Unless the context otherwise requires, the following definitions shall be used in the interpretation and construction of the Zoning Ordinance. Words used in the present tense include the future; the singular number includes the plural and the plural the singular. The words "used for" include the meaning "designed for" and the word "structure" includes the word "building", and the word "building" the word "structure". The word "shall" is mandatory and not directory.
(1) "Accessory use" or "structure" means a use or structure subordinate to the principal use of a building on the lot or tract and serving a purpose customarily incidental to the use of the principal building.
(2) "Agriculture" means the use of land for agricultural purposes, including farming, dairying, pasturage, agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, viticulture, and animal and poultry husbandry, and the necessary accessory uses for packing, treating and storing the product. However, the operation of any such accessory uses shall be secondary and incidental to the normal agriculture activities, and the above uses shall not include the commercial feeding of garbage or offal to swine or other animals or the raising of mink, foxes or other undomesticated animals.
(3) "Alley" means a public or private way affording secondary means of access to abutting property.
(4) "Board" means the Board of Zoning Appeals of Minerva.
(5) "Commission" means the Planning Commission of Minerva.
(6) "Court" means an open, unoccupied space, other than a yard, on the same lot with a building, unobstructed from the lowest level to the sky.
(7) "Dwelling" means any building or portion thereof unoccupied or intended to be occupied exclusively for residence purposes, but not including a tent, cabin, tourist courts, trailer or trailer coach.
(a) "Single family dwelling" means a separate building occupied or constructed to be occupied exclusively for residence purposes by one family or housekeeping unit.
(b) "Two family dwelling" means a separate building occupied or constructed to be occupied exclusively for residence purposes by two families or housekeeping units.
(c) "Multiple dwelling" means a building or portion thereof occupied or constructed to be occupied by more than two families or housekeeping units.
(8) "Family" means a person living alone or two or more persons living together as a single housekeeping unit, but not including a group occupying a boarding house, lodging house or hotel. (Ord. 11-71. Passed 5-25-71.)
(9) “Garage” means a building, structure, or any portion thereof, used or constructed to be used for housing or repairing motor vehicles. This does not include rooms for exhibiting or showing cars for sale. “Garage” shall include carports or portable awnings designed for the purpose of housing or sheltering vehicles.
(Ord. 13-11. Passed 5-24-11.)
(10) "Junk" means old or scrap copper, brass, rubber, rags, batteries, paper, rope, junked, dismantled or wrecked automobiles or parts thereof, iron, steel and other old or scrap ferrous or nonferrous material, or similar discarded or salvage material.
(11) "Lot" means a piece or parcel of land occupied or intended to be occupied by a principal building and its accessory buildings and uses, including all open spaces required by this Zoning Ordinance, and having frontage on a public street or highway.
(a) "Corner lot" means a lot abutting upon two or more streets, at their intersection, or upon two parts of the same street, and in either case forming an interior angle of less than one hundred thirty-five degrees.
(b) "Double frontage lot" means a lot having frontage on two parallel or approximately parallel streets, or on two parallel or approximately parallel portions of the same street, as distinguished from a corner lot.
(12) "Lot depth" means the average horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines.
(13) "Lot line".
(a) "Front lot line" means the line separating the lot from the street. In case there is no established right-of-way line, the front lot line for the purposes of this Zoning Ordinance shall be a line parallel to the center line of the street and at a distance therefrom of twenty-five feet.
(b) "Rear lot line" means the lot line opposite and most distant from the front lot line.
(c) "Side lot line" means any lot line other than a front or rear lot line.
(14) "Lot width at minimum required front yard depth" means the width of the lot measured at right angles to its depth at the minimum required front yard depth for the use to which it is put in the district in which it is located.
(15) "Nonconforming use" means a use of a building or land that does not agree or conform with the regulations of the district in which it is situated.
(16) "Commercial parking lot" means a permanently surfaced area of one or more parking spaces designed and used for the parking of self-propelled vehicles and available to the public whether for a fee or as an accommodation to clients or customers.
(17) "Parking space" means a permanently surfaced area of not less than 180 square feet either within a structure or in the open, exclusive of driveways or access drives, for the parking of a motor vehicle.
(18) "Private stable" means a stable with a capacity of not more than three animals.
(19) (a) "Story" means that portion of a building, other than a cellar or a basement, that is included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the floor next above it, or if there is no floor above it, then the space between the floor and the ceiling next above it.
(b) "Half-story" means a partial story under a gable, hip or gambrel roof, the wall plates of which on at least two opposite exterior walls are not more than four feet above the floor of such story. However, any partial story used for residence purposes, other than for a janitor or caretaker and his family, shall be deemed a full story.
(20) "Street" means the public right of way, including berm and sidewalk areas, which provides the principal means of access to abutting property.
"Street" includes avenue, drive, circle, road, highway or a similar term.
(21) "Structure" means anything constructed, the use of which requires permanent location on the ground, or attached to something having a permanent location on the ground.
(22) "Structural alteration" means any change in the supporting members of a building or structure, such as bearing walls, columns, beams or girders.
(23) "Tourist courts" means a group of attached or detached cottages, cabins or similar buildings, containing individual sleeping or living units, intended primarily for the accommodation of transient or seasonal guests and not for permanent residents, including tourist camps, auto courts, motels and motor lodges.
(24) "Trailer" or "mobile homes" means any vehicle or enclosure constructed in such a manner as to permit occupancy thereof as sleeping and/or living quarters or the conduct of any business, trade or occupation, or use as a selling or advertising device, and so designed that it is or may be mounted on wheels and used as a conveyance on highways and streets propelled or drawn by its own or other motor power.
(25) "Trailer park" or "mobile home park" means a tract or parcel of land open to the public upon which spaces for trailers or mobile homes are provided for consideration, whether for overnight, by the day, the week, the month, or longer.
(26) "Roadside stand" means a temporary structure designed or used for the display or sale of neighborhood agricultural products or other products produced on the premises upon which such a stand is located.
(27) "Yard" means an open, unoccupied space, other than a court, on the same lot with a building, unobstructed from the ground to the sky, except as otherwise provided.
(a) "Front yard" means a yard across the full width of the lot, extending from the front line of the building to the front line of the lot.
(b) "Rear yard" means a yard across the full width of the lot, extending from the rear line of the building to the rear line of the lot. Where the rear yard opens on an alley, one-half of the alley width may be included as a portion of the rear yard.
(c) "Side yard" means a yard between the side line of the building and the adjacent side line of the lot, extending from the front yard to the rear yard. If there is no front yard, the side yard shall be considered as extending to the front line of the lot and if there is no rear yard the side yard shall be considered as extending to the rear line of the lot. Where the side yard opens on an alley, one-half of the alley width may be included as a portion of the side yard.
(28) "Zoning Inspector" means the Zoning Inspector (Administrative Officer) or his duly authorized representative, appointed by the Council and Mayor of Minerva.
(29) "Zoning Map" means the Office Zoning Map of Minerva, dated September, 1971, together with all amendments thereto subsequently adopted.
(30) "Zoning Certificate" means a written statement issued by the Zoning Inspector authorizing buildings, structures or uses consistent with the terms of this Zoning Ordinance and for the purpose of carrying out its provisions.
(31) "Zoning Ordinance" or "Ordinance" means Ordinance 11-71, passed May 25, 1971, as amended, and which is codified herein as Title Three of this Part Eleven - Planning and Zoning Code.
(Ord. 11-71. Passed 5-25-71.)