1 - Introduction 2 - Vision Statement 3 - Land Use 4 - Circulation 5 - Conservation 6 - Noise 7 - Safety 8 - Recreation 9 - Historical 10 - Community Design 11 - Glossary - Maps CHAPTER ELEVEN GLOSSARY OF TERMS The Glossary of Terms contains abbreviations and terms commonly used in urban planning and development parlance. Many of these abbreviations and terms are used in the 2020 General Plan document, the General Plan Background Report (1998) prepared as part of the General Plan update process, the Draft and Final Environmental Impact Reports accompanying the General Plan, and development ordinances, regulations, and guidelines administered by Grass Valley. ABBREVIATIONS Caltrans California Department of Transportation CDBG Community Development Block Grant CEQA California Environmental Quality Act COE United States Army Corps of Engineers EIR Environmental Impact Report HCD Housing and Community Development (state) HUD United States Department of Housing and Urban Development ISO Insurance Services Office LAFCo Local Agency Action Formation Commission LOS Level of Service (traffic) NCTC Nevada County Transportation Commission NID Nevada Irrigation District NSAQMD Northern Sierra Air Quality Management District PUD Planned Unit Development SMARA Surface Mining and Reclamation Act TDR Transfer of Development Rights TPZ Timberland Preserve Zone TSM Transportation System Management UBC Uniform Building Code UFC Uniform Fire Code DEFINITIONS Access/Egress: The ability to enter a site from a roadway (access) and exit a site onto a roadway (egress) by motorized vehicle. Acres, gross: The entire acreage of a site, used for density calculations. Acres, net: The portion of a site remaining after public or private rights-of-way or other unbuildable areas are subtracted from the total acreage. Airport Safety Areas: Zones delineated in Airport Comprehensive Land Use Plans (CLUPs) adjacent to airport runways, within which compatible and incompatible land uses are identified, based upon safety considerations. Annexation: The extension of the city limits into unincorporated territory. Appropriate: An act, condition, or state which is considered suitable. Aquifer: Underground water-bearing strata that supplies well water. Area Plan: General or Comprehensive type plan, though usually more detailed, for a defined portion of a jurisdiction (neighborhood, unincorporated community and surroundings, etc.). Arterial: A major street carrying the traffic of local and collector streets to and from freeways and other major streets, with controlled intersections and generally providing direct access to properties. Assessment District: An area within a public agency's boundaries which received a special benefit from the construction of a public facility. An assessment district has no legal life and cannot act on its own. It enables property owners in a specific area to cause the construction of public facilities or to maintain them by contributing their fair share of the construction and/or installation and operating costs. Awning: AA fixed frame fabric shelter supported entirely from the exterior wall of a building and capable of being cantilevered, retracted, folded, or collapsed against the face of a supporting building. Bicycle Lane: A corridor expressly reserved for bicycles, existing on a street or roadway in addition to any lanes for use by motorized vehicles. Identified by the State of California as a Class II facility. Bicycle Route: A paved route not on a street or roadway and expressly reserved for bicycles traversing an otherwise unpaved area. Bicycle routes may parallel roads but typically are separated from them by landscaping. Identified by the state as a Class I facility. Bikeways: A term that encompasses bicycle lanes, bicycle routes and unpaved bicycle paths. Big Box: Term with negative connotations describing relatively large, self standing retail establishments characterized by a bland, warehouse-like architectural style and expansive parking lots for the exclusive use of store customers. Big Box establishments typically offer wide variety at low prices. However, they are criticized for their looks, relative size (scale), impacts on competitors, inability to "fit into" the fabric of nearby communities, and impacts on public facilities. Buffer Zone: An area of land separating two distinct land uses which acts to soften or mitigate the effects of one land use on another. Building: Any structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or occupancy. Business Park: The combination of a variety of businesses, from office to research and development to light industry to warehousing, located in structures built with open floor plans, so as to leave most interior improvements to the tenants to design to their needs. California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA): A state law requiring state and local agencies to regulate activities with consideration for environmental protection. If a proposed activity has the potential for an adverse significant environmental impact, an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) must be prepared. California Land Conservation Act (Williamson Act): Provides for the creation of agricultural preserves to protect agricultural lands. Includes procedures for preferential tax assessment in exchange for release of development rights. (Government Code Sections 51200-51295). Capital Improvement Program: A program, administered by city government and reviewed by the Planning Commission, which schedules permanent improvements five or more years into the future. The program is generally reviewed annually, and the first year of the program is adopted in