As used in this Zoning Code, words used in the present tense include the future, the singular number includes the plural, and the plural the singular. In addition:
(a) "Accessory use or building" means:
(1) "Accessory building" means a building that is:
A. Subordinate in purpose to the principal building;
B. Customarily incident to the use of the principal building;
C. Located on the same lot or parcel with the principal building; and
D. Approved as an accessory building by the Planning Commission.
(2) "Accessory use" means a use that is:
A. Subordinate in purpose to and primarily services the principal use;
B. Customarily incident to the principal use;
C. Located on the same lot or parcel as the principal use; and
D. Approved as an accessory use by the Planning Commission.
(b) "Building" includes "structure."
(c) "Building line," also referred to as "front yard line" and "setback line" means a line parallel with and measured from the right-of-way line of the street defining the limits of the front yard within which no building, structure, or portion thereof may be erected above the established grade except as otherwise expressly provided herein.
(d) "Church" see "places of worship."
(e) "Clubhouse" means a building or buildings operated by a private membership organization primarily to provide social and recreational services for its members, and where the principal use and operation is not for the purpose of conducting any trade or business.
(f) "Commission" means the City Planning Commission and all officers, boards or commissions succeeding by law or ordinance to any of its powers or duties.
(g) "Community center" means a building open to the public and used for community events of an educational, recreational, or public service nature but not for the principal purpose of conducting any trade or business.
(h) "Day school" means buildings used for educational purposes by either:
(1) An institution of higher learning, such as a college or university, providing recognized academic degrees and accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges or successor organization for undergraduate or graduate students. Degree programs may include associate's degrees, bachelor degrees, master's degrees and doctorates; or
(2) An educational institution chartered by the Ohio Board of Regents or conforming to the minimum standards prescribed by the State Board of Education and any private or parochial educational institution certified by the Ohio Department of Education that offers state approved courses of instruction. It does not include commercial schools intended to provide students job training for a trade or business or training in specialized athletic or physical skills.
(i) "Dwelling unit" means one or more connected rooms constituting a separate, independent housekeeping establishment containing independent cooking, bathing, toilet, and sleeping facilities for an individual or group of individuals living together as a single housekeeping unit, and which is physically separated and inaccessible from any other rooms or dwelling units which may be in the same structure.
(j) "Established grade" means the elevation of the street curb as fixed by the City.
(k) "Gross floor area" means the horizontal area of all floors contained within the interior wall faces of the perimeter walls of a building excluding basements and garages.
(l) "Height of a building" means the vertical distance measured from the established grade, or the natural grade if higher than the established grade, to the highest point of the coping of the street wall for flat roofs, to the deck line for mansard roofs, and to the mean height between eaves and ridge for gable, gambrel or hip roofs.
(m) "Inspector of Buildings" includes all persons succeeding him or her, by whatever title known, in the duties and powers provided for him or her in this Zoning Code.
(n) "Least dimension of a yard" means the least of the horizontal dimensions of such yard. If two opposite sides of a yard are not parallel, the horizontal dimensions between them shall be deemed to be the mean distance between them.
(o) "Library" means a building with a curated collection of sources of information and similar resources made accessible either physically or digitally for reference or borrowing.
(p) "Livable area" means the horizontal area of usable and habitable space within a dwelling unit and is measured from the interior wall faces of the dwelling unit. In order to qualify as livable floor area, the sidewalls shall have a minimum height of seven feet on the first floor and five feet on the second floor and the window area shall be a minimum of ten percent of the livable floor area.
(q) "Lot" includes "plot" and means a parcel of land occupied by one building and the accessory buildings or uses customarily incident to it, including such open spaces as are required by this Code and such open spaces as are arranged and designed to be used in connection with such building.
(r) "Main building" means the building or space occupied by the principal use or activity on the premises.
(s) "Multi-family dwelling" means a building consisting of three or more dwelling units with varying arrangements of entrances and party walls.
(t) "Natural grade" means the elevation of the undisturbed natural surface of the ground adjoining the building.
