As used in this Zoning Code:
(1) "Accessory building" or "accessory structure" means a building or structure occupied by an accessory use.
(2) "Accessory use" means a use subordinate, secondary, incidental to, and customary in connection with the principal building or use and located on the same lot as the principal building or use.
(3) "Administrative and business offices" means offices which carry on no retail trade with the public and maintain no stock of goods for sale to customers.
(4) “Agriculture" means the same as stated in Chapter 1.61 of the Ohio Revised Code, as may be amended, to include farming; ranching; aquaculture; apiculture; horticulture; viticulture; animal husbandry, including but not limited to the care and raising of livestock, equine and fur-bearing animals; poultry husbandry and the production of poultry and poultry products; dairy production; the production of field crops, tobacco, fruits, vegetables, nursery stock, ornamental shrubs, ornamental trees, flowers, sod, or mushrooms; timber; pasturage; any combination of the foregoing; the processing, drying, storage and marketing of agricultural products when those activities are conducted in conjunction with, but are secondary to, such husbandry or production.
(5) “Alley" means a public right-of-way ten (10) to twenty (20) feet wide which provides only secondary means of access to abutting property or lot.
(6) "Average Daily Traffic" or "ADT" means the average number of motor vehicles per day that pass over a given point in a street or thoroughfare during a particular twenty-four (24) hour period.
(7) "Basement" means a story whose floor level is two (2) feet or more below grade level, but having less than half its clear height above grade level.
(8) "Bed and Breakfast Establishment" means a residential building or structure with no more than five (5) guest rooms to accommodate lodgers for compensation and serving limited food service to lodgers only.
(9) "Block" means the properties abutting one side of a street, and lying between two (2) consecutive intersecting streets.
(10) "Board" means the Board of Zoning Appeals for the City of Chillicothe as established in Chapter 1111.
(11) "Bond" means cash deposit, surety bond, collateral, or other instrument of credit satisfactory to the City of Chillicothe for performance of the obligations of this Ordinance.
(12) "Building" means a structure permanently affixed to the land with one (1) or more floors and a roof supported by columns or walls, used or intended to be used for shelter or enclosure of persons, animals and/or property.
A. "Height of building" means the vertical distance from the average grade surrounding the building to the highest point of the roof.
B. "Building line" or "building setback" means the yard setback line established by this Ordinance, generally parallel with and measured perpendicularly from the property line, defining the limits of a yard in which no building or structure may be located, except as otherwise allowed by this Ordinance.
(13) “Business Day" means a day of the week excluding Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday as observed by the City.
(14) "Business services" means an activity which renders services primarily to other commercial, institutional, or industrial enterprises, or which services and repairs appliances and machines used in other businesses.
(15) "Calendar day" means any day of the week including Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday.
(16) "Cemetery" means land used or intended to be used for the burial of human dead. A "pet cemetery" means a parcel of land that is principally used for the burial of more than five (5) domesticated animals considered as pets.
(17) "Certificate of Zoning Compliance" means a certificate issued by the Zoning Inspector, pursuant to Section 1113.06, confirming that the zoning requirements of this Ordinance have been met.
(18) "City" means the City of Chillicothe, Ohio.
(19) "City Standard Plans and Specifications" means the most recent edition of the engineering drawings and standards as approved by the City Council and City Engineer for the City of Chillicothe, along with such written amendments and modifications to same as may be periodically made.
(20) "Clinic, Human" means an establishment where patients who are not lodged overnight are admitted for examination and/or treatment by a physician or group of physicians.
(21) “Commission" means the Planning Commission of the City of Chillicothe, Ohio as established in Chapter 1111.
(22) "Communication facility" means a facility consisting of the equipment and structures involved in receiving telecommunications or radio signals from a mobile radio communications source and transmitting those signals to a central switching computer which connects the mobile unit with a land-based telephone line.
(23) "Comprehensive plan" means a comprehensive plan as may be prepared by and for the City of Chillicothe, as adopted by City Council.
(24) "Concept plan" means a sketch or drawing prepared by the Owner/ Developer prior to the preliminary plan, which shows the general outline and layout of a proposed subdivision.
(25) "Conditional use" means an uncommon or infrequent use which may be authorized in specific zoning districts subject to compliance with certain standards and/or conditions, and the granting of a conditional use permit as specified in Chapter 1121.
(26) "Cul-de-sac" (see "Street")
(27) "Drive-through facility" means traffic lanes, drive-up windows and/or other physical accruements located on a business site which enable that business to provide goods or services to customers without such customers leaving his/her motor vehicle.
