Access: The right to cross between public and
private property, allowing pedestrians (and/or vehicles) to enter and leave
property; the right to use property.
Accessory
Use: A use customarily
incidental and subordinate to a principal use or building and located on the
same lot with such principal use or building.
Access
management: The process of
providing and managing access to land development while preserving the regional
flow of traffic in terms of safety, capacity and speed.
Acre: 43,560 square feet of area. For example, a residential parcel of land
that is 52’ x 100’ is 5,200 square feet, which is 0.12 acres.
AdvantageWest:
Western North
Carolina's regional economic development commission. Chartered by the North
Carolina General Assembly in 1994, AdvantageWest is a non-profit public-private
partnership whose primary focus is marketing the North Carolina mountains to
corporations seeking to relocate or open a new facility, expand an existing
business within our region, and those who might otherwise improve the quality
of life for citizens within our region through activities such as filmmaking
and tourism.
Affordable
Housing: A housing
unit (owned or rented) that costs the occupants less than 30% of the occupants’
income. Numbers vary based on family size.
Annexation
(annex): the adding of real
property to the boundary of an incorporated municipality, where the addition
makes the real property in every way, a part of the municipality.
Area
Plan (or small area plan):
A plan that covers specific subareas of the county. These plans provide basic
information n the natural features, resources, and physical constraints that
affect development of the planning area. They also specify detailed land use
designation used to review specific development proposal and to plan services
and facilities.
Best
Management Practices (BMPs): A
structural or nonstructural management-based practice used singularly or in
combination to reduce nonpoint source inputs to receiving waters in order to
achieve water quality protection goals.
Bike Path: A lane or other surface reserved
exclusively for bicycles in addition to any lanes for use by motorized
vehicles. All thoroughfares that explicitly provide for bicycle travel
including facilities existing within street and highway rights-of-way and
facilities along separate and independent corridors.
Buffer: A strip of
land created to separate and protect one type of land use from another; for
example, as a screen of planting or fencing to insulate the surroundings from
the noise, smoke, or visual aspects of an industrial zone or junkyard.
Cane Creek Water and Sewer District: A defined area established under
North Carolina General Statues to provide public water supply and sanitary sewer
service in the northern portion of Henderson County. See Appendix I, Map # 11, Sewer
Service Areas and Districts.
Canopy: The upper branches
of a stand of trees; the tallest trees in a forested area.
Capital Improvement Program: The County’s program for future capital project
expenditures. This plan spells out the capital facilities that the County plans
to finance, including schools, libraries, parks, etc.
Carrying Capacity: The level
of land use or human activity that can be permanently accommodated without an
irreversible change in the quality of air, water, land, or plant and animal
habitats. In human settlements, this
term also refers to the upper limits beyond which the quality of life,
community character, or human health, welfare, and safety, will be impaired.
The estimated maximum number of persons that can be served by existing and
planned infrastructure systems; the maximum number of vehicles that can be
accommodated on a roadway.
Common Area:
Under Henderson County Code Chapter 170, land or a combination of land and
water resources within or related to a development for active and/or passive
recreation which is reserved for public or private use for the enjoyment of the
residents of the development and their guests and may include various man-made
features that accommodate such activities. (See also "open space.")
Community Centers:
Concentration of activities, services and land uses that serve, and are focal
points for, the immediate neighborhoods.
Community-Based
Planning: A planning
framework based upon democratic ideals that promote community pride and
ownership in government, that fosters civic engagement, and which informs the
decisions of government by the wisdom of an engaged citizenry. It allows
citizens to have the opportunity to participate in and influence the
decision-making processes that affect their daily lives and their community.
Conservation
Easement:
A tool for acquiring open space with less than full-fee purchase; the public
agency or not-for-profit corporation buys only certain specific rights from the
landowner in order to restrict the development, management or use of the
land. The landowner may be allowed to
continue using the property for agricultural purposes.
Density: The number
of dwelling units or principal buildings or uses per acre of land.
Department
of Housing and Urban Development (HUD):
A cabinet-level federal agency that promotes housing and urban development in
the United States through direct loans, mortgage insurance, and other programs.
To contact the Indianapolis HUD office call 226-6303.
