(A) General. This section identifies each of the five use classifications in Table 7-1, Table of Permitted Uses, and includes a section under each use classification identifying each use category. There are “Characteristics” and “Examples” divisions under each use category which describe the typical types of uses that are included in each category.
(B) Principal use characteristics and accessory uses. The “Characteristics” division describes common characteristics of each use category. Principal uses are assigned to the use category that most closely describes the nature of the principal use. Also listed are examples of common accessory uses, which, unless otherwise stated in this ordinance, are allowed in conjunction with a principal use.
(C) Examples. The “Examples” division lists common examples of use types included in the respective use category. The names of these sample uses are generic. They are based on common meanings and not on what a specific use may call itself. For example, a use that calls itself “Wholesale Sales”, but sells mostly to consumers, is included in the Retail Sales and Service category rather than the Wholesale Sales category. This is because the activity on the site matches the characteristics of the retail sales and service use category.
(1) Characteristics. The household living use category includes the residential occupancy of a dwelling unit by a household. Tenancy is arranged on a month-to-month or longer basis. Accessory uses commonly associated with Household Living are recreational activities, raising of pets, hobbies, and parking of the occupants’ vehicles. Home occupations are accessory uses that are subject to additional regulations (see division 7.4.3(G), Home Occupation).
(1) Characteristics. The group living use category includes the residential occupancy of a structure by a group of people who do not meet the definition of “household”. The size of the group may be larger than the average size of a household. Tenancy is arranged on a monthly or longer basis. Generally, group living structures have a common eating area for residents. The residents may receive care, training, or treatment. Common accessory uses include recreational facilities, dining facilities, and parking of vehicles for occupants and staff.
(1) Characteristics. The community services use category includes use types of a public, nonprofit, or charitable nature providing a local service to people of the community. Generally, such uses provide ongoing continued service on-site or have employees at the site on a regular basis. Community centers or facilities that have membership provisions that are open to the general public (for instance, any senior citizen could join a senior center) are included in the community services use category. The use type may provide special counseling, education, or training of a public, nonprofit, or charitable nature. Accessory uses may include offices, meeting, food preparation, parking, health, and therapy areas; and athletic facilities.
(1) Characteristics. The educational facilities use category includes use types such as public and private schools at the primary, elementary, middle, intermediate, or high school level that provide state-mandated basic education or a comparable equivalent. This use category also includes colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher learning such as vocational or trade schools that offer courses of general or specialized study leading to a degree or certification. Accessory uses at schools include offices, play areas, cafeterias, recreational and sport facilities, auditoriums, and before- or after-school daycare. Accessory uses at colleges or universities include offices, dormitories, food service, laboratories, health and sports facilities, theaters, meeting areas, athletic fields, parking, maintenance facilities, and supporting commercial.
(1) Characteristics. The government facilities use category includes post offices; government maintenance, storage, and distribution facilities; and other offices and facilities for the operation of local, state, or federal government, including use that provide public safety services to the general public. Accessory uses include maintenance, storage (indoor and outdoor), fueling facilities, satellite offices, and parking areas.
(1) Characteristics. The health care facilities use category includes use types such as uses providing medical or surgical care and treatment to patients as well as laboratory services. Hospitals and medical treatment facilities offer overnight care, as well as outpatient. Accessory uses include offices, laboratories, teaching facilities, meeting areas, cafeterias, parking, maintenance facilities, housing for staff or trainees, and limited accommodations for family members.
(1) Characteristics. This use category includes use types that provide a variety of facilities, including buildings that provide meeting areas for religious activities, civic or fraternal club activities, convention centers or auditoriums, housing and care for the elderly or disabled, and housing related to treatment programs. Accessory uses include school facilities, limited medical treatment facilities, kitchens/cafeterias, recreation areas, offices, meeting rooms, parking, and staff residences.
(1) Characteristics. The utilities use category includes both major utilities, which are infrastructure services providing regional or community-wide service, and minor utilities, which are infrastructure services that need to be located in or near the neighborhood or use type where the service is provided. Telecommunication towers also are a type of utility. Services may be publicly or privately provided. Accessory uses may include parking and control, offices, monitoring, storage areas, or data transmission equipment.
(A) Characteristics. The working lands use category is characterized by general agricultural activities, including agronomy, aquaculture, horticulture (the commercial and noncommercial production of crops), honey production, silviculture (including the harvesting of timber), animal husbandry, and similar uses. Accessory uses may include offices, storage areas, barns, stables, irrigation systems, and repair facilities related to agriculture uses.
(1) Characteristics. The adult entertainment use category includes use types that sell or distribute material or provide activities with sexually explicit content, including the display of specified anatomical areas or specified sexual activities as defined by the state’s general statutes. While such uses are allowed to operate within the town’s jurisdiction, they are required to be separated from other existing uses and designed to minimize impact and protect the health, safety, and welfare of the residents of the town. No more than one sexually oriented business use may occupy a single building or lot, and such uses may not be accessory uses to another business. The sale of fuel, alcoholic beverages for off-site consumption, massage, or shower or bath services is prohibited within a sexually oriented business.