(28) "Driveway" means a private area or vehicle accommodation lane providing access from a street to a detached single family dwelling on the same lot, or to one (1) or more multi-family, commercial or industrial buildings.
(29) "Dwelling" or "residence" means any building or portion thereof which is designed or used for residential purposes, but not including a cabin, hotel, motel, rooming house, or other such accommodation used for transient occupancy.
A. "Multiple-family dwelling" or "multiple-family residence" means a building designed or used as a residence and containing separate cooking facilities, for two or more families living independently. Unless specifically stated otherwise, a multiple family dwelling or multiple family residence shall include a two family dwelling or residence.
B. "Single family dwelling" or "single family residence" means a building designed for, or occupied exclusively by, one family.
C. "Two-family dwelling" or "two-family residence" means a building containing separate cooking facilities and designed for, or occupied exclusively by, two families living independently.
(30) "Dwelling unit" means one or more rooms constituting a separate independent housekeeping establishment and physically separated from any other rooms or dwelling units which may be in the same structure and containing independent cooking facilities.
(31) "Easement" means a right or privilege of use of land, as distinct from fee simple ownership.
(32) "Essential Services" means the erection, construction, alteration, or maintenance, by public utilities or municipal or other governmental agencies, of improved public streets and/or underground or overhead gas, electrical, steam, or water transmission or distribution systems; collection, communication, video service providers, supply, or disposal systems, including poles, wires, mains, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits, cables, traffic signals, hydrants and other similar equipment and accessories in connection therewith, reasonably necessary for the furnishing of adequate service by such public utilities or municipal or other governmental agencies or for the public health, safety, or general welfare, but not including buildings.
(33) "Failure of delivery" means that a particular notice was not received, due to circumstances beyond the control of the City, and does not include the lack of mailing of the subject notices in the matter specified in this Ordinance.
(34) "Family" means:
A. A person living alone, or any of the following groups living together as a single housekeeping unit and using common living, sleeping, cooking and eating facilities:
1. Any number of persons related by blood, marriage, adoption, guardianship or other duly authorized custodial relationship;
2. Five (5) or fewer unrelated persons;
3. Two (2) unrelated persons and any children of those persons.
B. The definition of "family" shall not include:
1. Any society, club, fraternity, sorority, association, lodge, combine, federation, or like organization;
2. Any group of individuals whose association is temporary or seasonal in nature;
3. Residents of a "group residential facility" as defined in this Ordinance.
(35) “Flood" or "flooding" means a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from:
A. The overflow of inland or tidal waters and/or
B. The unusual and rapid accumulation of runoff of surface waters from any source
(36) “Flood plain" or "lands subject to flooding" means those lands adjacent to a watercourse subject to flooding as have been identified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in various Flood Hazard Boundary Maps, as adopted by Chillicothe City Council in Chapter 1329 of the Codified Ordinances, as may be amended.
(37) "Floodway" means the portion of land subject to flooding that comprises the channel of a watercourse, and the adjacent lands, that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than one (1) foot.
(38) "Floodway fringe" means that portion of land subject to flooding that is outside the floodway.
(39) "Floor area" of a building means the sum of the gross horizontal areas of the building floors, measured from the exterior faces of exterior walls. Floor area shall not include basements, elevator and stair bulkheads, unfinished attic spaces, terraces, breezeways, open porches, uncovered steps, or garages.
(40) "Frontage" or "lot frontage" means that portion of the lot that directly abuts the street, and has direct access thereto. Lot frontage shall be measured along the front property line.
(41) "Garage, private" means a building, or portion of a building, designed or used primarily for the storage of motor-driven vehicles, boats and other equipment, tools and material owned and/or used by the occupants of the principal use of the property.
(42) “Group Residential Facility" means a community facility, licensed and/or authorized by the State of Ohio, which provides rehabilitative services in a residential setting. There are two (2) classes of group residential facilities:
A. "Class I group residential facility" means any state, federal or locally approved dwelling or place used as a foster home for children or adults (not including nursing homes) or as a place for the care or rehabilitation of dependent or predelinquent children, for the physically handicapped or disabled, or for those with mental illness or developmental disabilities. A Class I Type A facility contains more than five (5) residents, exclusive of staff. A Class I Type B facility contains five (5) or fewer residents, exclusive of staff.
B. "Class II group residential facility" means any state, federal or locally approved dwelling or place used as a home for juvenile offenders; a halfway house providing residential care or rehabilitation for adult criminal offenders in lieu of institutional sentencing: a halfway house providing residence for persons leaving correctional institutions: and residential rehabilitation centers for alcohol and//or drug abusers, provided that detoxification is expressly prohibited on such premises. A Class II Type A group residential facility contains more than five (5) residents, exclusive of staff. A Class II Type B facility contains five (5) or fewer residents, exclusive of staff.
