HomeMy Public PortalAboutXVI. GLOSSARY.pdfAPRIL 2006 | RICHMOND, INDIANA |
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN GLOSSARY
XVI. GLOSSARY
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN GLOSSARY
APRIL 2006 | RICHMOND, INDIANA | 341
XVI. GLOSSARY
A
Accessory Use: This is a secondary use of property, which is in addition to, and
secondary to another, primary land use. An example is a garage on a single-
family lot.
Agri-Tourism: The practice of attracting visitors to experience farm operations.
Tourists can pick fruit and vegetables, ride horses, taste honey, be educated
on farming practice, cut Christmas trees, and participate in themed activities
and events.
Affordable Housing: A housing unit (owned or rented) for individuals who
qualify with income that is below the Federal Government Section 8 income
limits. The qualifying individuals pay no more than 30% of their income for
principal, interest, taxes and insurance.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): The Americans with Disabilities Act
gives civil rights protection to individuals with disabilities similar to those
provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age,
and religion. It guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities
in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local
government services, and telecommunications. The Title I employment
provisions apply to private employers, state and local governments,
employment agencies, and labor unions. Employers with 15 or more
employees are covered.
Aquifer: An underground layer of rock, sand, or gravel capable of storing water
within cracks and pore spaces, or between grains. When water contained
within an aquifer is of sufficient quantity and quality, it can be tapped and
used for drinking or other purposes. The water contained in the aquifer is
called ground water.
Architectural Character: The distinguishing appearance of a building or
structure’s architectural features, such as roof slope, materials, openings,
color, and scale. The character is based on historical and cultural influences.
Auto-Oriented Design: A form of development that depends on exposure to
auto traffic and presumes people will use cars to travel to and from a site.
Assessed Value: The value of real estate or personal property as determined by a
government unit, such as a city, for the purpose of determining taxes.
B
Best Management Practices (BMP): BMPs minimize the impact of
development and other land use activities on the natural environment, such
as reducing storm water.
Brownfield: Abandoned, idled, or under-utilized industrial and commercial
property where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or
perceived environmental contamination from past business practices. See also
Greenfield.
Buffer: A type of landscaping treatment in which varied plant materials,
including trees and evergreens, and earthen mounds buffer land uses from
each other or from other impacting uses (i.e. roadway, parking lot, etc.).
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Build Out: The point at which a community has completely built its land,
typically based upon the capacity of infrastructure (especially water and
wastewater).
Buildable Land: Land which lacks constraints that prevent it from being
developed or redeveloped. This includes all vacant, partially used, or
underutilized land zoned for commercial, industrial, or residential use. A
single-family home built on a lot zoned for multi-family housing is an
example of underutilized land. Parcels intended for public use or lots with
limited building potential are not considered buildable lands.
Building Codes: City regulations that prescribe minimum standards for the
construction and maintenance of buildings.
Building Permit: A permit issued for various types of building activity that
authorizes structural, electrical, heating and cooling, plumbing, or
demolition work.
Built Environment: The part of the environment formed and shaped by humans,
including buildings, structures, landscaping, earth forms, roads, signs, trails,
and utilities.
C
Central Business District (CBD): A term generally used to describe the heart of
a downtown.
Charrette: An intensive design session (typically one week or less) conducted in
a community interactive workshop atmosphere.
Clutter (Visual, Roadway): The proliferation of sign posts, utility lines and
poles, regulatory signs, signals, advertising and lighting. The result is usually
so visually confusing that the communicative intent is seriously undermined.
Clutter interrupts the flow of communication from businesses and their
signage to the motorist and walker, and is generally aesthetically unpleasant.
Community Character: The features that define the built and natural
environment within the community and help to create its character. These
include the historic buildings in the Downtown and adjacent
neighborhoods, themed architecture natural waterways or landforms that
define parts of the City, woodlands, residential neighborhoods of different
types, building density and orientation (auto- or pedestrian-oriented), and
the scale and quantity of signage.
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG): Federal government funded
programs and projects that include a wide range of community and
economic development activities aimed at revitalizing decayed urban areas
and benefiting low- and moderate-income persons.
Community Impact Assessment (CIA): A CIA is a submittal requirement of
the City’s zoning code. It requires an assessment of the impacts of a new
development on a community and is taken into account as part of the
rezoning and development plan analysis.
