The following definitions apply to the interpretation and enforcement of this chapter:
1. “Accessory structure” means a detached structure which is not used or intended to be used for living or sleeping by human occupants and which is located on, or partially on, any premises.
2. "Adult" means a person who is eighteen (18) years of age or older.
3. “Appropriate authority” means that person within the governmental structure of the City charged with the administration of the appropriate code.
4. “Attic” means any story situated wholly or partly within the roof, and so designed, arranged or built as to be used for business, storage or habitation.
5. “Central heating system” means a single system supplying heat to one or more dwelling units or more than one rooming unit.
6. “Dormitory” means a room or group of rooms in a dwelling used for living and sleeping purposes by three (3) or more persons.
7. “Dwelling” means any enclosed space which is rented and is wholly or partly used or intended to be used for living or sleeping by human occupants.
8. “Dwelling unit” means any room or group of rooms located within a dwelling and forming a single habitable unit with facilities which are used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking, eating and sanitation purposes.
9. “Garbage” means the animal and vegetable wastes resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking, serving and non-consumption of food.
10. “Guest” means any person who shares a dwelling in a non-permanent status for not more than fifteen (15) days.
11. “Habitable room” means a room or enclosed floor space used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking or eating purposes, excluding bathrooms, water closet compartments, laundries, furnace rooms, pantries and utility rooms totaling less than fifty (50) square feet of floor space, and further excluding foyers, communicating corridors, stairways, closets, storage spaces and areas in unheated or un-insulated parts of structures below ground level or in attics.
12. “Heated water” means water heated at the outlet to a temperature of not less than one hundred twenty degrees (120º) Fahrenheit.
13. “Household” means a family and/or one or more unrelated persons, including servants, who share the same dwelling and use some or all of its cooking and eating facilities.
14. “Kitchen” means any room containing any or all of the following equipment, or any area of a room within three (3) feet of such equipment: a sink and/or other device for dish-washing; a stove or other device for cooking; a refrigerator or other device for cold storage of food; cabinets and/or shelves for storage of equipment and utensils; and a counter or table for food preparation.
15. “Occupant” means any person living, sleeping, cooking or eating in, or actually having possession of, a dwelling, dwelling unit or a rooming unit. In dwelling units a guest is not considered an occupant.
16. “Operator” means any person who has charge, care, control or management of a building, or part thereof, in which dwelling units or rooming units are let.
17. “Ordinary summer conditions” means a temperature ten degrees (10º) Fahrenheit below the highest recorded temperature in the locality for the prior ten (10) year period.
18. “Ordinary winter conditions” means a temperature fifteen degrees (15º) Fahrenheit above the lowest recorded temperature in the locality for the prior ten (10) year period.
19. “Owner” means any person who alone or jointly or severally with others:
A. Has legal title to any dwelling or dwelling unit without actual possession thereof; or
B. Has charge, care or control of any dwelling or dwelling unit, as owner or agent of the owner, or as executor, administrator, trustee or guardian of the estate of the owner. Any such person thus representing the actual owner shall be bound to comply with the provisions of this chapter and of rules and regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter to the same extent as if said person were the owner.
20. “Permissible occupancy” means the maximum number of persons permitted to reside in a dwelling unit or rooming unit.
21. “Plumbing” includes all of the following supplied facilities and equipment: gas pipes; gas-burning equipment; water pipes; garbage disposal units; waste pipes; water closets; sinks; installed dishwashers; lavatories; bathtubs; shower baths; installed clothes-washing machines; catch basins; drains; vents and any other similar supplied fixtures, and the installation thereof, together with all connections to water, sewer or gas lines.
22. “Refuse” means all putrescible and nonputrescible solids (except body wastes) including garbage, rubbish, ashes and dead animals.
23. “Refuse container” means an essentially watertight container that is constructed of metal, or some other durable material impervious to rodents, that is capable of being serviced without creating unsanitary conditions; or such other container approved by the appropriate authority. Openings into refuse containers, such as covers and doors, shall be tight fitting.
24. “Rental permit” means a document, issued periodically which grants the owner or operator the option of letting a unit for rental purposes and showing that the unit for which it is issued was in compliance with the applicable provisions of this chapter at the time of issuance.
25. “Reside” means the place where a person has established legal residence and physically resides not less than ten (10) months of any applicable calendar year.
26. “Rodent proofing” means a form of construction which will impede or prevent the ingress or egress of rodents to or from a given space or building, or will prevent rodents from gaining access to food, water or harborage.
27. “Rooming house” means any dwelling or that part of any dwelling containing one or more rooming units and/or one or more dormitory rooms.
28. “Rooming unit” means any room or group of rooms in a dwelling forming a single habitable unit used or intended to be used for living and sleeping purposes, but not for cooking purposes.
29. “Rubbish” means nonputrescible solid wastes (excluding ashes) consisting of either:
A. Combustible wastes such as paper, cardboard, plastic containers, yard clippings and wood; or
B. Noncombustible wastes such as tin cans, glass and crockery.
30. “Rules and regulations” means those administrative procedures adopted by the director for the efficient internal management of the department of housing and inspection services. All rules and regulations shall be limited to departmental administrative and procedural matters, rather than substantive matters, and shall not be inconsistent with this chapter.
31. “Service request” means a proper application for inspection made by an owner, or representative thereof, or a tenant, in writing, dated and signed, setting forth the alleged violation, clearly identifying and indicating the person and premises involved, and during an existing tenancy with sufficient remaining term for remedial procedures under this chapter. The person making the request shall be available and personally present upon request during such remedial procedures.
32. “Short-term rental” means the renting of any dwelling for a term of less than ninety (90) continuous days.”
33. “Space heater” means a self-contained heating appliance of either the circulating type or the radiant type and intended primarily to heat only one room.
34. “Structure compliance, certificate of” means that a structure complied with Section 145.20 of this chapter at the time of issuance.
35. “Temporary housing” means any tenant, trailer, motor home, or other structure used for human shelter which is designed to be transportable and which is not attached to the ground, to another structure, or to any utilities system on the same premises for more than thirty (30) days.
(Ord. 2018-1001 - Dec. 18 Supp.)
Whenever the terms “dwelling,” “dwelling unit,” “rooming house,” “rooming units” and “structure” are used in this chapter, they shall be construed as though they are followed by the words “or any part thereof.”