The regulations in this chapter shall be subject to the interpretations and exceptions specified in this section.
(A) Use. The following accessory uses, in addition to those hereinbefore specified shall be permitted in any residential district, if the accessory uses do not alter the character of the premises in respect to their use for the purpose permitted in the district:
(1) The renting of rooms or the providing of table board in a dwelling as and incidental use to that of its occupancy as a dwelling of the character permitted in the respective district, but not to the extent of constituting a hotel as defined in this chapter, unless permitted in the district;
(2) The operation of necessary facilities and equipment in connection with schools, colleges, universities, hospitals and other institutions permitted in the district; and
(3) Recreation, refreshment and service buildings in public parks and playgrounds.
(B) Sign regulations. Signs other than those otherwise permitted in the following cases and under the following conditions:
(1) Signs displaying only the name of property or premises upon which displayed or of the owner or lessee;
(2) Signs not exceeding eight square feet in area pertaining only to the sale, rental or lease of the premises upon which displayed; and
(3) The following signs upon securing a conditional use permit as provided by this chapter for each such sign:
(a) Signs advertising the sale of a subdivision and located thereon; and
(b) Directional and informational signs of a public or quasi-public nature, including signs serving as directional signs to properties not situated adjacent to the street next to which the signs are located.
(C) Excavating for construction. Nothing in this chapter prohibits the excavating of nature materials for the construction of a building permitted in the district in which the same is to be located if the building is to be constructed on the lot from which the material is excavated. No use permit shall be required for such excavating.
(D) Location. No filling station, public garage or gasoline distributing station shall be located within 300 feet of a school, church, hospital or other public meeting place having a seating capacity of more than 50 persons.
(E) Height.
(1) In any district with a height limit of less than 75 feet, public and semi-public buildings, schools and churches, hospitals and other institutions permitted in the district, may be erected to a height not exceeding 75 feet. The front, rear and side yards shall be increased one foot for each one foot by which the building exceeds the height limit herein before established for such district.
(2) A dwelling in residential districts may be increased in height not to exceed ten feet and to a total of not exceeding three stories when two side yards of a width of not less than 15 feet each are provided.
(3) Upon the securing of a conditional use permit as provided in § 903.03 of this chapter, any building may be erected to a height exceeding that herein before specified for the respective district, but the total floor area of the building shall not exceed that possible for a building in the district erected within the height limit specified in this chapter for the district.
(4) Subject to any other provisions of law, towers, gables, spires, penthouses, scenery lofts, cupolas, water tanks, similar structures and necessary mechanical appurtenances may be build and used to a greater height that the limit established for the district in which the building is located, with the following qualifications.
(a) No such exception shall cover at any level more than 15% in area of the lot, nor have an area at the base greater than 1,600 feet.
(b) No tower, gable, spire or similar structure shall be used for sleeping or eating quarters or for any commercial purpose, except one incidental to the permitted uses of the main building.
(c) No building or structure in any district shall over-exceed a maximum height of 150 feet; except that, the height limitations of this chapter shall not apply to chimneys, church spires, flag poles, monuments, silos and radio towers.
(5) Where the average slope of a lot is greater than one foot rise or fall in seven feet of distance from the established street elevation at the property line, one story in addition to the number permitted in the district in which the lot is situated shall be permitted on the downhill side of any building if the height of the height of the building is increased above the limit specified for the district.
(F) Yards.
(1) For the purpose of computing front yard dimensions, measurements shall be taken from the nearest point of the front wall of the building to the street line, subject to the following qualifications.
(a) Cornices, canopies, or eaves may extend into the required front yard a distance not exceeding two feet, six inches.
(b) Fire escapes may extend into the required front yard a distance not exceeding two feet, six inches.
(c) A landing place or uncovered porch may extend into the required front yard to a distance not exceeding six feet, if the landing place or porch has its floor no height than the entrance floor of the building. An open railing no higher than three feet may be placed around such place.
(d) The above enumerated architectural features may also extend into any side or rear yard to the same extent; except that, no porch, terrace or outside stairway shall project more than three feet into any side yard and then, in the case of an outside stairway, only if it is unroofed and unenclosed above and below the steps. In no case shall a porch, stair landing or other architectural feature extend closer than four feet to the side property line.
(e) Fences, walls and hedges:
1. Except as limited below, a wall, fence or hedge, eight feet high or less, may occupy part of the required yard, provided it is set back two feet from the lot line. This setback requirement shall not apply to chain-link fencing; provided, the same shall be installed with the good side out.
2. No wall or fence more than four feet high, except a retaining wall, shall be constructed in a front yard without a special use permit.
