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 building or use which is located on the same lot on which the main building or use is situated and which is reasonably necessary and incidental to the conduct of the primary use of the building or main use.
ACCESSORY USE. See ACCESSORY BUILDING.
ACREAGE. Any tract or parcel of land which has not been subdivided and platted.
ALLEY. A public thoroughfare, not less than 20 feet nor more than 40 feet wide, which affords only a secondary means of access to abutting property.
APARTMENT. A room or suite of rooms in a multiple-family structure which is arranged, designed, used or intended to be used as a housekeeping unit for a single family.
AUTOMOBILE REPAIR. General repair, engine rebuilding or reconditioning of motor vehicles; collision service, such as body, frame or fender straightening and repair; overall painting of motor vehicles.
AUTOMOBILE SERVICE STATION. A place where gasoline stored only in underground tanks, kerosene or motor oil and lubricants or grease for operation of automobiles are sold at retail directly to the public on the premises and including minor accessories and services for automobiles but not including automobile repairs and rebuilding. When the dispensing, sale or offering for sale of motor fuels or oil is incidental to the conduct of a public garage, the premises shall be classified as a public garage.
AUTOMOBILE WRECKING YARD. Any place where two or more motor vehicles, not in running condition, or parts thereof, are stored in the open and are not being restored to operation or any land, building or structure used for wrecking or storing of the motor vehicles or parts thereof, including vehicles or farm machinery, or parts thereof, stored in the open and not being restored to operating condition and including the commercial salvaging and scavenging of any other goods, articles or merchandise.
BASEMENT. A story wholly or partly underground. Where more than half its height is above the average level of the adjoining ground, a BASEMENT shall be counted as a story for the purpose of height measurement.
BILLBOARD. Any structure or portion thereof upon which are signs or advertisements used on an outdoor display. BILLBOARD does not include any bulletin boards used to display official court or public office notices or signs advertising the sale or lease of the premises on which the sign is located.
BOARDING HOUSE. A building other than a hotel or restaurant where meals are provided for compensation for four or more persons but not exceeding 12 persons.
BUILDING. Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls and designed or intended for the shelter, support, enclosure or protection of persons, animals or chattel.
BUILDING AREA. The space remaining after the minimum open space requirements of this chapter have been complied with.
BUILDING HEIGHT. The vertical distances measured from the sidewalk level or its equivalent established grade opposite the middle of the front of the building to the highest point of the roof in the case of a flat roof; to the deck line of a mansard roof and to the mean height level between eaves and ridge of a gable, hip or gambrel roof, provided that where buildings are set back from the street line the height of the building may be measured from the average elevation of the finished lot grade at the front of the building.
CAR PORT. A structure attached or made a part of the main structure and which is open to the weather on at least two sides, intended for the use of sheltering not more than two motor-driven vehicles.
(A) Airport landing field or landing strip;
(B) Bus terminal, railroad passenger station or any other transportation terminal facilities;
(C) Cemeteries, crematories or mausoleums;
(D) Churches and accessory buildings used for religious teaching;
(E) Extraction of gravel, sand or other raw materials;
(F) Golf courses, public or private;
(G) Hospitals or sanitariums;
(H) Institutions for the care of the insane or feeble minded;
(I) Municipal or privately owned recrea- tion building or community center;
(J) Nursery schools, day nurseries and child care centers, provided there is a minimum of 100 square feet of outdoor play area for each child to be cared for and that the play area is fenced and screened with planting from any adjoining lot in any R district.
(K) Parking area, public;
(L) Police stations, fire stations or places for storage of municipal equipment;
(M) Public administration building, audi- torium, gymnasium or any other publicly owned structure;
(N) Public utility facilities, such as a filtration plant, pumping station, heat or power plant, transformer station and the like;
(O) Radio and television antenna towers, commercial;
(P) Railroad right of way;
(Q) Schools, public or private;
(R) Telephone exchange.
COURT. An open, unoccupied space, other than a yard, on the same lot with a building and bounded on two or more sides by the building.
CURB GRADE. The established elevation of the curb in front of the building measured at the center of the front. Where no curb grade has been established, the city shall establish the curb level or its equivalent for the purpose of this chapter.
DISTRICT. A section of the incorporated area of the city for which the regulations and provisions governing the use of buildings and land are uniform for each class of use permitted therein.
DWELLING. A building, or portion thereof, designed for occupancy by three or more families living independently of each other.
DWELLING, ONE-FAMILY. A detached building designed exclusively for occupancy by one family.
DWELLING, TWO-FAMILY. A building designed exclusively for occupancy by two families living independently of each other.
DWELLING, ROW. A row of three to six attached one-family dwellings, not more than 2½ stories in height nor more than two rooms deep.
DWELLING, UNIT. One or more rooms in a dwelling or apartment hotel designed primarily for occupancy by one family for living or sleeping purposes.
FAMILY. An individual or two or more persons related by blood or marriage or group of not more than five persons (excluding servants) who need not be related by blood or marriage, living together as a single housekeeping unit in a dwelling unit.
FRONTAGE. All property on one side of a street between two intersecting streets or natural barriers.
GARAGE, PRIVATE. An accessory building for the storage of not more than three motor-driven vehicles, of which not more than one shall be a commercial vehicle of not more than two tons capacity.
GARAGE, PUBLIC. A building other than a private garage used for the care, repair or equipment of automobiles or where the vehicles are parked or stored for remuneration, hire or sale within the structure.
GUEST HOUSE. A structure for human habitation containing one or more rooms with bath and toilet facilities but not including a kitchen or facilities which would provide a complete housekeeping unit.
