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Windsor Heights Overview
Windsor Heights, IA Code of Ordinances
WINDSOR HEIGHTS, IA CODE OF ORDINANCES
SUPPLEMENT RECORD
CHAPTER 1 CODE OF ORDINANCES
CHAPTER 2 CHARTER
CHAPTER 3 BOUNDARIES
CHAPTER 4 MUNICIPAL INFRACTIONS
CHAPTER 5 OPERATING PROCEDURES
CHAPTER 6 CITY ELECTIONS
CHAPTER 7 FISCAL MANAGEMENT
CHAPTER 8 URBAN RENEWAL
CHAPTER 9 HOTEL-MOTEL TAX
CHAPTER 10 DEFERRED COMPENSATION FOR CITY EMPLOYEES
CHAPTER 11 URBAN REVITALIZATION
CHAPTER 15 MAYOR
CHAPTER 16 MAYOR PRO TEM
CHAPTER 17 CITY COUNCIL
CHAPTER 18 CITY CLERK
CHAPTER 19 FINANCE DIRECTOR/TREASURER
CHAPTER 20 CITY ATTORNEY
CHAPTER 21 CITY ADMINISTRATOR
CHAPTER 22 PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
CHAPTER 23 PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION
CHAPTER 30 POLICE DEPARTMENT
CHAPTER 30.11 UNBIASED POLICING POLICY
CHAPTER 31 ALARM SYSTEMS
CHAPTER 35 FIRE DEPARTMENT
CHAPTER 36 HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE SPILLS
CHAPTER 37 FIRE CODE
CHAPTER 40 PUBLIC OFFENSES
CHAPTER 50 NUISANCE ABATEMENT PROCEDURE
CHAPTER 51 DAMAGED OR INOPERABLE VEHICLES
CHAPTER 52 ABANDONED VEHICLES
CHAPTER 53 LITTER CONTROL
CHAPTER 54 NOISE POLLUTION
CHAPTER 55 ANIMAL PROTECTION AND CONTROL
CHAPTER 56 DANGEROUS DOGS
CHAPTER 57 ILLEGAL OR DANGEROUS ANIMALS
CHAPTER 60 TRAFFIC AND VEHICLES
CHAPTER 90 WATER SERVICE SYSTEM
CHAPTER 91 CROSS CONNECTION CONTROL
CHAPTER 95 SANITARY SEWER SYSTEM
CHAPTER 96 BUILDING SEWERS AND CONNECTIONS
CHAPTER 97 USE OF PUBLIC SEWERS
CHAPTER 98 ON-SITE WASTEWATER SYSTEMS
CHAPTER 100 REGULATION OF INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER AND COMMERCIAL WASTEWATER
CHAPTER 101 STORM WATER DRAINAGE UTILITY
CHAPTER 102 ILLICIT DISCHARGE TO STORM SEWER SYSTEM
CHAPTER 105 SOLID WASTE CONTROL AND RECYCLING
CHAPTER 106 COLLECTION OF SOLID WASTE
CHAPTER 107 SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL
CHAPTER 110 NATURAL GAS FRANCHISE
CHAPTER 111 ELECTRIC FRANCHISE
CHAPTER 112 FRANCHISE FEES
CHAPTER 113 CABLE TELEVISION REGULATIONS
CHAPTER 120 LIQUOR LICENSES AND WINE AND BEER PERMITS
CHAPTER 121 CIGARETTE AND TOBACCO PERMITS
CHAPTER 122 PEDDLERS, SOLICITORS AND TRANSIENT MERCHANTS
CHAPTER 123 HOUSE MOVERS
CHAPTER 124 PAWNBROKERS
CHAPTER 125 ADULT ENTERTAINMENT FACILITIES
CHAPTER 126 PUBLIC DANCE HALLS
CHAPTER 135 EXCAVATIONS OF PUBLIC PROPERTY
CHAPTER 136 SIDEWALK REGULATIONS
CHAPTER 137 VACATION AND DISPOSAL OF STREETS
CHAPTER 138 STREET AND SIDEWALK GRADES
CHAPTER 139 NAMING OF STREETS
CHAPTER 140 DRIVEWAY REGULATIONS
CHAPTER 141 FIBER OPTIC CABLE LICENSE
CHAPTER 142 PARKLETS
CHAPTER 150 BUILDING NUMBERING
CHAPTER 151 TREES AND VEGETATION
CHAPTER 152 TEMPORARY STRUCTURES
CHAPTER 153 TEMPORARY SIGNS
CHAPTER 155 BUILDING CODES
CHAPTER 156 PROPERTY MAINTENANCE AND RENTAL HOUSING CODE
CHAPTER 157 STANDARD CONSTRUCTION SPECIFICATIONS
CHAPTER 158 MECHANICAL CODE
CHAPTER 159 PLUMBING CODE
CHAPTER 160 CONSTRUCTION SITE EROSION AND SEDIMENT CONTROL
CHAPTER 161 POST-CONSTRUCTION STORM WATER CONTROL
CHAPTER 162 FUEL GAS CODE
CHAPTER 163 DEMOLITION & RAZE PERMIT
CHAPTER 165 ZONING CODE - GENERAL PROVISIONS
CHAPTER 166 ZONING CODE - DEFINITIONS
CHAPTER 167 ZONING CODE - USE TYPES
CHAPTER 168 ZONING CODE - ZONING DISTRICT REGULATIONS
CHAPTER 169 ZONING CODE - OVERLAY DISTRICTS
CHAPTER 170 ZONING CODE - DEVELOPMENT AND DESIGN STANDARDS
CHAPTER 171 TEMPORARY USES AND STRUCTURES
CHAPTER 172 ZONING CODE - SUPPLEMENTAL SITE DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS
CHAPTER 173 ZONING CODE - LANDSCAPING AND SCREENING STANDARDS
CHAPTER 174 ZONING CODE - OFF-STREET PARKING
CHAPTER 175 ZONING CODE - SIGN REGULATIONS
CHAPTER 176 ZONING CODE - NONCONFORMING DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 177 ZONING CODE - ADMINISTRATION AND PROCEDURES
CHAPTER 178 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
CHAPTER 179 BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT
CHAPTER 180 CONDITIONAL USE PERMITS
CHAPTER 181 ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT
CHAPTER 183 MOBILE FOOD UNITS
CHAPTER 185 FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT
170.12 DEFINITIONS.
   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.