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Community Reinvestment Area (CRA): A CRA refers to areas designated by
the legislative authorities of municipalities within which abatement of real
estate taxes is available for remodeling of existing structures or new
construction within the area. The legislative authority may stipulate in the
authorizing resolution that only new structures or remodeling classifies as to
use as commercial, industrial, or residential or some combination thereof,
and otherwise satisfying the requirements of the State Code which are
eligible for exemption under that section.
Community Supported Agriculture: A partnership between consumers and
farmers in which consumers pay for farm products in advance and farmers
commit to supplying sufficient quantity, quality and variety of products.
Comprehensive Plan: A Comprehensive Plan is the central organizing
document for planning and managing growth. It consists of the City of
Richmond’s policies regarding long-term development, and land use maps,
which indicate the types and densities of uses. The City requires that zoning
ordinances and other City standards are guided by the policy direction set
by the Comprehensive Plan.
Confined Animal Feed Lots: The confined feeding of animals for food, fur or
pleasure in lots, pens, ponds, sheds or buildings, where animals are
maintained for at least 45 days and ground cover is not maintained over a
minimum of 50% of the animal confinement area.
Connections: It is critical for a community to build connections as it grows.
Examples of connections are streets, sidewalks and bike paths that interlink
neighborhoods, and that link neighborhoods with schools, parks, retail
areas, and businesses. Major parts of the community should be linked to
ensure a whole community is being developed.
Corridors: A corridor is a path used by people as they traverse the community.
Corridors can include roads, sidewalks, bike paths, rivers, and streams. The
quality of the experience of the traveler along these corridors helps to define
the image of the community.
D
Density: For non-residential development, density may be expressed either as
the gross square footage of a building per acre or as the floor area ratio (See
Floor Area Ratio).For residential development, density is measured by the
number of housing per acre and may be expressed in terms of either gross or
net density. Gross density measures the density of a development using the
entire site acreage whereas net density reduces the site acreages by an
amount for right-of-way and any parkland dedication. From a community
wide perspective, gross density is a more accurate measure since it
recognizes the value of open-space set-asides while preserving the same
development yield, thereby serving as an incentive in return for a public
benefit.
District: Districts are unique parts of a community in which the uses, buildings
and landscape share common features. The features of these districts that
support their viability should be protected and enhanced. Examples of
districts include the Downtown and unique historic neighborhoods.
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District, Multiple Use: A multiple-use district is one in which multiple uses are
programmed, such as housing, neighborhood scale retail, and office uses.
This district provides multiple benefits to the community: it may encourage
walking; less parking may be necessary because complementary day and
evening uses reduce the overall need for parking; it creates synergistic effects
that may enhance the value of the development and revenues to the City.
District, Single-Use: A single-use district is one in which one use dominates,
such as an auto-oriented shopping center. This type of district is
monotonous and does not provide synergistic benefits to the community
that result when uses are mixed. Single-use districts increase traffic because
trips cannot be shared (driver must visit many different single-use districts
to conduct business or run errands).
Dwelling Units: A housing unit is a house, an apartment, a mobile home or
trailer, a group of rooms or a single room occupied as separate living quarters
or, if vacant, intended for occupancy as separate living quarters. Separate
living quarters are those in which the occupants live and eat separately from
any other persons in the building and which have direct access from outside
the building or through a common hall.
E
Economic Base: The economic base of the City is defined by the variety of
businesses and employers located in the community. A broad base of
businesses and employers is critical to minimize impacts on the community
from economic downturns, as well as the potential of businesses leaving the
community. Another goal is job creation that ensures residents have a variety
of employment opportunities, which also necessitates a well-trained work
force and sufficient housing to ensure workers can live in the community.
F
Floodplain: The land adjacent to a stream, river or lake that is subject to
flooding by storms whose severity and flooding effects can be measured.
That is, a 100-year storm will occur on the average of once every 100 years
and will be associated with a certain amount of rainfall and flooding and
generate a 100-year floodplain that constitutes both the floodway and the
floodway fringe.
Floor Area Ratio (FAR): The floor area ratio is the numerical value obtained by
dividing the gross floor area of building or buildings by the total area of the
lot or tract, less any public street right-of-way. It measures the intensity of
development without regard to building height. Example: A FAR of 1.0
allows a 43,560 square foot building on a one-acre parcel. The building could
be a two-story building with a 21,780 square foot footprint or a three-story
building with a 14,520 square foot footprint.
