Definitions for uses subject to general requirements under Chapter 17.28 will be included in the appropriate section.
"Abutting" means having property or district lines in common, e.g., two lots are abutting if they have property lines in common.
"Accessory use or structure" means a use or structure on the same lot with, and of a nature customarily incidental and subordinate in area, extent or purpose to, the principal use or structure.
"Agriculture" means the use of land for farming, dairying, grazing, agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, silviculture, animal and poultry husbandry and the necessary accessory uses for packing, crating or storing the produce (provided that the operation does not include commercial feedlots or commercial facilities for slaughtering, dressing and packing of animal products) and not including farm equipment sales or display areas.
"Apartment" means a room or suite of two or more rooms in a multiple dwelling or in any other building not a single-family dwelling or a two-family dwelling, occupied or suitable for occupancy as a dwelling unit for one family. A bachelor apartment or efficiency unit shall qualify under this definition.
"Block" means the property abutting one side of a street and lying between the two nearest intersecting streets, or between the nearest such street and railroad right-of-way, unsubdivided acreage, river or live stream; or between any of the foregoing and any other barrier to the continuity of development.
"Buffer" means a strip of land established to protect one type of land use from another with which it is incompatible.
"Building" means a structure, of more or less permanent construction, having a roof and intended to be used for sheltering people, animals, property or business activity.
"Building density" means the average number of housing units per acre of land.
"Building height" means the vertical distance from the mean elevation of the finished grade along the front of the building to the highest point of a flat roof, or the ridge line of any other roof.
"Business" or "commerce" means the purchase, sale, offering for sale, or other transaction involving the handling or disposition of any article, service, substance or commodity for livelihood or profit; or the management or occupancy of the office buildings, offices, recreational or amusement enterprises; or the maintenance and use of buildings, offices, structures or premises by professions and trades or persons rendering services.
"Carport" means a structure to house or to protect motor vehicles owned or operated by the occupants of the main building which is open to the weather for at least fifty percent of the total area of its sides; when attached to another building it shall comply with the yard requirements of that building.
"Child care center" means a building or dwelling unit within which a program of adult care and supervision of seven or more children, including those minor children domiciled on the same premises providing such care, and which may include nursery schools, private kindergartens or after-school-hour care and supervision. And further provided that such child care center shall be licensed by the state of Montana, city or county and conducted in accordance with applicable state and local requirements.
"Clinic" means a building designed and used for the medical, dental and surgical diagnosis and treatment of patients under the care of doctors and nurses.
"Club" means an incorporated or unincorporated association of persons organized for a social, educational, literary or charitable purpose. Property occupied by a club shall be deemed to be semiprivate in character and shall be subject to the town regulations governing public buildings and places, excluding groups organized primarily to render a service which is normally considered a business.
"Cluster" means a pattern of residential development where dwelling units are grouped, with the remainder of the yard left in landscaped, open space.
"Commercial feedlot" means any confined place or facility used for the feeding of animals for commercial purposes and not normally used for pasturage where more than twentyfive percent of the animals do not belong to the owner of the place or facility.
"Community residential facility" means a group, foster or other home specifically provided as a place of residence for developmentally disabled or handicapped persons who do not require nursing care or a district youth guidance home established pursuant to Section 41-5-901, MCA, or a halfway house operated in accordance with regulations of the Department of Health and Environmental Sciences for the rehabilitation of alcoholics or drug dependent persons or, a licensed adult foster family care home.
"Conditional use" means a use permitted within a zoning district, provided the additional conditions specified in the district regulations for the use are met.
"Condominium" means ownership in common with others of a parcel of land and certain parts of a building, together with individual ownership in fee of a particular unit or apartment in such building. Each individual has an absolute title to his apartment which he may sell, mortgage or devise as he could with a single-family dwelling that he owned.
"Day care facility" means a person, association or place, incorporated or unincorporated, that provides day care on a regular basis. It includes a family day care home, a day care center, or a group day care home. The term does not include:
1. A person who limits care to children who are related to him by blood or marriage or under his legal guardianship; or
2. Any group facility established chiefly for educational purposes that limits its services to children who are three years of age or older.
