Dublin Municipal Code Art. VII Definitions

The following words and terms shall, for the purposes of these regulations, have the meanings shown herein. Other terms are defined in the building code and Appendix G and terms are defined where used in the Residential Code (rather than in the definitions section). Where terms are not defined, such terms shall have ordinarily accepted meanings such as the context implies.

(Ord. 13-22 § 3 (Exh. B))

“Accessory structure”

means a structure on the same parcel of property as a principal structure and the use of which is incidental to the use of the principal structure. For floodplain management purposes, the term includes only accessory structures used for parking and storage.

“Agricultural structure”

means a walled and roofed structure used exclusively for agricultural purposes or uses in connection with the production, harvesting, storage, raising, or drying of agricultural commodities and livestock, including aquatic organisms. Structures that house tools or equipment used in connection with these purposes or uses are also considered to have agricultural purposes or uses.

“Alteration of a watercourse”

means a dam, impoundment, channel relocation, change in channel alignment, channelization, or change in cross-sectional area of the channel or the channel capacity, or any other form of modification which may alter, impede, retard or change the direction and/or velocity of the riverine flow of water during conditions of the base flood.

“Development”

means any manmade change to improved or unimproved real estate, including, but not limited to, buildings or other structures, tanks, temporary structures, temporary or permanent storage of materials, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavations, drilling operations and other land-disturbing activities.

“Encroachment”

means the placement of fill, excavation, buildings, permanent structures or other development into a flood hazard area which may impede or alter the flow capacity of riverine flood hazard areas.

“Exceptional hardship”

means, for the purpose of variances from these regulations or the building code, the exceptional difficulty that would result from a failure to grant a requested variance. Mere economic or financial hardship is not exceptional. Inconvenience, aesthetic considerations, physical handicaps, personal preferences, or the disapproval of one’s neighbors do not, as a rule, qualify as exceptional hardships. All of these circumstances can be resolved through other means without granting variances, even when the alternatives are more expensive or require the property owner to build elsewhere or put the parcel to a different use than originally intended.

“Existing 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) was completed before April 15, 1981.

“Expansion to an existing manufactured home park or subdivision”

means the preparation of additional sites by the construction of facilities for servicing the lots on which the manufactured homes are to be affixed (including the installation of utilities, the construction of streets, and either final site grading or the pouring of concrete pads).

“Flood control project”

means a dam or barrier designed and constructed to keep water away from or out of a specified area, including but not limited to levees, floodwalls, and channelization.

“Fraud or victimization”

means, for the purpose of variances from these regulations or the building code, the intentional use of deceit to deprive another of rights or property, making a victim of the deprived person or the public. As it pertains to buildings granted variances to be constructed below the elevation required by the building code, future owners or tenants of such buildings and the community as a whole may bear the burden of increased risk of damage from floods, increased cost of flood insurance, and increased recovery costs, inconvenience, danger, and suffering.

“Letter of Map Change (LOMC)”

means an official determination issued by FEMA that amends or revises an effective Flood Insurance Rate Map or Flood Insurance Study. Letters of Map Change include:

Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA): An amendment based on technical data showing that a property was incorrectly included in a designated special flood hazard area. A LOMA amends the current effective Flood Insurance Rate Map and establishes that a specific property, portion of a property, or structure is not located in a special flood hazard area.

Letter of Map Revision (LOMR): A revision based on technical data that may show changes to flood zones, flood elevations, special flood hazard area boundaries and floodway delineations, and other planimetric features.

Letter of Map Revision Based on Fill (LOMR-F): A determination that a structure or parcel of land has been elevated by fill above the base flood elevation and is, therefore, no longer located within the special flood hazard area. In order to qualify for this determination, the fill must have been permitted and placed in accordance with the community’s floodplain management regulations.

Conditional Letter of Map Revision (CLOMR): A formal review and comment as to whether a proposed flood protection project or other project complies with the minimum NFIP requirements for such projects with respect to delineation of special flood hazard areas. A CLOMR does not revise the effective Flood Insurance Rate Map or Flood Insurance Study; upon submission and approval of certified as-built documentation, a Letter of Map Revision may be issued by FEMA to revise the effective FIRM.

“Light-duty truck”

means, as defined in 40 C.F.R. 86.082-2, any motor vehicle rated at eight thousand five hundred (8,500) pounds Gross Vehicle Weight Rating or less which has a vehicular curb weight of six thousand (6,000) pounds or less and which has a basic vehicle frontal area of forty-five (45) square feet or less, which is:

Designed primarily for purposes of transportation of property or is a derivation of such a vehicle; or

Designed primarily for transportation of persons and has a capacity of more than twelve (12) persons; or

Available with special features enabling off-street or off-highway operation and use.

“Market value”

means the price at which a property will change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither party being under compulsion to buy or sell and both having reasonable knowledge of relevant facts. As used in these regulations, the term refers to the market value of buildings and structures, excluding the land and other improvements on the parcel. Market value shall be determined by one of the following methods: (1) actual cash value (replacement cost depreciated for age and quality of construction), (2) tax assessment value adjusted to approximate market value by a factor provided by the property appraiser, or (3) established by a qualified independent appraiser.

“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) was completed on or after April 15, 1981.

“Nonconversion Agreement (Declaration of Land Restriction)”

means a form provided by the Floodplain Administrator to be signed by the property owner(s) and recorded with the Alameda County Clerk-Recorder’s Office, restricting the owner(s) ability to convert or modify enclosures below elevated buildings in any manner that is inconsistent with the terms of the building permit and these regulations, enclosures below elevated buildings.

“Nuisance”

means that which is injurious to the safety or health of an entire community or neighborhood, or any considerable number of persons, or unlawfully obstructs the free passage or use, in the customary manner, of any navigable lake, river, bay, stream, canal, or basin.

“Riverine”

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

“Sand dunes”

means naturally occurring accumulations of sand in ridges or mounds landward of the beach.

“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 fifty percent (50%) of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred. The term also includes floodrelated damage sustained by a structure on two (2) separate occasions during a ten (10) year period for which the cost of repairs at the time of each such flood event, on average, equals or exceeds twenty-five percent (25%) of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.

“Substantial improvement”

means any combination of repair, reconstruction, rehabilitation, alteration, addition or other improvement of a building or structure, taking place during a ten (10) year period, the cumulative cost of which equals or exceeds fifty percent (50%) of the market value of the structure before the improvement or repair is started. The period of accumulation begins when the first improvement or repair of each building is permitted subsequent to January 1, 2023. When the structure has sustained substantial damage, any repairs are considered substantial improvement regardless of the actual repair work performed. The term does not, however, include either:

Any project for improvement of a building required to correct existing health, sanitary or safety code violations identified by the Building Official and that are the minimum necessary to assure safe living conditions.

Any alteration of a historic structure; provided, that the alteration will not preclude the structure’s continued designation as a historic structure.

“Watercourse”

means a river, creek, stream, channel, or other topographic feature in, on, through, or over which water flows at least periodically.

(Ord. 13-22 § 3 (Exh. B))