§ 98-111 — Definitions

Sec. 98-111. - Definitions.

The following words, terms, and phrases, when used in this article, have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context indicates a different meaning: Channel means a natural or artificial watercourse with a definite bed and banks that carry continuous or periodically flowing water. Conservation area means an open or green space with formally recorded limits on the amount and type of development that can occur. The fee interest remains in private ownership, with restrictions filed and enforceable by interested parties. Conveyance means stormwater features designed to move stormwater through the drainage system, such as pipes, inlets, manholes, ditches, depressions, swales, streams, etc. Detention basin or dry pond is where excess stormwater runoff is stored or held temporarily. Its outlets have been designed to detain stormwater runoff and release it at a controlled rate. A detention basin may also take the form of an underground basin such as pipes or chambers. Developer means any person developing or improving a lot or group of lots, placing structures thereon for use or occupancy, or other land development activities. Development means any human-made activity that changes the nature of real estate, including buildings or other structures. District means any zoning or historical areas established by the City of Oxford. Drainage easement means a formal easement with burdened and dominant estates attached to a tract or parcel of land to construct and maintain a drainage pipe and appurtenant drainage facilities on or through the tract or parcel of land subject to the drainage easement. Drainage way means any channel that conveys surface runoff through the site, whether intermittent or permanent. Flood (base flood) means the computed elevation to which floodwater is anticipated to rise during the 100-year flood. Base flood elevations (BFEs) are determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and are shown on flood insurance rate maps (FIRMs) and flood profiles. The BFE is the regulatory requirement for elevating or floodproofing structures. Flooding means a volume of water too great to be confined within the banks or walls of a conveyance, pipes, or stream channel and overflows onto adjacent lands. Floodplain means the land area adjoining a stream, river, watercourse, or lake that has been or may be covered by floodwater. Floodway (regulatory) means the channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than a designated height, as determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Grading means altering ground surfaces to specified elevations, dimensions, and slopes. This includes but is not limited to, stripping, cutting, filling, stockpiling, shaping, or any combination thereof, and includes the land in its cut or filled condition. Green space means an area of grass, trees, and other vegetation with no impervious surfaces set aside for recreational or aesthetic purposes in an otherwise urban environment. Impervious cover means a surface composed of any material that significantly impedes or prevents the natural percolation of water into the soil, including, but not limited to, rooftops, buildings, streets and roads, and standard concrete or asphalt surface. Infiltration means the soil's ability to allow water movement into and through the soil profile. Jurisdictional wetland means an area that is inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, commonly known as hydrophytic vegetation, as determined by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Land development activities mean those actions or activities that comprise, facilitate, or result in land development. Land disturbance, for purposes of this article, means any grading, filling, draining, excavating, ditching, or other earthmoving operation that could result in damage to adjacent lands, public or private, from erosion to it or siltation thereof shall be deemed land disturbance activity. Cutting trees (i.e., silviculture) that do not create or aggravate erosion shall not be considered land disturbance. Land disturbance permit means a permit issued by the City of Oxford for the construction or alteration of the ground. Low impact design (LID) means an engineered system that strengthens and mimics natural hydrologic functions and processes using plants and soil to slow, filter, evapotranspire, and infiltrate stormwater runoff close to its source or the capture and reuse of stormwater runoff. Natural condition means the natural vegetative cover of the land as it would have existed before any form of development. This article defines the natural vegetative cover as a combination of 50 percent woods and 50 percent grass in good condition. New development means a land development activity on a previously undeveloped site. Nonstructural stormwater management practice means any natural or planted vegetation or other nonstructural components of the stormwater management plan that provide for or enhance stormwater quantity and quality control or other stormwater management benefits. It includes but is not limited to riparian buffers, open and green space areas, overland flow filtration areas, natural depressions, and vegetated channels. Off-site facility means a stormwater management facility located outside the site's boundaries where the water originates. For example, a regional facility is an off-site facility. Overbank flood protection means measures to prevent an increase in the frequency and magnitude of out-of-bank flooding (i.e., flow events that exceed the channel's capacity and enter the floodplain). It is intended to protect downstream properties from flooding. Owner means a site's legal or beneficial owner, including a mortgage or vendee in possession, receiver, executor, trustee, lessee, or other person, firm, or corporation in control of the site. Permit means any permit issued by the City of Oxford to the applicant required for undertaking any land development activity. Person, unless otherwise stated within, means any individual, partnership, firm, association, joint venture, public or private corporation, trust, estate, commission, board, public or private institution, utility, cooperative, city, county, or other political subdivision of the state, any interstate body, or any other legal entity. Post-development means to the period or the conditions that may reasonably be expected or anticipated to exist after the completion of the land development activity on a site. Pre-development means to the period or the natural conditions that existed on a site before the commencement of a land development project and at the time that plans for the land development of a site are approved by the City of Oxford. Where phased development or plan approval occurs, including but not limited to demolition, preliminary grading, roads, and utilities, the conditions before issuance of the first project-related approval or permit shall represent pre-developed conditions. Project means the proposed development. Q(year) means the peak discharge rate (peak flow) for a given recurrence storm event. Redevelopment means a land development project or addition to a previously developed site. It includes demolishing existing impervious surfaces and replacing them with new impervious surfaces, which is considered new construction under this ordinance. Regional facility means an off-site stormwater management facility designed to control stormwater runoff from multiple properties, where the owners or developers of the individual properties may assist in financing the facility, and the requirement for site-specific on-site controls may be either eliminated or reduced. Responsible party means the owner or owner's agent. Retention basin or wet pond means a basin that is designed to maintain a static pool of water and have additional storage to detain excess stormwater runoff. The retention basin has outlets to release the excess stormwater runoff at a controlled rate. Runoff means the flow of surface water resulting from precipitation. Runoff reduction means interception, evapotranspiration, infiltration, or stormwater runoff capture and reuse. Site means the parcel of land being developed, or the portion thereof, on which the land development project is located. Stormwater management means the collection, retention, detention, conveyance, storage, treatment, and disposal of stormwater runoff in a manner intended to prevent increased flooding, streambank channel erosion, habitat degradation, and water quality degradation and to enhance and promote public health, safety, and general welfare. Stormwater management facility means any infrastructure that facilitates stormwater management. Stormwater management plan means a document describing how a land development project will affect existing runoff characteristics and containing measures for complying with the provisions of this article. It is a written narrative containing engineering drawings depicting how and where stormwater management facilities will be installed on the site, modeling and runoff calculation results, and long-term maintenance.

(Ord. No. 2018-14, 8-21-2018; Ord. No. 2024-8, § I, 6-4-2024)