ETJ (extra
territorial jurisdiction): Under
NCGS 160-A-360, the area beyond a municipality’s corporate limits in which the
municipality may enforce land use regulations including zoning, subdivision
regulation, and building inspections. NCGS 160-A-360 relates the distance that
a municipality can extend its ETJ from its current boundaries to the population
size of the municipality.
Easement: A grant by a property owner of the use
of a strip of land for specified purpose by the public, a corporation or
persons.
Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA):
A federal agency with the mission to protect human health and safeguard the
natural environment, i.e. air, water, and land, upon which life depends.
Farm: All land on which
agricultural operations are conducted as the principal use (Henderson County
Code Chapter 200).
Fiscal: Of or relating to
public revenues, public expenditures, and public debt; public financial
matters.
Floodplain: A relatively flat or lowland area
adjoining a river, stream, or watercourse, which is subject to periodic,
partial or complete inundation (flooding).
Floodway:
The channel of a river or other watercourse and the
adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood
without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than one foot.
GIS —
Geographic Information System:
Computer
mapping system that produces multiple “layers” (coverages) of graphic
information about a community or region.
For example, one layer might show the parcels, another layer might show
key habitat areas, another layer might show school sites, etc.. It may be considered a
"tool" for analysis and decision-making. It may be composed of maps,
databases and point information.
Greenways: Areas of protected open space that
follow natural and manmade linear features for recreation, transportation and
conservation purposes and link ecological, cultural and recreational amenities.
Historic District: An area or
group of areas designated by a local agency as having aesthetic, architectural,
historical, cultural, or archaeological significance that is worthy of
protection and enhancement.
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.
Improved land: Raw land that has been improved with basic
utilities such as roads, sewers, water lines, and other public infrastructure
facilities. The term "developed
land" usually means improved land that also has buildings.
Infrastructure:
A general term
describing public and quasi-public utilities and facilities such as roads,
bridges, sewers and sewer plants, water lines, power lines, fire stations, and
other sites and facilities necessary to the functioning of an urban area.
Land Use: The types of
buildings and activities existing in an area or on a specific site. Land use is
to be distinguished from zoning, the latter being the regulation of existing
and future land uses.
Land Trust: A public and/or private, organization
with the authority to buy, accept donations, hold and/or sell interest in real
property for the purpose of land and/or building preservation.
Lot Area: The total
square footage of horizontal area included within the property lines. Zoning ordinances typically set a minimum
required lot area for building in a particular zoning district.
Manufactured
Home: A
single-family residential dwelling built in accordance with the Federal
Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act 1974 (which became
effective June 15, 1976). For purposes of this Comprehensive Plan, however, the
term includes Mobile Homes, but does not include Modular Homes. Manufactured are distinguished from Modular
Homes in that Manufactured Homes are built to HUD standards rather than to
North Carolina Building Code standards.
See the definition of Modular Homes and Mobile Homes below.
Manufactured
Home Park: Under Section 117-7 of
the Henderson County Manufactured Home Park Ordinance, a tract of land designed to accommodate three or more manufactured
or mobile home spaces, three or more manufactured or mobile homes or any
combination of such for rent or lease.
Metropolitan Planning
Organization (MPO): The U.S. Department of
Transportation
requires every area with a population of 50,000 or more, including all
contiguous urban areas with a population of 1,000 or more per square mile to
form an MPO and to provide
comprehensive transportation planning therein.
Mobile Home: A transportable, factory-built home
designed to be used as a single-family residential dwelling and manufactured
prior to the Federal Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act
of 1974. (Henderson County Code Chapter 114).
Modular Home: Under Henderson County Code Chapter
114, a dwelling unit constructed in accordance with the standards set forth in
the North Carolina State Building Code (NCSBC) and composed of components
substantially assembled in a manufacturing plant and transported to the
building site for final assembly on a permanent foundation. Among other
possibilities, a modular home may consist of two or more sections transported
to the site in a manner similar to a manufactured home (except that the modular
home meets the NCSBC) or may consist of a series of panels or room sections
transported on a truck and erected or joined together on the site.
Mud Creek Water and Sewer District: -- An area established under North
Carolina General Statutes to provide public water supply and sanitary sewer
service in the Mud Creek Drainage Basin of Henderson County
Municipality: Any incorporated city or town.
Open Space: Land that
is generally left in its natural state and not developed. Roads and parking
lots are not considered open space.
