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100-Year Flood: A flood that has a 1 percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.
40-Acre Lot Development or 40-Acre Ranchettes: A division of land into parcels of 36 acres or more, designated in the ARIZONA REVISED STATUTES (ARS) as “unsubdivided lands.”
Access: The means for pedestrians, vehicles, and other travel modes to enter or leave a property safely and effectively.
Access Management: A planning technique used to maintain the capacity and safety of roadways by regulating the way vehicles enter and leave adjacent properties.
Action Item: A task designed to implement one or more policies and that identifies who will perform the task, when and how the task will be completed.
Active Management Area (AMA): Defined under ARS §45.402 as a geographic area where GROUNDWATER is managed to reduce localized OVERDRAFT and achieve long-term balance of what is removed and replaced in AQUIFERS.
Active Recreation: A type of recreation that requires areas and facilities for activities such as softball, baseball, football, soccer, golf, tennis, basketball, and various forms of children’s play. See also: PASSIVE RECREATION.
Affordable Housing: Owned or rented housing costing less than 30 percent of a household’s total gross income, assuming that this income equals the median for a county or an area.
All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV): See OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLE.
Aquifer: An underground geologic formation that contains sufficient saturated, permeable material to yield significant quantities of GROUNDWATER to wells and SPRINGS.
Area Plan: An official amendment to the Coconino County Comprehensive Plan that reflects the local residents’ vision of the future, contains goals and policies for development, and provides guidance for decision makers. An Area Plan may serve a community, specific neighborhoods or rural areas. See also: RURAL PLANNING AREA.
Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC): The state agency with regulatory responsibility for incorporation, securities, railroad and pipeline safety, and utilities.
Arizona Department of Commerce (ADOC): The agency that promotes economic, community, and workforce development statewide. ADOC’s Community Development Division provides technical assistance and financing services in the areas of comprehensive planning, infrastructure development, energy efficiency, and rural economic development.
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ): The agency with regulatory responsibility for air and water quality, as well as for the storage, treatment, and disposal of solid and hazardous waste.
Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT): The agency responsible for developing, operating, and maintaining the state and federal highway infrastructure.
Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR): The agency with regulatory responsibility for managing SURFACE WATER and GROUNDWATER resources in Arizona.
Arizona Earthquake Information Center (AEIC): An institution within the Geology Department of NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY that conducts research and distributes information on Arizona earthquakes.
Arizona Game & Fish Department (AGFD): The agency charged with conserving, enhancing, and restoring the state’s diverse wildlife resources and HABITATS through aggressive protection and management programs.
Arizona Preserve Initiative (API): A program for cities, counties, and other organizations to petition the ARIZONA STATE LAND DEPARTMENT to reclassify state lands with high environmental protection or OPEN SPACE values for CONSERVATION. To qualify, lands must be purchased within 8 years of reclassification.
Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS): Laws adopted by the Arizona state legislature.
Arizona State Land Department (ASLD): The agency responsible for managing state trust lands and resources to enhance values and optimize economic returns for beneficiaries.
Arterial Roadway: Roadways designed to move through-traffic efficiently, at speeds as high as can be reasonably allowed in view of safety considerations and capacity.
Average Daily Traffic (ADT): The average number of vehicles passing a fixed point during a 24-hour time-frame; a convention for measuring traffic volume.
Biodiversity or Biological Diversity: The variety and complexity of life and organisms among SPECIES, populations, HABITATS, and ECOSYSTEMS.
Board of Supervisors (BOS): The five elected officials, each representing a geographic district, that govern Coconino County.
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA): The federal government responsible for managing the 56 million acres of land held in trust by the United States for American Indians, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives.
Bureau of Land Management (BLM): The federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior that administers 262 million acres of America’s public lands, located primarily in 12 western states.
Capital Improvement Plan (CIP): An annually updated document that describes transportation, flood control, and park improvements, along with other capital projects and expenditures that are programmed for a set period, usually 5 years.
