(A) For the purpose of this subchapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
(B) All distances, unless otherwise specified, shall be measured horizontally.
(C) For definitions not specifically stated in this subdivision, those definitions as contained in 7 shall be used.
ACCESSORY BUILDING. A subordinate building or structure on the same lot or part of the main building, occupies by or devoted exclusively to an accessory use.
BLUFF. A topographic feature such as a hill, cliff, or embankment having the following characteristics (an area with an average slope of less than 18% over a distance for 50 feet or more shall not be considered part of the BLUFF):
(a) Part or all of the feature is located shoreland area;
(b) The slope rises at least 25 feet above the ordinary high water level of the waterbody;
(c) The grade of the slope from the toe of the bluff to a point 25 feet or more above the ordinary high water level averages 30% or greater; and
(d) The slope must drain toward the waterbody.
BLUFF IMPACT ZONE. A bluff and land located within 20 feet from the top of a bluff.
BOATHOUSE. A structure designed and used for the storage of boats or boating equipment.
BUILDING LINE. A line parallel to a lot line or the ordinary high water level at the minimum required setback beyond which a structure may not extend.
COMMERCIAL PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT. There are typically uses that provide transient, short-term lodging spaces, rooms or parcels and their operations that are essentially service- oriented. For example, hotel/motel accommodations, resorts and other primarily service-oriented activities are potential COMMERCIAL PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENTS.
COMMERCIAL USE. The principal use of land or buildings for the sale, lease, rental or trade of products, goods and services.
CONDITIONAL USE. A use which, because of unique characteristics, cannot be classified as a permitted use in any particular district.
DNR. The Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources.
DECK. A horizontal, unenclosed platform with or without attached railings, seats, trellises or other features, attached or functionally related to a principal use or site and at any point extending more than three feet above ground.
DUPLEX. A dwelling structure on a single lot, having two units, attached by common walls and each unit equipped with separate sleeping, cooking, eating, living and sanitation facilities.
DWELLING SITE. A designated location for residential use by one or more persons using temporary or movable shelter, including camping and recreational vehicle sites.
DWELLING UNIT. A residential building or portion thereof intended for occupancy by a single family, but not including hotels, motels, boarding or rooming houses or tourist homes.
(a) ATTACHED DWELLING. A dwelling which is joined to another dwelling at one or more sides by a party wall or wails.
(b) MULTIPLE DWELLING. A building used or intended to be used as a dwelling by three or more families, where each dwelling unit is divided by a parts wall extending the full height of the ceiling. Each unit is capable of individual use and maintenance without trespassing upon adjoining properties and utilities and service facilities are independently serviceable.
(c) SINGLE-FAMILY DWELLING. A dwelling occupied by only one family, and so designed and arranged as to provide cooking and kitchen accommodations and sanitary facilities for one family only.
(d) TWO-FAMILY DWELLING. A dwelling so designed and arranged to provide cooking and kitchen accommodations and sanitary facilities for occupancy by two families.
EXTRACTIVE USE. The use of land for surface or subsurface removal of sand, gravel, rock, industrial minerals, other nonmetallic minerals and peat not regulated under M.S. §§ 93.44 to 93.51, as they may be amended from time to time.
FOREST LAND CONVERSION. The clear cutting of forested lands to prepare for a new land use other than reestablishment of a subsequent forest stand.
GUEST COTTAGE. A structure used as a dwelling unit that may contain sleeping spaces and kitchen and bathroom facilities in addition to those provided in the primary dwelling unit on a lot.
HARDSHIP. The property in question cannot be put to reasonable use under the conditions allowed by the official controls; the plight of the landowner is due to circumstances unique to his or her property, not created by the landowner; and the variance, if granted, will not alter the essential character of the locality. Economic considerations alone shall not constitute a HARDSHIP if a reasonable use for the property exists under terms of the official controls.
HEIGHT OF BUILDING. The vertical distance between the highest adjoining ground level at the building or ten feet above the lowest ground level, whichever is lower, and the highest point of a flat roof or average height of the highest gable of a pitched or hipped roof.
INDUSTRIAL USE. The use of land or buildings for the production, manufacture, warehousing, storage or transfer of goods, products, commodities or other wholesale items.
INTENSIVE VEGETATION CLEARING. The complete removal of trees, grasses or shrubs in a contiguous patch, strip, row or block.
LOT. A parcel or plot of land intended for building development or as a unit for transfer of ownership or reserved area as an outlot.
(a) CORNER LOT. A lot situated at the intersection of two streets, the interior angle of the intersection not exceeding 135°.
(b) THROUGH LOT. A lot which has a pair of opposite lot lines abutting two substantially paralleled streets, and which is not a corner lot. On a THROUGH LOT, both street lines shall be front lot lines for applying this chapter.
LOT WIDTH. The maximum horizontal distance between the side lot lines of a lot measured within the first 30 feet of the lot depth. The LOT WIDTH shall determine the required road frontage and shoreline frontage for lots.
NONCONFORMITY. Any legal use, structure or parcel of land already in existence, recorded or authorized before the adoption of official controls or amendments thereto that would not have been permitted to become established under the terms of the official controls as now written, if the official controls had been in effect prior to the date it was established, recorded or authorized.
