For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning. Words used in the present tense shall include the future; the singular number shall include the plural, and the plural, the singular; the word BUILDING shall include the word STRUCTURE; the word LOT shall include the word PLOT, and the word SHALL is mandatory and not directory.
ACCESSORY BUILDING. A subordinate building, or a portion of the main building, the use of which is incidental to that of the dominant use of the main building or premises.
AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY. Agricultural activity, including forests and forest products, harvest and management, dairy farming, livestock grazing and pasturage, truck gardening, the raising of crops, fruit and nursery stock, fish farms, animal kennels and fur-bearing animal farms, and the harvesting, processing, packaging, packing, shipping, and selling of products produced on the premises, and incidental farm occupations and uses such as machinery, farm equipment, and domestic repair and construction, excluding commercial feed lots.
ALLEY. A public thoroughfare which affords only a secondary means of access to abutting property.
APARTMENT HOUSE. See MULTIPLE DWELLING.
BASEMENT. A story having part but not more than one-half its height below-grade. A BASEMENT is counted as a story for the purpose of height regulations, if subdivided and used for business or dwelling purposes by other than a janitor employed on the premises.
BOARDING HOUSE. A building other than a hotel, where compensation and by prearrangement for definite periods, meals or lodging and meals, are provided for two or more persons, but not exceeding eight persons.
BUILDING. Any structure for the shelter, support, or enclosure of persons, animals, chattels, or property, of any kind; and when separated by dividing walls without openings, each portion of such BUILDING, so separated, shall be deemed a separate BUILDING. A grain and a commercial storage facility is a structure, not a BUILDING.
BUILDING, HEIGHT OF. The vertical distance from the grade to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof or to the deck line of a mansard roof, or to the average height of the highest gable of a pitch or hip roof.
CELLAR. A story having more than one-half its height below-grade.
COMMERCIAL FEED LOT. An area of land devoted to raising and feeding of livestock where the operation is not a part of a normal agricultural activity.
DISTRICT. Any section of the municipality for which the regulations governing the use of buildings and premises or the height and area of buildings are uniform.
DWELLING. Any building, or portion thereof, which is designed or used exclusively for residential purposes.
DWELLING, MULTIPLE. A building or portion thereof designed for occupancy by three or more families.
DWELLING, SINGLE-FAMILY. A building designed for occupancy by one family, but excluding trailers and mobile homes whether wheels are removed or not removed or whether permanently fixed to the ground or not permanently fixed to the ground.
DWELLING, TWO-FAMILY. A building designed for occupancy by two families.
FAMILY. One or more persons occupying a premises and living as a single housekeeping unit as distinguished from a group occupying a boarding house, lodging house, or hotel as herein defined.
FILLING STATION. Any building or premises used principally for the storing, dispensing, sale, or offering for sale at retail of automobile fuels or oils.
FRONTAGE. Property on one side of a street measured along the line of the street.
GARAGE, PRIVATE. An accessory building designed or used for the storage of not more than four motor-driven vehicles owned and used by the occupants of the building to which it is accessory.
GARAGE, PUBLIC. A building or portion thereof, other than a private or storage garage, designed or used for servicing, repairing, equipping, hiring, selling, or storing motor-driven vehicles.
GARAGE, STORAGE. A building or portion thereof designed or used exclusively for housing four or more motor-driven vehicles.
GRADE.
(1) For buildings having walls adjoining one street, only the elevation of the sidewalk at the center of the wall adjoining the street.
(2) For buildings having walls adjoining more than one street, the average of the elevation of the sidewalk at the centers of all walls adjoining the streets.
(3) For buildings having no wall adjoining the street, the average level of the finished surface of the ground adjacent to the exterior walls of the building.
(4) Any wall approximately parallel to and not more than five feet from a street line is to be considered as adjoining the street.
