For the purposes of this ordinance, the following definitions are adopted:
The flood having a 1% probability of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. The base flood is also known as the one-hundred-year flood. The base flood elevation at any location is as defined in Article III of this ordinance.
The elevation in relation to mean sea level of the crest of the base flood.
A structure that is principally above ground and is enclosed by walls and a roof including manufactured homes and prefabricated buildings. The term also includes recreational vehicles and travel trailers to be installed on a site for more than 180 days.
Any man-made change to real estate including, but not necessarily limited to:
Construction, reconstruction, placement of a building, or any addition to a building, exceeding 70 square feet in floor area;
Substantial improvement of an existing building;
Installation of a manufactured home on a site, preparing a site for a manufactured home, or installing a travel trailer on a site for more than 180 days;
Installation of utilities, construction of roads, bridges, culverts or similar projects;
Construction or erection of levees, dams, walls, or fences;
Drilling, mining, filling, dredging, grading, excavating, paving, or other alterations of the ground surface;
Storage of materials including the placement of gas and liquid storage tanks; and
Channel modifications or any other activity that might change the direction, height, or velocity of flood or surface waters.
"Development" does not include maintenance of existing buildings and facilities; resurfacing roads; or gardening, plowing, and similar practices that do not involve filling, grading, or construction of levees.
Federal Emergency Management Agency.
A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from the overflow, the unusual and rapid accumulation, or the runoff of surface waters from any source.
That portion of the floodplain outside of the regulatory flood way.
A map prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that depicts the floodplain or special flood hazard area (SFHA) within a community. This map includes insurance rate zones and may or may not depict flood ways and show base flood elevations.
Those lands within the jurisdiction of the City that are subject to inundation by the base flood. The floodplains of the City are generally identified as such on the countywide Flood Insurance Rate Map of the McLean County and Incorporated Areas prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and dated July 16, 2008. The floodplains of those parts of unincorporated McLean County that are within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City or that may be annexed into the City are generally identified as such on the Flood Insurance Rate Map prepared for McLean County by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and dated July 16, 2008.
Any combination of structural or nonstructural additions, changes, or adjustments to structures which reduce or eliminate flood damage to real estate, property and their contents.
A form published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that is used to certify that a building has been designed and constructed to be structurally dry flood proofed to the flood protection elevation.
The elevation of the base flood plus one foot of freeboard at any given location in the floodplain.
That portion of the floodplain required to store and convey the base flood. The flood way for the floodplains of Sugar Creek, Little Kickapoo Creek, Skunk Creek and Goose Creek shall be as delineated on the countywide Flood Insurance Rate Map of McLean County and Incorporated Areas prepared by FEMA and dated July 16, 2008. The flood ways for each of the remaining floodplains of the City shall be in accordance with the best data available from Federal, State, or other sources.
[Ord. No. 2008-27]
Illinois Department of Natural Resources/Office of Water Resources.
A structure transportable in one or more sections, that is built on a permanent chassis and is designed to be used with or without a permanent foundation when connected to required utilities.
National Flood Insurance Program.
See definition of floodplain.
"Substantial improvement" is considered to occur when the first alteration of any wall, ceiling, floor, or other structural part of the building commences, whether or not that alteration affects the external dimensions of the structure. The term does not, however, include either:
Any project for improvement of a structure to comply with existing state or local health, sanitary, or safety code specifications which are solely necessary to assure safe living conditions, or
Any alteration of a structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places or the Illinois Register of Historic Places.
A vehicle which is:
Built on a single chassis;
Four hundred square feet or less in size;
Designed to be self-propelled or permanently towable by a light duty truck; and
Not designed primarily for use as a permanent dwelling but as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel, or seasonal use.
[Ord. No. 2001-05]