(A) Interpretation of commonly used terms and words.
(1) Words used in the present tense include the future tense.
(2) Words used in the singular number include the plural, and words used in the plural number include the singular, unless the natural construction of the wording indicates otherwise.
(3) The word "person" includes a firm, association, corporation, trust, and company as well as an individual.
(4) The words "used for" shall include the meaning "designed for."
(5) The word "structure" shall include, but is not limited to, the word "building."
(6) The word "lot" shall include the words "plot," "parcel," or "tract."
(7) The word "shall" is mandatory and not merely directory.
(B) Definitions of special terms and words. For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
(1) "ACCESSORY USE." A use customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal use or building and located on the same lot with such principal use or building.
(2) "BILLBOARD." An outdoor structure or display which advertises or directs attention to a business, commodity, service or other activity conducted, sold or offered elsewhere than on the premises on which said sign is located.
(3) "BUFFER STRIP." A buffer strip shall consist of a planted strip at least ten feet in width, composed of trees, spaced not more than 20 feet apart and not less than one row of dense evergreen shrubs, spaced not more than five feet apart.
(4) "BUILDING." Any structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or occupancy. As used herein, the word "building" shall have the same meaning as the word "structure."
(5) "BUILDING, ACCESSORY/OUTBUILDING." A subordinate building or structure, the use of which is clearly incidental to or customarily found in connection with the principal building or principal use, and which is located on the same lot as such principal building or principal use. Among other things, accessory buildings include buildings, walls, fences, sprinkler systems and satellite dish antennas.
(6) "BUILDING, PRINCIPAL." A building in which is conducted the main or principal use of the lot on which said building is situated.
(7) "BUILDING, SETBACK LINE." A line establishing the minimum allowable distance between the nearest portion of any building (excluding the outermost three feet of any uncovered porches, gables, steps, eaves, gutters, and similar fixtures), and the street or highway right-of-way line, or property line, measured perpendicularly thereto.
(8) "CUSTOMARY HOME OCCUPATION." Any use conducted entirely within a dwelling and carried on only by the residents thereof which use is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for residential purposes and does not change the character thereof, and in connection with which there is no display, no outside storage, no stock-in-trade, no commodities sold. Such occupation shall be carried on solely within the main dwelling and shall not occupy more than 25% of the total floor space of the dwelling.
(9) "DWELLING." A building that contains one or two dwelling units or designed to be used, rented, leased, let or hired out to be occupied for living purposes.
(10) "DWELLING UNIT." A single unit providing complete, independent living facilities for one or more persons, including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation. The term "dwelling" shall not be deemed to include a motel, hotel, tourist home, mobile home or other structure designed for transient residence.
(11) "DWELLING, SINGLE-FAMILY." A detached building for or occupied exclusively by one family.
(12) "DWELLING, TWO-FAMILY." A building arranged or designed to be occupied by two families living independently of each other.
(13) "DWELLING, MULTI-FAMILY." A building or portion thereof used or designed as a residence for three or more families living independently of each other, including apartment houses and group housing projects.
(14) "FAMILIAL RELATIONSHIP, CLOSE." A spouse, parent, child, brother, sister, grandparent, or grandchild. The term includes the step, half, and in-law relationships.
(15) "FAMILY." Any number of individuals related by blood or marriage living together as a single housekeeping unit.
(16) "FLOOD PLAIN." That area designated on the official zoning map as the flood plain.
(17) "FLOODWAY." The channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas required to carry and discharge a flood of a given magnitude.
(18) "GROSS FLOOR AREA." The total floor area, measured exterior wall to exterior wall, of all buildings in a project including basements, mezzanines and upper floors, exclusive of stairways and elevator shafts. It excludes separate service facilities outside the main building such as boiler rooms and maintenance shops.
(19) "GROUP DEVELOPMENT." A group of two or more principal structures built on a single lot, tract or parcel of land not subdivided into the customary blocks and lots and which will not be subdivided, and/or designed for ownership by separate families, businesses or other enterprises. Examples would be: row houses, apartment courts, school and hospital campuses, and shopping centers.
(20) "JUNK YARD." The use of more than 200 square feet of the area of any lot for the storage, keeping or abandonment of junk, including scrap metals, or other scrap materials, or for the dismantling, demolition, or abandonment of automobiles or other vehicles or machinery or parts thereof.
(21) "LOT." A parcel of land in single and separate ownership occupied or capable of being occupied by a building or group of buildings devoted to a common use, together with the customary accessories and open spaces belonging to the same.
(22) "LOT, CORNER." A lot which occupies the interior angle at the intersection of two street lines which make an angle of more than 45 degrees and less than 135 degrees with each other. The street line forming the least frontage shall be deemed the front of the lot except where the two street lines are equal, in which case the owner shall be required to specify which is the front when requesting a zoning ordinance permit.
(23) "LOT DEPTH." The depth of a lot is the mean distance of the side lines of the lot measured from the front line to the rear lot line.
(24) "LOT OF RECORD." A lot which is part of an approved subdivision, a plat of which has been recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Wayne County, or a lot described by metes and bounds, the description of which has been so recorded prior to the adoption of this ordinance or has been described by metes and bounds and meets the requirement of this chapter.
(25) "LOT WIDTH." The distance between side lot lines measured at the building setback line.
(26) "MAJOR MODIFICATIONS." An increase in the original dwelling unit's footprint or where the roof structure is significantly altered either by opening it to allow for expansion or change in construction materials, e.g., wood/shingle to metal.
