the National Flood Insurance Program, the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 or other datum, to which base flood elevations shown on a community’s flood insurance rate map are referenced.
NEW CONSTRUCTION. For floodplain management purposes, structures for which the “start of construction” commenced on or after the effective date of initial floodplain management regulations adopted by the city, and includes any subsequent improvements to the structures.
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 the initial floodplain management regulations adopted by the city.
OBSTRUCTION. Any dam, wall, wharf, embankment, levee, dike, pile, abutment, protection, excavation, channelization, bridge, conduit, culvert, building, wire, fence, rock, gravel, refuse, fill, structure, vegetation or other material in, along, across or projecting into any watercourse which may alter, impede, retard or change the direction and/or velocity of the flow of water, or due to its location, its propensity to snare or collect debris carried by the flow of water, or its likelihood of being carried downstream.
ONE-HUNDRED-YEAR FLOOD or 100-YEAR FLOOD. The base flood.
PUBLIC SAFETY AND NUISANCE. The granting of a variance must not result in anything which is injurious to safety or health of an entire community or neighborhood, or any considerable number of persons, or unlawfully obstructs the free passage or use, in the customary manner, of any navigable lake, river, bay, stream, canal or basin.
RECREATIONAL VEHICLE. A vehicle, 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.
REGULATORY FLOODWAY. The floodway.
REMEDY OF A VIOLATION. To bring the structure or other development into compliance with the state or local floodplain management regulations, or, if this is not possible, 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 state or federal financial exposure with regard to the structure or other development.
REPETITIVE LOSS. Flood-related damage sustained by a structure on two or more separate occasions during any ten-year period for which repairs at the time of each flood event, on the average, equals or exceeds 25% of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.
RIVERINE. Relating to, formed by or resembling a river, including tributaries, stream, brook and the like.
SHEET FLOW AREA. The area of shallow flooding.
SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD AREA or SFHA. The area of special flood hazard:
START OF CONSTRUCTION. Substantial improvement and other proposed new development and 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 from the date of the permit. 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, 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. 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.
STRUCTURE. A walled and roofed building that is principally aboveground. This includes a gas or liquid storage tank or a manufactured home.
SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE. 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. This term includes structures which have incurred “repetitive loss.”
SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT. Any reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition or other proposed new development 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 “repetitive loss” or “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 or 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.”
VARIANCE. A grant of relief from the requirements of this chapter which permits construction in a manner that would otherwise be prohibited by this chapter.
VIOLATION. The failure of structure or other development to be fully compliant with this chapter. 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 the time as that documentation is provided.
WATER SURFACE ELEVATION. The height, in relation to the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 or other datum, where specified, of floods of various magnitudes and frequencies in the floodplains of coastal or riverine areas.
WATERCOURSE. A lake, river, creek, stream, wash, arroyo, channel or other topographic feature on or over which waters flow at least periodically. Watercourse includes specifically designated areas in which substantial flood damage may occur.
(`61 Code, § 26.2-1) (Ord. 913, passed 4-18-2000; Am. Ord. 939, passed 5-20-2003; Am. Ord. 1018, passed 9-3-2013; Am. Ord. 1032, passed 8-5-2014)