A. Individual Lot-size Reductions. The provisions for the lot reduction option (Section 18.09.050—General Residential and Rural Zoning Provisions) shall not affect the power of the board of adjustment to allow reduction of individual lot sizes on the standards provided in Section 18.93.030 (Board of Adjustment Variances, Temporary Use Permits and Interpretations).
B. Exceptions for Walls and Fences. The yard and setback requirements of this code shall not apply to perimeter walls, fences, pedestrian entry architectural features built into a wall or fence, or vehicular entry architectural features as follows:
1. Walls or fences seven feet or less in height and designed as security, privacy or screening elements of the site or lot; or
2. Walls or fences eight feet or less in height, located on the side or rear yard, on one acre lots or greater in size; or
3. Pedestrian entry architectural feature eleven feet or less in height; or
4. Vehicular entry architectural features twenty feet or less in height, on one acre lots or greater in size; or
5. Walls or fences of any type or dimension when required or permitted in accordance with Chapter 18.73, Landscaping, Buffering and Screening Standards.
The location and height of any wall or fence shall meet all applicable sight visibility standards and requirements.
C. Projections Into Yards.
1. Stairways, unroofed and unenclosed above or below floor or steps, must not project more than three feet into any minimum side or rear yard. Roof eaves or overhangs, shade structures, and roofed porches must not project more than three feet into any minimum front, side, or rear yard for main structures, main buildings, and guest houses provided drainage from roofs and shade structures does not fall onto adjacent property. The projection is measured from the face of the supporting structure or wall.
2. Open terraces not over three feet high above the average natural grade and distant at least five feet from every lot line, may project into any minimum side or rear yard.
3. In any business or industrial zone, a marquee, canopy or awning, suspended or cantilevered from a building, either for the purpose of, or for giving the appearance of shelter or shade, may project not more than ten feet into any minimum front yard.
D. Exception for Slope. Parking spaces or detached garages may be occupied or built to within five feet of the street line on any lot where:
1. The slope of the front half of the lot is greater than one-foot rise or fall in a seven-foot run from the established street elevation at the property line; or
2. The elevation of the front half of the lot is more than four feet above or below the established street elevation at the property line.
E. Front Yard Exceptions for Existing Alignment.
1. In any rural or residential zone: Where a lot adjoins lots having existing front yards less than the minimum required by this code, the minimum front yard on said lot shall be the average of the existing front yards on the two adjoining lots, or, if only one of the lots is built upon, such front yard shall be the average of the existing front yard of the adjoining lot and the minimum front yard of the zone, provided no such front yard shall be less than ten feet.
2. In any CB-1 or CB-2 zone: Where one or more buildings used for commercial or industrial purposes and located on interior lots have existing front yards less than the minimum required by this code, the minimum front yard required on all other lots within the same block front and not more than five hundred feet from said existing building need not be greater than the least front yard existing.
3. In any zone: Any property fronting or abutting on a turnaround at the end of a cul-de-sac, or a similar increased radii of the street property line at the angle in a street, the minimum front yard required shall be one-half of the front yard required in the particular zone.
F. Rear Yard Adjoining Alley.
1. A minimum rear yard may be measured to the centerline of an alley adjoining such rear yard; provided, that the required rear yard shall not be reduced more than ten feet.
2. In any CR-2 or denser residential zone where a ten-foot half right-of-way for an alley is provided, the first five feet of such half right-of-way multiplied by the width of any lot where it abuts on the alley may be included as part of the overall lot area for the purpose of meeting the minimum lot area requirements; provided, that the net rear yard is not less than seventeen feet.
G. Rear Yard Exception on Corner Lot. On any corner lot in a CR-3, CR-4, CR-5, TR or CB-1 zone, the minimum rear yard may be reduced to not less than ten feet from the rear property line, provided the minimum side yard on the side street is increased by ten feet and the off-street parking provisions of Chapter 18.75 (Off-Street Parking and Standards) are complied with.
H. Height Limit Exceptions. The height limits of this code shall not apply to:
1. Barns, chimneys, conveyors, cupolas, derricks, flagpoles, parapet walls extending not more than four feet above the height limit of the building, silos, smokestacks, power transmission towers, windmills, power transmission poles, and vegetated roof systems beginning at the height above the waterproof membrane including safety railings, enclosed access stairway or elevator with a minimum twenty-foot setback from roof edges, vegetative containers, and vegetation;
2. Churches, hospitals, sanatoriums, schools or other public and semi-public buildings. Any such building may be erected to a height not exceeding forty-four feet, provided the minimum side and rear yards are increased by an additional foot in width or depth for each foot by which the height of such building exceeds the maximum height permitted in the zone in which such building is to be located;
3. Bulkheads, elevator penthouses, monitors, scenery lofts and water tanks; provided, that:
a. Such structures above the height limits specified for the zone shall not in the aggregate occupy more than twenty-five percent of the area of the lot, and
b. No linear dimension of any such structure shall be greater than one-half of the length of the corresponding street lot line if the structure is within twenty-five feet of such street lot line;
4. Towers, restricted to fire and hose towers, cooling towers for industrial operations, gas holders, grain elevators, sugar refineries or other structures where the manufacturing process requires a great height; provided, that such structures above the height limit specified for the zone shall:
a. Not in the aggregate occupy more than twenty-five percent of the area of the lot,
b. Be a distance not less than twenty-five feet from every lot line not a street lot line, and
c. Be not less than one foot from the opposite side of each abutting street for each foot of the vertical height;
5. Natural convection towers except as provided in this subsection. A Type II conditional use permit shall be obtained for the tower and the proposed tower height must be approved by the board of supervisors at the conditional use public hearing. For the purpose of this paragraph, a "natural convection tower" means a chimney-like structure, which can be integrated with a main building and its HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) system, and uses natural convection to move air up or down the tower with the designed purpose and effect of cooling or heating the building with only limited, secondary use of fans or blowers. The following restrictions shall apply to such towers:
a. A minimum of seventy-five percent of the height of the tower must be used for the natural convection chimney effect,
b. A minimum of fifty percent of the cross-sectional area of the tower must be dedicated to airflow for the cooling operation,
c. The minimum setback of the tower from any scenic route shall be three feet of horizontal distance for every foot of vertical tower height, with the setback measured from the edge of the street right-of-way as designated on the Major Streets and Scenic Routes Plan;
d. The minimum setback of the tower from any property line shall be twenty-five feet, unless a greater building setback is required by the applicable zone, the Major Streets and Scenic Routes Plan, or subdivision (c) of this subsection.
(Ord. 2017-3 § 1 (part), 2017; Ord. 2013-42, § 3, 2013; Ord. 2008-70 § 3 (part), 2008; Ord. 2006-92 § 2 (part), 2006; Ord. 1996-58 § 4 (part), 1996; Ord. 1994-112 § 1 (part), 1994; Ord. 1988-89 § 1, 1988; Ord. 1985-188 § 1 (part), 1985; Ord. 1985-82 (part), 1985)