Borough of Duncannon, PA Article I General Provisions

§ 126-1 Title.

The title of this chapter is "Floodplain Management Ordinance."

§ 126-2 Purpose.

The purpose of this chapter is to:

A. Restrict or prohibit uses that are dangerous to person and property due to water or erosion hazards or that result in damaging increases in erosion, flood heights or flood velocities;

B. Require that uses which are vulnerable to floods, including facilities that serve such uses, be protected against flood damage at the time of initial establishment, construction or enlargement;

C. Encourage the use of appropriate construction practices in order to prevent or minimize flood damage in the future;

D. Control the alteration of natural floodplains, stream channels and protective barriers, which accommodate floodwaters;

E. Prevent or regulate the construction of barriers that will unnaturally divert floodwaters or which increase flood hazards to other lands;

F. Control filling, grading, dredging and all other development activities that may increase erosion or flood damage; and

G. Comply with federal and state floodplain management requirements.

§ 126-3 Objectives.

The objectives of this chapter are to:

A. Protect human life and health;

B. Minimize the need for rescue and relief efforts undertaken with flooding and the expenditure of public money for these efforts;

C. Minimize property loss and damage;

D. Minimize prolonged business losses and interruptions;

E. Help maintain a stable tax base by providing for the sound use and development of floodplain areas;

F. Minimize damage to public facilities and utilities that are located in floodplain areas; and

G. Minimize expenditure of public money for costly flood-control projects.

§ 126-4 Applicability.

A. It shall be unlawful for any person to undertake or cause to be undertaken any construction or development within a flood hazard area anywhere within the Borough, unless a floodplain development permit has been obtained from the Floodplain Administrator.

B. "Person," as used in this chapter, shall mean an individual, partnership, public or private association, corporation, business, trust, estate, municipality, government unit, public utility or any other legal entity which is recognized by law as the subject of rights and duties.

§ 126-5 Conflicting provisions.

In the event of a conflict between the provisions of this chapter and any other ordinance of the Borough, the more restrictive provisions shall apply.

§ 126-6 Definitions.

Unless specifically defined below, words or phrases uses 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.

BASE FLOOD (also known as the "one-hundred-year flood" or "one-percent-annual-chance flood")

Flood having a one-percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in a given year.

BASEMENT

Any area of the structure having its floor subgrade (below ground level) on all sides.

BUILDING

See "structure."

DEVELOPMENT

Any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, including but not limited to the construction, erection, reconstruction, renovation, repair, expansion, or alteration of structures; the placement of manufactured homes; streets, and other paving; utilities; filling, grading and excavation; mining; dredging; drilling operations; storage of equipment or materials; clearing of vegetation; and any use or change in use of any structures or land. "Development" shall also include any land disturbing activity on improved or unimproved land that changes the amount of impervious or partially impervious surfaces or that otherwise decreases the natural infiltration of precipitation into the soil.

ESSENTIALLY DRY SPACE

A space which will remain dry during flooding, except for the passage of some water vapor or minor seepage.

FLOOD HAZARD AREA

The floodway and the maximum area of land likely to be flooded by a one-hundred-year flood, as identified in the most current Flood Insurance Study and shown on the most current Flood Insurance Rate Map for the Borough of Duncannon, Perry County, Pennsylvania, provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

FLOOD or FLOODING

A general, but temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from the unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface water from any source.

FLOODPLAIN

Any land area susceptible to being partially or completely inundated by water from any source during the one-hundred-year flood. The floodplain for the Borough is the area identified in the most current Flood Insurance Study and shown on the most current Flood Insurance Rate Map for the Borough of Duncannon, Perry County, Pennsylvania, provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as within the AE Zone.

FLOODPLAIN DEVELOPMENT PERMIT

Permit required prior to the commencement of any development in the floodplain.

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.

FLOODWAY

Channel of the stream, plus any adjacent floodplain area, that must be kept free of encroachment so that the one-percent-annual-chance flood can be carried without substantial increase in flood height. Minimum federal standards limit such increases to 1.0 foot, provided that hazardous velocities are not produced.