(43) "Home occupation" means an occupation, profession or other activity carried out for commercial gain by a resident which is clearly accessory, incidental and secondary to the dwelling's residential use of the property and which complies with the standards of Section 1173.02.
(44) "Hospital" means a building or structure containing beds for at least four (4) patients allowing for overnight or continuous care, diagnosis and treatment of human ailments.
(45) "Hotel" or "motel" means a building in which lodging is provided or offered to the public for compensation and which is open to transient guests, in contradiction to a boarding house or lodging house operated on a membership basis.
(46) "Improvements" means any addition to the natural state of land which is designed or intended to increase its value or utility, including but not limited to buildings, street pavements, sidewalks, crosswalks, water mains, sanitary sewers, storm sewers, landscaping, street lighting, street trees, public utilities, paved parking areas and other appropriate items.
A. "Site improvements" means the improvements made to the land outside the exterior limits of a structure or structures.
B. "Public improvements" means all improvements financed entirely or in part by public funds or which have been dedicated to public use by plat, easement or deed of transfer.
(47) "Industrialized unit" means a building unit or assembly of closed construction that is fabricated in an off-site facility, that is substantially self-sufficient as a unit or as a part of a greater structure, that requires transportation to the site of intended use. "Industrialized unit" includes units installed on the site as independent units, as part of a group of units, or incorporated with standard construction methods to form a completed structural entity. "Industrialized unit" does not include a manufactured or mobile home as defined herein.
(48) "Institution" means an organization providing social, cultural, educational or health services to member agencies, organizations, and individuals, or to the general public.
(49) "Loading space" is a space within the main building or on the same lot therewith, providing for the standing, loading, or unloading of trucks or other cargo-holding vehicles.
(50) "Lot" means a separate tract of real property described on recorded subdivision plat, recorded map or by metes and bound, and includes the terms "plat" and parcel".
A. "Corner lot" means any lot at the junction of and abutting on two (2) or more intersecting streets, where the angle of intersection is not more than 135 degrees.
B. "Front lot line" means that lot line which abuts the street right-of-way. In the case of a corner lot, only one of the lot lines abutting the street right-of-way shall be designated as the front lot line.
C. "Lot coverage" means the ratio of enclosed ground floor area of all buildings on a lot to the horizontally projected area of the lot, expressed as a percentage.
D. "Rear lot line" means that lot line which is opposite and furthest removed from the front lot line. In the case of a lot where the side lot lines meet at the rear of the lot (i.e., a triangular lot), the rear lot line shall be considered to be the point of intersection of the side lot lines. In the case of a corner lot, the rear lot line is opposite and furthest removed from the lot line considered to be the front lot line for purposes of computing the front yard depth.
E. "Side lot line" means a lot line running from the front lot line to the rear lot line. This line is also the line dividing two (2) interior lots.
F. "Lot of record" means any lot which individually or as a part of a subdivision has been recorded in the Office of the Recorder, Ross County, Ohio, as of the effective date of this Ordinance.
G. "Minimum lot area" means the area of a lot computed exclusive of any portion of the right-of-way or any public thoroughfare.
H. "Lot width" is the width of a lot at the building setback line measured at right angles to its depth.
(51) "Manufactured home" means a building unit or assembly of closed construction that is fabricated in an off-site facility, that conforms with the federal construction and safety standards established by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development pursuant to the Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, and has a label or tag permanently affixed to it, certifying compliance with all applicable federal construction and safety standards.
(52) "Manufactured home community" or "manufactured home park" means a development constructed primarily for manufactured homes, with continuing local management and special facilities for common use by residents. Typically, the land or lots upon which the manufactured homes are located will not be owned by the resident of the individual manufactured home.
(53) "Manufacturing" means any production or industrial process, including food processing, which combines one (1) or more raw materials or components into a product or which changes the nature of the materials entering the process, and which by the nature of the materials, equipment and/or process utilized is not objectionable by reason of odor, noise, vibration, gas fumes, dust, smoke, refuse, or water-carried wastes.
(54) "Mobile home" means a building unit or assembly of closed construction that is fabricated in an off-site facility, is more than thirty-five (35) feet in length, or, when erected on the site, is 320 or more square feet, that is built on a permanent chassis and is transportable in one or more sections, and does not qualify as a manufactured home or industrialized unit, as defined herein. Because mobile homes, as defined herein, were not constructed to accepted standards, such mobile homes shall not be considered as a permitted or conditional use in any zoning district within the City of Chillicothe.
