(1) ACCESSORY USE: A subordinate building or use customarily incidental to and located upon the same lot occupied by the main building or use.
(2) ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER: Shall mean the Building Inspector of the Village of South Amherst who shall enforce the provisions of this Zoning Ordinance.
(3) ALLEY: A narrow service way providing a secondary public means of access to abutting properties.
(4) AGRICULTURE: The use of land for agricultural purposes, including farming, dairying, pasturage, agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, forestry, and animal and poultry husbandry, and the necessary accessory uses for packing, treating or storing the produce; provided that the operation of such accessory use shall be secondary to that of the normal agricultural activities, and provided that the above uses shall not include the commercial feeding of garbage or offal to swine and other animals. A use shall be classified as agricultural only if agriculture is the principal use of the land.
(5) ALTERATIONS: As applied to a building or structure, a change or rearrangement in the structural parts or in the exit facilities, or an enlargement, whether by extending one side or by increasing in height, or the moving from one location or position to another.
(6) ALTERATIONS, STRUCTURAL: Any change in the supporting members of a building such as bearing walls, columns, beams, or girders.
(7) AREA, BUILDING: The total of areas taken on a horizontal plane at the main grade level of the principal building and all accessory buildings exclusive of uncovered terraces and steps.
(8) BASEMENT: A story partly underground but having at least one-half of its height below the average level of the adjoining ground. A basement shall be counted as a story for the purposes of height measurement if the vertical distance between the ceiling and the average level of the adjoining ground is more than five feet or is used for business or dwelling purposes.
(9) BOARD OF APPEALS: The South Amherst Board of Zoning Appeals.
(10) BUFFER STRIP: An area of land if provided for in this Zoning Ordinance which separates one district from another district. Buffer Strips shall have no structures erected thereon and shall be maintained as a lawn and/or planted with shrubs or trees.
(11) BUILDING: Any structure having a roof supported by columns or by walls and intended for the shelter, housing or enclosure of persons, animals or chattel.
(12) BUILDING, ACCESSORY: A supplemental building, the use of which is incidental to that of a main or principal building and located on the same lot therewith.
(13) BUILDING, FRONT LINE OF: The line of that face of the building nearest the front line of the lot. This face includes sun parlors and porches whether enclosed or open but does not include steps.
(14) BUILDING, HEIGHT: The vertical distance measured from the average elevation of the proposed finished grade at the front of the building to the highest point of the roof for flat roofs, to the deck line of Mansard roofs, and to the mean height between eaves and ridge for Gable, Hip and Gambrel roofs.
(15) BUILDING PRINCIPAL: The building on a lot used to accommodate the primary use to which the premises are devoted.
(16) CAMP: Any one or more of the following, other than a hospital, place of detention or school offering general instruction.
A. Type 1 -- Any area of land or water on which are located two or more cabins, tents, trailers, shelters, houseboats or other accommodations of a design or character suitable for seasonal or other more or less temporary living purposes, regardless of whether such structures or other accommodations actually are occupied seasonally or otherwise; or
B. Type 2 -- Any land, including any building thereon, used for any assembly of persons for what is commonly known as "day camp" purposes; and any of the foregoing establishments whether or not conducted for profit and whether or not occupied by adults or by children, either as individuals, families or groups.
(17) CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY: Shall mean a statement signed by the administrative officer setting forth either that a building or structure complies with the Zoning Ordinance or that a building, structure or parcel of land may lawfully be employed for specified uses, or both.
(18) COMMUNITY CENTER: Land and/or buildings with public ownership for the benefit of the general public; examples: courthouses, libraries, city halls.
(19) COURT: Shall mean an open unoccupied space other than a yard, on the same lot with a building, unobstructed from the ground to the sky and bounded on two (2) or more sides by the exterior walls of a building, or by exterior walls and lot lines.
A. Inner Court shall mean a court no part of which extends to a street or alley or to a front or rear yard.
B. Outer Court shall mean a court a part of which extends to a street or alley or the front or rear yard.
(20) COVERAGE: That percentage of the lot area covered by the building area.
