1153.03 DEFINITIONS.
When used in this Zoning Ordinance, the following terms shall have the meanings herein ascribed to them:
(1) "Accessory building" means a detached subordinate building located on the same lot as the main building or buildings, the use of which is customarily incidental to that of the main building or to the use of the land.
(2) "Accessory structure" means a subordinate structure located on the same lot as a principal use and customarily incidental to the principal use.
(3) "Accessory use" means a use customarily incidental, related and clearly subordinate to the main use of the lot or building, which accessory use does not alter the principal use of the subject lot or adversely affect other properties in the district.
(4) "Acre" means a measure of land area equal to 43,560 square feet.
(5) "Agriculture" means the use of land for agricultural purposes, including farming, dairying, pasturage, apiculture, horticulture, floriculture, viticulture and animal and poultry husbandry, and the necessary accessory uses for packing, treating or storing such uses.
(6) "Alley" means a public or private way not more than twenty feet in width affording only secondary means of access to abutting property.
(7) "Alteration" means any change, addition or modification in construction or occupancy of a building.
(8) "Arcade" means a single use facility which provides electronic, mechanical and/or video game machines for the use of patrons.
(9) "Automobile service station" means a retail commercial establishment selling gasoline and similar motor fuels to the public on the premises, either as a primary or secondary use.
(10) "Automobile wrecking" means the dismantling or wrecking of used motor vehicles or their parts. The presence on any lot or parcel of land of five or more vehicles which for a period exceeding ten days have not been capable of operating under their own power and from which parts have been or are to be removed for reuse or sale shall constitute prima facie evidence of an automobile wrecking operation.
(11) "Automobile repair, major" means motor replacement, transmission repair or replacement, exhaust system repair or replacement, body and fender repair, spray painting, upholstery work, auto glasswork, welding, tire recapping, radiator repairs and/or other similar major mechanical work.
(12) "Automotive repair, minor" means oil and fluid changes, tune-ups, wheel balancing and mounting, minor tire repair, replacement of lamps, bulbs, filters, belts, valves, gaskets and the like, and the repair or replacement of minor mechanical or electrical components.
(13) "Basement" means a space in a building having one-half or more of its floor-to- ceiling height below the average level of the adjoining ground. When more than one-half of the space is above the average level of the adjoining ground, the space shall be considered the building's first story.
(14) "Block" means a unit of land bounded by streets or alleys or by a combination of streets, alleys and public land, railroad right of way, waterways or any barrier to the continuity of development.
(15) "Boardinghouse" means a dwelling in which lodging or lodging and meals are furnished to two or more occupants for compensation.
(16) "Bufferyard" means a unit of land, together with a specified type and amount of planting thereon, and any structures which may be required, intended to eliminate or minimize conflicts and provide screening between land uses. "Bufferyard" shall include "greenbelt" and "planting screen." See Section 1175.04 for specifications.
(17) "Buildable area" means the portion of a lot remaining after allowing for all required yard areas and other required open spaces.
(18) "Building" means any structure or any part thereof, permanently affixed to the land, having a roof supported by columns or walls for the housing or enclosure of persons, animals or chattels. Trailers and mobile homes, with or without wheels, shall not be considered as buildings.
(19) "Building, accessory." See "Accessory building."
(20) "Building height" means the vertical distance measured from the established grade to the highest point of the roof surface for flat roofs; to the deck line of a mansard roof; and to the average level between the eaves and the ridges of a gable, hip or gambrel roof. Where a building is located on sloping terrain, the height may be measured from the average elevation of the finished grade of the building wall.
(21) "Building line" means a line defining the minimum front, side and rear yard requirements.
(22) "Bus" means every motor vehicle designed for carrying more than nine passengers and used for the transportation of persons other than in a ride sharing arrangement as defined in Ohio R.C. 4511.01, and every motor vehicle, automobile for hire or funeral car, other than a taxicab or motor vehicle used in a ride sharing arrangement, designed and used for the transportation of persons for compensation. (ORC 4511.01(L)) A "bus", as defined, shall be identified as carrying state bus registration plates.
(23) "Carport" means a roof structure, open on at least two sides, designed as a shelter for operable automobiles. A carport may be free-standing or may be formed by the extension of a roof from the side of a building.
