For the purpose of this Ordinance, certain words and terms are herein defined as follows:

Words used in the present tense include the future tense; words in the singular number include the plural number and words in the plural number include the singular number; unless the obvious construction of the working indicates otherwise.

The word "shall" is mandatory.

Unless otherwise specified, all distances shall be measured horizontally and at right angles to the line in relation to which the distance is specified.

The word "building" includes the word "structure"; the word "lot" includes the words "plot" and "parcel."

The word "used" shall be deemed also to include "erected," "reconstructed," "altered," "placed," or "moved."

The terms "land use" and "use of land" shall be deemed also to include "building use" and "use of a building."

The word "State" means the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The word "Town" means the Town of Warsaw, Virginia, and the term "town boundary" means any exterior boundary of the Town.

The word "applicant" includes a firm, association, organization, partnership, trust, company, or corporation as well as an individual.

The term "Code of Virginia" shall include "as amended."

The word "adjacent" means "nearby" and not necessarily "contiguous."

In case of any dispute over the meaning of a word, phrase or sentence, whether defined herein or not, the Town Manager is hereby authorized to make a definitive determination thereof, being guided in such determination by the purposes and intent of this Ordinance, provided however that an appeal may be taken from any such determination as provided in Section 2-4.

Accessory Dwelling: A subordinate dwelling of no more than 1,000 square feet or fifty percent (50%) of the square feet of the principal dwelling (the most restrictive measure shall apply) in whose building envelope the accessory dwelling has been constructed.

Accessory Building/Structure: A structure detached from a principal building on the same lot and customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal building or use.

Accessory Use: A use of land or of a building or portion thereof customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal use of the land or building and located on the same lot with such principal use.

Acre: A measure of land area containing 43,560 square feet.

Agriculture: The production, keeping or maintenance, for sale, lease or personal use, of plants and animals useful to man, including but not limited to forages and sod crops; grains and seed crops; dairy animals and dairy products, livestock, including beef cattle, sheep, horses, ponies, mules, or goats, or any mutations or hybrids thereof, including the breeding and grazing of any or all of such animals, bees and apiary products; fur animals; trees and forest products; fruits of all kinds, including grapes, nuts and berries; vegetables; nursery, floral, ornamental and greenhouse products; or lands devoted to a soil conservation or forestry management program.

Alley: A public or private way affording secondary means of access to abutting property.

Alteration: Any change or rearrangement in the supporting members of an existing building, such as bearing walls, columns, beams, girders or interior partitions, as well as any change in doors or windows, or any enlargement to or diminution of a building or structure, whether horizontally or vertically, or the moving of a building or structure from one location to another.

Amenity: A natural or man-made feature which enhances or makes a particular property more attractive or satisfying.

Apothecary: A professional office occupied by a licensed professional pharmacist who provides pharmaceutical evaluations, prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, and health and rehabilitative aids to the public. The apothecary shall not devote less than 90% of available floor space for the services listed herein.

Archaeological Site: Land or water areas which show evidence or artifacts of human, plant or animal activity, usually dating from a period of which only vestiges remain.

Base Flood/One-Hundred Year Flood: A flood that, on the average, is likely to occur once every 100 years[.] (i.e., that has a one (1) percent chance of occurring each year, although the flood may occur in any year.)

Base Zoning District: Any section of the Town of Warsaw, Virginia, for which regulations governing the use of buildings and land, the height of buildings, the size of yards, and the intensity of use are uniform.

Bed and Breakfast: A dwelling in which, for compensation, meals and overnight accommodations are provided for transitory guests. The owner shall live on the premises.

Berm: A mound of soil, either natural or man-made, planted with grass or other vegetation, and used for view obstruction or for water control.

Best Management Practices (BMPs): 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.

Bike/Hike Trail: A pathway, often paved and separated from streets, designed for bikers (self propelled) and pedestrians.

Bikeway: A transportation facility designed to safely accommodate bicycle traffic.

Bikeways are generally divided into the following three classes:

Class I - the bikeway is physically separated from the roadway by open space, a physical barrier, or both.

Class II - the bikeway is a designated and marked lane immediately adjacent to the vehicular travel lanes of the roadway.

Class III - the bikeway shares travel lanes of a roadway with vehicles. Lanes may be wider to accommodate cyclists, but no specific lane designations are made although the roadway will be posted with signs evidencing its role as a bikeway.

Block: A unit of land bounded by streets or by a combination of streets and public land, water bodies, or any other barrier to the continuity to development.

Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA): The board appointed to grant variance relief where warranted and to review appeals made by individuals with regard to decisions of the Town Manager in the interpretation of Article 3.

Buffer: An area within a property or site, generally adjacent to and parallel with the property line or designated natural feature, either consisting of natural existing vegetation or created by the use of trees, shrubs, fences, and/or berms, designed to continuously limit view of and/or sound from the site to adjacent sites or properties or to maintain vegetation, absorb runoff or protect steep slopes and shorelines.