the city's annual budget. Carrying Capacity: The level of land use, human activity or development for a specific area that can be accommodated permanently without an irreversible change in the quality of air, water, land or plant and habitats. It may also refer to the upper limits beyond which the quality of human life, health, welfare, safety or community character within an area will be impaired. Carrying capacity is usually used to determine the potential of an area to absorb development. Circulation: Refers to the overall movement of automobiles, pedestrians, bicyclists, equestrians, etc. Cluster Development: Development in which a number of dwelling units are placed in closer proximity than ususal, or are attached, with the purpose of retaining an abutting open space area. Cogeneration: The harnessing of heat energy that is normally a waste byproduct of electricity generation. It has become more common in institutional and industrial applications and electric power plants, but may also be possible for large residential complexes. Collector: A street for traffic moving between arterial and local streets, generally providing direct access to properties. Community Development Block Grant (CDBG): A grant program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). This grant allots money to cities and counties for housing and community development. Jurisdictions set their own program priorities within specified criteria. Community Park: Land with full public access intended to provide recreation opportunities beyond those supplied by neighborhood parks. Community parks are larger in scale than neighborhood parks but smaller than regional parks. Compatible: Capable of existing together without conflict or ill effects. Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP): Airport and environs plans prepared by Airport Land Use Commissions and adopted by local governments, pursuant to State law. Plans address airport expansion, noise/land use compatibility, and safety. Comprehensive Plan: Counterpart of California's General Plan in many states. Regardless of terminology, such Plans enjoy the highest position in the hierarchy of plans and land use regulations, are long term in nature, and must address full range of "functional" considerations (land use, transportation, etc.). Conservation: The management of natural resources to prevent waste, destruction or neglect. Conservation Easement: Instrument of land ownership in which the rights to property development are separated from property ownership. Typically purchased under contract to limit or prevent development. Consistent: Free from variation or contradiction. Programs in a General Plan are to be consistent, not contradictory or preferential. State law requires consistency between a general plan and implementation measures such as the zoning ordinance. Constraint: Something that restricts, limits or regulates a given course of action. It is used in a General Plan to describe "constraints" to development. Environmental constraints include, but are not limited to, steep slopes, poor soils and rare and endangered plant and animal species. Infrastructure constraints can include poor roads, antiquated water distribution systems, a lack of service capacity of the local school district and a lack of a community sewer system. Cut and Fill: The act of cutting into a slope and using the soil to backfill an area. A common example is the construction of a roadway on a slope where earth is removed from the upper side of the cut into the hill and used to fill the lower or outer edge of the cut to widen the road. Dedication of Land: The turning over by an owner or developer of private land for public use, and the acceptance of land for such use by the governmental agency having jurisdiction over the public function for which it will be used. Dedications for roads, parks, school sites or other public uses are often made conditions for approval of a development. Dedication, in lieu of: Cash payments which may be required of an owner or developer as a substitute for a dedication of land, usually calculated in dollars per lot or square foot of land or building area, and referred to as in lieu fees or in lieu contributions. Density: The degree of grouping together of people or buildings. For housing, density is the number of permanent residential dwelling units per acre of land. Density can be managed through zoning in the following ways: minimum lot size requirements, floor area ratio, building coverage limits, setback and yard requirements, minimum house size requirements, ratios comparing number and types of housing units to land area, limits on units per acre, and other means. Maximum allowable density often serves as the major distinction between residential districts. Density Bonus: The allocation of development rights that allows a parcel to accommodate additional square footage or additional residential units beyond the maximum for which the parcel is zoned, usually in exchange for the provision or preservation of an amenity at the same site or at another location (See "Development Rights, Transfer of"). Design Guidelines: Guidelines established by a local municipality intended to advise and direct the design of buildings, roads, parking facilities, etc. Developable Acres, Net: The portion of a site remaining after removing or deducting public or private road rights-of-way and land not developable (see "Developable Land"), and which can then be built upon. Net acreage includes required yards or setback areas. Developable Land: Land which is suitable as a location for structures and which can be developed free of or with minimal development constraints, and