HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 939
ORDINANCE NO. 939
FIRST READING 3-03-87
SECOND READING 3-17-87
CITY OF OCOEE, FLORIDA FLOOD DAMAGE PREVENTION ORDINANCE
OF 1987
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AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF OCOEE,
FLORIDA REPEALING ORDINANCE # 671
ADOPTED 09-19-1978 AND ENACTING THE
FOLLOWING REVISED REGULATIONS IN ITS
PLACE.
ARTICLE 1. STATUTORY AUTHORIZATION, FINDINGS OF FACT,
PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES.
SECTION A. STATUTORY AUTHORIZATION.
The legislature of the State of Florida has in Florida
Statutes delegated the responsibility to local governmental
units to adopt regulations designed to promote the public
health, safety, and general welfare of its citizenry.
Therefore, the City Commission of Ocoee, Florida, does ordain
as follows:
SECTION B. FINDINGS OF FACT.
(1) The flood hazard areas of the City of Ocoee are
subject to periodic inundation which results in loss of life
and property, health and safety hazards, disruption of
commerce and governmental services, extraordinary public
expenditures for flood protection and relief, and impairment
of the tax base, all of which adversely affect the public
health, safety and general welfare.
(2) These flood losses are caused by the cumulative
effect of obstructions in floodplains causing increases in
flood heights and velocities, and by the occupancy in flood
hazard areas by uses vulnerable to floods or hazardous to
other lands which are inadequately elevated, flood-proofed,
or otherwise unprotected from flood damages.
SECTION C. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
It is the purpose of this ordinance to promote the
public health, safety and general welfare and to minimize
public and private losses due to flood conditions in specific
areas by provisions designed to:
(1) Restrict or prohibit uses which are dangerous to
health, safety and property due to water or erosion hazards,
or which result in damaging increases in erosion or in flood
heights or velocities;
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(2) Require that uses vulnerable to floods, including
facilities which serve such uses, be protected against flood
damage at the time of initial construction;
(3) Control the alteration of natural floodplains,
stream channels, and natural protective barriers which are
involved in the accomodation of flood waters;
(4) Control filling, grading, dredging and other
development which may increase erosion or flood damage, and;
(5) Prevent or regulate the construction of
barriers which will unnaturally divert flood waters or
may increase flood hazards to other lands.
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which
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SECTION D. OBJECTIVES.
The objectives of this ordinance are;
(1) To protect human life and health;
(2) To minimize expenditure of public money for costly
flood control projects;
(3) To minimize the need for rescue and relief
associated with flooding and generally undertaken
expense of the general public;
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(4) To minimize prolonged business interruptions;
(5) To minimize damage to public facilities and
utilities such as water and gas mains, electric, telephone
and sewer lines, streets and bridges located in floodplains;
(6) To help maintain a stable tax base by providing for
the sound use and development of flood prone areas in such a
manner as to minimize flood blight areas, and;
(7) To insure that potential home buyers are notified
that property is in a flood area.
ARTICLE 2. DEFINITIONS.
Unless specifically defined below, words or phases used
in this ordinance shall be interpreted so as to give them the
meaning they have in common usage and to give this ordinance
its most reasonable application.
"Addition (to an existina buildina)" means any walled
and roofed expansion to the perimeter of a building in which
the addition is connected by a common load-bearing wall other
than a fire wall. Any walled and roofed addition which is
connected by a fire wall or is separated by independent
perimeter load-bearing walls in new construction.
"Anneal" means a request for a review of the Building
Official's interpretation of any provision of this ordinance
or a request for a variance.
"Area of shallow floodina" means a designated AO or VO
Zone on a community's Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) 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, and where velocity flow may
be evident.
"Area of snecial flood hazard" is the land in the
floodplain within a community subject to a one percent or
greater chance of flooding in any given year.
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"Base flood" means the flood having a one percent chance
of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.
"Basement" means that portion of a building having its
floor subgrade (below ground level) on all sides.
"Breakaway wall" means a wall that is not part
structural support of the building and is intended
its design and construction to collapse under
lateral loading forces without causing damage to the
portion of the building or the supporting foundation
of the
through
specific
elevated
system.
"Buildina" means any structure built for
shelter, or enclosure for any occupancy or storage.
support,
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"DeveloDment" means any man-made change to improved or
unimproved real estate, including, but not limited to,
buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling,
grading, paving, excavating, drilling operations, or
permanent storage of materials.