"Drive-in restaurant or refreshment stand" means any place or premises used for sale, dispensing or serving of food, refreshments or beverages in or on disposable plates or cups and where customers may be served in their motor vehicle, may serve themselves or may eat or drink the food, refreshments or beverages on the premises.
Dwelling, Mobile Home. "Mobile home dwelling" means a factory-assembled transportable building unit built on a chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation. A travel trailer is not a mobile home.
Dwelling, Modular Unit. "Modular dwelling unit" means a factory-fabricated transportable building designed to be used by itself or to be incorporated with similar units at a building site into structure on a permanent foundation and which complies with the Montana Building, Plumbing, Electrical, and Mechanical Construction Codes and the rules and regulations for modular housing of the Building Code Division of the Montana Department of Administration. The term is intended to apply to major assemblies and does not include prefabricated panels, trusses, plumbing trees, and other prefabricated subelements which are to be incorporated into a structure at the site.
Dwelling, Single-Family. "Single-family dwelling" means a detached residential dwelling unit other than a mobile home, designed for and occupied by one family only.
Dwelling, Two-Family. "Two-family dwelling" means a detached residential building containing two dwelling units, designed for occupancy by not more than two families.
"Dwelling unit" means one room, or rooms connected together, constituting a separate, independent housekeeping establishment for owner occupancy, or rental or lease on a weekly, monthly, or longer basis, and physically separated from any other rooms or dwelling units which may be in the same structure, and containing independent cooking and sleeping facilities.
"Easement" means a grant by the property owner of the use of a strip of land by the public, or by one or more persons or corporations for a specific purpose or purposes.
"Elderly housing" means housing designed specifically for elderly occupancy with at least one resident domiciled in each living unit therein with an age of sixtytwo years or older.
"Extractive industries" means and includes quarrying, the removal of sand, soil, stone, gravel or clay, and mining.
"Family" means one or more persons occupying a dwelling unit and living as a single, nonprofit housekeeping unit.
"Fence" means a barrier composed of posts connected by boards, rails, panels or wire for the purpose of enclosing space or separating parcels of land. It may include masonry walls, ornamental structures or privacy screens.
"Filling station" means a building or lot having pumps and storage tanks where fuels, oils or accessories for motor vehicles are dispensed, sold or offered for sale at retail only; repair service is incidental; and no storage or parking space is offered for rent.
"Floodplain" or "floodway" means in all cases of interpretation the regulations of the Montana Water Resources Board as provided in 76-5-103 and 76-5-104, MCA, 1979.
Garage, Private. "Private garage" means an accessory building or part of a principal building used only for the storage of motor vehicles as an accessory use, when the storage space does not exceed that for the following number of vehicles:
1. For any single-family dwelling, three passenger vehicles;
2. For any two-family dwelling, four passenger vehicles;
3. For any multifamily dwelling, passenger vehicles equal in number to two hundred fifty percent of the number of dwelling units in the principal building;
4. For any other use, no limitation.
Garage, Public. "Public garage" means a building or premises which is operated for commercial purposes and used for the storage, care or repair of motor vehicles, but a public garage shall not be used for the storage of dismantled or wrecked motor vehicles, parts thereof, or junk.
"Home occupation" means an occupation conducted as a secondary use in a dwelling unit; provided, that:
1. No person other than members of the family residing on the premises may be engaged in such occupation.
2. The use of the dwelling unit for the home occupation must be clearly incidental and subordinate to its use for residential purposes by its occupants, and not more than twentyfive percent of the floor area of the dwelling unit may be used in the conduct of the home occupation.
3. There may be no change in the outside appearance of the building or premises, or other visible evidence of the conduct of the home occupation other than one sign, not exceeding twelve square feet in area, nonilluminated, and mounted flat against the wall of the principal building.
