Corona Municipal Code Ch. 18.08 Definitions

“Accessory structure” means a structure that is either:

(A) Solely for the parking of no more than two cars; or

(B) A small, low cost shed for limited storage, less than 150 square feet and $1,500 in value.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Accessory use” means a use, which is incidental, and subordinate to the principal use of the parcel of land on which it is located.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Area of shallow flooding” means an area designated as an AO, AH or VO Zone on the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) and in which:

(A) The base flood depths range from one to three feet;

(B) A clearly defined channel does not exist;

(C) The path of flooding is unpredictable and indeterminate; and

(D) Velocity flow may be evident.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Base flood” means a flood having a 1% chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year (also called a “100-year flood”).

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Basement” means any area of a building having its floor subgrade (below-ground level) on all sides.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“BFE” means the base flood elevation shown on the Flood Insurance Rate Map for Zones AE, AH, Al-30, VE and V1-V30 that indicates the water surface elevation resulting from a flood that has a 1% or greater chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Breakaway wall” means any type of wall, whether solid or lattice, and whether constructed of concrete, masonry, wood, metal, plastic or any other suitable building material, which is not part of the structural support of the building and which is designed to break away under abnormally high tides or wave action without causing any damage to the structural integrity of the building in which it is used or any building to which it might be carried by flood waters.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Development” means any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate in an area of special flood hazard, including, but not limited to, buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paying, excavation or drilling operations.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Encroachment” means the advance or infringement of uses, plant growth, fill, excavation, buildings, permanent structures or development into a floodplain, which may impede or alter the flow capacity of a floodplain.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Existing mobile home park or mobile home subdivision” means 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 minimum, the installation of utilities, final site grading or the pouring of concrete pads and the construction of streets) is completed before the effective date of this chapter.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Expansion of an existing mobile home park or mobile home subdivision” means the preparation of additional sites by the construction of facilities for servicing the lots on which the mobile homes are to be affixed (including the installation of utilities, final site grading, the pouring of concrete pads or the construction of streets).

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Flood” or “flooding” means a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry areas from:

(A) The overflow of inland or tidal flood waters; and/or

(B) The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source; and/or

(C) The collapse or 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 results in flooding as defined herein.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Flood Boundary and Floodway Map” means the official map on which the Federal Emergency Management Agency or Federal Insurance Administration has delineated both the areas of flood hazard and the floodway.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Flood Insurance Rate Map” (FIRM) means the official map on which the Federal Emergency Management Agent or the Federal Insurance Administration has delineated both the areas of special flood hazard and the risk premium zones applicable to the community.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Flood insurance study” means the official report provided by the Federal Insurance Administration that includes flood profiles, the Flood Insurance Rate Map, the Flood Boundary and Floodway Map and the water surface elevation of the base flood.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Floodplain or flood-prone area” means any land area susceptible to being inundated by water from any source (see definition of “flooding”).

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Floodplain Administrator” means the City Manager of the City of Corona or his or her designee.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Floodplain management” means the operation of an overall program of corrective and preventive measures for reducing flood damage, including but not limited to emergency preparedness plans, flood control works and floodplain management regulations.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Floodplain management regulations” means the zoning ordinances, subdivision regulations, building codes, health regulations, floodplain management ordinance, grading ordinance and all other applicable ordinances and applications of the police power of the City of Corona. “Floodplain management regulations” also means state or local regulations, or any combination thereof, which provide standards for the purpose of flood damage prevention and reduction.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Floodproofing” means any combination of structural and nonstructural additions, changes or adjustments to structure which reduce or eliminate flood damage to real estate or improved real property, water and sanitary facilities, structures and their contents.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Floodway” means the channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than one foot. (Also referred to as “regulatory floodway.”)

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Floodway fringe” means the outside edge of the floodway as shown on the Flood Boundary and Floodway Map.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Functionally-dependent use” means a use which cannot perform its intended purpose unless it is located or carried out in close proximity to water. The term includes docking facilities, port facilities that are necessary for the loading and unloading of cargo or passengers and shipbuilding and ship repair facilities, but does not include long-term storage or related manufacturing facilities.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

”Hardship” as related to § 18.16.050 means the exceptional hardship that would result from a failure to grant the requested variance. The {'{'}community governing body{'}'} requires that the variance be exceptional, unusual, and peculiar to the property involved. Mere economic or financial hardship alone is not exceptional. Inconvenience, aesthetic considerations, physical handicaps, personal preferences, or the disapproval of one's neighbors likewise cannot, as a rule, qualify as an exceptional hardship. All of these problems can be resolved through other means without granting a variance, even if the alternative is more expensive, or requires the property owner to build elsewhere or put the parcel to a different use than originally intended.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Highest adjacent grade” means the highest natural elevation of the ground surface prior to construction next to the proposed walls of a structure.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

