Definitions

For the purposes of this article, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section. Definitions other than those given herein shall be as set forth in the Florida Building Code.

Building code: The most current adopted version of the Florida Building Code at the time of permit application.

Building department: The building department of the city, or the director of such department, used interchangeably.

Bulkhead: A vertical or near-vertical, substantially impermeable structure erected along water or a waterway, designed and constructed in such manner as to be substantially impermeable and safely sustain any loads, both vertical and lateral, that may come upon it, such as earth fill, water, moving traffic, storage of materials alongside, and the like. Coastal bulkheads are most often referred to as seawalls; however, by definition, they are intended to act as a shoreline stabilization structure that primarily retains soil and provides minimal protection from waves.

Bulkhead line: An official line established by a governmental agency along or near the shore for the purpose of controlling the waterfront alignment of structures.

Department of resilience and public works: The resilience and public works department of the city, or the director of such department, used interchangeably.

Engineer: A professional engineer certified competent and licensed by the state.

Gravity-type wall: A structure whose resultant of acting forces falls within the middle third of the base. Rock-type or riprap walls shall be included in this category when the base width equals or exceeds the height of the wall.

Living shoreline: A green infrastructure technique using native vegetation alone or in combination with low sills (such as low elevation seawalls or bulkheads) to stabilize the shoreline as a natural alternative to "hard" shoreline stabilization methods like riprap or bulkheads. Living shorelines may be more resilient than bulkheads in protecting against the effects of hurricanes. A living shoreline may have its waterside face consist of plants and other natural elements that improve water quality, provide additional fish habitat, and fosters increased biodiversity provided that the landside interface of a living shoreline be substantially impermeable and constructed to a finished elevation that meets current requirements as set by the department of resilience and public works. The landside interface may be located anywhere on an existing property fronting the living shoreline, as long as it is constructed in a manner and location that ensures any habitable structures on that property are protected from flooding from tidal waters and it prevents flooding of adjacent properties and the public right-of-way.

NAD 83 (2011): A geometric datum/coordinate system for collection of positions relative to an ellipsoid model of the Earth. The current horizontal datum for the United States and its territories is effectively part of a geometric datum and it is called the North American Datum of 1983. The current realizations of NAD 83 were adopted in 2012 following the completion of the National Adjustment of 2011 (i.e. "NAD 83 (2011)").

NAVD 88: The North American Vertical Datum of 1988 is the vertical control datum established in 1991 by the minimum-constraint adjustment of the Canadian-Mexican-United States leveling observations which was affirmed in 1993 as the official vertical datum in the National Spatial Reference System ("NSRS") for the Conterminous United States and Alaska.

Riprap: A foundation of unconsolidated boulders, stone, concrete, or similar materials placed on or near a shoreline to mitigate wave impacts and prevent erosion.

Seawall: A vertical or near-vertical, substantially impermeable structure that provides shoreline protection from waves while retaining upland soils. Seawalls are typically located on the coast fronting beaches or other tidally-influenced waterways and are subject to storm surges with pounding surf, eroding shorelines, and wave overtopping from coastal storm or extreme high tide events. The elevation of the top of a seawall must comply with the current minimum finished elevation requirements as set by the department of resilience and public works to ensure protection of the surrounding properties and the public right-of-way from flooding associated with currently realized and expected future sea level rise.

Substantially impermeable: Any shoreline protection constructed, repaired, or reconstructed pursuant to this section in a manner that prevents groundwater on the landward side of the structure from being affected by tidal waters passing through the wall. As tidal waters rise, the groundwater elevation behind the wall shall remain relatively static in order to be considered substantially impermeable.

Tidal waters: Any water that alternately rises and falls in a predictable and measurable rhythm or cycle due to the gravitational attraction of the moon and sun, including seasonal tide events such as king tides. Extreme tidal elevation changes caused by a storm event (i.e. storm surge) is not to be used as a determining factor of whether or not an existing shoreline protection structure is in violation of the city's maintenance requirements.

Tidally-influenced or tidally-influenced areas: Any water-fronting land area where water levels change in response to daily changes in tidal waters or the change in the water levels itself in response to daily changes in tidal waters.

(Code 1967, § 27-21; Code 1980, § 29-41; Ord. No. 13315, § 2, 3-8-12; Ord. No. 13980, § 3, 3-25-21)