This chapter shall be known and may be cited
as the "Flood Damage Prevention Law" of the Town of Williamson.
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
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 floodwaters.
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 floodwaters or which may increase flood hazards
to other lands.
F.
Qualify for and maintain participation in the National
Flood Insurance Program.
The objectives of this chapter are to:
A.
Protect human life and health.
B.
Minimize expenditure of public money for costly flood-control
projects.
C.
Minimize the need for rescue and relief efforts associated
with flooding and generally undertaken at the expense of the general
public.
D.
Minimize prolonged business interruptions.
E.
Minimize damage to public facilities and utilities
such as water and gas mains, electric, telephone and sewer lines and
streets and bridges located in areas of special flood hazard.
F.
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.
Provide that developers are notified that property
is in an area of special flood hazard.
H.
Ensure that those who occupy the areas of special
flood hazard assume responsibility for their actions.
A.
Unless specifically defined below, words or ph used
in this chapter shall be interpreted so as to give them the meanings
they have in common usage and to give this chapter its most reasonable
application.
B.
APPEAL
AREA OF SHALLOW FLOODING
AREA OF SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD
BASE FLOOD
BASEMENT
BREAKAWAY WALL
BUILDING
CELLAR
COASTAL HIGH-HAZARD AREA
DEVELOPMENT
ELEVATED BUILDING
FLOOD BOUNDARY AND FLOODWAY MAP (FBFM)
FLOOD HAZARD BOUNDARY MAP (FHBM)
FLOOD INSURANCE RATE MAP (FIRM)
FLOOD INSURANCE STUDY
FLOOD or FLOODING — A general and temporary
condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas
from
FLOODPROOFING
FLOODWAY
FLOOR
FUNCTIONALLY DEPENDENT USE
HIGHEST ADJACENT GRADE
LOWEST FLOOR
MANUFACTURED HOME
MEAN SEA LEVEL
MOBILE HOME
NATIONAL GEODETIC VERTICAL DATUM (NGVD)
NEW CONSTRUCTION
ONE-HUNDRED-YEAR FLOOD
PRINCIPALLY ABOVE GROUND
REGULATORY FLOODWAY
SAND DUNES
START OF CONSTRUCTION
STRUCTURE
SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT
(1)
(2)
VARIANCE
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall
have the meanings indicated:
A request for a review of the local administrator's interpretation
of any provision of this chapter or a request for a variance.
A designated AO or VO Zone on a community's Flood Insurance
Rate Map (FIRM), with base flood depths from one foot to three 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.
The land in the floodplain within a community subject to
a one-percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year. This
area may be designated as Zone A, AE, AH, AO, A1 through A99, V, VO,
VE or V1 through V30. It is also commonly referred to as the "floodplain"
or "one-hundred-year floodplain."
The flood having a one-percent chance of being equaled or
exceeded in any given year.
That portion of a building having its floor subgrade (below
ground level) on all sides.
A wall that is not part of the structural support of the
building and is intended, through its design and construction, to
collapse under specific lateral loading forces without causing damage
to the elevated portion of the building or the supporting foundation
system.
Any structure built for support shelter or enclosure for
occupancy or storage.
The same as "basement."
The area subject to high-velocity waters, including but not
limited to hurricane wave wash. The area is designated on a FIRM as
Zone V1 through V30, VE, VO or V.
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 located
within the area of special flood hazard.
A nonbasement building built to have the lowest floor elevated
above the ground level by means of fill, solid foundation perimeter
walls, pilings, columns (posts and piers) or shear walls.
An official map of the community published by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency as part of a riverine community's Flood
Insurance Study. The "FBFM" delineates a regulatory floodway along
watercourses studied in detail in the Flood Insurance Study.
An official map of a community, issued by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, where the boundaries of the areas of special flood
hazard have been defined but no water surface elevation is provided.
An official map of a community on which the Federal Emergency
Management Agency has delineated both the areas of special flood hazard
and the risk premium zones applicable to the community.
The official report provided by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency. The report contains flood profiles, as well as the Flood Boundary
Map and the water surface elevations of the base flood.
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.
The same as "regulatory floodway."
The top surface of an enclosed area in a building, including
basement, i.e., the top of a slab in concrete slab construction or
the top of wood flooring in wood frame construction.
A use which cannot perform its intended purpose unless it
is located or carried out in close proximity to water, such as a docking
or port facility necessary for the loading and unloading of cargo
or passengers, shipbuilding and ship repair. The term does not include
long-term storage, manufacture, sales or service facilities.
The highest natural elevation of the ground surface, prior
to construction, next to the proposed walls of a structure.
The lowest level, including basement or cellar, of the lowest
enclosed area. An unfinished or flood-resistant enclosure usable solely
for the parking of vehicles, building access or storage in an area
other than a basement is not considered a building's "lowest floor,"
provided that such enclosure is not built so as to render the structure
in violation of the applicable nonelevation design requirements of
this chapter.
A structure, transportable in one or more sections, which
is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used with or without
permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities. The
term also includes park trailers, travel trailers and similar transportable
structures placed on a site for 180 consecutive days or longer and
intended to be improved property.
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.
The same as "manufactured home."
As corrected in 1929, a vertical control used as a reference
for establishing varying elevations within the floodplain.
Structures for which the start of construction commenced
on or after the effective date of this chapter.
The same as "base flood."
That at least 51% of the actual cash value of the structure,
excluding land value, is above ground.
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 a designated height as determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in a Flood Insurance Study or by other agencies as provided in § 92-15 of this chapter.
Naturally occurring accumulations of sand in ridges or mounds
landward of the beach.
The initiation, excluding planning and design, of any phase
of a project or physical alteration of the property, and shall include
land preparation, such as clearing, grading and filling; the 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 or sheds), storage trailers and building materials. For manufactured
homes, the "actual start" means affixing of the manufactured home
to its permanent site.
A walled and roofed building, a manufactured home or a gas
or liquid storage tank that is principally above ground.
Any repair, construction or improvement of a structure, the
cost of which equals or exceeds 50% of the market value of the structure
either before the improvement or repair is started or, if the structure
has been damaged and is being restored, before the damage occurred.
For the purposes of this definition, substantial improvement is considered
to commence when the first alteration of any wall, ceiling, floor
or other structural part of the building commences, whether or not
that alteration affects the external dimensions of the structure.
The term does not, however, include either:
Any project for improvement of a structure to
comply with existing state or local building, fire, health, sanitary
or safety code specifications which are solely necessary to assure
safe living conditions; or
Any alteration of a structure or contributing
structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places or a
State Inventory of Historic Places.
A grant of relief from the requirements of this chapter which
permits construction or use in a manner that would otherwise be prohibited
by this chapter.
