The following words and phrases when used herein shall for the purpose of this chapter have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this section, except where the context requires otherwise.
ACCESSORY BUILDING. A subordinate building detached but located on the same lot as the principal building, the use of which is incidental or accessory to that of the principal building.
ACCESSORY USE. A use conducted on the same lot as the principal use that is clearly incidental to and customarily found in connection with a principal building or use.
ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICIAL. The Zoning Administrator or his or her designated representative.
ADULT ESTABLISHMENT. See Code of Ordinances Chapter 121.
AGRICULTURAL. Agricultural is the use of land primarily for agricultural, farming, dairying, stock, crop or plant raising or similar purposes.
ALLEY. A public or private thoroughfare which affords only a secondary means of access to abutting property.
APARTMENT. See DWELLING, MULTI-FAMILY.
ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY. A residential facility for persons of varying abilities, ages, infirmities or disabilities that provides shelter, assistance and other services as necessary by the resident.
AUTOMOBILE SERVICE STATION. Any building, land area or other premise or portion thereof used or intended to be used for the retail dispensing or sales of vehicle fuels and/or vehicle repairs, including as an accessory use the sale and installation of lubricants, tires, batteries, other parts and similar accessories and food products.
BED AND BREAKFAST. An establishment used for dwelling purposes in which rooms, with or without meals, are offered to transient guests for compensation; may also be known as a TOURIST HOME.
BOARD. The Board of Adjustments established by ordinance that is charged with administering this chapter and for reviewing applications for conditional use permits and variances. The Board of Adjustments is separate from the Planning Commission.
BOARDING HOUSE. A dwelling or part thereof in which lodging is provided by the owner or operator to three (3) or more boarders.
BUILDABLE WIDTH. The width of the lot left to build on after the side yards are provided.
BUILDING. Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls designed to be used as a place of occupancy, storage or shelter for persons or property.
BUILDING, HEIGHT OF. The vertical distance from the average grade to the highest point of a flat roof, the deck line of a mansard roof or the average height between eaves and ridge for gable, hip and gambrel roofs.
CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT (CBD). The traditional, historic core area of downtown Madisonville traditionally used for residential, commercial, business and/or government purposes.
CITY COUNCIL. The Council of the City of Madisonville.
CIVIC USE. Use of buildings and facilities owned or operated by a public agency.
CLINIC. An establishment where patients are not lodged overnight but are admitted for examination and treatment by a group of physicians, dentists or other medical practitioners.
CLUB. A building or portion thereof or premises owned or operated by a person for a social, literary, political, educational or recreational purpose primarily for the use of members and their guests. A club shall also include fraternal and service organizations.
COMMERCIAL. Buildings, facilities or other structures operated by a corporation, association, partnership, person or other entity rendering goods and/or services for profit.
COMMERCIAL FEED LOT. An area of land devoted to raising and feeding of livestock where the operation is not part of normal agricultural activity.
COMMISSION. The Hopkins County Joint Planning Commission.
CONDITIONAL USE. A special use permitted within a zoning district other than a principally permitted use, requiring a conditional use permit and approval by the Board of Adjustments.
CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT. Legal authorization to undertake a conditional use, issued by the Board of Adjustments, consisting of two (2) parts:
(1) A statement of the factual determination by the Board of Adjustments which justified the issuance of the permit; and
(2) A statement of the specific conditions which must be met in order for the use to be permitted.
CONSERVATION DISTRICT. Public or semi-public lands being used for either passive or active recreation and/or conservation.
COURT. Any open space, unobstructed from ground to sky, other than a yard that is on the same lot with and bounded by two (2) or mores sides by the walls of surrounding buildings.
DAY CARE CENTER. A principal use of a lot containing a facility that employs licensed professional care and provides supervision for four (4) or more unrelated individuals for a fee. The supervision shall comply with all federal, state and local laws and regulations.
DENSITY. A unit of measure; the number of dwelling units per acre of land.
DUPLEX. See DWELLING, TWO-FAMILY.
DWELLING. Any building, structure or portion thereof which is wholly or partially used, intended or designed to be used exclusively for living or sleeping purposes by one (1) or more human occupants.
DWELLING, MODULAR. A dwelling unit constructed in accordance with standards set forth in the county and state building codes applicable to site-built homes, comprised of components substantially assembled in a manufacturing plant and transported to the site for final assembly on a permanent foundation.
DWELLING, MULTI-FAMILY. A residential building containing three (3) or more dwelling units.
DWELLING, SINGLE-FAMILY ATTACHED . A building containing dwelling units, each of which has a primary ground floor access to the outside and which are attached to others by a party or common walls without openings. The term is intended primarily for dwelling types, such as townhouses, row housing or zero lot line homes.