(55) "Modular home" means a non-site-built home that is certified as meeting the requirements of the State of Ohio Building Code for modular housing. For the purposes of this Ordinance, once certified by the State of Ohio, modular homes shall be subject to the same standards as site-built homes.
(56) "Monument" means a permanent concrete or iron marker used to establish the lines of the plat of a subdivision, including all lot corners, boundaries, corners and points of change in street alignment.
(57) "Nonconforming use" means the use of land or a building, or a portion thereof, which does not conform with the use regulations of the district in which it is situated, which use was lawful prior to the enactment of this Zoning Ordinance.
(58) "Nursery school" or "Day care center" means a facility which temporarily assumes responsibility for more than six (6) persons aged thirteen and younger other than those related to the resident of the premises. Such responsibility shall consist of administering to the needs of those persons aged thirteen and younger during any part of a twenty-four hour day for a period of two (2) consecutive days.
(59) "Occupancy" means the act of using a property.
(60) "Nursing home" includes convalescent and extended care facilities and adult day care facilities, i.e., an establishment which specializes in providing necessary care, shelter and nursing services and services to those unable to be responsible for themselves.
(61) "Open space" means that part of a zoned property, including courts or yards, which is open and unobstructed from its lowest level to the sky and is accessible to all users of the property.
(62) "Owner/Developer" means any person proceeding under these regulations to create a subdivision of land hereunder.
(63) "Parking area" or "parking lot" means any area other than street, driveway, or alley, used or intended to be used for the storage of motor vehicles, with or without a fee.
(64) "Parking space (off-street)" means any parking space located wholly off any street, alley, or sidewalk, either in an enclosed building or on an open lot and where each parking space conforms to the standards as specified in Chapter 1177.
(65) "Permanent foundation" means a permanent masonry, concrete or locally approved footing or foundation that adequately transfers horizontal and vertical loads of the structure to the undisturbed ground below the frost line.
(66) "Permanently sited manufactured home" means a manufactured home that meets all of the following criteria:
A. The structure is affixed to a permanent foundation and is connected to appropriate facilities;
B. The structure, excluding any addition, has a width of at least twenty-two (22) feet at one point, and a length of at least twenty-two (22) feet at one point, and a living area of at least 900 square feet, excluding garages, porches, or attachments;
C. The structure has a minimum 4:12 roof pitch, conventional residential siding, and a six-inch minimum eave overhang, including appropriate guttering;
D. The structure was manufactured after January 1, 1995;
E. The structure is not located in a manufactured home community or manufactured home park as defined herein.
(67) "Person" means any individual, corporation, company, business partnership, association or legal entity.
(68) "Personal services" means any enterprise, conducted for gain, which primarily offers services to the general public.
(69) "Plan" means a drawing showing the proportion and relation of parts of improvements to each other and their surroundings.
A. "Construction plan" means a plan which gives information required to construct improvements including plan views, sections, profiles, details, quantities, reference specifications and standard drawings.
B. "Grading plan" means a plan which shows the proposed grades for the development in a manner that reflects the scope of earthwork required and the finished site grades.
C. "Preliminary plan" means a proposal for the subdivision of land as described in Chapter 1115, submitted to the City pursuant to this Ordinance.
(70) "Plat" or "Final Plat" means a plan of a tract or parcel of land made by a surveyor registered in the State of Ohio showing public dedications, property lines, lot lines and such other information as is required by these regulations.
(71) "Professional office" means the business office of a person or persons engaged in providing to the general public services of a professional nature such as legal, medical, accounting, and architectural services.
(72) "Recreational facilities" means public or privately-operated uses such as country clubs, golf courses, swimming pools, or other areas maintained for the purpose of providing active and passive recreation.
(73) "Residence" - see "Dwelling".
(74) "Restaurant" means a business establishment where food and beverages are prepared and presented for human consumption on or off the premises.
(75) "Retail stores" means stores primarily engaged in selling merchandise for personal or household consumption and in rendering services incidental to the sale of goods.
(76) "Right of way" means a strip of land lying between property lines, wherein is located a street, thoroughfare, alley or easement dedicated or otherwise acquired for use by the public, provided the term "right-of-way” shall not include utility easements.
(77) "Senior housing" and "extended care facility" means a multiple family residential facility specifically designed, constructed and marketed to the physical and social needs of persons aged 65 and over. Such establishments may contain ancillary functions such as licensed medical and food services which are clearly incidental and secondary to the principal residential use of the property.
(78) "Sidewalk" means a paved path, intended for pedestrian use, lying outside the curb lines or edge of pavement of a roadway.
