§ 13-261. Definitions.

(a)

Director shall mean the Director of the Department of Permitting, Inspections, and Enforcement or his authorized designee.

(b)

Garbage shall mean any animal and vegetable wastes resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking, and consumption of food.

(c)

Improved Property shall mean real property on which has been erected dwellings, building, or other structures, whether inhabited or vacant, and all grounds appurtenant thereto.

(d)

Litter, as used herein, shall mean garbage, rubbish, and refuse as defined herein, and all other waste material which:

(1)

Creates or tends to create a danger to the public health, safety, welfare, or property to the extent and in the manner that a lot, tract, or parcel of land is, or may reasonably become, infested or inhabited by rodents, vermin, or wild animals; or

(2)

May reasonably cause disease; or

(3)

Adversely affects and impairs the economic welfare or status of adjacent property or the neighborhood; or

(4)

May reasonably constitute a present or potential fire hazard; or

(5)

Where the accumulation thereof is in violation of any of the provisions of Subtitle 21 of this Code.

(e)

Person shall mean any person, corporation, association, partnership, firm, syndicate, joint venture, or organization of any kind holding title to any land or lot in the County; lessees, tenants, and principal occupants of any land or lot in the County or agent of persons holding titles of such lands or lots, having care, custody, control, or management of the land or lot; and fiduciaries holding title to or having the care, custody, control, or management of land or lots in the County for others.

(f)

Rubbish and refuse shall mean all solid waste consisting of both combustible waste (including, but not limited to, paper, cardboard, wood, cloth, bedding material, yard and lawn clippings not located in an established compost pile, and dead trees and limbs, to include any hazardous or uprooted trees) and noncombustible waste (including, but not limited to, metals, glass, crockery, tin cans, junked household appliances, abandoned motor vehicles, and any building and construction wastes). For the purposes of this ordinance, abandoned vehicle shall mean any motor vehicle or trailer that is inoperable and left unattended on private or public property for more than forty-eight (48) hours, or does not display current license plates for that vehicle, is wrecked or dismantled.

(g)

Subdivision means a lot, tract, or parcel of land which has been subdivided into two or more lots, plots, sites, tracts, parcels, or other divisions for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of rental, sale, or building development, and shall include resubdivision, but shall not include a bona fide division or partition of land of exclusively agricultural land not for development purposes, except as herein provided. For the purposes of this ordinance, a subdivided lot shall be a plot, site, tract, or parcel containing an area of not more than one (1) acre; provided, however, that when a parcel of land, whether subdivided or not, is contiguous to a developed lot, plot, site, or tract of one (1) acre or less, then, and in such event, the provisions hereof shall apply for a distance of fifty (50) feet equidistant from the common boundary line.

(h)

Tree shall mean a plant with a woody stem capable of achieving a height of at least twenty (20) feet at maturity.

(i)

Underbrush shall mean shrubs, bushes, and small trees growing beneath larger trees in a woodland or forest.

(j)

Unimproved Property shall mean real property which is not presently improved although it may have been improved at one time.

(k)

Weeds shall mean grass, weeds, brush, and any noxious growth excluding trees, ornamental shrubbery, plants, flowers, garden vegetables properly tended, cultivated crops, vegetation growing in wetlands, or woodland including associated underbrush, not otherwise in violation.

(l)

Woodland shall mean a perpetual biological community dominated by trees and other woody plants covering a land area of 10,000 square feet or greater. This includes areas that have at least 100 trees per acre with at least 50 trees that are 2-inches or greater dbh (diameter at breast height — means the diameter of a tree measured at a height of 4.5 feet from the ground). This also includes areas that have been timber harvested where the stumps remain in place for future regeneration. The terms "woodland," "forest," and "forest cover" are synonymous and do not include orchards or other areas without multiple layers of woody and herbaceous vegetation.

(CB-28-1975; CB-43-1980; CB-49-1984; CB-105-1992; CB-115-1993; CB-30-2010; CB-18-2013; CB-54-2018)