For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning. Words used in the present tense include the future tense; the singular includes the plural, and the plural includes the singular. The word may is permissive; shall is mandatory. Words not defined in this chapter shall be construed to have their customary meanings.
ACCESSORY BUILDING. A detached, subordinate building, located on the same lot with and clearly and customarily incidental to the main building.
ACCESSORY USE. A use clearly subordinate to the main use. In no case shall an ACCESSORY USE dominate, in area, extent, or purpose, the principal lawful use of the property.
ADULT USE. Any establishment consisting of, including, or having the characteristics of any or all of the following.
(1) ADULT BOOKSTORE or ADULT VIDEO STORE. An establishment having more than 20% of its stock-in-trade, floor area, or display area used for the sale, rental, or trade of books, magazines, publications, tapes, films, or any other form of media that is distinguished or characterized by the emphasis on sexually oriented material depicting, describing, or relating to sexual activities or anatomical genital areas.
(2) ADULT CABARET. An establishment, either with or without a liquor license, offering sexually oriented dancing or other live entertainment that may include persons who appear in a state of nudity or semi nudity.
(3) ADULT THEATER. A theater or similar venue, either indoors or outdoors, that regularly features motion pictures, films, live performances, or other displays of or by persons who appear nude of partially or that present content that depicts graphically relates to sexual activities.
(4) ADULT NOVELTY SHOP. An establishment offering, for sale or rent, items from any two of the following categories: sexually oriented books, magazines, and videos; leather goods marketed or presented in a context to suggest their use for sexual activities; sexually oriented toys and novelties; or video viewing booths; or an establishment that advertises or holds itself out in any forum as a sexually oriented business.
AGRICULTURAL USES. Farming activities such as growing of field crops, truck crops, horticulture, forestry, plant nurseries, greenhouses, or grazing of animals. Uses which are listed as special exceptions in districts where AGRICULTURAL USES are permitted, such as confined feeding operations, are not included.
ALLEY. A public way affording only secondary means of access to abutting property, not intended for general traffic circulation.
ALTERATION. As applied to a building, is a change or rearrangement in the structural parts or in the exit facilities, or an enlargement, whether by extending on a side or by increasing height, or the moving from one location or position to another.
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY. The raising, breeding, and maintaining of animals such as cattle, swine, sheep, goats, rabbits, fowl, and fish; fur-bearing animals for pelts; work animals for use or sale, and apiaries; not including confined feeding.
ATTACHED DWELLING. A one-family dwelling which shall be constructed as one of a sequence of three or more one-family dwellings attached horizontally by common fireproof party walls.
AUTOMOBILE. Passenger cars, pick-up trucks, recreational vehicles, travel trailers, motorcycles, mopeds, and boats.
AUTOMOBILE REPAIR SHOP. Any premises used for general repairs of motor vehicles including, without limitation, repair and replacement of engines, drive trains, transmissions, mufflers, brakes, tires, suspensions, and related components frame repairs and body repairs. Such business may include the sale of parts.
AUTOMOBILE SALES, NEW. A franchised retail automobile dealership that is primarily housed in a building and characterized by a mixture of secondary supporting uses; however, the principal use of the property shall be the marketing and display of new automobiles, whether by sale, rental, lease or other commercial or financial means. Secondary supporting uses may include an inventory of vehicles for sale or lease either on-site or at a nearby location of new or used automobiles in operating condition, and on-site facilities for the repair and service of automobiles previously sold, rented, or leased by the dealership as defined under “automobile repair shop” above. No abandoned vehicles shall be stored on the premises.
AUTOMOBILE SALES, USED. A retail business that sells operable, used automobiles. Secondary supporting uses may include the service of automobiles previously sold or traded as defined under “automobile repair shop” above. No automobile salvage or scrap activities shall be permitted and no abandoned vehicles shall be stored on the premises.
AUTOMOBILE SERVICE STATION. Any premises where gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, or any other motor fuel or lubricating oil or grease for operating motor vehicles is offered for sale to the public and deliveries are made directly into motor vehicles. Such operation may include sale of tires and automotive accessories to the general public. It may also include the making of minor repairs, but not major repairs as described under the definition for “automobile repair shop” above, and not including the outside storage of inoperable vehicles.
