Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Natural Resources › NR 100-199 - Environmental Protection - General › Chapter NR 116 - Wisconsin's floodplain management program › Section NR 116.03 - Definitions

Current through June 24, 2024
In this chapter:
(1)
				"Accessory structure or use" means any facility, structure, building or use
				which is accessory or incidental to the principal use of a property, structure
				or building.
(1e) "Campground"
				means any parcel of land which is designed, maintained, intended or used for
				the purpose of providing sites for nonpermanent overnight use by 4 or more
				camping units, or which is advertised or represented as a camping
				area.
(1s) "Camping unit" means any
				portable device, no more than 400 square feet in area, used as a temporary
				shelter, including but not limited to a camping trailer, motor home, bus, van,
				pick-up truck or tent.
(2)
				"Certificate of compliance" means a document that is issued to a property owner
				by a municipality certifying that the use of land or a building is in
				conformance with provisions of the floodplain zoning ordinance.
(3) "Channel" means a natural or artificial
				watercourse with definite bed and banks to confine and conduct the normal flow
				of water.
(4) "Coastal floodplain"
				means an area along the coast of Lake Michigan or Lake Superior which is
				inundated by the regional flood and which is also subject to additional hazards
				due to wave runup.
(5) "Conditional
				use" or "special exception" means a use which is not allowed unless certain
				conditions specified in the zoning ordinance are met and a permit is granted by
				the board of adjustment or appeals or, where appropriate, the zoning
				agency.
(6) "Dam" as defined in s.
				NR
				333.03(2) means any artificial
				barrier, together with appurtenant works, built across a waterway and which has
				the primary purpose of impounding or diverting water.
(6m) "Deck" means an unenclosed exterior
				structure that has no roof or sides, but has a permeable floor which allows the
				infiltration of precipitation.
(7)
				"Department" means the Wisconsin department of natural resources.
(8) "Developed area" means an area within a
				floodplain designated by a municipality and approved by the department which
				contains a minimum of 20 potential residential lots or a minimum of 5 acres of
				land zoned commercial, industrial or institutional wherein existing structures
				constitute a minimum of 50% of the structures that could be accommodated by the
				respective zoning density. The limits of the developed area are defined by a
				line connecting the existing structures on the outer perimeter of the majority
				of the structures. Vacant lots within that boundary are treated the same as
				lots with existing structures.
(9)
				"Development" means any artificial change to improved or unimproved real
				estate, including, but not limited to, the construction of buildings,
				structures or accessory structures; the construction of additions or
				substantial improvements to buildings, structures or accessory structures; the
				placement of buildings or structures; mining, dredging, filling, grading,
				paving, excavation or drilling operations; and the storage, deposition or
				extraction of materials.
(10)
				"Dryland access" means a vehicular access route which is above the regional
				flood elevation and which connects land located in the floodplain to land
				outside the floodplain.
(11)
				"Erosion" means a wearing away of land by the action of natural forces such as
				wind or water; on a coastal floodplain, the carrying away of soil by wave
				action.
(12) "Flood" or "flooding"
				means a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of
				normally dry land areas caused by:
(a) The
				overflow or rise of inland waters;
(b) The rapid accumulation or runoff of
				surface waters from any source;
(c)
				The inundation caused by waves or currents of water exceeding anticipated
				cyclical levels along the shore of Lake Michigan or Lake Superior;
				and
(d) The sudden increase 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 a seiche, or by
				some similarly unusual event.