Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 8A > Article 3 - Comprehensive Plan

• 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.
• Essential utilities and equipment: means underground or overhead electrical, gas, communications not regulated by the federal communications commission, water and sewage systems, including pole structures, towers, wires, lines, mains, drains, sewers, conduits, cables, fire alarm boxes, public telephone structures, police call boxes, traffic signals, hydrants, regulating and measuring devices and the structures in which they are housed, and other similar equipment accessories in connection therewith. 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
• 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
• 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
• Town: includes a city, village or town, and the word "council" any body or board, whether composed of one or more branches, which is authorized to make ordinances for the government of a city, town, or village. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Unit of government: means any federal, state, regional, county or municipal government or governmental agency. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2
• Urban area: means all lands or lots within the jurisdiction of a municipal planning commission. See West Virginia Code 8A-1-2