--- title: "Duluth UDC (unnumbered, p.387: Definitions — C) — Duluth" jurisdiction: duluth governing_jurisdiction: Duluth source_url: "https://www.duluthga.net/UDC_ADOPTED_9.8.2025_Amended_7-13-26.pdf" effective_date: "2026-07-13" as_of: "2026-08-13" canonical: "https://www.gwindex.net/code/duluth/unnumbered-p-387-definitions-c" licence: "CC0-1.0" --- # Duluth UDC (unnumbered, p.387: Definitions — C) Definitions — C **Governing jurisdiction: Duluth.** A "Duluth, GA" mailing address is usually NOT in the City of Duluth. Unincorporated Gwinnett is 67.3% of the county's land area and is governed by a different code, a different board and a different permit portal. Resolve the governing jurisdiction before answering any zoning question. - **Article:** 14 — Interpretation and Definitions - **Pages in source:** 387–390 - **Adopted:** 2025-09-08 - **Amended through:** 2026-07-13 - **Source:** https://www.duluthga.net/UDC_ADOPTED_9.8.2025_Amended_7-13-26.pdf ## Text Caliper. A standard of trunk measurement for nursery stock and newly planted trees, and not for established trees. Caliper inches are measured at the height of 6 inches above the ground for trees up to and including 4- inch caliper and 12 inches above the ground for trees larger than 4-inch caliper. Canopy: 1. Building Canopy. A permanent roof-like structure projecting from a building and open on at least one side for the purpose of shielding a pedestrian walkway from the elements. 2. Freestanding Canopy. A freestanding roof-like structure supported by columns intended to shield a vehicular driveway or service area from the elements. 386 | P a g e Article Fourteen. Interpretation and Definitions Canopy tree. A large or medium tree with a crown size and shape that will typically provide significant shade and beneficial effects on temperature, air quality, water quality, and other environmental conditions, at maturity. Also see Overstory Tree. Certified Personnel. A person who has successfully completed the appropriate certification course approved by the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission. Champion tree. A tree of sufficient points – given for the total of the circumference of the trunk in inches at 4.5 feet above the ground plus the total vertical height in feet plus the average crown spread in feet – to qualify as the largest tree of its species within the City of Duluth, Gwinnett County, the state of Georgia or the United States. Channel. A natural or artificial watercourse with a definite bed and banks that conducts continuously or periodically flowing water. Character Area. A portion of the city designated as any one of the various “character areas” created within the City’s Comprehensive Plan and shown as to its boundaries and extent on the Future Development Map subtitled “Character Areas” included as a part of said Plan, and as may be amended from time-to-time by the City Council. Chattahoochee Corridor. All land within 2,000 feet of the banks of the Chattahoochee River, including any impoundments thereon, or within the floodplain, whichever is greater, from directly below Buford Dam downstream to the downstream limits of Fulton and Douglas counties, including the entire bed of the river and any improvements and all islands therein. City Separate Storm Sewer System. Any conveyance or system of conveyances which is: 1. Owned or maintained by the City; 2. Not a combined sewer; and, 3. Not part of a publicly owned treatment works. Clean Water Act. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq.), and any subsequent amendments thereto. Clearing. The removal of vegetation from a property, whether by cutting or other means. Clear Cutting. The broad removal of all trees and/or vegetation from a particular area. Clearing. The removal of vegetation from a property, whether by cutting or other means. Collocate or Collocation. To install, mount, modify, or replace a small wireless facility on or adjacent to a pole, decorative pole, or support structure. Column Sign. See under “Freestanding Sign”. Commercial Vehicle. Commercial motor vehicle means any self-propelled or towed motor vehicle used on a highway in intrastate or interstate commerce or both to transport passengers or property when the vehicle: a. Has a gross vehicle weight rating, gross combination weight rating, gross vehicle weight, or gross combination weight of 4,536 kg (10,001 lbs.) or more; b. Is designed or used to transport more than eight passengers, including the driver, for compensation; c. Is designed or used to transport more than 15 passengers, including the driver, and is not used to transport passengers for compensation; or d. Is used to transport material determined to be hazardous by the Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation under 49 U.S.C. Section 5103 and transported in a quantity that requires placards under regulations prescribed under 49 C.F.R., Subtitle B, Chapter 1, Subchapter C. 387 | P a g e Article Fourteen. Interpretation and Definitions Commission (GSWCC). The Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission. Communications Facility. The set of equipment and network components, including wires and