For the purposes of the Zoning Ordinance, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively described to them by this section. If not defined herein, or within other sections of the Zoning Ordinance, terms used in the Zoning Ordinance shall have the meanings provided in any standard dictionary or American Planning Association publication as determined by the Planning Officer.
(1) Abandonment - The voluntary evacuation of a use for a continuous period of at least 6 months duration, either by completely or partly vacating the zoning lot.
(2) Access - The way or means by which pedestrians or vehicles enter or leave property.
(3) Accessory structure - A subordinate structure located on the same lot with the principal structure, occupied or devoted to an accessory use which is:
A. A use conducted on the same zoning lot as the principal use to which it is related (whether located within the same or an accessory structure, or as an accessory use of land), and
B. A use which is clearly incidental to, and customarily found in connection with, such principal use; and
C. A use subordinate in area, floor area, intensity, extent, and purpose to the principal use; and
D. A use either in the same ownership as such principal use, or operated and maintained on the same zoning lot substantially for the benefit or convenience of the owners, occupants, employees, customers, or visitors of the principal use. An accessory use shall not be the sole use of a zoning lot, unless the lot is adjacent to the principal lot and owned by the same owner as the principal lot. In addition, if the primary structure is sold or demolished and the accessory structure is located on the adjacent lot, then the accessory structure must be removed as well.
(4) Adult business - Any business, including but not limited to a book store, videotape store, motion picture theater, or entertainment establishment, whose merchandise or activities are primarily limited to adult patrons due to their graphic nature. This shall not include bars or other establishments who are required to limit their patrons to adults due to alcohol being served.
(5) Agriculture - The use of land for a bona fide farming operation. This includes activities such as dairying, horticulture, floriculture, animal and poultry husbandry, and other similar activities. Agricultural activity shall not include commercial slaughtering of livestock, poultry, nor fish and meat processing.
(6) Alteration, incidental - A change or replacement in the parts of a building or other structure, such as:
A. Alteration of interior partitions to improve a nonconforming residential building, provided no additional dwelling units are created thereby;
B. Alteration of interior partitions in all other types of buildings or structures;
C. A minor addition on the exterior of a residential building to provide an uncovered porch or patio;
D. Installing windows or doors in exterior walls;
E. Strengthening the load bearing capacity in not more than ten (10) percent of the total floor area to permit the accommodation of a specialized unit of machinery or equipment; or
F. Replacement of, or minor changes in the capacity of , utility pipes, ducts, or conduits.
(7) Amendment - Any repeal, modification, or addition to a regulation; any new regulation; any change in the numbers, shape, boundary, or area of a district; or any repeal or abolition of any map, part thereof, or addition thereto.
(8) Assembly Hall - A facility or part of a building used for the assembly of people for receptions, weddings, parties and similar uses.
(9) Assisted Living Facility - A residence for the frail elderly that provide rooms, meals, personal care and supervision of self-administered medication. They may provide other services such as recreational services, financial services and transportation.
(10) Bar - Premises used primarily for the sale or dispensing of liquor by the drink for on-site consumption and where food may be available for consumption accessory to the principal use.
(11) Block - An area of land bounded by roads providing access to such area.
(12) Building - A structure with a roof built and maintained for the support, shelter, or enclosure of persons, motor vehicles, animals, or personal or real property.
(13) Building, Height of - The vertical distance measured from the level of approved street grade opposite the middle of the front of the building to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof; to the deck line of a mansard roof; and to the mean height level between eaves and ridge of gable, hip or gambrel roof.
(14) Building line - A line drawn parallel to a front lot line at a distance there from equal to the depth of a required front setback.
(15) Buffer Strip – Land area used to visually separate one use from another or to shield or block noise, light or other nuisances. A strip may be required to include fencing, berms, shrubs and/or trees.
(16) Child Care Center - A day nursery or other place for the reception, board, or care, with or without compensation, of seven or more children under 16 years of age. This term shall not apply to:
A. A kindergarten, preschool, or school education program which is operated by a public school, or a school which is accredited by the State Department of Education, or any other kindergarten, preschool or school programs which operate with sessions not exceeding four hours per day;
B. A facility operated for nonresidential care of children for brief periods, not more than four hours, while the parent(s) is shopping, engaging in recreational activities, attending religious services, or engaging in other business or personal affairs;
C. Summer recreation camps operated for children attending for periods not exceeding thirty days; or
D. Family and in-home care when fewer than seven children are cared for.
(17) Duplex dwelling (two family) - A building designed or used exclusively for the occupancy of no more than two families living independently of each other and having separate housekeeping facilities for each family.