Overlay
Zone: A set of zoning
requirements that is superimposed upon a base zone. Overlay zones are generally
used when a particular area requires special protection (as in a historic
preservation district) or has a special problem (such as steep slopes, flooding
or earthquake faults). Development of land subject to overlay zoning requires
compliance with the regulations of both the base and overlay zones.
Parcelization: Fragmentation
of property (parcels) into smaller tracts of land.
Physiographic: Pertaining to physical geography.
Planned Unit Development (PUD): Henderson County Code Chapter 200, a
permitted use designed to provide for developments incorporating a single type
or a variety of residential and accessory uses which are planned and developed
as a unit. Such development may consist of individual lots and common building
sites. Common land and facilities may be an element of the plan related to
affecting the long-term value of the entire development.
Principal
Use: A primary purpose
for which land or a building is arranged, designed, intended or used, including
the storage or use of inventory, materials or equipment associated therewith.
(Henderson County Code Chapter 170.)
Protected Mountain Ridge: Any mountain ridge whose elevation is 500 or more feet above the elevation of the adjacent valley floor. For purposes of this definition, "ridge" shall mean the elongated crest or series of crests at the apex of the mountain(s) including all land having an elevation of 0 to 100 feet less than the apex. (Henderson County Code Chapter 121.)
Public Facilities: Public works
supplied generally by a government organization. Examples include: public
roads, schools, water and sewer facilities, fire stations, and libraries.
Quality of Life: Those aspects
of the economic, social and physical environment that make a community a
desirable place in which to live or do business. Quality of life factors include those such as climate and natural
features, access to schools, housing, employment opportunities, medical
facilities, cultural and recreational amenities, and public services.
Region B: The Regional Council
of Government that serves the North Carolina counties of Henderson, Madison,
Buncombe, and Transylvania and the municipalities located therein. Also known
as the Land-of-Sky Regional Council.
Rezoning: Changing the zoning on a particular
piece of property.
Road: Facilities or pathways that are designed for
travel by motorized and non-motorized vehicles and that link destinations. The North Carolina Department of
Transportation breaks roads into hierarchical categories:
·
Arterial-Provide the highest level of mobility, at the
highest speed, for
long,
uninterrupted travel. The Interstate Highway System is an arterial network.
Arterials generally have higher design standards than other roads, often with
multiple lanes and some degree of access control. Examples include: I-26, US
64, NC 280, US 25, NC191 (Haywood Rd.)
·
Collector-Provide a lower degree of mobility than
arterials. They are
designed
for travel at lower speeds and for shorter distances. Collectors are typically
two-lane roads that collect and distribute traffic from the arterial system.
Ex: Kanuga Rd., Crab Creek Rd., US 176, Upward Rd., NC 191(Old Haywood Rd.)
·
Local-All public road mileage below the collector
system is considered
local.
Local roads provide basic access between residential and commercial properties,
connecting with higher order highways. Examples include: North and South Mills
River Rd., Green River Rd., Clear Creek Rd.
Rural Areas: generally
characterized by agriculture, timberland, open space, and very low-density
residential development (e.g., less than one dwelling unit per acre). A rural community is not generally served by
community water or sewer services.
School: Any elementary or secondary school,
whether public or private, established under Chapter 115C of the North Carolina
General Statutes, and any community college established under the provisions of
Chapter 115D of the North Carolina General Statutes.
Setback: A minimum distance required by zoning
to be maintained between a structure and property lines or road rights-of-way.
Sewer:
A pipe or conduit for carrying wastewater.
Sewage: A combination of water-carried wastes from residences and
industrial users (wastewater).
Sprawl: A pattern
of land development with several key characteristics: a population that is widely dispersed
in low-density development; rigidly separated homes, shops, and workplaces; a network
of roads marked by huge blocks and poor access; and a lack of well-defined,
thriving activity centers, such as downtowns and town centers. Other features
usually associated with sprawl— rising costs of service provision, the lack of
transportation choices, relative uniformity of housing options, and the
difficulty of walking— are a result of these conditions.
Strategic Plan for Henderson County: A strategic plan is
an action-oriented set of strategies and action steps developed to accomplish a
mission that is responsive to a dynamic, changing environment. The three
primary encompassing strategic issues for Henderson County for 2003 were
determined to be: growth management, fiscal priorities, and the county economy.
These strategic issues are the foundation for the Henderson County Strategic
Plan which sets forth action steps to address these issues.
