Gainesville › Unified Land Development Code
Article 11 — Subdivisions and Land Development, Chapter 11-2 — DEFINITIONS
§ 11-2-1
Terms Related to Streets
(a)Access: A way or means of approach to provide physical entrance to a property.
(b)Arterial street: See “Street classifications.”
(c)Center line: That line connecting the succession of midpoints between the identifiable limits of any improvements on the ground or of any easement.
(d)Collector street: See “Street classifications.”
(e)Cul-de-sac: A dead-end street of limited length having a primary function of serving adjoining land, and constructed with a turnaround at its end.
(f)Cul-de-sac, temporary: A non-permanent vehicular turn around located at the termination of a street or alley, created for construction and not accepted as a public improvement.
(g)Curb cut: Any interruption or break in the line of a street curb for the purpose of connecting a driveway to a street, or otherwise to provide vehicular access to abutting property. May also refer to an opening in the curb that allows stormwater to flow into a landscaped area or best management practice.
(h)Dead-end street: A street connected to another street at only one end.
(i)Deceleration lane: An added roadway lane, of a specified distance and width and which may include a taper, as approved by the city engineer, which permits vehicles to slow down and leave the main vehicle stream.
(j)Decentralized wastewater system: A closed-loop system designed or used to receive sewage from a building sewer and to affect separation and organic decomposition of sewerage solids, and discharging sewage effluent to an absorption field or other management system. Also referred to as an on-site wastewater disposal system or septic tank.
(k)Deflection angle: The angle between a deviation in the direction of the center line of a street and the extension of the center line along a straight course from the point from which the center line changed direction.
(l)Design variance: An alteration or relaxation of the terms of this article where such alteration will not be contrary to the public interest, convenience and welfare, and where, owing to conditions peculiar to the property over which the applicant for a variance has no control, a literal enforcement of these regulations would create unnecessary and undue hardship on the applicant in the use of the property.
(m)Development:
(1)A land development project involving the construction of streets, utilities, buildings, or other improvements required for the habitation or use of property, such as a residential neighborhood, an apartment complex, a store, or a shopping center;
(2)Any manmade change to improved or unimproved real estate, including, but not limited to, buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavating, drilling operations, or permanent storage of materials;
center line deflection angle
(3)The act of constructing or carrying out a land development project, including the alteration of land or vegetation in preparation for construction activity.
(n)Development site: Any and all areas within which “development” takes place.
(o)Driveway: A constructed vehicular access serving one or more properties and connecting to a public or private street, as distinguished from a platted, public or private street.
(p)Half street: A portion of the ultimate width of a road or street where the remaining portion of the road or street shall be provided at a future date.
(q)Major street or major thoroughfare: An arterial or collector street (see “Street classifications”).
(r)Pedestrian way: A public right-of-way or private easement across a block or within a block to provide access for pedestrians and which, in addition to providing pedestrian access, may be used for the installation of utility lines.
(s)Reserve strip: A strip or tract of land reserved for the purpose of controlling or limiting access from properties to abutting streets.
(t)Right-of-way: Land reserved for and immediately available for public use as a street or other purpose.
(u)Roadbed: That portion of a street improved for vehicular travel, including the curbs and shoulders.
(v)Roadway: The paved portion of a street improved for vehicular travel, measured from back of curb to back of curb.
(w)Sidewalk: A hard-surfaced pedestrian access area adjacent to or within the right-of-way of a street.
(x)Street: An improved way for the conveyance of motor driven, rubber-tired vehicles, such as automobiles and trucks.
(y)Street classifications: Streets are classified according to the function that they are to serve, the type, speed, and volume of traffic they will carry and the required standards of design. The classifications and locations of major thoroughfares are shown in the comprehensive plan. The classifications of streets and roads are generally as follows:
(1)Expressways: Limited access Interstate highways.
(2)Arterial streets: State and U.S. numbered highways.
(3)Marginal-access streets: Streets that are placed parallel and adjacent to expressways or arterials to provide direct access to abutting properties.
(4)Collector streets: Major streets that carry traffic between neighborhoods and arterial streets, serve nonresidential or multi-family areas or developments, and streets within a residential subdivision that collect traffic from one hundred (100) dwelling units or more.
(5)Local streets: Streets in residential subdivisions and some nonresidential areas that primarily provide access to individual lots, do not carry through traffic, and serve fewer than one hundred (100) dwelling units.
(6)Alleys: Public or private ways, whether unopened or opened for use, which afford only a secondary means of access to abutting property.
(z)Street jog: The incidence where two (2)
streets or two (2) portions of a single street are separated by a relatively short distance, usually at their intersection with another street.
(aa)Street, private: A road or street that has not been accepted for maintenance by the governing body and that is not owned and maintained by a state, county, city, or another public entity.
(bb)Tangent: The straight-line distance between the ending of one curve of a line (center line of a street) and the beginning of another curve of the same line (center line).
§ 11-2-2
Terms Related to
Subdivisions
(a)Block: An area of land that is entirely surrounded by streets, public lands, railroad rights-of-way, watercourses, or other well defined and fixed boundaries.
(b)Conservation subdivision: A subdivision where open space is the central organizing element of the subdivision design, that identifies and permanently protects all primary and all or some of the secondary conservation areas within the boundaries of the subdivision, and that clusters housing together on smaller lots than in conventional subdivisions.
(c)Dedication: The deliberate appropriation of land by an owner for any general and public use or purpose, reserving to himself no other rights than such as are compatible with the full exercise and enjoyment of the public uses to which the property has been devoted.