Certified Local Government (CLG): A government entity that maintains a certified historic preservation program, which requires a preservation ordinance and commission, at least a part-time staff person responsible, and a formal way of identifying, registering, and protecting cultural resources.
Checkerboard Area: An area characterized by a mix of land ownership or land management, often with every other SECTION under different ownership—most commonly, state and private sections.
Circulation System: Transportation infrastructure that fulfills access and mobility needs for people and goods.
Coconino Community College (CCC): A 2-year post-secondary institution that offers certificate programs, Associate of Arts degrees, Associate of Science degrees plus many other educational and vocational programs. CCC maintains facilities in Page, Williams, Grand Canyon and Flagstaff.
Coconino Parks and Open Space Program (CPOS): A program of the Coconino County Parks & Recreation Department to identify and conserve open space, natural areas, and lands with high recreation and scenic value.
Collector Roadway: Typically, a rural route of primarily intra-county importance that funnels traffic between local streets and the ARTERIAL ROADWAY system. See also: MINOR COLLECTOR, MAJOR COLLECTOR.
Community-Based Policing: A law enforcement approach where police officers work directly with residents to actively identify and solve problems in the local community.
Community Development Department (CD): The County department responsible for planning and ZONING, building permits and inspections, FLOODPLAIN management, and special districts.
Commuter: A person who travels regularly from one place to another place (for example, from a rural area to a city) and back.
Comprehensive Plan: A statement of a community’s desired future, intended to serve as the primary decision-making guide for growth and development in a county.
Conditional Use Permit: A permit issued by the PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION for a use that is allowed within a ZONING district after a public hearing. With approval, the Commission typically applies certain conditions on the location and operation of this use.
Conservation: The protection and management of resources and the natural environment to ensure the continued integrity of healthy, functioning ECOSYSTEMS.
Conservation Easement: A legal property interest or right granted by the landowner to another party to maintain or limit use of the land to CONSERVATION purposes, typically to maintain its natural state and preclude future development.
Conservation Framework: A scientifically-based statement of ecological principles, including guidelines for their consideration in land-use planning.
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED): A community planning approach that promotes designing or modifying the environment to reduce opportunities for crime. See also: COMMUNITY-BASED POLICING.
Critical Habitat: A federally designated area that is determined to be essential for the CONSERVATION, management, and survival of THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES.
Cultural Landscape: A visual demonstration of traditional interactions between humans and the natural environment over time.
Cultural Resources: An aspect of a cultural system that is valued by or significantly representative of a culture, or that contains significant information about a culture.
Defensible Space: The area between a structure and a potential oncoming wildfire where the vegetation has been modified to reduce the threat of ignition. This area provides an opportunity to “defend” the structure. See also: SURVIVABLE SPACE.
Density Bonus: An additional number of units or development capacity allowed in exchange for providing certain public benefits or amenities, such parks, open space, or affordable housing.
Design Review Overlay (DRO): An overlay district (typically within an AREA PLAN) applied to specific geographic boundaries that establishes guidelines for new commercial, industrial, public, and semipublic uses. DROs require a review and approval process for exterior design, materials, textures, colors, signs, lighting, fencing, and landscaping but do not apply to single-family residential construction.
Developed Land: Land that has been subjected to construction, reconstruction, conversion, structural alteration, or relocation; mining, excavation, grading, landfill, or significant land disturbance; or any use or extension of the use of land. See also: UNDEVELOPED LAND and UNIMPROVED LAND.
Development: Any human-made change to improved or UNIMPROVED LAND.
Development Fee: See IMPACT FEE.
Development Project: A project that requires approval by the PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION and/or the BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.
Discharge: The flow of water in a stream, ditch, or canal, or the outflow of GROUNDWATER from a flowing well or SPRING.
Disturbed Site: An area of land that has been subject to clearing, cutting, excavating, filling, or grading; a site that has altered land topography or vegetative cover.
Ecological Process: The interactions among ECOSYSTEM components that govern their long-term functioning.
Ecosystem: The naturally interacting community of plant and animal SPECIES and their physical environment.
