For the purposes of this Zoning Ordinance, certain terms and words are to be defined as found in this chapter. Words and terms not specifically defined carry their customarily understood meanings. Words used in the present tense include the future and the plural includes the singular and the singular the plural. The word "shall" is intended to be mandatory; "occupied" or "used" shall be considered as though followed by the words "or intended, arranged or designed to be used or occupied". In case of any difference of meaning or implication between the text of this Zoning Ordinance and any caption or illustration, the text shall control. In case of any difference of meaning or implication between a specific definition found elsewhere in this Zoning Ordinance and the definition found in this chapter, the specific definition shall control.
(1) Accessory Building or Use: A building or use which:
A. Is subordinate to and serves a principal building or principal use.
B. Is subordinate in area, extent, or purpose to the principal building or principal use served.
C. Contributes to the comfort, convenience, or necessity of occupants of the principal building or principal use.
D. Is located on the same zoning lot as the principal building or principle use.
Among other things, "accessory use" includes anything of a subordinate nature attached to or disattached from a principal structure or use, such as fences, walls, sheds, garages, parking places, decks, poles, poster panels, and billboards. Except as otherwise required in this Zoning Ordinance an accessory use shall be a permitted use.
(6) Acreage, Gross – Total area within a parcel of land plus half right of way of adjoining streets and alleys.
(7) Acreage, Net – Measure of developable land area after excluding dedicated right of way, flood control and drainage easements. Second definition included public dedications (areas), water and easement constituting a substantial impairment of the fee.
(8) Agriculture: The use of land for farming, dairying, pasturage, apiculture, horticulture, floriculture, viticulture, and animal and poultry husbandry and the necessary accessory uses for packing, treating, or storing the produce, provided, however that:
A. The operation of any such accessory uses shall be secondary to that of normal agricultural activities; and
B. The above uses shall not include the feeding or sheltering of animals or poultry in penned enclosures within 100 feet of any residential zoning district. Agricultural does not include the feeding of garbage to animals or the operation or maintenance of a commercial stockyard or feedyard.
(9) Alteration: A physical change in a building or an addition to it. An alteration that includes an addition, projection into yards, or change from one type of use to another (single- to two-family), may require zoning approval.
(10) Amusement Arcade Facility: An outdoor area or structure, open to the public, which contains five (5) or more coin operated games, and similar entertainment and amusement devices. (See Chapter 1182
)
(11) Apartment House: A structure containing three or more apartment units. See Multi-family Dwelling.
(12) Apartment Unit: One or more rooms with private bath and kitchen facilities comprising an independent self-contained dwelling unit in a building containing more than two dwelling units.
(13) Automotive Repair: The repair, rebuilding or reconditioning of motor vehicles or parts thereof, including collision service, painting, and steam cleaning of vehicles.
(14) Automotive Wrecking: The dismantling or wrecking of used motor vehicles, mobile homes, trailers, or the storage, sale or dumping of dismantled, partially dismantled, obsolete or wrecked vehicles or their parts.
(15) Automobile Wash: Any building or premises or portions thereof used for washing automobiles, also a car wash.
(16) Awning: A roof-like cover that is temporary in nature and that projects from the wall of a building for the purpose of shielding a doorway or window from the elements.
(17) Basement: A story all or partially underground but having at least one-half of its height below the average level of the adjoining ground. (See story)
(18) Bedroom: A private room planned and intended for sleeping, separable from other rooms by a door, and accessible to a bathroom without crossing another bedroom or living room.
(19) Board of Zoning Appeals: A local body, created by ordinance, whose responsibility is to hear appeals from decisions of the local administrative official and to consider requests for variances and exceptions (conditional use permits) permissible under terms of the Zoning Ordinance.
(22) Buffer: Land area used to visibly separate one use from another or to shield or block noise, lights, or other nuisances.
(23) Building: Any structure designed or intended for the support, enclosure, shelter, or protection of persons, animals, chattels, or property.
(24) Building, Height: The vertical distance measured from the average elevation of the proposed finished grade at the front of the building to the highest point of the roof for flat roofs, to the deckline of mansard roofs, and the mean height between eaves and ridge for gable, hip and gambrel roofs, measurements to be made at a point within 20 feet of the building.
(25) Building Line: (See Setback Line)
(26) Building, Principal: A building in which is conducted the main or principal use of the lot on which said building is situated.
(27) Business, Convenience: Commercial establishments which cater to and can be located in close proximity to or within residential districts without creating undue vehicular congestion, excessive noise, or other objectionable influences. To prevent congestion, convenience uses include, but need not be limited to, drug stores, beauty salons, barber shops, carry-outs, dry cleaning and laundry pickup facilities, and grocery stores, if less than 8,000 square feet in area. Use in this classification then to serve a day-to-day need in the neighborhood.
(28) Business, General: Commercial uses which generally require location on or near major thoroughfares and/or their intersections, which tend, in addition to serving day to day needs of the community, also supply the more durable and permanent needs of the whole community. General business uses include, but need not be limited to, such activities as supermarkets; stores that sell hardware, apparel, footwear, appliances, and furniture; department stores; and discount stores.