(24) "Cluster development" means a development in which dwelling units are grouped together in one or more clusters thereby providing common open space.
(25) "Commercial tractor" means every motor vehicle having motive power designed or used for drawing other vehicles and not so constructed as to carry any load thereon, or designed or used for drawing other vehicles while carrying a portion of such other vehicles, or the load thereon, or both.
(ORC 4511.01(I))
(26) "Comprehensive Plan." See "Master Plan."
(27) "Conditionally permitted use" means a use granted by the City Planning Commission or the Zoning Administrator in a district which does not permit that use as a matter of right within that district.
(28) "Condominium" means a building unit the title or ownership of which consists of an undivided interest in common in a portion of a parcel of real property together with a separate interest in space in a building located on such real property.
(Ord. 91-072. Passed 3-5-91.)
(28.1) “Correctional Facility” means any building owned by a non-profit entity or a for profit entity that is licensed to operate by, or that is owned, licensed, operated or supervised by, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, the Adult Parole Authority, the Richland County Court of Common Pleas or the Richland County Department of Probation, which serves as a residence for one or more persons. Correctional Facilities include, but are not limited to alternative residential facilities, community based correctional facilities, half-way houses and community correctional facilities.
(Ord. 11-073. Passed 5-17-11.)
(29) "Day care center" means a facility providing a program for social development, pre-academic or group training; a facility providing care and supervision of children or adults and licensed by the State. "Day care center" includes day nurseries, nursery schools, group day care facilities, day centers for the mentally retarded or emotionally disturbed and facilities for senior citizens.
(30) "Density" means the measure of residential land use intensity which is expressed as the number of dwelling units, families or persons per acre. "Net density" is computed by excluding all street and other public rights of way. "Gross density" is computed by including total acreage in the site.
(31) "Developer" means any individual, firm, association, syndicate, partnership, corporation, trust or any other legal entity commencing proceedings under this Ordinance to effect the development of land.
(32) "Driveway" means a private roadway providing access for vehicles to a parking space, garage, dwelling or other structure.
(33) "Dwelling" means a building or portion thereof designed or used for residential purposes or occupancy and having cooking and sanitary facilities, but not including tents, trailers, mobile homes, hotels, boarding or lodging houses.
(34) "Dwelling, one-family" means a building designed exclusively for, and occupied by, one family or household unit.
(35) "Dwelling, two-family" means a building designed exclusively for, or converted for occupancy by two families or household units, living independently of each other.
(36) "Dwelling, multifamily" means a building or portion thereof designed exclusively for, or converted for occupancy by three or more families or household units, living independently of each other. Multifamily dwellings including efficiency dwellings, consisting of not more than one habitable room, together with kitchen or kitchenette and sanitary facilities.
(37) "Essential services" means the erection, construction, alteration or maintenance by utility companies, Municipal departments or other commissions of underground surface or overhead electrical, gas, steam, water and sewerage, and communications transmission and collection systems and the equipment and appurtenances necessary for such systems to furnish an adequate level of public service; also, the equipment, structures and activities necessary for the provision of police, fire, paramedic and other similar emergency services.
(38) "Factory-built home" means a residential building constructed in conformance with the State Factory-Building Housing Code. A "factory-built home" shall not be deemed to include a mobile home, but shall include modular homes.
(39) "Family" means one or more individuals occupying a dwelling unit and living as a single household unit, sharing living, cooking and sleeping facilities, but not including transient individuals living together as in a boardinghouse.
(40) "Family care home" means a State-authorized certified or licensed home serving eight or fewer mentally or physically disabled or otherwise handicapped individuals, providing such care and service on a twenty-four hour a day basis.
(41) "Floor area, gross" means the total area of all floors of a building as measured to the outside surfaces of exterior walls and including halls, stairways, elevator shafts, attached garages, porches and balconies.
(42) "Floor area, net or "useable" means the total area of all floors of a building intended to be used for human habitation or service to the public, excluding hallways, stairways, lobbies, elevator shafts, equipment rooms, utility rooms, storage rooms, interior parking or loading areas, and attached garages.