Eco-Tourism: Tourism that focuses on enjoyment of the environment or natural resources. See also: ETHNO-TOURISM.
Effluent: A discharge of (treated or untreated) wastewater into the environment. See also: WASTEWATER.
Element: A component or “chapter” of a comprehensive plan describing a set of related planning themes.
Emergency Egress: An alternate means or path for leaving an area or structure in the event of an emergency.
Environmentally Sensitive Lands: Areas characterized by FLOODPLAINS, SPRINGS, stream corridors, WETLANDS, THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES habitat, old growth or rare vegetation, steep slopes, or other critical natural resources as determined by best available science.
Erosion: The wearing away of soil and rock by weathering, mass wasting, and the action of streams, glaciers, waves, wind, and underground water.
Ethno-Tourism: Tourism that focuses on the enjoyment of, or education about, indigenous people and cultures. See also: ECO-TOURISM.
Fault System: An area characterized by interconnected geologic faults. See also: NORTHERN ARIZONA SEISMIC BELT (NASB).
Fee-Simple Lands: Privately owned lands.
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): The federal agency charged with primary responsibility for the safety of civil aviation.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): The federal agency responsible for reducing the loss of life and property and protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure from hazards.
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA): The federal agency responsible for developing, maintaining, and funding the federal roadway system.
Firebrands: Burning airborne embers that are generated by a wildfire and transmitted by wind beyond the fire front. Firebrands often ignite spot fires.
Flagstaff Metropolitan Planning Organization (FMPO): The organization with lead responsibility for developing transportation plans and programs for the greater Flagstaff urban area; consists of City of Flagstaff, Coconino County, and ADOT.
Flagstaff Urban Trail System (FUTS): A system of over 20 miles of recreational and alternative transportation pathways within Flagstaff and connecting to surrounding national forest areas.
Floodplain: Any land area (typically adjoining a river, stream, lake, or other body of standing water) that is susceptible to inundation by a 100-YEAR FLOOD.
Floodplain Management Overlay Zone (FPM): An overlay zone that establishes regulations for developing in FLOODPLAINS to minimize flood-related losses. See also: 100-YEAR FLOOD.
Functional Classification System: An established roadway hierarchy that accounts for the roadway’s purpose, its character given the adjacent land uses, and its role in supporting MULTIMODALISM.
Gateway: An entrance into a community or a specific area, typically along a major transportation corridor.
Geographic Information System (GIS): A means of displaying and analyzing data associated with points or areas on maps. This data management system may be used to describe land uses or physical attributes such as soil or vegetation type.
Goal: A broad statement of desired outcomes to which effort is directed in order to bring a community closer to its overall vision of the future.
Gray Water: Wastewater, collected separately from sewage flow, that originates from a clothes washer, bathtub, shower, or sink, but not from the kitchen sink, dishwasher, or toilet. See also: RECLAIMED WATER.
Grazing: The consumption of standing forage (edible plants) by wildlife and livestock on rangelands or fenced pasture. Livestock grazing is usually associated with commercial uses related to ranching.
Greenway: A linear open space established along a natural corridor for CONSERVATION, recreation, or circulation purposes.
Groundwater: The water stored under the surface in an AQUIFER that forms a natural reservoir. Groundwater typically DISCHARGES via wells or SPRINGS. See also: SURFACE WATER.
Groundwater Management Act (GMA): The state legislation that created the ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES for managing GROUNDWATER resources in Arizona and established ACTIVE MANAGEMENT AREAS and IRRIGATION NON-EXPANSION AREAS.
Growth Area: An area designated to accommodate future growth and development.
Growth Boundary: A line denoting areas where higher densities are encouraged to accommodate expected growth, usually where infrastructure can be provided. Outside this line, development must occur under the ZONING that existed when the boundary was created. See also: RURAL GROWTH BOUNDARY, URBAN GROWTH BOUNDARY, and GROWTH AREA.
Guideline: A statement of considerations that directs the decision-making process.
Habitat: The physical and biological environment where an organism lives. Often characterized by a dominant plant form or physical characteristic, habit includes such components as cover, food, shelter, water, and breeding sites.