(29) Business, Highway: Commercial uses which generally require locations on or near major thoroughfares and/or their intersections, and which tend to serve the motoring public. Highway business uses include, but need not be limited to, such activities as filling stations; truck and auto sales and service; restaurants and motels; and commercial recreation.
(30) Business, Office Type: Quasi-commercial uses which may often be transitional between retail business and/or manufacturing, and residential uses. Office business generally accommodates such occupations as administrative, executive, professional, accounting, writing, clerical, stenographic, and drafting. Institutional offices of a charitable, philanthropic, or religious or educational nature are also included in this classification.
(31) Business Services: Any profit making activity which renders services primarily to other commercial or industrial enterprises, or which services and repairs appliances and machines used in homes and business.
(32) Business, Wholesale: Business establishments that generally sell commodities in large quantities or by the piece to retailers, jobbers, other wholesale establishments, or manufacturing establishments. These commodities are basically for further resale, for use in the fabrication of a product, or for use by a business service.
(33) Carry-Out: Food and related convenience items for consumption off premises only.
(34) Cemetery: Land used or intended to be used for the burial of the human or animal dead and dedicated for cemetery purposes, including crematories, mausoleums, and mortuaries if operated in connection within the boundaries of such cemetery.
(35) Change of Use: Any use which substantially differs from the previous use of a building or land.
(36) Child Day Care: Administering to the needs of infants, toddlers, pre-school children, and school children outside of school hours by persons other than their parents or guardians, custodians, or relatives by blood, marriage, or adoption for any part of the twenty-four hour day in a place or residence other than the child's own home. The following are child day-care facilities:
A. Child Day-Care Center: Any place in which child day-care is provided, with or without compensation, for 13 or more children at any one time, or any place that is not the permanent residence of the licensee or administrator in which child day-care is provided, with or without compensation, for 7 to 12 children at any one time. In counting children for the purposes of this definition, any children under 6 years of age who are related to a licensee, administrator, or employee and who are on the premises shall be counted.
B. Type A family Day-Care Home: A permanent residence of the administrator in which child day-care is provided for 4 to 12 children at any one time, if 4 or more children are under 2 years of age. In counting children for the purposes of this definition, any children under 6 years of age who are related to a licensee, administrator, or employee and who are on the premises of the Type A home shall be counted. The term "Type A family day-care home" does not include a residence in which the needs of the children administered to, if all such children are siblings of the same immediate family and the residence is their home.
C. Type B Family Day-Care Home: A permanent residence of the provider in which child day-care or child day-care services are provided for 1 to 6 children at one time and in which no more than 3 children may be under 2 years of age at any one time. In counting children for the purposes of this definition, any children under 6 years of age who are related to the provider and are on the premises of the Type B home shall be counted. The term "Type B family day-care home" does not include a residence in which the needs of children are administered to, if all such children are siblings of the same immediate family and the residence is their home.
(37) Church, Religious Use: A building or structure, or groups of buildings or structures, which by design and construction are primarily intended for the conducting of organized religious services and accessory uses associated therewith.
(38) 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 exclusive use of members and their guests.
(39) Cluster Development: A development design technique that concentrates buildings in specific areas on a site to allow remaining land to be used for recreation, common open space, or the preservation of historically or environmentally sensitive features.
(40) Commercial Entertainment Facilities: Any profit making activity which is generally related to the entertainment field, such as motion picture theaters, carnivals, nightclubs, cocktail lounges, and similar entertainment activities.
(41) Commercial Use: Activity carried out for pecuniary gain.
(42) Commercial Vehicle: Any motor vehicle licenses by the State as a commercial vehicle.
(43) Community Facility: A building or structure owned and operated by a governmental agency to provide a governmental service to the public.
(44) Comprehensive Development Plan: A plan or any portion thereof, adopted by the Planning Commission and the Council of the City of Mount Vernon, Ohio, showing the general location and extent of present and proposed physical facilities including housing, industrial and commercial uses, major thoroughfares, parks, schools, and other community facilities. The plan establishes the general goals, objectives, and policies of the community, also Master Plan.
(45) Conditional Use: A use permitted within a district other than a principally permitted use, requiring a conditional use permit and approval of the Board of Zoning Appeals. A use permitted in a particular zoning district only upon showing that such use in a specified location will comply with all the conditions and standards for the location or operation of such use as specified in a zoning ordinance and authorized by the Board of Zoning Appeals.
(46) Conditional Use Permit: A permit issued by the Zoning Enforcement Officer upon approval by the Board of Zoning Appeals to allow a use other than a principally permitted use to be established within the district.
(47) Condominium: (See Subdivision Regulations)
(48) Congregate Housing: A dwelling providing shelter and services for the elderly which may include meals, housekeeping, and personal care assistance, also a group residence facility.
(49) Country Club: A land area and building containing recreational facilities, clubhouse and usual accessory uses, open only to members and their guests for a membership fee.
(50) Court or Plaza: Any open space, unobstructed from ground to sky, other than a yard, that is on the same lot with and bounded on two or more sides by the walls of a building.
(51) Cultural Facilities: Establishments such as museums, art galleries, botanical and zoological gardens of an historic, educational or cultural interest which are not operated commercially.
(52) Day Care Center/Day Nursery: (See Child Day-Care)
(53) Density: A unit of measurement; the number of dwelling units per acre of land.