DWELLING, SINGLE-FAMILY DETACHED. A residential building containing not more than one (1) dwelling unit located on a lot containing no other dwelling units; the minimum length and width dimension being greater than eighteen (18) feet and having a minimum living space of six hundred (600) square feet excluding porches and garage.
DWELLING, TWO-FAMILY. A structure on a single lot containing two (2) dwelling units, also called a duplex.
DWELLING UNIT. One (1) or more rooms in a dwelling occupied or intended to be occupied as living space.
EASEMENT. The right, distinct from the ownership of the land, to cross property with facilities, such as but not limited to sewer lines, water lines and transmission lines or the right, distinct from the ownership of the land, to reserve and hold an area for drainage or access purposes.
FAMILY. One (1) or more persons occupying a premises and living as a single, non-profit house-keeping unit.
FENCE. An artificially-constructed barrier of any material or combination of materials erected to enclose or screen areas of land.
FLOOR AREA RATIO (FAR). The floor area of the building divided by the area of the lot.
FRONTAGE. The property line(s) of a lot abutting on a street; the front lot line. For the purposes of determining yard requirements on corner lots, all sides of a lot adjacent to streets shall be considered frontage and yards shall be provided as indicated under “yards” below. A property line which abuts a fully controlled-access street and which permanently has no access to that street shall be deemed not to have frontage.
GARAGE. A deck, building or structure or part thereof used or intended to be used for the parking and storage of automobiles.
GRADE. The average level of the finished surface of the ground adjacent to the exterior walls of a building.
GROUP HOME. A facility or dwelling unit housing persons unrelated by blood or marriage and operating as a group family household.
HOME OCCUPATION. Any occupation or profession carried out by a member of the immediate family residing on the premises, without advertising, sign or display, except for a name plate not to exceed four (4) square feet that indicates from the exterior of the building that the building is being used in whole or part for any purpose other than that of a dwelling; no commercial vehicles are displayed or parked on the premises; no person is employed other than members of the family residing on the premises; and no goods, stock-in-trade or commodities other than those associated with the home occupation may be displayed or sold.
HOSPITAL. A building or buildings used by medical persons licensed to practice by the State of Kentucky for the treatment and care of patients, generally on an in-patient basis. Also includes sanitariums.
HOTEL. A building which is open to transient guests as opposed to a boarding house or lodging house as herein defined.
INDUSTRIAL. A use relating to production, storage, repair, display, sales or other processes relating to larger-scale raw, intermediate or finished goods and/or materials.
INSTITUTION. A non-profit establishment primarily for public use and/or benefit.
JUNKYARD. A lot, land or structure or part thereof used primarily for the collecting, processing, storage, salvaging, purchase or sale of waste, scrap, salvaged or discarded goods, including vehicles not in working or running condition.
KENNEL. An establishment where small animals are boarded for compensation or where dogs or small animals are bred or raised on a commercial basis.
LANDSCAPED AREA. An area that is permanently devoted and maintained to materials, such as but not limited to living materials, such as shrubbery, grass, ground cover and trees, and non-living durable materials, such as rocks, pebbles, bricks or decorative walls, but excluding paving.
LANDSCAPING. The physical materials, living and non-living, that make up the landscaped areas.
LOADING SPACE. A space logically and conveniently located for bulk pick-ups and deliveries, scaled to delivery vehicles expected to be used and accessible to such vehicles when required other spaces (including parking) are filled. Required loading spaces shall be off-street where practical and shall be outside alleys or other public rights-of-way.
LODGING HOUSE or ROOMING HOUSE. See BOARDING HOUSE.
LOT. A parcel of land, occupied or intended to be occupied by a building and its accessory buildings, sufficient in size to meet the zoning requirements for use, coverage and area requirements for the zoning district within which it lies and which has the required frontage on a public street that has been officially accepted for maintenance by either a city, county or state agency.
LOT AREA. The total area within the lot lines of a lot, excluding any street rights-of-way.
LOT OF RECORD. A lot or parcel of land that has been officially recorded in the Office of the County Court Clerk that was of a size that met the minimum requirements for lots in the district in which it is located at the time of recording or was recorded prior to the effective date of zoning in the area where the lot is located.
LOT WIDTH. The width of a lot abutting a public street or right-of-way, also referred to as frontage.
Exception: Minimum lot width may be reduced to thirty (30) feet for cul-de-sac lots as long as the required lot width is established at the building line.
MIXED-USE. A single-family dwelling unit combined with another allowed use in that same zoning district housed in one (1) structure.
MOTEL, MOTOR COURT, MOTOR LODGE or TOURIST COURT. Any building or group of buildings containing guest rooms or dwelling units, some or all of which have a separate entrance leading directly from the outside of the building, with garage or parking space conveniently located on the lot and designed, used or intended wholly or in part for the accommodation of automobile-transient guests.
