For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ACCESSORY USE. A use customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal use or building and located on the same lot with such principal use or building. ACCESSORY USES shall be located only in rear yards.
APARTMENT. A part of a building consisting of a room or rooms intended, designed or used as a dwelling unit.
BILLBOARD. Any sign which is not located on the premises that it identifies or advertises and is larger than 50 square feet.
BUILDING. Any structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or occupancy. The connection of two buildings by means of an open porch, breezeway, passageway, carport or other such structure, with or without a roof, shall not be deemed to make them one building.
BUILDING, ACCESSORY. A building located on the same lot with a principal building, subordinate to the principal building on the lot and used for purposes dearly incidental to those of the principal building on the lot.
BUILDING HEIGHT. The distance from the highest ground level at the foundation of the building to the highest point of the roof.
BUILDING LINE. A line fixed parallel to a lot line beyond which a building cannot extend under the terms of this chapter. Included are front, side and rear building lines.
BUILDING, PRINCIPAL. A building in which is conducted the main or principal use of the lot on which said building is situated.
CUSTOMARY HOME OCCUPATION. Any use conducted entirely within a dwelling and carried on by the occupants thereof, which use is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for residential purposes and does not change the character thereof.
DWELLING. Any building, structure, manufactured home, or mobile home, or part thereof, used and occupied for human habitation or intended to be so used, and includes any outhouses and appurtenances belonging thereto or usually enjoyed therewith.
DWELLING UNIT. A single unit providing complete, independent living facilities for one or more persons, including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking, and sanitation.
FAMILY. One or more persons occupying a single dwelling unit, provided that unless all members are related by blood or marriage, no such family shall contain over five persons.
GAMEROOMS. A business, establishment or location which sells alcohol, or at which alcohol is sold, having more than two video games kept, maintained or located on the premises.
GROUP CARE FACILITY. An establishment qualified for a license by the State of North Carolina to provide resident services to individuals of whom one or more are unrelated. Such individuals are handicapped, aged and/or disabled; are undergoing rehabilitation or extended care; and are provided services to meet their needs by the group care facility. Group care facilities include group homes for all ages, halfway houses, foster houses and boarding homes.
GROUP DEVELOPMENT. A group of two or more principal structures built on a single lot, tract or parcel of land at least two acres in size and not subdivided into the customary streets and lots and designed for occupancy by separate families, businesses or other enterprises. Examples would be: cluster type subdivisions, row houses, apartment courts, housing projects, school and hospital campuses, shopping centers and industrial parks.
HOMELESS SHELTER. A building operated by a non-profit organization providing overnight lodging on the premises for persons temporarily or permanently without regular adequate overnight lodging.
LOT. A parcel of land occupied or capable of being occupied by a building or group of buildings devoted to a common use, together with the customary accessories and open spaces belonging to the same.
LOT, CORNER. A lot which occupies the interior angle at the intersection of two street lines. The street line forming the least frontage shall be deemed the front of the lot except where the two street lines front equally, in which case the owner shall be required to specify the front of the lot when requesting a zoning compliance permit LOT LINE. A line dividing one parcel of property from another parcel of property or from a street right-of-way.
LOT OF RECORD. Any lot for which a plat or deed has been recorded in the Registry of Deeds of Cherokee County.
MANUFACTURED HOME or MOBILE HOME. A dwelling unit that is not constructed in accordance with the standards of the North Carolina Uniform Residential Building Code for one and two-family dwellings, which is composed of one or more components, each of which was substantially assembled in a manufacturing plant and designed to be transported to the home site on its own chassis, and which exceeds 40 feet in length and eight feet in width.
MANUFACTURED HOME PARK. A contiguous parcel of land under single ownership which has been developed for the placement of manufactured homes. Excluded from this definition are manufactured home sales lots on which unoccupied manufactured homes are parked for purposes of inspection and sale.
MANUFACTURED HOME SITE. A plot of ground within a manufactured home park designated for the accommodation and use of one manufactured home and containing all improvements and utility connections required under this chapter as well as all other applicable regulations.
MODULAR HOME. A dwelling unit constructed in accordance with the construction standards of the North Carolina Uniform Residential Building Code for one- and two-family dwellings, and composed of components substantially assembled in a manufacturing plant and transported to the building site for final assembly and placement on a permanent foundation. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, a modular home may consist of two or more sections transported to the site on each's own chassis or steel frame, or a series of panels or room sections transported to the site on a truck and erected, assembled or joined there.
PERSON. An individual, corporation, partnership, firm, association, trust and any other legally recognized entity.
RECREATIONAL VEHICLE PARK. An undivided lot or tract at least three acres in size under single ownership which has been developed for the lease and/or sale of spaces for the temporary location of recreational vehicles limited to travel trailers, pick-up coaches, motor homes, or other vehicular accommodations suitable for temporary habitation and used for travel, vacation, and recreational purposes.
SETBACK. The required distance between any structure and the applicable lot line (front, side or rear) of the lot on which the structure is located.
SIDEWALK VENDOR. A seller who displays and/or sells goods, wares, or merchandise of any kind on a sidewalk of the town. However, a sidewalk vendor shall not include a seller who displays and/or sells goods, wares, or merchandise of any kind on that portion of a sidewalk of the town adjacent to a building occupied by that same seller.
STREET. A public thoroughfare or right-of-way for vehicular traffic which affords a principal means of access to abutting properties.
STRUCTURE. Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires permanent location on the ground, or attachment to something having a permanent location on the ground. The term STRUCTURE includes, but is not limited to, buildings, fences, signs, sheds and towers.
TRAVEL TRAILERS. A vehicle less than 32 feet in length designed primarily as a temporary dwelling for travel, recreation or vacation uses.
USE. The purpose or activity for which a piece of land or its structures is designed, arranged or intended, or for which it is occupied or maintained.
USE, PRINCIPAL. The main use of land or structures on a lot, as distinguished from an accessory use.
VIDEO GAME MACHINE. A mechanically, electrically or electronically operated machine or device that is capable of displaying information on the screen or other mechanism which requires deposit of any coin or token, or use of any credit card, debit card, or prepaid card, or any other method that requires payment, whether directly into the machine or device or resulting in remote activation of a video game based on or involving the matching of different pictures, words, numbers, or symbols dependent on the skill or dexterity of the player or any other video game dependent on skill or dexterity and such machine or device is caused to operate or may be operated in such manner that the user will receive or become entitled to receive any piece of money, credit, allowance, thing of value, entry into a sweepstakes, or any check, slug, token or memorandum, whether of value or otherwise, which may be exchanged for any money, credit, allowance or anything of value, or which may be given in trade, or the user may secure additional chances or rights to use such machine or device or any other such machine or device.
YARD. A space on the same lot with a principal building which is open, unoccupied and unobstructed by buildings or structures from ground to sky except where encroachments and accessory buildings are expressly permitted.
(Ord. passed 4-1993; Am. Ord. passed 9-4-2007; Am. Ord. passed 4-2-2018; Am. Ord. passed 8-6-2018; Am. Ord. passed 6-7-2021; Am. Ord. passed 10-4-2021; Am. Ord. passed 3-6-2023)