BED AND BREAKFAST. An owner-occupied dwelling containing not more than three separate units which are rented on a nightly basis for periods of one week or less. Meals may or may not be provided.
BILLBOARD. An outdoor advertising sign used to advertise a business, service, or activity sold or available elsewhere than on the premises on which the BILLBOARD is located.
BLOCK. An area of land bounded by streets, public or common land, railroad rights-of-way, or by other similar definite limits.
BOARD. The Town Board of Zoning Appeals.
BUILDING (includes STRUCTURE). Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls for the shelter, enclosure, housing, or protection of persons, animals, or property.
BUILDING HEIGHT. The vertical measure from the finished grade to the highest point of the roof surface for flat roofs; to the deck line of mansard roofs; and to the average height between eaves and ridge for gable, hip, and gambrel roofs. Where a building is located on sloping terrain, the HEIGHT shall be measured from the average ground level of the grade at the building wall.
BUILDING LINE. A line, usually parallel to the street line and extending between the side lot lines, running along the front of the principal building and along which lot width is measured.
BUILDING SETBACK LINE. A line delineating the minimum allowable distance between a street line or a lot line and a building or structure. For irregularly shaped lots or those with curved lot lines, it shall be measured parallel to the line closest to the street, which forms a side of the largest rectangle that can be inscribed within the lot lines.
CAMPGROUND. A parcel of land used for temporary overnight recreational occupancy in shelters such as seasonal cabins, tents, recreational vehicles, travel trailers, or mobile homes.
CHURCH. A property or structure used by a congregation of persons meeting regularly to hold religious services or worship.
CLUB. A building or facility owned or operated by an organization for special purposes or for the promulgation of sports, arts, sciences, literature, politics, or the like, and open only to members and not to the general public.
COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT. A group of commercial uses under unified ownership or control, on one or more parcels of land, such as a shopping center or office park.
COMMON OPEN SPACE. All open space within the boundaries of a development designed and set-aside for use by all residents of the development and not designated as public lands.
CONDITIONAL USE. A use permitted by the Board of Zoning Appeals under the terms set forth in this chapter.
CONFINED FEEDING. The production, maintenance, and breeding of animals for food, fur, or pleasure purposes in lots, pens, ponds, sheds, or buildings where food is supplied to the animals by means other than grazing. For purposes of this chapter, CONFINED FEEDING shall include such operations exceeding the following numbers of animals per acre: four cattle; 20 swine; 700 poultry; ten sheep or goats; four horses.
DAY CARE CENTER. An establishment that offers general care of ten or more children (other than those related to the residents, if in a private home).
DAY CARE HOME. A residence in which the occupant cares for more than five but fewer than ten children unrelated to the occupant.
DEVELOPMENT PLAN. A specific plan of development for a parcel of land, containing the elements required by this chapter.
DWELLING, MULTIFAMILY. A building used primarily as a residence for more than two households, with separate kitchens, baths, and other facilities for each household.
DWELLING, SINGLE-FAMILY. A building used primarily as a residence for one household, containing at least 950 square feet in useable floor area, with at least 60% of the structure being at least 23 feet wide at its narrowest dimension, erected on a permanent perimeter retaining wall or foundation. Structures for temporary lodging, such as motels, hotels, and bed and breakfast operations are excluded from this definition, as are mobile homes, motorhomes, and trailers.
DWELLING, TWO-FAMILY. A building used primarily as a residence for two families, each with a separate kitchen, bath, and other facilities. Such dwelling units may be separated by a common vertical or horizontal wall.
DWELLING UNIT. A building or part of a building providing complete housekeeping facilities for one household.
EASEMENT. An acquired right of use, interest, or privilege in lands owned by another.
EDUCATIONAL USES. Public or private elementary or secondary schools, institutions of higher education, boarding schools, and similar uses.
ESSENTIAL SERVICES. Those land uses which are required in order for the community to provide adequate services to its citizens, including town halls, libraries, public utilities, sanitary landfills, incinerators, parking lots, fire and police stations, cemeteries, correctional institutions, and similar uses. Any such use not operated by a unit of government or by a regulated utility shall not be included in this definition.