HOME OCCUPATION. Any occupation or profession carried on by a member of a family, residing on the premises, in connection with which there is used no sign other than one nonilluminated nameplate attached to the building entrance which is not more than one square foot in area; provided that no person is employed other than a member of the immediate family residing on the premises.
HOTEL/MOTEL. A building used as the abiding place of more than ten persons who are lodged with or without meals for compensation.
INSTITUTION. A building occupied by a nonprofit corporation or a nonprofit establishment for public use.
LOADING SPACE. A space on the lot accessible to an alley or a street not less than ten feet in height.
LODGING HOUSE. A building where lodging only is provided for compensation to two or more, but not exceeding eight persons, in contradistinction to hotels open to transients.
LOT. A parcel of land occupied or intended for occupancy by one main building together with its accessory buildings, and uses customarily incidental to it, including the open spaces required by this chapter and having its principal frontage upon a street or upon an officially approved place.
LOT, CORNER. A lot adjoining 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 LINES. The lines bounding a lot.
LOT OF RECORD. A lot which is a part of a subdivision, the map of which has been recorded in the office of the county’s Recorder of Deeds, or a lot described by metes and bounds, the description of which has been recorded in the office of the Recorder of Deeds.
MUNICIPALITY. All land lying within the corporate limits of the municipality and also all contiguous territory not more than one and one-half miles beyond the corporate limits and not included in any other MUNICIPALITY, as specifically shown on the zoning district map.
NONCONFORMING USE. The use of any premises contrary to the use provisions of this chapter for the district in which the premises are located.
PARKING LOT. A parcel of land devoted to unenclosed parking spaces.
PARKING SPACE. An impervious surfaced area, enclosed or unenclosed, sufficient in size to store one automobile, together with a surfaced driveway connecting the parking space with a street or alley and permitting 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 adjoining property.
STABLE, PRIVATE. A stable with a capacity for not more than two horses or mules.
STABLE, PUBLIC. A stable, other than a private stable with a capacity for more than three horses or mules.
STORY. The portion of a building, other than a basement 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.
STORY, HALF. A space under a sloping roof which has the line of intersection of roof decking and wall face not more than three feet above the top floor level, and in which space not more than two-thirds of the floor area is finished off for use. A HALF-STORY containing independent apartment or living quarters shall be counted as a full story.
STREET. All property dedicated or intended for public or private street purposes or subject to public easements thereof.
STREET LINE. A dividing line between a lot, tract or parcel of land and a contiguous street.
STRUCTURAL ALTERATIONS. Any change in the supporting members of a building, such as bearing walls or partitions, columns, beams, or girders, or any complete rebuilding of the roof.
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.
TRAILER HOME AND MOBILE HOME. Any structure used for living, sleeping, business, or storage purposes, whether the wheels are removed or not removed or whether permanently fixed to the ground or not permanently fixed to the ground or whether used as a permanent living facility or not used as a permanent living facility.
TRAILER PARK OR MOBILE PARK. An area containing one or more trailers or mobile homes designed or intended to be used as a living facility of one or more families.
YARD. An open space at grade between a building and the adjoining lot lines, unoccupied and unobstructed by any portion of a structure from the ground upward, except as otherwise provided herein. In measuring a YARD for the purposes of determining the width of a side YARD, the depth of a front YARD or the depth of a rear YARD, the minimum horizontal distance between the lot line and the main building shall be used.
YARD, FRONT. A yard extending across the front of a lot between the side yard lines and being the minimum horizontal distance between the street line and the main building or any projection thereof, other than steps, unenclosed balconies and unenclosed porches.
YARD, REAR. A yard extending across the rear of a lot measured between lot lines and being the minimum horizontal distance between the rear lot line and the rear of the main building or any projections other than steps, unenclosed balconies, or unenclosed porches. On corner lots, the REAR YARD shall be considered as parallel to the street upon which the lot has its least dimension. On corner 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 building and the side line of the lot and extending from the front lot line to the rear lot line.
(Ord. 94-1, passed 1-17-1994)