A. Gross Density. The number of dwelling units per acre of the total land to be developed.
B. Net Density. The number of dwelling units per acre of land when the acreage involved includes only the land devoted to residential uses.
(54) District: A part, zone, or geographic area within the Municipality within which certain zoning or development regulations apply.
(56) Drive-In: An establishment that dispenses products or services to patrons who remain in vehicles.
(57) Drive-Through Window: An opening in the wall of a building or structure designed and intended to be used to provide for sales to and/or service to patrons who remain in their vehicles.
(58) Drive-Up Window Service: A building opening, including windows, doors, or mechanical devices through which occupants of a motor vehicle receive or obtain a product or service.
(59) Dry Cleaning Establishment: A use involving the cleaning or dyeing of fabrics, employing the services of more than three persons, the use of mechanical appliances requiring more than a three-horsepower motor, and the use of volatile or explosive substances.
(60) Dump: A land site used primarily for the disposal by dumping, burial, burning or other means and for whatever purposes, of garbage, sewage, trash, refuse, junk, discarded machinery, vehicles or parts thereof, and other waste, scrap or discarded material of any kind.
(61) Duplex: (See Dwelling, two-family)
(62) Dwelling: Any building or structure (except a house trailer or mobile home as defined by Ohio Revised Code 4501.01) which is wholly or partially used or intended to be used for living or sleeping by one or more human occupants.
(63) Dwelling, Industrialized Unit: An assembly of materials or products comprising all or part of a total structure which, when constructed, is self-sufficient or substantially self-sufficient and when installed, constitutes a dwelling unit, except for necessary preparations for its placement, and including a modular or sectional unit but not a mobile home. (See Chapter 1180
).
(64) Dwelling Multi-Family: A dwelling consisting of three or more dwelling units including condominiums with varying arrangements of entrances and party walls. Multi-family housing may include public housing, industrialized units, and manufactured housing.
(65) Dwelling, Rooming House (Boarding House, Lodging House, Dormitory): A dwelling or part thereof, other than a hotel, motel or restaurant where meals and/or lodging are provided for compensation, for three or more unrelated persons where no cooking or dining facilities are provided in the individual rooms.
(66) Dwelling, Single Family: A dwelling consisting of a single dwelling unit only, separated from other dwelling units by open space.
(67) Dwelling, Two-Family: A dwelling consisting of two dwelling units which may be either attached side by side or one above the other, and each unit having a separate or combined entrance or entrances.
(68) Dwelling Units: Space, within a dwelling, comprising living, dining, sleeping room or rooms, storage closets, as well as space and equipment for cooking, bathing, and toilet facilities, all used by only one family and its household employees.
(69) Easement: Authorization by a property owner for the use by another, and for a specified purpose, of any designated part of his property.
(70) Enlargement or Extension (See alteration)
(71) Erect: Any construction, building, raising or establishment either under, upon or above the ground surface.
(72) Essential Services: The erection, construction, alteration, or maintenance, by public utilities or municipal or other governmental agencies, if underground gas, electrical, steam or water transmission, or distribution systems, collection, communication, supply or disposal systems or sites, including poles, wires, mains, drains, sewers, pipes, traffic signals, hydrants, or other similar equipment and accessories in connection therewith which are reasonably necessary for the furnishing of adequate service by such public utilities or municipal or other governmental agencies or for the public health or safety or general welfare, but not including buildings.
(73) Established Grade: The elevation of the street curb as fixed by the City.
(74) Existing Use: The use of a lot or structure at the time of the enactment of a zoning ordinance.
(75) Fabrication and Assembly: The manufacturing from standardized parts of a distinct object differing from the individual components.
(76) Facade: The exterior wall of a building exposed to public view or that wall viewed by persons not within the building.
(78) Family: One or more individuals occupying a dwelling unit and living as a single household unit.
(79) Finance, Insurance, Title, and Real Estate: Establishments such as, but not limited to, banks and trust companies, credit agencies, investment companies, brokers and dealers of securities and commodities, security and commodity exchanges, insurance agents, brokers, lessors, lessees, buyers, sellers, agents and developers of real estate, also known as business, office type.
(80) Flea Market: An occasional or periodic market held in an open area or structure where groups of individual sellers offer goods for sale to the public.
(81) Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance: An ordinance adopted as law by the City of Mount Vernon, Ohio, on July 30, 1982, as amended; which regulates land use in areas subject to periodic flooding so as to reduce flood hazards and losses and to protect the public, health and safety. See also Flood Insurance Study, Mount Vernon, Ohio, February 2, 1982, published by the Federal Emergency management Agency and the Flood Insurance Rate Maps, City of Mount Vernon, Ohio, effective date August 2, 1982, as amended. Copies of the above documents are available for inspection at the City Engineer's Office. See Ordinance No. 1982-18 and Chapter 1170
of the Zoning Ordinance.
(82) Floor Area of a Non-Residential Building (To be used in calculating Parking Requirements): The floor area of the specified use excluding stairs, washrooms, elevator shafts, maintenance shafts and rooms, storage spaces, display windows, and fitting rooms, and similar areas.
(Ord. 2005-34. Passed 12-12-05.)
