Unless specifically defined, words and phrases
in this chapter shall have their common law meaning and shall be applied
in accordance with their common usage. Words used in the present tense
include the future, the singular number includes the plural and the
plural number includes the singular. The word "may" is permissive;
"shall" is mandatory and is not discretionary.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
A facility, structure, building or use which is accessory
or incidental to the principal use of a property, structure or building.
Those areas shown on the Official Floodplain Zoning Map which
would be inundated by the regional flood. These areas may be numbered
or unnumbered A Zones. The A Zones may or may not be reflective of
flood profiles, depending on the availability of data for a given
area.
The flood having a one-percent-chance of being equaled or
exceeded in any given year, as published by FEMA as part of a FIS
and depicted on a FIRM.
Any enclosed area of a building having its floor subgrade,
i.e., below ground level, on all sides.
See "structure."
A geographic line along a reach of navigable water that has
been adopted by a municipal ordinance and approved by the Department
pursuant to § 30.11, Wis. Stats., and which allows limited
filling between this bulkhead line and the original ordinary high-water
mark, except where such filling is prohibited by the floodway provisions
of this chapter.
Any parcel of land which is designed, maintained, intended
or used for the purpose of providing sites for nonpermanent overnight
use by four or more camping units, or which is advertised or represented
as a camping area.
Any portable device, no more than 400 square feet in area,
used as a temporary shelter, including but not limited to a camping
trailer, motor home, bus, van, pickup truck, tent or other mobile
recreational vehicle.
A certification that the construction and the use of land
or a building, the elevation of fill or the lowest floor of a structure
is in compliance with all of the provisions of this chapter.
A natural or artificial watercourse with definite bed and
banks to confine and conduct normal flow of water.
An enclosed area below the first usable floor of a building,
generally less than five feet in height, used for access to plumbing
and electrical utilities.
An unenclosed exterior structure that has no roof or sides,
but has a permeable floor which allows the infiltration of precipitation.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Any artificial change to improved or unimproved real estate,
including, but not limited to, the construction of buildings, structures
or accessory structures; the construction of additions or alterations
to buildings, structures or accessory structures; the repair of any
damaged structure or the improvement or renovation of any structure,
regardless of percentage of damage or improvement; the placement of
buildings or structures; subdivision layout and site preparation;
mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation or drilling
operations; the storage, deposition or extraction of materials or
equipment; and the installation, repair or removal of public or private
sewage disposal systems or water supply facilities.
A vehicular access route which is above the regional flood
elevation and which connects land located in the floodplain to land
outside the floodplain, such as a road with its surface above regional
flood elevation and wide enough for wheeled rescue and relief vehicles.
Any fill, structure, equipment, building, use or development
in the floodway.
A parcel of land, divided into two or more manufactured home
lots for rent or sale, on which the construction of facilities for
servicing the lots is completed before the effective date of this
chapter. At a minimum, this would include the installation of utilities,
the construction of streets and either final site grading or the pouring
of concrete pads.
The preparation of additional sites by the construction of
facilities for servicing the lots on which the manufactured homes
are to be affixed. This includes installation of utilities, construction
of streets and either final site grading or the pouring of concrete
pads.
The federal agency that administers the National Flood Insurance
Program.
A general and temporary condition of partial or complete
inundation of normally dry land areas caused by one of the following
conditions:
The overflow or rise of inland waters;
The rapid accumulation or runoff of surface
waters from any source;
The inundation caused by waves or currents of
water exceeding anticipated cyclical levels along the shore of Lake
Michigan or Lake Superior; or
The sudden increase caused by an unusually high
water level in a natural body of water, accompanied by a severe storm,
or by an unanticipated force of nature, such as a seiche, or by some
similarly unusual event.
The probability of a flood occurrence which is determined
from statistical analyses. The frequency of a particular flood event
is usually expressed as occurring, on the average, once in a specified
number of years or as a percent (%) chance of occurring in any given
year.
That portion of the floodplain outside of the floodway which
is covered by floodwaters during the regional flood and associated
with standing water rather than flowing water.