NON-CONFORMING SITUATION. A situation that occurs when, on the effective date of this chapter, any existing lot, structure or use of an existing lot or structure does not conform to any one or more of the regulations applicable to the district in which the lot or structure is located.
NURSING HOME. A home for aged or infirm persons in which three (3) or more persons not of the immediate family are received, kept or provided with food, shelter or care for compensation, but not including hospitals, clinics or similar institutions devoted primarily to the diagnosis and treatment of the sick or injured.
OFFICE USE. A building used primarily for conducting the affairs of a business, profession, service, industry, government or like activity.
OPEN AREA. That part of a lot on which no part of a building or structure is located.
OVERLAY. A method of regulating land use in an existing district by applying other guidance parameters “over” the existing zoning ordinances/regulations. Such overlays may be more restrictive and are in addition to the codes/regulations already applicable to the existing zone/zoning. Such an example is the Medical District Overlay.
PARKING SPACE. A paved area (asphalt or concrete), not less than nine (9) feet wide and twenty (20) feet long, enclosed or unenclosed, sufficient in size to store one (1) automobile together with a driveway connecting the parking space with a street, road or alley and permitting ingress and egress of that automobile without the necessity of moving any other automobile.
PREMISES. A lot together with all buildings and structures thereon.
PUBLIC SERVICE FACILITY. The use of land and/or buildings for public fire, police, utility and other similar public services by a public utility, railroad, municipal or other governmental agency.
PUBLIC UTILITY. Any person, firm or corporation duly authorized to furnish electricity, gas, steam, telephone, telegraph, water or sewerage systems to the public under public regulation.
RECREATION FACILITY. A place designed and equipped for the conduct of sports and other recreational activities such as playgrounds, swimming pools, golf courses, arboretums, amphitheaters, bicycle and walking paths, senior citizen centers and community centers.
RESIDENTIAL CARE FACILITY. A residence operated and maintained by a sponsoring private or governmental agency to provide services in a homelike setting for persons with disabilities, as defined in KRS 100.982 to 100.984.
RIGHT-OF-WAY. The land opened and dedicated for a public street or road, which usually includes sidewalk, drainage way, railroad, street pavement and underground/aboveground utilities.
SERVICE USE. An enterprise that does not produce a tangible commodity, such as a beauty salon, barber shop or funeral home.
SIGN. Any writing, pictorial presentation, number, illustration or decoration, flag, banner, pennant or other device which is used to announce, direct attention to, identify, advertise or otherwise make anything known. All signs shall be regulated by the city's sign regulations, unless specifically exempted therefrom.
STREET. The full width between property lines bounding every public right-of-way with a part thereof to be used as a vehicular way, improved or unimproved, which:
(1) Is an existing federal, state, county or municipal roadway;
(2) Is shown upon a plat approved pursuant to law;
(3) Is approved by other official action; or
(4) Is constructed to the standards of the controlling body.
STREET CENTER LINE. The street centerline is a line halfway between the street or right-of-way lines.
STREET LINE. A property line between a street and the adjoining property.
STRUCTURAL ALTERATION. Any change, except those required by law or ordinance, which would prolong the life of supporting members of a building or structure, such as bearing walls, columns, beams or girders, not including openings for bearing walls as permitted by other subchapters.
STRUCTURE. Anything constructed or erected with a fixed location on the ground or attached to something having a fixed location on the ground. Among other things, structures include buildings, walls, fences and signs.
STUDIO. A building or portion of a building used as a place of work by an artist, photographer or artisan.
TRAILER. See MOBILE HOME.
TRAILER COURT or MOBILE HOME COURT. See MANUFACTURED HOUSING PARK.
YARD. A required open space on a lot adjoining a lot line containing only landscaping or other uses as provided by the chapter.
(1) FRONT. A yard across the full width of the lot extending from the front line of the main building to the front line of the lot.
(2) REAR. A yard extending the full width of the lot between a principal building and the rear lot line.
(3) SIDE. A yard between the main building and the side line of the lot and extending from the front yard line to the rear yard line.
(4) WIDTH and DEPTH. The shortest horizontal distance from a lot line to the main building.
ZERO LOT LINE HOME. A single-family dwelling which is designed such that one (1) side yard is reduced to zero (0) feet in order to maximize the width and usability of the other side yard and which permits the construction of a single-family dwelling with one (1) side (i.e., wall) of such dwelling placed on the side property line in the case of a detached dwelling and having a common wall in the case of an attached dwelling.
(Ord. 2003-06, passed 3-3-03; Am. Ord. 2005-15, passed 9-20-05
; Am. Ord. O-2018-7, passed 5-21-18
; Am. Ord. 2023-06, passed 8-21-23)