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:
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.
A facility, structure, building or use which is accessory
or incidental to the principal use of a property, structure or building.
See "area of shallow flooding."
An enhancement, upgrading or substantial change or modification
other than an addition or repair to a dwelling or to electrical, plumbing,
heating, ventilating, air conditioning and other systems within a
structure.
See "area of shallow flooding."
A designated AO, AH, AR/AO, AR/AH, or VO Zone on a community's
Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) with a 1% or greater annual chance
of flooding to an average depth of one foot to three feet where a
clearly defined channel does not exist, where the path of flooding
is unpredictable, and where velocity flow may be evident. Such flooding
is characterized by ponding or sheet flow.
The flood having a 1% 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, or tent that is fully
licensed, if required, and ready for highway use.
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, use or development in the
floodway.
The federal agency that administers the National Flood Insurance
Program.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 stream bed.
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 (seven 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 (seven days) before
the hearing, is required. 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.
The highest natural elevation of the ground surface prior
to construction next to the proposed walls of a structure.
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
greater than 0.00 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.")
Elevation of the lowest ground surface that touches any of
the exterior walls of a building.
The lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area (including basement).
An unfinished or flood-resistant enclosure 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 that
such enclosure is not built so as to render the structure in violation
of the applicable nonelevation design requirements of 44 CFR 60.3.
The act or process of restoring to original soundness, including
redecorating, refinishing, nonstructural repairs, or the replacement
of existing fixtures, systems or equipment with equivalent fixtures,
systems or structures.
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."
A parcel (or contiguous parcels) of land divided into two
or more manufactured home lots for rent or sale.
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.
A hydraulic engineering model that corrects any errors that
occur in the duplicate effective model, adds any additional cross
sections to the duplicate effective model, or incorporates more detailed
topographic information than that used in the current effective model.
A copy of the hydraulic analysis used in the effective FIS
and referred to as the "effective model."
The hydraulic engineering model that was used to produce
the current effective Flood Insurance Study.
A modification of the duplicate effective model or corrected
effective model to reflect any man-made modifications that have occurred
within the floodplain since the date of the effective model but prior
to the construction of the project for which the revision is being
requested. If no modification has occurred since the date of the effective
model, then this model would be identical to the corrected effective
model or duplicate effective model.
A modification of the existing or pre-project conditions
model, duplicate effective model or corrected effective model to reflect
revised or post-project conditions.
Adams County, Wisconsin.
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 § 370-5B, 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 Safety and Professional Services, 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.
Base flood waters will not inundate the land or damage structures
to be removed from the floodplain and 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
1% 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 that 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 pre-damaged condition would
equal or exceed 50% of the equalized assessed value of the structure
before the damage occurred.
Any repair, reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition or improvement
of a building or structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50%
of the equalized assessed value of the structure before the improvement
or repair is started. If the structure has sustained substantial damage,
any repairs are considered substantial improvement regardless of the
work performed. The term does not, however, include either any project
for the improvement of a building required to correct existing health,
sanitary or safety code violations identified by the Building Official
and that are the minimum necessary to assure safe living conditions
or any alteration of a historic structure, provided that the alteration
will not preclude the structure's continued designation as a
historic structure.
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 for the construction
or maintenance of a building or structure in a manner which is inconsistent
with dimensional standards (not uses) contained in this chapter.
The failure of a structure or other development to be fully
compliant with this chapter. 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.
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.
The entire region contributing runoff or surface water to
a watercourse or body of water.
An excavation opening in the ground made, by digging, boring,
drilling, driving or other methods, to obtain groundwater regardless
of its intended use.
