The following words have the following meanings for the purposes
of implementing the Critical Area Program and the Zoning Ordinance,
and the singular always include the plural, and vice versa, except
where such construction would be unreasonable:
ABATEMENT
The act of putting an end to a land alteration or development
activity or reducing the degree or intensity of the alteration or
activity.
ACCESSORY STRUCTURE
A structure that is detached from the principal structure,
located on the same lot and clearly incidental and subordinate to
a principal structure or, if there is no principal structure on the
lot, a structure that is customarily incidental and subordinate to
a principal structure.
ADDITION
A newly constructed area that increases the size of a structure.
AFFORESTATION
The establishment of a tree crop on an area from which it
has always or very long been absent, or the planting of open areas
which are not presently in forest cover.
AGRICULTURE
All methods of production and management of livestock, crops,
vegetation, and soil. This includes, but is not limited to, the related
activities of tillage, fertilization, pest control, harvesting, and
marketing. It also includes, but is not limited to, the activities
of feeding, housing, and maintaining of animals such as cattle, dairy
cows, sheep, goats, hogs, horses, and poultry and handling their by-products.
ANADROMOUS FISH
Fish that travel upstream (from their primary habitat in
the ocean) to freshwater in order to spawn.
ANADROMOUS FISH PROPAGATION WATERS
Those streams that are tributary to the Chesapeake Bay and
Atlantic Coastal Bays in which the spawning of anadromous species
of fish (e.g., rockfish, striped bass, yellow perch, white perch,
shad, and river herring) occurs or has occurred. The streams are identified
by the Department of Natural Resources.
AQUACULTURE
A.
Farming or culturing of finfish, shellfish, other aquatic plants
or animals or both, in lakes, streams, inlets, estuaries, and other
natural or artificial water bodies or impoundments;
B.
Activities include hatching, cultivating, planting, feeding,
raising, and harvesting of aquatic plants and animals and the maintenance
and construction of necessary equipment, buildings, and growing areas;
and
C.
Cultivation methods include, but are not limited to, seed or
larvae development and grow-out facilities, fish ponds, shellfish
rafts, rack and longlines, seaweed floats and the culture of clams
and oysters on tidelands and subtidal areas.
D.
For the purpose of this definition, related activities such
as wholesale and retail sales, processing and product storage facilities
are not considered aquacultural practices.
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMPs)
Conservation practices or systems of practices and management
measures that control soil loss and reduce water quality degradation
caused by nutrients, animal waste, toxics and sediment. Agricultural
BMPs include, but are not limited to, strip cropping, terracing, contour
stripping, grass waterways, animal waste structures, ponds, minimal
tillage, grass and naturally vegetated filter strips, and proper nutrient
application measures.
BUFFER
Area that, based on conditions at the time of development,
is immediately landward from mean high water of tidal waterways, the
edge of bank of a tributary stream, or the edge of a tidal wetland;
and the area exists in, or is established in, natural vegetation to
protect a stream, tidal wetland, tidal waters or terrestrial environments
from human disturbance. The buffer includes an area of at least 100
feet even if that area was previously disturbed by human activity
or is currently developed and also includes any expansion for contiguous
sensitive areas, such as a steep slope, hydric soil, highly erodible
soil, nontidal wetland, or a nontidal wetland of special state concern
as defined in COMAR 26.23.01.01.
BUFFER MANAGEMENT PLAN
Includes a major buffer management plan, a minor buffer management
plan, and a simplified buffer management plan.
CANOPY TREE
A tree that when mature commonly reaches a height of at least
35 feet.
CLUSTER DEVELOPMENT
A residential development in which dwelling units are concentrated
in a selected area or selected areas of the development tract so as
to provide natural habitat or other open space uses on the remainder.
COLONIAL NESTING WATER BIRDS
Herons, egrets, terns, and glossy ibis. For the purposes
of nesting, these birds congregate (that is, colonize) in relatively
few areas, at which time, the regional populations of these species
are highly susceptible to local disturbances.
COMAR
The Code of Maryland Regulations, as from time to time amended,
including any successor provisions.
COMMUNITY PIERS
Boat-docking facilities associated with subdivisions or similar
residential areas, and with condominium, apartment and other multiple-family
dwelling units. Private piers are excluded from this definition.
COMPREHENSIVE OR MASTER PLAN
A compilation of policy statements, goals, standards, maps
and pertinent data relative to the past, present and future trends
of the local jurisdiction, including, but not limited to, its population,
housing, economics, social patterns, land uses, water resources and
their use, transportation facilities and public facilities prepared
by or for the planning board, agency or office.