4. No home occupation may be conducted in any accessory building.
5. No traffic shall be generated by such home occupation in greater volumes than would be normally expected in a residential neighborhood, and any need for parking generated by the conduct of such home occupation shall be met off the street and other than in a required front yard.
6. No equipment or process shall be used in such home occupation which creates noise, vibration, glare, fumes, odors or electrical interference detectable to the normal senses off the lot, if the occupation is conducted in a single-family residence, or outside the dwelling unit if conducted in other than a single-family residence. In the case of electrical interference, no equipment or process shall be used which creates visual or audible interference in any radio or television receivers off the premises, or causes fluctuations in line voltage off the premises.
7. There shall be no outdoor (unenclosed) storage on the premises of equipment or materials used in connection with a home occupation.
"Hospital" means an institution specializing in giving clinical, temporary and emergency services of a medical or surgical nature to human patients and licensed by state law to provide facilities and services in surgery, obstetrics and general medical practice, as distinguished from treatment of mental and nervous disorders and alcoholics, but not excluding surgical and post surgical treatment of mental cases. Nursing homes and convalescent homes are not included.
Hospital, Veterinary. "Veterinary hospital" means a building or premises for the medical or surgical treatment of animals or pets, including dogs and cats, also including the boarding of hospitalized animals subjected to medical or surgical treatment.
"Hotel" means a building in which lodging, with or without meals, is provided and offered to the public for compensation, and which is open to transient guests. Hotels include motels and automobile courts, but do not include group dwellings as defined in this chapter.
"Junkyard" means the use of any part of any premises whether inside or outside of a building for the storage, keeping or abandonment of junk, including scrap metals, rags, paper, or other scrap material, used lumber, salvage house wrecking, and structural steel material, and equipment for dismantling, demolition or storage of unlicensed or abandoned automobiles or other vehicles, or machinery or parts thereof.
"Jurisdictional area" means the incorporated city limits of the city of Chinook, Montana,
"Landscaping" means to change the natural features of a plot of ground as to make it more attractive as by adding lawns, trees, bushes and so forth.
"Livestock" means horses, bovine animals, sheep, goats, swine, reindeer, donkeys, mules and llamas.
"Lodginghouse" means a dwelling unit within which not more than five guest rooms are devoted to accommodate not more than ten persons other than members of the family, but wherein meals for guests shall be neither provided or permitted. A lodginghouse containing guest rooms numbering six or more shall be considered a hotel.
Lot.
For purposes of this title, a "lot" is a parcel of land of at least sufficient size to meet minimum zoning requirements for use, coverage and area, and to provide such yards and other open spaces as are herein required. Such lot shall have frontage on a public street, or on an approved private street, and may consist of:
1. A single lot of record;
2. A portion of a lot of record;
3. A combination of complete lots of record, of complete lots of record and portions of lots of record, or of portions of lots of record;
4. A parcel of land described by metes and bounds; provided that in no case of a division or combination shall any residual lot or parcel be created which does not meet the requirements of this ordinance.
Lot, Corner. "Corner lot" means a zoning lot at the junction of and abutting on two or more intersecting streets when the interior angle of intersection does not exceed one hundred thirtyfive degrees. Any zoning lot adjoining a curved street at a point where the street boundary describes an arc subtended by an angle of one hundred thirtyfive degrees or less, shall be considered a corner lot.
"Lot depth" means the mean horizontal distance between the front and the rear lot lines, measured in the general direction of the side lot lines.
"Lot frontage" means the side of a lot boundary which is nearest the street. For the purposes of determining yard requirements on corner lots and through lots, all sides of a lot adjacent to streets shall be considered frontage.
Lot, Interior. "Interior lot" means a zoning lot other than a corner lot.
Lot Line, Rear. "Rear lot line" means the lot line generally opposite or parallel to the front street line. If a rear lot line is less than ten feet long, or the lot comes to a point at the rear, said rear lot line is assumed to be a line at least ten feet long, lying wholly within the lot, parallel to the front street line or, if the front street line is curbed, parallel to the chord of the arc of said front street line.
