When used in this chapter, the words, terms and phrases in § 298-7 shall have the following meanings, unless expressly stated otherwise or unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
A use or structure on the same lot with, and of a nature
customarily incidental and subordinate to, the principal use or structure.
A flood which has a one-percent chance of being equaled or
exceeded in any given year (also called the "one-hundred-year flood"
or one-percent-annual-chance flood).
The elevation shown on the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM)
for Zones AE, AH, A1-30 that indicates the water surface elevation
resulting from a flood that has a one-percent-or-greater chance of
being equaled or exceeded in any given year.
Any area of the building having its floor below ground level
on all sides.
A combination of materials to form a permanent structure
having walls and a roof. Included shall be all manufactured homes
and trailers to be used for human habitation.
A letter outlining FEMA comment on a proposed project that
would, upon construction, affect the hydrologic or hydraulic characteristics
of a flooding source and thus result in the modification of the existing
regulatory floodway, the effective base flood elevations (BFEs), or
the floodplain. Such letter does not revise an NFIP map.
A facility for the detention, confinement, treatment or rehabilitation
of persons arrested or convicted for the violation of civil or criminal
law. Such facilities include an adult detention center, juvenile delinquency
center, work-release center, jail, and prison.
Cost that includes both the structural and finish or labor
and materials, minus those required to meet floodproofing and flood
elevation regulations and the cost of permits. This includes lighting
fixtures, built-in appliances, interior molding, paneling, tiling,
wall-to-wall carpet over subflooring, built-in cabinets, etc. The
cost to demolish undamaged building components must be established
and included.
Cost that includes both the structural and finish or labor
and materials, minus those required to meet floodproofing and flood
elevation regulations and the cost of permits, to reproduce by new
construction the exact form and detail of a structure or a part thereof,
as it appeared at a specific period of time.
Any structure or facility that is:
Identified in the current Lehigh Valley Hazard Mitigation Plan
as a "critical facility";
That produces, uses, or stores highly volatile, flammable, explosive,
toxic and/or water-reactive materials;
Hospitals, nursing homes, and housing likely to contain occupants
who may not be sufficiently mobile to avoid death or injury during
a flood;
Police stations, fire stations, vehicle equipment storage facilities
and emergency operations centers that are needed for flood response
activities before, during, and after a flood;
Public and private utility facilities that are vital to maintaining
or restoring normal services to flooded areas before, during, and
after a flood.
Any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate,
including but not limited to the construction, reconstruction, renovation,
repair (excluding minor repair), expansion, or alteration of buildings
or other structures; the placement of manufactured homes; streets,
and other paving; utilities; filling, grading and excavation; mining;
dredging; drilling operations; storage of equipment or materials;
and the subdivision of land excepting lot line adjustments or lot
consolidation where no new improvements are proposed.
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
this chapter.
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).
The Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Man-made deposits of natural soil or rock product.
A temporary inundation of normally dry land areas.
The official map on which the Federal Emergency Management
Agency has delineated both the areas of special flood hazards and
the risk premium zones applicable to the community.
The official report provided by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency that includes flood profiles, the Flood Insurance Rate Map,
the Flood Boundary and Floodway Map, and the water surface elevation
of the base flood.
The municipal official responsible for implementing and enforcing
this chapter and monitoring floodplain development in the City of
Easton.
A relatively flat or low land area which is subject to partial
or complete inundation from an adjoining or nearby stream, river or
watercourse and/or any area subject to the unusual and rapid accumulation
of surface waters from any source.
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.
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 foot.
A factor of safety usually expressed in feet above a flood
level for purposes of floodplain management.
The highest natural elevation of the ground surface prior
to construction next to the proposed walls of a structure.
Sites, areas, structures and districts which are valued due
to their significance as examples and/or locations of events, customs,
skills, and/or arts of the past as designated by the state, county
and/or City. This definition includes any structure that is listed
individually in the National Register of Historic Places.
The official amendment, by letter, to an effective National
Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) by FEMA.
The official revision, by letter, to an effective National
Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) by FEMA.
The lowest floor of the lowest fully enclosed area (including
basement). An unfinished, flood-resistant partially enclosed area,
used solely for parking of vehicles, building access, and incidental
storage, in an area other than a basement area is not considered the
lowest floor of a building, provided that such space is not designed
and built so that the structure is in violation of the applicable
non-elevation design requirements of this chapter.
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. The
term includes park trailers, construction trailers, travel trailers,
recreational and other similar vehicles which are placed on a site
for more than 180 consecutive days.
A parcel (or contiguous parcels) of land divided into two
or more manufactured home lots for rent or sale.
The animal excrement, including poultry litter, which is
produced at an agricultural operation. It includes material such as
bedding and raw material which are commingled with the excrement.
A storage pile of manure accumulated for future use that
is not confined within a manure storage facility.
A permanent structure or pond, a portion of a structure or
pond, or a group of structures or ponds at one agricultural operation,
utilized for the purpose of containing manure or agricultural process
wastewater. This includes concrete, metal or other fabricated tanks
and underground structures, as well as earthen and synthetically lined
manure storage ponds.
The most probable price which a property should bring in
a competitive and open market under all conditions requisite to a
fair sale, the buyer and seller, each acting prudently and knowledgeably.
