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Village of Lake Grove, NY
Suffolk County
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Village Board of the Incorporated Village of Lake Grove finds that the potential and/or actual damages from flooding and erosion may be a problem to the residents of the Village of Lake Grove and that such damages may include: destruction or loss of private and public housing, damage to public facilities, both publicly and privately owned, and injury to and loss of human life. In order to minimize the threat of such damages and to achieve the purposes and objectives hereinafter set forth, this chapter is adopted.
It is the purpose of this chapter to promote the public health, safety, and general welfare and to minimize public and private losses due to flood conditions in specific areas by provisions designed to:
A. 
Regulate uses which are dangerous to health, safety and property due to water or erosion hazards, or which result in damaging increases in erosion or in flood heights or velocities;
B. 
Require that uses vulnerable to floods, including facilities which serve such uses, be protected against flood damage at the time of initial construction;
C. 
Control the alteration of natural floodplains, stream channels, and natural protective barriers which are involved in the accommodation of flood waters;
D. 
Control filling, grading, dredging and other development which may increase erosion or flood damages;
E. 
Regulate the construction of flood barriers which will unnaturally divert flood waters or which may increase flood hazards to other lands; and
F. 
Qualify for and maintain participation in the National Flood Insurance Program.
The objectives of this chapter are:
A. 
To protect human life and health;
B. 
To minimize expenditure of public money for costly flood control projects;
C. 
To minimize the need for rescue and relief efforts associated with flooding and generally undertaken at the expense of the general public;
D. 
To minimize prolonged business interruptions;
E. 
To minimize damage to public facilities and utilities such as water and gas mains, electric, telephone, sewer lines, streets and bridges located in areas of special flood hazard;
F. 
To help maintain a stable tax base by providing for the sound use and development of areas of special flood hazard so as to minimize future flood blight areas;
G. 
To provide that developers are notified that property is in an area of special flood hazard; and
H. 
To ensure that those who occupy the areas of special flood hazard assume responsibility for their actions.
Unless specifically defined below, words or phrases used in this chapter shall be interpreted so as to give them the same meaning as they have in common usage and so as to give this chapter its most reasonable application. As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
APPEALS
A request for a review of the Local Administrator's interpretation of any provision of this chapter or a request for a variance.
BASEMENT
That portion of a building having its floor subgrade (below ground level) on all sides.
BUILDING
See "structure."
CELLAR
See "basement."
CRAWL SPACE
An enclosed area beneath the lowest elevated floor, 18 inches or more in height, which is used to service the underside of the lowest elevated floor. The elevation of the floor of this enclosed area, which may be of soil, gravel, concrete or other material, must be equal to or above the lowest adjacent exterior grade. The enclosed crawl space area shall be properly vented to allow for the equalization of hydrostatic forces which would be experienced during periods of flooding.
DEVELOPMENT
Any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, including but not limited to buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, paving, excavation or drilling operations or storage of equipment or materials.
EXISTING MANUFACTURED HOME PARK OR SUBDVISION
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 complete before the effective date of the floodplain management regulations adopted by the community.
EXPANSION TO AN EXISTING MANUFACTURED HOME PARK OR SUBDIVISION
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).
FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
The federal agency that administers the National Flood Insurance Program.
FLOOD or FLOODING
A. 
A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from:
(1) 
The overflow of inland or tidal waters;
(2) 
The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source.
B. 
Flood or flooding also means the collapse or subsidence of land along the shore of a lake or other body of water as a result of erosion or undermining caused by waves or currents of water exceeding anticipated cyclical levels or suddenly 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 flash flood or an abnormal tidal surge, or by some similarly unusual and unforeseeable event which results in flooding as defined in Subsection A(1) above.
FLOODPLAIN or FLOOD PRONE AREA
Any land area susceptible to being inundated by water from any source (see definition of "flood").
FLOODPROOFING
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.
HISTORIC STRUCTURE
Any structure that is:
A. 
Listed individually in the National Register of Historic Places (a listing maintained by the Department of the Interior) or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior as meeting the requirements for individual listing on the National Register;
B. 
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;
C. 
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
D. 
Individually listed on a local inventory of historic places in communities with historic preservation programs that have been certified either:
(1) 
By an approved state program as determined by the Secretary of the Interior; or
(2) 
Directly by the Secretary of the Interior in states without approved programs.
LOCAL ADMINISTRATOR
The person appointed by the community to administer and implement this chapter by granting or denying development permits in accordance with its provisions. This person is often the Code Enforcement Officer, Building Inspector or employee of an engineering department.
MANUFACTURED HOME
A structure, transportable in one or more sections, which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities. The term does not include a recreational vehicle.
MANUFACTURED HOME PARK OR SUBDIVISION
A parcel (or contiguous parcels) of land divided into two or more manufactured home lots for rent or sale.
PERSON
Includes any individual or group of individuals, corporation, partnership, association, or any other entity, including state and local governments and agencies.
START OF CONSTRUCTION
Includes substantial improvement and means the initiation, excluding planning and design, of any phase of a project, physical alteration of the property, and shall include land preparation, such as clearing, grading, and filling; installation of streets and/or walkways; excavation for a basement, footings, piers, or foundations or the erection of temporary forms. It also includes the placement and/or installation on the property of accessory buildings (garages and sheds), storage trailers, and building materials. For manufactured homes the actual start means affixing of the manufactured home to its permanent site.
STRUCTURE
A walled and roofed building, including a gas or liquid storage tank, that is principally above ground, as well as a manufactured home.
SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE
Damage of any origin sustained by a structure whereby the cost of restoring the structure to its before damaged condition would equal or exceed 50% of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.
SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT
Any reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition, or other improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50% of the market value of the structure before the start of construction of the improvement. The 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 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; or
B. 
Any alteration of a historic structure, provided that the alteration will not preclude the structure's continued designation as a historic structure.
VARIANCE
A grant of relief by a community from the terms of a floodplain management regulation.