Habitat Connectivity: The ability for habitat to provide for the connection to other blocks of similar habitat. Such connectivity can be severed by natural causes, but most often is severed by human modification of the landscape. See also: HABITAT FRAGMENTATION.
Habitat Fragmentation: The division of contiguous tracts of wildlife HABITAT into progressively smaller patches and isolated areas. Fragmentation often occurs when WILDLIFE MOVEMENT AREAS are converted to more narrowly defined CORRIDORS; it can sometimes deplete a habitat area. See also: HABITAT CONNECTIVITY.
Hauled Water: Water transported by tank from its source to an area where it is otherwise unavailable.
Hazmat: Hazardous materials; often references a spill or other incident that releases hazardous materials to the environment.
Heritage Area: An area or site where cultural monuments, natural areas or features, historic trail systems, or historic land use patterns may have cultural significance, provide a physical link to historic events, or be of exceptional value.
Historic Preservation: The use of measures that foster conditions under which modern society and prehistoric/historic resources can exist in harmony and fulfill the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations.
Historic Trail: A nationally or regionally significant historic route, along with the remnants and artifacts of its historical use.
Impact Fee: A fee imposed on new development to help finance the cost of improvements or services necessary for the development.
Impermeable: A term describing a medium such as unfractured rock that cannot transmit water.
Implementation Plan: A list of action items designed to accomplish the objectives of a comprehensive plan.
Improved Land: See DEVELOPED LAND.
Improvement District: A local unit of government (other than a city or county), authorized and regulated by statute, that is established for road improvements, water control, irrigation, port districts, fire, hospital, sanitary districts, and regional air quality control.
Infill: The development of new housing or other structures on scattered vacant sites within built-up areas.
Inholding: Private property that is surrounded on all four sides by land managed by the U.S. FOREST SERVICE or the BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT.
Inter-Basin Transfers: The transfer of water from one GROUNDWATER basin to another.
Integrated Conservation Design: A development concept that considers site characteristics and layout in the larger context of surrounding parcels. Integrated conservation design preserves important and unique natural features such as OPEN SPACE, viewsheds, scenic corridors, and wildlife HABITAT.
Interpretive Education: Methods of communicating information about the natural and/or CULTURAL RESOURCES at a specific site or along a TRAIL. Tours, signs, and brochures are a few tools available for interpreting resources.
Invasive, Non-Native Species: A plant species not historically found in the local area. When introduced into an area, these species proliferate, replacing NATIVE SPECIES and reducing BIODIVERSITY. See also: NOXIOUS WEEDS.
Irrigation: A means of providing water to agricultural or landscaped areas, typically involving a system of canals and/or pipes and sprinklers.
Land Use: A term describing how land is occupied or utilized.
Landscape: The unique patterns, structures, and features such as landforms, vegetation, soil, and waterways that distinguish one part of the earth’s surface from another.
Landscaping: The placement of vegetative cover, trees, rocks, or other materials to improve environmental quality, mitigate land use impacts, and enhance the visual appearance of development. See also: XERISCAPE.
Level of Service Standards (LOS): A methodology for determining a community’s need for new facilities or infrastructure based on existing conditions, demand, population, and land area.
Livable Wage: A wage that is high enough to allow a greater percentage of the population to qualify for housing.
Local Roadway: A street that provides access to land parcels (primarily residential) adjacent to the collector network and serves travel over relatively short distances. See also: MAJOR COLLECTOR, MINOR COLLECTOR, and COLLECTOR ROADWAY.
Lot Split: A division of land into five parcels or fewer. See also: SUBDIVISION.
Locally Undesirable Land Use (LULU): A site or facility such as a landfill, communications tower, or and high-voltage transmission line that constitutes a real or perceived nuisance. See also: NIMBY.
Major Collector: A type of roadway that links major areas of development—including regional activity centers and residential, commercial, and industrial land uses—and connects MINOR ARTERIALS, MINOR COLLECTORS, and LOCAL ROADS. See also: COLLECTOR ROADWAY.