G
Gateways: A gateway is a point at which someone enters the community,
typically by automobile. Gateways are very important because the condition
of the road, landscape, buildings and signage help to establish an identity for
the community. Districts and corridors can also have gateways.
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Geographic Information System (GIS): A means of producing, analyzing, and
storing computerized maps and related data.
Goal: A goal statement is provided for each chapter addressed by the
Comprehensive Plan (i.e. land use). The policies provide an overarching goal
statement supported by a series of principles. This is the basic foundation of
policies.
Greenfield: A site that has not been developed; typically it is under cultivation
or a woodland.
Greenway: This can be a natural area or a pedestrian and bicycle path within a
natural corridor, often associated with a stream. Frequently greenways
provide a pedestrian network, which connects neighborhoods and parks in
all parts of the City. The greenway system is also designed to limit
inappropriate development in natural areas, protect floodplains, limit
damage associated with flooding and protect the wildlife and plant life
associated with these natural areas.
H
Historic District: An area designated by the City to be of historic value. Local
districts are regulated through overlay zoning in such a way as to preserve
its historic character. Exterior alterations are permitted only if they are in
keeping with the historic character of the district. The National Register of
Historic Places includes nationally recognized historic districts and places.
Household: A household includes all the persons who occupy a housing unit.
The occupants may be a single family, one person living alone, two or more
families living together, or any other group of related or unrelated persons
who share living arrangements.
I
Impervious surfaces: Impervious surfaces are structures that hinder or block the
absorption of water into the ground. Large amounts of impervious surfaces
in the watershed will have negative effects on the health of bodies of water.
Infill: The development of vacant or underdeveloped land (i.e., land that is not
developed to the intensity allowed by the existing zoning) in areas that are
otherwise substantially developed. This may range from the construction of
a new house on a vacant lot in a 50-year- old subdivision to a new
commercial building on a vacant lot in the Downtown.
Infrastructure: The underlying foundation or basic framework of a City,
including streets, parks, bridges, sewers, streetlights, and other utilities.
Incentives: Reward for a specific behavior, designed to encourage that behavior.
Intensity: Regarding land use, intensity is an indication of the amount and
degree of development on a site and is a reflection of the effects generated by
that development. These effects include traffic, stormwater runoff, noise and
light, etc. See also Density and Floor Area Ratio.
Italianate: "Italianate" describes the style of architecture introduced in the
United States by Alexander Jackson Davis in the 1840s as an alternative to
Gothic or Greek revival styles, featuring a low-pitched or flat roof with a
wide, emphatic eave supported by brackets, often with a contrasting tower
feature at one corner.
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L
Land Bank: A pool of acquired and assembled land in urban areas packaged into
sites suitable for redevelopment.
Land Use Transitions: A means of buffering between higher and lower intensity
uses. It is generally considered desirable to shield residential areas from the
effects of intense land uses, such as noise, bright lights and traffic
congestion. This goal can often be achieved by locating a transitional land
use between intense and less intense land uses, such as low intensity offices
between a shopping center and single-family houses, or through buffering
and screening, and additional setbacks.
Landmark: Distinctive natural or built feature which provides orientation or
recognition, helping to give a location some distinction from other places.
M
Mission Statement: The mission statement defines the core purpose of the
Comprehensive Plan, why it exists. Effective missions are inspiring, long-
term in nature, and easily understood and communicated.
Mixed Use: A building can include mixed uses either horizontally (first floor –
retail, second floor – office, third floor –residential) or vertically (individual
tenant spaces dedicated to retail, office, and residential uses).
N
Natural Buffer Areas: Areas where stream valleys, vegetation and /or grade
changes are naturally occurring and not the result of planting or earth
moving. These areas provide separation between land uses, particularly
between land uses of differing intensity, such as residential and
nonresidential uses.
Natural Corridors: Linear land areas left in a natural state, especially associated
with streams and rivers. See also Greenway.
Natural Environment: Land characterized by having minimal to no alteration of
appearance by people.
Natural Resource Areas and Preserves: Natural resource areas and preserves
are open spaces or parkland that are set aside for preservation due to
significant natural characteristics, as an open space buffer for other
development, or to save remnants of landscapes that are unique to a
particular place.
Neighborhood Business District (NBD): A concentration of small independent
businesses that draw from the residential community which surrounds
them.