(18) Dwelling - A building, or portion thereof, occupied, in whole or part, as the home, residence, or sleeping place of one or more families, either permanently or temporarily, but excluding hotels and motels (Single-family dwellings must be a minimum of 20 feet wide and 1,000 square feet).
(19) Dwelling unit - One or more habitable rooms occupied, or intended or designed to be occupied, by one family with facilities for living, sleeping, cooking, and eating.
(20) Easement - A lawfully acquired right or privilege to use a parcel of land or portion thereof for a specified purpose. An easement is retained by a person other than the owner of the land parcel.
(21) Enlargement - An addition to the floor area of an existing building, an increase in the size of any other structure, or an increase in that portion of a tract of land occupied by an existing use.
(22) Family - Two or more persons related by blood, marriage, or legal adoption, or not more than three unrelated persons, occupying a dwelling unit and maintaining a common household.
(23) Floor area, gross - The sum of the gross horizontal areas of the floors of a building or buildings measured from the exterior walls of the building. This definition shall include attic space providing structural headroom of eight feet or more and basement space, unless such space is used for storage.
(24) Glare - The effect produced by brightness sufficient to cause annoyance, discomfort or lessen visual performance and visibility.
(25) Group housing development - More than one principal residential building per lot of record, with or without accessory uses or structures.
(26) Home occupation - An accessory use which:
A. Is clearly incidental to or secondary to the residential use of a dwelling unit; and
B. Is customarily and traditionally carried on within a dwelling unit by one or more occupants of such dwelling unit; and
C. Is limited to members of the resident family.
A home occupation shall be conducted wholly within the principal or accessory structure. It shall not be permitted to:
A. Sell upon the premises articles produced elsewhere; or
B. Have exterior displays or a display of goods visible from the outside; or
C. Store materials or products outside a principal or accessory structure; or
D. Make external structural alterations which are not customary in residential buildings; or
E. Display signs (except one non-illuminated sign not exceeding a total area of two square feet, affixed to the building, and not projecting more than one foot beyond the building).
F. Generate traffic by such home occupation in greater volume than would normally be expected in a residential neighborhood. Any need for parking generated by the conduct of such home occupation shall be met off the street and other than in a required front yard.
Home occupations include, but not limited to fine art studios, professional offices, teaching of not more than two pupils simultaneously, seamstresses, cabinetmakers, real estate or insurance agents, and door-to-door sales of home or cosmetic products (excluding warehousing activity).
Home occupations shall not include: dance studios, commercial repair or storage of automobiles or watercraft, mortuary establishments, boarding or rooming houses or tourist homes, antique shops, or commercial kennels.
(27) Hotel - A building containing six or more guest rooms intended or designed to be used, or which are used, rented, or hired out to be occupied, for sleeping purposes by guests. Access to more than 50 percent of the guest units shall be by individual entrances from inside the building.
(28) Kennel - Any lot on which three or more dogs and/or cats, six months old or older, are kept. A kennel may be for either private or commercial use.
(29) Landscaping - Open area devoted primarily to trees, grass, shrubs, or plants. As complementary features, fountains, pools, screens, decorative lighting, sculpture, or outdoor furnishings may be placed within said area.
(30) Lot - An area with fixed boundaries, used or intended to be used by one building and its accessory building(s), and not divided by any road.
(31) Lot coverage - That portion of a lot which, when viewed directly from above, would be covered by a building(s).
(32) Lot line - The property line bounding a lot.
(33) Lot line, front - A lot line separating said lot from the road.
(34) Lot line, rear - The lot line that is most distant from and is, or is most nearly, parallel to the front lot line. If the rear lot line is less than ten feet long, or if the lot comes to a point at the rear, the rear lot line shall be a line at least ten feet long, lying wholly within the lot, parallel to the front lot line. Where there are two or more front lot lines, only the lot line most distant there from, running nearly parallel to, shall be a rear lot line. Where there is no deepest line, there shall be a choice.
(35) Lot line, side - Any lot line which is not a front lot line or a rear lot line.
(36) Lot of record - A lot which is part of a legal subdivision recorded in the office of the County Clerk, or a lot or parcel described by metes and bounds, the description of which has been so recorded and legally subdivided.
