Glossary

These are the words you will meet on Chiban's screens, grouped by the work they belong to, each explained the way Chiban uses it.

Parcels and people

Parcel. A piece of land the town taxes and Chiban files everything under. Open a parcel to see its owner, permits, cases and records.

Map-lot ID. The number that locates a parcel on the tax map. Chiban shows it as the parcel's ID on screen.

CAMA number. The longer parcel number the assessing office's computer system uses. CAMA stands for computer-assisted mass appraisal. Chiban keeps it next to the map-lot ID and uses it to match the owner file from assessing.

Abutter. An owner of land that touches, or sits directly across a street or water from, the parcel in an application. Boards must send notice to abutters before a hearing. Chiban draws the abutter list from the map and the owner file.

Abutter list. Everyone who must get notice of a hearing: abutters, the applicant, and in some cases others such as a condominium association, a manufactured housing park, an easement holder or a regional planning commission. Chiban prints labels and letters from it.

Notice contacts. People who get mailed notice instead of, or as well as, the parcel owner, such as the officers of a condominium association.

Regional impact. A project big enough to affect neighboring towns. When a project has regional impact, Chiban adds the neighboring towns and the regional planning commission to the notice list.

Permits and approvals

Application. One request to the town: a permit, a registration or a board application. Its number starts with letters for its type, such as BP for a building permit.

Building permit. Permission to build, alter or demolish. Chiban tracks the deadline to decide it, the inspections and the certificate that closes it.

Trade permit. A permit for electrical, plumbing, or mechanical and gas work, usually taken out by a licensed contractor.

Certificate of occupancy. The town's statement that a finished building may be used. Applicants can ask for one, and it is how some permits close.

Placard. The sheet printed with a permit, which the owner posts at the site so people can see the work is permitted. Chiban puts Print placard next to the permit.

Condition. A requirement attached to an approval, such as "licensed plumber of record confirmed". Conditions are chosen from the town's condition library and print on the permit.

Starter. A ready-made application type that a New Hampshire town can adopt: the form, fees, conditions, inspection checklists and letters, all in one step.

Census building permits report. A report of new housing units from permits issued, in the categories of the Census Bureau's building permits survey. Chiban prepares the counts and staff key them into the Census site.

Boards and hearings

Planning Board. The board that decides site plans, subdivisions, conditional use permits and design review.

Zoning Board of Adjustment. Also ZBA. The board that decides variances, special exceptions, equitable waivers and appeals of administrative decisions.

Site plan review. The Planning Board's review of how a lot will be developed for something other than a single home: buildings, parking, drainage, lighting. A minor site plan is the smaller version. Chiban offers both.

Subdivision. Dividing one lot into two or more. A minor subdivision is the smaller version.

Lot line adjustment. Moving the boundary between two lots without creating a new lot.

Conditional use permit. Permission for a use that the zoning ordinance allows only if the Planning Board finds the listed conditions are met.

Design review. An early, informal look by the Planning Board at a proposal before a full application.

Variance. Permission from the Zoning Board to depart from the zoning ordinance, because applying it to this lot would cause unnecessary hardship. The form asks the applicant to address each of five tests.

Special exception. A use the ordinance allows in a zone if the Zoning Board finds the ordinance's listed criteria are met.

Equitable waiver. Relief from a dimensional rule, such as a setback, that was broken without anyone noticing until after the building was built.

Appeal of an administrative decision. A request that the Zoning Board review a decision made by a town official, such as the building inspector's reading of the ordinance.

Rehearing. A second hearing on a board's decision, asked for with a motion for rehearing within a set time after the vote.

Acceptance meeting. The meeting at which the Planning Board decides whether an application is complete. The deadline to decide it runs from acceptance.

Packet. The set of documents sent to board members before a meeting: the agenda, the applications and the staff notes.

Minutes. The written record of a meeting. Chiban tracks the deadline to file the minutes and the written decision.

Notice of decision. The written decision sent to the applicant after a board votes.

Deadlines

Clock. A deadline the law sets, which Chiban starts when an event happens, such as an application being received. It shows the due date and the days left, and shows as overdue when the date passes.

Business days. Days other than Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. Some clocks count in business days. Others count every day.

Extension. More time on a clock, recorded with a reason where the rule allows it.

Waiver. Giving up a requirement or a clock where the rule allows it, recorded with a reason.

Exercise-by date. The date by which the holder of a permit or approval must start the work or use it, or lose it.

Town rule. A time or value the town sets itself, such as how long a building permit stays valid. These are under Settings, Town rule settings.

Code enforcement

Complaint. A report that something may be a violation. Enforcement cases start from one. A complaint can be made anonymously.

Finding. What the enforcement officer records after looking: the section of the ordinance or code that was broken, and the facts.

Cease and desist order. A written order to stop a violation. Chiban follows it through service, the answer period, court and appeals.

Civil penalty. A daily fine for a violation, imposed by a court.

Building code. The state building code that the town enforces and inspects against. Chiban records which edition applied to a permit.

Records

Right-to-Know request. A request from the public to see town records. Chiban logs it, starts the clock for the first response, and keeps the response letter.

Exemption. A reason in the Right-to-Know law that lets the town withhold a record or part of one. A denial must state which one and why.

Redaction. Blacking out part of a document before it is released. Chiban makes a new copy and leaves the original unchanged.

Retention. How long the town must keep a kind of record before it may dispose of it. Each record series has its own rule.

Record series. A group of records that share a retention rule, such as building permit files.

Legal hold. An instruction not to dispose of anything under a project, application or document, whatever the retention schedule says.

Disposition. Disposing of records that have reached the end of their retention, in a batch that a person approves.

Preservation. Making a long-term copy of a stored document. Chiban makes PDF/A copies, a format meant to stay readable for decades.

Money and inspections

Fee schedule. The list of fees for an application type and how each is worked out from the answers on the form.

Convenience fee. An added charge on card payments, set by the town.

Inspection. A visit by the inspector to check work. Inspectors take requests, book a time and record a result against a checklist.