(43) "Frontage" means the length of any one property line of a lot or parcel of land, which property line abuts a legally accessible street right of way. For the purposes of determining yard requirements on corner lots and double frontage lots, all sides of a lot adjacent to streets shall be considered frontage.
(44) "Garage, private" means an accessory building, on the same lot as a principal building, or an accessory portion of the principal building, designed and/or used for the shelter or storage of vehicles owned or operated by the occupants of the principal building.
(45) "Garage, public" means a building or portion thereof, other than a private garage, used primarily for the parking and storage of vehicles for customers, employees or the general public.
(46) "Greenbelt." See "Bufferyard."
(47) "Ground coverage" means the amount of land covered or permitted to be covered by a building or buildings, measured in terms of percentage of a lot or parcel of land.
(48) "Group care home" means a State-authorized certified or licensed home serving nine or more mentally or physically disabled or otherwise handicapped individuals, providing such care and service on a twenty-four hour a day basis.
(49) "Home occupation" means an occupation customarily conducted as an accessory use entirely within a dwelling unit and carried on only by persons residing in the dwelling unit.
(50) "Impervious surface" means any material which reduces and prevents absorption of stormwater into previously undeveloped land.
(51) "Junkyard" means any lot, or the use of any portion of a lot other than for an automobile wrecking yard, for the storage, collection, processing, purchase, sale or abandonment of wastepaper, rags, scrap metal or other scrap or discarded goods, material or machinery, but not including recycling centers or salvaged materials incidental to manufacturing operations.
(52) "Kennel" means an establishment in which more than four dogs or domesticated animals more than one year old are housed, groomed, bred, boarded, trained or sold.
(53) "Landscaping" means changing, rearranging or adding to the original vegetation, or lack thereof, on a lot or parcel of land to produce an aesthetic effect or provide a required buffer between adjacent land uses, including lawns, trees, plants, shrubs and other natural features of the land.
(54) "Lot" means a parcel of land shown on a subdivision plat, parcel map or a record or survey map or described by metes and bounds and recorded in the office of the County Recorder.
(55) "Lot area" means the total land area, measured in square feet or acres, contained within the lot lines of a lot.
(56) "Lot, corner" means a lot situated at the intersection of two or more streets or alleys having an angle of intersection of not more than 135 degrees.
(57) "Lot depth" means the horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines measured along the median between the side lot lines. On a corner lot, the depth shall be measured parallel to the longest side.
(58) "Lot, double frontage" means a lot fronting on two parallel or approximately parallel streets.
(59) "Lot, interior" means a lot other than a corner lot.
(60) "Lot line, front" means the line separating the front of the lot from the street. In the case of a corner lot, or double frontage lot, it is that line separating such lot from either street.
(61) "Lot line, rear" means the lot line opposite and most distant from the front lot line, and in the case of an irregular or triangular lot or a lot which is pointed at the rear, it shall be an imaginary line ten feet in length within the lot, parallel to and at the maximum distance from the front lot line.
(62) "Lot line, side" means any lot boundary line not a front lot line or a rear lot line.
(63) "Lot width" means the horizontal distance between the side lot lines measured at the minimum building setback line.
(64) "Manufactured home" means for the purposes of this Ordinance, the same as a mobile home.
(65) "Master Plan" means the Comprehensive Plan, as prepared by the County Regional Planning Commission and adopted by Council, including graphic and written proposals indicating the general location for streets, parks, schools, public buildings and all physical development for the City.
(66) "Minimum building setback line" means a line between the front and rear lot lines and parallel to the street right-of-way line and at such distance from the right-of- way line as required by the minimum front yard depth in the district in which it is located.
(67) "Miniwarehouse" means a building or group of buildings that contains varying sizes of individual compartmentalized and controlled access stalls or lockers for the storage of customers' goods and wares.
(68) "Mobile home" means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which in the travelling mode, is eight feet or more in width or forty feet or more in length, or when erected on the site is 320 or more square feet and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a foundation system when connected to regular utilities, including the plumbing, heating and electrical systems contained therein.
(69) "Modular home" means a factory-built home as defined in this section.