Building: Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls and intended for the shelter, housing or enclosure of any individual, animal, process, equipment, goods or materials of any kind or nature.

Building, Main: A building which contains the principal use of the lot on which it is situated.

Building Setback Line: A line parallel to the street line at a distance therefrom equal to the depth of the front yard required for the zoning district in which the lot is located.

Caliper: Diameter of a tree measured six (6) inches above ground level.

Cemetery: Any land or structure used or intended to be used for the interment of human remains, with or without sale of lots. The sprinkling of ashes or their burial in a biodegradable container on church grounds shall not constitute creation of a cemetery.

Certificate of Compliance: Certification by the Town Manager that plans or construction are in compliance with the Development Management Ordinance.

Certification of Occupancy: A certificate issued by the County Building Official certifying that a structure is in compliance with all applicable requirements of the Uniform Statewide Building Code and County Building Ordinance after notification by the Town Manager (issuance of Part B of the Certificate of Compliance) that all other necessary permits and approvals have been obtained and required bonds/surety have been found to be satisfactory and accepted by the Town.

Channel: The bed and banks of a natural stream which convey the constant or intermittent flow of the stream.

Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area (CBPA): Any land designated by the Warsaw Town Council pursuant to Part III of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Designation and Management Regulations, VR 173-02-01, and Section 10.1-2107 of the Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended. A Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area shall consist of a Resource Protection Area and a Resource Management Area.

Clearing: Any activity which includes, but is not limited to, removal of vegetative ground cover, root mat and/or top soil.

Clear Cutting: The removal of more than twenty-five percent (25%) of the trees, shrubs and undergrowth from a site. This definition shall not include the selective removal of non-native tree and shrub species when the soil is left relatively undisturbed, grain and bean/vegetable crop harvesting, removal of dead trees in accordance with forestall best management practices, or normal mowing operations.

College: An educational institution authorized by the Commonwealth to award associate or higher degrees.

Commission: The Town of Warsaw Planning Commission.

Community Impact Assessment: An assessment of a proposed development's impact on the fiscal, and social well-being of the community, including but not limited to the measured effects on the provision of government services, transportation systems, and commerce.

Comprehensive Plan: The Town of Warsaw Comprehensive Plan.

Conditional Use: A use permitted in a particular zoning district only upon a showing that such use in a specified location will comply with the intent and purpose of the zoning district in which it is proposed.

Conditional Use Permit: A permit issued by the proper plan-approving authority which must be acquired before a conditionally permitted use can be constructed or put into operation.

Condominium: Real property and any incidentals thereto or interests therein which have been or are to be lawfully established as such under the Virginia Condominium Act.

Conservation Easement: An easement granting a right or interest in real property that is appropriate to retaining land or water areas predominately in their natural, scenic, open, agricultural, or wooded conditions; retaining areas as suitable and/or significant habitat for fish, wildlife or plants; or retaining significant cultural, scenic or historic resources.

Construction Plans: Engineering plans for construction of streets, utilities and other improvements.

Common Open Space: An open space area within or related to a site as designated on a plan of development and designed and intended for the use or enjoyment of residents and/or the public. Common open space may contain such complementary structures and improvements as are necessary and appropriate for the use or enjoyment of residents and/or the public.

Council: The Warsaw Town Council.

County: Richmond County, Virginia.

Cul-de-Sac: A minor street having but one end open for vehicular traffic and with the other end permanently terminated by a turnaround or back around for vehicles.

Days: Calendar days.

Density: The number of dwelling units per acre of land.

Density Bonus: An award of additional development capacity by the plan-approving authority in exchange for the developer's provision of a public benefit or amenity.

Gross Density: Gross density is calculated by including all the land area within the boundaries of a particular parcel or area.

Net Density: Net density is calculated by excluding certain specified areas such as excessive slopes from the gross density calculation.

Detention Basin: A man-made or natural water collection facility designed to collect surface and subsurface water in order to impede its flow and to release the same gradually at a rate not greater than that which existed prior to the development of the property, into natural or man-made outlets.

Developer: The legal or beneficial owner or owners of a lot or of any land to be included in a proposed plan of development, including the holder of an option or contract to purchase, or any other person having enforceable proprietary interest in such land.

Development: The division of land into two or more parcels; any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, including, but not limited to, buildings or other structures, the placement of, streets, other paving, utilities, filling, grading, excavating, mining, dredging, or drilling operations, and land disturbing activities (as defined) requiring the issuance of an erosion and sediment control permit.

Diameter at Breast Height (d.b.h.): The diameter of a tree measured at a point 4.5 feet above the ground when newly planted and six inches above ground in its natural state.