Neo-Traditional: A design approach based on the characteristics of traditional
neighborhood and community planning. This includes higher densities,
smaller lots, shallow front yards, front porches, detached garages, and alleys.
Retail and civic uses are clustered in nodes walkable from neighborhoods.
Open space is formally set aside as centrally located parks. See Traditional
Neighborhood Design.
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O
Objective: A series of objectives along with supporting strategies help to further
define the policies and guide implementation by addressing the means to
implement the policies.
Open Space: Land reserved from development as a relief from the effects of
urbanization. It is often intended to be used for passive recreation purposes,
but may also include pedestrian plazas or active recreation areas.
Open Space Subdivision: A clustered development in which significant
amounts of open space are preserved. Typically the gross density is
compatible with nearby traditional subdivisions, but the net density is
higher because of the preserved open space. Such open space can be in a
natural state or developed for recreational uses, such as a golf course.
Overlay Zoning: A type of zoning district that modifies another, underlying
zoning district. All property that has an overlay zoning district also has an
underlying, basic zoning designation. Overlay zoning districts are usually
concerned with only a few regulatory aspects of the total zoning of the
property. An example is the Planned Business Overlay.
P
Pedestrian-Oriented Development: A kind of urban form and land
development pattern that is conducive to pedestrian access and circulation
rather than or in addition to automobile or transit service. Buildings connect
to the sidewalk system and provide facilities for bikes. Density is often
higher than suburban environments. These developments are typically
higher in density to ensure there is sufficient development to encourage
walking. Most people will not walk further than 10-minutes, which can be a
distance of ¼ to ½ mile.
Planned Unit Development: A project consisting of individually owned parcels
of land together with common areas and facilities that are owned by an
association of which the owners of all the parcels are members.
Public Art: Art that is owned by the public or a non-profit organization and
displayed in a public space. Public art is often utilized to add character to a
community, emphasize something special or the history of a community or
location, and can use a host of mediums (sculpture, landscaping, pavers,
painted murals, etc.).
Q
Quality of Life: The attributes or amenities that combine to make an area a good
place to live. Examples include the availability of political, educational, and
social support systems; good relations among constituent groups; healthy
built and natural environments; and economic opportunities for individuals
and businesses.
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R
Regulatory: The control of something by rules or governing actions controlled
by the law originating from policy.
Retail, Big Box: A single-tenant, freestanding retail building that can range in
size from 50,000 square feet to over 125,000 square feet in gross floor area.
Retail, Medium Box: A single-tenant, freestanding retail building that can range
in size from 15,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet in gross floor area.
Retail, Small Box: A single-tenant, freestanding retail building in size less than
15,000 square feet in gross floor area.
Rezoning: A process whereby the zoning of a piece of property changes by City
Council from one district to another.
Right of Way (ROW): The ROW is the total public strip of land within which
there is public control and common right of passage and within which
pavement, sidewalks, bike paths and some utility lines are located. The
Thoroughfare Plan defines the width.
Roundabouts: Modern traffic circles that apply engineering principles to a
circular intersection as opposed to a traffic signal controlled intersection.
Provides for continuous traffic movement that is self-monitored to ensure
safety. Roundabouts can result in fewer collisions and pedestrian conflicts
than signalized intersections.
S
Scale: The size of a building or structure in relation to a human, varying from
intimate to monumental.
Smart Growth: Environmentally-sensitive land development with the goals of
minimizing dependence on auto transportation, reducing air pollution, and
making infrastructure investments more efficient.
Strip Development: The tendency of land next to major roadways to develop
commercially, on an individual, lot-by-lot basis, with few other land uses.
Strip development may be small business, such as automobile shops,
convenience stores and fast-food restaurants, one after another for blocks, or
rows of shopping centers or combinations of the two. Usually strip
development is associated with direct automobile access and visibility from
the thoroughfare. It can result in visual clutter, traffic congestion and sprawl,
and may create traffic conditions which lead to congestion, delays, high
accident rates, air pollution and the like.
Suburban: Pertaining to low to medium density development patterns that
surround the urban areas of a city. The suburbs are often residential in
character, with single-family detached houses being the primary use of land.
However, increasingly the suburbs contain employment and services centers,
as well as residential areas.
