§ 4. Definitions.

The following words and terms used in this ordinance shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(a)

Agricultural lands: Those lands used for the planting and harvesting of crops or plant growth of any kind in the open, pasture, horticulture, dairy farming, floriculture, or the raising of poultry or livestock.

(b)

Best management practice (BMP): A practice, or combination of practices, determined to be the most effective practical means of preventing or reducing the amount of pollution generated by nonpoint sources to a level compatible with water quality goals.

(c)

Clearing: The removal of vegetation from surface soils.

(d)

Construction footprint: The area of all impervious surface created by development of land, including, but not limited to, buildings, roads, construction staging areas, drives, parking areas and sidewalks, and any other land disturbed for the construction of such improvements.

(e)

Conventional tillage: The combined primary and secondary tillage operations normally performed in preparing a seedbed for a given crop grown in a given geographical area.

(f)

Critical-edge habitat: Those lands adjacent to wetlands and waterways that provide for flood control, water quality enhancement, wildlife use, public access and recreation, and aesthetics.

(g)

Detention: The collection and storage of surface water for subsequent gradual discharge.

(h)

Developer: Any person who engages in development, either as an owner, or as the agent or representative of an owner, of property.

(i)

Development: The construction, alteration or installation of any structure or other improvement upon a parcel of land, or any land disturbance, whether or not undertaken in connection with development, but not including activities associated with agriculture or silviculture or the construction of improvements used primarily for agricultural purposes. For floodplain management purposes, development means any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, including, but not limited to, buildings or other structures, the placement of manufactured homes, streets, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation or drilling operations, storage of equipment or materials, or the subdivision of land.

(j)

Drainage facility: Any manmade or artificially altered component of the drainage system.

(k)

Drainage system: The system through which water flows from the land, including all watercourses, water bodies and wetlands.

(l)

Erosion: The wearing or washing away of soil by the action of wind, water or other natural processes.

(m)

Flood: A general or temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from:

(1)

The overflow of inland or tidal waters; or

(2)

The unusual and rapid accumulation of runoff of surface waters from any source, or Mudflows, which are proximately caused by flooding as defined in paragraph (1)(b) of this definition and are akin to a river of liquid and flowing mud on the surfaces of normally dry land areas, as when earth is carried by a current of water and deposited along the path of the current.

The collapse of subsidence of land along the shore of a lake or other body of water as a result of erosion or undermining caused by waves or currents of water exceeding anticipated cyclical levels or suddenly caused by an unusually high water level in a natural body of water, accompanied by a severe storm, or by an unanticipated force of nature such as flash flood or an abnormal tidal surge, or by some similarly unusual and unforeseeable event which that results in flooding as defined in paragraph 1(a) of this definition.

(n)

Floodplain: Any land area susceptible to being inundated by water from any source.

(o)

Forebay: An extra storage area provided near the inlet to a best management practice facility to trap incoming sediments.

(p)

Grade control structures: A mechanical device used to collect surface water from a given elevation and outlet it at a lower elevation for purposes of minimizing erosion of a slope or ditch bank.

(q)

Hoe drain or power take-off drain: A shallow surface drain constructed perpendicular to the orientation of rows of crops, used for the purpose of collecting and transporting excessive water.

(r)

Impervious surface: A surface which is compacted or covered with a layer of material so that it is highly resistant to infiltration by water, including, but not limited to, most conventionally surfaced streets, roofs, sidewalks, parking lots, and other similar structures.

(s)

Land disturbance: Any activity which causes, contributes to, or results in the removal, destruction or covering of the vegetation upon any land, including, but not limited to, clearing, dredging, filling, grading or excavating. The term shall not include minor activity such as home gardening, individual home landscaping and home maintenance.

(t)

Natural heritage resources: Rare, threatened or endangered species and their habitat, rare or state-significant natural communities or geologic sites, and similar features of scientific interest benefiting the welfare of the citizens of the commonwealth pursuant to the Virginia Natural Area Preserves Act of 1989.