Drainage: The removal of surface water or groundwater from land by drains, grading, or other means. This includes control of runoff during and after construction or development to minimize erosion and sedimentation to assure the adequacy of existing and proposed culverts and bridges, to induce water recharge into the ground where practical, to lessen nonpoint pollution, to maintain the integrity of stream channels for their biological functions as well as for drainage, and to prevent or alleviate flooding.

Drainage System: The system through which water flows from the land, including all watercourses, water bodies and wetlands.

Dripline: A vertical projection to the ground surface from the furthest lateral extent of a tree's leaf canopy.

Driveway: A paved or unpaved area used for ingress or egress of vehicles, and allowing access from a street to a building or other structure or facility.

Dwelling: A room or group of rooms within a building and constituting a separate and independent housekeeping unit occupied or intended to be occupied by one family, and containing kitchen, living, sleeping and sanitary facilities.

Easement: An authorization by a property owner for use by another of any designated part of his property for one or more specified purposes, which purposes are consistent with the general property rights of the owner.

Environmental Constraints: Natural resources, or land characteristics that are sensitive to modification and may require conservation measures or the application of creative development techniques to prevent degradation of the environment, or may require limited development, or in certain instances may preclude development.

Erosion: The detachment and movement of soil or rock fragments by water, wind, ice, and gravity.

Erosion and Sediment Control Plan or Plans: A document containing materials which describe proposed measures to be taken for the purpose of conserving soil and water resources of a unit or group of units of land. It may include appropriate maps, appropriate soil and water inventory, management information with needed interpretations, and a record of decisions contributing to conservation treatment. The plan shall contain all major conservation decisions so that the entire unit or units of land will be so treated to achieve the conservation objectives set forth in this Ordinance.

Escrow: A deed, bond, money, or a piece of property delivered to a third person to be delivered by him to the grantee only upon fulfillment of a condition.

Excavating: Any digging, scooping or other methods of removing earth materials.

Exempt Subdivision: See Subdivision.

Facilities of the Town: The components and pertinent parts of the entire systems of the water and sanitary sewer utilities under jurisdiction of the Town, such as water pipelines, and their appurtenances, sewage pumping stations and treatment plants, including these items and others now constructed, installed, operated or maintained by the Town or any which may be approved and accepted in the future as additions or extensions of the systems.

Family: An individual or two (2) or more persons related by blood, marriage or adoption, or a group of not more than four (4) unrelated persons, occupying a dwelling unit. For purposes of single family residential occupancy, this term shall be deemed to encompass group homes or other residential facilities licensed by the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services occupied by not more than eight (8) mentally ill, mentally retarded, or developmentally disabled persons together with one (1) or more resident counselors. Mental illness and developmental disability does not include current illegal use of or addiction to a controlled substance as defined in Section 54.1-3401 of the Code of Virginia.

Farm or Farmland: A parcel of land used for agricultural activities.

Farm Structure: Any building or structure used for agricultural purposes.

Filling: Any depositing or stockpiling of earth materials.

Filtered View (of water body): The maintenance or establishment of woody vegetation of sufficient density to screen development from the water body yet permit visual connection between the development and the river, to provide for streambank stabilization and erosion control, to serve as an aid to infiltration of surface runoff, and to provide cover to shade the water.

Flood: A general and temporary inundation of normally dry land areas.

Flood plain: Those areas of the Town of Warsaw subject to inundation by water of the one hundred (100) year flood.

Flood-Prone Area: Any land area susceptible to being inundated by water from any source.

Franchise Territory: The territory now or hereafter included within the boundaries prescribed for the Town.

Lot Frontage [Frontage Lot]: The minimum width of a lot measured from one side lot line to the other along the line of the street right-of-way.

Garage, private: Accessory building designed or used for the storage of not more than three (3) automobiles owned and used by the occupants of the building to which it is accessory. On a lot occupied by a multiple-unit dwelling, the private garage may be designed and used for the storage of one and one-half (1½) times as many automobiles as there are dwelling units.

General Development Plan: A plan outlining general, rather than detailed, development intentions. It describes the basic parameters of a major development proposal, rather than giving full engineering details. As such, it allows general intentions to be proposed and discussed without the extensive costs involved in submitting a detailed proposal.

Glare: A sensation of brightness within a person's visual field sufficient to cause annoyance, discomfort, distraction or loss of visual performance and visibility.

Governing Body: The Town Council of the Town of Warsaw.

Governmental Activity: Any or all of the services provided by the Town to its citizens for the purpose of maintaining the Town and shall include, but shall not be limited to, such services as constructing, repairing and maintaining roads, sewage facilities, supplying and treating water, street lights and construction of public buildings.

Grade: The slope of a street, or other public way, or land area specified in percentage (%) terms.

Grading: Any excavating or filling of earth materials or any combination thereof, including the land in its excavated or filled condition.

Ground Cover: Low-growing plants or sod that in time form a dense mat covering the area in which they are planted preventing soil from being blown or washed away and the growth of unwanted plants.