The replacement of existing work with equivalent materials
for the purpose of its routine maintenance and upkeep, but not including
the cutting away of any wall, partition or portion thereof, the removal
or cutting of any structural beam or bearing support, or the removal
or change of any required means of egress, or rearrangement of parts
of a structure affecting the exitway requirements; nor shall minor
repairs include addition to, alteration of, replacement or relocation
of any standpipe, water supply, sewer, drainage, drain leader, gas,
oil, waste, vent, or similar piping, electric wiring, mechanical or
other work affecting public health or general safety.
A federal program created by Congress in 1968 to mitigate
future flood losses through sound, community-enforced building and
zoning ordinances and to provide access to affordable, federally backed
flood insurance protection for property owners.
Structures for which the start of construction commenced
on or after the effective date of this chapter.
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 this chapter.
A flood that has a one-percent chance of being equaled or
exceeded in any given year.
The Pennsylvania Department of Economic Development.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
A structure that has sustained damage from any cause whereby
the cost of reconstruction necessary to restore the structure to its
before-damaged condition is less than 50% of the market value of the
structure before the damage occurred.
An individual, partnership, public or private association
or corporation, firm, trust, estate, municipality, governmental unit,
public utility or any other legal entity whatsoever, which is recognized
by law as the subject of rights and duties.
A structure for which construction or substantial improvement
occurred after December 31, 1974, or on or after the community's
initial Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) dated February 9, 1973, whichever
is later, and, as such, would be required to be compliant with the
regulations of the National Flood Insurance Program.
A structure for which construction or substantial improvement
occurred on or before December 31, 1974, or before the community's
initial Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) dated February 9, 1973, whichever
is later, and, as such, would not be required to be compliant with
the regulations of the National Flood Insurance Program.
The act or process of reproducing by new construction the
exact form and detail of a structure or a part thereof, as it appeared
at a specific period of time.
A vehicle which is built on a single chassis not more than
400 square feet, measured at the largest horizontal projections, designed
to be self-propelled permanently towable by a light-duty truck and
not designed for use as a permanent dwelling but as temporary living
quarters for recreational, camping, travel, or seasonal use.
The removal and replacement, rehabilitation, or adaptive
reuse of an existing structure or structures, or of vacant but formerly
developed land.
The base flood elevation (BFE) or estimated flood height
as determined using simplified methods plus a freeboard safety factor
of 1 1/2 feet.
Flood-related damages sustained by a structure on two or
more separate occasions during a ten-year period for which the cost
of repairs at the time of each such flood event, on average, equals
or exceeds 25% of the market value of the structure before the damages
occurred.
As determined by FEMA, a residential structure that is covered
under flood insurance by the NFIP and has incurred flood-related damage
for which four or more separate claim payments have been paid under
flood insurance coverage with the amount of each claim payment exceeding
$5,000 and with cumulative amount of such claim payments exceeding
$20,000.
A special approval that is considered by the City Zoning
Hearing Board and is required for certain types of development located
in all, or a designated portion of a floodplain.
An area in the floodplain subject to a one-percent-or-greater
chance of flooding in any given year. It is shown on the FIRM as Zone
A, AO, A1-A30, AE, A99, or, AH.
Includes substantial improvement and other proposed new development
and means the date the permit was issued, provided the actual start
of construction, repair, reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition,
placement, or other improvement was within 180 days after the date
of the permit and shall be completed within 12 months after the date
of issuance of the permit unless a time extension is granted, in writing,
by the Floodplain Administrator. 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 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 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.
A walled and roofed building, including a gas or liquid storage
tank that is principally above the ground, as well as a manufactured
home.
The division or redivision of a lot, tract, or parcel of
land by any means into two or more lots, tracts, parcels or other
divisions of land including changes in existing lot lines for the
purpose, whether immediate or future, of lease, partition by the court
for distribution to heirs, or devisees, transfer of ownership or building
or lot development; provided, however, that the subdivision by lease
of land for agricultural purposes into parcels of more than 10 acres,
not involving any new street or easement of access or any residential
dwelling, shall be exempted.
Damage from any cause sustained by a structure whereby the
cost of restoring the structure to its before-damaged condition would
equal or exceeds 50% or more of the market value of the structure
before the damage occurred.
Any reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition, or other improvement
of a structure, of which the cost 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 "substantial damage"
regardless of the actual repair work performed. The term does not,
however, include any project for improvement of a structure to correct
existing violations of 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.
A structure that has sustained damage from any cause whereby
the cost of reconstruction necessary to restore the structure to its
before-damaged condition would equal or exceed 50% of the market value
of the structure before the damage occurred.
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
44 CFR 60.3(b)(5), (c)(4), (c)(10), (d)(3), (e)(2), (e)(4), or (e)(5)
is presumed to be in violation until such time as that documentation
is provided.
A structure used primarily for the storage and distribution
of goods, merchandise, supplies, and equipment.
A watercourse is a channel or conveyance of surface water
having defined bed and banks, whether natural or artificial, with
perennial or intermittent flow. Man-made swales, constructed specifically
for stormwater management purposes, are excluded from this definition.
