§ 5-2-5. Definitions.

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.

(1)

Accessory structure means a structure that is located on the same parcel of property as the principal structure and the use of which is incidental to the use of the principal structure. Accessory structures should constitute a minimal investment, may not be used for human habitation, and be designed to have minimal flood damage potential.

(2)

Addition (to an existing building) means an extension or increase in the floor area or height of a building or structure. Additions to existing buildings shall comply with the requirements for new construction regardless as to whether the addition is a substantial improvement or not. Where a firewall or load-bearing wall is provided between the addition and the existing building, the addition(s) shall be considered a separate building and must comply with the standards for new construction.

(3)

Appeal means a request for a review of the local floodplain administrator's interpretation of any provision of this chapter.

(4)

Area of shallow flooding means a designated AO or VO zone on a community's flood insurance rate map (FIRM) with base flood depths of one (1) to three (3) feet where a clearly defined channel does not exist, where the path of flooding is unpredictable and indeterminate, and where velocity flow may be evident.

(5)

Area of special flood hazard means the land in the all floodprone areas within the jurisdiction of City of Conway as identified on the city's current regulatory floodplain map or official FEMA flood maps.

(6)

Base flood elevation means the highest elevation to which floodwater is anticipated to rise during flood conditions as identified on the city's current regulatory floodplain map or the current or preliminary FEMA flood maps and studies.

(7)

Basement means any enclosed area of a building that is below grade on all sides.

(8)

City regulatory floodplain map means an official map of the community, issued by the building department of the City of Conway, on which high water marks have been recorded to denote the crest of floodwaters resulting from Hurricane Matthew. Along with official FEMA flood maps, this map is used to determine the flood protection level for new and substantially improved structures within the City of Conway.

(9)

Critical facility means a structure or other improvement that is critical to the community's public health and safety, is essential to the orderly functioning of a community, store or produce highly volatile, toxic or water-reactive materials, or house occupants that may be insufficiently mobile to avoid loss of life or injury. Examples of critical facilities include jails, hospitals, schools, fire stations, nursing homes, wastewater treatment facilities, water plants, and gas/oil/propane storage facilities.

(10)

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, excavating or drilling operations, or storage of materials.

(11)

Elevated building means a non-basement building built to have the lowest floor elevated above the ground level by means of solid foundation perimeter walls, pilings, columns, piers, or shear walls parallel to the flow of water.

(12)

Existing construction means, for the purposes of determining rates, structures for which the start of construction commenced before August 27, 1979.

(13)

Existing manufactured home park or manufactured home 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 August 27, 1979.

(14)

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 slabs).

(15)

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) means an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The agency's primary purpose is to coordinate the response to a disaster that has occurred in the United States and that overwhelms the resources of local and state authorities. The Mitigation Division within FEMA manages the National Flood Insurance Program and oversees the floodplain management and mapping components of the program.

(16)

Flood means a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from the overflow of inland or tidal waters, or the unusual and rapid accumulation of runoff of surface waters from any source.

(17)

Flood hazard boundary map (FHBM) means an official map of a community, issued by FEMA, where the boundaries of the areas of special flood hazard have been defined as zone A.

(18)

Flood insurance rate map (FIRM) means an official map of a community, on which FEMA has delineated both the areas of special flood hazard and the risk premium zones applicable to the community.

(19)

Flood insurance study means the official report provided by FEMA which contains flood profiles, as well as the flood boundary floodway map and the water surface elevation of the base flood.

(20)

Flood-resistant material means any building material capable of withstanding direct and prolonged contact (minimum 72 hours) with floodwaters without sustaining damage that requires more than low-cost cosmetic repair. Any material that is water-soluble or is not resistant to alkali or acid in water, including normal adhesives for above-grade use, is not flood-resistant. Pressure-treated lumber or naturally decay-resistant lumbers are acceptable flooring materials. Sheet-type flooring coverings that restrict evaporation from below and materials that are impervious, but dimensionally unstable are not acceptable. Materials that absorb or retain water excessively after submergence are not flood-resistant. Please refer to FEMA Technical Bulletin 2, Flood Damage-Resistant Materials Requirements. Class 4 and 5 materials, referenced therein, are acceptable flood-resistant materials.

(21)

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 (1) foot.

(22)

Floor means the top surface of an enclosed area in a building (including basement), i.e., top of slab in concrete slab construction or top of wood flooring in wood frame construction.

(23)

Freeboard means a factor of safety usually expressed in feet above a flood level for purposes of floodplain management. "Freeboard" tends to compensate for the many unknown factors that could contribute to flood heights greater than the height calculated for a selected size flood and floodway conditions, such as wave action, bridge openings, and the hydrological effect of urbanization of the watershed.

(24)

Functionally dependent use means a use which cannot perform its intended purpose unless it is located or carried out in close proximity to water. The term includes only docking facilities, port facilities that are necessary for the loading and unloading of cargo or passengers, and ship building and ship repair facilities, but does not include long-term storage or related manufacturing facilities.

(25)

Highest adjacent grade means the highest natural elevation of the ground surface, prior to construction, next to the proposed walls of the structure.

