Glossary of Planning Terms

Glossary is usually defined as an alphabetical list of technical terms in some specialized field of knowledge. This knowledge base glossary provides a collection of knowledge base documents that define many technical terms. These terms are arranged alphabetically, but you can quickly jump to a specific term by selecting its first letter from the index of the knowledge base glossary below.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

Keyword

Term
Accessory Use
The "use" of a "building," "structure," or land which: (A) Is subordinate to, customarily incidental to, and ordinarily found in association with, a principal "use," which it serves. (When a specific "structure" or "use" is allowed in the Principal or Accessory Tables of Uses in Part 5: Use Regulations of this Subtitle, the "structure" or "use" need not be customarily incidental to, or ordinarily found in association with, the principal "use"); (B) Is subordinate in purpose, area (except in the case of a cemetery that is accessory to a church, convent, or monastery, provided both uses were existing as of January 1, 1991), floor area, intensity, and extent to, and located on the same "lot" with, the principal "use", except that a “tourist home” as an “accessory use” need only be subordinate to the principal “dwelling” use in purpose and number of nights used as a “tourist home” “accessory use” over a calendar year; and (C) Does not change the character of the principal "use."
Acre
43,560 square feet.
Address Matching
As defined by Esri, a process that compares an address or a table of addresses to attributes of a dataset to determine if a particular address matches or falls within an address range associated with a feature in the reference dataset. If an address match is made, a location can be returned.
Adequate Public Facilities (Apf) Regulations
Requirements within the Subdivision Regulations ensuring "that infrastructure necessary to support proposed development is built at the same time as, or prior to, that proposed development." See Section 24-4500 of the Subdivision Regulations.
Afforestation
The establishment of a biological community of perpetual woodlands either through the planting of trees on an area from which trees have always or very long been absent, or the planting of open areas which are not presently in forest cover. (Section 25-118(b)(3) of the Woodland and Wildlife Habitat Conservation Ordinance; See also REFORESTATION.) See also:  Reforestation
Agricultural Assessment
A state program in which land used for agricultural purposes is assessed based on its value as agricultural land as opposed to a higher valuation.
Air Installation Compatible Use Zone (Aicuz) Study
A study performed and updated periodically by Air Force installations to assist local, regional, State, and Federal officials in the communities neighboring military air facilities, such as Joint Base Andrews, by promoting compatible development within areas subject to aircraft noise and accident potential; and protecting Air Force operational capability from the effects of land use that are incompatible with aircraft operations. The geography and extent of the Accident Potential Zones, the Clear Zones, the height surfaces, and the noise contours are defined in this study. (Section 27-3500 of the Zoning Ordinance)
Air Rights
The development rights of the space above a piece of land and its existing ground level use.
Ancillary
Certain small shops, stores, restaurants associated with larger uses, e.g., office and residential, that supply necessities in frequent demand and the daily needs of an area, with a minimum of consumer travel (e.g., restaurants, dry cleaners in an office or mid-rise residential building).
Annotation
Text or graphics stored as features and used to label spatial features for display.
Arc
1. A shape defined by a connected series of unique x, y coordinate pairs. An arc may be straight or curved. 2. A feature class that represents linear features and polygon boundaries. One line feature can contain many arcs. Arcs are topologically linked to nodes (arc-node topology) and to polygons (polygon-arc topology).
Area Master Plan
A comprehensive plan for the physical development of the entirety of one or more planning areas, showing in detail elements such as the type, density, and intensity of land uses; pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular traffic features; public facilities; and the relationship between the various uses to transportation, other public facilities and services, and amenities within the master plan area, and where appropriate, to other areas. Approved sector plans and transit district development plans are also Area Master Plans. (See also SECTOR PLAN and TRANSIT DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT PLAN) See also:  Sector Plan , Transit District Development Plan
Arterial
A highway, usually within a 120-foot right-of-way, for through traffic with access controlled to minimize direct connections, usually divided and on a continuous route.
At-Grade
Level for a road, building or other structure at the same grade or level as the adjoining property (as opposed to a depressed or elevated road, building or other facility).
Attribute
1. A characteristic of a geographic feature described by numbers, characters, images and CAD drawings, typically stored in tabular format and linked to the feature by a user-assigned identifier (e.g., the attributes of a well might include depth and gallons per minute). 2. A column in a database table. See also item.
Attribute Table
A tabular file containing rows and columns. In GIS, attribute tables are associated with spatial features, such as wells or roads. Each row represents a geographic feature. Each column represents one attribute of a feature, with the same column representing the same attribute in each row.
Average Daily Traffic (Adt)
The average number of vehicles passing a specified point on a highway during a 24-hour period.