FAMILY. An individual or two or more persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption living together in a single-family dwelling; or a group of not more than four persons, who need not be related, living together in a single-family dwelling.
FLOOD or FLOODWATER. The water of any water body that is above the banks and/or outside the channel and banks of such watercourse.
FORESTRY. The clearing or management of woodland areas for the purpose of selling timber, logs, or firewood.
FRONTAGE. The width of a lot measured along the right-of-way line of a street. For irregularly shaped lots or those with curved lot lines, it shall mean the line closest to the street which forms a side of the largest rectangle that can be inscribed within the lot lines.
GARAGE. An accessory building or portion of a principal building designed or used for the parking of temporary storage of motor vehicles and/or recreational vehicles of the occupants in the building to which the GARAGE is accessory.
HEALTH CARE USE. A medical, dental, psychological, psychiatric, or other similar clinic or hospital whether public or private.
HOME OCCUPATION. An occupation or gain or support conducted by members of a family residing on the premises and conducted entirely within the dwelling or accessory structure, provided that the use is clearly subordinate to the principal use of the property.
HORTICULTURE. The cultivation of ornamental plants or trees for sale for use in landscaping; orchards.
HOTEL or MOTEL. A building or group of buildings designed for temporary, overnight lodging with or without meals. Such structures may contain a restaurant, banquet halls, ballrooms, meeting rooms, or other such customary accessory uses.
IMPROVEMENT LOCATION PERMIT. A document that authorizes the proposed construction or alteration of a structure.
JUNKYARD. A lot or a part thereof that is used for the storage, keeping, dismantling, abandonment, or sale of junk, scrap metal, scrap vehicles, scrap machinery, paper, rags, rubber tires, bottles, or other similar items.
KENNEL. Any structure or premises used to board five or more dogs and/or cats six months of age or older.
LOT. A distinct parcel of land described by metes and bounds description or identified as a separate lot on a recorded plat, used, intended to be used, or useable as the site of a principal structure and accessory structures.
LOT, CORNER. A lot at the junction of and fronting on two intersecting streets.
LOT COVERAGE. Area of a lot that is covered by structures, including all accessory structures.
LOT DEPTH. The distances between the front lot line at its intersection with the street and the rear lot line, at right angles to both. For irregular lots, the LOT DEPTH is the maximum length, measured between the front and rear lot lines, of the largest rectangle that can be inscribed within the lot lines.
LOT LINE. A boundary line of a lot.
LOT, THROUGH. A lot having frontage on two streets that are parallel, or approximately parallel.
LOT WIDTH. The distance between the side lot lines, measured along the building line.
MOBILE HOME. A transportable dwelling unit larger than 320 square feet in floor area, whether used for a dwelling or other purpose that does not meet the criteria of “dwelling, single-family”.
MOBILE HOME PARK. Property that has been divided into sites, whether for sale or lease, for aggregations of mobile homes on single tracts and may include recreational, office, and other accessory uses.
OPEN SPACE USES. Uses which involve little or no construction of buildings, or paving. Examples include parks, golf courses, sanctuaries for birds or wildlife, campgrounds, and uses of similar intensity.
PERSONAL CONVENIENCE SERVICES. Services such as barber or beauty shops, dry cleaning, dressmaking or tailoring, shoe repair, home appliance repair, and similar uses.
PLAN COMMISSION. The Town Advisory Plan Commission.
PRINCIPAL or MAIN USE. The primary purpose for which a building, structure, and/or lot is designed, arranged, or intended, or for which it may be used, occupied, or maintained under the provisions of this chapter.
PROFESSIONAL AND BUSINESS SERVICES. Activities such as banking and associated services, financial institutions, real estate, management, tax consultant, engineer, accountant, photographer, lawyer, and medical services.
RECREATIONAL VEHICLE. A temporary dwelling for travel, recreation, and vacation use, including travel trailer, camping trailer, pick-up camper, motor coach, tent trailer, boat, or other vehicular structure mounted on a chassis.
RESEARCH USES. Laboratories, product research, or similar uses.
RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT. The use of property for single- or multifamily development or a combination thereof. It does not include mobile homes or mobile home parks. This definition is distinct from an individual single-family dwelling on a lot meeting the minimum dimensional requirements of the district in which it is located.
RESORT MOTEL or INN. A motel or hotel which features sports or recreational facilities such as golf, tennis, skiing, or horseback riding, or which features a rural setting and is not primarily dependent upon visibility from a highway or overnight accommodations for the traveling public.
RETAIL SALES ESTABLISHMENT. A business conducted entirely within a building, the principal use of which is the display and/or sale of goods, merchandise, and products directly to consumers.
RETIREMENT HOME. An establishment, which provides convalescent or chronic care for the aged or infirm, not including intensive care commonly provided in hospitals.
SIGN. Any display figure, painting, drawing, placard, poster, or other device visible from a public way or parking lot or from off the premises on which it is located which is designed, intended, or used to convey a message, advertise, inform, or direct attention to a person, institution, organization, activity, place, object, or product. It may be a structure or part thereof painted on or attached directly or indirectly to a structure.
SIGN, AREA OF. The area within a line drawn around the surface of a sign including all decorations but excluding any supports whether decorative or not. In computing the AREA OF A SIGN, the area of all surface used for sign purposes shall be included.
SIGN HEIGHT. The vertical distance measured from the ground at the base of the sign to the highest point of any portion of the sign or supporting structure.
SIGN, OFF-PREMISES. Any sign or advertising device, including a billboard, which advertises a use or activity not located on, or a product not sold nor manufactured on, the lot on which the sign or device is located.
SIGN, OFF-SITE DIRECTIONAL. Any sign giving directions to the location of any use or activity not located upon the property upon which the sign is erected, and which may contain only the name of the use and necessary information giving directions to the use.
SIGN, POLE or HIGH RISE. Any freestanding sign or other sign supported by poles, pipes, braces or frame on the ground, or any sign supported by a roof, wall or other structure when the sign face is located above the elevation of the highest part of the structure to which it is attached.
SIGN, PORTABLE. Any sign not permanently attached to a building or structure of the ground and which is capable of being placed upon various locations. Such SIGNS shall include, but are not limited to, A-frame signs, gasoline price signs, temporary announcement signs, trailer signs, balloons, and the like.
STREET. A strip of land that provides the principal means of access to abutting property or other vehicular public right-of-way, other than an alley.
STREET, PRIVATE. A street that is not owned or maintained by or has not been dedicated to the public.
STREET RIGHT-OF-WAY. The area actually owned or dedicated for public use.
STRUCTURE (includes BUILDING). Anything constructed or erected with a fixed location on the ground or attached to something having a fixed location on the ground.
TRANSPORTATION USES. Uses directly related to any mode of vehicular or air transportation, including truck terminals, airports, railway or bus stations, and similar uses.
URBAN AREA. Any incorporated area and all land or lots used for residential purposes where there are at least eight residences within a one-quarter mile square area and other lands or lots that have been or are planned for residential areas contiguous to the municipality.
VARIANCE. An authorization from the Board of Zoning Appeals to use and/or develop property in a manner that does not comply with this chapter.
YARD. A required open space on the same lot with a building, unoccupied and unobstructed by any structure from the surface of the ground upward, except for drives, walks, fences, and customary yard accessories and other structures specifically permitted by this chapter.
YARD, FRONT. The yard between a street line and a line generally parallel thereto drawn through the nearest point of a building, extending between side lot lines. Each yard fronting on a street is a FRONT YARD, so that a corner lot has two FRONT YARDS. Fronting on an alley is not considered a FRONT YARD.
YARD, REAR. A yard extending across the full width of the lot between the principal structure and the rear lot line.
YARD, SIDE. The area between a building and the side lot line, extending from the front yard, or front lot line where not front yard is required, and the rear lot line. The width of the required SIDE YARD shall be measured horizontally from the nearest point of the side lot line to the nearest part of the main building.
(Ord. passed - -1989; Ord. 2014-5, passed 5-5-2014; Ord. 2015-12, passed 11-2-2015)