Lot, Record. "Record lot" means land designated as a separate and distinct parcel on a legally recorded subdivision plat or in a legally recorded deed filed in the records of Blaine County, Montana.
"Lot width" means the average width of the lot.
Lot, Zoning. "Zoning lot" means a tract of land occupied or to be occupied by a principal building and its accessory buildings, together with such open spaces and yards as are required under the provisions of this title, having not less than the minimum area required by this title for a zoning lot in the district in which such land is situated and having its principal frontage on a street or a permanent, exclusive, nonobstructed easement of access or right-of-way to a street, not less than twenty feet wide.
A zoning lot need not necessarily coincide with a record lot as defined in this section.
"Marquee" means a fixed shelter used only as a roof and extending beyond a building line and which is entirely supported by the building to which it is attached.
"Mobile home" means any dwelling larger than two hundred fifty-six square feet in area which is either wholly or in substantial part manufactured at an off-site location and any movable or portable dwelling over thirty-two feet in length and over eight feet wide, constructed to be towed on its own chassis and designed without a permanent foundation for year-around occupancy, which includes one or more components that can be retracted for towing purposes and subsequently expanded for additional capacity, or of two or more units separately towable but designed to be joined into one integral unit, as well as a portable dwelling composed of a single unit. This definition does not include any dwelling of preconstructed nature meeting applicable local building codes pertaining to on-site assembly of structures.
"Mobile home park" means any lot, tract or parcel of land used, maintained, or intended to be used, leased or rented for occupancy by two or more mobile homes together with accessory structures provided in connection therewith. This definition shall not include trailer sales lots on which unoccupied mobile homes are parked for the purpose of inspection and sales.
"Modular or manufactured housing unit" means a factory-fabricated transportable building designed to be used by itself or to be incorporated with similar units at a building site into a modular structure. The term is intended to apply to major assemblies and does not include prefabricated panels, trusses, plumbing trees, and other prefabricated subelements which are to be incorporated into a structure at the site.
"Motel" means a group of attached or detached buildings containing individual sleeping units where a majority of such units open individually and directly to the outside, and where a garage is attached to or a parking space is conveniently located at each unit, all for the temporary use by automobile tourist or transient, and such work shall include tourist courts, motor courts, automobile courts and motor lodges.
"Motor vehicle wrecking facility" means:
1. A facility buying, selling or dealing in four or more vehicles per year, of a type required to be licensed, for the purpose of wrecking, dismantling, disassembling or substantially changing the form of the motor vehicle; or
2. A facility that buys or sells component parts, in whole or in part, and deals in secondhand motor vehicle parts.
A facility that buys or sells component parts of a motor vehicle, in whole or in part, is a motor vehicle wrecking facility whether or not the buying or selling price is based upon weight or any other type of classification. The term does not include a garage where wrecked or disabled motor vehicles are temporarily stored for a reasonable period of time for inspection, repairs or subsequent removal to a junkyard.
"Nonconforming use" means the use of a building or other structure or of a tract of land which does not conform to the use or regulations of this title for the district in which it is located, either at the effective date of the ordinance codified in this title, or as a result of subsequent amendments which may be incorporated into this title.
"Off-street parking space" means an off-street area for parking of one motor vehicle having an all-weather surface, shall have a width of not less than twelve feet when directly connected to a driveway approach in all other instances the width shall be not less than ten feet; in both instances the length shall be not less than twenty feet. Easy access to a street shall be provided by a driveway having an all-weather surface.
" Outdoor advertising display" means card, cloth, paper and metal painted signs, wooden, plaster, stone or other sign of any kind or character whatsoever placed for outdoor advertising purposes on the ground or on any tree, wall, bush, rock, post, fence, building, structure or thing whatsoever. The term "placed" as used in the definition of "outdoor advertising sign" and "outdoor advertising structure" shall include erecting, construction, posting, painting, printing, tacking, nailing, gluing, sticking, carving or otherwise fastening, affixing or making visible in any manner whatsoever. See also definition for "sign."
"Parking lot" means any land legally used for the parking of motor vehicles.
