For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ACCESSORY BUILDING. A subordinate building, the use of which is incidental to that of the principal building on the same lot or to the use of the premises. An ACCESSORY USE is one which is incidental to the principal use of the premises.
ALLEY. A public right-of-way which affords only a secondary means of access to abutting property and which has a width of less than 30 feet.
ALTERATIONS. As applied to a building or structure, ALTERATIONS mean a change or rearrangement in the structural parts or in the exit facilities or an enlargement, whether by extending on a side or by increasing in height or the moving from one location or position to another.
APARTMENT. A room or suite of rooms in a multiple or two-family dwelling or where one or more dwelling units are established above nonresidential uses.
APARTMENT HOUSE. See DWELLING, MULTIPLE.
AREA, NET SITE. The total area within the property lines excluding external streets.
AUTO COURT. A building or group of buildings, whether detached or in connected units, used as individual sleeping or dwelling units designed primarily for transient automobile travelers and providing for accessory off-street parking facilities. The term AUTO COURT includes buildings designated as tourist courts, motor lodges, motels, and similar appellations.
BASEMENT. A story partly underground but having less than half of its clear floor-to-ceiling height below finished grade. A BASEMENT shall be counted as a story for the purpose of height measurement if the vertical distance between the ceiling and the average level of the adjoining ground is more than five feet and the BASEMENT is used for business or dwelling purposes.
BOARDINGHOUSE. A private dwelling in which, for compensation, lodging and meals are provided for three but not more than 20 persons.
BUILDING. Any structure having a roof designed or intended for the enclosure, shelter, or protection of persons, animals, chattels, or property and which is permanently affixed to the land. When a structure is divided into separate parts by unpierced walls extending from the ground up, each part is deemed a separate BUILDING.
BUILDING, DETACHED. A building surrounded by open space on the same lot.
BUILDING, FRONT LINE OF. The line of that face of the building nearest the front line of the lot. This face includes sun parlors and covered porches, whether enclosed or unenclosed, but does not include steps.
BUILDING, HEIGHT OF. The vertical distance measured from the average grade (see GRADE) to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof or to the deck line of a mansard roof or to the mean height level between eaves and ridge for gable, hip, and gambrel roofs.
BUILDING, PRINCIPAL. A building in which is conducted the main or principal use of the lot on which it is located.
CELLAR. A story partly underground and having more than one-half of its clear height below the average level of the adjoining ground. A CELLAR shall not be considered in determining the permissible number of stories, nor shall it be considered as space to be used for living quarters.
COURT. An unoccupied open space other than a yard, on the same lot with a building, which is bounded on two or more sides by the walls of a building.
COVERAGE. The percentage of the plot or lot area covered by the building area.
CURB LEVEL. The officially established grade of the curb in front of the midpoint of the lot.
DEVELOPMENT PLAN. A development plan for development of real property, including construction and remodeling, in a zoning classification for which a development plan is required. All provisions of the DEVELOPMENT PLAN shall be in conformance with I.C. 36-7-4-1400 et seq., as may be amended from time to time.
DOG KENNEL. The keeping of more than three dogs that are more than six months old.
DISTRICT. A section or sections of the incorporated area of the city for which the regulations governing the use of buildings and premises or the height and area of buildings are uniform.
DUMP. A lot or land or part thereof used primarily for the disposal by abandonment, dumping, burial, burning, or any other means and for whatever purpose, of garbage, sewage, trash, refuse, junk, discarded machinery, vehicles or parts thereof, or waste materials of any kind.
DWELLING. A building or portion thereof, but not an automobile house trailer, designed or used exclusively as the living quarters for one or more families.
DWELLING, GROUP. A group of two or more one-family, two-family, or multiple-dwellings occupying a parcel or tract designed and developed as a unit and having any yard in common.
DWELLING, MULTIPLE. A building used or designed as a residence for three or more families living independently of each other and doing their own cooking therein, including apartment houses, apartment hotels, flats, and group houses.
DWELLING, ROW HOUSE. A building consisting of a series of three or more dwelling units having a common wall between two adjacent dwelling units.
DWELLING, SEMI-DETACHED. A building designed for or occupied exclusively by two families living independently of each other with the units placed side by side, each unit having one party wall and one side yard.
DWELLING, SINGLE-FAMILY. A detached building designed for and containing a one family dwelling unit only.
DWELLING, TWO-FAMILY. A building except a semi-detached dwelling designed for or occupied exclusively by two families living independently of each other.
DWELLING UNIT. A dwelling or portion thereof providing complete living facilities for one family, including complete single kitchen facilities, permanently installed.
FAMILY. One or more persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption occupying the premises and living as a single housekeeping unit, as distinguished from a group occupying a boardinghouse, lodginghouse, club, fraternity, or hotel.
FILLING STATION. Any area of land, including structures thereon, that is used or designed to be used for retail sale or dispensing of fuels, lubricants, tires, batteries, accessories, and minor parts, including installation, for motor vehicles and which may include facilities used or designed to be used for polishing, greasing, washing, spraying, dry cleaning, or otherwise cleaning or servicing motor vehicles, but does not include welding, major repair, or body work.
