Virginia Administrative Code › Title 9 - ENVIRONMENT › Agency 25 - STATE WATER CONTROL BOARD › Chapter 830 - CHESAPEAKE BAY PRESERVATION AREA DESIGNATION AND MANAGEMENT REGULATIONS › Part I - Introduction › Section 9VAC25-830-40 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms used in this chapter have the
					 following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In
					 addition, some terms not defined herein are defined in § 62.1-44.15:68 of
					 the Act.
"Act" means the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, Article
					 2.5 (§ 62.1-44.15:67 et seq.) of Chapter 3.1 of Title 62.1 of the Code of
					 Virginia.
"Adaptation measure" means a project, practice, or approach
					 to mitigate or address an impact of climate change including sea-level rise,
					 storm surge, and flooding including increased or recurrent flooding.
"Best management practice" means a practice, or combination
					 of practices, that is determined by a state or designated area-wide planning
					 agency to be the most effective, practicable means of preventing or reducing
					 the amount of pollution generated by nonpoint sources to a level compatible
					 with water quality goals.
"Board" means the State Water Control Board. When used
					 outside the context of the promulgation of regulations, including regulations
					 to establish general permits, "board" means the Department of Environmental
					 Quality.
"Buffer area" means an area of natural or established
					 vegetation managed to protect other components of a Resource Protection Area
					 and state waters from significant degradation due to land disturbances.
"Canopy tree" means a tree that typically reaches 35 feet
					 in height or taller when mature.
"Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area" means any land
					 designated by a local government pursuant to Part III (9VAC25-830-70 et seq.) of
					 this chapter and § 62.1-44.15:74 of the Act. A Chesapeake Bay Preservation
					 Area shall consist of a Resource Protection Area and a Resource Management
					 Area.
"Daylighted stream" means a stream that had been previously
					 diverted into an underground drainage system and has been redirected into an
					 aboveground channel using natural channel design concepts as defined in §
					 62.1-44.15:51 of the Code of Virginia, and where the adjacent lands would meet
					 the criteria for being designated as a Resource Protection Area (RPA) as
					 defined by the department under this chapter.
"Department" or "DEQ" means the Department of Environmental
					 Quality.
"Development" means the construction or substantial
					 alteration of residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, recreation,
					 transportation, or utility facilities or structures.
"Director" means the Director of the Department of
					 Environmental Quality.
"Erosion and Sediment Control Law" means Article 2.4
					 (§ 62.1-44.15:51 et seq.) of Chapter 3.1 of Title 62.1 of the Code of
					 Virginia.
"Floodplain" means all lands that would be inundated by
					 flood water as a result of a storm event of a 100-year return interval.
"Highly erodible soils" means soils (excluding vegetation)
					 with an erodibility index (EI) from sheet and rill erosion equal to or greater
					 than eight. The erodibility index for any soil is defined as the product of the
					 formula RKLS/T, where K is the soil susceptibility to water erosion in the
					 surface layer; R is the rainfall and runoff; LS is the combined effects of
					 slope length and steepness; and T is the soil loss tolerance.
"Highly permeable soils" means soils with a given potential
					 to transmit water through the soil profile. Highly permeable soils are
					 identified as any soil having a permeability equal to or greater than six
					 inches of water movement per hour in any part of the soil profile to a depth of
					 72 inches (permeability groups "rapid" and "very rapid") as found in the
					 "National Soil Survey Handbook" of November 1996 in the "Field Office Technical
					 Guide" of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation
					 Service.
"Impervious cover" means a surface composed of any material
					 that significantly impedes or prevents natural infiltration of water into the
					 soil. Impervious surfaces include roofs, buildings, streets, parking areas, and
					 any concrete, asphalt or compacted gravel surface.
"Infill" means utilization of vacant land in previously
					 developed areas.
"Intensely Developed Areas" means those areas designated by
					 the local government pursuant to
					 9VAC25-830-100.