Stormwater Management: The collection, conveyance, storage,
treatment and disposal of stormwater runoff in a manner to prevent accelerated
channel erosion, increased flood damage, and/or degradation of water quality.
Stormwater Run-off: The portion of the
total precipitation that does not sink into the soil but instead flows across
the ground or other surface (parking lot, roofs) and eventually reaches a
watercourse.
Subdivision: Pursuant to N.C.G.S.
153A-335 the word "subdivision," as used in the Henderson County Code
Chapter 170 means all divisions of a tract or parcel of land into two or more
lots, building sites or other divisions for the purpose of sale or building
development (whether immediate or future) and includes divisions of land
involving the dedication of a new road or a change in existing roads.
Sustainability: A strategy by which communities seek economic
development approaches that also benefit the local environment and quality of
life. For a community to be truly sustainable, it must adopt a three-pronged
approach that considers economic, environmental and cultural resources.
Communities must consider these needs in the short term as well as the long
term.
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. TDR programs establish
"sending area" and "receiving areas" for development rights
Unique
Natural Area: Under
Henderson County Code Chapter 170, an area that contains features sensitive to
development and is listed in the publication titled "Natural Areas of
Henderson County, a Preliminary Inventory of the Natural Areas of Henderson
County, North Carolina," by L.L. Gaddy, Ph.D., dated January 1994.
Wastewater
Treatment Plant: The
facilities of the county, city or MSD for treating and disposing of wastewater
(POTW treatment plant). (Henderson County Code Chapter 152.)
Zoning: Local codes regulating the use and
development of property. A zoning ordinance often divides the city or county
into land use districts or "zones", represented on zoning maps, and
specifies the allowable uses within each of those zones. It establishes
development standards for each zone, such as minimum lot size, maximum height
of structures, building setbacks, and yard size.
The following
definitions comprise the general land use definitions of the Henderson
County Planning Department.
They correlate to land use categories depicted upon Map #5 Current
General Land Use, and Map #6, the Current General Land Use I-26, within
Appendix I of this Comprehensive Plan.
Agriculture/Horticulture/Forestland:
Parcels primarily used for the production or initial processing of
agricultural/horticultural/forestry products.
Examples
include, but are not limited to, the following:
Pastures, row crops,
crop beds, ornamental plantations, orchards, timber and pulp plantations,
managed natural forests, small sawmills, barns, apple packing plants, dairy
facilities, private stock pens, and greenhouses.
Commercial: Parcels containing facilities primarily engaged in the exchange of information, goods or services, generally without the physical transformation of those products.
Examples
include, but are not limited to, the following:
Offices,
banks, realtors’ offices, and other non-retail centers of trade and commerce;
retail facilities such as gas stations/convenience stores, pay parking decks or
lots, restaurants, malls, grocery outlets; and other services such as personal
storage facilities, hotels and motels, dentists or doctors offices, barber shops,
beauty salons, farmers markets, fish markets, curb markets, miniature courses,
batting cages, private gyms and fitness centers.
Community-Cultural: This broad classification includes parcels containing features or facilities owned, managed or operated by public, semi-public, or private institutions or other organizations, when those features or facilities serve/provide a community or public service, benefit, and/or function.
Examples
include, but are not limited to, the following:
Colleges,
universities, schools, libraries, churches, synagogues, mosques, and other
places of worship, religious campuses and retreat facilities (not intended to
include summer camp sites with religious affiliations); community centers,
structural properties of neighborhood and property owners’ associations, public
parking lots, cemeteries, significant historical structures, museums, artistic,
musical, and theatrical facilities; governmental offices, headquarters and
service centers (except those defined as Industry), public safety facilities
including fire, Emergency Medical Services, and police and sheriff departments,
hospitals and medical facilities (not intended to include retail establishments
whose primary function is the sales and/or service of medical supplies, equipment,
or pharmaceuticals), nursing homes, retirement homes, assisted living care
facilities, and domiciliary facilities.
Industrial: Parcels containing facilities wherein
raw or pre-processed resources, materials, substances, or components are
mechanically, physically, chemically, or otherwise transformed into new
products; waste materials are collected, treated, or disposed of; subsurface
natural resources are extracted and/or processed; Livestock, cargo,
merchandise, materials or hazardous substances are transferred, stored or
warehoused for wholesale or other distribution; passengers or passenger
vehicles are collected or transferred; water, fuel, or electricity is produced,
processed, stored, transferred or transmitted.