(37) Lot of record, pre-existing nonconforming - A lot consisting entirely of a tract of land that:
A. Has less than the prescribed minimum lot size, width, or depth, or any combination thereof, for single family dwellings; and
B. Is shown by a recorded plat or deed to have been owned separately and individually when creation of a lot of such size, width, or depth, or any combination thereof, at such location would not have been prohibited by any applicable zoning regulations; and
C. Has remained in separate and individual ownership from adjoining tracts of land continuously during the entire time that creation of such a lot has been prohibited by the applicable zoning regulations.
(38) Lot width - The distance between the side lot lines of a lot at the building line.
(39) Mixed use - Residential and commercial uses on one lot or in one building.
(40) Motel - A building or group of buildings containing six or more guest rooms intended or designed to be used, or which are used, rented, or hired out to be occupied, or which are occupied for sleeping purposes by primarily transient guests. Access to at least 50 percent of the guest units shall be by individual entrances from outside the building.
(41) Multi-family dwelling - A building designed or used for occupancy by three or more families, all living independently of each other, and having separate housekeeping facilities for each family.
(42) Nonconforming use - Any legally established or created use which does not conform to the applicable regulations of the district in which it is located, either on the effective date of the Zoning Ordinance or as a result of any subsequent amendment thereto. However, no existing use shall be deemed nonconforming solely because of the existence of nonconforming accessory signs.
(43) Non-transient roomer - A roomer whose minimum stay is three months.
(44) Nursing home - Rest home, convalescent home, or home for the aged devoted primarily to the maintenance and operation of facilities for the treatment and care of any persons suffering from illness, disease, deformity, or injury not requiring the intensive care that is normally provided by hospitals, but who do require care in excess of room and board and who need medical, nursing, convalescent, or chronic care. Institutions primarily for the treatment and care of mental patients, alcoholics, or drug addicts shall not be considered nursing homes.
(45) Old Town - The area from Bridge Street to Scott Lane and the River to the Courthouse property.
(46) Operational vehicle - A vehicle immediately capable of being driven.
(47) Parking area - An off-street area devoted to vehicular parking containing two or more parking spaces and including on-site roadways, aisles, stalls, islands, features, and maneuvering areas. For the purpose of this definition, the term off-street shall mean off a road right-of-way.
(48) Parking structure or lot, automobile (commercial) - A structure or lot, or portion thereof, used for the parking of motor vehicles for a consideration where service or repair facilities are not permitted. Such structure or lot shall not be used for the storage of non-operational motor vehicles, parts thereof, or junk.
(49) Personal Care Home - An institution or a distinct part of an institution that is licensed or approved to provide health care under medical supervision for 24 or more consecutive hours to two or more patients who are not related to the governing authority or its members by marriage, blood, or adoption.
(50) Planning Officer or Staff - The individual(s) designated by the Planning Commission to be responsible for the administration of the terms of the Zoning Ordinance.
(51) Private - A space or facility intended, designed, and available only to one single family dwelling, one duplex, one apartment or condominium development, one mobile home park, or one planned unit development. Examples include a private recreational facility, such as a basketball court or tennis court, or a private swimming pool.
(52) Rooming house or boarding house - A dwelling in which, for compensation, lodging or meals are furnished to three or more, but not exceeding nine guests. A rooming house or boarding house shall not be deemed a home occupation.
(53) Salvage Yard - A parcel of land, or portion thereof, where any waste, discarded, used, salvaged, or secondhand materials are bought, sold, exchanged, stored, processed, or handled as a business. Materials shall include scrap iron and other metals, rubber tires, glass, used lumber or brick, or other similar property. A salvage yard shall also include a lot, or portion thereof, used for collecting, dismantling, storing, salvaging, or sale of parts of machinery or appliances not in running condition, or inoperative motor vehicles as a business. Also, see the salvage yard ordinance for the Town of Winfield.
(54) School - business or secretarial - An institution or place for instruction, specifically in courses of bookkeeping, business administration, operation of business machines, shorthand, typing, and related courses, operated for an intended profit. Business colleges shall be included in this definition.
(55) School - industrial, technical, or trade - An institution or place for instruction, specifically in one or more of the general trades such as welding, carpentry, electronics, automotive repair, or barber or beauty culture.
(56) School - nursery, kindergarten, elementary, middle, or senior high - An institution providing full- time day instruction and a course of study which meets the requirements of the Code of West Virginia, or a nursery school or kindergarten whose annual session does not exceed the school sessions for full-time day schools prescribed in the Code of West Virginia and which is operated by the County Board of Education, an established religious organization, or under a permit issued pursuant to the Code of West Virginia.
(57) Setback - That portion of a lot extending open and unobstructed by a structure from the lowest level to the sky along a lot line, from the lot line for a depth or width set forth in the applicable district regulation.