Manufactured Home: A dwelling unit built after June 1976 to standards established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Manufactured homes are designed for year-round use.
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU): An agreement of cooperation that defines the roles and responsibilities related to an issue over which several organizations have concurrent jurisdiction.
Minor Arterial: A type of roadway or transportation corridor that links cities, towns, and other traffic generators. Minor arterials attract travel over long distances, provide inter-county and some intra-county service, and generally connect to other ARTERIAL ROADWAYS or COLLECTOR ROADWAYS. See also: ARTERIAL SYSTEM.
Minor Collector: A type of roadway that primarily routes traffic from local roads to MAJOR COLLECTORS or MINOR ARTERIALS. See also: COLLECTOR ROADWAY.
Mitigation: The act of eliminating, reducing, minimizing, or compensating for an impact to the environment using measures that directly or indirectly reduce the impact. Applicants must attempt mitigative actions in the following order: (1) avoid impacts by not taking part or all of a certain action; (2) minimize impacts by limiting the degree or magnitude of the action; (3) rectify impacts by repairing, rehabilitating, or restoring the environment; and (4) compensate for unavoidable impacts by replacing or providing substitute resources or environments.
Mobile Home: A dwelling unit built on a permanent chassis prior to June 1976. Designed to be used without a permanent foundation, mobile homes can be transported in one or more sections.
Modular Home: A dwelling unit that is preassembled in a factory prior to delivery and final assembly. Built to UNIFORM BUILDING CODE standards with the same exterior materials customarily used on site-built dwellings, modular homes have a permanent foundation, a minimum roof pitch of 3 in 12, a width of at least 20 feet width, and at least 1 foot of roof overhang on all four sides.
Multimodal Corridor: Physical, linear areas containing the infrastructure that supports travel by both motorized and nonmotorized CIRCULATION. See also: MULTIMODALISM.
Multimodalism: A holistic view of CIRCULATION in which individual modes work together or within their own niches to provide users with the best choices of service. Multimodalism considers how policies for a single mode affect all other modes.
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA): The legislation passed in 1969 to serve as the country’s “national charter” for protecting the environment. NEPA requires Environmental Impact Statements for all major federal actions that significantly affect the environment.
National Park Service (NPS): The federal agency within the Department of the Interior charged with preserving the natural and CULTURAL RESOURCES and the values of the national park system.
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES): A provision of the Clean Water Act that prohibits the discharge of pollutants into waters without a special permit from the U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, state, or tribal government.
Native Species: A SPECIES that originates and occurs naturally in a particular region or environment.
Natural Area: Public land set aside to conserve and protect natural resources.
Natural Environment: The system of plants, animals, soils, water, and air that supports ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES.
Natural Hazard: A significant threat to life and property produced by natural conditions or processes such as hurricanes, tornadoes, faults, severe soil erosion, slumping, wildfire, or floods.
Neighborhood Commercial Use: A use that generates most of its business from local residents.
Neighborhood Park: A developed site that features recreation facilities primarily for local use such as sports fields, basketball courts, and playgrounds, and as a community amenity, provides a place for family gatherings, exercise, and relaxation. Neighborhood parks may be operated by homeowners’ associations, neighborhood groups, or in some cases a local government entity.
NIMBY: An expression meaning “Not In My Back Yard” that reflects local opposition to new development proposals or nearby land uses. See also: LOCALLY UNDESIRABLE LAND USE.
Nonconforming Use: A use or activity that was lawful prior to the adoption, revision, or amendment of the ZONING ORDINANCE or applicable ZONING classification that fails to conform to present requirements.
Nonpoint-Source Pollution: POLLUTION that originates from many diffuse sources such as urban areas, parking lots, agriculture, recreation, and construction and that is carried by rainfall, snowmelt, IRRIGATION, and local RUNOFF.
Northern Arizona Council of Governments (NACOG): A nonprofit corporation representing local governments to provide a variety of housing, workforce development, planning, and health and human services in Apache, Coconino, Navajo, and Yavapai counties.
