Chapter 148 SUBDIVISION AND LAND DEVELOPMENT. (updated 7-28-08)

Section 148-57 DEFINITIONS.

As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

ADT (AVERAGE DAILY TRAFFIC) - The average number of cars per day that pass over a given point or are generated by a specific use.

ALLEY - A permanent serviceway providing a means of vehicular access to the side or rear of abutting properties whose principal frontage is on some other street, and not intended for general traffic circulation.

APPLICANT - A developer or subdivider submitting an application for development.

APPLICATION - The application form and all accompanying documents and fees required under this chapter for approval of a subdivision plat or site development plan.

AVERAGE SLOPE - The mean natural incline of the ground within a particular parcel, as determined by the formula in Section 148-42.

BEARINGS - An angular direction measured from one position to another using reference lines.

BLOCK - A tract of land bounded by streets or by a combination of streets and public parks, cemeteries, railroad rights-of-way, shorelines of waterways or boundary lines of municipalities.

BOUNDARY LINE ADJUSTMENT - The combination or relocation of property boundaries of previously platted and recorded lots where the total number of lots is not increased.

BUILDING - Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls and intended for the shelter, housing or enclosure of persons, animals or chattel.

BUILDING (SETBACK) LINE - The minimum distance which a building is required to be from the front boundary line or front lot line.

COMMISSION - The Planning Commission of the Town of Front Royal.

COMMUNITY SEWERAGE SYSTEM - A private community sewer system, including collection and treatment facilities established by the developer to serve a subdivision.

COMMUNITY WATER SYSTEM - A private water company formed by a developer to serve a community development.  It includes water treatment and distribution facilities.

COMPREHENSIVE PLAN - The most recent Comprehensive Plan for the Town of Front Royal, Virginia, adopted by the Town Council, and any subsequently adopted amendments or supplements.

CONDOMINIUM - A system of separate ownership of individual units in a multiple-unit building or development (See Code of Virginia, Section 55-79.39 et seq.)

CONSERVATION EASEMENT - An easement granting a right or interest in real property that is appropriate to retaining land or water areas predominantly in their natural, scenic, open or wooded condition; retaining such areas as suitable habitat for fish, plants or wildlife; or maintaining existing land uses.

COUNCIL - The Town Council of Front Royal, Virginia.

CUL-DE-SAC - A local street with a single means of ingress and egress, and having an appropriate turnaround for a safe and convenient reversal of traffic movement.

DEDICATION - The deliberate appropriation of land by its owner for any general and/or public use, reserving to himself no other rights than those that are compatible with the full exercise and enjoyment of the public uses to which the property has been devoted.

DESIGNATED STORMWATER DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENT AREA - An area established by the Front Royal Town Council, having related and common stormwater drainage conditions.

DEVELOPER - Any person, persons or entity who places or constructs improvements on a parcel of land.  See also "subdivider".

DEVELOPMENT - A planning or construction project involving substantial property improvement and, usually, a change in land use character within the site.

DIRECTOR OF PLANNING - The Director of Planning for the Town of Front Royal or other agent as designated by the Town Council for the administration of this chapter.

EASEMENT - Authorization by a property owner which runs with the land of any designated part of his property for use by another for a specific purpose.

ENDORSEMENT - The application of the reviewing and/or approving authority's stamp and the signature of the appropriate authority on the record plat.

ENGINEER - A person licensed to practice as such in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

FINAL PLAT - The final map or plan of a subdivision and any accompanying material, as described in these regulations, which is presented for final approval.

GENERAL DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM - A plan adopted by resolution of the Town Council for the construction of stormwater drainage facilities within a designated stormwater drainage improvement area.

GOVERNING BODY - The Town Council of the Town of Front Royal.

GRADE - The slope of a road, street or other right-of-way, specified in percentage terms.

HALF STREET - A street, generally parallel with and adjacent to a property line, having a lesser right-of-way width than normally required.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT - The Health Department of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

HEALTH OFFICER - The legally designated health authority of the State Health Department for Warren County or his authorized representative.

HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATION - A private nonprofit association or corporation of property owners and/or residents of a fixed area for the purpose of owning, operating and maintaining various common properties.

IMPROVEMENTS - All required utilities and facilities as specified in this chapter, including but not limited to streets, streetlights, landscaping, sidewalks, storm and sanitary sewers, water lines and curbing.

INDIVIDUAL ON-SITE SEWAGE DISPOSAL SYSTEM - A septic tank, seepage tile sewage disposal or any other sewage treatment device approved by the State Health Department.

JOINT OWNERSHIP - "Joint ownership" of any type among persons shall be construed as the same owner.

