§ 2002. Definitions.

The following words and terms used in these regulations shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

a.

Act .....means the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, Article 2.5 (Section 62.1-44.15.67 et seq.) of Chapter 3.1 of Title 62.1 of the Code of Virginia.

b.

Agricultural lands .....mean those lands used for the tilling of the soil; the growing of crops or plant growth of any kind in the open, including forestry; pasturage; horticulture; dairying; floriculture; or raising of poultry and/or livestock.

c.

Best management practices (BMPs) .....means a practice, or combination of practices, that are defined by a state agency or the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission guidelines to be the most effective, practical means of preventing or reducing the amount of pollution generated by nonpoint sources to a level compatible with water quality goals.

d.

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.

e.

Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area (CBPA) .....means any land designated by the board of supervisors pursuant to Part III of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Designation and Management Regulations, 9VAC25-830-70 et seq., and Section 62.1-44.15:72 of the Code of Virginia. A Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area shall consist of a resource protection area and a resource management area.

f.

Construction footprint .....means the area of all impervious surfaces, including, but not limited to, buildings, roads and drives, parking areas, sidewalks and the area necessary for construction of such improvements.

g.

Development .....means the construction, or substantial alteration of residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, recreational, transportation, or utility facilities or structures. This shall include any construction, modification, extension or expansion of buildings or structures; placement of fill or dumping; storage of materials; land excavation; land clearing; land improvement; or any combination of these activities, including the subdivision of land.

h.

Diameter at breast height (DBH) .....means the diameter of a tree measured outside the bark at a point four and one-half (4.5) feet above the ground.

i.

Dripline .....means a vertical projection to the ground surface from the furthest lateral extent of a tree's leaf canopy.

j.

Erosion and Sediment Control Law .....means Article 2.4 (Section 62.1-44.15:51 et seq.) of Chapter 3.1 of Title 62.1 of the Code of Virginia.

k.

Impervious cover .....means a surface composed of any material that significantly impedes or prevents natural infiltration of water into the soil. Impervious surfaces include, but are not limited to: roofs, buildings, streets, parking areas, and any concrete, asphalt, or compacted gravel surface.

l.

Land-disturbing permit .....means a permit issued by the county for clearing, filling, excavating, grading or transporting, or any combination thereof.

m.

Limits of clearing .....means the extent to which vegetation can be removed from a property as shown on a plan approved by the county.

n.

Lot coverage .....means the impervious area of any lot or parcel including, but not limited to, buildings, drives, parking areas, sidewalks, patios, decks, etc.

o.

Mitigation .....means measures taken to eliminate or minimize damage to environmentally sensitive areas from land disturbing or development activities. Such measures may include, but are not limited to, avoiding the impact altogether, limiting the degree or magnitude of the action, repairing or restoring the affected environmental area, reducing the impact over time by preservation and maintenance, or replacing or providing a substitute environmental area.

p.

Nonpoint source pollution .....means pollution consisting of constituents such as sediment, nutrients, and organic and toxic substances from diffuse sources, such as runoff from agricultural and urban land development and use.

q.

Nontidal wetlands .....mean 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 Section 404 of the federal Clean Water Act, in 33 C.F.R. 328.3b.

r.

Noxious weeds .....means weeds such as Johnson grass, kudzu, and multiflora rose, including those identified by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation as Invasive Alien Plant Species.

s.

Plan of development .....means any process for site plan review in Isle of Wight County zoning and land development regulations designed to ensure compliance with Section 62.1-44.15:74 of the Act and this chapter, prior to issuance of building permit.

t.

Point source pollution .....means pollution of state waters resulting from any discernible, defined or discrete conveyances.

u.

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 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 local government in accordance with the standards of that local government.

v.

Redevelopment .....means the process of developing land that is or has been previously developed.

w.

Resource Management Area (RMA) .....means that component of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area that is not classified as the resource protection area.

x.

Resource Protection Area (RPA) .....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 which may result in significant degradation to the quality of state waters.

y.

Silvicultural activities .....means forest management activities, including, but not limited to, 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.

z.

Substantial alteration .....means expansion or modification of a building or development that would result in a disturbance of land exceeding two thousand five hundred (2,500) square feet in the resource management area only.

aa.

Substantial work .....means that improvements have proceeded to where vertical construction of the basic structure or walls has begun on a building or other structure or for other land improvements, that significant progress has been made towards accomplishing the approved project.

ab.

Tidal shore .....orshoremeans land contiguous to a tidal body of water between the mean low water level and the mean high water level.

ac.

Tidal wetlands .....means vegetated and nonvegetated wetlands as defined in § 28.2-1300 of the Code of Virginia.

ad.

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, but are not limited to (i) ports; (ii) the intake and outfall structures of power plants, water treatment plants, sewage treatment plants, and storm sewers; (iii) piers, marinas, and other boat docking structures; (iv) beaches and other public water-oriented recreation areas; (v) fisheries or other marine resources facilities; and (vi) shoreline and bank stabilization projects, where deemed necessary.

ae.

Water body with perennial flow .....means a body of water that flows in a natural or manmade channel year-round during a year of normal precipitation. This includes, but is not limited to, streams, estuaries, and tidal embayments and may include drainage ditches or channels constructed in wetlands or from former natural drainageways, which convey perennial flow. Lakes and ponds, into which a perennial stream flows and perennial flow exits, are part of a perennial stream. Generally, the water table is located above the streambed for most of the year and groundwater is the primary source for stream flow. Perennial flow can be inferred by the presence of biological indicators, benthic macroinvertebrates that require water for entire life cycles, or by using an approved stream determination protocol.

af.

Wetlands .....means both tidal and nontidal wetlands.

ag.

Zoning administrator .....means the person designated as the official responsible for enforcing and administering all requirements of the county zoning ordinance, or a duly authorized designee. (8-21-06; 4-16-15.)