(83) Floor Area of a Residential Building: The sum of the gross horizontal area of the several floors of a residential building, excluding basement floor areas, the area of roofed porches and roofed terraces. All dimensions shall be measured between interior faces of walls.
(Ord. 2007-37. Passed 11-26-07.)
(Ord. 2007-37. Passed 11-26-07.)
(84) Floor Area Ratio: The gross floor area of all buildings on a lot divided by the lot area.
(85) Floor Area, Usable: Measurement of usable floor area shall be the sum of the horizontal areas of the several floors of the building, measuring from the interior faces of the exterior walls.
(86) Food Processing Establishment: A commercial establishment in which food is processed or otherwise prepared for human consumption but not consumed on the premises. Examples include bakeries, dairies, canneries, and other similar businesses.
(87) Fraternity House: A dwelling or dwelling unit maintained exclusively for fraternity members and their guests or visitors and affiliated with an academic or professional college, university or other institution of higher learning.
(88) Frontage, Fronting: That side of a lot abutting on a street; the front lot line, or bordering, in the sense of affording principal access.
(89) Funeral Home: A building used for the preparation of the deceased for burial and the display of the deceased and ceremonies connected therewith before burial or cremation.
(90) Garages, Private: A detached accessory building or portion of a principal building for the parking or temporary storage of automobiles, travel trailers and/or boats of the occupants of the premises and wherein:
A. Not more than one space is rented for parking to a person not a resident of the premises.
B. Not more than one commercial vehicle per dwelling unit is parked or stored.
C. The commercial vehicle permitted does not exceed two tons capacity.
(91) Garage, Public: A principal or accessory building other than a private garage, used for parking or temporary storage of passenger automobiles, and in which no service shall be provided for remuneration.
(92) Garage, Service Station: Buildings and premises where gasoline, oil, grease, batteries, tires, and motor vehicle accessories may be supplied and dispensed at retail, and where in addition, the following services may be rendered and sales made:
A. Sales and service of spark plugs, batteries, and distributor parts;
B. Tire servicing and repair, but not recapping or regrooving.
C. Replacement of mufflers and tail pipes, water hose, fan belts, brake fluid, light bulbs, fuses, floor mats, seat covers, windshield wipers and blades, grease retainers, wheel bearings, mirrors, and the like;
D. Radiator cleaning and flushing;
E. Washing, polishing, and sale of washing and polishing materials;
F. Greasing and lubrication;
G. Providing and repairing fuel pumps, oil pumps, and lines;
H. Minor servicing and repair of carburetors;
I. Adjusting and repairing brakes;
J. Minor motor adjustment not involving removal of the head or crankcase or racing the motor;
K. Sales of cold drinks, packaged food, tobacco, and similar convenience goods for service station customers, as accessory and incidental to principle operations;
L. Provisions of road maps and other informational material to customers, provision of restroom facilities;
M. Warranty maintenance and safety inspections.
Uses permissible as a filling station do not include major mechanical and body work, straightening of body parts, painting, welding, storage of autos not in operation condition, or other involving noise, glare, fumes, smoke or other characteristics to an extent greater than normally found in filling stations. A filling station is not a repair garage nor a body shop.
(93) Ground Floor: The first floor of a building other than a cellar or basement.
(94) Group Care Facility or Group Residential Facilities: A facility or dwelling unit housing persons unrelated by blood or marriage and operating as a group family household. A group of individuals not related by blood, marriage, adoption or guardianship living together in a dwelling unit as a single housekeeping management plan based on an intentionally structured relationship providing organization and stability. For example, a group care facility or group family household may include half-way houses, recovery homes, and homes for orphans, foster children, the elderly, battered spouses and children. See Chapter 1181
.
(95) Halfway House: See Boarding Home for Sheltered Care, See also Chapter 1181.
(96) Health Care Facility: A facility or institution, whether public or private, principally engaged in providing services for health maintenance, diagnosis or treatment of human disease, pain, injury, deformity or physical condition, including, but not limited to, a general hospital, special hospital, mental hospital, public health center, diagnostic center, treatment center, rehabilitation center, extended care facility, clinics, skilled nursing home, intermediate care facility, tuberculosis hospital, chronic disease hospital, maternity hospital, outpatient clinic, dispensary, home health care agency, boarding home, or other home of sheltered care, and bioanalytical laboratory or central services facility serving one or more such institutions but excluding institutions that provide healing solely by prayer.
(97) Health Services: Establishments primarily engaged in furnishing medical, surgical or other services to individuals, including the offices of physicians, dentists, and other health practitioners, medical and dental laboratories, out- patient care facilities, blood banks, and oxygen and miscellaneous types of medical supplies and services. See Professional Activities.
(98) Historical District: An area designated as an “historic district” which contains within definable geographic boundaries, properties or buildings that may or may not be landmarks but which constitute to the overall historic character of the designated area.
(99) Home Occupation: Home occupation means an accessory use which is an activity, profession, occupation, service, craft, or revenue-enhancing hobby which is clearly incidental and subordinate to the use of the premises as a dwelling, and is conducted entirely within the dwelling unit, without any significant adverse effect upon the surrounding neighborhood. Activities such as teaching, tutoring, babysitting, tax consulting and the like shall involve not more than three receivers of such services at any one time. Home occupations are subject to a Conditional Use Permit. See Chapter 1176
.