cables and associated equipment and network components, used by a communications service provider to provide communications services. Communication Services. Cable service as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 522(6); telecommunications service as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 153(53); information service as defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 153(24), as each such term existed on January 1, 2019; or wireless services. Communication Services Provider. A provider of communications services. Community Forest. The collection of individual trees and forest stands (consisting of 100 trees on a single acre) within the City of Duluth, including trees on both public and private property. Community tree. Any tree growing within the City of Duluth, whether on public or private property. Concealment Element. Any design feature, including but not limited to painting, landscaping, shielding requirements, and restrictions on location, proportions, or physical dimensions in relation to the surrounding area or the structure which supports a Wireless Facility, that are intended to make a Wireless Facility or any supporting structure less visible to the casual observer. Condominium. A multiple unit dwelling in which each dwelling unit is owned or financed by the occupant, but in which halls, entrance ways, common areas, and underlying lands are owned jointly. Conifer Tree. Any tree with needle leaves and a woody cone fruit including, but not limited to, pine, juniper, and cedar species. Conservable tree. A healthy tree at least two inches DBH that can and will be protected in accordance with the technical standards set forth in this chapter. Conserved tree canopy cover. That portion of the tree canopy cover represented by natural cover of individual conservable trees, forested areas and/or forest regeneration areas. Conservation Easement. An agreement between a land owner and the (local jurisdiction) or other government agency or land trust that permanently protects open space or greenspace on the owner’s land by limiting the amount and type of development that can take place but continues to leave the remainder of the fee interest in private ownership. Consolidated Application (Small Cell Wireless Facility). An application for the collocation of multiple small wireless facilities on existing poles or support structures or for the installation, modification, or replacement of multiple poles and the collocation of associated small wireless facilities. Construction Activity. Activities subject to the Georgia Erosion and Sedimentation Control Act or NPDES general construction permits. These include construction projects resulting in land disturbance. Such activities include but are not limited to clearing and grubbing, grading, excavating, and demolition. Construction Buffer. See under “Buffer”. Conveyance. An aboveground or underground natural or manmade drainage feature, that provides for the collection and movement of stormwater, and shall include but not be limited to concrete or metal pipes, ditches, depressions, swales, roads with drainage systems, highways, city streets, curbs, gutters, inlets, catch basins, piped storm drains, pumping facilities, structural stormwater controls, drainage channels, reservoirs, rights-of-way, storm drains, culverts, street gutters, oil/water separators, modular pavements and other similar drainage structures. 388 | P a g e Article Fourteen. Interpretation and Definitions Conveyor Car Wash. A commercial car wash where the car moves on a conveyor belt during the wash. The driver of the vehicle can remain in the vehicle or wait outside of the vehicle. Corridor, Watershed. All land within the buffer areas established adjacent to reservoirs or perennial streams within a water supply watershed and within other setback areas specified in this Code Division. CPESC. Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control with current certification by Certified Profession in Erosion and Sediment Control Inc., a corporation registered in Georgia, that is also referred to as CPESC or CPESC, Inc. Critical Root Zone. The minimum area beneath a tree which must be left undisturbed in order to preserve a sufficient Critical Root Zone (CRZ) will typically be represented by a concentric circle centering on the tree’s trunk with a radius equivalent to the distance to the dripline, or 1.25 feet for every one inch in DBH, whichever is greater. The critical root zone increases in size as a tree grows larger. Example: the CRZ radius of a 20 inch diameter tree is 25 feet. Crown. The leaves and branches of a tree or shrub; the upper portion of a tree from the lowest branch on the trunk to the top. Customary Home Occupation. An occupation, service, profession or enterprise conducted entirely within a dwelling and which is carried on by a resident thereof and which is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for residential dwelling purposes. Cut. A portion of land surface or area from which earth has been removed or will be removed by excavation; the depth below original ground surface to the excavated surface. Also known as excavation.