Unless specifically defined below, 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.
"Accessory structure"means a structure on the same parcel of property as a principal structure and the use of which is incidental to the use of the principal structure. For floodplain management purposes, the term includes only accessory structures used:
a. Solely for the parking of no more than 2 cars; or
A small, low cost shed for limited storage, less than 150 square feet and $1,500 in value.
"Accessory use"means a use which is incidental and subordinate to the principal use of the parcel of land on which it is located.
"Agricultural structure"means a walled and roofed structure used exclusively for agricultural purposes or uses in connection with the production, harvesting, storage, raising, or drying of agricultural commodities and livestock, including aquatic organisms. Structures that house tools or equipment used in connection with these purposes or uses are also considered to have agricultural purposes or uses.
"Alteration of Watercourse"means a dam, impoundment, channel relocation, change in channel alignment, channelization, or change in cross-sectional area of the channel or the channel capacity, or any other form of modification which may alter, impede, retard or change the direction and/or velocity of the riverine flow of water during conditions of the base flood.
"Appeal"means a request for a review of the floodplain administrator's interpretation of any provision of this chapter.
"Area of shallow flooding"means a designated AO Zone on the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM). The base flood depths range from one to three 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.
"ASCE 24"means the standard Flood Resistant Design and Construction, referenced by the building code, developed and published by the American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA. Where cited, ASCE 24 refers to the edition of the standard that is referenced by the building code.
"Base flood"means a flood which has a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year (also called the "100-year flood"). Base flood is the term used throughout this chapter.
"Basement"means any area of the building having its floor subgrade—i.e., below ground level—on all sides.
"Building Code"means California Code of Regulations Title
24, the California Building Standards Code, the family of building codes specifically adopted by the State of California and composed of:
a. Part 2, applicable to buildings and structures other than dwellings within the scope of this part.
Part 2.5, applicable to one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses not more than three stories, and accessory structures.
Part 10, applicable to existing buildings (as defined in that code).
"Design Flood Elevation"means the elevation of the "design flood," including wave height, relative to the datum specified on the community's legally designated flood hazard map. In areas designated as Zone AO, the design flood elevation shall be the elevation of the highest existing grade of the building's perimeter plus the depth number (in feet) specified on the flood hazard map. In areas designated as Zone AO where a depth number is not specified on the map, the depth number shall be taken as being equal to 2 feet (610 mm).
"Design flood"means the flood associated with the greater of the following two areas:
a. Area with a flood plain subject to a 1-percent or greater chance of flooding in any year.
Area designated as a flood hazard area on a community's flood hazard map, or otherwise legally designated.
"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.
"Encroachment"means the advance or infringement of uses, plant growth, fill, excavation, buildings, permanent structures or development into a flood plain which may impede or alter the flow capacity of a floodplain.
"Exceptional hardship"means, for the purpose of variances from these regulations or the building code, the exceptional difficulty that would result from a failure to grant a requested variance. Mere economic or financial hardship is not exceptional. Inconvenience, aesthetic considerations, physical handicaps, personal preferences, or the disapproval of one's neighbors do not, as a rule, qualify as exceptional hardships. All of these circumstances can be resolved through other means without granting variances, even when the alternatives are more expensive or require the property owner to build elsewhere or put the parcel to a different use than originally intended.
"Existing 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 before the effective date of the floodplain management regulations adopted by a community.
"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 site grading or the pouring of concrete pads).
"Flood Control Project"means a dam or barrier design and constructed to keep water away from or out of a specified area, including but not limited to levees, floodwalls, and channelization.
"Flood damage resistant materials"means any construction material capable of withstanding direct and prolonged contact with floodwaters without sustaining any damage that requires more than cosmetic repair.
"Flood hazard area"means the greater of the following two areas:
a. The area within a floodplain subject to a 1-percent or greater chance of flooding in any year.
The area designated as a flood hazard area on the community's flood hazard map, or otherwise legally designated.
"Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM)"means the official map on which the Federal Insurance Administrator has delineated both the areas of special flood hazards and the risk premium zones applicable to the community.
"Flood Insurance Study"means the official report provided by the Federal Insurance Administration that includes flood profiles, the Flood Insurance Rate Map, the Flood Boundary and Floodway Map, and the water surface elevation of the base flood.
"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;
The condition resulting from flood-related erosion—see "Flood-related erosion."
"Floodplain management regulations"means this chapter and other zoning chapters, subdivision regulations, building codes, health regulations, special purpose chapters (such as grading and erosion control) and other applications of police power which control development in flood-prone areas. This term describes federal, state or local regulations in any combination thereof, which provide standards for preventing and reducing flood loss and damage.
"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 and floodplain management regulations, and open space plans.
"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.
"Floodway fringe"is that area of the floodplain on either side of the "regulatory floodway" where encroachment may be permitted.
"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 foot. Also referred to as "regulatory floodway."
"Fraud or victimization"means, for the purpose of variances from these regulations or the building code, the intentional use of deceit to deprive another of rights or property, making a victim of the deprived person or the public. As it pertains to buildings granted variances to be constructed below the elevation required by the building code, future owners or tenants of such buildings and the community as a whole may bear the burden of increased risk of damage from floods, increased cost of flood insurance, and increased recovery costs, inconvenience, danger, and suffering.
"Freeboard"means additional height above a minimum level of protection, typically expressed in feet above the base flood elevation (BFE).