Northern Arizona Seismic Belt (NASB): A complex of major geologic FAULT SYSTEMS in northern Arizona, including the Cataract Creek, Mesa Butte, and Bright Angel fault systems.
Northern Arizona University (NAU): Located in Flagstaff, one of three state universities in Arizona with an undergraduate and graduate enrollment around 18,000.
Noxious Weeds: Any parasitic or foreign plant that can injure crops, other useful plants, agriculture, livestock, fish or wildlife resources, or public health; any plant on the Federal Noxious Weed List or the Arizona State Noxious Weed List. See also: INVASIVE, NON-NATIVE SPECIES.
Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV): A motorized vehicle used for travel in areas that are normally inaccessible to conventional highway vehicles. OHVs include dirt motorcycles, dune buggies, jeeps, four-wheel-drive vehicles, snowmobiles, and all-terrain vehicles.
Open Space: A primarily undeveloped LANDSCAPE that provides scenic, ecological, or recreational values or that is set aside for resource protection or CONSERVATION; an area of managed production such as FORESTLAND, rangeland, or agricultural land that is essentially free of visible obstructions.
Overdraft: The removal of more GROUNDWATER from an AQUIFER than is naturally replenished through RECHARGE.
Overlay Zone: A zoning district that encompasses one or more underlying zones and that imposes additional requirements above that required by the underlying zone. See also: FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT OVERLAY ZONE and DESIGN REVIEW OVERLAY.
Para-Transit: Transportation service for persons who, because of a disability, are unable to use the fixed bus-route system.
Park: An area set aside for public enjoyment, typically managed by a government entity. Parks may include facilities for recreation.
Passive Recreation: A type of recreation or activity that does not require the use of organized play areas or developed facilities. See also: ACTIVE RECREATION.
Percolate: To flow downward to the water table through the soil or other porous medium.
Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z): A 10-member volunteer citizen’s board in Coconino County responsible for reviewing applications for CONDITIONAL USE PERMITS, SUBDIVISIONS, rezoning, and public RIGHT-OF-WAY abandonment requests. Two members are appointed by each County Supervisor.
Policy: A specific, guiding statement that outlines the process for achieving a goal.
Pollution: The presence of contaminants in concentrations that degrade the natural environment or impact people’s health, safety, and comfort.
Potable Water: Water suitable for drinking and cooking purposes.
Prescribed Burning: The controlled application of fire to wildland fuels in either their natural or modified state, under specified environmental conditions. Prescribed burns are confined to a predetermined area to meet resource management objectives. See also: THINNING.
Primitive Roadway: Roads located on easements or RIGHTS-OF-WAY that have not been accepted for County ownership but have been open to the public since June 13, 1975. Designated by the BOARD OF SUPERVISORS under ARS §28-6706, primitive roads receive limited maintenance (including snow removal) from the County.
Principle: Ecologically, a basic truth concerning the functioning of natural systems.
Private Inholding: See: INHOLDING.
Private Roadway: A roadway that is located on an easement or RIGHT-OF-WAY and has not been accepted for ownership or maintenance by a public entity.
Public/Semipublic Uses: Uses listed in the Coconino County Zoning Ordinance such as day care centers, preschools, hospitals, churches, educational institutions, libraries and museums, public parks, recreational facilities, and utilities.
Rangelands: Grasslands, scrublands, and FORESTLANDS that provide HABITAT for wild or domestic grazing.
Recharge: The addition to, or replenishing of, GROUNDWATER in an AQUIFER by natural or artificial means.
Reclaimed Water: Wastewater that has been treated for reuse for purposes other than human consumption. See also: EFFLUENT and GRAY WATER.
Right-of-Way: A strip of land acquired by reservation, dedication, purchase, prescription, or condemnation that is intended to be occupied by a road, cross-walk, railroad, power line, pipeline, water line, sanitary storm sewer, or other similar structure.
Riparian Area: An area surrounding a river or stream that supports an ECOSYSTEM of wildlife, vegetation, soils, and water.
