Unless specifically defined below, or in the city zoning regulations, words or phrases used in this section shall be interpreted so as to give them the meaning they have in common usage and to give this article its most reasonable application:

(A)  Actuarial or Risk Premium Rates means those rates established by the administrator pursuant to individual community studies and investigations which are undertaken to provide flood insurance in accordance with Section 1307 of the Act and the accepted actuarial principles. Risk premium rates include provisions for operating costs and allowances.

(B)  Area of Shallow Flooding means a designated AO or AH zone on a community’s Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) with a one percent or greater annual chance of flooding to an average depth of one to three feet where a clearly defined channel is unpredictable and where velocity flow may be evident. Such flooding is characterized by ponding or sheet flow.

(C)  Area of Special Flood Hazard. The land in the flood plain within a community subject to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year.

(D)  Base Flood. The flood having a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.

(E)   Development. Any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, including but not limited to, buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation or drilling operations, or storage of equipment or materials.

(F)   Existing Construction means (for the purposes of determining rates) structures for which the start of construction commenced before the effective date of the FIRM. Existing construction may also be referred to as existing structures.

(G)  Flood or Flooding. A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from:

(1)   The overflow of inland or tidal waters.

(2)   The unusual and rapid accumulation of runoff of surface waters from any source.

(H)  Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) means an official map of a community on which the Flood Insurance Study has delineated the Flood Hazard Boundaries and the zones establishing insurance rates applicable to the community.

(I)    Flood Insurance Study is the official report provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The report contains flood profiles, as well as the Flood Boundary Floodway Map and the water surface elevation of the base flood.

(J)   Flood Plain or Flood Prone Area.  Land included within the floodway or floodway fringe as determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (F.E.M.A.).

(K)  Flood-proof or Flood-proofing.  Any combination of structural and non-structural additions, changes or adjustments to structure which reduce or eliminate flood damage to real estate or improved real property, water and sanitary facilities, structures and their contents. For the purposes of this section, flood proofing shall be in accordance with the Flood-proofing Regulations established by the Corps of Engineers.

(L)   Floodway. The channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation of more on the adjacent land than one foot.

(M)  Floodway Fringe. An area of the flood plain, outside of the floodway that on the average is likely to be flooded once every 100 years (e.g., that has a one percent chance of flood occurrence in any one year).

(N)  Freeboard means a factor of safety usually expressed in feet above a flood level for purposes of flood plain management. Freeboard tends to compensate for the many unknown factors that could contribute to flood heights greater than the height calculated for a selected size flood and floodway conditions, such as wave action, clogged bridge openings, and the hydrological effect of urbanization of the watershed.

(O)  Highest Adjacent Grade means the highest natural elevation of the ground surface prior to construction next to the proposed walls of a structure.

(P)   Lowest Floor means the lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area (including basement). 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 this article.

(Q)  Manufactured Home.  For the purposes of this article, the term “manufactured home” shall have the meaning ascribed to it by the city, Kan., Code § 16-206(44) and any amendments thereto. However, in no instance, for the purposes of this article, shall the term “manufactured home” include a “recreational vehicle.”

(R)  Manufactured Home Park. For the purposes of this article, the term “manufactured home park” shall have the meaning ascribed to it by the city, Kan., Code § 16-206(45) and any amendments thereto.

(S)   Mean Sea Level. The average height of the sea for all stages of the tide.

(T)   New Construction means, for the purposes of determining insurance rates, structures for which the start of construction commenced on or after the effective date of an initial FIRM or after December 31, 1974, whichever is later, and includes any subsequent improvements to such structures. For floodplain management purposes, new construction means structures for which the start of construction commenced on or after the effective date of a floodplain management regulation adopted by a community and includes any subsequent improvements to such structures.

(U)  New Manufactured Home Park means a manufactured home park 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) is completed on or after the effective date of floodplain management regulations adopted by the city.

(V)  Overlay District is a district in which additional requirements act in designation does not change.

(W) Recreational Vehicle means a vehicle which is:

(1)   Built on a single chassis;

(2)   400 square feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projection;

(3)   Designed to be self-propelled or permanently towable by a light duty truck; and

(4)   Designed primarily not for use as a permanent dwelling but as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel, or seasonal use.

(X)  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 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 and/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.

(Y)  Structure means a walled and roofed building that is principally above ground, as well as a manufactured home, and a gas or liquid storage tank that is principally above ground.

(Z)   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 damaged occurred.

(AA)         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 construction of the improvement. This term includes structures which have incurred substantial damage, regardless of the actual repair work performed. The term does not, however, include either:

(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 assure safe living conditions; or,

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