"Pasture" means an area confined within a fence or other physical barrier and which area is used for grazing or roaming of livestock.
"Planning board" means the Blaine County planning board as authorized under the provisions of Sections 76-1-101 to 76-1-606 MCA, 1989.
"Planned unit development" means a land development project consisting of residential clusters, industrial parks, shopping centers, office building parks, or any combination thereof which comprises a planned mixture of land uses built in a prearranged relationship to each other and having open space and community facilities in common ownership or use.
"Principal use" means the primary or predominant use to which the property is or may be devoted, and to which all other uses on the premises are accessory.
"Public use zone" means a separate zone intended to reserve land for public and semipublic uses.
"Public utility" means a private business, performing a public service and subject to special governmental regulations, or a governmental agency performing similar public services, the services by either of which are paid for directly by the recipients thereof. Such services shall include but are not limited to, water supply, electric power, gas, and transportation for persons and freight.
Recreational Area, Commercial. "Commercial recreational area" means an area operated for profit and devoted to facilities and equipment for recreational purposes, including swimming pools, tennis courts, skiing, horseback riding, playgrounds and other similar uses, whether the use of such area is limited to private membership or whether open to the public upon the payment of a fee or service charge.
Recreational Area, Noncommercial. "Noncommercial recreational area" means an area devoted to facilities and equipment for recreational purposes, swimming pools, tennis courts, playgrounds, community club houses and other similar uses maintained and operated by a nonprofit club or homeowner's association.
"Rehabilitative center, halfway house" means a use providing board and room, recreational, counseling and other rehabilitative services to individuals of either sex, who by reason of mental or physical disability, addiction to drugs or alcohol, or family and school adjustment problems require specialized attention and care in order to achieve personal independence. Individuals participating in a work release, or similar program from a state institution, and under the supervision of a court, state or local agency shall be included within this definition.
"Rest home, convalescent or nursing home" means a use licensed by the state, city or county, which provides nursing, dietary and other personal services to convalescents, invalids and aged persons.
Surgery, maternity or other care such as are customarily provided in hospitals are not permitted.
Sign. See Chapter 17.36.
"Story" means that portion of a building included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the floor next above it, or if there be no floor above it, then the space between the floor and the ceiling next above it. A basement shall be counted as a story if its ceiling is more than five feet above the level from which the height of the building is measured.
"Street" means a public thoroughfare which affords principal means of access to abutting property.
"Structure" means anything constructed or erected with a fixed location on the ground, or attached to something having a fixed location on the ground. Among other things, structures include buildings, mobile homes, walls, fences and billboards.
"Travel trailer" means a vehicular, portable unit built on a chassis, designed to be used as a temporary dwelling for travel and recreational purposes, having a body width not exceeding eight feet.
"Travel trailer park" means any lot, tract or parcel of land used, maintained or intended to be used for accommodating travel trailers.
"Variance" means a relaxation of the terms of this title where such variance will not be contrary to the public interest and where, owing to conditions, peculiar to the property and not the result of the actions of the applicant, a literal enforcement of this title would result in unnecessary and undue hardship.
"Yard" means a space on the same lot with a principal building, open, unoccupied, and unobstructed by any structure or portion of a structure; provided, however, that fences, walls, poles, posts, other customary yard accessories, sidewalks, terraces and swimming pools may be permitted in any yard subject to height limitations and requirements limiting obstruction of visibility in Section 1 of Part 2 of Article IV. See diagram at the end of this chapter for illustration of yard types defined below.
Yard, Front. "Front yard" means a yard extending between side lot lines across the front of a lot adjoining a public street. See yard diagram at the end of this chapter.
Yard, Side. "Side yard" means a yard extending from the rear line of the required front yard to the rear lot line. See yard diagram at the end of this chapter.
Yard, Rear. "Rear yard" means a yard extending across the rear of the lot between inner side yard lines. In the case of through lots and corner lots, there will be no rear yards, but only front and side yards. See yard diagram at the end of this chapter.
(Ord. 441 Art. III(part), 1992).
