(A) Interpretation. 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) Definitions. For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ALLEY. A public thoroughfare, other than a street, which affords a secondary means of access to an abutting property and which has a right-of-way of not less than 20 feet and not more than 40 feet in width.
APARTMENT. A dwelling unit in a multiple dwelling intended for use as a single family residence.
BASEMENT. An underground or partly underground story. A BASEMENT shall be counted as a story for the purposes of height measurement if the vertical distance between its ceiling and the average level of the adjoining ground is more than five feet.
BOARDING OR ROOMING HOUSE. Dwelling unit not occupied by owner of premises where rooms are rented or meals served for compensation.
BUILDING. Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls and intended for the shelter, housing, or enclosure of persons, animals, or chattels.
BUILDING, ACCESSORY. A subordinate building, the use of which is incidental to that of a principal building on the same lot.
BUILDING, PRINCIPAL. A building in which is conducted the principal use of the lot on which it is located. In a residential district, any structure containing a dwelling unit shall be deemed to be the PRINCIPAL BUILDING on the lot on which it is located.
CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT. An authorization issued by the Board of Commissioners for a conditional use permit and which may be subject to any specific restrictions or conditions on its size, location, construction, hours of operation, character of use, and other fair and reasonable conditions as specified by such approval body that are mutually approved by said approval body and the applicant.
DWELLING, MULTIPLE. A building or portion thereof used or designed for two or more dwelling units.
DWELLING UNIT. A house or other structure or a portion of any building or structure designed, arranged, or used for living quarters for one or more persons living as a single housekeeping unit, with cooking facilities, but not including units in hotels, trailers, or other structures designed for transient residence.
FAMILY CARE HOME. A home with support and supervisory personnel that provides room and board, personal care and habilitation services in a family environment for not more than six resident handicapped persons, six unwed mothers and their neonates, or six battered persons with their children.
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 zone which provides 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 for equipping, repairing, hiring or selling of motor vehicles for remuneration.
GARAGE, STORAGE. Any building or premises, other than a private or public garage, used exclusively for the parking or storage of motor vehicles.
HEIGHT OF BUILDING. The vertical distance from the average elevation of the finished grade along the front of the building, or from the established sidewalk or street grade, whichever is highest, to the highest point of the building. In computing the height of a building, the height of a basement, if below the grade from which the height is measured, shall not be included.
HOME BUSINESS or CUSTOMARY HOME OCCUPATION. An occupation or profession which is conducted entirely on and within the property of the homeowner.
HOTEL. 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 transients or permanent guests or tenants having or not having one or more dining rooms, restaurants, or cafes where meals or lunches are served to the transients or permanent guests, sleeping accommodations, restaurants, or cafes as existing being conducted in the same building in connection therewith.
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, DEPTH. The distance measured in the mean direction of the side lines of the lot from the midpoint of the front lot line to the midpoint of the opposite main rear line of the lot.
LOT, FRONT. The portion of a lot abutting the street right-of-way.
LOT, INTERIOR. A lot other than a corner lot.
LOT, THROUGH. An interior lot having frontage on two streets.
LOT, WIDTH. The horizontal distance between the side lot lines at the front building line measured parallel with the front lot line.
LOT OF RECORD. A lot being a part of a recorded subdivision or being described by metes and bounds in a deed recorded in the Gaston County Registry.
MOBILE HOME, MULTI-SECTIONAL.
(a) CLASS A. Manufactured housing which complies with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Mobile Home Construction Standards and which meet appearance criteria and certified by the Inspection Superintendent. (See § 154.120(D).)
(b) CLASS B. Manufactured housing which complies with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Mobile Home Construction Standards, but which do not meet the appearance criteria, as certified by the Inspection Superintendent. (See § 154.120(D).)
(c) CLASS C. Manufactured housing which does not meet state and federal design and construction standards.
MOTEL. A series of attached, semi-attached, or detached apartments containing bedroom, bathroom, and closet space and permitting approved cooking facilities, with each apartment having individual entrances leading directly from the outside of the building.
NONCONFORMING BUILDING OR STRUCTURE. A building or structure lawfully constructed prior to the passage of this chapter, or an amendment thereto, which does not conform to the dimensional requirements or other requirements except use for the zone in which it is located.
SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEM (SES). The components and subsystems required to convert solar energy into electric or thermal energy suitable for use. The area of the SYSTEM includes all the land inside the perimeter of the system, which extends to any fencing. The term applies, but is not limited to, solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, solar thermal systems, and solar hot water systems. A SYSTEM fits into one of three system types: Level 1 SES, Level 2 SES, and Level 3 SES.