Health Officer: The State Officer or Sanitarian providing service to the Town of Warsaw.

Height, Building: The vertical distance to the highest point of the roof for flat roofs; to the deck line of mansard roofs; and to the average height between eaves and the ridge for gable, hop and gambrel roofs measured from the grade level in all other cases.

Historic Site: A structure, place, setting or area of outstanding historic and cultural significance and designated as such by the State or the federal government.

Home Occupation: Any activity carried out for gain by a resident conducted as permitted accessory use in the resident's dwelling unit.

Hydric Soil: Soils as defined by the current definition accepted by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Impervious Cover: 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.

Individual Sewage Disposal System: A septic tank, seepage tile sewage disposal system, or any other approved sewage treatment device serving a single unit.

Ingress/Egress: Access or entry in and out of parking areas.

Intersection: The area embraced within the prolongation of the lateral boundary lines of two or more streets which join one another at an angle whether or not one such street crosses the other.

Land-Disturbing Activity: Any land change which may result in soil erosion from water or wind and the movement of sediments into state waters or onto lands in the Commonwealth, including but not limited to, clearing, grading, excavating, transporting and filling of land, except that the term shall not include:

1)

Minor land disturbing activities such as home gardens and individual landscaping, repairs and maintenance work;

2)

Individual service connections;

3)

Installation, maintenance or repair of any underground public utility lines when such activity occurs on an existing hard surfaced road, street or sidewalk provided the land-disturbing activity is confined to the area of the road, street or sidewalk which is hard surfaced;

4)

Surface or deep mining;

5)

Exploration or drilling for oil and/or gas including the well site, roads, feeder lines and off-site disposal areas;

6)

Tilling, planting, or harvesting of agricultural, horticultural, or forest crops or livestock feedlot operations; including engineering operations as follows: construction of terraces, terrace outlets, check dams, desilting basins, dikes, ponds, ditches, strip cropping, Lister furrowing, contour cultivating, contour furrowing, land drainage and land irrigation;

7)

Repair or rebuilding of the tracks, right-of-way, bridges, communication facilities and other related structures and facilities of a railroad company;

8)

Agricultural engineering operations including but not limited to the construction of terraces, terrace outlets, check dams, desilting basins, dikes, ponds not required to comply with the Dam Safety Act, Chapter 8. (Section 62.1-115.1 et seq.), ditches, strip cropping, Lister furrowing, land drainage and land irrigation;

9)

Disturbed land areas of less than 2,500 square feet in size;

10)

Installation of fence and sign posts or telephone and electric poles and other kinds of posts or poles;

11)

Emergency work to protect life, limb or property and emergency repairs, however, if the land-disturbing activity would have required an approved erosion and sediment control plan, if the activity were not an emergency, then the land area disturbed shall be shaped and stabilized in accordance with the requirements of the plan-approving authority.

Land-disturbing Permit: A permit issued by the Town for land disturbing activities as defined.

Lot: A portion of a subdivision or other parcel of land intended for the transfer of ownership or for building development, whether immediate or future.

Lot, Corner: A lot abutting upon two or more streets at their intersection where the interior angle of intersection is not greater than 135 degrees. A lot abutting upon a curved street shall be considered a corner lot if the tangents to the curve at the points of intersection of the side lot lines intersect at an interior angle of less than 135 degrees.

Lot, Double Frontage: A lot, other than a corner lot, which has frontage on two streets.

Lot, Interior: Any lot which is not neither a corner lot.

Lot, Through: Any lot, not a corner lot, which adjoins two street lines opposite to each other and parallel or within 45 degrees of being parallel to each other.

Lot, Waterfront: A lot that includes, touches upon, or is within 100 feet of the mean low water mark of a natural or man-made body of water or a wetland.

Lot Area: The total horizontal area within the lot lines of the lot and expressed in terms of acres or square feet.

Lot Depth: The average horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines.

Lot Line: The boundary line of a lot.

Lot Line, Front: Any street or right-of-way line which forms the boundary of a lot or, in the case of a flag lot where such lot does not abut a street other than by its driveway or "staff," that lot line which is parallel or most nearly parallel to the street line and is not the rear lot line. Where lots are arranged to abut common parking areas, water or open space as may be the case for Traditional Town plan of developments, the front lot line shall be determined by the Town Manager based upon the orientation of the building.

Lot Line, Rear: Any lot line, except a front lot line, which is parallel or within 45 degrees of being parallel to, and does not intersect, any street line bounding such lot.

Lot Line, Side: Any lot line which is not a front lot line or a rear lot line.

Lot of Record: Any lot legally recorded in the Clerk's Office of the Richmond County Circuit Court.

Lot Width: The horizontal distance between the side lot lines measured at the front building setback line.

Maintenance Guarantee: Any security that may be accepted by the Town for the maintenance of any required improvements.