(58) Setback, front - That area included between any front lot line(s) and a line drawn parallel at all points to said lot line(s), the distance between the lines to be the depth set forth in the applicable district regulations. Said distance shall be measured perpendicularly from all points on the front lot line(s).
(59) Setback, rear - That area extending for the full length of a rear lot line, the depth of which as set forth in the applicable district regulations. The required depth shall be measured perpendicularly from all points on the rear lot line(s).
(60) Setback, side - That area extending along the side lot line(s), measured perpendicularly from all points on the side lot line(s).
FIGURE 2-1, SETBACKS
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F = Front Setback
R = Rear Setback
S = Side Setback
(61) Sign - Any writing (including letter, word, or numeral), pictorial representative (including illustration or decoration), emblem (including device, symbol, or trademark), flag (including banner or pennant), or any other figure of similar character, which is:
A. A structure or any part thereof, or attached to, painted on, or in any other manner represented on a building or other structure; and
B. Used to announce, direct attention to, or advertise; and
C. Visible from outside a building (A sign shall include writing, representation, or other figure of similar character within a building only when illuminated or located in a window); and
D. Accessory to the other uses permitted on the lot.
(62) Sign, back-to-back - Two (2) integrally connected signs facing in opposite directions and separated by not more than five feet.
(63) Sign, changeable - A sign or portion thereof with characters, letters, or illustrations that can be changed or rearranged without altering the face or the surface of the sign. A sign on which the message changes more than eight times per day shall be considered an animated sign and not a changeable sign for purposes of the Zoning Ordinance. A sign on which the only copy that changes is an electronic or mechanical indication of time or temperature shall be considered a "time and temperature" portion of a sign.
(64) Sign, freestanding - A sign supported by one or more uprights, poles, braces, or other support placed permanently and securely in or upon the ground surface and not attached to any building.
(65) Sign, identification - A sign that identifies a business, owner, resident, or street address and which sets forth no other advertisement.
(66) Sign, illuminated - A sign that provides artificial light, directly or through any transparent or translucent material, from a source of light connected with such a sign, or a sign illuminated by a light so shielded that no direct rays from it are visible from any public right-of-way or from the abutting property.
(67) Sign, off-premise - A sign that contains a message unrelated to a business or profession conducted or to a commodity, service, or entertainment sold or offered upon the premises where such sign is located.
(68) Sign, portable - A free-standing sign not permanently anchored or secured to either a building or the ground, such as a sign that is held down with stakes or "A" frame, "T" shaped, inverted "T" shaped sign structures.
(69) Sign, projecting - A sign which projects 12" or greater from and is supported by the wall of a building.
(70) Sign, roof - A sign erected, constructed, and maintained wholly upon or over the roof of any building with the principal support on the roof structure.
(71) Sign, temporary - A display or informational sign intended for a limited period of display, including decorative displays for holidays or special events.
(72) Sign, wall - A sign which is attached directly to or painted upon a building wall with the exposed face of the sign in a plane parallel to said wall and projects less than 12".
(73) Single family dwelling - A detached building designed or used exclusively for the occupancy of one family and having housekeeping facilities for only one family. A duplex is considered a single-family dwelling unit with each unit designed or used exclusively for the occupancy of one family and having housekeeping facilities for only one family.
(74) Story - That portion of a building above ground level at the building line between floors, except that the top story shall be that portion of a building included between the upper surface of the top floor and the ceiling above.
(75) Structure - Anything constructed or erected which has a roof and is located on a lot.
(76) Subdivision - The division of a tract or parcel of land into two or more lots, plots, sites, or other division of land for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of transfer of legal or equitable title, interest, or ownership or of building development, including all changes in roads or lot lines.
(77) Townhouse - One of a series of three or more attached dwelling units separated from one another by continuous vertical party walls without openings from basement floor to roof.
(78) Unified shopping facilities - Any tract of land upon which two (2) or more retail sales establishments are located and developed as a unit with accessory parking facilities. Unified shopping facilities are distinguished from miscellaneous collections of individual stores developed independently and standing on separate parcels along street frontages or clustered in a contiguous area with or without incidental off-street parking.
(79) Use - Any purpose for which a building or other structure of a tract of land may be maintained or occupied, or any activity, occupation, business, or operation carried on in a building or other structure or on a tract of land.
(80) Variance - A modification of the terms of the Zoning Ordinance.
(81) Warehousing - A building used primarily for the storage of goods and materials.
(Ord. 2005-06-02. Passed 3-20-06.)