(100) Hotel or Motel and Apartment Hotel: A building in which lodging or boarding and lodging are provided and offered to the public for compensation. As such it is open to the public in contra-distinction to a boarding house, rooming house, lodging house, or dormitory which is hereby separately defined.
(102) Industrial Park: A large tract of land that has been planned, developed and operated as an integrated facility for a number of individual industrial uses, with special attention to circulation, parking, utility needs, aesthetics, and compatibility.
(103) Institution: Building and/or land designed to aid individuals in need of mental, therapeutic, rehabilitative counseling or other correctional services.
(104) Institutional Use: A nonprofit or quasi-public use or institution such as a church, library, public, or private school, hospital, or municipally owned or operated building, structure or land used for public purpose.
(105) Junk: Any personal property which is bought, bartered, acquired, possessed, collected, accumulated, dismantled, sorted or stored for reuse or resale such as: salvage metal, metal alloys, metal compounds and combinations, used or salvaged fabric, fibers, bags, paper, rags, glass or any latex or plastic product; used or salvaged motor vehicles which are primarily used for parts or scrap metal and similar or related articles or property.
(106) Junk Buildings, Junk Shops, Junk or Salvage Yards: Any land, property, structure, building, or combination of the same, on which junk is stored, processed, exchanged, or sold.
(107) Junk Dealer: Any person who buys, exchanges, collects, receives, stores or sells any article defined as junk or salvage.
(108) Kennel: Any lot or premises on which a total of 6 or more dogs and/or cats more than four (4) months of age are housed, groomed, bred, boarded, trained, or sold.
(109) Land Use Plan See Comprehensive Development Plan.
(110) Laundromat: An establishment providing washing, drying or dry cleaning machines on the premises for rental use to the general public for family laundering or dry cleaning purposes.
(111) Loading Space, Off-Street: Space logically and conveniently located for bulk pickups and deliveries, scaled to delivery vehicles expected to be used, and accessible to such vehicles when required off-street parking spaces are filled. Required off-street loading space is not to be included as off-street parking space in computation of required off-street parking space. All off-street loading spaces shall be located totally outside of any street or alley right-of-way.
(112) Location Map: See Vicinity Map.
(113) Lot: For the purposes of this Zoning Ordinance, a lot is a parcel of land of sufficient size to meet minimum zoning requirements for use, coverage, and area, and to provide such yards and other open spaces as are herein required. Such lot shall have frontage on an improved public street, and may consist of:
A. A single lot of record;
B. A portion of a lot of record;
C. A combination of complete lots of record, of complete lots of record and portions of lots of record, or portions of lots of record.
(114) Lot Coverage: The ratio of enclosed ground floor area of all buildings on a lot to the horizontally projected area of the lot, expressed as a percentage.
(115) Lot Frontage: The front of a lot shall be construed to be the portion nearest the street. For the purpose of determining yard requirements on corner lots and through lots, all sides of a lot adjacent to streets shall be considered frontage, and yards shall be provided as indicated under "Yards" in this section.
(116) Lot, Measurements: A lot shall be measured as follows:
A. Depth The distance between the mid-points of straight lines connecting the foremost points of the side lot lines in front and the rearmost points of the side lot lines in the rearmost points of the side lot lines in the rear.
B. Width: The distance between straight lines connecting front and rear lot lines at each side of the lot, measured at the building setback line.
(117) Lot, Minimum Area of: The area of a lot is computed exclusive of any portion of the right-of-way or any public or private street. The smallest lot area established by the Zoning Ordinance on which a use or structure may be located in a particular district.
(118) Lot of Record: A lot which is part of a subdivision recorded in the office of the County Recorder, or a lot or parcel described by metes and bounds, the description of which has been so recorded.
(119) Lot Types: Terminology used in this Zoning Ordinance with reference to corner lots, interior lots and through lots is as follows:
A. Corner Lot: A lot located at the intersection of two or more streets.
B. Interior Lot: A lot with only one frontage on a street.
C. Through Lot: A lot other than a corner lot with frontage on more than one street. Through lots abutting two streets may be referred to as double frontage lots.
D. Reversed Frontage Lot: A lot on which frontage is at right angles to the general pattern in the area. A reversed frontage lot may also be a corner lot.
(Ord. 2007-37. Passed 11-26-07.)
(Ord. 2007-37. Passed 11-26-07.)
(120) Major Thoroughfare Plan See Subdivision Regulations.
(121) Maintenance and Storage Facilities: Land, buildings, and structures devoted primarily to the maintenance and storage of construction equipment and material.
(122) Manufacturing, Extractive: Any mining, quarrying, excavating, processing, storing, separating, cleaning, or marketing of any mineral natural resource.
(123) Manufacturing, Heavy: Manufacturing: Processing, assembling, storing, testing, and similar industrial uses which are generally major operations and extensive in character; require large sites, open storage and service areas, extensive services and facilities, ready access to regional transportation; and normally generate some nuisances such as smoke, noise, vibration, dust, glare, air pollution, and water pollution, but not beyond the district boundary.
