Unless specifically defined in this article, 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.
A zone
See “Special flood hazard area.”
Accessory structure
“Accessory structure” means a structure that is either:
(a) Solely for the parking of no more than two (2) cars; or
(b) A small, low cost shed for limited storage, less than one hundred fifty (150) square feet and one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) in value.
Accessory use
“Accessory use” means a use which is incidental and subordinate to the principal use of the parcel of land on which it is located.
Appeal
“Appeal” means a request for a review of the Floodplain Administrator’s interpretation of any provision of this chapter.
Area of shallow flooding
“Area of shallow flooding” means a designated AO Zone on the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM). The base flood depths range from one (1) to three (3) feet; a clearly defined channel does not exist; the path of flooding is unpredictable and indeterminate; and velocity flow may be evident. Such flooding is characterized by ponding or sheet flow.
Area of special flood hazard
See “Special flood hazard area.”
Base flood
“Base flood” means the flood having a one percent (1%) chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year (also called the “100-year flood”).
Base flood elevation
“Base flood elevation” means the elevation shown on the Flood Insurance Rate Map for Zones AE and AH that indicates the water surface elevation resulting from a flood that has a one percent (1%) chance of equaling or exceeding that level in any given year.
Basement
“Basement” means any area of the building having its floor subgrade (below ground level) on all sides.
Building
See “Structure”.
Development
“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. For the purposes of this chapter, the following activities shall not be considered development:plowing, seeding, cultivating, harvesting, field leveling outside defined watercourses, contouring, and planting, as well as routine maintenance of irrigation ditches.
Encroachment
“Encroachment” means the advance or infringement of uses, plant growth, fill, excavation, buildings permanent structures or development into a floodplain which may impede or alter the flow capacity of a floodplain.
Existing manufactured home park or subdivision
“Existing manufactured home park or subdivision” means a manufactured home park or subdivision for which the construction of facilities serving 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 December 16, 1980.
Expansion to an existing manufactured home park or subdivision
“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 grading or the pouring of concrete pads).
Flood, or flooding or floodwater
“Flood, flooding or floodwater” means:
(a) A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from the overflow of inland or tidal waters; the unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source; and/or mudslides (i.e., mudflows); and
(b) The condition resulting from flood-related erosion.
Flood Hazard Development Permit (FHDP)
“Flood Hazard Development Permit” means the approval required pursuant to Section 8-4.404 for proposed in-channel activities allowed under the Cache Creek Resources Management Plan (CCRMP)/Cache Creek Improvement Program (CCIP) that would occur within the special flood hazard area (100-year floodplain) of Lower Cache Creek.
Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM)
“Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM)” means the official map on which the Federal Emergency Management Agency or Federal Insurance Administration has delineated both the areas of special flood hazards, the floodway, and the risk premium zones applicable to the community.
Flood Insurance Study
“Flood Insurance Study” means the official report provided by the Federal Insurance Administration that includes flood profiles, the FIRM, and the water surface elevation of the base flood.
Floodplain or flood-prone area
“Floodplain or flood-prone area” means any land area susceptible to being inundated by water from any source (see “flood, flooding or floodwater”).
Floodplain Administrator
“Floodplain Administrator” is the Director of the Yolo County Community Services Department or their designee.
Floodplain management
“Floodplain management” means the operation of an overall program of corrective and preventive measures for reducing flood damage and preserving and enhancing, where possible, natural resources in the floodplain, including but not limited to emergency preparedness plans, flood control works, floodplain management regulations, and open space plans.
Floodplain management regulations
“Floodplain management regulations” means this chapter, zoning ordinances, subdivision regulations, building codes, health regulations, special purpose ordinances (such as floodplain ordinances, grading ordinances and erosion control ordinances), and other applications of police power which control development in flood-prone areas. The term describes Federal, State or local regulations in any combination thereof, which provide standards for preventing and reducing flood loss and damage.
Floodproofing
“Floodproofing” means any combination of structural and nonstructural 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. For guidelines on dry and wet floodproofing, see FEMA Technical Bulletins TB 1-93, TB 3-93, and TB 7-93.
Floodway
“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 (1) foot. Also referred to as “Regulatory Floodway.”
Floodway fringe
“Floodway fringe” is that area of the floodplain on either side of the “Regulatory Floodway” where encroachment may be permitted.
Fraud and victimization
“Fraud and victimization” as related to Article 6 of this chapter (Variances), means that the variance granted must not cause fraud on or victimization of the public. In examining this requirement, the Floodplain Administrator will consider the fact that every newly constructed building adds to government responsibilities and remains a part of the community for fifty (50) to one hundred (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
“Functionally dependent use” means 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, but does not include long-term storage or related manufacturing facilities.
Governing Body
“Governing body” is the Board of Supervisors and its designees, which are empowered to adopt and implement regulations to provide for the public health, safety and general welfare of its citizenry.
