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passengers, and shipbuilding and ship repair facilities. The term does not include long-term storage or related manufacturing facilities.
HABITABLE BUILDING— Pursuant to the FHACA Rules (N.J.A.C. 7:13), means a building that is intended for regular human occupation and/or residence. Examples of a habitable building include a single-family home, duplex, multi-residence building, or critical building; a commercial building such as a retail store, restaurant, office building, or gymnasium; an accessory structure that is regularly occupied, such as a garage, barn, or workshop; mobile and manufactured homes, and trailers intended for human residence, which are set on a foundation and/or connected to utilities, such as in a mobile home park (not including campers and recreational vehicles); and any other building that is regularly occupied, such as a house of worship, community center, or meeting hall, or animal shelter that includes regular human access and occupation. Examples of a non-habitable building include a bus stop shelter, utility building, storage shed, self-storage unit, construction trailer, or an individual shelter for animals such as a doghouse or outdoor kennel.
HARDSHIP – As related to Section 107 of this ordinance, meaning the exceptional hardship that would result from a failure to grant the requested variance. The TOWNSHIP COUNCIL requires that the variance be exceptional, unusual, and peculiar to the property involved. Mere economic or financial hardship alone is not exceptional. Inconvenience, aesthetic considerations, physical handicaps, personal preferences, or the disapproval of one's neighbors likewise cannot, as a rule, qualify as an exceptional hardship. All of these problems can be resolved through other means without granting a variance, even if the alternative is more expensive, or requires the property owner to build elsewhere or put the parcel to a different use than originally intended.
HIGHEST ADJACENT GRADE – The highest natural elevation of the ground surface prior to construction next to the proposed or existing walls of a structure.
Listed individually in the National Register of Historic Places (a listing maintained by the Department of Interior) or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior as meeting the requirements for individual listing on the National Register;
Certified or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior as contributing to the historical significance of a registered historic district or a district preliminarily determined by the Secretary to qualify as a registered historic district;
Individually listed on a State inventory of historic places in States with historic preservation programs which have been approved by the Secretary of the Interior; or
Individually listed on a local inventory of historic places in communities with historic preservation programs that have been certified either:
By an approved State program as determined by the Secretary of the Interior; or
Directly by the Secretary of the Interior in States without approved programs.
LAWFULLY EXISTING – Per the FHACA, means an existing fill, structure and/or use, which meets all Federal, State, and local laws, and which is not in violation of the FHACA because it was established:
Prior to January 31, 1980; or
On or after January 31, 1980, in accordance with the requirements of the FHACA as it existed at the time the fill, structure and/or use was established.
Note: Substantially damaged properties and substantially improved properties that have not been elevated are not considered “lawfully existing” for the purposes of the NFIP. This definition is included in this ordinance to clarify the applicability of any more stringent statewide floodplain management standards required under the FHACA.