(d)Dedication plat: A plat that indicates property to be dedicated for public right-of-way or land for public use, drawn to final plat specifications and following procedures for final plat approval.
street jog tangent C / L
(e)Easement: A grant of one or more of the property rights by the property owner to and/or for use by the public, a corporation, or another person or entity.
(f)Easement, perpetual: An easement held in perpetuity.
(g)Escrow account: A type of subdivision improvement guarantee where the subdivider deposits either cash, a note, a bond, or some other instrument readily convertible to cash for specific face value specified by the Director of Public Works or designated official of the city to cover the costs of required improvements.
(h)Final plat: The final drawing of a subdivision and, as applicable, dedication, prepared for filing for record with the clerk of the Hall County Superior Court, and containing all elements and requirements set forth in this article.
(i)Homeowners association: An organization formed for the maintenance and operation of the common areas of a development, where membership in the association is automatic with the purchase of a dwelling unit or lot within the development, with the ability to legally assess each owner of a dwelling unit or lot and which has authority to place a lien against all dwelling units and lots within the development.
(j)Letter of credit: A type of subdivision improvement guarantee whereby a subdivider secures an instrument from a bank or other institution or from a person with resources sufficient to cover the cost of improvements required by the governing body. The instrument pledges the creditor to pay the cost of improvements in case of default by the subdivider.
(k)Lot of record: A lot which is part of a subdivision, a plat of which has been lawfully recorded in the records of the Clerk of Superior Court of Hall County; or a lot described by metes and bounds, the description of which has been lawfully recorded in the same office prior to the adoption of zoning in the City (June 20, 1955).
(l)Lot: See Chapter 9-2-2 for all lot related definitions.
(m)Metes and bounds: A system of describing and identifying land by a series of lines around the perimeter of an area; “metes” means bearings and distances and “bounds”
refers to physical monuments.
(n)Municipal utility: A utility owned and operated by a local government and providing drinking water, wastewater and stormwater management facilities and services.
(1)Sewer system: A sanitary sewerage system for the collection of water-borne wastes complete with a sewage treatment plant that is owned and operated by the city Department of Water Resources.
(2)Water system: A system for the intake, treatment and distribution of potable water that is owned and operated by the city Department of Water Resources.
(3)Stormwater system: A system of structural and nonstructural stormwater management facilities and practices that are used to capture, convey and control the quantity and quality of the stormwater runoff, that is owned and operated by the city Department of Water Resources.
(o)Performance bond: A type of improvement guarantee in the form of a bond, secured by the subdivider or land developer from a bonding company, in an amount specified by the Director of Public Works or designated official of the city to cover the costs of required improvements, and payable to the governing body. The governing body may call in the performance bond in the event the subdivider or land developer defaults on required improvements.
(p)Preliminary plat: A drawing which shows the proposed layout of a subdivision in sufficient detail to indicate its general design.
(q)Private utility: A utility owned and operated by a private service company providing cable television and internet services.
(r)Protective covenants: Contracts made between private parties as to the manner in which land may be used, with the view toward protecting and preserving the physical and economic integrity of any given area.
(s)Public improvement: The acquisition, construction, building, operation, and maintenance of public ways, transportation facilities, parks and playgrounds, recreational facilities, cemeteries, mausoleums, markets and market houses, public buildings, libraries, public housing, airports, hospitals, terminals, docks, parking facilities, or charitable, cultural, educational, recreational, conservation, sport, curative, and corrective agencies and facilities.
(t)Professional engineer: An engineer licensed and registered to perform the duties of a professional engineer (P.E.) by the state.
(u)Public utility: A utility owned and operated by a public service company providing telecommunications, electric or natural gas services under the regulations of the Georgia Public Service Commission.
(v)Publicly dedicated: Land or improvements that has or have been transferred by plat or deeded to and accepted by the city for public use and maintenance.
(w)Registered land surveyor: A land surveyor licensed and registered to perform the duties of a registered land surveyor (R.L.S.) by the state.
(x)Reservation: A method of holding land for future public use or dedication to the public by showing proposed public areas on a subdivision plat or a corridor map.
(y)Septic tank: An approved watertight tank designed or used to receive sewage from a building sewer and to affect separation and organic decomposition of sewerage solids, and discharging sewage effluent to an absorption field or other management system. Also referred to as decentralized wastewater system, or on-site wastewater disposal system.
(z)Subdivider: Any person, as defined by this Code, who undertakes the subdivision of land, and any person having such a proprietary interest in land to be subdivided as will authorize the maintenance of proceedings to subdivide such land under this Code, or the authorized agent of such person.
(aa)Subdivision: The division of a property or tract of land into two or more tracts or lots;
or a land development project in which two or more lots are created, along with the streets and utilities needed to support construction of buildings on the lots. The word “subdivision” includes re-subdivision and, when appropriate to the context, relates either to the process of subdividing or to the actual land or area which is subdivided.
(1)Subdivision with public improvements: The division of land into two or more lots that will require the construction or extension of public streets, water or sanitary sewerage (other than the direct connection of buildings to existing facilities).
(2)Minor subdivision: The division of land into two or more lots, each of which will be adequately served by existing public streets, water and sanitary sewerage and that does not involve a public dedication.
(bb)Utilities: All public, private, and municipal, above or below ground, infrastructure systems providing water, stormwater, sanitary sewer, natural gas, electricity, telecommunications, cable television or internet, services; or any other service controlled by the State public services commission.
(cc)Utility Lines: Linear features of utilities, such as pipes, conduit or cables, as well as junctions and ancillary facilities.
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