§ 1. Definitions.

1.1.

City agent. The director of planning or his designee hereinafter referred to as the city agent, is hereby charged with responsibility for coordinating the processing of site development plans. Accordingly, the director of planning or his designee is granted the authority necessary to coordinate the review process; and each city agency's review comments are to be made in writing in such form and following such procedure as may be prescribed by the director of planning or his designee, and shall be made a part of the permanent site development plan application record.

Provided, however, that this grant of authority shall not be construed to give to the director of planning or his designee a veto over any other city agency's review comments, insofar as the comments relate directly to their operating functions as defined by the City Code. Whenever necessary, the office of the city manager shall arbitrate inter-agency conflicts.

1.2.

Adequate. The term adequate shall mean standards and/or specifications as set forth in recognized engineering codes and regulations, as approved and recognized by national engineering organizations, except where such standards conflict with the Public Works Design Standards Manual, as approved by the council of the City of Virginia Beach, in which case the latter shall control.

1.3.

Agricultural use. Shall mean any use devoted to the bona fide production for sale of plants and animals useful to man, as more specifically defined in section 58-769.5 of the Code of Virginia, as amended, and under those uniform standards as may be prescribed by the commissioner of agriculture and commerce, or those uses devoted to and meeting the requirements and qualifications for payments or other compensation pursuant to a soil conservation program under an agreement with an agency of the federal government.

1.4.

Developer. Any person who desires or intends to improve or construct any improvement upon property as described, defined, and covered by this ordinance.

1.5.

Dwelling unit. A "dwelling unit" is a room or rooms connected together, constituting an independent housekeeping unit for a family, and containing a single kitchen.

1.6.

Dwelling, one-family. A building containing one dwelling unit. The term is general, including such specialized forms as one-family detached, one-family semi-detached, and one-family attached (row houses, townhouses, patio houses, and the like). Mobile homes, travel trailers, housing mounted on self-propelled or drawn vehicles, tents or other forms of temporary or portable housing are not included with the definition.

1.7.

Dwelling, two-family. A building containing only two (2) dwelling units.

1.8.

Dwelling, multiple-family. A building or group of buildings, other than a hotel, each building containing three (3) or more dwelling units.

1.9.

Equivalent residential unit (ERU). The equivalent impervious area of a single-family residential developed property per dwelling unit located within the city based on the statistical average horizontal impervious area of a single-family residence in the city. An equivalent residential unit (ERU) equals two thousand two hundred sixty-nine (2,269) square feet of impervious surface area.

1.10.

Reserved.

1.11.

Landscape design. The planned treatment of land, structures and flora complementing building construction or land development.

1.115

Lowest floor. 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 the applicable non-elevation design requirements of 44CFR § 60.3.

1.12.

Parcel. A piece, parcel, lot, tract or site or other dimension of land.

1.13.

Planning director. The director of the department of planning or his duly authorized designee.

1.14.

Site development plan. Detailed drawings indicating all building construction and land improvements including landscape treatments which may be required by the zoning ordinance, or in accordance with any city council action taken pursuant thereto, or by any other ordinance of the City of Virginia Beach.

1.15.

Zoning lot. A lot or any portion thereof, or contiguous lots of the same ownership within a single zoning district which are to be used, developed or built upon as a unit. For the purpose of this definition, lots of the same ownership separated solely by an alley of no more than twenty (20) feet in width and by a distance not exceeding the width of the alley shall be considered contiguous.

1.16.

Undeveloped property. Either vacant land, or land with a building, the existing use of which differs from its present zoning district classification, or the existing use of which differs from its present zoning district classification, or the existing use of which is proposed for a change of occupancy.

1.17.

Floodplain. Any land area susceptible to being inundated by water from any source and floodplains subject to special restrictions as defined in Appendix K, section 4.10.

1.18.

Wetlands. Areas shall include those defined in section 1401 (e)(f)(j) of the City Zoning Ordinance (Appendix A) and shall also include tidal wetlands, which are vegetated and nonvegetated wetlands, as defined in section 1401 of the City Zoning Ordinance (Appendix A); and nontidal wetlands, which are those wetlands, other than tidal wetlands, that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, as identified or referred to in the City of Virginia Beach Soil Survey by soil names Backbay Mucky Peat; Duckston portion of Corolla-Duckston Fine Sands; Dorovan Mucky Peat; Duckston Fine Sand; Nawney Silt Loam; Pamlico Mucky Peat; Pamlico-Lakehurst Variant Complex; Rapahannock Mucky Peat, Strongly Saline or Pocaty Peat; and any other lands which under normal conditions are saturated to the ground surface and connected by surface flow and contiguous to tidal wetlands or tributary streams.

(Ord. No. 614; Ord. No. 784; Ord. No. 2146, 6-25-92; Ord. No. 2225, 5-25-93; Ord. No. 2403, 6-25-96; Ord. No. 2665, 10-23-01; Ord. No. 3312, 11-26-13; Ord. No. 3462, 9-20-16; Ord. No. 3622, 6-16-20)

Cross reference— Zoning ordinance, App. A.

(Ord. No. 614; Ord. No. 784; Ord. No. 2146, 6-25-92; Ord. No. 2225, 5-25-93; Ord. No. 2403, 6-25-96; Ord. No. 2665, 10-23-01; Ord. No. 3312, 11-26-13; Ord. No. 3462, 9-20-16; Ord. No. 3622, 6-16-20)

Cross reference

Zoning ordinance, App. A.