Unless the context otherwise requires, the following definitions shall be used in the interpretation and construction of the Zoning Ordinance, and words used in the present tense include the future; and the singular number shall include the plural and the plural the singular.
(1) Accessory Use or Structure. A use or structure subordinate to the principal use of a building on the same lot and serving a purpose customarily incidental to the use of the principal building.
(2) Automobile or Trailer Sales Area. An open area, other than a street, used for the display, sale, or rental of new or used motor vehicles or trailers in operable condition and where no repair work is done.
(3) Building. A structure having a roof supported by columns or walls, used or intended to be used for the shelter or enclosure of persons, animals, or property.
(4) Building Height. The vertical distance measured from the mean level of the ground surrounding the building to a point midway between the highest and lowest point of the roof, but not including chimneys, spires, towers, tanks, and similar projections.
(5) Building, Principal. A structure in which is conducted the principal use of the site on which it is situated. In any residential district, any dwelling shall be deemed to be a principal building on the lot on which the same is located.
(6) City Council. City Council shall mean the governing body of the City of Spencer.
(7) Commission Engineer. Commission Engineer shall mean the City Engineer or other qualified persons designated by the Planning Commission to perform all administrative and for supervisory duties required of the Commission Engineer by the provisions of this Zoning Ordinance.
(8) Dwelling. Any building or portion thereof designed or used exclusively as the residence or sleeping place of one or more persons, except a mobile home or trailer.
A. Dwelling, Single-Family. A detached building, designated for or occupied exclusively by one family and containing not more than one dwelling unit.
B. Dwelling, Two-Family. A detached or semi-detached building where not more than two individual family or dwelling units are entirely separated by vertical walls or horizontal floors, unpierced except for access to the outside or to a common cellar.
C. Dwelling, Multiple. A building or portion thereof used or designed as a residence for three or more apartment or dwelling units.
(9) Home Occupation. Any use customarily conducted entirely within the principal structure, which use is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the principal structure and does not change the character or appearance thereof.
(10) Junk Yards. Junk yards shall consist of buildings, structures, or premises where junk, waste, discarded, or salvage materials are bought or sold, exchanged, stored, baled, packed, disassembled, or handled, including automobile wrecking yards, house wrecking, and structural steel materials and equipment, but not including the purchase or storage of used furniture and household equipment and used cars in operable condition.
(11) Lot. A piece or parcel of land occupied or intended to be occupied by a principal building or a group of such buildings and accessory buildings, or utilized for a principal use and uses accessory or incidental to the operation thereof, together with such open spaces as required by this Zoning Ordinance, and having frontage on a public street.
A. Lot, Corner. A lot abutting upon two or more streets at their intersection or upon two parts of the same street, such streets or parts of the same street forming an interior angle of less than 135 degrees. The point of intersection of the street lot lines is the "corner."
B. Lot, Depth. The average horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines.
C. Lot Lines. The property lines bounding the lot.
1. Lot Line, Front. The line separating the lot from a street.
2. Lot Line, Rear. The lot line opposite and most distant from the front lot line.
3. Lot Line, Side. Any lot line other than a front or rear lot line. A side lot line separating a lot from a street is called a side street lot line.
4. Lot Line, Street or Alley. A lot line separating the lot from a street or alley.
D. Lot Width. The distance between the two side lot lines measured at the required setback line.
E. Lot Area. The computed area contained within the lot lines.
(1977 Code Title 4A.)
(12) Mobile Home. A movable or portable unit, designed and constructed to be towed on its own chassis (comprised of frame and wheels), and designed to be connected to utilities for year-round occupancy. The term includes:
A. Units containing parts that may be folded, collapsed, or telescoped when being towed and that may be expanded to provide additional cubic capacity; and
B. Units composed of two or more separately towable components designed to be joined into one integral unit capable of being separated again into the components for repeated towing. The term includes units designed to be used for residential, commercial, educational, or industrial purposes, including recreational vehicles. (Passed 11-2-78.)
(13) Planned Development Groups. A structure or a group of structures designed to be maintained and operated as a unit in single ownership or control by an individual, partnership, corporation, or co-operative group, and which has certain facilities in common, such as yards and open spaces, recreation areas, garages, and parking areas.
(14) Planning Commission. Planning Commission shall mean the Planning Commission of the City of Spencer.
(1977 Code Title 4A.)
(15) Recreational Vehicle. A vehicular portable structure built on a chassis designed to be used as a temporary dwelling for travel, recreational, and vacation uses, permanently identified "travel trailer" by the manufacturer of the trailer and when factory equipped for the road, having a body width not exceeding eight feet and body length not exceeding thirty-two feet.
(Passed 11-2-78.)
(16) Sign. A sign is a name, identification, description, display, or illustration or any other visual display which is affixed to, or painted or represented directly or indirectly upon a building, structure, or piece of land and which directs attention to an object, product, place, activity, person, institution, organization, or business.
However, a sign shall not include any display of official court or public office notices nor any official traffic control device, nor shall it include the flag, emblem, or insignia of a nation, state, county, municipality, school, or religious group. A sign shall not include a sign located completely within an enclosed building, except for illuminated or animated signs within show windows. Each display surface of a sign shall be considered to be a sign.
(17) Sign, Advertising. A sign which directs attention to a business, commodity, service or entertainment conducted, sold, or offered elsewhere than on the premises where the sign is located.
(18) Structure. Anything constructed, the use of which requires permanent location on the ground, or attachment to something having permanent location on the ground, including stationary and portable carports.
(19) Yard. An open space, which lies between the principal building or group of buildings and the nearest lot line and is unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward except as herein permitted.
A. Yard, Front. An open space extending the full width of the lot between a principal building and the front lot line, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward.
B. Yard, Rear. An open space extending the full width of the lot between a principal building and the rear lot line, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward.
C. Yard, Side. An open space extending from the front yard to the rear yard between a principal building and the nearest side lot line, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward.
(20) Zoning Board. Zoning Board shall mean the Board of Zoning Appeals of the City of Spencer. (1977 Code Title 4A.)