"Functionally dependent use"means a use that cannot perform its intended purpose unless it is located or carried out in close proximity to water, including only docking facilities, port facilities necessary for the loading or unloading of cargo or passengers, and shipbuilding or ship repair facilities. The term does not include long-term storage, manufacture, sales or service facilities.
"Governing body"is the local governing unit, i.e. county or municipality that is empowered to adopt and implement regulations to provide for the public health, safety and general welfare of its citizenry.
"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"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;
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 directly by the Secretary of the Interior in states with approved programs.
"Letter of Map Change"means an official determination issued by FEMA that amends or revises an effective Flood Insurance Rate Map or Flood Insurance Study. Letters of Map Change include:
a. Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA): An amendment based on technical data showing that a property was incorrectly included in a designated special flood hazard area. A LOMA amends the current effective Flood Insurance Rate Map and establishes that a specific property, portion of a property, or structure is not located in a special flood hazard area.
Letter of Map Revision (LOMR): A revision based on technical data that may show changes to flood zones, flood elevations, special flood hazard area boundaries and floodway delineations, and other planimetric features.
Letter of Map Revision Based on Fill (LOMR-F): A determination that a structure or parcel of land has been elevated by fill above the base flood elevation and is, therefore, no longer located within the special flood hazard area. In order to qualify for this determination, the fill must have been permitted and placed in accordance with the community's floodplain management regulations and the standards set forth by 44 CFR §§
59,
60,
65, and
70.
Conditional Letter of Map Revision (CLOMR): A formal review and comment as to whether a proposed flood protection project or other project complies with the minimum NFIP requirements for such projects with respect to delineation of special flood hazard areas. A CLOMR does not revise the effective Flood Insurance Rate Map or Flood Insurance Study; upon submission and approval of certified as-built documentation, a Letter of Map Revision may be issued by FEMA to revise the effective FIRM.
"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 accord with sound engineering practices.
"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.
"Light-duty truck,"as defined in
40 CFR § 86.082-2, means any motor vehicle rated at 8,500 pounds Gross Vehicular Weight Rating or less which has a vehicular curb weight of 6,000 pounds or less and which has a basic vehicle frontal area of forty-five (45) square feet or less, which is:
a. Designed primarily for purposes of transportation of property or is a derivation of such a vehicle, or
Designed primarily for transportation of persons and has a capacity of more than twelve (12) persons; or
Available with special features enabling off-street or off-highway operation and use.
"Lowest floor"means 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 (see "Basement") is not considered a building's lowest floor, provided it conforms to applicable nonelevation design requirements, including but not limited to:
a. The wet floodproofing standard in Section 15.14.060.A.3.c.
The anchoring standards in Section 15.14.060.A.1.
The construction materials and methods standards in Section 15.14.060.A.2.
The standards for utilities in Section 15.14.060.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"means 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 "manufactured home" does not include a "recreational vehicle."
"Market Value"means the price at which a property will change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither party being under compulsion to buy or sell and both having reasonable knowledge of relevant facts. As used in these regulations, the term refers to the market value of buildings and structures, excluding the land and other improvements on the parcel. Market value may be established by one of the following methods:
a. Actual Cash Value (replacement cost depreciated for age and quality of construction),
Tax assessment value adjusted to approximate market value by a factor provided by the Property Appraiser, or
A qualified independent appraiser.
"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",for floodplain management purposes, means structures for which the "start of construction" commenced on or after the effective date of floodplain management regulations adopted by this community, and includes any subsequent improvements to such structures.
"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 the effective date of floodplain management regulations adopted by this community.
"Nuisance"means that 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.
"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 into any watercourse which may alter, impede, retard or change the direction and/or velocity of the flow of water, snare or collect debris carried by the flow of water, or is likely to be carried downstream.
"Permit for floodplain development"means an official document or certificate issued by the community, or other evidence of approval or concurrence, which authorizes performance of specified development activities that are located in flood hazard areas and that are determined to be compliant with these regulations.
"Principal structure"means a structure used for the principal use of the property as distinguished from an accessory use.
"Recreational vehicle"means a vehicle which is:
a. Built on a single chassis;
Four hundred square feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projection;
Designed to be self-propelled or permanently towable by a light-duty truck; and
Designed primarily not for use as a permanent dwelling but as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel, or seasonal use.
"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 foot.
"Remedy a violation"means to bring a 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 ordinance or otherwise deferring future similar violations, or reducing state or federal financial exposure with regard to the structure or other development.
"Riverine"means relating to, formed by, or resembling a river (including tributaries), stream, brook, etc.
"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 days from the date of the permit. 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, 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.
"Structure"means a walled and roofed building that is principally above ground; this includes a gas or liquid storage tank or a manufactured home.
"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 percent of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.
"Substantial improvement"means any reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition, or other proposed new development of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds fifty percent 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 either:
a. Any project for improvement of a structure to correct existing violations or 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; or
Any alteration of a "historic structure", provided that the alteration will not preclude the structure's continued designation as a historic structure.
"Utility and Miscellaneous Group U"means buildings and structures of an accessory character and miscellaneous structure not classified in any special occupancy, as described in the building code.
"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"means the failure of a structure or other development to be fully compliant with this ordinance. A structure or other development with the elevation certificate, other certifications, or other evidence of compliance required in this ordinance is presumed to be in violation until such time as that documentation is provided.
"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. 4085 § 1, 1988; Ord. 4534, 1997; Ord. 4550, 1997; Ord. 5174, 3/10/2026)