NONCONFORMING USE. A lawful use of land, building, or structure existing at the time of the passage of this chapter, or an amendment thereto, which does not conform to the use regulations for the zone in which it is located.
PARKING SPACE. The standing storage space for one automobile plus the necessary driveway access space. The standing storage space shall not be less than nine feet by 20 feet unless the parking is done by employee attendants.
SIGN. Any form of publicity visible from a public street or highway directing attention to an individual activity, business, service, commodity, or product and conveyed by means of words, figures, numerals, lettering, emblems, devices, designs, trademarks or trade names, or other pictorial matter designed to convey information concerning the same and displayed by means of bills, panels, posters, paints, or other devices erected on an open framework, or attached or otherwise applied to posts, stakes, poles, trees, buildings, or other structures or supports.
(a) ADVERTISING SIGN. A sign which directs attention to a business, commodity, activity, service, or product not necessarily conducted, sold, or offered upon the premises where the sign is located or to which it is attached.
(b) AREA OF SIGN. The area that is measured by the smallest square, rectangle, triangle, circle, or combination thereof, which will encompass the entire advertising copy area, excluding architectural trim and structural embellishments. In computing the AREA, only one side of a double-faced sign structure shall be considered.
(c) BULLETIN BOARD. A sign used to announce meetings or programs of a church, school, auditorium, library, museum, community recreation center, or similar noncommercial place of public assembly.
(d) BUSINESS SIGN. A sign which directs attention to a business, profession, commodity, service, or entertainment sold or offered upon the premises where the sign is located or to which it is attached.
(e) GROUND SIGN. A sign supported by a pole, uprights, or braces on the ground.
(f) IDENTIFICATION SIGN. A sign used to identify only: the name of the individual, family, organization or enterprise occupying the premises; the profession of the occupant; or the name of the building on which the sign is displayed.
(g) ILLUMINATED SIGN.
1. A lighted sign shall mean one which is illuminated only by light cast upon it from a concealed light source.
2. A luminous sign shall mean one which is illuminated by any type of light source.
(h) POLE SIGN. A type of ground sign affixed or erected upon a pole or poles most commonly associated with gasoline service stations.
STORY. The portion of a building included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the floor next above it; or if there be no floor above it, then the space between the floor and the ceiling next above it.
STORY, HALF. A story under a gable, hip, or gambrel roof, the wall plates of which on at least two opposite exterior walls are not more than two feet above the floor of the story.
STREET. A public thoroughfare or road which has been dedicated to public use and accepted for maintenance by the town or the State Highway Commission or which has been improved to the standards necessary for acceptance by the town or the State Highway Commission, whichever may be appropriate.
STRUCTURAL ALTERATIONS. Any change, except for repair or re-placement, in the supporting members of a building such as bearing walls, columns, beams, or girders.
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.
TOURIST HOME. Any dwelling occupied by the owner or operator in which rooms are rented to transients.
TRAILER. Any vehicle, mobile home, house car, or any portable or movable vehicle so designed that it is or may be mounted on wheels, skids, rollers, or blocks, 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 designed primarily for the transportation of goods, nor those vehicles used solely as camping trailers having a length of less than 25 feet.
TRAILER CAMP. Any park, trailer park, trailer court, court, camp, site, lot, parcel, or tract of land designed, maintained, or intended for the purpose of supplying a location or accommodation for any trailer, and shall include all buildings used or intended for use as part of the equipment thereof, whether a charge is made for the use of the trailer camp and its facilities or not. TRAILER CAMP shall not include trailer sales lots on which unoccupied trailers are parked for purposes of inspection or sale.
TRANSPORTATION TERMINAL. Abase of operations for a common carrier, including freight and passenger stations, docks, loading ramps, yards, storage sheds, management offices, equipment, and maintenance facilities.
USES, PERMITTED. Functions for which property may be utilized, including incidental applications not provided for in that zone and not inconsistent with the primary use.
YARD. An open space on the same lot with the principal building, open, unoccupied, and unobstructed by buildings or structures from ground upward, except where encroachments and accessory buildings are expressly permitted.
YARD, FRONT. An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a principal building extending the full width of the lot and situated between the street and the front line of the building projected to the side lines of the lot.
YARD, REAR. A open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a principal building, extending the full width of the lot, and situated between the rear line of the lot and the rear line of the building projected to the side lines of the lot.
YARD, SIDE. An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with the principal building, situated between the building and the side line of the lot, and extending from the rear line of the front yard to the front line of the rear yard.
(Prior Code, § 9-4002) (Ord. passed 7-24-1970; Ord. passed - -; Ord. passed - -; Ord. passed 4-9-1998; Ord. passed 5-15-2007; Ord. passed 7-10-2014; Ord. passed 1-8-2015)