Definitions.
Richmond, Va., City Code § 14-21
in effectSec. 14-21. - Definitions.
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
100-year flood means the base flood (i.e., the flood having a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year).
Accessory structure means a structure used for purposes incident and subordinate to another structure on the same property and that does not exceed 200 square feet in area.
Base flood means the flood having a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year (i.e., the 100-year flood).
Base flood elevation means the elevation computed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to which floodwater is anticipated to rise during the base flood, as reflected in the City's flood insurance rate map.
Basement means any area of the building having its floor sub-grade (below ground level) on all sides.
Chesapeake Bay Preservation Areas means those areas so designated in Article IV of this chapter.
Conditional letter of map revision means an official Federal Emergency Management Agency determination by letter that is a formal review as to whether a proposed flood protection project or other project complies with the minimum National Flood Insurance Program requirements for such projects with respect to delineation of special flood hazard areas. A conditional letter of map revision does not revise the effective floodplain insurance rate map or flood insurance study.
Development means any manmade change to improved or unimproved real estate, including, but not limited to, buildings or other structures for which a building permit must be obtained under the requirements of the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code and this article, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation or drilling operations, or the storage of equipment or materials.
Digital flood insurance rate map means a flood insurance rate map that has been made available digitally.
Director means the Director of Public Utilities or a designee thereof.
Elevated structure means a non-basement structure built to have the lowest floor elevated above the ground level by means of solid foundation perimeter walls, pilings, columns, posts or piers.
Elevation certificate means an official record or document that shows new structures and substantial improvements in all identified special flood hazard areas are properly elevated.
Encroachment means the advance or infringement of uses, plant growth, fill excavation, permanent structures or development into a floodplain, which may impede or alter the flow capacity of a floodplain.
Existing construction and existing structure, for the purpose of determining rates, mean structures for which the start of construction commenced before June 15, 1979, which is the effective date of the City's initial flood insurance rate map.
Flood or flooding means:
(1) A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from:
a. Overflow of inland or tidal waters;
b. Unusual and rapid accumulation of runoff of surface waters from any source; or
c. Mudflow; or
(2) 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, by an unanticipated force of nature, such as a flash flood or an abnormal tidal surge, or by some similarly unusual and unforeseeable event that results in flooding as defined in Subsection (1) of this definition.
Flood fringe district means any normally dry land area susceptible to partial or complete inundation during the 100-year flood and lying outside of the floodway district. The outermost boundary of the flood fringe district shall be the elevation of the 100-year flood contained in the flood profiles of the flood insurance study and shown on the flood boundary and floodway map.
Flood insurance rate map means an official map of the City on which the Federal Emergency Management Agency has delineated both the special hazard areas and the risk premium zones applicable to the City.
Flood insurance study means a report by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that examines, evaluates and determines flood hazards and, if appropriate, corresponding water surface elevations, or an examination, evaluation and determination of mudflow or flood-related erosion hazards.
Floodplain means the area, including watercourse, susceptible to partial or complete inundation during the 100-year flood.
Floodplain districts means those areas subject to partial or complete inundation by waters of the 100-year flood, including floodway districts, flood fringe districts and approximate floodplain districts.
Floodproofing means any combination of structural and nonstructural additions, changes, or adjustments to structures which reduce or eliminate flood damage to real estate or improved real property, water and sanitary facilities, structures and their contents.
Floodway district means the channel of the river, creek or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the 100-year flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than one foot. Areas included in the floodway district are defined in Table 2 of the flood insurance study prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency dated December 15, 1978, and as revised, effective July 20, 1998, April 2, 2009, and July 16, 2014.
Freeboard means a factor of safety usually expressed in feet above a flood level for purposes of floodplain management.
Frequency flood means a flood at a certain magnitude that will occur for a water body or drainage area over a certain period of time.
Highest adjacent grade means the highest natural elevation of the ground surface prior to construction next to the proposed walls of a structure.
Historic structure means any structure that is:
(1) Listed individually in the National Register of Historic Places (a listing maintained by the United States Department of the Interior) or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior as meeting the requirements for individual listing on the National Register;
(2) Certified or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior as contributing to the historical significance of a registered historic district or a district preliminarily determined by the Secretary to qualify as a registered historic district;
(3) Individually listed in the Virginia Landmarks Register; or
(4) Individually listed on a local inventory of historic places certified by the Virginia Landmarks Register.
Hydrologic and hydraulic engineering analysis means an analysis performed by a licensed professional engineer, in accordance with standard engineering practices that are accepted by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and used to determine the base flood, other frequency floods, flood elevations, floodway information and boundaries, and flood profiles.
Land disturbing activity means any land change, including, but not limited to, clearing, grading, excavating, transporting and filling of land, or other construction activities which would disturb the natural vegetation or the existing contours of the land, which may result in soil erosion from water or wind and the movement of sediments into public or private storm drainage facilities.
Letter of map amendment means an official written determination from the Federal Emergency Management Agency based on technical data showing that a property was incorrectly included in a designated special flood hazard area that amends the current effective flood insurance rate map and establishes that a property as defined by metes and bounds, or a structure, is not located in a special flood hazard area.
Letter of map change means an official written determination from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that amends or revises an effective flood insurance rate map or flood insurance study, including a letter of map amendment, a letter of map revision, a letter of map revision based on fill or a conditional letter of map revision.
Letter of map revision means an official written determination from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that revises an effective flood insurance rate map or flood insurance study, based on technical data that might show changes to flood zones, flood elevations, floodplain and floodway delineations, and planimetric features.