"Local governments" means counties, cities, and towns. This
					 chapter applies to local governments in Tidewater Virginia, as defined in
					 § 62.1-44.15:68 of the Act, but the provisions of this chapter may be used
					 by other local governments.
"Local program" means the measures by which a local
					 government complies with the Act and this chapter.
"Local program adoption date" means the date a local
					 government meets the requirements of subdivisions 1 and 2 of
					 9VAC25-830-60.
"Mature tree" means a canopy tree with a diameter at breast
					 height (DBH) of 12 inches or greater or an understory tree with a DBH of four
					 inches or greater.
"Nature-based solution" means an approach that reduces the
					 impacts of sea-level rise, flooding and storm events through the use of
					 environmental processes and natural systems.
"Nontidal wetlands" means 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 defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection
					 Agency pursuant to § 404 of the federal Clean Water Act in 33 CFR
					 328.3b.
"Plan of development" means any process for site plan
					 review in local zoning and land development regulations designed to ensure
					 compliance with § 62.1-44.15:74 of the Act and this chapter, prior to
					 issuance of a building permit.
"Public road" means a publicly owned road designed and
					 constructed in accordance with water quality protection criteria at least as
					 stringent as requirements applicable to the Virginia Department of
					 Transportation, including regulations promulgated pursuant to (i) the Erosion
					 and Sediment Control Law and (ii) the Virginia Stormwater Management Act. This
					 definition includes those roads where the Virginia Department of Transportation
					 exercises direct supervision over the design or construction activities, or
					 both, and cases where secondary roads are constructed or maintained, or both,
					 by a local government in accordance with the standards of that local
					 government.
"Redevelopment" means the process of developing land that
					 is or has been previously developed.
"Resource Management Area" means that component of the
					 Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area that is not classified as the Resource
					 Protection Area.
"Resource Protection Area" means that component of the
					 Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area comprised of lands adjacent to water bodies
					 with perennial flow that have an intrinsic water quality value due to the
					 ecological and biological processes they perform or are sensitive to impacts
					 that may result in significant degradation to the quality of state
					 waters.
"Silvicultural activities" means forest management
					 activities, including the harvesting of timber, the construction of roads and
					 trails for forest management purposes, and the preparation of property for
					 reforestation that are conducted in accordance with the silvicultural best
					 management practices developed and enforced by the State Forester pursuant to
					 § 10.1-1105 of the Code of Virginia and are located on property defined as
					 real estate devoted to forest use under § 58.1-3230 of the Code of
					 Virginia.
"Substantial alteration" means expansion or modification of
					 a building or development that would result in a disturbance of land exceeding
					 an area of 2,500 square feet in the Resource Management Area only.
"Tidal shore" or "shore" means land contiguous to a tidal
					 body of water between the mean low water level and the mean high water
					 level.
"Tidal wetlands" means vegetated and nonvegetated wetlands
					 as defined in § 28.2-1300 of the Code of Virginia.
"Tidewater Virginia" means those jurisdictions named in
					 § 62.1-44.15:68 of the Act.
"Understory tree" means a tree that typically reaches 12
					 feet to 35 feet in height when mature.
"Use" means an activity on the land other than development
					 including agriculture, horticulture and silviculture.
"Virginia Stormwater Management Act" means Article 2.3
					 (§ 62.1-44.15:24 et seq.) of Chapter 3.1 of Title 62.1 of the Code of
					 Virginia.
"Water-dependent facility" means a development of land that
					 cannot exist outside of the Resource Protection Area and must be located on the
					 shoreline by reason of the intrinsic nature of its operation. These facilities
					 include (i) ports; (ii) the intake and outfall structures of power plants,
					 water treatment plants, sewage treatment plants, and storm sewers; (iii)
					 marinas and other boat docking structures; (iv) beaches and other public
					 water-oriented recreation areas; and (v) fisheries or other marine resources
					 facilities.
Statutory Authority: §§ 62.1-44.15:69 and
						62.1-44.15:72 of the Code of Virginia.