(a) For the purpose of this chapter the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
(1) "Accessory use of a building” means a subordinate use of a building customarily incident to and located on the same lot occupied by the main use of a building.
(2) "Alley” means any public space or thoroughfare 20 feet or less in width which has been dedicated or deeded for public use.
(3) "Alteration” means a change or rearrangement in the structural parts or in the exit facilities; the installation of new or replacement electric wiring, plumbing, or other facilities; an enlargement, whether by extending on a side or by increasing in height; or the moving from one location or position to another. The term "alter," in its various modes, tenses and participial forms, refers to the making of an alteration.
(4) "Apartment” means a room, or a suite of two or more rooms, in a residence building occupied as the home or residence of an individual, family, or household.
(5) "Apartment house” means a building or portion thereof used or intended to be used as the home of three or more families or householders living independently of each other.
(6) "Approved” means approved by the Building Official under the provisions of this Building Code, or by other authority designated by law to give approval in the matter in question.
(7) "Area” means the maximum horizontal projected area of the building at grade.
(8) "Basement” means a story partly or wholly underground. If not occupied as living quarters, it shall not be included as a story for the purpose of height measurement.
(9) "Boarding house” means a building, other than a hotel, where lodging and meals are provided for five or more persons.
(10) "Building” means a combination of materials to form a construction that is safe and stable, and adapted to permanent or continuous occupancy for public, institutional, residence, business, or storage purposes. The term shall be construed as if followed by the words "or part thereof".
(11) "Building line” means the line established by law beyond which a building shall not extend, except as specifically provided by law.
(12) "Building Official” means the Municipal Administrator or the officer or other person charged with the administration and enforcement of this Building Code, or his duly authorized representative.
(13) "Concrete” means a mixture of Portland cement, aggregate and water, of such materials, proportions, and manipulation as to give specified results.
(14) “Concrete, reinforced” means a Portland cement concrete in which steel is embedded in such a manner that the two materials act together in resisting forces.
(15) "Court” means an open, uncovered, and unoccupied space within the lot lines of a lot, and includes the yard.
(16) "Curb level” means the elevation of the street grade as fixed by the municipal authorities.
(17) “Dead load” means the weight of walls, partitions, floors, roofs, and all other permanent construction of a building.
(18) "Display sign” means a structure that is arranged, intended, designed, or used as an advertisement, announcement, or direction, and includes a sign, sign screen, billboard, and advertising devices of every kind.
(19) "Dwelling” means a building occupied exclusively for residence purposes and having not more than two apartments, or one occupied as a boarding or rooming house, and serving not more than fifteen persons with meals or sleeping accommodations or both.
(20) "Established grade” means the curb line grade at the front lot line as established by the municipal authorities.
(21) "Family” means any number of individuals living together as a single housekeeping unit and doing their cooking on the premises.
(22) "Fire door” means a door and its assembly, so constructed and assembled in place as to give the specified protection against the passage of fire.
(23) “Fire resistance rating” means the time in hours that the material or construction will withstand the standard fire exposure as determined by a fire test made in conformity with the Ohio Basic Building Code. Materials or construction rated as "combustible" shall not be acceptable for specified ratings of over one hour.
(24) "Floor area” means a floor space enclosed by exterior walls, fire walls, or fire partitions, or by a combination of them.
(25) "Front property line” means the front lot line as shown upon the official plats of the property.
(26) "Garage” means a building, shed, or enclosure, or a part thereof, in which one or more motor vehicles, each containing volatile inflammable liquid in its fuel storage tank, is stored, housed, or kept.
(27) "Garage, public” means any premises used for the storage or housing of more than three motor-driven vehicles, or where such vehicles are repaired or kept for hire or sale.
(28) "Gasoline service station” means a structure, building, premise, or any portion thereof, where gasoline or other volatile flammable liquid for retail supply to motor vehicles is stored, housed, or sold.
(29) "Habitable room” means a room occupied by one or more persons for living, eating, or sleeping. It includes kitchens, serving apartments, or individual households, but does not include bathrooms, water closet compartments, laundries, serving and storage pantries, corridors, cellars, and spaces that are not used frequently or during extended periods of time.
(30) "Half story” means a story situated under a sloping roof, the floor area of which does not exceed one-half of the floor area of the floor immediately below it and which does not contain an independent apartment. A half story shall not be counted for the purposes of determining yard dimensions.
(31) "Height of building” means the vertical distance at the building's principal front, measured from the established grade to the highest point of the roof beams in the case of flat roofs, and to the deck and ridges for gable, hip, or gambrel roofs. For buildings set back from the street line, the height may be measured from the average elevation of the finished grade along the front of the building.
(32) "Hotel” means a building occupied as the more or less temporary abiding place of individuals who pay the owner or manager for lodging, with or without meals, and in which there are more than five guest rooms, with no provision for cooking in any individual apartment.
(33) "Live load” means all loads except dead loads.