Manufactured Home: A structure subject to federal regulation, which is transportable in one or more sections; is eight body feet or more in width and forty body feet or more in length in the traveling mode, or is 320 or more square feet when erected on site; is built on a permanent chassis; is designed to be used as a single-family dwelling with a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities; and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and electrical systems contained in the structure. Industrialized buildings, as defined by the Uniform Statewide Building Code, are not considered to be manufactured homes.

Multi-Family Dwelling: A structure arranged or designated to be occupied by two or more families.

Multi-Use/Flex Space: Space that is developed for future tenants, therefore, the use has not been established. The building is designed to permit maximum flexibility to accommodate light industry, wholesale, commercial or a combination thereof.

Nonconforming Lot: A lawfully created lot of record whose area and dimensions complied with the regulations in effect at the time the lot was created but has become nonconforming due to the subsequent adoption of new ordinance provisions or ordinance amendments.

Nonconforming Use or Nonconformity: A nonconforming use is any lawful use, whether of a building or other structure or of a tract of land, which does not conform to any one or more of the applicable regulations of the zoning district in which it is located as provided by Article 3, either on the effective date of this Ordinance or as a result of any subsequent amendment thereto. The casual, intermittent, temporary or illegal use of land or buildings shall not be sufficient to establish the existence of a non-conforming use, and the existence of a non-conforming use on a part of a lot shall not be construed to establish a non-conforming use on the entire lot.

Nonpoint Source Pollution: Pollution consisting of constituents such as sediment, nutrients, and organic and toxic substances from diffuse sources, such as run-off from agricultural and urban land development and use.

Nursing Home: Rest homes, extended care homes, convalescent homes, or similar facilities which are established to render domiciliary or nursing care for chronic or convalescent patients and which are properly licensed by the state, but not including child care homes or facilities for the care of drug addicts, alcoholics, mentally ill or developmentally disabled patients.

Open Space: Any parcel or area of land or water and set aside, dedicated, designated or reserved for public or private use or enjoyment or for the use and enjoyment of owners and occupants of land adjoining or neighboring such open space.

Outdoor Storage: The keeping, in an unroofed area of any goods, junk, articles, merchandise, or vehicles in the same place for more than twenty-four hours.

Overlay Zoning Districts: Zoning districts which extend on top of a base zoning district and are intended to protect certain critical features and resources or provide for desired community goals.

Owner: The owner or owners of the freehold of the premises or lesser estate therein, a mortgagee or vendee in possession, assignee of rents, receiver, executor, trustee, lessee or other person, firm or corporation in control of a property.

Performance Guarantee: Any security, including cash, which may be required, and approved for acceptance, by the Town to ensure installation of required subdivision and/or site plan improvements.

Permit Holder: The person to whom a permit authorizing land-disturbing activities is issued or the person who certifies that the approved plan will be followed.

Person: Any individual, partnership, firm, association, joint venture, public or private institution, utility, cooperative, county, city, town, or other political subdivision of the Commonwealth, any interstate body, or any other legal entity.

Pervious Surface: Any material that permits full or partial absorption of storm water into previously unimproved land.

Plan Approving Authority: The entity designated by this Ordinance as responsible for determining the consistency of a plan of development with this Ordinance and authorized to approve or deny the plan.

Plan of Development Process: The process for site plan or subdivision plat review to ensure compliance with Section 10.1-2109 of the Code of Virginia and this Ordinance, prior to any clearing or grading of a site or the issuance of a building permit.

Planning Commission: The Town of Warsaw Planning Commission.

Plat: A map or maps of a subdivision.

Pre-Application Conference: An initial meeting between developers and representatives of the Town which affords developers the opportunity to present their proposals informally.

Preliminary Approval: The conferral of certain rights prior to final approval after specific elements of a development plan have been approved by the plan-approving agent or agreed upon by the Town and the applicant.

Primary Highway: A highway designated as a Virginia Primary Highway or U.S. Highway by the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Principle Use: The main use of land or structures as distinguished from a secondary or accessory use.

Professional Office: The office, studio or professional room(s) of a doctor, architect, artist, engineer, apothecary pharmacist as defined, lawyer real estate professional, accountant, or similar professional person.

Property owners' Association: A community association which is organized in a development in which individual owners share common interests in open space or facilities.

Public Open Space: An open space area conveyed or otherwise dedicated to the Town of Warsaw, the school board, a state or county agency, or other public body for recreational or conservational uses.

Public Water/Sewer: Water/sewer systems in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights, and which are owned, controlled, and maintained by the Town.

Recreational Vehicle: "Recreational Vehicle" means any vehicle, with or without collapsible sides, designed, used, or maintained for use as a conveyance upon highways, either self-propelled or designed to be towed by another vehicle, and which is so designed and constructed as to permit occupancy thereof as a temporary dwelling or sleeping place for one or more persons. The term "recreational vehicle" shall include the terms "camper," "camping trailer," "travel trailer," "self-propelled motor home," "motor home," "camper vehicle," and "R-V."

