For purposes of this code, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ACTUAL CONSTRUCTION. The permanent placement of materials to construct a principal building or site improvements that is ongoing and proceeding without delay, and not consisting only of plan preparations or submittals; securing financing; application or issuance of building permits; securing bids or letting of contracts; grading unless that is the only activity that was approved by a site plan; or the delivery to and stockpiling of construction or building materials on the site.
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN. The city’s long-range plan for land use and development, also known as a GENERAL PLAN.
DEVELOPER. Any person, individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, estate, trust or other entity that proposes or acts to grade, excavate, improve or otherwise prepare a parcel of land for possible use for any purpose other than agricultural uses that are exempted from local regulation by the Code of Iowa.
DEVELOPMENT. The act or result of improving a parcel of land for possible use as a building site or for the use of the land itself, for any purpose except an agricultural use that is exempted from local regulation by the Code of Iowa; single-family detached residences and structures or improvements that are accessory thereto; public projects that are subject to approval by the City Council or state under the requirements of other codes or regulations; or a division of a parcel of land that is regulated by the city’s Subdivision Code. DEVELOPMENT includes, but is not limited to, any form of construction, renovation, redevelopment or expansion of buildings or other structures, paving, water mains, storm or sanitary sewers, or other improvements to a site; and grading for any land use, except an active agricultural use, single-family residential, public project or grading that has been approved under the requirements of the subdivision code.
LOT. A parcel of land that is of sufficient size and dimensions to comply with all requirements of city codes and specifications for its intended use, whether or not its boundaries have been established by a subdivision plat or plat of survey.
MINOR AMENDMENT. A modification to an approved site plan or minor site plan that consists of one or more of the following:
(1) Moving building walls within the confines of the smallest rectangle that would have enclosed each building as originally approved, or the relocation of building entrances or exits, or shortening of building canopies;
(2) Substituting plant species, subject to certification by a nurseryman or landscape architect that the substitute species is similar in nature and screening effect;
(3) Changing the angle of parking or increasing the aisle width, provided there is no reduction in the amount of off-street parking as originally approved; or
(4) Changing the type or design of exterior lighting fixtures, provided that a registered professional or a qualified manufacturer’s representative certifies that there will be no change in spillover at the property boundaries, intensity of light or amount of glare.
SITE PLAN, STANDARD. (Hereafter, STANDARD SITE PLAN or SITE PLAN.) A plan that is required for any development, except construction of a duplex or to grade a parcel of land.
SITE PLAN, MINOR. (Hereafter, MINOR SITE PLAN.) A plan that is required for the construction of a duplex, a minor improvement or to grade a parcel of land when such grading plan has not been reviewed and approved in accordance with the requirements of the Subdivision Code.
SUBDIVISION. The act or result of dividing a single interest in a parcel of land or other corporal real property into two or more lots, parcels, sites, units, condominiums, tracts or interests usually but not necessarily for individual use, lease, or the transferring ownership, whether immediate or future, and regardless of whether the division is by deed, metes-and-bounds description, devise, lease, map, plat, other recorded instrument, previous division or subdivision or condominium or cooperative creation or conversion, except for the minimum division necessary under intestacy or a testator’s division of real property amongst heirs; partners’ division of firm real property amongst themselves upon dissolution by reason of insolvency; and other cases of similar nature, that is subject to review under and compliance with the Subdivision Code.