(70) "Motor vehicle" means every vehicle propelled or drawn by power other than muscular power, except motorized bicycles, road rollers, traction engines, power shovels, power cranes and other equipment used in construction work and not designed for or employed in general highway transportation, hole-digging machinery, well-drilling machinery, ditch-digging machinery, farm machinery, trailers used to transport agricultural produce or agricultural production materials between a local place of storage or supply and the farm when drawn or towed on a public street or highway at a speed of twenty-five miles per hour or less, threshing machinery, hay-bailing machinery and agricultural tractors and machinery used in the production of horticultural, floricultural, agricultural and vegetable products.
(ORC 4511.01(B))
(71) "Nonconforming lot" means a lot having an area, width or other characteristic which fails to meet the requirements of the zoning district in which it is located and which was existing prior to the enactment of this Ordinance.
(72) "Nonconforming structure" means a building, structure or facility, or portion thereof, which was lawfully erected, altered or maintained, but which, because of the application of this Ordinance to it, no longer conforms to the specific regulations applicable to the zone in which it is located.
(73) "Nonconforming use" means the use of a building, structure or site, or portion thereof, which was lawfully established and maintained, but which, because of the application of this Ordinance to it, no longer conforms to the specific regulations applicable to the zone in which it is located.
(74) Off-street parking" means any area, structure or space, exclusive of street or alley right of way, used for the temporary storage of automobiles and available to the public whether for a fee, free or as an accommodation for employees, clients or customers.
(75) "Open space" means any part of a lot which is in its natural state, open and unobstructed, except for natural vegetation, from its lowest level to the sky.
(76) "Park or parking" means the standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in loading or unloading merchandise or passengers.
(77) "Parking facility" means a surface lot or structure, such as a parking garage, containing an indefinite number of parking spaces but more than two, including drives and aisles.
(78) "Parking space" means an area of definite length and width, exclusive of aisles and drives or entrances giving access thereto, and fully accessible for the temporary parking of permitted motor vehicles.
(79) "Planned Development" means an integrated development located on a single lot, or on two or more lots which may be separated only by a street or other right of way, in which the land and structures shall be planned and developed as a whole in a single development operation or series of operations in accordance with a detailed Comprehensive Plan encompassing such elements as the location of structures, the circulation pattern, parking facilities, open space and utilities, together with a program for provision, operation and maintenance of all areas, improvements, facilities and services provided for the common use of the persons occupying or utilizing the property.
(80) "Principal use or building" means the specific and primary purpose for which land or a building is occupied, arranged, designed or intended, or for which either land or a building is or may be occupied or maintained.
(81) "Private road or driveway" means every way or place in private ownership used for vehicular travel by the owner and those having express or implied permission from the owner but not by other persons.
(ORC 4511.01(DD))
(82) "Public utility" means any person, firm, corporation, governmental agency or board, or other entity authorized to furnish under governmental regulations to the public, electricity, gas, steam, telephone, telegraph, transportation, radio, television, cable television, water or sewerage.
(83) "Right of way" means an area or strip of land, either public or private, on which an irrevocable right of passage has been recorded for the use of pedestrians or vehicles or both, and may include streets, sidewalks, treelawns, utility lines and/or other similar uses. Right-of-way width shall be measured from property line to property line.
(84) "Roadway" means that portion of a street or highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, except the berm or shoulder. If a highway includes two or more separate roadways, "roadway" means any such roadway separately but not all such roadways collectively.
(ORC 4511.01(EE))
(85) "School bus" means every bus designed for carrying more than nine passengers which is owned by a public, private or governmental agency or institution of learning and operated for the transportation of children to or from a school session or a school function, or owned by a private person and operated for compensation for the transportation of children to or from a school session or a school function; provided "school bus" does not include a bus operated by a municipally-owned transportation system, a mass transit company operating exclusively within the territorial limits of the Municipality, or within such limits and the territorial limits of municipal corporations immediately contiguous to the Municipality, nor a common passenger carrier certified by the Public Utilities Commission unless such bus is devoted exclusively to the transportation of children to and from a school session or a school function.
(ORC 4511.01(F))
(86) "Semitrailer" means every vehicle designed or used for carrying persons or property with another and separate commercial tractor so that in operation a part of its own weight or that of its load, or both, rests upon and is carried by such tractor.