without disruption of, or significant impact on, natural resource areas. Development: The physical extension and/or construction of urban land uses. Development activities include: subdivision of land; construction or alteration of structures, roads, utilities and other facilities; grading; deposit of refuse, debris or fill materials; and clearing of natural vegetation cover (with the exception of agricultural activities). Development Rights: The selling of rights to develop land by a landowner who maintains fee-simple ownership of the land. The owner keeps title but agrees to continue using the land as it has been used, and the holder of the development rights maintains the right to develop. Such rights usually are expressed in terms of density allowed under existing zoning. Development Rights, Transfer of (TDR): Also known as "Transfer of Development Credits," a program which can relocate potential development from areas where proposed land use or environmental impacts are considered undesirable (the "donor" site) to another ("receiver") site chosen on the basis of its ability to accommodate additional units of development beyond that for which it was zoned, with minimal environmental, social, and aesthetic impacts (See "Development Rights"). Detention Dam or Basin: Dams may be classified according to the broad function they serve, such as storage, diversion or detention. Detention dams are constructed to retard flood runoff and minimize the effect of sudden floods. Detention dams fall into two main types: in one type, the water is temporarily stored and released through an outlet structure at a rate which will not exceed the carrying capacity of the channel downstream; in the other type, the water is held as long as possible and allowed to seep into the permeable banks of gravel strata in the foundation. This type is also called a "retention" dam or basin. The latter type is sometimes also called a water-spreading dam or dike when its main purpose is to recharge the underground water supply. Detention dams are also constructed to trap sediment. Discourage: To advise or persuade to refrain from. Diversion: The direction of water in a stream away from its natural course (i.e., as in a diversion that removes water from a stream for human use). Dwelling Unit: A room or group of rooms (including sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation facilities, but not more than one kitchen) which constitutes an independent housekeeping unit, occupied or intended for occupancy by one family on a long-term basis. Easement: Usually the right to use property owned by another for specific purposes. Easements are either for the benefit of land, such as the right to cross "A" to get to "B," or "in gross," such as a public utility easement. For example, "rear" lots without street frontage may be accessed via an easement over the "front" lots. Utility companies use easements over the private property of individuals to be able to install and maintain utility facilities. Easement, Scenic: A tool that allows a public agency to use, at a nominal cost, private land for scenic enhancement, such as roadside landscaping or vista preservation. Economic Base: Economic base theory essentially holds that the structure of the economy is made up of two broad classes of productive effort--basic activities which produce and distribute goods and services for export to firms and individuals outside a defined localized economic area, and nonbasic activities whose goods and services are consumed within the boundaries of the local economic area. The theory holds that the reason for the growth of a particular region is its capacity to also support the nonbasic activities which are principally local in productive scope and market area. Economic Development: The implementation of strategies to consciously and purposefully influence the local economy in order to provide jobs for residents, increase per capita income and strengthen the local tax base. Ecosystem: An interacting system formed by a biotic community and its physical environment. Elderly Housing: Typically one and two-bedroom apartments designed to meet the needs of persons sixty-two years of age and older, and restricted to occupancy by them. Encourage: To stimulate or foster a particular condition through direct or indirect action by the private sector or government agencies. Enhance: To improve existing conditions by increasing the quantity or quality of beneficial uses. Entitlement: A permit or other instrument typically granted by local governments entitling the holder to develop or improve land and/or existing structures and facilities, consistent with the terms of the permit granted. Environment: CEQA defines environment as "the physical conditions which exist within the area which will be affected by a proposed project, including land, air, water, mineral, flora, fauna, noise and objects of historic or aesthetic significance." Environmental Impact Report (EIR): A report that assesses all the environmental characteristics of an area and determines what significant effects or impacts will result if the area is altered or disturbed by a proposed action (See "California Environmental Quality Act"). Erosion: The loosening and transportation of rock and soil debris by wind, rain or running water. Exaction: A contribution or payment required as a precondition for receiving a development permit; usually refers to mandatory dedication (or fee in lieu of dedication) requirements found in many subdivision regulations. Facade: The front exterior surface of a building. Feasible: Capable of being done, executed or managed successfully from the standpoint of the physical