(1) Characteristics. The daycare use category includes use types that provide care, protection, and supervision for children or adults on a regular basis away from their primary residence typically for less than 24 hours per day. Care can be provided during daytime or nighttime hours. Accessory uses not integral to the principal use type include offices, kitchens for food preparation, recreation areas, and parking.
(1) Characteristics. This use category includes dwelling units arranged for short term stays of less than 30 days for rent, lease, or interval occupancy. Accessory uses may include pools and other recreational facilities, limited storage, restaurants, supporting commercial, bars, meeting facilities, and offices.
(1) Characteristics. The office use category includes activities conducted in an office setting and that generally focus on business, professional, or financial services. Accessory uses may include cafeterias, daycare facilities, recreational or fitness facilities, parking, and supporting commercial, or other amenities primarily for the use of employees in the firm or building.
(2) Examples. Examples include fitness centers, bowling alleys, go cart tracks, game rooms, shooting ranges, dancehalls, skating rinks, indoor commercial swimming pools, racquetball, squash, and tennis club facilities (indoor) as well as theatres, which includes cinemas, screening rooms, and stages.
(1) Characteristics. The outdoor recreation use category includes large, generally commercial uses that provide continuous recreation or entertainment-oriented activities that primarily take place outdoors. They may take place in a number of structures that are arranged together in an outdoor setting. Accessory uses may include concessions, parking, and maintenance facilities.
(2) Examples. Examples include privately-owned stadiums, amphitheaters, or arenas; private golf driving ranges and courses; privately-owned miniature golf facilities; go cart, race track, or dirt track; drive-in movies; privately-owned outdoor commercial tourist attractions, water, and amusement parks; swimming pools; campgrounds; and privately-owned active sports facilities such as ballfields and tennis courts.
(1) Characteristics. The restaurant use category includes establishments that sell food for on- or off-premises consumption. Accessory uses may include bars or cocktail lounges associated with the establishment, decks and patios for outdoor seating, drive through facilities, facilities for live entertainment or dancing, customer and employee parking areas, and valet parking facilities.
(1) Characteristics. The retail sales and services use category includes use types involved in the sale, lease, or rent of new or used products to the general public. They may also provide personal services or entertainment, or provide product repair or services for consumer and business goods. Accessory uses may include offices, storage of goods, manufacture or repackaging of goods for on-site sale, concessions, ATM machines, outdoor display/sales areas, and parking. Use types within this use category have been categorized based on their intensity, scale, and function.
(iv) Type I Retail Use. Type I Retail Uses include small-scale uses that are 5,000 square feet in size or less, that are intended to be “convenience” retail that serves the general area or neighborhood in which they are located. Type I Retail Uses include, but are not limited to, the following types of low intensity retail uses:
(a) Financial institutions;
(b) Laundromats, and dry-cleaning drop-off establishments;
(c) Photographic studios;
(d) Mailing or packing services;
(e) Coffee shops and retail bakeries;
(f) Hair, tanning, and nail salons; personal care services;
(g) Massage therapy and day spas;
(h) Stores selling books, clothing, and dry goods;
(i) Income tax return preparers;
(j) Repair and servicing of appliances, electronics, and other small items or equipment;
(k) Tailoring and shoe repair; and
(l) Locksmith.
Type I Retail Uses exceeding 5,000 square feet in size are Type II Retail Uses.
(v) Type II Retail Use. Type II Retail Uses can be thought of as “destination” retail that generally serves groups of neighborhoods and are appropriate near neighborhood edges and along collector streets. Type II Retail Uses are larger in scale and intensity than Type I Retail Uses, but do not include any outdoor storage or display. These establishments may be up to 50,000 square feet in size. Examples of Type II Retail Uses include stores selling, leasing, or renting consumer, home, and business goods, whether new or used, art, art supplies, electronic equipment, fabric, furniture, flowers, groceries and food sales, household products, jewelry, recorded music, pets, pet food, pharmaceuticals, plants, printer material, stationary, and videos; photocopy and blueprint services; psychics and mediums; funeral homes and mortuaries. Any Type I Retail Use exceeding 5,000 square feet in size is classified as a Type II Retail Use.
(vi) Type III Retail Use. Type III Retail Uses are appropriate along major thoroughfares and in primarily nonresidential areas. These types of retail uses generally provide a range of goods and services that are regional in scale, and have the highest square footage and intensities of the retail use types, are auto oriented, and often include some form of outdoor storage or display. Examples of Type III Retail Uses include all retail uses which are more than 50,000 square feet in size; home improvement, hardware, and garden supply stores; businesses selling, servicing, and repairing recreational vehicles, boats and similar items, mobile home sales lots, building material sales; car, truck, and tool rental equipment yards; farm and machinery sales; and tattoo parlor or body piercing establishments. Any Type II Retail Use exceeding 50,000 square feet in size is classified as a Type III Retail Use.
