Pennsylvania Code › Title 12 - COMMERCE, TRADE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT › Part V - Community Affairs and Development › Subpart A - Strategic Planning and Operation › Chapter 113 - FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT › Section 113.1 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter,
					 have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
					 otherwise:
Act
-The Flood Plain Management Act
					 (32
					 P. S. §§
											679.101-679.601).
Department
-The Department of Community and
					 Economic Development of the Commonwealth.
Development
-A man-made change to improved
					 or unimproved real estate including, but not limited to, buildings or other
					 structures, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation or drilling
					 operations.
FEMA
-The Federal Emergency Management
					 Agency, successor to the United States Department of Housing and Urban
					 Development, Federal Insurance Administration.
Flood
-A general but temporary condition of
					 partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from the overflow of
					 streams, rivers or other waters of this Commonwealth.
Flood-fringe area
-That portion of the
					 100-year floodplain outside of the floodway.
Flood hazard area
-The 100-year floodway
					 and that maximum area of land that is likely to be flooded by a 100-year flood,
					 as shown on the floodplain maps provided by FEMA.
Floodplain management
-The operation of a
					 program or activities which may consist of both corrective and preventive
					 measures for reducing flood damage including, but not limited to, such things
					 as emergency preparedness plans, flood control works and floodplain management
					 regulations.
Floodplain management regulations
-Zoning
					 ordinances, subdivision and land development regulations, building codes,
					 health regulations, special purpose ordinances and other applications of the
					 police power. The term describes the State or local regulations in any
					 combination thereof, which provide standards for the purpose of flood damage
					 prevention and reduction.
Floodproofing
-Structural or other changes
					 or adjustments to properties or obstructions for the reduction or elimination
					 of flood damages to the properties and obstructions or to the contents of any
					 structure.
Floodway
-The portion of the 100-year
					 floodplain including the watercourse itself and an adjacent land area that must
					 be kept open in order to carry the water of a 100-year flood. At a minimum, a
					 floodway must be large enough to carry the water of the 100-year flood without
					 causing an increase of more than 1 foot in the elevation of the existing
					 100-year flood.
Freeboard
-A margin of safety, expressed in
					 feet, above the 100-year flood elevation.
Identified municipality
-A municipality
					 which has been formally notified by FEMA that it has been identified as having
					 an area subject to flooding.
Mobile home
-A transportable, single-family
					 dwelling intended for permanent occupancy, office or place of assembly which is
					 contained in one unit or in two units designed to be joined into one integral
					 unit capable of again being separated for repeated towing which arrives at a
					 site complete and ready for occupancy except for minor and incidental unpacking
					 and assembly operations, and which is constructed so that it may be used
					 without a permanent foundation. The term does not include recreational vehicles
					 or travel trailers.
Municipality
-A city, borough, town,
					 township or a similar general purpose unit of government; a county or other
					 governmental unit when acting as an agent thereof; or any combination thereof
					 acting jointly.
New mobile home park or mobile home
					 subdivision
-A parcel or contiguous parcels of land divided into two or
					 more mobile home lots for rent or sale for which the construction of facilities
					 for servicing the lot on which the mobile home is to be affixed-including at a
					 minimum, the installation of utilities, either final site grading or the
					 pouring of concrete pads, and the construction of streets-is completed on or
					 after the effective date of the floodplain management regulations adopted by a
					 municipality.
Obstruction
-A structure or assembly of
					 materials including fill above or below the surface of land or water and an
					 activity which might impede, retard or change flood flows. The planting,
					 cultivation and harvesting of field and orchard crops or the grazing of
					 livestock including the maintenance of necessary appurtenant agricultural
					 fencing is not considered an obstruction under this definition and is not
					 subject to regulation under this chapter.
100-year flood
-The highest level of
					 flooding that on the average, is likely to occur every 100 years, that is, that
					 has a 1% chance of occurring each year.
100-year floodplain or floodplain
-The
					 100-year floodway and that maximum area of land that is likely to be flooded by
					 a 100-year flood as shown on the floodplain maps provided by FEMA to the
					 municipality.
Pollution
-The contamination of waters of
					 this Commonwealth that will create or is likely to create a nuisance or to
					 render the waters harmful, detrimental or injurious to public health, safety or
					 welfare; or to domestic, municipal, commercial, industrial, agricultural,
					 recreational or other legitimate beneficial uses; or to livestock, wild
					 animals, birds, fish or other aquatic life, including, but not limited to, the
					 contamination by: alteration of the physical, chemical or biological properties
					 of the waters; change in temperature, taste, color or odor thereof, or the
					 discharge of a liquid, gaseous, radioactive, solid or other substances into the
					 waters.
Program
-The National Flood Insurance
					 Program.
Special permit
-A special exception. For
					 the purposes of this chapter, the term "special permit" is being substituted
					 for the term "special exception" as used in section 301 of the act
					 (32
					 P. S. §
											679.301). A special permit is
					 required for the uses and activities listed in §
										113.6 (relating to regulation of
					 particular obstructions).
Structure
-A walled and roofed building,
					 including a gas or building, and building, liquid storage tank, that is
					 principally above ground as well as a mobile home.
Substantial additions to mobile home parks
-A repair, reconstruction or improvement of an existing mobile home park or
					 mobile home subdivision where the repair, reconstruction or improvement of the
					 streets, utilities and pads will equal or exceed 50% of the value of the
					 streets, utilities and pads before the repair, reconstruction or improvement is
					 started.
Substantial improvements
-A repair,
					 reconstruction 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 occur when the first alteration of a
					 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 a project for improvement
					 of a structure to comply with existing State or local health, sanitary or
					 safety code specifications which are solely necessary to assure safe living
					 conditions or any alteration to a structure listed on the National Register or
					 Historic Register of the State Inventory of Historic Places.
Watershed
-The entire region or area
					 drained by a river or other body of water, whether natural or
					 artificial.