Regulations: The whole body of regulations, text, charts, exhibits, diagrams, notations, and references contained or referred to in this Ordinance.

Residence: A building or part of a building containing dwelling units, including one-family or two-family houses, and multiple dwellings. However, residences do not include:

Such transient accommodation as hotels, motels, trailer camps, or mobile homes, or

Dormitories, fraternity or sorority houses, monasteries, or convents, or

Nurses' residences, sanitariums, nursing homes, or other similar living or sleeping accommodations.

Residential: Pertaining to a residence.

Residential Density: The number of dwelling units per gross or net acre of land area as specified in this Ordinance, with gross acres including all the land area, including streets, easements, and open space portions of a development.

Resource Management Area (RMA): Resource Management Areas shall include land types that, if properly used or developed, have a potential for causing significant water quality degradation or for diminishing the functional value of the Resource Protection Area. A Resource Management Area shall be provided contiguous to the entire inland boundary of the Resource Protection Area. The following land categories shall be considered for inclusion in the Resource Management Area:

-

Flood plains;

-

Highly erodible soils, including steep slopes;

-

Highly permeable soils[;]

-

Nontidal wetlands not included in the Resource Protection Area;

-

Such other lands as necessary to protect the quality of state waters.

Resource Protection Area (RPA): Resource Protection Areas shall consist of sensitive lands at or near the shoreline that have an intrinsic water quality value due to ecological and biological processes they perform or are sensitive to impacts which may cause significant degradation to the quality of state waters. In their natural condition, these lands provide for the removal, reduction, or assimilation of sediments, nutrients, and potentially harmful or toxic substances in runoff entering the Bay and its tributaries, and minimize the adverse effects of human activities on state waters and aquatic resources. The Resource Protection Area shall include:

-

Tidal wetlands;

-

Nontidal wetlands connected by surface flow and contiguous to tidal wetlands or tributary streams;

-

Tidal shores;

-

Such other lands as necessary to protect the quality of state waters;

-

A buffer area not less than 100 feet in width located adjacent to and landward of the components listed above, and along both sides of any tributary stream The full buffer area shall be designated as the landward component of the Resource Protection Area notwithstanding the presence of permitted uses or equivalent measures in compliance with the requirements of this ordinance and the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act. Designation of this area shall not be subject to reduction unless based on reliable site-specific information.

Resource Protection Area (RPA) Buffer: 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 disturbances.

Resubdivision: See Subdivision.

Retail Stores and Shops: Buildings for display and sale of merchandise at retail or for the rendering of personal services (but specifically exclusive of coal, wood, and lumber yards), such as the following which will serve as illustration: drug store, newsstand, food store, candy shop, dry goods and notions store, antique store and gift shop, hardware store, household appliance store, furniture store, florist, optician, music and radio store, tailor shop, barber and beauty shop, photographic supplies store, convenience store, video rental store, and clothing stores.

Retaining Wall: A structure erected between lands of different elevation to protect structures and/or to prevent the washing down or erosion of earth from the upper slope level.

Retention Basin: A pond, pool or basin used for the permanent storage of storm water.

Right-of-Way: A strip of land occupied or intended to be occupied by a crosswalk, railroad, electric transmission line, gas pipeline, water main, sanitary or storm sewer main, drainage ditch, shade trees, or for another special use and for a street or road as most commonly used in this Ordinance.

Right-of-Way Line: A dividing line between a lot, tract, or parcel of land and a contiguous street.

Roadside Stand: A booth or stall no larger than 300 square feet in area located on a farm from which produce and farm products originating from the premises are sold to the general public.

Roadway: The portion of a street or highway available for and intended for use by motor vehicle traffic; generally the paved portion of the street or highway.

Sanitary sewage: That water-carried waste which derives principally from dwellings, business buildings, institutions, industrial establishments and the like, exclusive or any storm and surface waters.

School: Any place of instruction in any branch of knowledge having regular sessions with regularly employed instructors which teaches those subjects that are both fundamental and essential in general education and comparable in nature to the curriculum offerings of the public school system.

Screen: A structure or planting consisting of fencing, berms, and/or evergreen trees or shrubs providing a continuous view obstruction within a site or property.

SCS: Soil Conservation Service.

Secondary Highway: A highway designated as a Virginia Secondary Highway by the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Sedimentation: The deposit of soil that has been transported from its site of origin by water, ice, wind, gravity, or other natural means as a product of erosion.

Septic System: An underground system with a septic tank used for the decomposition of domestic wastes.

Septic Tank: A water-tight receptacle that receives the discharge of sewage.

Service Drive: A minor street which is parallel to and adjacent to a major thoroughfare, and which provides access to abutting properties and restricts access to the major thoroughfare.