HOME OCCUPATION. Any use customarily conducted entirely within the dwelling and carried on by the inhabitants thereof, which use is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for dwelling purposes and does not change the character thereof and provided no article is sold or offered for sale except as may be produced on the premises by members of the immediate family. Clinics, doctors offices, hospitals, barber shops, beauty parlors, dress shops, millinery shops, real estate offices, tea rooms, tourist homes, animal hospitals, kennels and the like shall not be deemed HOME OCCUPATIONS.
HOSPITAL. An institution, open to the public, in which sick or injured persons are given medical care or for the care of contagious diseases or incurable patients.
HOTEL. A building designed for occupancy as the more or less temporary abiding places of people who are lodged, with or without meals, in which there are six or more guest rooms and in which no provisions are made for cooking in any individual room or suite.
INSTITUTION. A building occupied by a nonprofit corporation or a nonprofit establishment for public or semi-public use.
JUNK YARD. See AUTO WRECKING YARD.
KENNEL. Any lot or premises on which four or more dogs, at least four months of age, are kept.
LABORATORY. A place devoted to experimental study, such as testing an analyzing. LABORATORY does not include manufacturing of a product.
LOADING SPACE. An off-street space or berth on the same lot with a building or contiguous to a group of buildings for the temporary parking of a commercial vehicle while loading or unloading merchandise or materials and which abuts a street, alley or other appropriate means of access.
LODGING HOUSE. A building with not more than five guest rooms where lodging is provided for compensation pursuant to a previous arrangement, but not open to the public or transients.
LOT. A parcel of land occupied or suitable for occupancy by one main building or use, with accessory buildings, including the open spaces required by this chapter, and having its principal frontage upon a public street or highway.
LOT, CORNER. A lot situated at the intersection of two or more streets.
LOT, DEPTH. The horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines measured in the mean direction on the side lot lines.
LOT, FRONTAGE. The front of a lot shall be that boundary of a lot along a public street and for a corner lot, the front shall be the shorter lot boundary along a street.
LOT, INTERIOR. A lot other than a corner lot.
LOT WIDTH. The horizontal distance between the side lot lines measured at right angles to the lot depth at a point midway between the front and rear lot lines.
NONCONFORMING USE. Any building, structure or land lawfully occupied by a use or lawfully situated at the time of the passage of this chapter which does not conform after the passage of this chapter with the regulations of this section.
NURSING HOME. A private hospital for the care of children or the aged or informed, or a place of rest for those suffering bodily disorders, but not including facilities for the treatment of sickness, injuries or for surgical care.
PARKING AREA, PRIVATE. An open area for the parking of privately owned automobiles and not for public use.
PARKING AREA, PUBLIC. An open area, other than a street, used for the temporary parking of more than four automobiles and available for public use, whether free, for compensation or as an accommodation for clients or customers.
PARKING SPACE. An area, enclosed in the main building, in an accessory building, or unenclosed, sufficient in size to store one standard automobile, which has adequate access to a public street or alley and permitting satisfactory ingress and egress of an automobile.
PORCH. A roofed entrance to a building, projecting out from the wall(s) of the main structure and commonly open to the weather in part.
REST HOME. See NURSING HOME.
SANITARIUM. See HOSPITAL.
SIGNS, OUTDOOR ADVERTISING. Any card, cloth, paper, metal, painted glass, wooden, plaster, stone or other sign of any kind or character placed for outdoor advertising purposes on the ground or on any tree, wall, bush, rock, post, fence, building, structure or thing. “Placed”, as used in this definition, shall including erecting, constructing, posting, painting, printing, tacking, nailing, gluing, sticking, carving or other fastening, affixing or making visible in any manner.
STORY. That portion of a building included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the floor next above it or, if there is not floor above it, the open space between the floor and the ceiling next above it. Any portion of a STORY exceeding 14 feet in height shall be considered an additional STORY for each 14 feet or fraction thereof.
STRUCTURAL ALTERATIONS. Any change which would prolong the life of the supporting members of a building or structure, such as bearing walls, columns, beams or girders.
STRUCTURE. Anything constructed or erected which requires location on the ground or attached to something having location on the ground.
TERRACE, OPEN. A level and rather narrow plane or platform, which for the purposes of this chapter is located adjacent to one or more faces of the main structure and which is constructed not more than four feet in height above the average level of the adjoining ground.
TOURIST COURT. A group of attached or detached buildings containing individual sleeping or living units, designed for or used temporarily by automobile tourists or transients, with a garage attached or parking space conveniently located to each unit, including auto courts, motels or motor lodges.
TOURIST HOME. A dwelling in which overnight accommodations are provided or offered for transient guests.
TRAILER, AUTOMOBILE. A vehicle without motive power, designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle to be used for human habitation or for carrying persons or property, including a trailer coach or house trailer.
TRAILER CAMP, AUTOMOBILE. Any premises occupied or designed to accommodate more than one family living in an automobile house trailer.
USE. The purpose for which land, or a building thereon, is designed, arranged or intended or for which it is occupied or maintained, let or leased.
YARD. An open space on the same lot with a main building, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward, except as otherwise provided by this chapter.
YARD, FRONT. A yard extending across the full width of the lot and lying between the rear line of the lot and the nearest line of the principal building.
YARD, SIDE. That part of the yard lying between the main building and a side lot line and extending from the required front yard or from the front lot line, if there is no required from yard, to the required rear year.
('74 Code, Appendix A, § 3)