"Elevated buildina" means a non-basement building built
to have the lowest floor elevated above the ground level by
means of fill, solid foundation perimeter walls, pilings,
columns (posts and piers), shear walls or breakaway walls.
"Flood" or "floodina" means a general and temporary
condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry
land areas from:
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(l) The overflow of inland or tidal waters;
(2) The unusual and rapid accumulation of runoff of
surface waters from any source.
"Flood Hazard Boundary MaD (FHBM)" means an official map
of a community, issued by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency, where the boundaries of the areas of special flood
hazard have been defined as Zone A.
"Flood Insurance Rate MaD (FIRM)" means an official map
of a community, on which the Federal Emergency Management
Agency has delineated both the areas of special flood hazard
and the risk premium zones applicable to the community.
"Flood Insurance Studv" is the official report
by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The
contains flood profiles, as well as the Flood
Floodway Map and the water surface elevation of
flood.
provided
report
Boundary
the base
"Floodway" means 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 more than one foot.
"Floor" means the top surface of an enclosed area in a
building (including basement), i.e., top of slab in concrete
slab construction or top of wood flooring in wood frame
construction. The term does not include the floor of a
garage used solely for parking vehicles.
"Functionallv deDendent facilitv" means a facility which
cannot be used for its intended purpose unless it is located
or carried out in close proximity to water, such as a docking
or port facility necessary for the loading and unloading of
cargo or passengers, shipbuilding, ship repair, or seafood
processing facilities. The term does not include long-term
storage, manufacture, sales, or service facilities.
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"Hiahest adjacent arade" means the highest natural
elevation of the ground surface, prior to construction, next
to the proposed walls of a structure.
"Manarove stand" means an assemblage of mangrove trees
which is mostly low trees noted for a copious development of
interlacing adventitious roots above the ground and which
contain one or more of the following species: black mangrove
(Avicennia nitida); red mangrove (RhizoDhora manale); white
mangrove (Lanauncularia racemosa); and buttonwood
(ConocarDus erecta).
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"Mean Sea Level" means the average height of the sea
all stages of the tide. It is used as a reference
extablishing various elevations within the flood plain.
purposes of this ordinance, the term is synonymous
National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD).
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with
"Manufactured home" means a structure, transportable in
one or more sections, which is built on a permanent chassis
and designed to be used with or without a permanent
foundation when connected to the required utilities. The
term also includes park trailers, travel trailers, and
similar transportable structures placed on a site for 180
consecutive days or longer and intended to be improved
property.
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"National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD)" as corrected
in 1929 is a vertical control used as a reference for
establishing varying elevations within the flood plain.
"New construction" means structures for which the "start
of construction" commenced on or after the effective date of
this ordinance.
"Start of construction" (for other than new construction
or substantial improvements under the Coastal Barrier
Resources Act (P. L. 97-348) , includes substantial
improvement, and means the date the building permit was
issued, provided the actual start of construction, repair,
reconstruction, or improvement was within 180 days of the
permit date. The actual start means the first placement of
permanent construction of a structure (including a
manufactured home) on a site, such as the pouring of slabs or
footings, installation of piles, 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.
"Structure" means a walled and roofed building that is
principally above ground, a manufactured home, a gas or
liquid storage tank, or other man-made facilities or
infrastructures.
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"Substantial imDrovement" means any combination of
repairs, reconstruction, alteration, or improvements to a
structure, taking place during the life of a structure
(eighty (80) year period), in which the cumulative cost
equals or exceeds fifty percent of the market value of the
structure. The market value of the structure should be (1)
the appraised value of the structure prior to the start of
the initial repair or improvement, or (2) in the case of
damage, the value of the structure prior to the damage
occuring. For the purposes of this definition, "substantial
improvement" is considered to occur when the first alteration
of any wall, ceiling, floor, or other structural part of the
building commences, whether or not that alteration affects
the external dimensions of the structure. The term does not,
however, include any project for improvement of a structure
required to comply with existing health, sanitary, or safety
code specification which are solely necessary to assure safe
living conditions.
"Variance" is a grant of relief from the requirements of
this ordinance which permits construction in a manner
otherwise prohibited by this ordinance where specific
enforcement would result in unnecessary hardship.
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