The following terms are defined for use in this chapter:
1. “Administrative Official” means the Windsor Heights Administrative Official or appropriate designee.
2. “Big box retail” means a structure exceeding 50,000 square feet.
3. “Buffer” means a combination of horizontal space (land) and vertical elements (plants, berm, fences, and walls), used to physically separate or visually screen incompatible adjacent land uses.
4. “Community use” means administrative and legislative government offices, schools, postal facilities (such as libraries and museums), meeting halls, clubhouses, amphitheaters, band shells, and pavilions.
5. “Development Committee” means a committee made up of two Council Members, the Mayor, Planning and Zoning Commission liaison, Administrative Officials, two citizens and a business owner.
6. “Dormer” means a projecting framed structure set vertically on the rafters of a pitched roof, with its own roof (pitched or flat), sides, and a window set vertically in the front.
7. “Drive-Thru” means an establishment that provides or dispenses products or services, through an attendant or an automated machine, to persons remaining in their vehicle that are designated drive-thru stacking lanes. A drive-thru facility may be in combination with other uses, such as financial institutions, restaurants, pharmacies, and service providers such as dry cleaners.
8. “Façade” means the exterior face of a building which is the architectural front, sometimes distinguished from the other faces by elaboration of architectural or ornamental details.
9. “Landscape amenities” means living or non-living materials used to augment the beauty of usability of a landscaped area. Amenities may include (but are not limited to) additional vegetation, flower gardens, tables, sculptures, monuments, benches, gardens, banners, enhanced pavement, pedestrian plaza areas, fountains, and planters.
10. “Landscape islands” means a raised unpaved area located within or protruding into a parking lot or the center, unpaved area of a cul-de-sac or traffic circle. The area of a landscape island is measured from the back of the inside curb to the back of inside curb.
11. “Landscape pod” means a small individual unpaved area within a parking lot incorporated to provide locations for vegetation, thus increasing the aesthetic quality of the parking lot.
12. “Large retail strip establishments” means a structure (or structures when combined) which exceeds 50,000 square feet and is a largely nonresidential development, which is shallow in depth and lies along a length of roadway. Buildings organized in a linear pattern or in isolated “islands” characterize a large retail establishment.
13. “Live-work unit” means a unit which offers both a studio work environment and a living environment. The work environment shall be primarily involved in the artistic crafts, offices, or service uses with minimum impacts on surrounding neighborhood, such as self-employed consultants, researchers, or artists.
14. “Main entrance” means that entrance of the building which is most architecturally prominent and contains operable doors.
15. “Mixed use” means a single building containing two or more types of land use; or a single development of more than one building and use, where the different types of land uses are in close proximity, planned as a unified complementary whole, and functionally integrated to the use of shared vehicular and pedestrian access and parking areas.
16. “Open space” means any area within a single site or lot that is not covered by a building, structure, parking lot, or driveway. Sidewalks and patios may be counted as open space. Open space is an area which serves the need for leisure, recreation, or pedestrian interaction. Spaces may include (but are not limited to) plaza areas, open lawn areas, trails, recreation facilities, gardens, and pedestrian walkways.
17. “Opacity degree” means an imaginary vertical plane extending from the established grade to a required height, which will be visually obscured to deferring levels of opaqueness through the position of obstructions between the viewing point and the viewed object.
18. “Parapet” means a low, solid, protective screening or decorative wall, often used around a balcony, or along the edge of a roof to screen roof equipment.
19. “Pedestrian style or scale” or “human scale” means the establishment of appropriate proportions for building mass and features in relation to pedestrians and the surrounding context.
20. “Place making” means distinct features, such as parks, plazas, or civic areas which connect residents with a community and promote positive user interaction.
21. “Planned Unit Development” means a planned combination of diverse land uses, such as housing, recreation and shopping, in one contained development or subdivision.
22. “Plaza” means a public square or an open space.
23. “Smart Growth” means an approach to growth that focuses on developing urban (metropolitan) communities that are more hospitable, productive, and fiscally and environmentally responsible than most communities developed in the last century. The principles of smart growth are based on compact and multiuse development, infill and redevelopment, expansion of infrastructure, enhanced livability, expanded mobility, and conservation of open space. While some parties focus on one aspect of development over another, smart growth seeks to identify a common ground where developers, environmentalists, public officials, citizens, and others can call find ways to accommodate growth.
24. “Snout house” means a house designed with the garage closest to the street, which presents the garage as the dominant façade.
25. “Streetscape” means a combination of vegetation, amenities such as bike racks, and special visual features along either side of vehicular travel lanes for the purpose of aesthetics or shade.
26. “Streetscape furniture” means amenities, such as benches, lighting, and trash receptacles, which help to carry out the development’s chosen theme.
27. “Structural Offsets” means an architectural feature designed to break up monotonous building materials and provides enhanced aesthetics.
28. “Travel way” means a pedestrian or automotive path.
29. “Vehicle use area” means the area of a development subject to vehicle traffic, including access ways, loading and service areas, areas used for parking or storage of vehicles, boats, or portable construction equipment and all land which vehicles cross over as a function of the primary use.