(26)

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 [DOI]) 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;

d.

individually listed on a local inventory of historic places in communities with historic preservation programs that have been certified by an approved state program as determined by the Secretary of Interior, or directly by the Secretary of Interior in states without approved programs.

Some structures or districts listed on the state or local inventories MAY NOT be "historic" as cited above, but have been included on the inventories because it was believed that the structures or districts have the potential for meeting the "historic" structure criteria of the DOI. In order for these structures to meet NFIP historic structure criteria, it must be demonstrated and evidenced that the South Carolina Department of Archives and History has individually determined that the structure or district meets DOI historic structure criteria.

(27)

Limited storage means an area used for storage and intended to be limited to incidental items that can withstand exposure to the elements and have low flood damage potential. Such an area must be of flood-resistant or breakaway material, void of utilities except for essential lighting and cannot be temperature controlled.

(28)

Lowest adjacent grade means an elevation of the lowest ground surface that touches any deck support, exterior walls of a building or proposed building walls.

(29)

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 is not considered a building's lowest floor; provided, that such enclosure is not built so as to render the structure in violation of other provisions of this chapter.

(30)

Manufactured home means a structure, transportable in one (1) 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 "manufactured home" does not include a "recreational vehicle."

(31)

Manufactured home park or subdivision means a parcel (or contiguous parcels) of land divided into two (2) or more manufactured home lots for rent or sale.

(32)

Mean sea level , for the purpose of this chapter, means the National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD) of 1929, North American Vertical Datum (NAVD) of 1988, or other datum, to which the base flood elevations shown on a community's flood insurance rate maps are shown.

(33)

National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD) of 1929 means national standard reference datum for elevations, formerly referred to as mean sea level (MSL), of 1929. NGVD 1929 may be used as the reference datum on some flood insurance rate maps (FIRMs).

(34)

New construction means structure for which the start of construction commenced on or after August 27, 1979. The term also includes any subsequent improvements to such structure.

(35)

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 slabs) is completed on or after August 27, 1979.

(36)

North American Vertical Datum (NAVD) of 1988 means the vertical control datum established for vertical control surveying in the Unites States of America based upon the General Adjustment of the North American Datum of 1988. It replaces the National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD) of 1929.

(37)

Official FEMA flood maps means current and preliminary FEMA flood insurance rate maps and current flood insurance study with accompanying maps and other supporting data.

(38)

Recreational vehicle means a vehicle which is:

a.

built on a single chassis;

b.

four hundred square feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projection;

c.

designed to be self-propelled or permanently towable by a light duty truck; and

d.

designed primarily not for use as a permanent dwelling, but as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel, or seasonal use.

(39)

Repetitive loss property means any insurable building for which two (2) or more claims of more than $1,000.00 were paid by the National Flood Insurance Program within any rolling 10-year period, since 1978. A repetitive loss property may or may not be currently insured by the National Flood Insurance Program.

(40)

Required flood protection level means two (2) feet above the base flood elevation shown on official FEMA flood maps or two (2) feet above the high water mark on the city's current regulatory floodplain map, whichever is higher. The required flood protection level is the regulatory requirement for the elevation or the floodproofing of structures in the City of Conway.

(41)

Start of construction (for other than new construction or substantial improvements under the Coastal Barrier Resources Act P.L. 97-348) includes substantial improvement, and means the date the building permit was issued, provided the actual start of construction, repair, reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition, or improvement was within 180 days of the permit date. The actual start means the first placement of permanent construction of a structure (including a manufactured home) on a site, such as the pouring of slabs or footings, installation of piles, 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 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 the building, whether or not that alteration affects the external dimensions of the building.

(42)

Structure means for floodplain management purposes, a structure is a walled and roofed building, including a gas or liquid storage tank, which is principally above ground, as well as a manufactured home.

(43)

Substantial damage means 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 percent of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred. Such repairs may be undertaken successively and their costs counted cumulatively. Please refer to the definition of "substantial improvement."

(44)

Substantial improvement means any combination of repairs, reconstruction, alteration, rehabilitation, addition, or other improvement of a structure, taking place during the life of a building in which the cumulative cost would equal or exceed 50 percent of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred. This term includes structures that have incurred repeated loss or substantial damage, regardless of the actual repair work performed. The term does not, however, include any project for improvement of a building required to comply with existing health, sanitary, or safety code specifications which have been identified by the code enforcement official and which are solely 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. Permits shall be cumulative. If the improvement project is conducted in phases, the total of all costs associated with each phase, beginning with the issuance of the first permit, shall be utilized to determine whether "substantial improvement" will occur.

(45)

Substantially improved existing manufactured home park or subdivision means where the repair, reconstruction, rehabilitation or improvement of the streets, utilities and pads equals or exceeds 50 percent of the value of the streets, utilities and pads before the repair, reconstruction, or improvement commenced.

(46)

Variance is a grant of relief from a term or terms of this chapter which permits construction in a manner otherwise prohibited by this chapter where specific enforcement would result in unnecessary hardship.

(47)

Violation means the failure of a structure or other development to be fully compliant with these regulations.

(Ord. No. 2017-05-15(B), 5/15/17)