and/or financial abilities of the implementor(s). Finding(s): The result(s) of an investigation and the basis upon which decisions are made. Findings are made by government agencies and bodies prior to taking action, and are a record of the justifications for such action(s). Fire Break: A natural or artificial barrier where plants have been removed for fire-control purposes. Fire Hazard: Any condition or action which increases or may cause an increase of the hazard or menace of fire or explosion to a degree greater than that customarily recognized as normal by persons in the public service of suppressing or extinguishing fires; or which may obstruct, delay or hinder, or may become the cause of an obstruction, delay or hindrance to the prevention suppression or extinguishment of the fire. Fire Hazard Zone: An area where, due to slope, fuel, weather, or other fire-related conditions, the potential loss of life and property from a fire necessitates special fire protection measures and planning before development occurs. Flood, 100-Year: The magnitude of a flood expected to occur on the average every 100 years, based on historical data. The 100-year flood has a one one-hundredth, or one percent, chance of occurring in any given year. Flood Plain: All land between a natural or manmade waterway and the upper elevation of the one hundred year flood. Freeway: A road serving high-speed traffic with no crossing interrupting the flow of traffic (i.e., no crossing at grade). Fuel Break: A wide strip of land on which plants have been thinned, trimmed, pruned, or changed to types which burn with lower intensity so that fires can be more readily put out. Gateway: A point along a roadway entering a city at which a motorist gains a sense of leaving the surrounding environs and of having entered the city. A gateway may be a publicly owned place having an area for motorists to pull off or park and view maps, gather information, and generally become oriented; or it may be a privately owned place which through special development standards or guidelines (e.g., for landscaping and signs), marks entry to the city; or a combination of both. General Plan: A compendium of the city's policies regarding its long-term development, and designed in the form of official diagrams and accompanying text. The General Plan is a legal document required of each local agency by the State of California Government Code Section 65301 and is adopted by the city council. The General Plan is sometimes called a "comprehensive plan" or "master plan." General Plan Update Steering Committee: A committee comprised of two members of the City of Grass Valley City Council, two members of the Planning Commission and at large members. The purpose of the committee is to oversee the General Plan update program. Geotechnical Evaluation: A professional evaluation using scientific methods and engineering principles of geology, geophysics, hydrology, and related sciences. Goal: A general, overall and ultimate purpose, aim or end toward which the city will direct effort. Greenbelt: A strategically located, landscaped zone of variable width maintained in a "green" or "live" condition throughout the year, designed to slow or stop the spread of fire, to prevent soil erosion (e.g., golf courses, parks) and to buffer land uses. Groundwater: Water under the earth's surface, often confined to aquifers capable of supplying wells and springs. Groundwater Recharge: The natural process of infiltration and percolation of rainwater from land areas or streams through permeable soils into water holding rocks which provide underground storage (See "Aquifer"). Growth Management: The use by a community of a combined variety of techniques to establish the amount, type, and rate of growth desired by the community and to channel that growth into designated areas. Growth management policies can be implemented through control of growth rates, zoning, capital improvements programs, public facilities ordinances, urban limit lines, constraints analysis systems and other programs. Guidelines: General statements of policy direction around which specific details may later be established. Habitat: The physical location or type of environment in which an organism or biological population lives or occurs. Hazardous Building: A building that may be hazardous to life in the event of an earthquake because it: (1) Was constructed prior to the adoption and enforcement of local codes requiring earthquake resistant design of buildings; (2) Is constructed of unreinforced masonry; or (3) Exhibits any one of the following characteristics: Exterior parapets and ornamentation that may fall on passers-by; Exterior walls that are not anchored to the floors, roof, or foundation Sheeting on roofs or floors incapable of withstanding lateral loads; Large openings in walls that may cause damage from torsional forces; or, Lack of an effective system to resist lateral forces. Hazardous Material: An injurious substance, including (among others) pesticides, herbicides, poisons, toxic metals and chemicals, liquified natural gas, explosives, volatile chemicals and nuclear fuels. Heritage Tree or Grove: A tree or group of trees designated by the City Council to be of historical or cultural value, outstanding specimens, unusual species, or of significant community benefit due to size, age, or other unique characteristic, and which is considered to be in good health. Historic Preservation: The preservation of historically significant structures and neighborhoods until such time as restoration or rehabilitation of the building(s) to a former condition can be accomplished. Historic Resources: "Includes, but is not limited to any object, building, structure, site, area, or place which is historically or archaeologically significant, or is significant in the architectural, engineering, scientific, economic, agricultural, education, social, political, military, or cultural annals of California" (Public Resources Code Section 5020.1). Home Occupation: A commercial activity conducted solely by the occupants of a particular dwelling unit in a manner incidental to residential occupancy. Household: All persons residing in a single dwelling unit. Housing and Community Development Department of the State of California (HCD): The state agency principally charged with assessing whether, and planning to ensure that, communities meet the housing needs of very low, low and moderate income households. Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of: A cabinet level department of the federal government (HUD) which administers housing and community development programs. Housing Unit: The place of permanent or customary abode of a person or household. A housing unit may be a single-family dwelling, a condominium, a modular home, a mobilehome, a cooperative, or located in a multi-family dwelling or any other residential unit considered real property under state law. A housing unit has at least cooking facilities, a bathroom and a place to sleep. Impact Fees: Fees levied on the developer of a project by the city as compensation for unmitigated impacts the project will produce. Impervious Surface: Surface through which water cannot penetrate, such as a roof, road, sidewalk and paved parking lot. The amount of impervious surface increases with development and establishes the need for drainage facilities to carry the increased runoff. Implementation Program: A coordinated set of measures to carry out the policies of the General Plan. Implementation Measure: An action, procedure, program, or technique that carries out General Plan policy. Example: "Develop a geologic hazard overlay zoning classification and apply it to all geologic hazard areas identified in the General Plan." Infill: Development of vacant land (usually individual lots or leftover properties) within areas which are already largely developed. Infrastructure: The physical systems and services which support development and people, such as streets and highways, transit services, airports, water and sewer systems, and the like. Interagency: Indicates cooperative actions between or among two or more discrete agencies in regard to a specific program. Interest, Fee: A share or right in property that entitles a landowner to exercise complete control over disposition and use of land, subject only to governmental land use regulations. "Fee" is generally synonymous with "fee simple" or ownership. Interest, Less-than-Fee: An interest in land other than outright ownership; includes the purchase of development rights via conservation, open space or scenic easements (See "Development Rights," and "Easement, Scenic"). Interim Uses: Land uses which require temporary structures, land improvements, and landscaping and which, from an economic and political standpoint, can be converted at the end of that limited life. Intermittent Stream: A stream that normally flows for at least thirty days after the last major rain of the season and is dry a large part of the year. Land Banking: When a local government buys land and holds it for resale at a later date, usually for development of affordable housing (See "Affordable") or redevelopment. Landmark: Refers to a building or site (including a specific tree or tree species) having historic, architectural, social or cultural significance and designated for preservation by the local, state or federal government. Landscaping: Planting--including trees, shrubs, and ground covers--suitably designed, selected, installed and maintained so as to permanently enhance a site, the surroundings of a structure, or the sides or medians of a roadway. Land Trust: Nonprofit organization formed to engender resource stewardship through selective acquisition, conservation, protection, and public education. Acquisition includes purchase and donation, and may be either total or partial (i.e. conservation element). Land Use: The occupation or utilization of land or water area for any human activity or any purpose defined in the General Plan. Land Use Designations: A classification system for the designation of appropriate use of properties. The land use designations include the various residential, commercial/industrial, recreational and public service land uses assigned to property. Land Use Element: A basic element of the General Plan, it combines text and maps to designate the future use or reuse of land within a given jurisdiction's planning area. A land use element services as a guide to the structuring of zoning and subdivision controls, urban renewal and capital improvements programs, and to official decisions regarding the distribution, density and intensity of development and the location of public facilities and open space. Land Use Regulation: A term encompassing the regulation of land in general and often used to mean those regulations incorporated in the General Plan, as distinct from zoning regulations (which are more specific). Level of Service (LOS): Qualitatively describes the operating conditions encountered on roadways. LOS ranks roadway operations based on the amount of traffic and the quality of traffic operations on a scale of A through F. Level A represents free flow conditions and Level F represents "at capacity" conditions. Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) A county commission that reviews and evaluates all proposals for formation of special districts, incorporation of cities, annexation to special districts or cities, consolidation of districts and merger of districts within cities. Each county's LAFCo is empowered to approve, disapprove or conditionally approve these proposals. Local Street A street providing direct access to properties and designed to discourage through-traffic. Lot: (See "Site.") Lot Area: The total horizontal area included within the legal boundaries of a land parcel. Lot Coverage: The amount of a lot covered by buildings or the combination of buildings and other impervious surfaces if so defined. Manufactured Housing: Houses which are constructed entirely in the factory, and which since 1976 have been regulated by the federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards under the administration of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Master Environmental Assessment: An assessment and documentation of the existing physical and environmental conditions of a given area. May: That which is permissible. Minerals: Inorganic substances such as gold, iron, and nickel, and compounds formed from such organic substances as natural gas and petroleum. Minimize: To reduce or lessen, but not necessarily to eliminate. Minimum Fire Flow: A rate of water flow that should be maintained to halt and reverse the spread of a fire. Mining: The act or process of extracting resources, such as coal, aggregate or minerals from the earth. Mitigate: To ameliorate, alleviate or avoid to the extent reasonably feasible. According to CEQA, mitigations include: (a) avoiding an impact by not taking a certain action or parts of an action; (b) minimizing an impact by limiting the degree or magnitude of the action and its implementation; (c) rectifying an impact by repairing rehabilitating or restoring the environment affected; (d) reducing or eliminating an impact by preserving and maintaining operations during the life of the action; (e) compensating for an impact by replacing or providing substitute resources or environments. Mixed-Use Zoning: Under specified conditions, allows the combining of two or more uses on a single parcel or in a single structure. Mobilehome: A structure, transportable in one or more sections, built on a permanent chassis and designed for use as a single-family dwelling unit when connected to required utilities. Modular Unit: A factory fabricated, transportable building or major component designed for use by itself or for incorporation with similar units onsite into a structure for residential, commercial, educational, or industrial use. A modular unit does not have any chassis for future movement. (See "Mobilehome.") Multi-Family Dwelling: A building legally accommodating more than one family. Must: That which is mandatory. Natural State: The condition existing prior to development. Necessary: Essential or required. Need: A condition requiring supply or relief. The city may act upon findings of need within or on behalf of the community. Neighborhood Park: Publicly owned land intended to serve the recreation needs of people living or working within a one-half mile radius of the park and also intended to contribute to a distinct neighborhood identify. Noise Attenuation: Reduction of the level of a noise source using a substance, material or surface, such as earth berms, fencing, walls, etc. Nonattainment: The act of not achieving a desired or required level of performance. Frequently used in reference to air quality. Non-Renewable Natural Resources: Inanimate resources that do not increase significantly with time and whose use diminishes the total stock (e.g., minerals and fossil fuels). Objective: A specific statement of desired future conditions towards which the city will expend effort in the context of striving to achieve a broader goal. Objectives are usually quantifiable. Overlay: A land use designation on the Land Use Diagram, or a zoning designation on the zoning map, which modifies the basic underlying designation in some specific manner. Parcel: A lot, or contiguous group of lots, in single ownership or under single control, usually considered a unit for purposes of development. Parking Area, Common: A public or private parking area used jointly by two or more land uses. Parking Area, Public: An open area, excluding a street or other public way, used for the parking of automobiles and available to the public, whether for free or for compensation. Planned Unit Development (PUD) Zoning: A floating zone allowing innovative land use within a plan for the development of an area (e.g., cluster development, mixture of housing types and other uses, commonly owned open space, and recreational facilities). Planning Area: The area for which a plan is prepared, including both the city limits and unincorporated areas with whose development the planning jurisdiction is particularly concerned. Policy: A specific statement that guides decision making: it indicates a clear commitment of the local legislative body (City Council). A policy is based on a General Plan's goals and objectives as well as an analysis of data. For a policy to be useful as a guide to action it must be clear and unambiguous. Pollution, Nonpoint: Sources of pollution that are difficult to define and which usually cover broad areas of land, such as the carrying of fertilizers from agricultural land by runoff. Pollution, Point: A discrete source from which pollution is generated before it enters receiving waters or air, such as a sewer outfall, industrial waste pipe, or smoke stacks. Pre-planning: The practice of preparing plans for areas being considered for annexation by a municipality, but not yet within the