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Laboratory: A place where scientific studies are conducted, including testing, research, or analysis of a medical, chemical, physical, biological, mechanical, or electronic nature.

Lake or Natural Watercourse: Any stream, river, brook, swamp, sound, bay, creek, run, branch, canal, waterway, estuary and any reservoir, lake or pond, natural or impounded, in which sediment may be moved or carried in suspension, and which could be damaged by accumulation of sediment.

Land Disturbing Activity: Any use of land by any person in residential, industrial, educational, institutional or commercial development, and in highway and road construction and maintenance, that results in a change in the natural cover or topography and that may cause or contribute to sedimentation. This includes borrow and waste disposal activity not regulated by the provisions of the Mining Act of 1971 or the Department of Health and Human Resources, Division of Health Services. Land disturbing activities over which the State has exclusive regulatory jurisdiction as provided in NCGS § 74-46 through 74-68, or NCGS § 113A-56 (a) shall not be included in this definition.

Landfill, Demolition: A facility for disposing of stumps, limbs, leaves, concrete, brick, wood, uncontaminated earth and other solid wastes resulting from construction, demolition or land clearing.

Landfill, Sanitary: A facility where waste material and refuse is placed in the ground in layers and covered with earth or some other suitable material each work day.

Lattice: A tapered style of antenna-supporting structure that consists of vertical and horizontal supports with multiple legs and cross-bracing, and metal crossed strips or bars to support antennas.

Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA): An official determination by FEMA that a property has been inadvertently included in a Special Flood Hazard Area as shown on an effective FIRM and is not subject to inundation by the one percent annual chance flood. Generally, the property is located on natural high ground at or above the BFE or on fill placed prior to the effective date of the first NFIP map designating the property as within a Special Flood Hazard Area. Limitations of map scale and development of topographic data more accurately reflecting the existing ground elevation at the time the maps were prepared are the two most common bases for LOMA requests.

Letter of Map Change (LOMC): A term used to inclusively define a FEMA issued letter related to a Flood Insurance Rate Map or Flood Hazard Boundary Map using one or more of the following processes: Letter of Map Amendment, Letter of Map Revision, as well as conditional Letter of Map Amendment and conditional Letter of Map Revision.

Letter of Map Revision (LOMR): A letter issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that confirms amendment of a special flood hard area boundary.

Level of Service: A measure of capacity per unit of demand for a public service or facility. An indicator of the extent or degree of service provided by, or proposed to be provided by, a facility based on and related to the operational characteristics of the facility.

Livestock: Livestock includes but is not limited to poultry and hoofed animals such as cattle, horses, goats, sheep and swine; however, swine commonly referred to as Miniature, Vietnamese or Oriental Pot-Bellied pigs (Sus scroda vittatus) shall not be considered livestock if the animals are no more than 18 inches in height, the owner has proof of registry with the International Potbellied Pig Registry (IPPR), and no more than two are kept at any household.

Loading Area: A space used to transfer goods and material between vehicles and a building or lot.

Local Street: Streets less than one mile in length that do not connect thoroughfares, or major traffic generators, and typically do not collect traffic from more than 100 dwelling units; or loop streets less than 2,500 feet in length.

Lot, Corner: A lot abutting two or more streets at their intersection.

Lot, Double-Frontage: A lot, other than a corner lot, with frontage on more than one street.

Lot, Flag:

A. A lot with two distinct parts:

1. The flag, which is the only building site; meets the lot width requirement of the zoning district; and is located behind another lot; and

2. The pole, which connects the flag to the street; provides the only street frontage and access for the lot; and at any point is less than the minimum lot width for the zone.

B. A lot when, as a result of an approved and recorded street closing or withdrawal, the only street frontage and access to the lot is less than the minimum lot width, in which case the “pole” shall be considered the width of frontage along the street.

Lot Area: The total area within the lot lines of a platted lot.

Lot of Record: Also called “lot” or “parcel”, a parcel of land described by metes and bounds, or otherwise delineated by property boundary dimensions, on a plat recorded in the office of the appropriate Register of Deeds.

Lot, Through: See “Lot, Double-Frontage.”

Lot Width: The distance between the side lot lines, measured along a straight line parallel to the front property line or parallel to the chord of the front property line at the street yard setback line or at the building line on flag lots or gore shape lots.

Low Density Option: One of two approaches available for development in Watershed Protection Overlays that relies on non-structural means, specifically lower intensity limits, to minimize the risk of water pollution.

Lowest Adjacent Grade (LAG): means the elevation of the ground, sidewalk or patio slab immediately next to the building, or deck support, after completion of the building.

Lowest Floor: The lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area (including basement). An unfinished or flood resistant enclosure, usable solely for parking of vehicles, building access, or storage in an area other than a basement area is not considered a building's lowest floor provided that such an enclosure is not built so as to render the structure in violation of the applicable non-elevation design requirements of this ordinance.