A map designating approximate flood hazard areas. Flood hazard
areas are designated as unnumbered A Zones and do not contain floodway
lines or regional flood elevations. This map forms the basis for both
the regulatory and insurance aspects of the National Flood Insurance
Program (NFIP) until superseded by a Flood Insurance Study and a Flood
Insurance Rate Map.
A map of a community on which the Federal Insurance Administration
has delineated both special flood hazard areas (the floodplain) and
the risk premium zones applicable to the community. This map can only
be amended by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
A technical engineering examination, evaluation, and determination
of the local flood hazard areas. It provides maps designating those
areas affected by the regional flood and provides both flood insurance
rate zones and base flood elevations and may provide floodway lines.
The flood hazard areas are designated as numbered and unnumbered A
Zones. Flood Insurance Rate Maps, that accompany the Flood Insurance
Study, form the basis for both the regulatory and the insurance aspects
of the National Flood Insurance Program.
Land which has been or may be covered by floodwater during
the regional flood. It includes the floodway and the flood fringe,
and may include other designated floodplain areas for regulatory purposes.
A natural geologic land formation within the floodplain that
is surrounded, but not covered, by floodwater during the regional
flood.
Policy and procedures to ensure wise use of floodplains,
including mapping and engineering, mitigation, education, and administration
and enforcement of floodplain regulations.
A graph or a longitudinal profile line showing the relationship
of the water surface elevation of a flood event to locations of land
surface elevations along a stream or river.
Any combination of structural provisions, changes or adjustments
to properties and structures, water and sanitary facilities and contents
of buildings subject to flooding, for the purpose of reducing or eliminating
flood damage.
An elevation of two feet of freeboard above the water surface
profile elevation designated for the regional flood. (Also see "freeboard.")
Those floodplain areas where storage of floodwaters has been
taken into account during analysis in reducing the regional flood
discharge.
The channel of a river or stream and those portions of the
floodplain adjoining the channel required to carry the regional flood
discharge.
A safety factor expressed in terms of a specified number
of feet above a calculated flood level. Freeboard compensates for
any factors that cause flood heights greater than those calculated,
including ice jams, debris accumulation, wave action, obstruction
of bridge openings and floodways, the effects of watershed urbanization,
loss of flood storage areas due to development and aggregation of
the river or streambed.
Any structure or portion thereof used or designed for human
habitation.
Publication or posting meeting the requirements of Ch. 985,
Wis. Stats. For appeals, a Class 1 notice, published once at least
one week (7 days) before the hearing, is required. For all zoning
ordinances and amendments, a Class 2 notice, published twice, once
each week consecutively, the last at least a week (7 days) before
the hearing. Local ordinances or bylaws may require additional notice,
exceeding these minimums.
Damage that could result from flooding that includes any
danger to life or health or any significant economic loss to a structure
or building and its contents.
Any structure that is either:
Listed individually in the National Register
of Historic Places or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of
the Interior as meeting the requirements for individual listing on
the National Register;
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;
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
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 by the Secretary of the Interior
in states without approved programs.
A calculated upward rise in the regional flood elevation,
equal to or greater than 0.01 foot based on a comparison of existing
conditions and proposed conditions, which is directly attributable
to development in the floodplain but not attributable to manipulation
of mathematical variables such as roughness factors, expansion and
contraction coefficients and discharge.
Any nonstructural use made of unimproved or improved real
estate. (Also see "development.")
A structure transportable in one or more sections, which
is built on a permanent chassis and is designed to be used with or
without a permanent foundation when connected to required utilities.
The term "manufactured home" includes a mobile home but does not include
a "mobile recreational vehicle."
A vehicle which is built on a single chassis, 400 square
feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projection, designed
to be self-propelled, carried or permanently towable by a licensed,
light-duty vehicle, is licensed for highway use if registration is
required and is designed primarily not for use as a permanent dwelling,
but as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel
or seasonal use. Manufactured homes that are towed or carried onto
a parcel of land, but do not remain capable of being towed or carried,
including park model homes, do not fall within the definition of "mobile
recreational vehicle."
The county, city or village governmental units enacting,
administering and enforcing this Zoning Ordinance.