3. Vision clearance in any residence zone on any corner lot; no fence or accessory structure or planting shall rise over two and one-half feet in height above the level of the public sidewalk within 20 feet of any corner, so as to interfere with traffic visibility across the corner. No fence or wall or planting rising over two and one-half above the level of the public sidewalk shall be erected on any interior lot within ten feet of the front property line where it will interfere with traffic visibility from a driveway.
(2) In the residential districts, in any case where 25% or more of the lots in any block located in the same district, exclusive or the frontage along the side or a corner lot, has been heretofore improved with buildings or a character permitted in the district and the front yards on the lots vary in depth to an extent not greater than six feet, the required front yard depth for the district shall be disregarded in the block and instead the front yard required on each lot in the block shall be of a depth not less than the average depth of the front yards on the lots on which are located such existing buildings, to a maximum of 50 feet. The same rule shall apply in any other residential district on which are located such existing buildings in less than the depth of front yards otherwise required by this chapter.
(3) In determining the depth of rear yard for any building where the rear yard opens into an alley, one-half the width of the alley, but not exceeding ten feet, may be considered as a portion of the rear yard subject to the following qualifications.
(a) The depth of any rear yard shall not be reduced to less than ten feet by application of the exception (15 feet is accepted when there is no alley/right-of-way access).
(b) If the door of any building or improvement, except a fence, opens toward an alley, it shall not be erected or established closer to the center or the alley then a distance of 15 feet.
(4) In case an accessory building is attached to the main building, it shall be made structurally a part of the main building and shall comply in all respects with the requirements of this chapter applicable to the main buildings. An accessory building, unless attached to and made a part of the main building, shall not be closer than five feet to the main building, except as otherwise provided in this section.
(5) A detached accessory building not over one story and not exceeding 12 feet in wall height may occupy not to exceed 30% of the area of any rear yard.
(6) Detached accessory building in residential districts shall conform to the following additional regulations as to their locations upon the lot.
(a) In the case of an interior lot abutting upon one street, no detached accessory building shall be erected or altered so as to encroach upon the front of the lot.
(b) In the case of an interior lot abutting upon two or more streets, no detached accessory building shall be erected or altered so as to encroach upon the one-fourth of the lot nearest either street or in any case nearer to the established building line on either street frontage.
(c) In the case of a corner lot abutting upon two streets, no accessory building shall be erected or structurally altered so as to encroach upon the front half of the lot, nor so that the building will be to the lot line along the street side of the lot than a distance equal to the width of side yard on the street side of the lot; but on a corner lot adjacent to a key lot no detached accessory building shall be located nearer to the street line of the street upon which the key lot faces than a distance equal to the depth of front yard required on the key lot.
(d) In the case of a corner lot abutting on more than two streets, no detached accessory building shall be erected or altered so as to be nearer to the lot line long the street side of the lot than a distance equal to the width of the side yard on the street of the lot or nearer to any other street line of the lot than a distance equal to one-fourth the depth of the lot.
(e) No detached accessory building shall be within five feet of the sideline of the front half of any adjacent lot, except as herein before specifically permitted.
(f) The forgoing rules shall not require:
1. Any detached accessory building to be more than 75 feet from any street line bounding the lot; and
2. The street side of any detached accessory building to be nearer to the lot line opposite the street line than 20 feet.
(7) A private garage to be separated from the front and side lines of the lot where the slope of the front half of the lot is greater than one foot rise or fall in a distance of seven feet from the established street elevation at the property line or where the elevation of the lot at the street line is five feet or more above or below the established street elevation.
(8) No swimming pool shall be erected, excavated or otherwise placed or used on any property unless it is completely surrounded by a permanent fence at least six feet in height. The fence must be built in accordance with division (F)(1)(e) above and all other provisions of this chapter.
(G) Major recreational equipment. No boat, boat trailer, travel trailer, pickup-camper or coach designed to be mounted on a motor vehicle, motorized dwelling, tent trailer or similar major recreational equipment, and no case or box used for transporting such equipment shall be parked or stored for more than 72 hours on any lot in a residential district except in a car port or enclosed building or in a side or rear yard. No point or any such equipment shall be located within three feet of the rear or side lot line, except when parked in a established driveway and in no case shall any such point be closer than ten feet from the living quarters of a residence on adjoining property. No such equipment shall be used for living, sleeping or housekeeping purposes when parked or stored on a residential lot, or in any location not approved for such use.
(H) Performance standards.
(1) Compliance required. Every use permitted by this chapter shall be so established and maintained as to comply with the provisions of this section. The Council may require the owner or operator of a use permitted by this chapter to provide such tests or investigations by an independent testing organization satisfactory to the Council as are necessary to show compliance with these standards. The cost of such investigations and tests shall be shared equally the owner or operator and the city unless the results disclose noncompliance with these standards; in that event, the entire cost shall be borne by the owner or operator. This provision does not preclude the city from making any investigations and tests it finds appropriate to determine compliance with these standards.