(u) "Nonconforming use" means a use of a building that does not comply with the regulations of the use district in which it is located.
(v) "Notice" means a written announcement to the person left at his or her usual residence, including delivery by registered mail, a reasonable time, not less than five days, before the event or action to which it refers.
(w) "Open space" means areas of land and/or water that are not improved with structures or pavement. "Open space" includes:
(1) Natural areas that are, or which are left to become and remain undisturbed and unimproved;
(2) Landscaped and lawn areas which are completely covered with grass, trees, shrubs, or other vegetation or which contain plazas, fountains, ponds, trails, and similar features designed for passive enjoyment or recreation including some hardscape improvements and/or furnishings such as walkways, benches, picnic tables, or unenclosed gazebos or shelters;
(3) Landscape buffers, which may include areas of natural land, fencing, walls, mounding, and screening vegetation; and
(4) Areas designed for active recreation such as playing fields, playgrounds, and community gardens, but not including stadiums or similar structures designed to accommodate spectators.
"Open space" shall not include streets, driveways, parking areas, de minimis or isolated strips of land, or required minimum setbacks between buildings and street rights-of-way.
(x) "Places of worship" means buildings or land, including, but not limited to, churches, synagogues, mosques, or temples, and designed and used for religious worship.
(y) "Public notice" means notice given by publication at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in the City and posting on the City's web site, not less than thirty days before the event or action to which it refers.
(z) "Single-family attached dwelling" means a building containing more than one dwelling unit where each dwelling unit has a separate access directly to the outside and where the dwelling units in the building are located side by side and are physically separated and inaccessible from each other by means of one or more common walls extending from the ground to the roof.
(aa) "Single family dwelling" or "single-family detached dwelling" means a free-standing building containing a single dwelling unit designed for or used for residence purposes by a single housekeeping unit.
(bb) "Single housekeeping unit" means:
(1) An individual or group of individuals related by blood, marriage or adoption; or
(2) A group of individuals who live as the "functional equivalent of a family." In determining whether a group of individuals constitutes the functional equivalent of a family, the Building Inspector shall consider whether:
A. The individuals live as a single, cohesive household sharing full access to the entire premises of the dwelling;
B. The individuals have previously resided together as a single cohesive household on a continuing basis, which fact may be demonstrated by proof of co-residency by the individuals at one or more locations prior to residing at the current location;
C. The individuals have established the dwelling as their permanent residence.
(3) "Single housekeeping unit" does not include:
A. Occupancy in any boarding house, hotel, lodging house, dormitory, fraternity house, sorority house or similar occupancy arrangement that customarily provides commercial, institutional or social housing for individuals who are not related by blood, marriage or adoption or are not the functional equivalent of a family as defined in this section; or
B. Occupancy in any dwelling by more than four unrelated adults; or
C. Occupancy by one or more individuals who have a right to occupy the dwelling or a portion of the dwelling as a boarder, lodger, room renter, sublessee or any other right of occupancy which is separate and not as part of a single cohesive household.
(cc) "Street" includes all public highways and all privately owned streets on which any sublot in a recorded subdivision has a frontage.
(dd) "Street line" means the lot line dividing the lot from the street.
(ee) "Yard" means an existing or required space on the same lot with the main building and lying along the adjacent lot line open and unobstructed from the ground to the sky, except as otherwise provided herein.
(1) "Front yard" means a yard across the full width of the lot extending from a building or front yard line to the street line.
(2) "Side yard" means the yard along the sideline of a lot and extending from the front yard or lot line to the rear or lot line.
(3) "Rear yard" means a yard across the full width of the lot immediately in the rear of the main building.
(ff) "Zone Map" means the map of the City herein adopted and made a part of this Code, and all additions, corrections or substitutions hereafter made.
(gg) "Zoning Code" means Ordinance 1963-59, passed November 20, 1963, as amended, codified herein as Title Six of this Part Twelve - the Planning and Zoning Code.
(Ord. 2020-25. Passed 12-23-20.)