(21) DISTRICT: Shall mean any section of the Village for which uniform zoning regulations as herein provided govern the use of land, structure and premises, the permitted height and area of structures and the area or open spaces about buildings and structures.
(22) DOG KENNEL: Any place in or at which any number of dogs are kept for the purpose of sale or in connection with boarding, care of, breeding, for which any fee is charged; or any place in or at which more than three (3) dogs over age four (4) months are kept for any purpose.
(23) DUMP: A lot or land or part thereof used primarily for the disposal by abandonment, dumping, burial, burning or any other means and for whatever purpose, of garbage, sewage, trash, refuse, junk, discarded machinery, vehicles or parts thereof, or waste material of any kind.
(24) DWELLING: Shall mean a building designed or used as living quarters for one or more families. The word "dwelling" shall include houseboats and trailers.
A. Multiple Dwelling shall mean a dwelling designed or occupied otherwise than as a one-family dwelling or two-family dwelling and including apartment houses, row houses, garden apartments and all other family dwellings of similar character, where apartments or suites are designed for use as separate complete living units, but excluding hotels, motels, or apartment hotels.
B. Single Family Dwelling shall mean a separate detached building designed for and occupied exclusively as a residence by one (1) family.
C. Two Family Dwelling shall mean a separate detached building designed for or occupied exclusively as a residence by two (2) families.
(25) DWELLING UNIT: A building or portion thereof providing complete housekeeping facilities for one family.
(26) FAMILY: One or more persons living, sleeping, cooking and eating on the same premises as a single housekeeping unit.
(27) FARM: Any parcel of land containing at least five (5) acres which is used for gain in the raising of agricultural products, livestock, poultry and dairy products. It includes necessary farm structures within the prescribed limits and the storage of equipment used. It excludes the raising of fur bearing animals, riding academies, livery or boarding stables and dog kennels.
(28) FLOOR AREA OF A BUILDING: The sum of the gross horizontal area of the several floors of a building. All dimensions shall be measured between exterior faces of the walls.
(29) GARAGE, PRIVATE: An accessory building or an accessory portion of the main building, enclosed on all sides and designed or used to shelter or store passenger automobiles and located on the same lot as the dwelling to which it is accessory.
(30) GARAGE, PUBLIC: Any garage other than a private garage, available to the public, operated for gain, and which is used for storage, repair, rental, greasing, washing, servicing, adjusting or equipping of automobiles or other motor vehicles.
(31) GASOLINE SERVICE STATION: Any area of land, including structures thereon, that is used or designed to be used for the supply of gasoline or oil or other fuel for the propulsion of motor vehicles and which may include facilities used or designed to be used for polishing, greasing, washing, spraying, cleaning or minor services and repairs of such motor vehicles.
(32) GRADE, FINISHED: The average level of the finished surface of the ground adjacent to the exterior walls of any building.
(33) HOME OCCUPATION: An occupation or a profession which:
A. Is customarily carried on in a dwelling unit or in a building or other structure accessory to a dwelling unit by a member of the family residing therein.
B. Is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for residential purposes, and
C. Which conforms to the following additional conditions:
1. The occupation or profession shall be carried on wholly within the principal building or within a building or other structure accessory thereto.
2. Not more than one person outside of the family shall be employed in the Home Occupation.
3. There shall be no exterior display, no exterior sign, except as permitted under the Section on Signs, no exterior storage of materials and no other exterior indication of the Home Occupation or variation from the residential character of the principal building.
4. No offensive noise, vibration, smoke, dust, odors, heat or glare shall be produced.
(34) HOSPITAL: Shall be deemed to be limited to places for the diagnosis, treatment and/or other care of human ailments.
(35) INSTITUTION: A building occupied by a non-profit corporation or a non-profit establishment for public use.