(124) Manufacturing, Light: Manufacturing or other industrial uses which are usually controlled operations; relatively clean, quiet, and free of objectionable or hazardous elements such as smoke, noise, odor or dust; operating and storing within enclosed structures; and generating little industrial traffic and no nuisances.
(125) Marquee: Any hood, canopy, awning or permanent construction which projects from a wall of a building, usually above an entrance.
(126) Mini-Warehouses: A structure containing separate storage spaces of varying sizes leased or rented on an individual basis.
(130) Motor Freight Terminal: A building or area in which trucks, including tractor or trailer units, are parked, stored, or serviced, including the transfer, loading or unloading of goods. A terminal may include facilities for the temporary storage of loads prior to transshipment.
(131) Multiuse Building: A building containing two or more distinct uses. For example, multiuse building might include retail stores on the first floor and apartments on the upper floors.
(132) National Flood Insurance Program: A Federal program which authorizes the sale of federally subsidized flood insurance. See Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance, Reference 1982-18, and Chapter 1170
of the Zoning Ordinance.
(133) Nonconformities: Lots, uses of land, structures, and uses of structures and land in combination lawfully existing at the time of enactment of this Zoning Ordinance or its amendments which do not conform to the regulations of the district or zone in which they are situated, and are therefore incompatible.
(135) Nursery, Plant Materials: Land, building, structure, or combination thereof for the storage, cultivation, transplanting of live trees, shrubs, or plants offered for retail sale on the premises including products used for gardening and landscaping.
(136) Nursing Home: A home or facility for the care and treatment of pensioners, or elderly people. A facility which provides, on a regular basis, health-related care and services to individuals who do not require the degree of care and treatment which a hospital or skilled nursing facility is designated to provide, but who, because of their mental or physical condition, require care and services (above the level of room and board) which can be made available to them only through institutional facilities such as these.
(137) Office Building: A building used primarily for conducting the affairs of a business, profession, service, industry or government, or like activity, that may include ancillary services for office workers, such as a restaurant, coffee shop, newspaper or candy stand.
(138) Office Park: A development on a tract of land that contains a number of separate office buildings, supporting uses and open space designed, planned, constructed and managed on an integrated and coordinated basis.
(139) Off-Street Parking: For the purpose of this Zoning Ordinance, an off-street parking space shall consist of an area adequate for parking an automobile with room for opening doors on both sides, together with properly related access to a public street or alley and maneuvering room, but shall be located totally outside of any street or alley right-of-way.
(140) Open Space: An area substantially open to the sky which may be on the same lot with a building. The area may include, along with the natural environmental features, water areas, swimming pools, and tennis courts, any other recreational facilities that the zoning commission deems permissive. Streets, parking area, structures for habitation, and the like shall not be included.
(141) Outdoor Advertising Business: The provision of outdoor displays or display space on a lease or rental basis only.
(142) Outdoor Storage: The keeping, in an unroofed area of any goods, junk, material, merchandise, or vehicles in the same place for more than twenty-four hours.
(143) Overlay District: A district described by the zoning map or text within which, through superimposition of a special designation, additional and extra regulations and requirements are applied in addition to those of the underlying district or districts to which such designation is added or applied.
(144) Parking Lot: An off-street, ground level area, usually surfaced and improved, for the temporary storage of motor vehicles.
(145) Permitted Use: Any use allowed in a zoning district and subject to the restrictions applicable to that zoning district.
(146) Person: A corporation, company, association, society, firm, partnership or joint stock company, as well as an individual human being, a state, and all political subdivisions of a state or any agency or instrumentality thereof.
(147) Personal Services: Any enterprise conducted for gain which primarily offers services to the general public such as shoe repair, watch repair, barber shops, beauty parlors, and similar activities.
(148) Planning Commission: The duly designated Planning Commission of the City of Mount Vernon, Ohio empowered to prepare comprehensive development plans and to evaluate proposed changes in land use for conformance with the plan. Reference Ordinance 1943-22.
(149) Planned Neighborhood District: An area of a minimum contiguous size, as specified by ordinance, to be planned and developed as a single entity containing one or more residential clusters; appropriate commercial, public or quasi-public uses may be included if such uses are primarily for the benefit of the residential development, but excluding industrial activity.
(150) Professional Activities: The use of offices and related spaces for such professional services as are provided by medical practitioners, lawyers, architects, and engineers, and similar professions.
(151) Public Service Facility: The erection, construction, alteration, operation, or maintenance of buildings, power plants, or substations, water treatment plants or pumping stations, sewage disposal or pumping plants and other similar public service structures by a public utility, by a railroad, whether publicly or privately owned, or by a municipal or other governmental agency including the furnishing of electrical, gas, rail transport, communication, public water and sewage services.
(152) Public Uses: Public parks, schools, administrative and cultural buildings and structures, not including public land or buildings devoted solely to the storage and maintenance or equipment and materials and public service facilities.
(153) Public Way: An alley, avenue, boulevard, bridge, channel, ditch, easement, expressway, freeway, highway, land, parkway right-of-way, road, sidewalk, street, subway, tunnel viaduct, walk, bicycle path, or other ways in which the general public or a public entity have a right, or which are dedicated, whether improved or not.
