Virginia Law

The following words and terms used in this chapter have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In addition, some terms not defined herein are defined in § 62.1-44.15:68 of the Act.

"Act" means the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, Article 2.5 (§ 62.1-44.15:67 et seq.) of Chapter 3.1 of Title 62.1 of the Code of Virginia.

"Adaptation measure" means a project, practice, or approach to mitigate or address an impact of climate change including sea-level rise, storm surge, and flooding including increased or recurrent flooding.

"Best management practice" means a practice, or combination of practices, that is determined by a state or designated area-wide planning agency to be the most effective, practicable means of preventing or reducing the amount of pollution generated by nonpoint sources to a level compatible with water quality goals.

"Board" means the State Water Control Board. When used outside the context of the promulgation of regulations, including regulations to establish general permits, "board" means the Department of Environmental Quality.

"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.

"Canopy tree" means a tree that typically reaches 35 feet in height or taller when mature.

"Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area" means any land designated by a local government pursuant to Part III (9VAC25-830-70 et seq.) of this chapter and § 62.1-44.15:74 of the Act. A Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area shall consist of a Resource Protection Area and a Resource Management Area.

"Daylighted stream" means a stream that had been previously diverted into an underground drainage system and has been redirected into an aboveground channel using natural channel design concepts as defined in § 62.1-44.15:51 of the Code of Virginia, and where the adjacent lands would meet the criteria for being designated as a Resource Protection Area (RPA) as defined by the department under this chapter.

"Department" or "DEQ" means the Department of Environmental Quality.

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

"Director" means the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality.

"Erosion and Sediment Control Law for Localities Not Administering a Virginia Erosion and Stormwater Management Program" means Article 2.4 (§ 62.1-44.15:51 et seq.) of Chapter 3.1 of Title 62.1 of the Code of Virginia.

"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 (EI) 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.

"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 Natural Resources 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 roofs, buildings, streets, parking areas, and any concrete, asphalt or compacted gravel surface.

"Infill" means utilization of vacant land in previously developed areas.

"Intensely Developed Areas" means those areas designated by the local government pursuant to 9VAC25-830-100.

"Local governments" means counties, cities, and towns. This chapter applies to local governments in Tidewater Virginia, as defined in § 62.1-44.15:68 of the Act, but the provisions of this chapter may be used by other local governments.

"Local program" means the measures by which a local government complies with the Act and this chapter.

"Local program adoption date" means the date a local government meets the requirements of subdivisions 1 and 2 of 9VAC25-830-60.

"Mature tree" means a canopy tree with a diameter at breast height (DBH) of 12 inches or greater or an understory tree with a DBH of four inches or greater.

"Nature-based solution" means an approach that reduces the impacts of sea-level rise, flooding and storm events through the use of environmental processes and natural systems.

"Nontidal wetlands" means those wetlands other than tidal wetlands that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water 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 pursuant to § 404 of the federal Clean Water Act in 33 CFR 328.3b.

"Plan of development" means any process for site plan review in local zoning and land development regulations designed to ensure compliance with § 62.1-44.15:74 of the Act and this chapter, prior to issuance of a building permit.

"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 Virginia Department of Transportation, including regulations promulgated pursuant to (i) the Erosion and Sediment Control Law for Localities Not Administering a Virginia Erosion and Stormwater Management Program and (ii) the Virginia Erosion and Stormwater Management Act. This definition includes those roads where the Virginia 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 a local government in accordance with the standards of that local government.

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

"Resource Management Area" means that component of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area that is not classified as the Resource Protection Area.

"Resource Protection Area" means that component of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area comprised of lands adjacent to water bodies with perennial flow that have an intrinsic water quality value due to the ecological and biological processes they perform or are sensitive to impacts that may result in significant degradation to the quality of state waters.

"Silvicultural activities" means forest management activities, including 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 § 10.1-1105 of the Code of Virginia and are located on property defined as real estate devoted to forest use under § 58.1-3230 of the Code of Virginia.

"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 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 vegetated and nonvegetated wetlands as defined in § 28.2-1300 of the Code of Virginia.

"Tidewater Virginia" means those jurisdictions named in § 62.1-44.15:68 of the Act.

"Understory tree" means a tree that typically reaches 12 feet to 35 feet in height when mature.

"Use" means an activity on the land other than development including agriculture, horticulture and silviculture.

"Virginia Erosion and Stormwater Management Act" means Article 2.3 (§ 62.1-44.15:24 et seq.) of Chapter 3.1 of Title 62.1 of the Code of Virginia.

"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 (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.