Hardship
“Hardship” as related to Article 6 of this chapter (Variances) means the exceptional hardship that would result from a failure to grant the requested variance. Yolo County requires that the variance be exceptional, unusual, and peculiar to the property involved. Mere economic or financial hardship alone is not exceptional. Inconvenience, aesthetic considerations, physical handicaps, personal preferences, or the disapproval of one’s neighbors otherwise 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
“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
“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 the Interior) or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior as meeting the requirements for individual listing 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 of the Interior to qualify as a registered historic district;
(c) 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
(d) 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 with approved programs.
Levee
“Levee” means a man-made 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
“Levee system” means 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 accordance with sound engineering practices.
Lowest floor
“Lowest floor” means the lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area (including basement) (see “Basement”).
(a) An unfinished or flood resistant enclosure, below the lowest floor that is 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 it conforms to applicable non-elevation design requirements including, but not limited to:
(1) The flood openings standard in Section 8-4.501(c)(3);
(2) The anchoring standards in Section 8-4.501(a);
(3) The construction materials and methods in Section 8-4.501(b); and
(4) The standards for utilities in Section 8-4.502.
(b) For residential structures, all subgrade enclosed areas are prohibited as they are considered to be basements (see “Basement” definition). This prohibition includes below-grade garages and storage areas.
Manufactured home
“Manufactured home” means a structure, transportable in one (1) 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. For floodplain management purposes the term “manufactured home” does not include a “recreational vehicle”.
Manufactured home park or subdivision
“Manufactured home park or subdivision” means a parcel (or contiguous parcels) of land divided into two (2) or more manufactured home lots for sale or rent.
Market value
“Market value” is defined in the County of Yolo substantial damage/improvement procedures. See Section 8-4.402(b)(1).
Mean sea level
“Mean sea level” means, for purposes of the National Flood Insurance Program, the National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD) of 1929 or other datum, to which base flood elevations shown on a community’s Flood Insurance Rate Map are referenced.
New construction
“New construction” means, for floodplain management purposes, structures for which the “start of construction” commenced on or after December 16, 1980 and includes any subsequent improvement to such structures.
Natural grade
“Natural grade” means the grade unaffected by construction techniques such as fill, landscaping, or berming.
New manufactured home park or subdivision
“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) is completed on or after December 16, 1980.
Obstruction
“Obstruction” includes, but is not limited to, 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 in 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”
See “Base flood.”
Program deficiency
“Program deficiency” means a defect in a community’s floodplain management regulations or administrative procedures that impairs effective implementation of those floodplain management regulations.
Public safety and nuisance
“Public safety and nuisance” as related to Article 6 of this chapter (Variances), means that 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, or river, bay stream, canal, or basin.
Recreational vehicle
“Recreational vehicle” means a vehicle which is:
(a) Built on a single chassis;
(b) Four hundred (400) square feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projection;
(c) Designed to be self-propelled or permanently towable by a light-duty truck; and
(d) Designed primarily not for use as a permanent dwelling, but as temporary living quarters for emergency housing, recreational, camping, travel, or seasonal use.
Regulatory floodway
“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 (1) foot.
Remedy a violation
“Remedy a violation” means to bring the structure or other development into compliance with 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 regulations or otherwise deterring future similar violations, or reducing State or Federal financial exposure with regard to the structure or other development.
Riverine
“Riverine” means relating to, formed by, or resembling a river (including tributaries), stream, brook, etc.
Sheet flow area
See "Area of shallow flooding."
Special flood hazard area (SFHA)
"Special flood hazard area (SFHA)" means an area in the floodplain subject to a one percent (1%) or greater chance of flooding in any given year. It is shown on a FIRM as Zone A, AO, A1-30, AE, A-99, or AH.
Start of construction
“Start of construction” includes 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 one hundred eighty (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, footing, 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.
Structure
“Structure” means a rigid walled and roofed building that is principally above ground. This includes a liquid storage tank or a manufactured home.
Substantial damage
“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 (50) percent of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.
Substantial improvement
“Substantial improvement” means any reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition, or other improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds fifty (50) percent of the market value of the structure before the “start of construction” of the improvement. For purposes of this section, the cost of all reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition or other improvement of a structure within the one (1) year period prior to the “start of construction” shall be used to calculate whether the proposed “substantial improvement” would exceed fifty (50) percent of the market value of the structure. “Substantial improvement” includes structures which have incurred “substantial damage,” regardless of the actual repair work performed. The term does not, however, include either:
(a) Any project for improvement of a structure to correct existing violations or comply with State or local health, sanitary, or safety code specifications which have been identified by Yolo County and which are the minimum necessary to assure safe living conditions; or
(b) Any alteration of a “historic structure,” provided that the alteration will not preclude the structure’s continued designation as a “historic structure.”
Variance
“Variance” means 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
“Violation” means the failure of a structure or other development to be fully compliant with the community’s floodplain 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
“Water surface elevation” means the height, in relation to the National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD) of 1929, North American Vertical Datum (NAVD) of 1988, or other datum, of floods of various magnitudes and frequencies in the floodplains of coastal or riverine areas.
Watercourse
“Watercourse” means 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.
(Ord. 1445, eff. August 14, 2014; as amended by Ord. 1500, eff. July 26, 2018; as amended by Ord. 1518, eff. February 13, 2020)