(a) Application of Terms
(1) The definitions in this chapter shall apply in the interpretation and enforcement of this Housing Code.
(2) Whenever the words "dwelling", "dwelling unit", "building", "rooming house", "rooming unit", or "premises" are used in this Housing Code, they shall be construed as though they were followed by the words "or any part thereof".
(b) Definitions.
(1) "Accessory structure" means a building or structure the use of which is incidental to that of the main building or structure and which is located on the same lot.
(2) "Approved" means approval by the Director of Building and Zoning under the regulations of this Code as applied to a material, device or method of construction or approval by other authorities designated by law, ordinance or this Code to give approval to the matter in question.
(3) "Basement" means a story having part but not more than one-half of its height below grade. A basement is counted as a story for the purposes of height regulation if subdivided and used for dwelling purposes other than by a janitor employed on the premises.
(4) "Bathroom" means a room which affords privacy to a person and is equipped with a flush-water closet, a lavatory basin, and a bathtub or shower.
(5) "Board" means the Board of Zoning Appeals of the City, as created and existing under the provisions of the Zoning Ordinance.
(6) "Building" means any structure designed or built for the support, use, enclosure, shelter, or protection of persons, animals, chattels, or property of any kind.
(7) "Cellar" means that space in a building located partly or entirely below grade which has one-half or more of its clear floor-to-ceiling height below the average grade of the adjoining ground.
(8) "Certificate of Occupancy" means the Certificate of Occupancy required by the City Zoning Ordinance.
(9) "City" means the City of Grandview Heights, Ohio.
(10) "Communal kitchen" means a kitchen within a dwelling building used by the occupants of more than one dwelling unit or shared or used by any person other than members of one family.
(11) "Dilapidated" means a general condition of decay or extensive disrepair.
(12) "Director of Building and Zoning" means the Director of Building and Zoning of Grandview Heights and used herein, shall be construed as though followed by the words, "or his authorized agent or representative".
(13) "Dormitory sleeping room" means a room providing sleeping quarters for a number of persons.
(14) "Dwelling" means any building or structure, (except a house trailer as defined by Ohio R. C. 4501.01), which is occupied or intended for occupancy in whole or in part as a home, residence or sleeping place for one or more persons.
(15) "Dwelling unit" means one or more habitable rooms forming a single habitable unit within a dwelling with facilities which are used or intended to be used by one or more persons for living, sleeping, cooking and eating.
(16) "Dwelling, double" means a building intended or designed to be occupied by not more than two families living separately and independently of each other.
(17) "Dwelling, multiple" means a building containing the following:
A. Three or more dwelling units, or
B. Two or more dwellings units above the first or ground floor, or
C. One or more dwelling units if the building also contains a use other than a dwelling use or an area designed for such other use.
1. The words "multiple dwelling", "tenement house" and "apartment house" are synonymous.
2. "One-floor dwelling" means one in which less than two-thirds of the total habitable floor area on the second floor has a ceiling height of at least seven feet six inches.
3. "Dwelling structure" means a building or structure used or designed or intended to be used, all or in part, for residential purposes.
4. "Two-floor dwelling" means one in which two-thirds or more of the total habitable floor area on the second floor has a ceiling height of at least seven feet six inches.
5. "Dwelling unit" means a group of rooms arranged, maintained or designed to be occupied by a single family for living, sleeping, cooking and eating. The words "dwelling unit", "apartment", and "suite" shall be considered synonymous.
(18) "Egress" means a means to travel from the interior of a building to the exterior at ground level.
(19) "Exterior stairway" means one or more flights of stairs on the outside of a building and the necessary landings and platforms connecting them to form a continuous and uninterrupted passage from one floor to another. Standard fire escapes are not included as exterior stairways.
(20) "Extermination" means the control and elimination of insects, rodents, or other pests by eliminating their harboring places; by removing or making inaccessible materials that may serve as their food; by poisoning, spraying, fumigating, trapping or by any other recognized and legal pest elimination methods approved by the Health Commissioner.
(21) "Family" means one or more persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption occupying a premise as an individual housekeeping organization. A family may not include more than two person not related by blood, marriage or adoption.
(22) "Fee schedule" means the Appendix to Chapter 1325 as amended from time to time thereafter and as the same exists at the time the subject application is received.
(23) "Garbage" means animal or vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation or serving of food.
(24) "Habitable room" means a room or enclosed floor space used or intended to be used for living, sleeping or eating purposes, but excluding the following: kitchens, except kitchens where eating space is included in a room also used for kitchen or cooking purposes, bathrooms, toilet rooms, laundries, pantries, dressing rooms, storage spaces, foyers, hallways, utility rooms, heater rooms, boilers and basement recreation rooms.