CONSERVATION EASEMENT
A nonpossessory interest in land which restricts the manner
in which the land may be developed in an effort to reserve natural
resources for future use.
CONSOLIDATION
A combination of any legal parcel of land or recorded legally
buildable lot into fewer lots or parcels than originally existed.
An application for consolidation may include a subdivision, lot line
abandonment, boundary line adjustment, replatting request, or lot
line adjustment.
CRITICAL AREA
All lands and waters defined in Natural Resources Article
§ 8-1807, Annotated Code of Maryland. They include:
A.
All waters of and lands under the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic
Coastal Bays and their tributaries to the head of tide;
B.
All state and private wetlands designated under Title 16 of
the Environment Article, Annotated Code of Maryland;
C.
All land and water areas within 1,000 feet beyond the landward
boundaries of state or private wetlands and the heads of tides designated
under Environment Article Title 16, Annotated Code of Maryland; and
D.
Modification to these areas through inclusions or exclusions
proposed by local jurisdictions and approved by the Critical Area
Commission as specified in Natural Resources Article § 8-1807,
Annotated Code of Maryland.
DENSITY
The number of dwelling units per acre within a defined and
measurable area.
DEVELOPED WOODLANDS
An area of trees or of trees and natural vegetation that
is interspersed with residential, commercial, industrial or recreational
development.
DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES
The construction or substantial alteration of residential,
commercial, industrial, institutional or transportation facilities
or structures.
DISTURBANCE
An alteration or change to the land. It includes any amount
of clearing, grading, or construction activity. Disturbance does not
include gardening or maintaining an existing grass lawn.
DWELLING UNIT
A single unit providing complete, independent living facilities
for at least one person, including permanent provisions for sanitation,
cooking, eating, sleeping, and other activities routinely associated
with daily life. Dwelling unit includes living quarters for a domestic
or other employee or tenant, an in-law or accessory apartment, a guest
house, or a caretaker residence.
ENDANGERED SPECIES
Any species of fish, wildlife, or plants that have been designated
as endangered by regulation by the Department of Natural Resources.
Designation occurs when the continued existence of these species as
viable components of the state's resources are determined to be in
jeopardy. This includes any species determined to be an endangered
species pursuant to the Federal Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C.
§ et seq., as amended.
ESTABLISHMENT
The planting or regeneration of native vegetation throughout
the buffer.
FINANCIAL ASSURANCE
A performance bond, letter of credit, cash deposit, insurance
policy, or other instrument of security acceptable to the Town.
FISHERIES ACTIVITIES
Commercial, water-dependent fisheries facilities, including
structures for the parking, processing, canning, or freezing of finfish,
crustaceans, mollusks, and amphibians and reptiles and also including
related activities such as wholesale and retail sales product storage
facilities, crab shedding, off-loading docks, shellfish culture operations,
and shore-based facilities necessary for aquacultural operations.
FOREST
A biological community dominated by trees and other woody
plants covering a land area of 10,000 square feet or greater. Forest
includes areas that have at least 100 trees per acre with at least
50% of those trees having two-inch or greater diameter at 4.5 feet
above the ground and forest areas that have been cut, but not cleared.
Forest does not include orchards.
FULLY ESTABLISHED
The buffer contains as much diverse, native vegetation as
necessary to support a firm and stable riparian habitat capable of
self-sustaining growth and regeneration.
GROWTH ALLOCATION
The number of acres of land in the Critical Area that the
Town may use, or St. Mary's County may allocate to the Town to use,
to create new IDAs and new LDA. The growth allocation acreage is 5%
of the total RCA acreage in the Town at the time the Critical Area
Commission approved the Town's original Critical Area Program, not
including tidal wetlands, plus additional acres as allocated by St.
Mary's County to the Town of Leonardtown.
HABITAT PROTECTION PLAN (HPP)
A plan that provides for the protection and conservation
of the species and habitats identified as HPAs in the critical area.
The HPA shall be specific to the site or area where the species or
its habitat is located and shall address all aspects of a proposed
development activity that may affect the continued presence of the
species. These include, but are not limited to, cutting, clearing,
alterations of natural hydrology, and increases in lot coverage. In
developing the HPA, an applicant shall coordinate with the Department
of Natural Resources to ensure that the HPA is adequate to provide
for long-term conservation and can be effectively implemented on the
specific site.
HIGHLY ERODIBLE SOILS
Those soils with a slope greater than 15%; or those soils
with a K value greater than .35 and with slopes greater than 5%.
HISTORIC WATERFOWL STAGING AND CONCENTRATION AREA
An area of open water and adjacent marshes where waterfowl
gather during migration and throughout the winter season. These areas
are historic in the sense that their location is common knowledge
and because these areas have been used regularly during recent times.