Setback: The horizontal distance between the street right-of-way line and the front line of a building or any projection thereof, excluding uncovered steps, or the horizontal distance between the side or rear line of a building or any projection thereof, excluding uncovered steps, and the side or rear lot line. Setback may also be specified from a designated physical feature such as a water body, beach, or wetland.

Sewage Treatment Plant: Any arrangement of devices and structure used for treating sewage.

Sewage Works: All facilities for collecting, pumping, treating, and disposing of sewage.

Sewer: Any pipe conduit used to collect and carry away sewage or storm water runoff from the generating source to treatment plants or receiving streams.

Sight Triangle: A triangular-shaped portion of land established at street intersections and entrances onto streets in which nothing is permitted to be erected, placed, planted or allowed to grow in a manner that limits or obstructs the sight distance of motorists, bicyclists or pedestrians traversing or using the intersection or entrance.

Sign: Any writing (including letter, word or numeral); pictorial representation (including illustration or decoration); emblem (including device, symbol, or trademark); flag (including banner or pennant); or any other figure of similar character, which is a structure or any part thereof, or is attached to, painted on, or in any other manner represented on a building or other structure, and is used to announce, direct attention to, or advertise.

Silviculture: The development and/or maintenance of a forest or wooded preserve.

Site Plan: The development plan for a land disturbing activity or project on which is shown the existing and proposed conditions as required which may include topography, vegetation, flood plains, wetlands, waterways, location and bulk of buildings, density of development, open space, public facilities, landscaping, structures and signs, and such other information as reasonably may be required in order that an informed decision can be made by the plan-approving authority. For certain projects such as condominium or townhouse projects, the term is used synonymously with subdivision plat, preliminary and final.

Sketch Plan/Plat: A preliminary presentation or sketch plan/plat and attendant documentation of a proposed subdivision or a site plan of sufficient accuracy to be used for the purpose of discussion and classification.

Slope: The degree of deviation of a surface from the horizontal, usually expressed in percent, degrees, or as a ratio.

Soil and Water Conservation District: The Northern Neck Soil and Water Conservation District, a political subdivision of the Commonwealth organized in accordance with Title 21, Chapter 1, of the Code of Virginia.

Spot Zoning: Rezoning of a lot or parcel of land to benefit an owner for a use incompatible with surrounding uses and not for the purpose or effect of furthering the Comprehensive Plan.

State Waters: All waters on the surface and under the ground wholly or partially within or bordering the Commonwealth or within its jurisdiction.

Storm Water Detention: A provision for the temporary impoundment of storm water runoff and the controlled release of such runoff during and after a flood or storm.

Storm Water Retention: A provision for the permanent impoundment of water which may permit the controlled release of water during and after a flood or storm.

Street: A public or private thoroughfare which affords the principal means of access to abutting properties, and whether designated as an interstate, arterial thoroughfare, highway, road, parkway, avenue, boulevard, lane, place, circle, or however otherwise designated.

Street Width: The horizontal distance between street lines measured perpendicular to the street center line.

Structure: Anything constructed or erected on the ground or which is attached to something located on the ground. Structures include buildings, radio and TV towers, sheds, and permanent signs. It excludes vehicles, sidewalks, and paving.

Subdivide: The process of dealing with land so as to establish a subdivision as defined herein.

Subdivider: Any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, estate, trust, or any other group or combination, acting as a unit, dividing or proposing to divide land so as to constitute a subdivision as defined herein, and including any agent of the subdivider.

Subdivision: The division of any tract or parcel of land into two or more tracts, parcels, lots, or building sites, for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of transfer of ownership or for development; provided, however, that the following, if no new streets are created or existing streets changed, shall not be considered subdivisions within the meaning of this Ordinance and therefore are exempted from application of the design standards and review procedures of this Ordinance:

a.

The sale or exchange of parcels between adjoining property owners where such sale or exchange does not create additional building sites or create a lot or parcel which does not meet the minimum area and dimensional requirements of this or other Town ordinances.

b.

The combination or recombination of portions of previously subdivided lots where the total number of lots is not increased and the resultant lots comply with the minimum area and dimensional requirements of this and other Town ordinances.

c.

The division of a tract of land in order that one or more of the resulting parcels may be used as part of a well lot, public utility right-of-way, or other public or private right-of-way other than a street, provided no additional building lots are created.

d.

The partition of lands by court order.

If new streets are created or existing streets changed, the project shall be considered a subdivision notwithstanding the above.

The term 'subdivision' shall include resubdivision. Where appropriate to the context, the term 'subdivision' shall relate to the process of subdividing or to the land subdivided, and shall include establishment of any land area as a common element on a separate lot including but not limited to recreation areas, and marina and other water dependent uses.

Tidal Shore or Shore: Land contiguous to a tidal body of water between the mean low water level and the mean high water level.