(154) Quasipublic Use: Churches, Sunday schools, parochial schools, colleges, hospitals, and other facilities of an educational, religious, charitable, philanthropic, or non-profit nature.
(155) Reasonable Use Doctrine: A common law principle that no one has the right to use his property in a way which deprives others of the lawful enjoyment of their property.
(156) Recreation Facilities: Public or private facilities that may be classified as either "extensive" or "intensive" depending upon the scope of services offered and the extent of use. Extensive facilities generally require and utilize considerable areas of land and include, but need not be limited to hunting, fishing, and riding clubs and parks. Intensive facilities generally require less land (used more intensively) and include, but need not be limited to, miniature golf courses, amusement parks, stadiums and bowling alleys.
(157) Recreational Vehicle: A vehicular type portable structure without permanent foundation, which can be towed, hauled or driven and primarily designed as temporary living accommodation for recreational, camping and travel use and including but not limited to travel trailers, truck campers, camping trailers and self-propelled motor homes.
(158) Restaurant: An establishment where food and drink is prepared, served and consumed primarily within the principal building.
(159) Retail Food Establishments: Any fixed or mobile place or facility at or in which food or drink is offered or prepared for retail sale or for service with or without charge on or at the premises or elsewhere.
(160) Retail Services: Establishments providing services or entertainment, as opposed to products, to the general public, including eating and drinking places, hotels and motels, finance, real estate and insurance, personal services, motion pictures, amusement and recreation services, health, educational and social services, museums and galleries.
(161) Retail Trade: Establishments engaged in selling goods or merchandise to the general public for personal or household consumption and rendering services incidental to the sale of such goods.
(162) Retirement Communities: Planned developments designed to meet the needs of, and exclusively for, the residences of senior citizens.
(163) Research Activities: Research, development, and testing related to such fields as chemical, pharmaceutical, medical, electrical, transportation, and engineering. All research, testing, and development shall be carried on within entirely enclosed buildings, and no noise, smoke, glare, vibration, or odor shall be detected outside of said building.
(164) Right-of-Way: A strip of land taken or dedicated for use as a public way.
A. In addition to the roadway, it normally incorporates the curbs, lawn strips, sidewalks, lighting, and drainage facilities, and may include special features (required by the topography or treatment) such as grade separation, landscaped areas, viaducts, and bridges.
B. A strip of land acquired by reservation, dedication, forced dedication, prescription or condemnation and intended to be occupied or occupied by a road, crosswalk, railroad, electric transmission lines, oil or gas pipeline, water line, sanitary storm sewer and other similar uses.
C. Generally, the right of one to pass over the property of another.
(165) Roadside Stand: A temporary structure designed or used for the display or sale of agricultural and related products.
(167) Sale: The exchange of goods or property for money or some other consideration:
(168) Screening: A method of visually shielding or obscuring one abutting or nearby structure or use from another by fencing, walls, berms or densely planted vegetation. See Buffer.
(169) Seat: For purposes of determining the number of off-street parking spaces for certain uses, the number of seats is the number of seating units installed or indicated, or each twenty-four (24) linear inches of benches, pews, or space for loose chairs.
(170) Senior Housing Facility: A building or buildings containing twelve (12) or more units where occupancy is restricted to elderly persons or households. Such facilities may include emergency first aid care, day care, therapy, personal care, nursing facilities, recreational facilities, and provide for independent or semi-independent living. For the purposes of this definition, "elderly housing facility" shall not include convalescent homes, nursing homes, group residential facilities, or homes for the aged.
(171) Senior Person: Any person who is 60 years of age or older, or any person under 60 years of age who is handicapped such that his physical or mental impairments are of a long-term duration and impede his ability to live independently without a suitable housing environment.
(172) Services: Establishments primarily engaged in providing services for individuals, business and government establishments and other organizations; including hotels and other lodging places; establishments providing personal, business, repair and amusement services; health, legal, engineering, and other professional services; educational institutions; membership organizations, and other miscellaneous services.
(173) Setback Line: A line established by the Zoning Ordinance generally parallel with and measured from the lot line, defining the limits of a yard in which no building, other than accessory building, or structure may be located above ground, except as may be provided in said ordinance.
(174) Sidewalk: That portion of the road right-of-way outside the roadway, which is improved for the use of pedestrian traffic.
(175) Sight Triangle: A triangular shaped portion of land established at street intersection in which nothing is erected, placed, planted or allowed to grow in such a manner as to limit or obstruct the sight distance of motorists entering or leaving the intersection.
(177) Story: That part of a building between the surface of a floor and the ceiling immediately above.
(178) Story, Half: A space under a sloping roof which has the line of intersection of the roof and wall face not more than three feet above the floor level, and in which space the possible floor area with head room of five feet or less occupies at least 30 percent of the total floor area of the story directly beneath.
(179) Structure: Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires location on the ground, or attachment to something having a fixed location on the ground. Among other things, structures include buildings, mobile homes, walls, fences, and billboards.
(180) Supply Yards: A commercial establishment storing and offering for sale building supplies, steel supplies, coal, heavy equipment, feed and grain, and similar goods.
(181) Swimming Pool: See Section 1311.01
of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Mount Vernon, which defines and regulates swimming pools.