JURISDICTION - The area or territory subject to the legislative control of the governing body of the Town of Front Royal.

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT - A person licensed to practice as such in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

LAND SURVEYOR - A person licensed to practice as such in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

LIMITED ACCESS HIGHWAY - A highway especially designed for through traffic, over which abutters have no easement or right of light, air or access to by reason of the fact that their property abuts upon such limited access highway.

LOT - A tract, plot or portion of a subdivision or other parcel of land intended as a unit for the purpose of transfer of ownership or for building development.

LOT, CORNER - A lot abutting upon two (2) or more streets at their intersection; the shortest side fronting upon a street shall be considered the front of the lot, and the longest side fronting upon a street shall be considered the side of the lot.  A lot abutting on a curved street or streets shall be considered a "corner lot" if straight lines drawn from the foremost point of the lot meet at an interior angle of less than one hundred thirty-five degrees (135 degrees).

LOT, DEPTH OF - The mean horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines.

LOT, INTERIOR - A lot other than a corner lot.

LOT OF RECORD - A lot which has been recorded among the land records in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Warren County.

LOT, REVERSE FRONTAGE - An interior lot having frontage on two (2) streets.

LOT, WIDTH OF - The horizontal distance between the side lot lines, measured at the front setback line.

MONUMENT - A permanent concrete and/or iron identifying marker meeting the requirements and specifications of this chapter.

OPEN SPACE - Any parcel or area of land or water essentially unimproved and set aside, dedicated, designated or reserved for the public or private use or enjoyment or for the use and enjoyment of owners and occupants of land adjoining or neighboring such open space.

OWNER - Any person, group of persons, firm or firms, corporation or corporations or any other legal entity having legal title to or sufficient proprietary interest in the land sought to be subdivided under these regulations.

PARTIAL STREET - See "half street".

PERFORMANCE BOND - Security in the form of a cash deposit, surety bond or instrument of credit, approved by the governing body and Town Attorney, in an amount equal to the full cost of improvements required by these regulations and providing for completion of said improvement within a definite period.

PLANNING COMMISSION - The Planning Commission of the Town of Front Royal, Virginia.

PLAT - A map or maps of a subdivision or site development plan.

PRELIMINARY PLAT - The preliminary drawing or drawings, described in these regulations, indicating the proposed layout of the subdivision or development and related information that is submitted to the Planning Commission for preliminary approval.

PRIMARY SUBDIVIDED PARCEL - The object of or reason for the subdivision request, to include all portions of the source tract submitted for approval as new subdivided lots which are to be developed in some fashion by the erection of buildings or construction of improvements thereon or which are to be sold following subdivision to other individuals or entities.

PROPERTY - Any tract, lot or parcel of land or several of the same collected together for the purpose of subdividing or developing.

PRO RATA FEE - The fee paid by the subdivider or developer for a proportionate share of the cost of construction under the general drainage improvement program for a designated stormwater drainage improvement area.

PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT - Any drainage ditch, roadway, parkway, sidewalk, pedestrianway, tree, off-street parking area, lot improvement or other facility for which the local government may ultimately assume the responsibility for maintenance and operation or which may affect an improvement for which local government responsibility is established.

RECORD PLAT - The copy of the final plat which contains the original endorsements of the Planning Commission and the Town Council and which is intended to be recorded with and meets the requirements of the County Clerk of the Circuit Court.

RESIDUAL SUBDIVIDED PARCEL - In a proposed subdivision, after subtraction of all primary subdivided parcels from the source tract, the remaining portion, if any, of said tract which is to be retained by the owner thereof and not developed or sold.

RESUBDIVISION - A change in a map of an approved or recorded subdivision plat if such change affects any street layout on such map or area reserved thereon for public use or any lot line thereon or if it affects any map or plan legally recorded as a subdivision prior to the adoption of any regulations controlling subdivisions.

REVERSE FRONTAGE LOT - See "lot, reverse frontage".

RIGHT-OF-WAY - A strip of land occupied or intended to be occupied by a street, crosswalk, railroad, road, electric transmission line, oil or gas pipeline, water main, sanitary or storm sewer main, shade trees or another special use.  The usage of the term "right-of-way" for landplatting purposes shall mean that every "right-of-way" hereafter established and shown on a final plat is to be separate and distinct from the lots or parcels adjoining such "right-of-way" and not included within the dimensions or areas of such lots or parcels. "Rights-of-way" intended for streets, crosswalks, water mains, sanitary sewers, storm drains, shade trees or any other use involving maintenance by a public agency shall be dedicated to public use by the maker of the plat on which each "right-of-way" is established.