Runoff: The portion of rainfall, snowmelt, or other water that flows along ground surface and eventually collects in basins or contributes to the flow of a stream.
Rural: Of or relating to the country, country people or life, or agriculture.
Rural Activity Center: A centralized, concentrated area of locally oriented commercial, public, and semipublic services and activities.
Rural Arizona Watershed Initiative: A program funded by the state legislature and initiated in 1999-2000 to help rural areas finance studies, projects, and programs related to ground-water resources.
Rural Character: The pastoral or rustic setting of a location, as defined by local residents according to their preferences and needs.
Rural Growth Boundary: The line on a map marking lands in unincorporated areas that are suitable for rural development. See also: URBAN GROWTH BOUNDARY.
Rural Planning Area: An area created by petition of owners of a majority of the property to prepare a plan that emphasizes voluntary, nonregulatory incentives for accommodating the continuation of traditional rural and agricultural enterprises; designated by the BOARD OF SUPERVISORS under ARS §11.806.D.3.
Sacred Site or Sacred Land: A geographical area or feature deemed sacred because of its traditional cultural or religious significance or its ceremonial use.
Scenic Byway or Scenic Corridor: Exceptional roads that are worthy of preservation because they traverse areas with distinctive cultural, historic, natural, or other unique qualities.
Section: One of 36 units of land within a given township; usually about 1 square mile (640 acres)in area.
Semipublic Uses: See: PUBLIC / SEMIPUBLIC USES.
Sheet Flow: Overland flow that occurs outside of defined drainage channels over large areas at a uniform, shallow depth.
Social Trail: An unplanned, unauthorized path that developed informally and is not designated or maintained by an agency. See also: TRAIL.
Species: Plants or animals grouped by common genetic attributes and assigned a scientific name. Species may also have common names.
Spring: A point on the earth’s surface where GROUNDWATER discharges from an AQUIFER.
State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO): A division of Arizona State Parks that is responsible for identifying and protecting Arizona’s prehistoric and historic CULTURAL RESOURCES.
Stewardship: The long-term responsibility for and careful management of the environment, resources, and land.
Subdivision: The division of land into six or more lots, parcels, or fractional interests under 36 acres, for sale or lease, including lands divided as part of a common promotional plan; also, the resulting site of subdivided land. See also: LOT SPLIT.
Subdivision Ordinance: The set of regulations adopted by the BOARD OF SUPERVISORS specifying the rules and standards for dividing land.
Surface Water: Water found in lakes, ponds, and reservoirs or flowing on the earth’s surface within a stream, wash, creek, or other natural drainage channel. See also: GROUNDWATER.
Survivable Space: The area surrounding a structure that has been designed or modified to increase its likelihood of surviving a wildfire without active intervention by fire protection services. See also: DEFENSIBLE SPACE.
Sustainable Building: Building techniques and materials that minimize the use of nonrenewable natural resources.
Thinning: Selective removal of trees and/or plants to restore the area to a more natural condition and/or open up a stand that is too thick for safety or management purposes. See also: PRESCRIBED BURNING.
Threatened & Endangered Species (TES): SPECIES listed by the U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE that have declined to a point where federal action is necessary for protection. Endangered species are considered more at risk than threatened species.
Threshold: Biologically, a tolerance level of a species or its HABITAT that, when exceeded, results in irreversible damage. See also: CARRYING CAPACITY.
Trail: A linear, multiple-use, public-access route for recreation or circulation.
Trail Easement: The property interest or right granted to a non-owner to travel across a specific portion of land for a specific or limited purpose.
Trailhead: A designated public-access point to a TRAIL that may feature informational signs as well as parking and restroom facilities.
Transfer of Development Rights (TDR): A transfer of the right to develop or build from one portion of a property to another portion, or from one property to another property.
Transit: A transportation mode that moves larger numbers of people than an automobile; generally refers to passenger service provided to the public along established routes with fixed or variable schedules at published fares. See also: PARA-TRANSIT.
Transportation System Management (TSM): Cost-effective methods of improving existing transportation systems by reducing vehicle use, facilitating traffic flow, and improving internal transit management.