HYDRIC SOILS
Soils that are wet frequently enough to periodically produce
anaerobic conditions, thereby influencing the species composition
of growth, or both, of plants on those soils.
IN-KIND REPLACEMENT
The replacement of a structure with another structure that
is smaller than or identical to the original structure in footprint
area, width, length, and use.
INTENSELY DEVELOPED AREA (IDA)
An area of at least 20 acres or the entire upland portion
of the critical area within a municipal corporation, whichever is
less, where residential, commercial, institutional, or industrial
developed land uses predominate; and a relatively small amount of
natural habitat occurs. These areas include an area with a housing
density of at least four dwelling units per acre and/or an area with
public water and sewer systems with a housing density of more than
three dwelling units per acre.
LAND CLEARING
Any activity that removes the vegetative ground cover.
LIMITED DEVELOPMENT AREA (LDA)
An area with a housing density ranging from one dwelling
unit per five acres up to four dwelling units per acre; with a public
water or sewer system; that is not dominated by agricultural land,
wetland, forests, barren land, surface water, or open space; or that
is less than 20 acres and otherwise qualifies as an IDA under the
definition in this chapter.
LOCAL SIGNIFICANCE
Development of a minor scale, which causes environmental
or economic consequences that are largely confined to the immediate
area of the parcel of land on which it is located; does not substantially
affect the Town's Critical Area Program; and is not considered to
be major development as defined in this chapter.
LOT COVERAGE
The percentage of a total lot or parcel that is occupied
by a structure, accessory structure, parking area, driveway, walkway,
or roadway; or covered with a paver, walkway gravel, stone, shell,
impermeable decking, a paver, permeable pavement, or other any man-made
material. Lot coverage includes the ground area covered or occupied
by a stairway or impermeable deck, but does not include a fence or
wall that is less than one foot in width that has not been constructed
with a footer; a walkway in the buffer or expanded buffer, including
a stairway, that provides direct access to a community or private
pier; a wood mulch pathway; or a deck with gaps to allow water to
pass freely.
MAJOR DEVELOPMENT
Development of a scale that may cause state-wide, regional,
or interjurisdictional, environmental or economic effects in the critical
area, or which may cause substantial impacts to the critical area
of a local jurisdiction. This development includes, but is not limited
to, airports, power plants, wastewater treatment plants, highways,
regional utility transmission facilities, prisons, hospitals, public
housing projects, public beaches, and intensely developed park and
recreation facilities.
MARINA
Any facility for the mooring, berthing, storing, or securing
of watercraft, but not including community piers and other noncommercial
boat docking and storage facilities.
MITIGATION
An action taken to compensate for adverse impacts to the
environment resulting from development, development activity, or a
change in land use or intensity.
MODIFIED BUFFER AREA (MBA)
An area officially mapped by the Town and approved by the
Critical Area Commission as an MBA, where it has been sufficiently
demonstrated that the existing pattern of residential, industrial,
commercial, institutional, or recreational development prevents the
buffer from fulfilling its water quality and habitat functions, and
where development in accordance with specific MBA provisions can be
permitted in the buffer without a variance.
NATIVE PLANT
A species that is indigenous to the physiographic area in
Maryland where the planting is proposed.
NATURAL HERITAGE AREA
Any community of plants or animals which are considered to
be among the best statewide examples of their kind, and are designated
by regulation by the Department of Natural Resources.
NATURAL REGENERATION
The natural establishment of trees and other vegetation with
at least 400 free-to-grow seedlings per acre, which are capable of
reaching a height of at least 20 feet at maturity.
NEW DEVELOPMENT
For purposes of implementing specific provisions of this
chapter, new developments (as opposed to redevelopment) means a development
activity that takes place on a property with predevelopment imperviousness
(in IDA) or lot coverage (LDA and RCA) of less than 15% as of December
1, 1985.
NONTIDAL WETLANDS
Those areas regulated under Environment Article Subtitle
26, Annotated Code of Maryland, that are inundated or saturated by
surface water or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient
to support, and that under normal circumstances does support, a prevalence
of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions,
commonly known as "hydrophytic vegetation." The determination of whether
an area is a nontidal wetland shall be made in accordance with the
publication known as the "Federal Manual for Identifying and Delineating
Jurisdictional Wetlands," published in 1989, and as may be amended.
Nontidal wetlands do not include tidal wetlands regulated under Environment
Article Title 16, Annotated Code of Maryland.
PERSON
An individual, partnership, corporation, contractor, property
owner, or any other person or entity.