FLOODWAY FRINGE

Portion of the floodplain that could be completely obstructed without increasing the water surface elevation of the one-percent-annual-chance flood by more than 1.0 foot at any point.

FREEBOARD

A factor of safety usually expressed in feet above a flood level for purposes of floodplain management, which compensates for the many unknown factors that could contribute to flood heights greater than the height calculated for a selected size flood and floodway conditions.

HISTORIC STRUCTURE

Any structure that is:

A. Listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places maintained by the Department of 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; or

C. Individually listed on the Pennsylvania inventory of historic places.

LOWEST FLOOR

Lowest floor of the lowest fully enclosed area, including the basement.

MINOR REPAIR

The replacement of existing work with equivalent materials for the purpose of its routine maintenance and upkeep, but not including the cutting away of any wall, partition or portion thereof, the removal or cutting of any structural beam or bearing support, or the removal or change of any required means of egress or rearrangement of parts of a structure affecting the exitway requirements, nor shall minor repairs include addition to, alteration of, replacement or relocation of any standpipe, water supply, sewer, drainage, drain leader, gas, oil, waste, vent or similar piping, electric wiring or mechanical or other work affecting public health or general safety.

NEW CONSTRUCTION

A structure, whether new or an improvement to an existing structure, for which the start of construction commenced on or after the effective date of this chapter.

OBSTRUCTION

Any structure or assembly of materials, including fill, or an activity which might impede, retard or change flood flows.

ONE-HUNDRED-YEAR FLOOD

The highest level of flooding that, on average, is likely to occur every 100 years, that is a flood that has a one-percent chance of occurring each year.

ONE-HUNDRED-YEAR FLOODPLAIN

The floodway and the maximum area of land that is likely to be flooded by a one-hundred-year flood as shown on the most current Flood Insurance Rate Map for the Borough of Duncannon, Perry County, Pennsylvania, provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

RECREATIONAL VEHICLE

A vehicle built on a single chassis; 400 square feet or less in size when measured at the largest horizontal projection; designed to be self-propelled or permanently towable by a light-duty truck; designed primarily not for use as a permanent dwelling but as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel or seasonal use; fully licensed; and ready for highway use.

REGULATORY FLOOD-PROTECTION ELEVATION

The one-hundred-year-flood elevation, plus a freeboard safety factor of 1 1/2 feet.

REPETITIVE LOSS

Flood-related damages sustained by a structure on two separate occasions during a ten-year period for which the cost of repairs at the time of each such flood event equals or exceed 25% of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.

SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD AREAS

Areas subject to inundation by the one-hundred-year flood as shown on the most current Flood Insurance Rate Map for the Borough of Duncannon, Perry County, Pennsylvania, provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

SPECIAL PERMIT

Permit required for hospitals, nursing homes, jails, and new or substantially improved existing manufactured home parks and subdivisions, when such development is located in all or a portion of a floodplain. For purposes of this chapter, the term "special permit" is substituted for the term "special exception" used in Section 301 of the Pennsylvania Flood Plain Management Act.

Editor's Note: See 32 P.S. § 679.301.

START OF CONSTRUCTION

Date the building permit was issued, provided the actual start of repair, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition, placement or other improvement is within 180 days of the permit date.

STRUCTURE

Anything constructed, erected or attached to the ground by any combination of materials, including manufactured homes and trailers used for human habitation. This term also means any man-made object having an ascertainable stationary location on or in land or water whether or not affixed to land.

SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE

Damage from any cause where the cost of restoration to a before-damaged condition would equal or exceed 50% of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.

SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT

Any combination of repair, 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, regardless of the actual repair work performed. This term includes structures which have incurred repetitive loss. For purposes of this definition, substantial improvement is considered to occur when the first alteration of any wall, ceiling, floor or other structural part of the structure commences, whether or not that alteration affects the external dimensions of the structure. The term does not include:

A. An improvement to correct existing violations of state or Borough health, sanitary or safety code requirements and which is the minimum necessary to assure safe living conditions; or

B. An alteration of an historic structure, provided the alteration does not preclude the structure's continued designation as such.