For the purpose of this chapter, certain words or terms used herein shall be defined as follows:
(a) Block. A piece of land bounded on one or more sides by streets or roads.
(b) Reserved.
(c) Building setback line. A line establishing the minimum allowable distance between the nearest portion of any building (excluding the outermost three feet of any uncovered porches, steps, eaves, gutters, and similar fixtures), and the nearest right-of-way line or property line when measured perpendicular thereto.
(d) Dedication. A gift, by the owner, or a right to use of land for a specified purpose or purposes. Because a transfer of property rights is entailed, dedication must be made by written instrument and is completed with an acceptance.
(e) Easement. A grant by the property owner of a strip of land for a specified purpose and use by the public, a corporation, or persons.
(f) Half street. A street whose centerline coincides with a subdivision plat boundary, with one-half the street right-of-way being contained within the subdivision plat. Also, any existing street to which the parcel of land to be subdivided abuts on only one side.
(g) Lot. A parcel of land occupied or capable of being occupied by a building or a group of buildings devoted to a common use, together with the customary accessories and open spaces belonging to same.
(h) Lot of record. A lot which is part of a subdivision, a plat of which has been recorded in the Office of the Catawba County Register of Deeds prior to the adoption of this chapter, or a lot described by metes and bounds, the description of which has been so recorded prior to the adoption of this chapter.
(i) Lot types:
(1) Corner lot. A lot which occupies the interior angle at the intersection of two street lines which make an angle of more than 45 degrees and less than 135 degrees with each other. The street line forming the least frontage shall be deemed the front of the lot except where the two street lines are equal, in which case the owner shall be required to specify which is the front when requesting a zoning compliance certificate.
(2) Double frontage lot. A continuous (through) lot which is accessible from both streets upon which it fronts.
(3) Interior lot. A lot other than a corner lot with only one frontage on a street.
(4) Through lot or a Double frontage lot. A lot other than a corner lot with frontage on more than one street. Through lots abutting two streets may be referred to as double frontage lots.
(5) Reverse frontage lot. A lot on which the frontage is at right angles or approximately right angles (interior angles less than 135 degrees) to the general pattern in the area. A reverse frontage lot may also be a corner lot, an interior lot or a through lot.
(6) Single-tier lot. A lot which backs upon a limited access highway, a railroad, a physical barrier, or another type of land use and to which access from the rear is usually prohibited.
(j) Official maps or plans. Any maps or plans officially adopted by the city.
(k) Open space. An area generally lacking in man-made structures and reserved for enjoyment in its unaltered state.
(l) Planned unit development. A form of development characterized by a unified site design for a number of housing units, clustering of buildings and providing common open space, density increases, and a mix of building types. It permits the planning of a project and a calculation of densities over the entire development rather than on an individual lot-by-lot basis. The site must include two or more principal buildings. Such development shall be based on a plan which allows for flexibility of design most available under normal district requirements.
(m) Plat. A map or plan of a parcel of land which is to be or has been subdivided or meets the exemption requirements of section 9-4-70.
(n) Private driveway. A roadway serving two or fewer lots, building sites or other division of land and not intended to be public ingress or egress.
(o) Private street. An undedicated private right-of-way which affords access to abutting properties and requires a subdivision street disclosure statement in accordance with G.S. 136-102.6.
(p) Public sewage disposal system. A system serving two or more dwelling units and approved by the Catawba County Health Department and the North Carolina Department of Economic and Community Development.
(q) Recreation area or Park. An area of land or combination of land and water resources that is developed for active and/or passive recreation pursuits with various man-made features that accommodates such activities.
(r) Reservation. A reservation of land does not involve any transfer of property rights. It simply constitutes an obligation to keep property free from development for a stated period of time.
(s) Street. A dedicated, recorded, and accepted public right-of-way for vehicular traffic which affords the principal means of access to abutting properties. The following classifications shall apply:
(1) Rural roads:
a. Principal arterial. A rural link in a network of continuous routes serving corridor movements having trip length and travel density characteristics indicative of substantial statewide or interstate travel and existing solely to serve traffic. This network would consist of interstate routes and other routes designed as principal arterials.
b. Minor arterial. A rural link in a network joining cities and larger towns and providing intrastate and intercounty service at relatively high overall travel speeds with minimum interference to through movement. This network would primarily serve traffic.
c. Major collector. A road which serves major intracounty travel corridors and traffic generators and provides access to the arterial system.
d. Minor collector. A road which provides service to small local communities and links locally important traffic generators with their rural hinterland.
e. Local road. A local road serves primarily to provide access to adjacent land and for travel over relatively short distances.
(2) Urban streets:
a. Major thoroughfares. Major thoroughfares consist of interstate, other freeway and expressway links, and major streets that provide for the expeditious movement of volumes of traffic within and through urban areas.
b. Minor thoroughfares. Minor thoroughfares are important streets in the urban system and perform the function of collecting traffic from local access streets and carrying it to the major thoroughfare system by facilitating a minor through traffic movement and may also serve abutting property.
c. Neighborhood street. A neighborhood street is the lowest order of the urban street system which serves primarily to provide direct access to urban neighborhood lots and higher system streets.
(3) Specific type rural or urban streets:
a. Freeway, Expressway, or Parkway. Divided multi-lane roadway designed to carry large volumes of traffic at relatively high speeds. A freeway is a divided highway providing for continuous flow of vehicles with no direct access to abutting property or streets and with access to selected crossroads provided via connecting ramps. An expressway is a divided highway with full or partial control of access and generally with grade separations at major intersections. A parkway is a highway for noncommercial traffic, with full or partial control of access, and usually located within a park or a ribbon of park-like development.
b. Residential collector street. A local access street which serves as a connector street between local residential streets and the thoroughfare system. Residential collector streets typically collect traffic from 100 to 400 dwelling units.
c. Local residential street. Streets less than 2,500 feet in length, or streets less than one mile in length that do not connect thoroughfares, or serve major traffic generators, and do not collect traffic from more than 100 dwelling units.
d. Cul-de-sac. A short street having but one end open to traffic and the other end being permanently terminated and a vehicular turnaround provided.
e. Frontage road. A local street or road that is parallel to a full or partial access controlled facility and functions to provide access to adjacent land.
f. Alley. A public or private thoroughfare which affords a secondary means of access to abutting property and not intended for general traffic circulation.
(t) Subdivider. Any person, firm or corporation who subdivides or develops any land deemed to be a subdivision as herein defined.
(Ord. of 4-6-92, No. 190-92; Ord. of 3-6-06, No. 5-06)