FLOOD or FLOODWATER. The water of any lake or watercourse which is above the banks and/or outside the channel and banks of the watercourse.
FLOOD HAZARD AREA. Any floodplain, floodway, floodway fringe district, or any combination thereof.
FLOODPROOFED BUILDING. A commercial or industrial building designed to exclude floodwaters from the interior of that building. All floodproofing shall be adequate to withstand the flood depths, pressures, velocities, impact, and uplift forces and other factors associated with the regulatory flood.
FLOOR PROTECTION GRADE. The elevation of the lowest floor or a building or structure. If a basement is included, the basement floor is considered the lowest floor. Exception: If a commercial or industrial building is floodproofed as hereinafter defined, the term FLOOD PROTECTION GRADE applies to the water surface elevation for which the building is protected.
FRONTAGE. All the property on one side of a street between two intersecting streets measured along the line of the street or, if the street is dead-ended, then all of the property abutting on one side between an intersecting street and the dead-end of the street.
GARAGE, PRIVATE. An accessory building used for storage purposes only and having a capacity of not more than three automobiles or not more than one automobile per family housed in the building to which the GARAGE is accessory, whichever is greater. Space therein may be used for not more than one commercial vehicle and space may be rented for not more than two vehicles of others than occupants of the building to which the GARAGE is accessory.
GARAGE, PUBLIC. Any garage not a private garage, which is used for storage, repair, rental, servicing, or supplying of gasoline or oil to motor vehicles.
GARAGE, STORAGE. Any building or premises, used for housing only of motor driven vehicles other than truck and commercial vehicles pursuant to previous arrangements and not to transients and at which automobile fuels and oils are not sold and motor driven vehicles are not equipped, repaired, hired, or sold.
GRADE. The officially established level of the curb in front of the midpoint of the lot.
HOME OCCUPATION. An occupation or a profession which:
(1) Is customarily carried on in a dwelling unit or in a building or other structure accessory to a dwelling unit;
(2) Is carried on by a member of the family residing in the dwelling unit;
(3) Is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling unit for residential purposes;
(4) Which conforms to the following additional conditions:
(a) The occupation or profession shall be carried on wholly within the principal building or within a building or other structure accessory thereto;
(b) No person is employed other than a member of the immediate family residing on the premises;
(c) There shall be no exterior display, no exterior sign except a small name plate with an area no larger than one square foot and not illuminated, no exterior storage of materials of the home occupation or variation from the residential character of the principal building; and
(d) No offensive noise, vibration, smoke, dust, odors, heat, or glare shall be produced.
(5) In particular, a HOME OCCUPATION may include the following:
(a) Art studio;
(b) Dressmaking;
(c) Professional office of a physician, dentist, lawyer, engineer, architect, or accountant, within a dwelling occupied by the same;
(d) Real estate brokerage, exclusive of service for payment of bills, collection of rent, and the like; and
(e) Teaching with musical instruction, limited to a single pupil at a time.
(6) A HOME OCCUPATION shall not be interpreted to include the following: barber shops and beauty parlors, commercial stables and kennels, restaurants, tea rooms, dancing instruction, band instrument instruction in groups, tourist home, mortuary establishments, stores, trades, or business of any kind not herein excepted.
HOSPITAL. A building used for the diagnosis, treatment, or other care of human ailments, unless otherwise specified.
HOTEL. A building in which lodging is provided and offered to the public for compensation and which is open to transient guests.
INSTITUTION. A building occupied by a nonprofit corporation of a nonprofit establishment for public use.
LODGINGHOUSE. A building where lodging only is provided for compensation to three or more but not more than 20 persons and in which no meals are provided.
LOT. A parcel of land occupied or intended for occupancy by a use permitted in this chapter including one principal building together with its accessory building and the open spaces required by this chapter, and having its principal frontage upon a dedicated public street or upon a public way.
LOT AREA. The area of a horizontal plane bounded by the front, side, and rear lot lines.
LOT, CORNER. A lot abutting upon two or more streets at their intersection.
LOT, DEPTH OF. The mean horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines.
LOT, DOUBLE FRONTAGE. A lot having a frontage on two nonintersecting streets, as distinguished from a corner lot.
LOT, INTERIOR. A lot other than a corner lot.
LOT, LINE, FRONT. In the case of an interior lot, FRONT LOT LINE means a line separating the lot from the dedicated public street or public way and, in the case of a corner lot, FRONT LOT LINE means a line separating the narrowest street frontage of the lot from the street, except in cases where deed restrictions in effect specify another line as the FRONT LOT LINE or, in the case of a corner lot where both street frontages are equal in width or where front lot lines prevail on both street frontages, then both the lines separating the lot from the dedicated public streets shall be regarded as FRONT LOT LINES for purposes of conforming to front yard requirements.
LOT LINE, REAR. A lot line which is opposite and most distant from the front lot line and, in the case of an irregular or triangular shaped lot, a line ten feet in length within the lot, parallel to and at the maximum distance from the front lot line.