Letter of map revision based on fill means an official Federal Emergency Management Agency determination by letter that a structure or parcel of land has been elevated by fill above the base flood elevation and, therefore, is no longer exposed to flooding associated with the base flood. In order to qualify for the letter of map revision based on fill, the fill must have been permitted and placed in accordance with all applicable City legal requirements.
Lowest floor means the lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area of a structure, including basements. 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 44 CFR 60.3.
Manufactured home means a structure subject to Federal regulations which:
(1) Is transportable in one or more sections;
(2) Is eight body feet or more in width and 40 body feet or more in length in the traveling mode or is 320 or more square feet when erected on-site;
(3) Is built on a permanent chassis;
(4) Is designed to be used as a single-family dwelling, with or without a permanent foundation, when connected to the required facilities; and
(5) Includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and electrical systems contained in the structure.
Mudflow means a river of liquid and flowing mud on the surfaces of normally dry land areas, as when earth is carried by a current of water. The term "mudflow" does not include landslides, slope failures, or a saturated soil mass moving by liquidity down a slope.
New construction, for the purposes of determining insurance rates, means structures for which the start of construction commenced on or after June 15, 1979, which is the effective date of the City's initial flood insurance rate map, and includes any subsequent improvements to such structures. For floodplain management purposes, the term "new construction" means structures for which the start of construction commenced on or after May 29, 1979, which is the effective date of the City's original floodplain management ordinance, and includes any subsequent improvements to such structures.
Post-flood insurance rate map structure means a structure for which construction or substantial improvement occurred after June 15, 1979.
Pre-flood insurance rate map structure means a structure for which construction or substantial improvement occurred on or before June 15, 1979.
Recreational vehicle means a vehicle which is built on a single chassis; is 400 square feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projections; is designed to be self-propelled or permanently towable by a light-duty truck; and is designed primarily not for use as a permanent dwelling but as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel, or seasonal use.
Repetitive loss structure means a building, covered by a contract for flood insurance, that has incurred flood-related damages on at least two occasions during a ten-year period ending on the date of the event for which a second claim is made, in which the cost of repairing the flood damage, on the average, equaled or exceeded 25 percent of the market value of the building at the time of each flood event.
Shallow flooding area means a special flood hazard area with base flood depths from one to three feet where a clearly defined channel does not exist, where the path of flooding is unpredictable and indeterminate, where velocity flow might be evident, and where such flooding is characterized by ponding or sheet flow.
Special flood hazard area means the land on the floodplain subject to a one percent or greater chance of being flooded in any given year as determined in Section 14-59.
Start of construction includes substantial improvement and means the date the building permit was issued, provided the actual start of construction, repair, reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition, placement, 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 columns, or any work beyond the stage of excavation; or the placement of a manufactured home on a foundation. Permanent construction does not include land preparation, such as clearing, grading and filling; nor does it include the installation of streets or walkways; nor does it include excavation for a basement, footings, piers, or foundations or the erection of temporary forms; nor does it include the installation on the property of accessory buildings, such as garages or sheds not occupied as dwelling units or not part of the main structure. For a substantial improvement, the actual start of construction means the first alteration of any wall, ceiling, floor, or other structural part of a building, whether or not that alteration affects the external dimensions of the building.
Storm drainage facility means any sewer, ditch, creek, river, lake, swale, watercourse or any other natural or manmade facility through which stormwater or storm runoff may pass regularly or intermittently in a concentrated fashion.
Structure means a walled and roofed building, including, but not limited to, a gas or liquid storage tank, that is principally above ground, as well as a manufactured home.
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 percent of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.
Substantial improvement means any reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition, or other improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50 percent of the market value of the structure before the start of construction of the improvement. The term "substantial improvement" includes structures which have incurred substantial damage, regardless of the actual repair work performed. The term "substantial improvement" does not, however, include:
(1) Any project for improvement of a structure to correct existing violations of State or local health, sanitary, or safety code specifications which have been identified by the local code enforcement official and which are the minimum necessary to ensure safe living conditions; or
(2) Any alteration of a historic structure, provided that:
a. The alteration will not preclude the structure's continued designation as a historic structure;
b. A historic structure undergoing repair or rehabilitation that otherwise would constitute a substantial improvement as defined in this section must comply with all applicable provisions of this Code that do not preclude the structure's continued designation as a historic structure;
c. Documentation that a specific provision of this Code will cause removal of the structure from the National Register of Historic Places or the Virginia Landmark Register must be obtained from the Secretary of the Interior or the Virginia Historic Preservation Officer, and a copy of such documentation must be provided to the City; and
d. Any exemption from otherwise applicable provisions of this Code will be the minimum necessary to preserve the historic character and design of the structure.
Watercourse means any natural or manmade channel, lake, river, creek, stream, wash or other topographic feature on or over which waters flow at least periodically. The term "watercourse" includes, but is not limited to, specifically designated areas in which substantial flood damage may occur.
(Code 1993, § 13-23; Code 2004, § 50-33; Code 2015, § 14-21; Code 2020, § 14-21; Ord. No. 2004-330-320, § 1, 12-13-2004; Ord. No. 2009-12-31, § 1, 2-23-2009; Ord. No. 2009-220-2010-8, § 2, 1-25-2010; Ord. No. 2014-95-66, § 3, 4-28-2014)
Source: City of Richmond, Virginia, Code (2026 recodification) and Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/va/richmond/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTIICICO_CH14FLMAERSECODR_ARTIIFLMA_DIV1GE_S14-21DEFetched: 11/8/2026