(87) "Setback" means a required, specified distance between a building or structure and a lot line or lines, measured perpendicularly in a horizontal plane extending across the complete length of such lot line or lines. (See "building line.")
(88) "Sidewalk" means that portion of a street between the curb lines, or the lateral lines of a roadway, and the adjacent property lines, intended for the use of pedestrians.
(ORC 4511.01(FF))
(89) "Sign" means an object consisting of any material having subscribed thereon any language, pictures, electric paraphernalia, numbers or representation of any nature which shall be used to attract attention to any object, product, place, activity, person, institution, organization or business. "Place" shall include erecting, constructing, posting, painting, printing, tacking, nailing, gluing, stocking, carving or fastening or making visible in any manner whatsoever. For the purposes of this Ordinance, "sign" shall not include the flag, pennant, badge or insignia of any government or religious or education organization.
(90) "Story" means that portion of a building included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the next floor above it, or if there is no floor above it, then the space between the floor and the next ceiling above it.
(91) "Street" means a right of way which affords the principal means of vehicular access to abutting property and which has been dedicated or deeded for public use and accepted by the City.
(92) "Street, private" means an improved right of way owned and maintained by the abutting property owners, or by an association of property owners, excluding off- street parking areas, driveways and driveways to off-street parking areas.
(93) "Structure" means anything constructed or erected which requires permanent location on the ground or which is attached to something having permanent location on the ground, but not including fences or walls used as fences, or drives, sidewalks or parking areas less than ten inches above ground level.
(94) "Thoroughfare, collector" means a street intended to collect traffic from local residential streets and to distribute such traffic to other points of the City or to the major thoroughfare system.
(95) "Thoroughfare, major" means a street intended to move large volumes of traffic from one part of the City to another part or beyond the City limits. A major thoroughfare may be designated as a freeway, expressway, limited access highway, parkway or equivalent terms and, for the purposes of this Ordinance, consists of a minimum of four lanes of travel pavement. "Thoroughfare Major" includes "arterial thoroughfare."
(96) "Townhouse" means a single family dwelling unit constructed in a row of attached units separated by property lines and with open space on at least two sides. "Property lines" shall not be construed to mean lot lines when such meaning is inconsistent with the ownership of the units or land.
(97) "Trailer" means any vehicle, with or without motor power, designed or used for human occupancy for residential, recreational, industrial, professional or commercial purposes and shall include campers, recreational vehicles, travel trailers and mobile homes.
(98) "Use" means the purpose or activity for which land or buildings are designed, arranged, intended or for which land or building are occupied or maintained.
(Ord. 91-072. Passed 3-5-91.)
(99) "Variance" means a departure from the specific requirements of this Ordinance which may be granted by the Planning Commission when the literal enforcement of these requirements would result in practical difficulties, unnecessary hardship or results which are inconsistent with the general purposes of this Ordinance, owing to circumstances unique to the individual property in question because of the particular physical surroundings, shape, size or topographical condition of the property.
(Ord. 06-019. Passed 1-17-06.)
(100) "Vehicle" means every device, including a motorized bicycle, in, upon or by which any person or property may be transported or drawn upon a highway, except devices moved by power collected from overhead electric trolley wires or used exclusively upon stationary rails on tracks and except devices other than bicycles moved by human power.
(ORC 4511.01(A))
(101) "Yard" means an open, unoccupied space, other than a court, unobstructed from the ground upward except for natural vegetation, and located on the same lot as the principal building or structure, and further defined as follows:
A. "Front yard" means a yard extending the full width of the lot between the front line and the nearest point of the closest building.
B. "Side yard" means a yard between a building and the side lot line, extending from the front yard to the rear yard, whose required width shall be measured horizontally from the nearest point of the side lot line toward the nearest point of the closest building.
C. "Rear yard" means a yard extended across the full width of the lot between the main building and the rear lot line, whose required depth shall be measured horizontally from the nearest point of the main building toward the nearest point of the rear lot line.
(102) "Zoning Ordinance" or "this Ordinance" means Ordinance 86-260, passed December 16, 1986, as amended which is codified as Titles Three to Five of this Part Eleven - Planning and Zoning Code.
(Ord. 91-072. Passed 3-5-91.)