municipal boundaries. Prorata: Refers to the proportionate distribution of the cost of infrastructure improvements associated with new development to the users of the infrastructure on the basis of projected use. Protect: To maintain and preserve beneficial uses in their present condition as nearly as possible. Rare or Endangered Species: A species of animal or plant listed in Sections 670.2 or 670.5, Title 14, of the California Administrative Code; or Title 50, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 17.11 or Section 17.2, pursuant to the federal Endangered Species Act designating species as rare, threatened or endangered. Recognize: To officially (or by official action) identify or perceive a given situation. Recreational Trails: Public areas that include pedestrian trails, bikeways, equestrian trails, boating routes, trails and areas suitable for use by physically handicapped people, trails and areas for off-highway recreational vehicles, and cross-country skiing trails. Recycle: The process of extraction and reuse of materials from waste products. Regional Park: A park typically 150-500 acres in size focusing on activities and natural features not included in most other types of parks and often based on a specific scenic or recreational opportunity. Regulation: A rule or order prescribed by government. Rehabilitation: Used in the context of housing, the term rehabilitation means to restore housing units to their former state or to a safe and pleasing condition. Renewable Energy Resources: Energy sources whose natural supplies are not depleted in producing work, including solar energy, wind flow, tidal action, and terrestrial heat. Resource, Nonrenewable: Refers to natural resources, such as fossil fuels and natural gas, which, once used, cannot be replaced and used again. Restore: To renew, rebuild or reconstruct to a former state. Restrict: To check, bound or decrease the range, scope or incidence of a particular condition. Retrofit: The addition of materials and/or devices to an existing building or system to improve its operation or efficiency. Ridgeline: A line connecting the highest points along hilltops and separating drainage basins from one another. Right-of-Way: The strip of land over which certain transportation and public use facilities are built, such as roadways, railroads and utility lines. Riparian Habitat: The land and plants bordering a watercourse or lake. Risk: The danger or degree of hazard or potential loss. Scenic Highway Corridor: The visible area outside the highway's right-of-way, generally described as "the view from the road." Shall: That which is obligatory or necessary. Should: Signifies a directive to be honored it at all possible. Sign: Any representation (written or pictorial) used to identify, announce or otherwise direct attention to a business, profession, commodity, service, or entertainment. Siltation: (a) The accumulating deposition of eroded material; (b) The gradual filling in of streams and other bodies of water with sand, silt and clay. Single-Family Dwelling, Attached: A dwelling unit occupied or intended for occupation by only one family that is structurally connected with other such dwelling units. Single-Family Dwelling, Detached: A dwelling unit occupied or intended for occupation by only one family that is structurally independent from any other such dwelling unit or structure intended for residential or other use. Site: A parcel of land used or intended for use or a group of uses and having frontage on a public or an approved private street. Slope: Land gradient described as 100 times the vertical rise divided by the horizontal run. For example, a hill or road which rises in elevation fifteen feet in a horizontal length of 100 feet has a slope of fifteen percent. Solar Access: The provision of direct sunlight to an area specified for solar energy collection when the sun's azimuth is within forty-five degrees of true south. Solid Waste: General category that includes organic wastes, paper products, metals, glass, plastics, cloth, brick, rock, soil, leather, rubber, yard wastes, and wood. Special Studies Zones Act (Alquist-Priolo): Provides for preparation of geologic and seismic studies by the State Geologist for specified fault zones. Requires cities and counties to adopt procedures for review of development proposals within designated zones. (Public resources Code Sections 2621-2526). Specific Plan: A tool for detailed design and implementation of a defined portion of the area covered by a General Plan. A specific plan may include all detailed regulations, conditions, programs, and/or proposed legislation which may be necessary or convenient for the systematic implementation of any general plan element(s) or portion thereof. Sphere of Influence: A planned area for the probable physical boundaries and service area of a local government agency, as determined by the Local Agency Formation Commission. Stakeholders: Individuals and organizations affected by the actions and outcomes (e.g. plans) in a jurisdiction, and who should have a right to participate in decision-making process. Standards: Usually refers to "site design regulations," such as lot area, height limit, frontage, landscaping, and floor area ratio as distinguished from "use restrictions" which loosely refer to all requirements in a zoning ordinance. Storm Runoff: Surplus surface water generated by rainfall that does not seep into the earth but flows overland to flowing or other bodies of water. Structure: Anything constructed or erected which requires location on the ground (excluding swimming pools, fences, and walls used as fences). Study Area(s): The area(s) included for study within the General Plan update. Portions of the study area(s) may be excluded from the final General Plan. Subdivision Map Act: Establishes procedures for the filing and approval of tentative, final, and parcel maps. (Government Code Sections 66410-66499.37). Substantial: Considerable in importance, value, degree or amount. Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMARA): Provides for the local regulation of mining operations and the designation, classification, and protection of areas with minerals of statewide or regional significance. (Public resources Code Sections 2710-2793). Target Businesses: Those businesses or industries, which after careful analysis appear to be most compatible with the surrounding area. Timber: "Trees of any species maintained for eventual harvest for forest products purposes, whether planted or natural growth, standing or down, on privately or publicly owned land, including Christmas trees, but... not... nursery stock." (Government Code Section 51100(e)). Timberland Preserve Zone: "An area which has been zoned pursuant to Section 51112 or 51113 (of the Government Code) and is devoted to and used for growing and harvesting timer, or for growing and harvesting timber and compatible uses..." (Government Code Section 51100(g)). Tourism: The business of providing services for persons traveling for pleasure. Tourism contributes to the vitality of the community by providing revenue to local business. Tourism can be measured through changes in the transient occupancy tax or restaurant sales. Transfer of Development Rights (TDR): The practice of shifting development entitlements from one property to another, enabling the receiving property to develop more intensively than would otherwise be allowed by land use regulations. Conversely, the donor property gives up development rights previously enjoyed. Transit: Urban and suburban rail and bus systems, dial-a-ride, shuttle, organized van pools and limousine services. Transportation System Management (TSM): A cooperative process involving all transportation agencies in an urban area attempting to increase the efficiency of a transportation system through low-cost and relatively short-term actions. TSM typically includes traffic controls, improved public transportation, regulatory and pricing measures, and improvements to the management of the existing transportation system. Trees, Street: Trees strategically planted--usually in parkway strips or medians--to enhance the visual quality of a street. Trip: A one-way journey that proceeds from an origin to a destination via a single type of vehicular transportation. Trip generation is the basis for estimating the level of use for a transportation system and the impact of additional development or transportation facilities on an existing, local transportation system. Truck Route: A path of circulation required for all vehicles exceeding set weight or axle limits, a truck route follows major arterials through commercial or industrial areas and avoids sensitive residential areas. Unbuildable: See Undevelopable. Undevelopable: Specific areas where topographic, geologic and/or soil conditions indicate a significant danger to future occupants. Urban Sprawl: Haphazard growth or outward expansion of a community resulting from uncontrolled or poorly managed development. Use: The purpose for which a lot or structure is or may be leased, occupied, maintained, arranged, designed, intended, constructed, erected, moved, altered and/or enlarged pursuant to the city's zoning ordinance and General Plan land use diagram. View Corridor: The line of sight identified as to height, width, and distance of an observer looking toward an object of significance to the community (e.g., ridgeline, river, historic building, etc.). Viewshed: The area within view from a defined observation point. Wastewater Irrigation: The process by which wastewater that has undergone treatment is used to irrigate agricultural or landscaped land. Watershed: The total area above a given pont on a waterway that contributes water to its flow; the entire region drained by a waterway or watercourse which drains into a lake or reservoir. Waterway: Natural or once natural (perennially or intermittently) water including rivers, streams and creeks. Includes natural waterways that have been channelized, but does not include man make channels, ditches and underground drainage and sewage systems. Wetlands: Areas that are permanently wet or periodically covered with shallow water, such as saltwater and freshwater marshes, open or closed brackish marshes, swamps, mudflats, and fens. Areas determined to be "waters of the United States" in accordance with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers protocol and/or formally identified and delineated according to law. Williamson Act: Known formally as the California Land Conservation Act of 1965, it was designed as an incentive to retain prime agricultural land and open space in agricultural use, thereby slowing its conversion to urban and suburban development. Landowners were offered reduced property tax assessments if they agreed not to develop their land for ten years. The lowered assessments were based on the agricultural use of their land--"use value," instead of "market value." Zoning: The division of the city by legislative regulations into areas, or zones, which specify allowable uses for real property and size restrictions for buildings and lots within these areas; a program that carries out policies of the General Plan. Zoning District: A designated section of the city for which prescribed land use requirements and building and development standards are uniform.