In this Article and any regulations issued under it, these words and phrases have the following meanings:
Accessory/appurtenant structure: A structure that is located on the same lot as a principal structure and has a use that is incidental to the use of the principal structure.
Basement: Any area of a building having its floor below ground level on all sides. Any other bottom floor of a building is a first floor.
Certificate of Occupancy: A form issued by the Department certifying that a structure has been built consistent with an approved floodplain district permit plan and may be legally inhabited for the intended purpose.
Department: The Department of Permitting Services.
Developer: A person for whose benefit any activity regulated by this article is started or carried on. An individual who builds a single-family house for the individual's own occupancy is not a developer.
Development: Any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, including any building or other structure, dredging, fill, grading, paving, clearing, excavation, dumping, extraction, or storage of equipment or materials. Development includes subdivision of land.
Director: The Director of the Department of Permitting Services, or a duly authorized agent.
Elevation certificate: A form prepared and distributed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency using Mean Sea Level as established by the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 and verifying the elevation at which a floor is constructed.
Flood: A temporary inundation of normally dry land areas.
(a) A relatively flat or low land area adjoining a river, stream, pond, stormwater management structure, or watercourse subject to partial or complete inundation; or
(b) An area subject to unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface water as a result of an upstream dam failure.
Floodplain district: Any area specified in Executive regulations that is subject to inundation in a 100-year storm. This includes any waterway with a drainage area of 30 acres or larger.
Floodplain district permit: A permit issued by the Department under this article authorizing land-disturbing and construction activities.
Floodplain district permit plan: A set of representational drawings or other documents submitted by an applicant to obtain a floodplain district permit that contains the information and specifications the Department requires to minimize the safety hazards of or the negative hydraulic and environmental impacts associated with development in or near a floodplain.
Floodproofing: Any combination of structural and non-structural additions or changes to a property or structure which reduce or eliminate flood damage.
Floodway: The channel and adjacent land area required to discharge the waters of the 100-year flood of a watercourse without increasing the water surface elevations.
Flood Fringe: That portion of the floodplain outside the floodway.
Historical Structure: A structure listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places, the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties, a local inventory of historic places certified by the Maryland Historic Trust or the Secretary of the Interior, or preliminarily determined as meeting the requirements for such listing by the Maryland Historic Trust or the Secretary of the Interior, or determined as contributing to the historic significance of a historic district registered with the Secretary of the Interior.
Land disturbing activity:
(a) any earth movement or land change which may result in soil erosion from water or wind;
(b) the movement of sediments into state waters or onto land, including tilling, clearing, grading, excavating, stripping, filling, and related activities; or
(c) covering land with an impermeable material.
Lowest floor: The lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area of a building, including a basement. An unfinished or flood-resistant enclosure, usable only for parking motor vehicles, building access, or storage, is not a building's lowest floor if the enclosure does not violate the applicable non-elevation design requirements of the National Flood Insurance Program.
Manufactured home: A structure that is:
(a) transportable in one or more sections;
(b) built on a permanent chassis; and
(c) designed for use with or without a permanent foundation connected to the required utilities.
Manufactured home also includes a park trailer, travel trailer, or similar vehicle, when placed on a site for more than 180 consecutive days.
Manufactured home park: A parcel or contiguous parcels of land divided into two or more manufactured home lots for rent or sale.
New construction: Any structure for which construction began on or after the date of entry into the Regular Program or the date this Article took effect, whichever occurred first.
100-year flood: A flood that has a one percent chance of being equalled or exceeded in a given year. Unless otherwise stated, this calculation is based on the contributing watershed being completely under existing zoning.
Permanent construction: Any structure built or placed on a site for more than 180 consecutive days.
Permittee: Any person who receives a permit under this article.
Person: Any individual, corporation, partnership, joint venture, firm, unincorporated association, municipal, county or state agency, or any combination.
Principally above ground: Any structure with at least 51 percent of the actual cash value of the structure, not including the land value, above ground.
Recreational Vehicle: A vehicle built on a single chassis which is 400 square feet or less at the longest horizontal projection, self propelled or towable, and designed primarily for temporary living while traveling or camping.
Start of construction: The earlier of:
(a) The date the building permit was issued, if construction, repair, reconstruction, placement, substantial improvement, or other improvement starts within 180 days after the permit is issued; or
(b) The actual start of construction, which means either:
(1) the first placement or permanent construction of a structure on a site, such as the pouring of a slab or footings; or
(2) any work beyond the excavation stage.
Structure: A walled or roofed building that is principally above ground and affixed to a permanent site or location. Structure includes a utility shed, barn, gas or liquid storage tank, building foundation, platform, deck, swimming pool, bulkhead, or greenhouse.
Subdivision: The division or redivision of any lot, tract, or parcel of land by any means into two or more lots, tracts, parcels, or other divisions of land. Subdivision includes a change in existing lot lines for the immediate or future purpose of lease, transfer of ownership, building, or development.
Substantial Damage: Damage of any origin sustained by a structure if the cost of restoring the structure to its previous condition is at least 50% of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.
Substantial improvement: Any repair, reconstruction, or improvement of a structure, if the total cumulative cost equals or exceeds 50 percent of the market value of the structure either:
(a) Before the improvement or repair is started; or
(b) Before the damage occurred, if the structure has been damaged and is being restored.
Substantial improvement occurs when the first alteration of any wall, ceiling, floor, or other structural part of a building begins, whether or not that alteration affects the external dimensions of the structure.
Substantial improvement does not include:
(a) Any improvements of a structure to comply with State or local health, sanitary, or safety codes which is necessary to assure safe living conditions; or
(b) Any alteration of a structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places or the State Inventory of Historic Places.
Temporary development: Any structure or construction
(a) used in construction work, such as a construction shed, seat, canopy, tent or fence; or
(b) for a temporary purpose, such as a reviewing stand, fair, carnival or flea market, which is completely removed after 180 days or less.
Watercourse: Any natural or artificial waterway including a stream, river, creek, ditch, channel, canal, conduit, culvert, drain, waterway, gully, ravine, or wash, in which water flows either continuously or intermittently.
Wetland means any land which is:
(1) considered private wetland or State wetland under Title 16 of the Environment Article of the Maryland Code; or
(2) defined as a wetland under the procedures described in the most recent Federal manual for Identifying and Delineating a Jurisdictional Wetland. (1989 L.M.C., ch. 39, § 4; 1992 L.M.C., ch. 33, § 2; 1996 L.M.C., ch. 20, § 1; 1998 L.M.C., ch. 12, § 1; , § 1; , § 1; , § 1.)
