§ 94-33. 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. Words and terms not defined in this article but defined in the chapter 98, zoning, of this Code, shall be given the meanings set forth therein.

Act means the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act found in Chapter 21 (§ 10.1-2100 et seq.) of Title 10.1 of the Code of Virginia.

Agricultural lands means those lands used for the planting and harvesting of crops or plant growth of any kind in the open, pasture, horticulture, dairying, floriculture, or the raising of poultry and/or livestock. Pasture used as an accessory use to a residential use shall not be considered bona fide agriculture land.

Best management practices and BMPs mean a practice, or a combination of practices, that is determined by a state or designated area-wide planning agency 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.

Board means the board of supervisors of New Kent County, Virginia.

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.

Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area and CBPA mean any land so designated by the board pursuant to Code of Virginia, § 10.1-2100 et seq., and the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Designation and Management Regulations.

Chesapeake Bay preservation board means the board established to hear requests for exceptions as set forth in section 94-44 of this article and whose members shall be the same as the members of the wetlands board with the same terms of appointment. The chair of the board of the wetlands board shall also serve as the chair of the Chesapeake Bay preservation board.

County means New Kent County, Virginia.

Development means the construction, or substantial alteration, of residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, recreation, transportation, or utility facilities or structures.

Director of environmental means the county director of environmental or his or her designee.

Floodplain means all lands that would be inundated by flood water as a result of a storm event of a 100-year return interval.

Highly erodible soils means soils (excluding vegetation) with an erodibility index (El) from sheet and rill erosion equal to or greater than eight. The erodibility index for any soil is defined as the product of the formula RKLS/T, where K is the soil susceptibility to water erosion in the surface layer; R is the rainfall and runoff; LS is the combined effects of slope length and steepness; and T is the soil loss tolerance.

Health department means the state department of health.

Highly permeable soils means soils with a given potential to transmit water through the soil profile. Highly permeable soils are identified as any soil having a permeability equal to or greater than six inches of water movement per hour in any part of the soil profile to a depth of 72 inches (permeability groups "rapid" and "very rapid") as found in the "National Soil Survey Handbook" of November 1996 in the "Field Office Technical Guide" of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service.

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.

Infill means utilization of vacant land in previously developed areas.

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

Nontidal wetlands means those wetlands other than tidal wetlands that are inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater 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.

Nonvegetated wetlands means unvegetated lands lying contiguous to mean low water and between mean low water and mean high water, subject to flooding by normal and wind tides but not hurricane or tropical storm tides.

Noxious weeds means weeds that are difficult to control effectively, such as Johnson Grass, Kudzu and multiflora rose.

Perennial stream means a water body with water flowing in a natural or man-made channel year-round, except during periods of drought. The term "water bodies" includes estuaries and tidal embankments. Lakes and ponds that are the source of a perennial stream, or through which a perennial stream flows are part of a perennial stream.

Plan of development means the process, prior to any clearing or grading of a site or the issuance of a building permit, for site plan review as required by chapter 98, zoning, or for subdivision plat review as required by the subdivision regulations of chapter 90, to ensure compliance with Code of Virginia, § 10.1-2109, as all may be amended from time to time.

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 state department of transportation, including regulations promulgated pursuant to (i) the Erosion and Sediment Control Law (Code of Virginia, § 10.1-560 et seq.) and (ii) the Virginia Stormwater Management Act (Code of Virginia, § 10.1-603.1 et seq.). This definition includes those roads where the state 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 the county.

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

Regulations means the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Designation and Management Regulations, VAC 10-20-10 et seq., promulgated by the Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Board, as amended.

Resource management area and RMA mean that component of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area that is not classified as a resource protection area. RMAs include land types that, if improperly used or developed, have the potential to cause significant water quality degradation or diminishing the functional value of the resource protection area.

Resource protection area and RPA mean that component of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area comprised of lands adjacent to water bodies with perennial flow that have 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.

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 Code of Virginia, § 10.1-1105 and are located on property defined as real estate devoted for forest use under Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3230.

Substantial alteration means expansion or modification of a building or development that would result in a disturbance of land exceeding an area of 2,500 square feet and is permitted in the resource management area only.

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

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

Use means an activity on the land other than development including, but not limited to, agriculture, horticulture and silviculture.

Vegetated wetlands means lands lying between and contiguous to mean low water and an elevation above mean low water equal to the factor 1½ times the mean tide range at the site of the proposed project in the county, and upon which is growing any of the following species: saltmarsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), saltmeadow hay (Spartina patens), saltgrass (Distichlis spicata), black needlerush (Juncus roemerianus), saltwort (Salicornia spp.), sea lavender (Limonium spp.), marsh elder (Iva frutescens), groundsel bush (Baccharis halimifoha), wax myrtle (Myrica sp.), sea oxeye (Borrichia frutcscens), arrow arum (Peltandra virginica), pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata), big cordgrass (Spartina cynosuroides), rice cutgrass (Leersia cryzoides), wildrice (Zizania aquatica), bulrush (Scirpus validus), spikerush (Eleocharis sp.), sea rocket (Cakile edentula), southern wildrice (Zizaniopsis miliacea), cattail (Typha spp.), threesquare (Scirpus spp.), buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), bald cypress (Taxodium distichum), black gum (Nyssa sylvatica), tupelo (Nyssa aquatica), dock (Rumex spp.), yellow pond lilly (Nuphar sp.), mards fleabane (Pluchea purpurascens), royal fern (Osmunda regahs), marsh hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos), beggar's tick (Bidens sp.), smartweed (Polygonum sp.), arrow head (Sagittaria spp.), sweet flag (Acorus calamus), water hemp (Amaranthus cannabinus), reed grass (Phragmites communis), or switch grass (Panicum virgatum).

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) marinas and other boat docking structures; (iv) beaches and other public water-oriented recreation areas; and (v) fisheries or other marine resources facilities.

Wetlands means tidal and nontidal, vegetated and nonvegetated wetlands.

(Ord. No. O-04-03(R1), 3-10-2003; Ord. No. O-13-05, 6-13-2005; Ord. No. O-02-18, 3-13-2018)

Cross reference— Definitions generally, § 1-2.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Code of Virginia, § 28.2-1300.

(Ord. No. O-04-03(R1), 3-10-2003; Ord. No. O-13-05, 6-13-2005; Ord. No. O-02-18, 3-13-2018)

State law reference

Similar provisions, Code of Virginia, § 28.2-1300.

Cross reference

Definitions generally, § 1-2.