Elevations referenced to mean sea level datum, 1988 adjustment.
For floodplain management purposes, "new construction" means
structures for which the start of construction commenced on or after
the effective date of floodplain zoning regulations adopted by this
community and includes any subsequent improvements to such structures.
For the purpose of determining flood insurance rates, it includes
any structures for which the start of construction commenced on or
after the effective date of an initial FIRM or after December 31,
1974, whichever is later, and includes any subsequent improvements
to such structures.
Elevations referenced to mean sea level datum, 1929 adjustment.
An existing lawful structure or building which is not in
conformity with the dimensional or structural requirements of this
chapter for the area of the floodplain which it occupies. (For example,
an existing residential structure in the Flood-Fringe District is
a conforming use. However, if the lowest floor is lower than the flood
protection elevation, the structure is nonconforming.)
An existing lawful use or accessory use of a structure or
building which is not in conformity with the provisions of this chapter
for the area of the floodplain which it occupies, such as a residence
in the floodway.
Any development which blocks the conveyance of floodwaters
such that this development alone or together with any future development
will cause an increase in regional flood height.
That map, adopted and made part of this chapter, as described in § 251-5B, which has been approved by the Department and FEMA.
Those uses having a relatively low flood damage potential
and not involving structures.
The point on the bank or shore up to which the presence and
action of surface water is so continuous as to leave a distinctive
mark such as by erosion, destruction or prevention of terrestrial
vegetation, predominance of aquatic vegetation, or other easily recognized
characteristic.
An individual, or group of individuals, corporation, partnership,
association, municipality or state agency.
A sewage treatment and disposal system serving one structure
with a septic tank and soil absorption field located on the same parcel
as the structure. It also means an alternative sewage system approved
by the Department of Commerce, including a substitute for the septic
tank or soil absorption field, a holding tank, a system serving more
than one structure or a system located on a different parcel than
the structure.
Those utilities using underground or overhead transmission
lines, such as electric, telephone and telegraph, and distribution
and collection systems, such as water, sanitary sewer and storm sewer.
That base floodwaters will not inundate the land or damage
structures to be removed from the special flood hazard area, and that
any subsurface waters related to the base flood will not damage existing
or proposed buildings.
A flood determined to be representative of large floods known
to have occurred in Wisconsin. A regional flood is a flood with a
one-percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year,
and, if depicted on the FIRM, the RFE is equivalent to the BFE.
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 on a site, such as the pouring of slab or footings, the
installation of piles, the construction of columns, or any work beyond
initial 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 an alteration, 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.
Any man-made object with form, shape and utility, either
permanently or temporarily attached to, placed upon or set into the
ground, streambed or lake bed, including, but not limited to, roofed
and walled buildings, gas or liquid storage tanks, bridges, dams and
culverts.
Has the meaning given in § 236.02(12), Wis. Stats.
Damage of any origin sustained by a structure, whereby the
cost of restoring the structure to its predamaged condition would
equal or exceed 50% of the equalized assessed value of the structure
before the damage occurred.
Where special conditions affecting a particular property,
which were not self created, have made strict conformity with restrictions
governing areas, setbacks, frontage, height or density unnecessarily
burdensome or unreasonable in light of the purposes of this chapter.
An authorization by the Board of Adjustment or Appeals for
the construction or maintenance of a building or structure in a manner
which is inconsistent with dimensional standards (not uses) contained
in the Floodplain Zoning Ordinance.
The failure of a structure or other development to be fully
compliant with the Floodplain Zoning Ordinance. A structure or other
development without required permits, lowest floor elevation documentation,
floodproofing certificates or required floodway encroachment calculations
is presumed to be in violation until such time as that documentation
is provided.
The entire region contributing runoff or surface water to
a watercourse or body of water.
A graphical representation showing the elevation of the water
surface of a watercourse for each position along a reach of river
or stream at a certain flood flow. A water surface profile of the
regional flood is used in regulating floodplain areas.
An excavation opening in the ground made by digging, boring,
drilling, driving or other methods, to obtain groundwater regardless
of its intended use.
