For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ACCESSORY BUILDING. Part of the main building or a detached subordinate building located on the same lot or building site, the use of which is customarily incidental to that of the main building or to the main use of the land. Where a substantial part of the wall of an accessory building is a part of the main building, or where an accessory building is attached to the main building in a substantial manner by a roof, such accessory building shall be counted as part of the main building.
ACCESSORY USE. A use naturally and normally incidental to, subordinate to, and devoted exclusively to the principal use of the premises.
ALLEY. A public thoroughfare or way not less than ten feet nor more than 20 feet in width, serving as a secondary means of access to abutting property, and which has been deeded or dedicated to the city.
APARTMENT. A room or suite of two or more rooms in a multiple dwelling occupied or suitable for occupancy as a residence for one family.
APARTMENT HOUSE. See definition in this subchapter, DWELLING, MULTIPLE.
AUTOMOBILE COURT. A group of two or more attached, detached, or semi-detached buildings containing individual sleeping or living units designed for or used primarily for the accommodation of transient automobile travelers, with garage attached or parking space conveniently located to each unit, including tourist courts, motels, or motor lodges.
BOARDING HOUSE. A dwelling other than a hotel where lodging and/or meals for three or more persons are provided for compensation. COMPENSATION shall include compensation in money, services, or other things of value.
BILLBOARD. Any sign containing advertising, not appurtenant to any permitted use, over six square feet in area.
BUILDING. Any structure having a roof supported by columns or by walls and designed for the housing or enclosure of any person, animal, or chattel.
BUILDING, HEIGHT OF. The vertical distance from the average level of the highest and lowest point of that portion of the lot covered by the building to the topmost point of the roof.
BUILDING, MAIN. A building in which is conducted the principal use of the lot on which it is situated. In any R zone, any dwelling shall be deemed to be a main building on the lot on which the same is situated.
BUILDING SITE. See definition in this subchapter, LOT.
CAMP, TRAILER. Any area or tract of land used or designed to accommodate ten or more automobile trailers or ten or more camping parties, including cabins, tents, or other camping outfits.
COMMISSION. The Planning Commission of the city.
DUPLEX. A building containing not more than two kitchens, designed and/or used to house not more than two families, living independently of each other, including all necessary employees of each family.
DWELLING. A building or portion thereof designed exclusively for residential occupancy, including one-family, two-family, and multiple dwellings, but not including hotels, clubs, or boarding houses or any institution such as an asylum, hospital, or jail where human beings are housed by reason of illness or under legal restraint.
DWELLING GROUPS. One or more buildings containing dwelling units occupying a parcel of land, in one ownership, and arranged around a yard or court, including one-family, two-family, and multiple dwellings, but not including automobile courts.
DWELLING, MULTIPLE. A building, or portion thereof, used, designed, or intended as a residence for three or more families living independently of each other, and doing their own cooking in the building, including apartment houses, apartment hotels and flats, but not including automobile courts.
DWELLING, ONE-FAMILY. A building designed and/or used exclusively for occupancy by one family, living independently of any other family.
DWELLING, TWO-FAMILY. A building designed and/or used exclusively for occupancy by two families, living independently of each other (see definition in this subchapter, DUPLEX).
DWELLING UNIT. Two or more rooms in a dwelling or an apartment hotel designed for occupancy by one family for living and sleeping purposes and having only one kitchen.
EMERGENCY SHELTER. Housing with minimal supportive services for homeless persons that is limited to occupancy of six months or less by a homeless person. No individual or household may be denied emergency shelter because of an inability to pay.
ERECTED. Shall include built, built upon, added to, altered, constructed, reconstructed, moved upon, or any physical operation upon the land required for a building.
FAMILY. One or more persons living as a single housekeeping unit in a dwelling unit, including necessary domestic servants. FAMILY shall not include such groups as customarily occupy a hotel, club, fraternity, or sorority house.
GARAGE, PUBLIC. A building used for the care, repair, or equipment of automobiles, or where such vehicles are parked or stored for remuneration, hire, or sale.
GARAGE, PRIVATE. A detached accessory building or portion of a main building for the parking or temporary storage of automobiles of the occupants of the premises.
GARAGE SPACE. Permanently maintained space of not less than 8½ × 19 feet for the parking of automobiles off the street. Such space shall be located and arranged for an accessory building and with adequate ingress and egress.
HOME OCCUPATION. The conduct of an art or profession, the offering of a service, or the conduct of a business, or the handcraft manufacture of products within a house or garage in a residential district, which use is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of a structure for dwelling purposes and which use does not change the character thereof.
HOTEL. Any building, or portion thereof, containing six or more guest rooms used, designed, or intended to be used, let, or hired out to be occupied or which are occupied as the more or less temporary abiding place of six or more individuals who are lodged with or without meals for compensation, whether the compensation for hire is paid directly or indirectly, and in which no provision is made for cooking in any individual room or suite.
JUNK YARD. The use of more than 200 square feet of the area of any lot or the use of any portion of that half of any lot, which half adjoins any street for the storage of junk, including scrap metals or other scrap materials, or for the dismantling or wrecking of automobiles, other vehicles, or machinery, whether for sale or storage.
LOADING SPACE. A permanently maintained space of not less than 8 × 18 feet located off the street with access for the parking of vehicles. Whenever the provisions of this chapter shall require loading space, such space shall be in addition to any required parking space and/or garage space.