For the purposes of this chapter only, “Historic structure” means any structure that qualifies as a “Historic Resource” within the meaning of § 17.63.020(L) of the Corona Municipal Code.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Lowest floor” means 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 this title. For residential structures, all sub-grade enclosed areas are prohibited as they are considered to be basements. This prohibition includes below-grade garages and storage areas.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Manufactured home” means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which is built on a permanent chassis and is designed for use with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities. For floodplain management purposes, the term “manufactured home” also includes park trailers, travel trailers and other similar vehicles placed on a site for greater than 180 consecutive days.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Manufactured home park or subdivision” means a parcel (or contiguous parcels) of land divided into two or more manufactured home lots for sale or rent.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Mean sea level” means the National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD) of 1929 or other datum to which BFEs shown on the Flood Insurance Rate Map for the City of Corona are referenced.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“New construction” means structures for which the start of construction commenced on or after April 19, 1978.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“New manufactured home park or subdivision” means a manufactured home park or subdivision for which the construction of facilities for servicing the lots on which the manufactured homes are to be affixed (including at a minimum, the installation of utilities, the construction of streets, and either final site grading or the pouring of concrete pads) is completed on or after April 19, 1978.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“One hundred year flood” or “100-year flood” means a flood which has a 1% annual probability of being equaled or exceeded. It is identical to the “base flood,” which is the term used in this title.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Obstruction” includes, but is not limited to, any dam, wall, wharf, embankment, levee, dike, pile, abutment, protection, excavation, channelization, bridge, conduit, culvert, building, wire, fence, rock, gravel, refuse, fill, structure, vegetation or other material in, along, across or projecting into any watercourse which may alter, impede, retard or change the direction and/or velocity of the flow of water, or due to its location, its propensity to snare or collect debris carried by the flow of water, or its likelihood of being carried downstream.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Person” means an individual or his or her agent, firm, partnership, association or corporation or agent of the aforementioned groups or the State of California or its agencies or political subdivisions.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Program deficiency” means a defect in a community's floodplain management regulations or administrative procedures that impairs effective implementation of those floodplain management regulations.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Recreational vehicle” means a vehicle which is:

(A) Built on a single chassis;

(B) 400 square feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projection;

(C) Designed to be self propelled or permanently towable by a light duty truck; and

(D) Designed primarily not for use as a permanent dwelling but as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel, or seasonal use.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Regulatory floodway” means the channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than one foot.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Remedy a violation” means to bring a structure or other development into compliance with state and local floodplain management regulations, or, if compliance is not possible, to reduce the impacts of noncompliance. Impacts may be reduced by deterring future similar violations or reducing federal financial exposure with regard to the structure or other development.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Riverine” means relating to, formed by or resembling a river (including tributaries), stream or brook.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Sand dunes” means naturally occurring accumulations of sand in ridges or mounds landward of the beach.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Special flood hazard area (SFHA)” means an area having special flood or flood-related erosion hazards and shown on a Federal Hazard Boundary Map or Flood Insurance Rate Map as Zone A, AO, Al-30, AE, A99, AH, VO, VI-V30, VE or V. It is generally the area within the floodplain which is subject to a 1% or greater chance of flooding in any given year.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

(A) “Start of construction” includes substantial improvement and means the date a building permit was issued, provided the actual start of construction, repair, reconstruction, replacement or other improvement was within 180 days of the permit date. The “actual start” means either the first placement of permanent construction of a structure on a site, such as the pouring of slab or footings, the installation of piles, the construction of column or any work beyond the stage of excavation or the placement of a manufactured home on a foundation.

(B) For purposes of this title, “permanent construction” does not include land preparation, such as clearing, grading and tilling; the installation of streets or walkways; excavation for basement footings, piers or foundations; the erection of temporary forms; or the installation of accessory buildings such as garages or sheds not occupied as dwelling units or not as part of the main structure.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“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.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Substantial damage” means damage of any origin sustained by a structure whereby the cost of restoring the structure to its before damaged condition would equal or exceed 50% of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Substantial improvement” means any 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 any 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 any 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 of a structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places or any state or local inventory of historic places.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Variance” means a grant of relief from the requirements of this title which permits construction in a manner that would otherwise be prohibited by this title.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)

“Violation” means the failure of a structure or other development to fully comply with any floodplain management regulations. A structure or other development without the elevation certificate or other certifications or other evidence of compliance required in this title is presumed to be in violation until such documentation is provided.

(Ord. 2961 § 3 (part), 2008.)