ROAD - A street.

SETBACK - See "building (setback) line".

SITE DEVELOPMENT PLAN - An accurately scaled plan for development that illustrates the existing conditions of a land parcel as well as depicting details of a proposed development in accordance with this chapter.

SKETCH PLAT - A sketch preparatory to the preparation of the preliminary plat to enable the applicant to save time and expense in reaching general agreement with the town staff as to the form of the plat and the objectives of these regulations.

SOURCE TRACT - In a proposed subdivision, the entire parcel of land which exists as the single cohesive lot or unit of land in the records of Warren County and the Town of Front Royal, from which all subdivided parcels are to be taken.

STREET - A strip of land, other than private driveways serving a single structure, subject to vehicular and/or pedestrian traffic providing means of access to property; also designated as "street", "road", "lane", "drive", "avenue", "right-of-way", "highway", "boulevard", "trail", "court", "place", "terrace", etc.

STREET, ARTERIAL - A major street that serves as an avenue for the circulation of traffic and carries a high volume of traffic [in excess of three thousand (3,000) ADT's], and existing streets so designated by the Virginia Department of Transportation.

STREET, COLLECTOR - A street that carries and distributes traffic from adjoining local streets to arterial streets.  Traffic is generally limited to motorists having origin or destination within the immediate neighborhood.  Total traffic ranges from five hundred (500) ADT's to three thousand (3,000) ADT's.  Where the proposed traffic exceeds one thousand five hundred (1,500) ADT's, such streets should be designed without direct lot access to promote free traffic flow.

STREET, LOCAL - A street that provides access to lots and carries traffic having destination or origin on the street itself.  Traffic should not exceed five hundred (500) ADT's.

STREET OF RECORD - Any street shown on any subdivision plat recorded in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court, whether such street is constructed or not.

STREET OR ALLEY, PUBLIC USE OF - The unrestricted use of a specific area of right-of-way for ingress and egress to two (2) or more abutting properties.

STREET, SERVICE DRIVE - A public right-of-way generally parallel with and contiguous to a major highway, primarily designed to promote safety by eliminating ingress and egress to the major highway right-of-way by providing safe and orderly points of access to the major highway.

STREET, THROUGH - A street that carries and distributes traffic to adjoining subdivisions and to streets and highways outside of the subdivision.  Such streets function as collector streets.

STREET WIDTH - The total width of the strip of land dedicated or reserved for public travel, including roadway, curb and gutter, sidewalks, planting strips and, where necessary, utility easements.

STRUCTURE - Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires permanent location on the ground or attachment to something having a permanent location on the ground.

STRUCTURE, PRINCIPAL - A structure in which the principal or primary use of the property is carried out.

SUBDIVIDE - The process of creating new lots to establish a subdivision.

SUBDIVIDER - A person or persons having a freehold, contractual or possessory interest in a parcel of land, who are commencing proceedings under this chapter to effect a subdivision or development within the town.

SUBDIVISION - The division of a parcel of land under the terms of this chapter for the purpose of transfer of ownership or building development.  The term includes resubdivision and, when appropriate to the context, shall relate to the process of subdividing or to the land subdivided.

SUBDIVISION AGENT - Any person who represents or acts for or on behalf of a subdivider or applicant in selling, leasing or developing or offering to sell, lease or develop any interest, lot, parcel, unit, site or plat in a subdivision, except an attorney at law whose representation of another person consists solely of rendering legal services.

SUBDIVISION, MAJOR - Any subdivision other than a minor subdivision.

SUBDIVISION, MINOR - A subdivision that does not involve any of the following:  the creation of more than a total of eight (8) lots, the creation of any new public streets, the extension of a public water or sewer system, or the installation of drainage improvements through one (1) or more lots to serve one (1) or more other lots.

SURVEYOR - A person licensed as such by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

TOWN - Town of Front Royal, Virginia.

TREE COVER - All areas of coverage by plant materials exceeding five (5) feet in height, to include the area directly beneath the canopy and within the dripline of a tree.

TREE COVER, PROJECTED TWENTY-YEAR - The area projected to be directly beneath the canopy and within the dripline of a given tree species after a twenty-year growing period.  The reference text used in determining the projected twenty-year cover is Michael W. Dirr's Manual of Woody Landscape Plants - Their Identification Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses, 4th Edition, 1990.

TREE, STREET - A tree of a deciduous species capable of providing shade that is located in a public place, along the right-of-way adjoining a street or along the street frontage of a property.  Such trees shall be a minimum two-inch caliper in size.

USCGS - The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.

USGS - The United States Geological Survey.