F

  • FAA. Federal Aviation Administration.
  • Facade. The front of a building.
  • Facilitate. To make an action or process easier or to help bring about.
  • Fair share. An allocation of resources, costs, or fees considered equitable and proportional to the needs, impacts, or activity of an existing or proposed project.
  • Fault / active fault. A fracture in the crust of the earth along which rocks on one side have moved relative to those on the other side. Most faults are the result of repeated displacements over a long period of time. A fault trace is the line on the earth’s surface defining the fault. For the purposes of the Alquist Priolo Earthquake Fault Zoning Act, an active fault is one that has ruptured in the last 11,000 years. See earthquake fault zone.
  • Fault. A fracture in the earth’s crust forming a boundary between rock masses that have shifted. A fault is considered to be an active fault if it has exhibited movement within the last 11,000 years and can be expected to move within the next 100 years. A potentially active fault is a fault that last moved within the Quaternary Period before the Holocene Epoch (the last 2,000,000 to 11,000). An inactive fault which shows no evidence of movement in recent geologic time and no potential for movement in the relatively near future.
  • Feasible. Capable of being done, executed, or managed successfully taking into consideration social, physical, environmental, and/or economic factors.
  • Feasible, technically. Capable of being implemented because the industrial, mechanical, or application technology exists.
  • Feature. A noticeable or important characteristic, attribute, or aspect of something.
  • Fenestration. The arrangement and design of windows in a building.
  • Finding(s). The result(s) of an investigation and the basis upon which decisions are made. Findings are used by government agents and bodies to justify action taken or a decision made by the entity.
  • Fiscal sustainability. The city’s capacity to operate and maintain public facilities and to provide public services with a reasonable level of service using the revenue generated for the service or facility or revenue generated by the users or beneficiaries of the service or facility. Fiscal sustainability exists when the city has the financial capacity to operate and maintain public facilities and to provide public services in the short term and over the long term.
  • Fixed guideway. A transportation system technology, such as a streetcar, that runs along rails that are embedded in pavement in either a dedicated lane of a street or a lane that is shared with other vehicles.
  • Flood. Refers to the rising and overflowing of a body of water onto normally dry land that is often caused by storm events or breaches of flood control infrastructure. Urban flooding is caused when heavy rainfall creates a flood independent of an overflowing water body, such as when intense rain overwhelms the capacity of an urban drainage system.
  • Flood zone / flood hazard area. The Policy Plan displays and/or refers to the following simplified categories on flood hazard maps and in policies:
    • FEMA 100-year flood zone. An area mapped on a flood insurance rate map (FIRM) where a storm with a 1 percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year can cause flood conditions. FIRMs are mapped under the Federal Agency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
    • DWR 100-year flood zone. An area mapped by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) that identify 100-year flood hazard areas using approximate assessment procedures. These floodplains are identified simply as flood prone areas without specific depths and other flood hazard data; they are not FEMA regulatory floodplain maps. The state conducts an Awareness Floodplain Mapping project to identify all pertinent flood hazard areas for areas that are not mapped under FEMA’s NFIP, and to provide the community and residents an additional tool in understanding potential flood hazards currently not mapped as a regulated floodplain.
    • FEMA 200-year flood zone. An area mapped (currently in limited areas) by DWR where a storm with a 0.5 percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year can cause flood conditions
    • FEMA 500-year flood zone. An area mapped on a FIRM where a storm with a 0.2 percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year can cause flood conditions. FIRMs are mapped under FEMA’s NFIP.
  • Flood insurance rate map (FIRM). The official map on which FEMA has delineated both the areas of special flood hazards and the risk premium zones applicable to the community. Flood hazard areas identified on the FIRM are identified as a special flood hazard area (SFHA). SFHAs are defined as the area that will be inundated by the flood event having a 1-percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. The 1-percent annual chance flood is also referred to as the base flood or 100-year flood.
  • Floor-area-ratio (FAR). A measurement used to identify nonresidential land use intensity. The FAR is the ratio of the total gross floor area of all buildings on a lot compared to the total area of that lot. FAR calculations exclude structured park square footage.
  • Focus areas. Areas targeted for more specific land use planning and design guidance based on their ability to provide new housing options, encourage a range of businesses, promote access and linkages to leisure amenities, preserve industrial land, and concentrate development along transit corridors.
  • Focus intersections. Urban spaces with intense activity at the encounter point of two paths. A local apex or points where paths meet and appear like peaks.
  • Food insecurity. The state of being without reliable access to sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.
  • Fund. To make money available for a prescribed purpose; may be a one-time, periodic, or ongoing commitment.
  • Funding and financing mechanism. A legislatively authorized public revenue tool covering a distinct geographical area in which revenues may be generated by properties to fund various public facilities and services. Many of these mechanisms also allow for the issuance of debt. Examples of funding and financing mechanisms can include: assessment district, contractual assessment district, business improvement district, community facility district, community services district, multifamily housing district, lighting and landscaping maintenance district, parking district, community revitalization and investment authority, and enhanced infrastructure finance district.
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