(A) All words used in the present tense shall include the future tense; all words in the singular number shall include the plural number; and all words in the plural number shall include the singular number unless the natural construction of the wording indicates otherwise; the words “used for” shall include the meaning “designed for”; the word “structure” shall include the word “building”; the word “lot” shall include the words “plot” and “tract” and the word “shall” is mandatory.
(B) For the purpose of this chapter the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ACCESSORY BUILDING. A subordinate use of building customarily incident to and located upon the same lot occupied by the main use of building.
ALLEY. A roadway which affords only a secondary means of access to abutting property and not intended for general traffic circulation.
APARTMENT. A room or suite of one or more rooms in a multiple dwelling intended for use as a residence by a single family.
APARTMENT HOUSE. See DWELLING, MULTIPLE.
BASE FLOOD. The flood having a 1% chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.
BOARDING HOUSE. A building other than a hotel, where meals are served for compensation.
BUILDING. See STRUCTURE.
BUILDING, HEIGHT OF. The vertical distance from the average sidewalk grade or street grade or finished grade at the building line, whichever is the highest, to the highest point of the building.
COMMUNITY WATER SYSTEM. A system of providing water to three or more residences from a common source, which system has been approved in advance by the County Health Department or the State Division of Health, Department of Human Resources and which is operated after installation according to regulations imposed or enforced by the Health Department.
COMMUNITY SEWER SYSTEM. A system of providing sewage treatment to three or more residences, which system has been approved in advance by the County Health Department or the Environmental Management Commission, and which is operated after installation according to regulations imposed or enforced by the County Health Department.
CONVENIENCE STORE. A store selling a limited variety of food, pharmaceutical items and automobile related services; open extended hours for the convenience of customers.
DEVELOPMENT. Any human-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, including but not limited to buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation or drilling operations.
DWELLING, SINGLE-FAMILY. A building or portion thereof designed for living or sleeping purposes and occupied exclusively by one family.
DWELLING, MULTIPLE. A building or portion thereof used or designed as a residence for two or more families living independently of each other.
FAMILY. Any number of individuals living together as a single housekeeping unit.
FILLING STATION. See SERVICE STATION.
FLOOD. A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from:
(1) The overflow of inland or tidal waters; and
(2) The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source.
FLOODPLAIN or FLOODPRONE AREA. Any land susceptible to being inundated by water from any source (see definition of FLOOD).
FLOODPROOFING. Any combination of structural and nonstructural additions, changes or adjustments to structures which reduce or eliminate flood damage to real estate or improved real property, water and sanitary facilities, structures and their contents.
FRONTAGE. All the property abutting on one side of a street between two intersecting streets, measured along the street line.
GARAGE, PRIVATE. A building or space used as an accessory to or a part of the main building permitted in any residence district and providing for the storage of motor vehicles and in which no business, occupation or service for profit is in any way conducted.
GARAGE, PUBLIC. Any building or premises, except those described as a private or storage garage, used for the storage or care of motor vehicles or where any such vehicles are equipped for operation, repaired or kept for remuneration or hire or sale.
GARAGE, STORAGE. Any building or premises, other than a private or public garage, used exclusively for the parking or storage of motor vehicles.
GUEST HOUSE (TOURIST HOME). Any dwelling occupied by owner or operator in which rooms are rented for guests and for lodging of transients and travelers for compensation.
HABITABLE FLOOR. Any floor usable for living purposes, which includes working, sleeping, eating, cooking or recreation or a combination thereof. A floor used only for storage purposes is not a HABITABLE FLOOR.
HOME OCCUPATION. Any profession or occupation carried on by a member of a family or a member of a recognized profession residing on the premises, provided that no merchandise or commodity is sold on the premises and that no mechanical equipment is installed or used except such that is normally used for domestic or professional purposes and provided further that not over 25% of the total floor area of any structure is used for home occupational or professional purposes.
HOTEL (MOTEL). A building or other structure kept, used, maintained, advertised as or held out to the public to be a place where sleeping accommodations are supplied for pay to transient or permanent guests or tenants, where rooms are furnished for the accommodation of such guests; and having or not having one or more dining rooms, restaurants or cafes where meals or lunches are served to such transient or permanent guests, such sleeping accommodations and dining rooms, restaurants or cafes, if existing, being conducted in the same building or buildings in connection therewith.
INTERNET CAFÉ. An “internet café,” “cybercafe,” “electronic gaming operation” or “sweepstakes center” or by what other terminology such establishment might be known, is for a profit business enterprise, whether as a principal or an accessory use, where three or more electronic machines can be utilized, including but not limited to, computers and gaming terminals and where cash, merchandise or other items of value are redeemed or otherwise distributed, whether or not the value of such distribution is determined by electronic games played or by predetermined odds. This term includes, but is not limited to those establishments where one can use a computer with internet access, usually for a fee on a per hour or per minute basis; or unmetered access with a pass for a day, month and the like. The establishment may serve as a regular café, as well, with food and drinks being served. This does not include any lottery approved by the state or any nonprofit operation that is otherwise lawful under state law for example, church or civic organization fundraisers
LIVESTOCK OR POULTRY FACILITY. Any building or other facility used for feeding, breeding, incubating, holding or raising livestock or poultry of any kind or description. If the facility has a soil floor, it shall be completely enclosed with walls and roof. If it is not completely enclosed with walls and roof, it shall have a permanent, non-soil floor of either concrete or metal construction.
LOT. A parcel of land in single ownership occupied or intended for occupancy by a building together with its accessory buildings including the open space required under this chapter. For the purpose of this chapter, the word LOT shall be taken to mean any number of contiguous lots or portions thereof upon which one or more main structures for a single use are to be erected.