Sustainability: (1) A concept that allows for a comfortable way of living by
achieving a realistic and achievable balance between the resource demands
of environmental, economic and social requirements. (2) An aspect of
development and land use that minimizes the use of resources, conserves
ecosystems, and creates healthy built environments and landscapes for
present and future generations.
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T
Tax Increment Financing (TIF): An infrastructure funding mechanism by
which the net increase in property taxes resulting from private development
is captured for a limited period of time and used to fund related public
infrastructure, such as road and utility improvements.
TIF District: TIF districts are aimed at eliminating blight, rehabilitating
declining property values, and promoting industry.
Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND): TND is a design approach that
borrows from traditional city planning concepts, particularly those of the
years 1900-1920, and applies them to modern living. New urbanism
integrates housing, shops, workplaces, parks, and civic facilities into close-
knit communities that are walkable and have ready access to transit. Also
referred to as Neo-Traditionalism and New Urbanism.
Traffic Calming: Usually a component of traditional neighborhood design,
traffic calming uses physical design features, such as street trees, landscaping
bump outs, and textured pavement to slow automobile traffic passing
through neighborhoods. The intention is to improve the quality of life in
neighborhoods and to make them more pedestrian friendly by slowing or
discouraging traffic.
Traffic Impact Study (TIS): An analysis of certain new developments to
determine the impact on the surrounding transportation system.
Transfer of Development Rights (TDR): A program that allows landowners to
transfer the right to develop one parcel of land to a more suitable parcel of
land within the same jurisdiction. TDR programs establish "sending areas"
and "receiving areas" for development rights.
Transit: The conveyance of people locally from one place to another in multi-
passenger vehicles along determined routes on a fixed schedule. Usually this
term applies to ground transportation other than the automobile. Buses,
trains and trolleys are forms of transit. Autos and vans can also be used to
provide transit service such as car- or vanpooling, if those vehicles contain
more than one occupant.
Transportation Improvement District (TID): Fostering intergovernmental and
public / private collaboration, the Transportation Improvement District
(TID) provides a local structure which coordinates federal, state, and local
resources in planning, financing, constructing, and operating transportation
projects. The TID drives the responsibility for transportation improvements
to the local level and serves a group of local governments collaborating to
achieve common transportation goals. As the name implies, a TID is a
"district," a geographic area organized for the purpose of improving the
existing road system. The TID does not represent a single city, nor is it a
large government agency. Innovative financing is the key to speeding up
construction of much-needed projects for which traditional funding has
been difficult to obtain since most local, state, and federal budgets are
already stretched.
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Transit-Oriented Design (TOD): A kind of urban form and land development
pattern that is conducive to being served by transit, rather than by addition
to the automobile. Usually transit-oriented development implies higher
density, mixed-use developments within walking distance (usually within
1/2 mile) from a transit stop. To make transit operate efficiently, the number
of people riding transit must be maximized, and transit-oriented
development must emphasize pedestrian accessibility. Consequently, high
density residential uses and concentrations of nonresidential uses,
particularly high employment generating uses, are grouped within a half-
mile of transit stops, with land use intensity increasing with closeness to the
stop.
U
Urban sprawl: Urban sprawl is a term used to describe a pattern of low density,
decentralized development spread over a wide area. Sprawl usually involves
automobile- dependent development patterns, and less efficient use of land
or capital facilities. It is costlier to maintain infrastructure and provide
services to lower density development than to higher density development.
V
Value-Added Agriculture: As defined by the USDA is the result of the change in
physical state or the manner in which the agricultural commodity or product
is produced and segregated, the customer base for the commodity or product
is expanded and a greater portion of revenue derived from the marketing,
processing or physical segregation is made available to the producer of the
commodity or product.
Variance: Exceptions to zoning laws.
Vision Statement: A vivid, imaginative conception of the future.
W
Watershed: The area that drains into a particular river, stream or lake.
Wayfinding: Wayfinding is the ability of a person to find his or her way to a
given destination.
Wetlands: Those areas 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. Some wetlands are not easily
recognized, often because they are dry during part of the year. Wetlands
generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.
Well head: The surface and subsurface area which surrounds a water well or
wellfield that supplies a potable water supply system.
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Z
Zoning: Zoning is a map-based system of guiding land use development that
divides a city into land-use zones. It specifies the types of land use, setbacks,
lot sizes, and restrictions for each piece of property, and affects what an
individual can do with the land and the way a neighborhood develops. For
example, land can be zoned for residential, commercial, or industrial uses.