(182) Temporary Structure: A structure without any foundation of footings and which is removed when the designated time period, activity, or use for which the temporary structure was erected has ceased.
(183) Temporary Use: A use established for a fixed period of time with the intent to discontinue such use upon the expiration of the time period.
(184) Thoroughfare, Street, or Road: The full width between property lines bounding every public way of whatever nature, with a part thereof to be used for vehicular traffic and designated as follows:
A. Alley: A minor street used primarily for vehicular service access to the back or side of properties abutting on another street.
B. Arterial Street: A general term denoting a highway primarily for through traffic, carrying heavy loads and large volume of traffic, usually on a continuous route.
C. Collector Street: A thoroughfare, whether within a residential, industrial, commercial, or other type of development, which primarily carries traffic from local streets, including the principal entrance and circulation routes within residential subdivisions.
D. Cul-de-Sac: A local street of relatively short length with one end open to traffic and the other end terminating in a vehicular turnaround.
E. Dead-end Street: A street temporarily having only one (1) outlet for vehicular traffic and intended to be extended or continued in the future.
F. Local Street: A street primarily for providing access to residential or other abutting property.
G. Loop Street: A type of local street, each end of which terminates at an intersection with the same arterial or collector street, and whose principal radius points of the one hundred and eighty (180) degree system of turns are not more than one thousand (1000) feet from said arterial or collector street, not normally more than six hundred (600) feet from each other.
H. Marginal Access Street: A local or collector street, parallel and adjacent to an arterial or collector street, providing access to abutting properties and protection from arterial or collector streets. (Also called Frontage Street)
(185) Through Lot See Lot Types.
(186) Transitional Care Clinic: A licensed clinic operated as a subordinate use in connection with and on the premises of a transitional care home, solely for providing physical, social and psychological therapy or counseling by qualified personnel whose patients are limited to those who have recently resided in the transitional care home or families of those who are residing or have recently resided in a transitional care home. See Chapter 1181
.
(187) Transitional Care Home: A facility in which individuals live for a short period while receiving physical, social or psychological therapy and counseling to assist them in overcoming physical or emotional problems, including half-way homes; as licensed by the State of Ohio and as governed by County and City Regulations. See Chapter 1181
.
(188) Transportation, Director of: The Direction of the Ohio Department of Transportation.
(190) Use: The specific purpose for which land or a building is designated, arranged, intended, or for which it is or may be occupied or maintained. See Permitted Use.
(191) Variance: A variance is a modification of the strict terms of the relevant regulations where such modification will not be contrary to the public interest and where owing to conditions peculiar to the property and not the result of the action of the applicant, a literal enforcement of the regulations would result in unnecessary and undue hardship.
(192) Veterinary Animal Hospital or Clinic: A place used for the care, grooming, diagnosis, and treatment of sick, ailing, infirm, or injured animals, and those who are in need of medical or surgical attention, and may include overnight accommodations on the premises for the treatment, observation and/or recuperation. It may also include boarding that is incidental to the primary activity.
(193) Vicinity Map: A drawing located on the plat which sets forth by dimensions or other means, the relationship of the proposed subdivision or use to other nearby developments or landmarks and community facilities and services within the general area in order to better locate and orient the area in questions.
(194) Walkway: A public way, four (4) feet or more in width, for pedestrian use only, whether along the side of a road or not.
(195) Warehouse: A building used primarily for the storage of goods and materials.
(196) Yard: A required open space other than a court occupied and unobstructed by any structure or portion of a structure from thirty (30) feet above the general ground level of the graded lot upward; provided, accessories, ornaments, and furniture may be permitted in any yard, subject to height limitations and requirements limiting obstruction of visibility.
A. Yard, Front: A yard extending between side lot lines across the front of a lot and from the lot line to the front of the principal building.
B. Yard, Rear: A yard extending between side lot lines across the rear of a lot and from the rear lot line to the rear of the principal building.
C. Yard, Side: A yard extending from the principal building to the side lot line on both sides of the principal building between the lines establishing the front and rear yards.
(197) Yard Requirement: The open space between a lot line and the building area within which no structure shall be located except as provided in the Zoning Ordinance.
(198) Zero Lot line Development: An arrangement of housing on adjoining lots in which the required side yard is reduced on one side and increased on the other so that the sum of the offsets on any lot is no less than the sum of the required offsets. No building or structure shall be closer to a lot line that 5 feet unless it abuts the lot line and is provided with an access easement of 5 feet on the adjoining lot or abuts a building or structure on the adjoining lot. The offset adjacent to property not included in the zero lot line development or a street shall not be less than that required in the zoning district.
(199) Zoning Map: The map or maps, which are a part of the Zoning Ordinance, and delineate the boundaries of zone districts.
(200) Zoning Enforcement Officer: The officer designated by the Mayor to administer the Zoning Ordinance and issue zoning permits.
(201) Zoning Permit: A document signed by the Zoning Officer, as required in the Zoning Ordinance, as a condition precedent to the commencement of a use or the erection, construction, reconstruction, restoration, alteration, conversion, or installation of a structure or building, which acknowledges that such use, structure or building complies with the provisions of the municipal zoning or authorized variance therefrom.
(Ord. 2005-34. Passed 12-12-05.)