LOT, CORNER. A lot abutting upon two or more streets at their intersection.
LOT OF RECORD. A lot which is a part of a subdivision, a plat of which has been recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of the county or a lot described by metes and bounds, the description of which has been recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of the county.
LOT, DEPTH. The depth of a lot, for the purpose of this chapter, is the distance measured in the mean direction of the side lines of the lot from the midpoint fo the front lot line to the midpoint of the opposite main rear line of the lot.
LOT, INTERIOR. A lot other than a corner lot.
LOT LINES. The lines bounding a lot.
LOT, THROUGH. An interior lot having frontage on two streets.
MOBILE HOME. Any vehicle, house car, camp car, mobile home or any other portable or movable vehicle on wheels, skids, rollers or blocks including any such vehicle which has been mounted on a foundation or other stationary supports, either self-propelled or propelled by any other means, which is used or designed to be used for residential living, sleeping, commercial or utility purposes, but not including those vehicles primarily designed for the transportation of goods. MOBILE HOME also means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities. It does not include recreational vehicles or travel trailers.
MOBILE HOME PARK OR COURT. Land used or intended to be used, leased or rented for occupancy by two or more trailers or mobile homes which are mounted on wheels anchored in place by a foundation or other stationary supports, to be used for living or commercial quarters of any kind, together with automobile parking space and incidental utility structures and facilities required and provided in connection therewith. This definition shall not include trailer or mobile home sales lots on which unoccupied trailers or mobile homes are parked for purposes of inspection and sale.
MODULAR HOME. A home of modular or manufactured construction with a minimum of 1,250 square feet of heated space which has an A-roof covered with asphalt or fiberglass shingles from which the tongue, wheels and axles, if any, have been permanently removed and which has been set on a permanent, mortared foundation, with brick underpinning.
NONCONFORMING USE. A building or land occupied by a use that does not conform with the regulations of the use zone in which it is situated.
PARKING LOT. An area or plot of land used for the storage or parking of vehicles.
PRIVATE STORAGE FACILITY. Any building or premises, other than a private or public garage, used for the parking or storage of vehicles or equipment owned by the business occupying the building or premises. Vehicles or equipment owned by a third party may not be parked or stored on the premises for more than 24 consecutive hours.
REPAIR SHOP. Any building or enclosed space used for the repair of vehicles or equipment owned by the business occupying said building or space. Vehicles or equipment owned by a third party may not be repaired on the premises. Except for emergency repairs, repairs must be performed inside the enclosed building.
RIVERINE. Relating to, formed by or resembling a river (including tributaries), stream, brook and the like.
SERVICE STATION. A building or lot where gasoline, oil, greases and accessories are supplied and dispensed to the motor vehicles trade, also where battery, tire and other similar services are rendered.
STABLE, PRIVATE. A stable with a capacity of not more than one horse for each 3,500 square feet of lot area whereon such stable is located and where such horses are owned by the owners or occupants of the premises and are not kept for remuneration, hire or sale.
STABLE, PUBLIC. A stable other than a private stable.
STORY. The portion of a building included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the next floor above it or if there be no floor above it, then the space between such floor and the ceiling next above it. In computing, the height of building, the height of basement or cellar, if below grade, shall not be included.
STREAM BUFFER. An area of natural or planted perennial vegetation through which stormwater runoff flows in a diffuse manner so that the runoff does not become channelized and which provides for infiltration of the runoff and filtering of pollutants. The BUFFER is measured landward from the normal pool elevation of impounded structures and from the bank of each of streams and rivers.
STREET. A thoroughfare which affords the principal means of access to abutting property, including avenue, place, way, drive, lane, boulevard, highway, road and any other thoroughfare except an alley.
STREET LINE. The line between the street and abutting property.
STRUCTURE. Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires location on the land or attachment to something having a permanent location on the land. STRUCTURE means, for floodplain management purposes, a walled and roofed building, including a gas or liquid storage tank, that is principally above ground, as well as a mobile home.
STRUCTURAL ALTERATIONS. Any change, except for repair or replacement, in the supporting members of a building, such as bearing walls, columns, beams or girders.
SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT. Any repair, reconstruction, or improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50% of the market value of the structure either before the improvement or repair is started or if the structure has been damaged and is being restored, before the damage occurred. For the purposes of this definition, SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT is considered to occur when the first alteration of any wall, ceiling, floor or other structural part of the building commences, whether or not that alteration affects the external dimensions of the structure. The term does not, however, include either any project for improvement of a structure to comply with existing state or local health, sanitary, or safety code specifications which are solely necessary to assure safe living conditions or any alteration of a structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places or a State Inventory of Historic Places.
TOURIST HOME. See GUEST HOUSE.
USED CAR JUNK YARD. A lot or group of contiguous lots used for the dismantling or wrecking of used automobiles or the storage, sale or dumping of dismantled or wrecked cars or their parts.
VARIANCE. A grant of relief by a community from the terms of a floodplain management regulation.
YARD. An open space on the same lot with a building, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward, except by trees or shrubbery or as otherwise provided herein.
YARD, FRONT. A yard across the full width of the lot, extending from the front line of the building to the front line of the lot, excluding steps and unenclosed porches, but including covered porches.
YARD, SIDE. An open unoccupied space on the same lot with a building between the building and the side line of the lot extending through from the front building line to the rear yard or to the rear line of the lot, where no rear yard is required.
YARD, REAR. A yard extending across the full width of the lot and measured between the rear line of the lot and the rear line of the main building.
(1993 Code, § 91.002) (Res. passed 4-30-2001; Ord. passed 2-6-2006; Ord. passed 12-3-2012)