(34) “Lodging house” means a building other than a hotel where lodging for five or more persons is provided for compensation.
(35) "Lot” means a portion or parcel of land considered as a unit, devoted to a certain use or occupied by a building or a group of buildings that are united by a common interest or use, and the customary accessories and open spaces belonging to the same.
(36) "Lot line” means a line dividing one lot from another, or from a street or other public space.
(37) "Multi-family house” means a building occupied as the home or residence of individuals, families, or households living independently of each other, of which three or more are doing cooking within their apartments, including tenement houses, apartment houses, and flats.
(38) "Occupied”, as applied to a building, shall be construed as though followed by the words "or intended, arranged or designed to be occupied.”
(39) “Owner” includes his duly authorized agent or attorney, a purchaser, devisee, fiduciary, or a person having a vested or contingent interest in the property in question.
(40) “Place of assembly” means a room or space in which provision is made for the seating of 100 or more persons for religious, recreational, educational, political, social, or amusement purposes, or for the consumption of food or drink. Such room or space shall include any occupied connecting room or space in the same story, or in a story or stories above or below, where entrance is common to the rooms or spaces.
(41) "Repair” means the replacement of existing work with the same kind of material used in the existing work, not including additional work that would affect the structural safety of the building, that would affect a vital element of an elevator, plumbing, gas piping, wiring, or heating installation, or that would be in violation of a provision of law or ordinance.
(42) “Required” means required by some provision of this Building Code.
(43) "Residence building” means, except when classed as an institutional building, a building in which sleeping accommodations are provided.
(44) "Setback” means the minimum horizontal distance between the street line and the front line of any building or projection thereof, excluding steps and unenclosed porches extending not more than ten feet beyond the front wall of the building.
(45) "Single-family dwelling” means a building arranged or designed to be occupied by not more than one family.
(46) "Sprinklered” means equipped with an approved automatic sprinkler system properly maintained.
(47) "Stairway” means one or more flights of stairs with the necessary landings and platforms connecting them to form a continuous and uninterrupted passage from one story to another in a building or structure.
(48) "Standard fire test” means the fire test formulated under the procedure of the American Standards Association as "American Standard".
(49) "Story” means 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 no floor above it, then the space between such floor and the ceiling next above it.
(50) "Street” means any public thoroughfare, street, avenue, boulevard, park, or space more than twenty feet in width which has been dedicated or deeded to the public for public use.
(51) "Street line” means a lot line dividing a lot from a street.
(52) "Structure” means a combination of materials to form a construction that is safe and stable, including, among other structures, stadiums, gospel and circus tents, reviewing stands, platforms, stagings, observation towers, radio towers, water tanks and towers, trestles, piers, wharves, sheds, coal bins, fences, and display signs. The term "structure" shall be construed as if followed by the words "or part thereof".
(53) "Structural alteration” means any change in the supporting members of a building, such as bearing walls, columns, beams, or girders, and the addition of a structural part to a building or the removal of a structural part from a building.
(54) "This Building Code” includes, where the text permits, any and all amendments thereto as may hereafter from time to time be adopted.
(55) "Wall, bearing” means a wall which supports any vertical load in addition to its own weight.
(56) “Wall, cavity” means a wall built of masonry units or of plain concrete or a combination of these materials, so arranged as to provide an air space within the wall, and in which the inner and outer parts of the wall are tied together with ties of metal or other material.
(57) "Wall, fire” means a wall of brick or reinforced concrete which subdivides a building or separates buildings to restrict the spread of fire, and which starts at the foundation and extends continuously through all stories to and above the roof, except where the roof is fireproof or semifireproof and the wall is carried up tightly against the underside of the roof slab.
(58) "Wall, foundation” means a wall below the first floor extending below the adjacent ground level and serving as support for a wall, pier, column, or other structural part of a building.
(59) "Wall, hollow masonry” means a wall built of masonry units so arranged as to provide an air space within the wall, and in which the inner and outer parts of the wall are bonded together with masonry units.
(60) "Wall, nonbearing” means a wall which supports no load other than its own weight.
(61) "Wall, panel” means a nonbearing wall in skeleton construction, built between columns or piers and wholly supported at each story.
(62) "Wall, party” means a wall used or adapted for joint service between two buildings.
(63) "Wall, veneered” means a wall having a facing which is not attached and bonded to the backing, so as to form an integral part of the wall for purposes of load bearing and stability.
(64) "Writing” includes printing and typewriting.
(65) "Written notice” is considered to have been served if delivered in person to the individual or to the parties intended, or if delivered at or sent by registered mail to the last business address known to the party giving the notice.
(66) "Yard, front” means an open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a building between the front line of the building, exclusive of steps, and the front property line.
(67) "Yard, rear” means an open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a building between the rear line of the building, exclusive of steps, porches, and accessory buildings, and the rear line of the lot.
(68) "Yard, side” means an open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a building between the sidewall line of the building and the side line of the same lot.
(1980 Code 150.007; Ord. 234.)