Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 8A > Article 1 - General Provisions

• Abandonment: means the relinquishment of property or a cessation of the use of the property by the owner or lessee without any intention of transferring rights to the property to another owner or resuming the nonconforming use of the property for a period of one year. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Conditional use: means a use which because of special requirements or characteristics may be permitted in a particular zoning district only after review by the board of zoning appeals and upon issuance of a conditional use permit, and subject to the limitations and conditions specified in the zoning ordinance. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
• Contiguous: means lots, parcels, municipal boundaries or county boundaries that are next to, abutting and having a boundary, or portion thereof, that is coterminous. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
• Governing body: means the body that governs a municipality or county. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
• Infill development: means to fill in vacant or underused land in existing communities with new development that blends in with its surroundings. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Land development: means the development of one or more lots, tracts or parcels of land by any means and for any purpose, but does not include easements, rights-of-way or construction of private roads for extraction, harvesting or transporting of natural resources. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
• Manufactured home: means housing built in a factory according to the federal manufactured home construction and safety standards effective June 15, 1976. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
• Plan: means a written description for the development of land. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
• Planning commission: means a municipal planning commission, a county planning commission, a multicounty planning commission, a regional planning commission or a joint planning commission. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
• Sprawl: means poorly planned or uncontrolled growth, usually of a low-density nature, within previously rural areas, that is land consumptive, auto-dependent, designed without respect to its surroundings, and some distance from existing development and infrastructure. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
• Streets: means streets, avenues, boulevards, highways, roads, lanes, alleys and all public ways. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
• Unit of government: means any federal, state, regional, county or municipal government or governmental agency. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
• Utility: means a public or private distribution service to the public that is regulated by the Public Service Commission. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
• Zoning: means the division of a municipality or county into districts or zones which specify permitted and conditional uses and development standards for real property within the districts or zones. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
• Zoning map: means a map that geographically illustrates all zoning district boundaries within a municipality or county, as described within the zoning ordinance, and which is certified as the official zoning map for the municipality or county. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2