(25) "Health Commissioner" means the designated health authority of the City or his authorized representative.
(26) "Hotel" means a building originally designed for hotel purposes and meeting all requirements of State and City laws, rules and regulations in which all or a part thereof is occupied, used, maintained, advertised or held out to the public to be a place where sleeping accommodations are offered for pay to transient guests and in which five or more rooms are used for the accommodation of such guests. For the purpose of this chapter, the word "hotel" includes motels and motor courts meeting these requirements.
(27) "Housing Inspector" means the Director of Building and Zoning of the City or his authorized representative.
(28) "Infestation" means the presence within or around a dwelling or premises of insects, rodents, vermin or other pests.
(29) "Occupant" means any person living, sleeping, or cooking in, or having actual possession of a dwelling unit, rooming unit or other building.
(30) "Operator" means any person who has charge, care, or control of a building, or part thereof, in which dwelling units or rooming units are let.
(31) "Organization" means a corporation for profit or not for profit, partnership, limited partnership, joint venture, unincorporated association, estate, trust, or other commercial or legal entity. Organization does not include an entity organized as, or by, a governmental agency for execution of a governmental program.
(32) "Owner" means any person who has a freehold or lesser estate in the premises; a mortgagee or vendee in possession; or any person who has charge, care or control of the premises as agent, executor, administrator, assignee, receiver, trustee, guardian or lessee.
(33) "Person" means any individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership, agent, operator or anyone in control.
(34) "Plumbing" means all of the following supplied facilities and 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, together with all connection to water and sewer lines.
(35) Premises" means lands and everything of a permanent nature attached thereto as part of the realty.
(Ord. 89-21. Passed 5-1-89; Ord. 92-33. Passed 12-7-92.)
(35a) “Rain Barrel” means an above-ground prefabricated storage receptacle with an automatic overflow diversion system that collects and stores storm water runoff from a roof or structure, which would have been otherwise routed into a storm drain. (Ord. 2012-30. Passed 10-15-12.)
(36) "Rain carrier" means a drainage device such as gutters or downspouts used to remove drainage water from roof surfaces of any building or structure.
(37) "Rat harborage" means any space where rats live, nest or seek shelter.
(38) "Rat-proofing" means a form of construction which will prevent the ingress or egress of rats to or from a given space or building, or gaining access to food, water or harborage. This construction consists of the closing and keeping closed of every opening in foundations, basements, cellars, exterior and interior walls, ground or first floors, sidewalk gratings, sidewalk openings and other places that may be reached and entered by rats by climbing, burrowing or other methods, by the use of materials impervious to rat gnawing and other methods approved by the appropriate authority.
(39) "Repair" means to restore to sound condition.
(40) "Rooming house" means and includes every dwelling, other than hotels and motels, kept, used or held out to be a place where sleeping or lodging rooms are offered for pay to three or more persons.
(41) "Rooming unit" means any room or group or rooms in a rooming house which are used or intended to be used for living and sleeping, but not for cooking and eating purposes.
(42) "Rubbish" means combustible and noncombustible waste materials except garbage, including such items as paper, rags, cartons, boxes, wood, excelsior, rubber, leather, tree branches, yard trimmage, tin can, metals, mineral matter, glass, crocker, dust, and the residue for the burning of wood, coal, coke and other combustible material.
(43) "Safe load" means the minimum live load as established by the Building Codes of the City.
(44) "Safety" means the condition of being free from danger and hazards which may cause accidents or disease.
(45) "Service walk steps" mean any steps which are part of the service walk, the sidewalk connecting a dwelling with the public sidewalk.
(46) "Space heater" means a room heater which is a self-contained above-the-floor device for furnishing heated air through openings in its casing directly into the space in which the device is located or immediately adjacent to it. The device may be freestanding or recessed in a wall or partition.
(47) "Structure" means anything constructed to serve any purpose.
(48) "Supplied" means paid for, furnished, or provided by or under the control of, the owner or operator.
(49) "Total habitable room area" means the total floor space of all habitable rooms having a ceiling height of five or more feet.
(50) "Vacant dwelling" means a dwelling or dwelling unit which is not being occupied as a home, residence or sleeping place for one or more persons under a lease, rental agreement or permission of the owner.
(51) "Ventilation" means the supply and removal of air to and from a space by natural or mechanical means.
(Ord. 89-21. Passed 5-1-89; Ord. 92-33. Passed 12-7-92.)