(36) JUNK: Shall mean any worn-out, castoff, or discarded article or material which is or may be salvaged for reuse, resale, reduction, or similar disposition, or which is possessed, transported, owned, collected, accumulated, dismantled or assorted for the aforesaid purposes. Any article or material which unaltered or unchanged and without further reconditioning can be used for its original purpose as readily as when new, shall not be considered junk.
(37) JUNK YARD: The use of more than 200 square feet of the area of any lot, whether inside or outside a building, or the use of any portion of that half of any lot that joins any street, for the storage, keeping, or abandonment of junk, or scrap materials, or the dismantling, demolition or abandonment of automobiles or other vehicles or machinery or parts thereof.
(38) LIVING AREA: The total of the square feet of usable living floor space within the defined areas created by the walls of a dwelling. Does not include open patios, open terraces or courts, open breezeways, outside steps, garages and/or carports.
(39) LOT: A parcel of land occupied or capable of being occupied by one building and the accessory buildings or uses customarily incident to it, including such open spaces as are required by this resolution.
(40) LOT, CORNER: A parcel of land at the junction of and fronting on two or more intersecting streets.
(41) LOT, DEPTH OF: A mean horizontal distance between the front lot line and the rear lot line, measured in a general direction parallel with its side lot lines. Unless otherwise specified, length shall be measured from the center of the street. Lot length and or depth have the same meaning.
(42) LOT, INTERIOR: A lot other than a corner lot.
(43) LOT, WIDTH OF: The shortest distance between the lot side lines, at the specified Setback Building Line.
(44) LOT LINES: Any line dividing one lot from another.
(45) MOBILE HOME: Any vehicle or similar portable structure used or so constructed as to permit its being used as a conveyance upon the public streets, and designed to permit the occupancy thereof as a dwelling unit for one or more persons.
(46) NON-CONFORMING USE: A building, structure or use of land existing at the time of enactment of this resolution or amendments thereto and which does not conform to the regulations of the district in which it is situated.
(47) NURSERY SCHOOL: A school designed to provide daytime care or instruction for two or more children from two to five years of age inclusive, and operated on a regular basis.
(48) OPEN SPACE: A space unoccupied with structures open to the sky on the same lot with the building.
(49) PARK: A public, private and/or commercial area which is to be used for recreational purposes. Any such area which requires fee or a use fee shall first secure a Zoning Permit.
(50) PARKING SPACE: An off-street space available for the parking of one motor vehicle and having an area of not less than 200 square feet exclusive of passageways and driveways appurtenant thereto and giving access thereto, and having direct access to a street or alley.
(51) QUARRY, SAND PIT, GRAVEL PIT, TOP SOIL STRIPPING: A lot or land or part thereof used for the purpose of extracting stone, sand, gravel, or top soil for sale, as an industrial or commercial operation, and exclusive of the process of grading a lot preparatory to the construction of a building for which application for a Zoning Permit has been made.
(52) REAR LOT CLEARANCE: An open space between the rear line of any building, including accessory buildings, and the rear line of the lot and extending the full width of the lot.
(53) SANITARY LANDFILL: A method of disposing of refuse or land without creating nuisances or hazards to public health or safety by utilizing the principles of engineering to confine the refuse to the smallest practical area, to reduce it to the smallest practical volume and to cover it with a layer of earth at the conclusion of each day's operation or at more frequent intervals as may be necessary.
(54) SETBACK: Shall mean the minimum distance from the street line to the building line measured along a line perpendicular to the street line or front property line, or, in the case of an arc street, measured along the radius of such arc. For lots abutting on a thoroughfare as shown on the Major Thoroughfare Plan for Lorain County, the setback shall be measured from the proposed right-of-way line specified for that thoroughfare on the Major Thoroughfare Plan.
(55) SIDE LOT CLEARANCE: An open space between the main building or any accessory building and the side line of the lot extending from the front yard to the rear yard. Any lot line not a front line or a rear line shall be deemed a side line.