(1) Characteristics. The Extractive Industry Use category includes businesses that are engaged in the extraction, removal, or basic processing of minerals, liquids, gases, or other natural resources. Such uses also include quarrying, well operation, mining, or other procedures typically done at an extraction site. Accessory uses include offices, wholesale sales, security or caretakers quarters, outdoor storage, and maintenance facilities.
(1) Characteristics. The Industrial Services Use category includes the repair or servicing of industrial, business, or consumer machinery, equipment, products, or byproducts. Firms that service consumer goods do so by mainly providing centralized services for separate retail outlets. Contractors and building maintenance services and similar uses perform services off-site. Few customers, especially the general public, come to the site. Accessory activities may include limited retail or wholesale sales, offices, parking, warehousing, and outdoor storage.
(2) Examples. Example use types include machine shops; tool repair; electric motor repair; repair of scientific or professional instruments; heavy equipment sales, rental, repair, or storage; heavy equipment servicing and repair; building, heating, plumbing, or electrical contractors; fuel oil distributors; research and development facilities; and laundry, dry-cleaning, and carpet cleaning plants
(1) Characteristics. The Manufacturing and Production Use category includes firms involved in the manufacturing, processing, fabrication, packaging, or assembly of goods. Products may be finished or semi-finished and are generally made for the wholesale market, for transfer to other plants, or to order for firms or consumers. Custom industry is included (i.e., establishments primarily engaged in the on-site production of goods by hand manufacturing involving the use of hand tools and small-scale equipment). Goods are generally not displayed or sold on site, but if so, they are a subordinate part of sales. Relatively few customers come to the manufacturing site. Accessory uses may include retail or wholesale sales, offices, cafeterias, parking, employee recreational facilities, warehouses, storage yards, repair facilities, truck fleets, fueling facilities, and security and caretaker’s quarters.
(ii) Light manufacturing. Light manufacturing is the mechanical transformation of predominantly previously prepared materials into new products, including assembly of component parts and the creation of products for sale to the wholesale or retail markets or directly to consumers. Such uses are wholly confined within an enclosed building, do not include processing of hazardous gases and chemicals, and do not emit noxious noise, smoke, vapors, fumes, dust, glare, odor, or vibration.
(i) Heavy manufacturing. Example use types of heavy manufacturing include, but are not limited to: manufacture or assembly of textiles, machinery, equipment, instruments, vehicles, appliances; rendering; concrete production; asphalt plants; glass and plastic production; cardboard fabrication; and petroleum refining.
(ii) Light manufacturing. Example use types of light manufacturing include: production or repair of small machines or electronic parts and equipment; sewing or assembly of textiles into consumer products; woodworking and cabinet building; publishing and lithography; computer design and development; communications equipment, precision items, and other electrical items; research, development, and testing facilities and laboratories; sign making, assembly of pre-fabricated parts, manufacture of electric, electronic, or optical instruments or devices; manufacture and assembly of medical devices and instruments; manufacture, processing, and packing of food products, cosmetics, and manufacturing of components, jewelry, clothing, trimming decorations, and any similar item.
(1) Characteristics. The Self Storage Use category is characterized by uses that provide separate storage areas for individual or business uses. The storage areas are designed to allow private access by the tenant for storing or removing personal property. Accessory uses may include living quarters for a resident manager, security and leasing offices, and outside storage of boats and campers. Use of the storage areas for sales, service, repair, or manufacturing operations is prohibited, and not considered accessory to the use.
(1) Characteristics. The Warehousing and Distribution Use category includes establishments that are involved in the storage or movement of goods for themselves or other firms or businesses. Goods are generally delivered to other firms or the final consumer, except for some will-call pickups. There is little on-site sales activity with the customer present. Accessory uses include offices, truck fleet parking, outdoor storage, and maintenance areas.
(2) Examples. Example use types include separate warehouses used for storage by retail stores such as furniture and appliance stores; warehouses used for distribution by trucking companies; household moving and general freight storage; cold storage plants, including frozen food lockers; outdoor storage, and parcel services.
(1) Characteristics. The Wholesale Sales Use category includes firms involved in the sale, lease, or rent of products primarily intended for industrial, institutional, or commercial businesses. The uses emphasize on-site sales or taking of orders and often include display areas. Businesses may or may not be open to the general public, but sales to the general public are limited. Products may be picked up on-site or delivered to the customer. Accessory uses may include offices, product repair, warehouses, minor fabrication services, outdoor storage, and repackaging of goods.
(2) Examples. Examples include the sale or rental of machinery, equipment, heavy trucks, building materials, special trade tools, welding supplies, machine parts, electrical supplies, janitorial supplies, restaurant equipment and store fixtures; mail order houses; and wholesalers of food, clothing, plants and landscaping materials, auto parts, and building hardware.