ORDINARY HIGH WATER LEVEL (OHWL). The boundary of public waters and wetlands, shall be an elevation delineating the highest water level which has been maintained for a sufficient period of time to leave evidence upon the landscape, commonly that point where the natural vegetation changes from predominantly aquatic to predominantly terrestrial. For watercourses, the ORDINARY HIGH WATER LEVEL is the elevation of the top of the bank of the channel in the reach 1,000 feet upstream from the site under consideration. For reservoirs and flowages, the ORDINARY HIGH WATER LEVEL is the elevation specified herein for the water body, if specified, otherwise the elevation is that listed by the DNR, if specified, otherwise the operating elevation of the summer pool.
PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT or CLUSTER DEVELOPMENT. A type of development characterized by a unified site design for a number of dwelling units or dwelling sites on a parcel, whether for sale, rent of lease and also usually involving clustering of these units or sites to provide areas of common space, density, increase and/or mix of structure types and land uses. These developments may be organized and operated as condominiums, time-share condominiums, cooperatives, full fee ownership, commercial enterprises or any combination of these, or cluster subdivisions of dwelling units, residential condominiums, townhouses or apartment buildings and accessory land uses to the principal users.
PUBLIC WATERS. Any waters, as defined in M.S. § 1036.005(15), as it may be amended from time to time, contained herein.
RESIDENTIAL PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT.
(a) A use where the nature of residency is nontransient and the major or primary focus of the development is not service-oriented.
(b) For example, residential apartments, manufactured home parks, timeshare condominiums, townhouses, cooperatives and full fee ownership residences would be considered as
RESIDENTIAL PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENTS. To qualify, a development must contain at least five dwelling units or sites.
RIPARIAN LOT. A lot which borders on or has direct access to a lake, river or stream.
SEMIPUBLIC USE. The use of land by a private, nonprofit organization to provide a public service that is ordinarily open to some persons outside the regular constituency of the organization.
SENSITIVE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT. The preservation and management of areas unsuitable for development in their natural state due to constraints such as shallow soils over groundwater or bedrock, highly erosive or expansive soils, steep slopes, susceptibility to flooding or occurrence of flora and fauna in need of special protection.
SETBACK. The minimum horizontal distance between a structure, sewage treatment system or other feature and an ordinary high water level, sewage treatment system, pow top of a bluff, road, highway, property line or other facility.
SEWAGE TREATMENT SYSTEM. A septic tank and soil absorption system or other individual or cluster type sewage treatment system, as regulated herein.
SEWER SYSTEM. Pipelines or conduits, pumping stations, force mains and all other constructions, devices, appliances or appurtenances used for conducting sewage or industrial waste or other wastes to a point of ultimate treatment and disposal.
SHORE IMPACT ZONE. Land located between the ordinary high water level of a public water and a line parallel to it at a setback of 50% of the structure setback.
SHORELAND. Land located within the following distances from public waters: 1,000 feet from the ordinary high water level of a lake, pond, or flowage; and 300 feet from a river or stream, or the landward extent of a floodplain designated by ordinance on a river or stream, whichever is greater. The limits of shorelands may be reduced whenever the waters involved are bounded by topographic divides that extend landward from the waters for lesser distances and when approved by the City Council or its duly appointed representative
SIGNIFICANT HISTORIC SITE.
(a) Any archaeological site, standing structure or other property that meets the criteria for eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places, is listed in the State Register of Historic Sites or is determined to be an unplatted cemetery that falls under the provisions of M.S. § 307.08, as it may be amended from time to time.
(b) A historic site meets these criteria if it is presently listed on either register or if it is determined to meet the qualifications for listing after review by the State Archaeologist or the Director of the State Historical Society. All unplatted cemeteries are automatically considered
SIGNIFICANT HISTORIC SITES.
(c) Any archaeological site, standing structure or other property that has been identified through an environmental review process (Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW), Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), Alternate Urban Area-wide Review (AUAR), etc.).
STEEP SLOPES.
(a) Land where agricultural activity or development is either not recommended or described as poorly suited due to slope steepness and the site’s soil characteristics, as mapped and described in available county soil surveys or other technical reports, unless appropriate design and construction techniques and farming practices are used in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
(b) Where specific information is not available,
STEEP SLOPES are lands having average slopes over 12%, as measured over horizontal distances of 50 feet or more, that are not bluffs.
STRUCTURE. Any building or appurtenance, including decks, except aerial or underground utility lines, such as sewer, electric, telephone, telegraph, gas lines, towers, poles and other supporting facilities.
SUBDIVISION. Land that is divided for the purpose of sale, rent or lease, including planned unit development.
SURFACE WATER-ORIENTED COMMERCIAL USE. The use of land for commercial purposes, where access to and use of a surface water feature is an integral part of the normal conductance of business. Marinas, resorts and restaurants with transient docking facilities are examples of such use.
VARIANCE. The same as term defined or described in M.S. Ch. 462 as it may be amended from time to time.
WATER-ORIENTED ACCESSORY STRUCTURE OR FACILITY.
(a) A small, above ground building or other improvement, except stairways, fences, docks and retaining walls, which, because of the relationship of its use to a surface water feature, reasonably need to be located closer to public waters than the normal structure setback.
(b) Examples are gazebos and detached decks.
WETLAND. A surface water feature classified as a wetland in the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Circular No. 39 (1971 edition) and amended by Appendix B of the Minnesota Wetlands Conservation Plan, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
(Ord. passed 3-9-93; Am. Ord. 98-02, passed 11-10-98; Am. Ord. 00-01, passed 5-9-00; Am. Ord. 00-03, passed 6-13-00; Am. Ord. 04-01, passed 8-10-04)