(79) "Similar use" means a use not specifically listed in any of the permitted building or use classifications of any district, but which may be found analogous and added to the classification, according to the procedures and requirements of Section 1131.02(e).
(80) "Street" or "Thoroughfare" means any vehicular way which is:
A. An existing federal, state, county or municipal roadway, or
B. Is shown on a subdivision plat approved pursuant to law, or
C. Is approved by other official action by the City of Chillicothe, and includes:
1. "Arterial Street" means a street connecting Chillicothe with outside activity centers and/or serving as the primary route through and within the City. Arterial streets carry the largest volume of traffic, typically more than 5,000 vehicles per day ADT, on a continuous route. Service to the adjacent land is subordinate to the provision of travel service on arterial streets.
2. "Collector Street (Major)" means a street or thoroughfare which carries vehicular traffic from local streets to arterial streets, and is designed to accommodate 2,000 - 5,000 vehicles per day ADT.
3. "Collector Street (Minor)" means a street or thoroughfare which primarily carries vehicular traffic from local streets to major collector and arterial streets, and is designed to accommodate 500-2,000 vehicles per day ADT.
4. "Cul-de-sac" means a short local street having but one end open for motor traffic and the other end terminated by a vehicular turn-around or back-around.
5. "Local Street" means a street on which the majority of the traffic originates or terminates in the abutting properties. These streets are designed to accommodate up to 500 vehicles per day ADT at speeds generally below 35 miles per hour.
6. "Industrial Street" means a street on which more than twenty-five percent (25%) of the traffic is comprised of trucks, or where more than fifty percent (50%) of the abutting property is occupied by industrial uses.
7. "Marginal Access Street", "Service Road" or "Access Road" means a street that is adjacent to and runs parallel to an arterial or major collector street and provides access to abutting properties so that the flow of through traffic on the arterial or collector street is not impeded by direct driveway access to such property.
8. "Private Street" means a privately-owned street providing access to abutting properties.
9. "Public Street" means an improved street providing public access to abutting property, as dedicated to and accepted by the City, upon a plat which has been duly approved, filed and recorded in the Ross County Recorder's Office.
(81) "Structure" means anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires location on the ground or attachment to something having a fixed location on the ground, including among other things walls, buildings, and patios. For the purposes of this Ordinance, "structure" shall include fences, mobile or manufactured structures, temporary structures for uses incidental to construction work, and playground equipment manufactured or constructed as a single unit.
(82) "Structural alteration" means any change that would replace or tend to prolong the life of a supporting member of a structure, such as bearing walls, columns, beams, or girders.
(83) "Subdivision" means either of the following:
A. The division of any parcel of land shown as a unit or as contiguous units on the last preceding tax list and duplicate of real and public utility property, into two (2) or more parcels, sites or lots, any one of which is less than five (5) acres for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of transfer of ownership, provided, however, that the following are exempt:
1. A division or partition of land into parcels of more than five (5) acres not involving any new streets or easements of access,
2. The sale or exchange of parcels between adjoining lot owners, where that sale or exchange does not create additional building sites and where the lots resulting are not reduced below minimum sizes required by law, or
B. The improvement of one (1) or more parcels of land for residential, commercial or industrial structures or groups of structures involving the division or allocation of land for the opening, widening or extension of any public or private street or streets, except private streets serving industrial structures, or involving the division or allocation of land as open spaces for common use by owners, occupants or leaseholders or as easements for the extension and maintenance of public or private sewer, water, storm drainage or other similar facilities.
(84) “Telecommunication tower" means a structure that is intended for transmitting, receiving or relaying television, radio, telephone or other communications.
(85) "Thoroughfare Plan" means a plan, which may be part of a comprehensive plan, now or hereafter adopted by the Planning Commission, which sets forth the location, alignment and/or classification of existing and proposed streets and/or roadways.
(86) "Variance" means a modification of the strict terms and requirements of this Ordinance where such modification will not be contrary to the public interest and where, owing to conditions peculiar to the property and not the result of actions of the applicant, a literal enforcement of these regulations would result in practical difficulties, in accordance with Chapter 1119.
(87) "Zoning certificate" means a document issued pursuant to Chapter 1113 certifying that a proposed action or development project will be carried out in compliance with the requirements of this Ordinance.
(88) "Zoning" or "Zoning Code" means this Ordinance and any part of this Planning and Zoning Code, limiting the height, area and use of buildings, structures and/or areas.
(89) "Zoning Inspector" means the employee of the City who is charged with enforcing the provisions of this Planning and Zoning Ordinance and/or his/her designated agent. (Ord. 27-11. Passed 3-14-11.)