(u)

Natural system: A system which predominantly consists of or uses those communities of plants, animals, bacteria and other flora and fauna which occur indigenously on the land, in the soil, or in the water.

(v)

Nontidal wetlands: 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; 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.

(w)

Noxious weed: A plant which is undesirable because it conflicts with, restricts or otherwise interferes with management objectives of this ordinance, including, but not limited to, Johnsongrass, Purple Loosestrife and Shattercane.

(x)

Person: An individual, fiduciary, corporation, firm, partnership, association, organization, municipal corporation or other entity or combination thereof.

(y)

Property line ditch: A ditch or canal used as, or located upon, a boundary between adjacent properties in private ownership.

(z)

Receiving body: Any water body, watercourse or wetland into which surface waters flow, either naturally, in manmade ditches or in a closed conduit system.

(aa)

Retention: The collection and storage of runoff without subsequent discharge to surface waters.

(bb)

Sediment: Particulate material, whether mineral or organic, that is in suspension or has settled in a water body.

(cc)

Sedimentation facility: Any structure or area which is designed to hold runoff water until suspended sediments have settled.

(dd)

Shoreline: The interface between land and the ordinary high-water mark.

(ee)

Silviculture: The care and cultivation of forest trees.

(ff)

Site: Any tract or parcel of land, or combination of tracts, lots or parcels of land which are in common ownership or are contiguous and in diverse ownership where development is to be performed as part of a subdivision or construction project.

(gg)

Special flood hazard area: The land in the floodplain subject to the one (1) perfect or greater chance of being flooded in any given year as set forth in the Floodplain Ordinance (Appendix K).

(hh)

Structure: That which is built or constructed, an edifice or building of any kind or any piece of work artificially built up or composed of parts joined together in some definite manner, but not including fences or signs. For floodplain management purposes, a structure means a walled and roofed building, including a gas or liquid storage tank that is principally above ground, as well as a manufactured home.

(ii)

Subdivision: The division of any parcel of land into two (2) or more lots or parcels. The term shall include all changes in lot lines, the creation of new lots involving any division of an existing lot or lots and, if a new street is involved in such division, any division of a parcel of land. When appropriate to the context, the term shall also include the process of subdividing and the territory subdivided.

(jj)

Tidal wetlands: Vegetated and nonvegetated wetlands, as defined in section 1401 of the City Zoning Ordinance [Appendix A].

(kk)

Tillage equipment: Farm equipment commonly used to invert the soil surface layer, including, but not limited to, disc harrows and moldboard plows.

(ll)

Tributary stream: A watercourse contiguous to wetlands or shorelines, as defined in this ordinance.

(mm)

Vegetation: All plant growth, including, but not limited to, trees, shrubs, vines, ferns, herbs, mosses and grasses.

(nn)

Waters or community of waters: Any and all water on or beneath the surface of the ground, including the water in any watercourse, water body or drainage system and diffused surface water and water percolating, standing or flowing beneath the surface of the ground, as well as coastal waters.

(oo)

Watercourse: Any natural or artificial lake, stream, river, creek, channel, ditch, canal, waterway, gully, ravine, swale or wash in which water flows, either continuously, periodically, or intermittently, and which has a definite channel, bed or banks.

(pp)

Water-dependent facility: A development of land which must be located on a shoreline by reason of its intrinsic nature, including, but not limited to, ports, intake and outfall structures of power plants, water treatment plants, sewage treatment plants, storm sewer outfalls, marinas and other boat docking structures, beaches and other public water-oriented recreational areas, fisheries or other marine resource facilities and shoreline protection measures as authorized under the provisions of the Wetlands Zoning Ordinance. [Appendix A, § 1400 et seq.]. In the case of facilities having both water-dependent components and components which are not water-dependent, only those portions which are water-dependent shall fail within this definition.

(qq)

Wetlands: Tidal and nontidal wetlands as defined herein.

(Ord. No. 2562 9-14-99; Ord. No. 2673, 10-23-01; Ord. No. 3315, 11-26-13)

(Ord. No. 2562 9-14-99; Ord. No. 2673, 10-23-01; Ord. No. 3315, 11-26-13)