Tidal Wetlands: Vegetated and nonvegetated wetlands as defined in Section 62.1-13.2 of the Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended.

Town: The Town of Warsaw, Virginia.

Townhouse: A one-family dwelling in a row of at least three such units in which each unit has its own front and rear access to the outside, no unit is located over another unit, and each unit is separated from any other unit by one of more common fire-resistant walls.

Town Manager: The representative of the Town Council or a designated agent of the Town Manager who has been appointed to serve as the agent of the Town Council in administering this Ordinance.

Tributary Stream: Any perennial stream that is so depicted on the most recent U.S. Geological Survey 7½ minute topographic quadrangle map (scale 1:24,000).

Undeveloped Land: Land in its natural state before development.

Use: Any purpose for which a building or other structure or lot may be designed, arranged, intended, maintained, or occupied, and/or any activity, occupation, business, or operation carried on, or intended to be carried on, in a building or other structure or on a lot.

Vegetation: Area of natural or established ground cover which allows the natural infiltration of water into the soil. Vegetated buffer areas shall include, but are not limited to those areas of any plant material, grassy ground cover, woody vegetation, bush and shrubs, etc.

VDOT: The Virginia Department of Transportation.

Water-Dependent Facility: 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:

(1)

Ports;

(2)

The intake and outfall structures of power plants, water treatment plants, sewage treatment plants, and storm sewers;

(3)

Marinas and other boat docking structures;

(4)

Beaches and other public water-oriented recreation areas; and

(5)

Fisheries or other marine resources facilities.

Water or Sewer Department: The water and sewer utility owned by the Town.

Weeds: Any plant such as jimpson, burdock, ragweed, thistle, ocklebur, honeysuckle, poison ivy, or other similar vegetation considered undesirable, unattractive, or troublesome.

Wetlands, Nontidal: 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 Section 404 of the federal Clean Water Act, as amended.

Wetlands, Tidal: Tidal wetlands are both vegetated and nonvegetated in nature. "Nonvegetated wetlands" means all that land lying contiguous to mean low water and which land is between mean low water and mean high water not otherwise included in the term "vegetated wetlands" as defined herein subject to flooding by tides including wind tides but not including hurricane or tropical storm tides. "Vegetated Wetlands" means all that land lying between and contiguous to mean low water and an elevation above mean low water equal to the factor 1.5 times the mean tide range at the site of the proposed project in the Town; and upon which is growing on the effective date of this act or grows thereon subsequent thereto, any one or more of the following: Saltmarsh cordgrass (Sparteine alterniflora), saltmeadow hay ( Sparteine patens), saltgrass (Distichlis spicata), black needlerush (Juncus roemerianus), saltwort (Salicornia sp.), sea lavender (Limonium sp.), marsh elder (Iva frutescens), groundsel bush (Baccharis halimifolia), wax myrtle (Myrica sp.),sea oxeye (Borrichia fiutescens), arrow arum (Peltandra virginica), pickerelweed (Pontederia cordate), big cordgrass (Sparteine cynosuroides), rice cut grass (Leersia oryzoides), wildrice (Zizania aquatica), bulrush (Scirpus validus), spikerush (Eleocharis sp.), sea rocket (Cakile edentula), southern wildrice (Zizaniopsis miliacea), cattails (Typha spp.), tthree squares(Scirpus spp.), buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), bald cypress (Taxodium distichum), black gum (Nyssa sylvatica), tupelo (Nyssa aquatica), dock (Rumex sp. ), yellow pond lily (Nuphar sp.), marsh fleabane (Pluchea purpurascens), royal fern (Osmunda regalis), marsh hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos), beggar's tick (Bidens sp.), smartweed (Polygonum sp.), arrowhead (Sagittaria spp.) sweet flag (Acorus calamus), switch grass (Panicum virgatum), water hemp (Amaranthus cannabinus), and reed grass (Phragmites communis).

Yard: That portion of a lot extending open and unobstructed from the lowest level to the sky along the entire length of a lot line, and from the lot line for a depth or width set forth in the applicable district yard regulations.

Yard, Front: A front yard is a yard extending along the full length of a front lot line. In the case of a corner lot, any yard extending along the full length of a street line shall be considered a front yard.

Yard, Rear: A rear yard is a yard extending for the full length of a rear lot line.

Yard, Side: A side yard is a yard extending along a side lot line from the required front yard (or from the front lot line if no front yard is required) to the required rear yard (or to the rear lot line, if no rear yard is required). In the case of a corner lot, any yard which is not a front yard shall be considered a side yard.

Zoning: The dividing of the Town into districts, both base and overlay, and the establishment of regulations governing the use, placement, spacing and size of lots and buildings as specified in Article 3.

Zoning Map: The map or maps, which are a part of the zoning ordinance, and delineate the boundaries of zone districts.