Examples
include, but are not limited to, the following:
Quarries, oil
and gas drilling/processing facilities, sand dredging operations; factories,
plastic molding facilities, furniture manufacturing facilities, asphalt plants;
commercial stockyards, warehouses, handling or storage facilities, freight
storage facilities; recycling centers, public or private landfills, waste
transfer stations; kennels; sawmill and kiln facilities, lumber yards, mulching
operations; waste or potable water cleansing/processing facilities; hazardous
chemicals processing; power generation facilities; automotive or engine repair
establishments, welding shops, tire repair and mounting establishments;
trucking terminals, commercial vehicle/contractor equipment parking facilities,
service vehicle and equipment staging areas.
Public/Private Conservation: Parcels primarily engaged in the conservation or
preservation of natural resources or features. Large public natural areas may
be classified under this category even when active forest management or
extraction is discernable.
Examples
include but are not limited to:
Public lands
such as Federal, State or Local Government-owned forest lands, park lands,
water supply watersheds, wildlife management or protection areas, large and
generally undeveloped municipal or county parks; private lands to which a
conservation easement has been applied, or which has been otherwise secured in
a permanent natural state. Any large public or private parcel, managed or not,
for natural resources, which is likely to remain undeveloped in perpetuity.
Recreation:
Parcels providing
space for active recreational activities. Such parcels are generally held by
public or non-profit entities, and fees for their use are generally minimal. Federal,
State, or Local Government–owned park lands in this category are differentiated
from those in Public / Private Conservation by their developed nature. This category also includes parcels owned or
operated by organized camp establishments which provide food and lodging to
groups of children or adults engaged in organized recreational or educational
programs. In addition, country clubs and small-scale, largely outdoor private
fitness/recreation areas such as tennis and volleyball clubs may be included in
this category.
Examples
include, but are not limited to, the following:
Public parks
such as Jackson or Patton Park and similarly developed public properties,
property owners’ association recreation areas; golf courses country clubs and small-scale,
largely outdoor private fitness/recreation areas such as tennis and volley-ball
clubs, soccer, football, tennis, baseball complexes; programs focusing on
horseback riding, conservation, music, arts, and sports.
Residential: Parcels
containing structures used primarily for human habitation, and where human
habitation is the primary use of the land.
Examples
include but are not limited to:
All
conventional/site-built homes, manufactured and mobile homes, modular homes;
single and multi-family structures, including condominiums, and apartment
buildings, cabins, permanently fixed recreational vehicles, and manufactured
home parks. In some cases, halfway houses, group homes, retirement facilities
and communities, as well as orphanages may be included.
PLEASE
NOTE: Any parcel containing residential
development where the acreage to dwelling unit ratio is 10:1 or greater has
been classified as Undeveloped.
Surface
Water: Open water
bodies, perennial streams.
Examples
include, but are not limited to, the following:
Creeks,
streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes. Does not include swimming pools.
Transportation-Utility: This classification applies where the
primary use of the land is to facilitate the movement of persons, goods and
materials; the provision of water, sewer, electrical data transfer or
transmission, and/or communications services; but not including facilities
where electricity, fuels, water or waste are produced, processed and/or stored.
Examples
include, but are not limited to, the following:
This includes
roads, railways, canals, sidewalks, bike lanes; runways, airport terminals,
bus, rail, boat and trucking terminals; bus stops, rail stops, park and ride
facilities, commuter lots, and the Rights-of-Ways of those and similar uses.
Undeveloped: Parcels where no discernable
development has occurred, where no discernable natural resource management or
extraction activity is present, and where the given parcel has not been
permanently preserved or conserved in a natural state through ownership or
conservation easement. Any parcel containing residential development where the
acreage to dwelling unit ratio is 10:1 or greater is classified as
Undeveloped.
Note: that
many parcels that may appropriately be categorized as Agriculture/Horticulture/Forestland
may be categorized as Undeveloped, due to the absence of information regarding
natural resource management or extraction activity.
Examples
include, but are not limited to, the following:
Parcels with
residential development where the acreage to dwelling unit ratio is 10:1 or
greater, vacant land, and unmanaged or abandoned parcels.