(56) SIGN: A "sign" is any structure or part thereof, or any device attached to a structure or painted or represented on a structure, which shall display or include any letter, word, model, banner, flag, pennant, insignia, device or representation used as, or which is in the nature of an announcement, direction or advertisement. A "sign" includes any "billboard," but does not include the flag, pennant, or insignia of any nation, or group of nations, or of any state, city or other political unit, or of any political, educational, charitable, philanthropic, civic, professional, religious or like campaign, drive, movement or event. However, a "sign", as defined herein, shall not include a similar structure or device located within a building.
A. A "business sign" is a sign which directs attention to a business or profession conducted or to products sold upon the same lot. A "For Sale" or "To Let" sign, relating to the lot on which it is displayed, shall be deemed a "business sign".
B. An "advertising sign" is a sign which directs attention to a business, commodity, service or entertainment conducted, sold or offered elsewhere than upon the same lot.
C. An "illuminated sign" is any sign designed to give forth any artificial light, or designed to reflect such light deriving from any source which is intended to cause such light or reflection. A "flashing sign" is any "illuminated sign" on which the artificial light is not maintained stationary and constant in intensity and color at all times when in use.
(57) STABLE: Shall mean any building or structure or portion thereof which is used for the shelter or care of horses or other similar animals, either permanently or transiently.
(58) 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 be no floor above it, then the space between any floor and the ceiling next above it.
A. “Half Story” shall mean a story under a gabled, hipped, or gambrel roof, the wall plates of which on at least two (2) opposite exterior walls are not more than two (2) feet above the finished floor of such story.
(59) STREET: A public or private way which affords the principal means of access to abutting properties.
(60) STREET LINE: Is defined as the right-of-way line of any road or street or highway as proposed on the Major Thoroughfare Plan of Lorain County, Ohio. All setback distances on the Zoning Map for South Amherst shall be measured from the street line.
(Ord. 1296. Passed 11-24-08.)
(61) STRUCTURE, ACCESSORY: Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires location on the ground, or attachment to something having location on the ground.
(Ord. 1743-22. Passed 7-25-22.)
(62) SWIMMING POOL, COMMUNITY OR CLUB: A community or club swimming pool shall be any pool constructed by an association of property owners, or by a private club for use and enjoyment by members of the association or club and their families.
(63) SWIMMING POOL, PRIVATE: A private swimming pool, but not including farm ponds, as regulated herein, shall be any pool, lake or open tank not located within a completely enclosed building, and containing or normally capable of containing water to a depth at any point greater than one and one-half feet.
(64) WIRELESS, CELLULAR OR COMMUNICATION TOWER: "Wireless, cellular or communication tower" means a structure intended to support equipment used to transmit and/or receive communications signals including monopoles and guyed and lattice construction steel structures.
(65) USE: The specific purpose for which land or a building is designed, arranged, intended or for which it is or may be occupied or maintained. The term "Permitted Use" or its equivalent shall not be deemed to include any non-conforming use.
(66) USE, CONDITIONAL: A use of land that is of such a nature that its unlimited operation could be detrimental to the health, safety, morals and general welfare of residents in the surrounding area or to property or property values and on which the public has reserved the right to permit the use subject of certain general and specific conditions stated in the ordinance which are deemed necessary to protect the permitted uses of other affected properties.
(67) VARIANCE: A variance in a Zoning Resolution is a modification from the literal provisions of that resolution by the Appeals Board in cases where a literal enforcement of its provisions would result in unnecessary hardship owing to circumstances unique to the individual property or use for which the variance is granted.
(68) YARD: An open, unoccupied space, other than a court on the same lot with a building.
(69) YARD, FRONT: A yard extending the full width of the front of a lot between a street right-of-way line and the building setback line.
(70) YARD, REAR: An open unoccupied space on the same lot with the building, between the rear line of the building and the rear line of the lot and extending the full width of the lot.
(71) YARD, SIDE: An open unoccupied space on the same lot with the building situated between the building and the side line of the lot and extending from the front yard to the rear yard. Any lot line not a rear line or a front line shall be deemed a side line.
(Ord. 1296. Passed 11-24-08.)