LOT. Any area or parcel of land held under separate ownership and occupied, or to be occupied, by a main building or by a dwelling group, together with such yards, open spaces, lot width, and lot area as are required by this chapter and having its principal frontage on a public street, road, or highway.
LOT, CORNER. A lot situated at the intersection of two or more intersecting streets.
LOT DEPTH. The horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines, measured in the mean direction of the side lot lines.
LOT LINE, FRONT. The property line dividing a lot from a street. On a corner lot the shorter street frontage shall be considered the front lot line.
LOT, INTERIOR. A lot other than a corner lot.
LOT, KEY. The first lot to the rear of a reversed corner lot, whether or not separated by an alley.
LOT LINE. The lines bounding a lot.
LOT LINE, REAR. The line opposite the front lot line.
LOT, REVERSED CORNER. A corner lot which rears upon the side of another lot, whether separated by an alley or not.
LOT LINE, SIDE. Lot lines other than front lot lines or rear lot lines.
LOT, THROUGH. A lot having frontage on two parallel or approximately parallel streets.
LOT WIDTH. The horizontal distance between the side lot lines, measured at right angles to the lot depth at a point midway between the front and rear lot lines.
NONCONFORMING BUILDING. A building or structure or portion thereof lawfully existing on September 15, 1954, which was designed, erected, or structurally altered for a use that does not conform to the use regulations of the zone in which it is located, or a building or structure that does not conform to all the height or area regulations of the zone in which it is located.
NONCONFORMING USE. A use which lawfully occupied a building or land on September 15, 1954, and which does not conform with the use regulations of the zone in which it is located.
OPEN SPACE. As required in the R and PD zones shall mean area available and accessible to residents for active and passive recreation including landscaped areas, walkways, patios, yards, and recreation facilities. To qualify as open space, an area must have a minimum dimension of 10 feet
except that balconies may qualify as open space when the minimum dimension is five feet. Parking areas (spaces and driveways) may not be included in open space calculations.
PARKING SPACE. Permanently maintained space at least 8½ × 19 feet located off the street with access for the parking of automobiles.
PROFESSIONAL OFFICES. An office for the conduct of any one of the following uses: accountant, architect, attorney, chiropractor, civil engineer or surveyor's drafting office, collection agency, cosmetologist, dentist, doctor, funeral parlor, insurance, private detective, real estate, social worker or similar use; but shall not include the following uses: advertiser, barber shop, contractor, pest control, pharmacy, or veterinary.
ROOMING HOUSE. See definition subsection in this subchapter, BOARDING HOUSE.
STREET. A public thoroughfare or road easement not less than 20 feet in width, which affords principal means of access to abutting property, but not including an alley.
STREET LINE. The boundary between a street and property.
STRUCTURE. Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires more or less permanent location on or in the ground or attachment to something having a permanent location on or in the ground, including site built swimming pools. This definition does not include walls and fences less than three feet in height when located in front yards, or less than six feet in height when located in side or rear yards, nor other improvements of a minor character.
STRUCTURAL ALTERATIONS. Any change in the supporting members of a building, such as bearing walls, columns, beams, girders, floor joists, or roof joists, for which a building permit is required.
SUPPORTIVE HOUSING. Housing with no limit on length of stay, that is occupied by the target population and that is linked to onsite or offsite services that assist the supportive housing resident in retaining the housing, improving his or her health status, and maximizing his or her ability to live and, when possible, work in the community. Supportive housing units are residential uses subject only to those requirements and restrictions that apply to other residential uses of the same type in the same zone.
TARGET POPULATION. Persons with low incomes who have one or more disabilities, including mental illness, HIV and AIDS, substance abuse, or other chronic health condition, or individuals eligible for services provided pursuant to the Lanterman Development Disabilities Services Act (Division 4.5 (commencing with § 4500) of the Welfare and Institutions Code) and may include, among other populations, adults, emancipated minors, families with children, elderly persons, young adults aging out of the foster care system, individuals exiting from institutional settings, veterans, and homeless people.
TRANSITIONAL HOUSING. Buildings configured as rental housing, but operating under program requirements that require the termination of assistance and recirculation of the assisted unit to another eligible program recipient at some predetermined future point in time, which shall be no less than six months from the beginning of the assistance. Transitional housing units are residential uses subject only to those requirements and restrictions that apply to other residential uses of the same type in the same zone.
USE. The purpose for which land or premises or a building thereon is designed, arranged, or intended, or for which it is or may be occupied or maintained.
YARD. An open space, other than a court, on the same lot with a building, which open space is unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward, except as otherwise permitted in this chapter.
YARD, FRONT. A yard extending across the front of the lot between the inner side yard lines and measured between the front lot line and the nearest line of the main building.
YARD, REAR. A yard extending across the full width of the lot and measured between the rear line of the lot and the nearest line or point of the main building nearest the rear line of the lot.
YARD, SIDE. A yard on each side of a building between the building and the side line of the lot and extending from the front line to the rear yard.
ZONE. A portion of the city within which certain uses of land and buildings are permitted or prohibited and within which certain yards and other open spaces are required and certain height limited are established for buildings, all as set forth and specified in this chapter. ZONE shall mean and include the word DISTRICT.
(‘61 Code, § 10-3.201) (Ord. 231 N.S., passed - - ; Am. Ord. 26 C.S., passed 4-16-62; Am. Ord. 80 C.S., passed 8-5-65; Am. Ord. 452 C.S., passed 1-15-86; Am. Ord. 652 C.S., passed 3-6-96; Am. Ord. 920 C.S., passed 5-20-15)