(27) "MODULAR UNIT." A factory-fabricated or pre- fabricated transportable building designed to be used by itself or to be incorporated with similar units at a building site into a modular structure meeting the requirements of the N.C. State residential building code. The term is intended to apply to major assemblies and does not include prefabricated panels, trusses, plumbing trees, and other prefabricated sub-elements which are to be incorporated into a structure at the site.
(28) "NON-CONFORMING USE." Any use of a building or land which does not conform to the use regulations of this chapter for the district in which it is located, either at the effective date of this chapter, or as a result of subsequent amendments which may be incorporated into this chapter.
(29) "OPEN STORAGE." Unroofed storage area enclosed by six foot solid fence. Materials stored shall not exceed height of fence.
(30) "PARKING SPACE." A storage space of not less than ten feet by 20 feet for one automobile plus the necessary access space. It shall always be located outside the dedicated street or highway right-of-way.
(31) "PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT." The planned unit development designed to incorporate similar units of residential multiple or single unit dwellings in a variety of arrangements which are planned and developed as a unit. Such development may consist of individual lots or common building sites. Common land may be an element of the plan related to effecting the long-term value of the entire development.
(32) "PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM." Any water supply system serving two or more connections, including municipal and sanitary district water systems as well as water systems designed to serve particular subdivisions in part or totally.
(33) "PUBLIC SEWER DISPOSAL SYSTEM." An approved sewage disposal system serving ten or more connections, including municipal and sanitary district sewerage systems as well as "package" plants constructed in a location and to specifications approved by Wayne County Sanitarian in consultation with N.C. Board of Health.
(34) "SATELLITE DISH ANTENNA." A device incorporating a reflective surface that is solid, open mesh, or bar configured and is in the shape of a shallow dish, cone, horn or cornucopia. Such device shall be used to transmit and/or receive radio or electro- magnetic waves between terrestrially and/or orbitally based uses. This definition is meant to include but not be limited to what are commonly referred to as satellite earth stations, TVROs, satellite microwave antennas.
(35) "SIGN." Any form of publicity, visible from any public highway directing attention to an individual activity, business, service, commodity or product and conveyed by means of words, figures, numerals, lettering, emblems, devices, designs, trade marks, or trade names or other pictorial matter designed to convey such information and displayed by means of bills, panels, posters, paints, or other devices erected on open framework, or attached or otherwise applied to posts, stakes, poles, trees, windows, building or other structures or supports.
(a) "ADVERTISING SIGN." A sign which directs attention to a business, commodity, service, or entertainment conducted, sold, or offered. These signs shall be on the same premises as the activity advertised (on-site).
(b) "HOME OCCUPATION SIGN." A sign announcing a nonresidential operation that is only a minor or secondary use of the land.
(c) "BUSINESS SIGN." A sign that directs attention towards a non-residential operation that is the principal use of the land. For example, rest homes, or day care centers that are not part of a private residence.
(d) "IDENTIFICATION SIGN." A sign used to identify 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. Included in this definition are signs which indicate the name of a subdivision; and bulletin boards which announce meetings or programs of non-profit organizations.
(36) "SIGN AREA." Sign area shall be measured by the smallest square, rectangle, triangle, circle or combination thereof, which will encompass the entire advertising copy area, including architectural trim and structural members; in computing area, only one side of a double-faced sign shall be considered.
(37) "SIGN, COMMERCIAL MESSAGE." A sign that conveys a message of a commercial nature including commercial activity, content, commodity, service, entertainment, product, transaction, use, or advertising for any business.
(38) "SIGN, NON-COMMERCIAL MESSAGE." A sign which has no commercial content, but instead involves only the expression of ideals, opinions, or beliefs.
(39) "SITE PLAN." A scaled drawing and supporting text showing the relationship between lot lines and the existing or proposed uses, buildings, or structures on the lot. The site plan may include site-specific details such as building areas, building height and floor area, setbacks from lot lines and street rights-of-way, intensities, densities, utility lines and locations, parking, access points, roads, and stormwater control facilities that are depicted to show compliance with all legally required development regulations that are applicable to the project and the site plan review. A site plan approval based solely upon application of objective standards is an administrative decision and a site plan approval based in whole or in part upon the application of standards involving judgments and discretion is a quasi-judicial decision. A site plan may also be approved as part of a conditional zoning decision.
(40) "STREET (ROAD)." A dedicated and accepted improved and maintained public right-of-way for vehicular traffic which affords the principal means of access to abutting properties.
(41) "STRUCTURE." Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires permanent location on the ground or which is attached to something having permanent location on the ground.
(42) "TRAILER, CAMPER." A vehicle with or without its own motive power, equipped or used for temporary living purposes and mounted on wheels or designed to be so mounted and transported.
(43) "WATERSHED." A watershed is an area in which natural ridge lines form the outer perimeter of a basin which diverts rainfall and natural drainage into streams or rivers which in turn drain to lower elevations. When such watersheds contain Class I and II reservoirs, then such area is regulated by the Rules and Regulations for the Protection of Public Water Supplies as adopted by the North Carolina State Board of Health.
(44) "YARD." An open space on a lot in the same ownership with a principal building, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward except as otherwise provided herein.
(45) "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 or highway right-of-way line and the front line of the building, projected to the side lines of the lot.
(46) "YARD, REAR." An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with the 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.
(47) "YARD, SIDE." An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a principal building, situated between the side line of the building and the adjacent side line of the lot and extending from the rear line of the front yard to the front line of the rear yard.
(Ord., passed 2-22-79; Am. Ord., passed 9-23-87; Am. Ord., passed 3-23-99; Am. Ord., passed 6-27-12; Am. Ord., passed 2-9-20; Am. Ord., passed 6-23-21; Am. Ord., passed 12-8-21)