LOT LINE, SIDE. Any lot boundary line not a front lot line or a rear lot line.
LOT OF RECORD. An area of land designated as a lot on a plat of subdivision registered or recorded in the office of the County Recorder or a parcel of land the deed of which was recorded in the office of the County Recorder prior to the adoption of this chapter.
LOT, WIDTH OF. The mean horizontal distance between the side lot lines.
MOBILE HOMES TIE-DOWNS—SCHEDULE A.
(1) Sufficient anchorage to resist flotation, collapse, or lateral movement of any mobile home.
(2) At a minimum, the anchorage shall consist of:
(a) Over-the top ties be provided at each of the four corners of the mobile home, with two additional ties per side at intermediate locations, with mobile homes less than 50 feet long requiring only one additional tie per side;
(b) Frame ties be provided at each corner of the home with five additional ties per side at intermediate points and mobile homes less than 50 feet long requiring four additional ties per side;
(c) All components of the anchoring system be capable of carrying a force of 4,800 pounds; and
(d) Additions to the mobile home be similarly anchored.
NATURAL RESOURCES. The State Natural Resources Commission.
NONCONFORMING USE. Any use of land or buildings which does not comply with all of the regulations of this chapter or of any amendment hereto governing use for the zoning district in which the use is located.
PARKING LOT. In the case of nonindustrial areas, PARKING LOT means a permanently all-weather surfaced parcel of land devoted to unenclosed parking spaces, but not used for the commercial sale or lease of motor vehicles and, in the case of industrial areas, PARKING LOT means a parcel of land devoted to unenclosed parking spaces surfaced with slag, cinders, or other dustless materials.
PARKING SPACE. An area of not less than 200 square feet, to store one standard sized automobile, together with a driveway connecting the parking space with a street or alley and permitting satisfactory ingress and egress of an automobile.
PLACE. An open unoccupied space other than a street or alley permanently reserved as the principal means of access to abutting property
REGULATORY FLOOD. The flood having a peak discharge which can be expected to be equaled or exceeded on the average of once in a 100-year period, as calculated by a method and procedure which is acceptable to and approved by the State Natural Resources Commission. This flood is equivalent to a flood having a probability of occurrence of 1% in any given year.
REGULATORY FLOOD PROFILE. A longitudinal profile along the thread of a stream showing the maximum water surface elevation attained by the regulatory flood.
ROOMINGHOUSE. See LODGINGHOUSE.
ROW HOUSE. See DWELLING, ROW HOUSE.
STORY. The portion of a building, other than a cellar, included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the floor next above it or, if there is no floor above it, then the surface between the floor and the ceiling next above it.
STORY, HALF. The portion of a building under a sloping gable, hip, or gambrel roof; the wall plates on at least two opposite exterior walls of which are not more than three feet above the floor level of the half-story.
STREET. A public right-of-way which affords a primary means of access to abutting property.
STREET LINE. A dividing line between a lot, tract, or parcel of land and a contiguous street.
STRUCTURAL ALTERATION. Any change other than incidental repairs, which would prolong the life of the supporting members of a building, such as bearing walls or partitions, columns, beams, or girders or any substantial change in the roof or in exterior walls.
STRUCTURE. Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires permanent location on the ground or attached to something having a permanent location on the ground including, but without limiting the generality of the foregoing, advertising signs, billboards, platforms, radio towers, sheds, bins, and fences but excluding, in M-1 and M-2 districts, mechanical or electrical equipment such as boilers, pressure vessels, pumps, blowers, turbines, motors, or other machinery, piping, electrical wiring, and the like.
SUBSTANTIAL MODIFICATION. Any alteration, repair, enlargement, or extension of an existing building. SUBSTANTIAL MODIFICATION is considered to occur when the first alteration of any wall, ceiling, floor, or other structural element of the building commences. This term does not, however, include either:
(1) Any project for improvement of a structure to comply with existing health, sanitary, or safety code specifications; or
(2) Any alteration of a structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places or the State Survey of Historic, Architectural, Archeological, and Cultural Sites, Structures, Districts, and Objects.
YARD. An open space on a lot which is unoccupied and unobstructed by any portion of a structure from the ground upward, except as otherwise provided herein.
YARD, FRONT. A yard extending across the front of a lot between the side lot lines and being the minimum horizontal distance between the street line and the nearest part of the principal building or any projection thereof, other than the projection of the usual steps or entrance way.
YARD, REAR. A yard extending across the rear of the lot measured between the side lot lines and being the minimum horizontal distance between the rear lot line and the rear of the principal building or any projections other than steps, unenclosed balconies, or unenclosed porches. On both corner lots and interior lots, the REAR YARD shall in all cases be at the opposite end of the lot from the front yard.
YARD, SIDE. A yard between the principal building and the side line of the lot and extending from the front line of the principal building to the rear line of the principal building. The width of the required SIDE YARD shall be measured horizontally from the nearest point of the side lot line toward the nearest part of the principal building.
(Prior Code, § 156.003) (Ord. 3241, passed - -1979; Ord. 0-98-0002, passed - -1998)