PHYSIOGRAPHIC FEATURES
The soils, topography, land slope and aspect, and local climate
that influence the form and species composition of plant communities.
PIER
Any pier, wharf, dock, walkway, bulkhead, breakwater, piles
or other similar structure. Pier does not include any structure on
pilings or stilts that was originally constructed beyond the landward
boundaries of state or private wetlands.
PLANT HABITAT
A community of plants commonly identifiable by the composition
of its vegetation and its physiographic characteristics.
PORT
A facility or area established or designated by the state
or local jurisdictions for purposes of waterborne commerce.
PRINCIPAL STRUCTURE
The primary or predominant structure on any lot or parcel.
For residential parcels or lots, the principal structure is the primary
dwelling.
PROPERTY OWNER
A person holding title to a property or two or more persons
holding title to a property under any form of joint ownership.
RECONFIGURATION
A change of the configuration of an existing lot or parcel
line of any legal parcel of land or recorded legally buildable lot.
An application for reconfiguration may include a subdivision, a lot
line adjustment, a boundary line adjustment, a replatting request,
or a revision of acreage to increase density.
REDEVELOPMENT
The process of developing land which is or has been developed.
For purposes of implementing specific provisions of this chapter,
redevelopment (as opposed to new development) means a development
activity that takes place on property with predevelopment imperviousness
(in IDA) or lot coverage (in LDA and RCA) of 15% or greater.
REFORESTATION
The establishment of a forest through artificial reproduction
or natural regeneration.
RESOURCE CONSERVATION AREA (RCA)
An area that is characterized by nature-dominated environments,
such as wetlands, surface water, forests, and open space; and resource-based
activities, such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, or aquaculture.
Resource conservation areas include areas with a housing density of
less than one dwelling per five acres.
RESTORATION
The act of returning a site or area to an original state
or any action that reestablishes all or a portion of the ecological
structure and functions of a site or area.
ROAD
A.
"Road" means a public thoroughfare under the jurisdiction of
the state, a county, a municipal corporation, or any other public
body.
B.
"Road" does not include a drive aisle or driveway.
SPECIES IN NEED OF CONSERVATION
Those fish and wildlife whose continued existence as part
of the state's resources are in question and which may be designated
by regulation by the Department of Natural Resources as in need of
conservation pursuant to the requirements of Natural Resources Article
§§ 10-2A-06 and 4-2A-03, Annotated Code of Maryland.
STRUCTURE
Building or construction materials, or a combination of those
materials that are purposely assembled or joined together on or over
land or water. Structure includes a temporary or permanent fixed or
floating pier, piling, deck, walkway, dwelling, building, boathouse,
platform, gazebo, or shelter for the purpose of marine access, navigation,
working, eating, sleeping, or recreating.
SUBDIVISION REGULATIONS
Chapter
131, Subdivision Regulations, of the Code of the Town of Leonardtown, as amended from time to time.
TOWN or THE TOWN
The Commissioners of Leonardtown, a Maryland municipal corporation.
TRIBUTARY STREAM
A perennial stream or intermittent stream within the Critical
Area that has been identified by site inspection or in accordance
with local chapter procedures approved by the Critical Area Commission.
UNWARRANTED HARDSHIP
Without a variance, an applicant would be denied reasonable
and significant use of the entire parcel or lot for which the variance
is requested.
UTILITY TRANSMISSION FACILITIES
Fixed structures that convey or distribute resources, wastes,
or both, including but not limited to electrical lines, water conduits
and sewer lines.
WATER-DEPENDENT FACILITIES
Those structures or works associated with industrial, maritime,
recreational, educational, or fisheries activities that require location
at or near the shoreline within the buffer. An activity is water-dependent
if it cannot exist outside the buffer and is dependent on the water
by reason of the intrinsic nature of its operation. Such activities
include, but are not limited to, ports, the intake and outfall structures
of power plants, water-use industries, marinas and other boat-docking
structures, public beaches and other public water-oriented recreation
areas, and fisheries activities.
WATER-USE INDUSTRY
An industry that requires location near the shoreline because
it utilizes surface waters for cooling or other internal purposes.
WATERFOWL
Birds that frequent and often swim in water, nest, and raise
their young near water, and derive at least part of their food from
aquatic plants and animals.
WILDLIFE CORRIDOR
A strip of land having vegetation that provides habitat and
safe passage for wildlife.
WILDLIFE HABITAT
Those plant communities and physiographic features that provide
food, water, cover, and nesting areas, as well as foraging and feeding
conditions necessary to maintain populations of animals in the critical
area.
ZONING ORDINANCE
Chapter
155, Zoning, of the Code of the Town of Leonardtown, as amended from time to time.