(2) Noise. Noise shall be measured on any property line of the tract on which the source of the noise is located. Noise shall be so muffled as not to become objectionable due to intermittence, beat frequency, shrillness or intensity. At the property line, the sound pressure level of noise radiated continuously from a facility shall not exceed the values given in Table A. The sound pressure level shall be measured with a Sound Level Meter and an Associated Octave Band Analyzer, both of which are manufactured to specifications published by the American Standard Specifications for an Octave Band Filer Set for the Analysis of Noise and other Sounds Z24, 10-1953, American Standards Association, Inc., New York, New York. Measurements shall be made using the flat network of the sound level meter.
(3) Odor. No use shall cause the discharge of toxic, noxious or odorous matter beyond the limits of the site where it is located in such concentrations as to be obnoxious or otherwise detrimental to the public health, safety, comfort or welfare or cause injury to property or business
Table A: Maximum Permissible Sound Pressure Levels of Specified Points of Measurement for Noise Radiated Continuously from a Facility | |
Band Cycles per Sound Frequency | Maximum Permitted Sound Level (Decibels) |
Table A: Maximum Permissible Sound Pressure Levels of Specified Points of Measurement for Noise Radiated Continuously from a Facility | |
Band Cycles per Sound Frequency | Maximum Permitted Sound Level (Decibels) |
20 - 75 | 75 |
150 - 300 | 59 |
300 - 600 | 52 |
600 - 1,200 | 46 |
1,200 - 2,400 | 40 |
2,400 - 4,800 | 34 |
Over 4,800 | 32 |
(4) Glare. Direct or reflected glare, such as from floodlights, spotlights or high temperature processes, and as differentiated form general illuminations, shall not be visible beyond the site of origin at any property line. Any lights used for exterior illumination shall be directed away from adjacent properties.
(5) Vibrations. Vibrations at any property line shall not be discernible to the human sense of feeling for three minutes or more duration in any one-hour period. Vibration of any kind shall not produce at any time an acceleration of more than one-tenth gravities or result in any combination of amplitudes and frequencies beyond the ‘’safe’‘ range of Table VII, Untied States Bureau of Mines Bulletin No. 442 ‘’Seismic Effects of Quarry Blasting’‘ on any structure. The methods and equations of that bulletin shall be used to compute all values for the enforcement of this provision.
(6) Smoke. Smoke shall be measured at the point of emission by using the Ringlemann Smoke Chart, published by the United States Bureau of Mines in circular No. 7718. Smoke not darker or more opaque than No. 1 on that chart may be emitted; except that, smoke not darker or more opaque than No. 3 on the chart may be emitted for a period of not longer than four minutes in any 30 minutes. These provisions applicable to visible gray smoke shall also apply to visible smoke or a different color by with an equivalent capacity.
(7) Dust. Solid or liquid particles shall not be emitted at any point in concentrations exceeding three-tenth grains per cubic foot of the conveying gas or air. For measurement of the amount of particles in gases resulting form combustion, standard corrections shall be applied to a stack temperature of 500°F and 50% excess air.
(8) Fumes or gases. Fumes or gases shall not be emitted at any point in concentrations that are noxious, toxic or corrosive. The values given in Table 1 (Industrial Hygiene Standards - Maximum Allowable Concentration for eight-hour day, five days per week), Table III (Odor Thresholds), Table IV (Concentrations of Substances Causing Pain in the Eyes) and Table V (Exposure to Substances Causing Damage to Vegetation) in the latest revision of Chapter 5, ‘’Physiological Effects’‘, that contains such tables, in the Air Pollution Abatement Manual, published by the Manufacturing Chemists’ Association, Inc., Washington, D.C., are hereby established as guides for the determinations of permissible concentrations and amounts. The city may require detailed plans for the elimination of fumes of gases before the issuance of a building permit.
(9) Fire hazards. Any activity involving the use or storage of flammable or explosive materials shall be protected by adequate firefighting and fire prevention equipment and by such safety devices as are normally used in the handling of such materials, Such hazards shall be kept removed from adjacent activities to a distance which is compatible with the potential danger involved.
(10) Wastes. All solid waste material, debris or refuse shall be kept within a completely enclosed building or properly contained in a closed container designed for such purposes. All liquid wastes containing any organic or toxic matter shall be either discharged into a public sanitary sewer or treated in a manner prescribed by the Health Officer.
(11) Air pollution. Every activity shall conform to state regulations relating to air quality standards and air pollution control.
(12) Sewer and water. The design and construction of water supply facilities and treatment of all sewage and waste shall comply with the city, county and state health standards, ordinances, statutes and requirements.