Undeveloped Land: Land that is not developed or used. See also: DEVELOPED LAND and UNIMPROVED LAND.
Uniform Building Code (UBC): National standards for protecting life and property by regulating the design, construction, quality of materials, use, and occupancy of structures.
Unimproved Land: Land in a natural, predeveloped state. See also: UNDEVELOPED LAND.
United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO): An organization established in 1946 to contribute to world peace and security by promoting collaboration among nations through education, science, culture, and communication.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): The federal agency established in 1970 to consolidate a variety of federal research, monitoring, standard-setting, and enforcement activities related to protecting the natural environment.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFW): The federal agency whose mission is to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants, along with their habitats.
U.S. Forest Service (USFS): The federal agency charged with managing public lands in designated national forests and grasslands for multiple use.
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS): The federal agency that conducts research to provide geologic, topographic and hydrologic information.
Urban: A highly developed area that contains a variety of residential, commercial, industrial, and cultural uses; usually an area where access to infrastructure is readily available.
Urban Growth Boundary: The line on a map that is used to mark the separation of land that may become urbanized from rural land and within which urban growth should be encouraged and contained and outside of which urban development should not occur. See also: RURAL GROWTH BOUNDARY and: GROWTH AREA.
User Fee: A charge for the use of a product, facility, or service.
Vacant Land: See: UNDEVELOPED LAND.
Viability: Biologically, a state where a population maintains its vigor, long-term persistence, and potential for evolutionary adaptation.
Vision: An overall image of what the community wants to be and how it wants to look in the future.
Wastewater: Used water drained from homes, business, and industries; primarily sewage flow. See also: EFFLUENT.
Water Conservation: Any beneficial reduction in water loss, waste, or use.
Water Harvesting: The collection of rain or snowmelt for retention and future use or RECHARGE.
Water Supply System: The system for the collection, treatment, storage, and distribution of POTABLE WATER from the supply source to the consumer.
Watershed: The land area that contributes RUNOFF to a given stream, river, or reservoir.
Water Transfers: The exchange of water or water rights through willing buyers and sellers; also, the physical transfer of water—by truck, pipe, or other conveyance system—from one area to another. Water transfers typically involve movement from one WATERSHED to another or from one AQUIFER to another.
Weed Management Area (WMA): A geographic area with a group of federal, state, city and county managers and other stakeholders formed to address the problem of introduction and spread of invasive, non-native plants.
Wetlands: Areas that are inundated often enough to support plants and animals adapted to saturated soil conditions.
Wildcat Subdivision: An area developed through a series of successive lot splits.
Wilderness Area: A congressionally designated area of wilderness wherein motorized uses are prohibited.
Wilderness First Responder: An emergency medical training program designed for persons working or living in remote areas or other environments where immediate medical services, equipment, or 911 assistance are unavailable.
Wildland/Urban Interface: The area in and around a community where the immediate or secondary effects of a wildfire would threaten a community’s environmental, social, and economic values, causing serious detriment to the area’s overall health and viability.
Wildlife Corridor: An often limited or constrained area providing connectivity to larger animal HABITATS. See also: WILDLIFE MOVEMENT AREA.
Wildlife Movement Area: A broad HABITAT area that allows animals to move from one region to another in relative safety. See also: WILDLIFE CORRIDOR.
Wildlife Preserve: A federally designated area set aside to protect wildlife HABITAT.
Woodland: An area covered with woody vegetation, dominated by small trees such as piñon and juniper. See also: FORESTLANDS.
Xeriscape: Landscaping incorporating drought-tolerant, low water using, typically native vegetation.
Zoning: The delineation of districts and the establishment of regulations governing the use, placement, spacing and size of land and buildings.
Zoning Ordinance: A set of legally binding provisions adopted by the BOARD OF SUPERVISORS to govern ZONING. Along with the SUBDIVISION ORDINANCE, the Zoning Ordinance is used to implement the goals, objectives, and policies of the comprehensive plan.
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