For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
AGRICULTURE. The growing of soil crops in the customary manner on open tracts of land, the raising of animals or poultry, excepting kennels, farms for disposal of garbage or offal and commercial feedlots; includes incidental retail selling by the producer of products raised on the premises, providing customer parking space is furnished off the public right-of-way.
ALLEY. A public or private right-of-way less than 30 feet in width which affords secondary means of access to abutting property.
APARTMENT BUILDING. Three or more apartments grouped in one building.
APARTMENTS. A room or suite of rooms designed for, intended for or used as a residence for one family or individual and equipped with cooking facilities.
BOARDING HOUSE. Any dwelling other than a hotel or a motel where meals or lodging and meals for compensation are provided for five or more persons pursuant to previous arrangements and not to anyone who may apply.
BUILDING. Any structure for the shelter, support or enclosure of persons, animals, chattel or property of any kind; and when separated by party walls without openings, each portion of such building so separated shall be deemed a separate BUILDING.
BUILDING, ACCESSORY. A subordinate building, the use of which is incidental to that of the main building on the same lot. The building must be not less than five feet from the main building or any projection thereof; otherwise it shall be considered part of the main building.
BUILDING HEIGHT. The vertical distance from the average of the lowest and highest point of that portion of the lot covered by the building to the ceiling of the topmost story.
CAMPGROUND. A land use consisting of designated campsites with appropriate facilities designed for temporary occupation by tents or recreational vehicles as defined in Minnesota Statutes. Includes public ownership, single private ownership, membership ownership, or individual site ownership with an owners’ association, or management services with site rentals.
DWELLINGS. Any building or part thereof which is designed or used exclusively for residential purposes for one or more human beings either permanently or transiently.
FAMILY. Any number of individuals living together on the premises as a single non-profit housekeeping unit (except for necessary servants) as distinguished from a group occupying a boarding house, lodging house, hotel, club, fraternity or sorority house.
FENCES. Fences in a residential district shall not exceed seven feet in height and must be constructed of wood or decorative metal or vinyl material. The fence must be constructed inside the property line of the property owner for maintenance purposes. The fence posts or fence supports shall be placed on the property owner’s side of the fence. No fence shall be constructed in the front yard of the property or adjacent to the public sidewalk without a special use permit.
FLOOR AREA. The sum of the gross horizontal areas of the several floors of a building, measured from the exterior walls, including basements and attached accessories.
GARAGE, PRIVATE. An accessory building for storage only of self-propelled vehicles and tools and equipment maintained incidental to a conforming use of the premises. No private garage used or intended for the storage of passenger automobiles shall exceed 1,200 square feet of main floor area, nor shall any access door or other openings exceed the height of ten feet.
GARAGE, PUBLIC. Any premises, except those defined as a private garage, used for storage or care of self-propelled vehicles and/or where any such vehicles are equipped for operation, repaired or kept for remuneration, hire or sale.
HOME OCCUPATION. Any use customarily conducted entirely within the main dwelling or attached/detached accessory buildings, and carried on by members of the family residing therein, which use is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling and does not change the character thereof (permitted uses are set forth in § 152.031).
HOTEL. Any building or portion thereof where lodging is offered to transient guests for compensation and in which there are more than five sleeping rooms with no cooking facilities in individual dwelling units.
JUNK YARD. Land or buildings where waste, discarded or salvaged materials are bought, sold, exchanged, stored, cleaned, packed, disassembled or handled, including but not limited to scrap metal, rags, paper, rubber products, glass products, lumber products and products resulting from the wrecking of automobiles or other machinery.
LOT AREA. The land area within the lot lines.
LOT CORNER. A lot situated at the intersection of two or more streets.
LOT DEPTH. The average distance between the front and rear lot line (the greater frontage of a corner lot shall be deemed its depth and the lesser frontage its width).
LOT, DOUBLE FRONTAGE. An interior lot having frontage on two streets.
LOT, INTERIOR. A lot other than a corner lot.
LOT, KEY. The first lot to the rear of a corner lot, the front line of which is a continuation of the side line of the corner lot, exclusive of the width of any alley and fronting on the street which intersects or intercepts the street on which the corner lot fronts.
LOT WIDTH. The horizontal straight line distance between the side lot lines at the setback line.
MANUFACTURED HOME. A structure, transportable in one or more sections, that, in the traveling mode, is eight body feet or more in width or 40 body feet or more in length, or, when erected on site, is 320 or more square feet, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling, with or without a permanent foundation, when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning and electrical systems contained in it, and which complies with the manufactured home building code as provided by M.S. §§ 327.31 to 327.35, as they may be amended from time to time.
NONCONFORMING USE. A use lawfully in existence on the effective date of this chapter and not conforming to the regulations for the district in which it is situated, except that such a use is not nonconforming if it would be authorized under a special use permit where located.
PERSONS. Any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint stock association or body politic, includes any trustee, receiver, assignee or similar representative thereof.
PREFABRICATED BUILDING. Any building or building module which is of closed construction and which is made, constructed, or assembled in manufacturing facilities, on or off the building site, for installation, or assembly and installation, on the building site, but does not include relocatable contractors’ offices or storage buildings that are 1,500 square feet or less in floor area, that are designed for temporary use by a contractor at a construction site, that are not to be used by the general public or as a sales office, and that will be removed prior to or upon completion of the construction project.
PREMISES. A lot or plot with the required front, side and rear yards for a dwelling or other use as allowed under this chapter.
SETBACK. The shortest distance between the front lot line and the foundation wall of a building or the allowable building line as defined by the front yard regulations of this chapter.
SIGN. A name, identification, display, illustration or device which is affixed to or represented directly or indirectly upon a building, structure or land in view of the general public and which directs attention to a product, place, activity, purpose, institution or business.
SIGN, ADVERTISING. A sign which directs attention to a business, commodity, service, activity or entertainment not necessarily conducted, sold or offered upon the premises where such a sign is located.
SIGN, BUSINESS. A sign which directs attention to a business or profession or a commodity, service or entertainment sold or offered upon the premises where such sign is located.
SIGN, FLASHING. Any illuminated sign on which such illumination is not kept stationary or constant in intensity and color at all times when such sign is in use.
SIGN, FREESTANDING. A sign supported by one or more upright poles, columns, or braces, placed in or on the ground and not attached to any building or structure.
SIGN, ILLUMINATED. Any sign which has characters, letters, figures, designs or outlines illuminated by electric lights or luminous tubes as a part of the design.
SIGN, NAMEPLATE. Any sign which states the name or address or both of the business or occupant of the lot where the sign is placed.
SIGN, PORTABLE. A non-permanent sign, with no moving parts or flashing lights, no larger than eight square feet total sign size per side (no taller than four feet from grade); displayed outside an establishment during business hours. It is not intended as permanent business signage. Examples include, but are not limited to, sandwich boards.
SIGN, ROTATING. A sign which revolves or rotates on its axis by mechanical means.
SIGN, SURFACE AREA OF. The entire area within a single continuous perimeter enclosing the extreme limits of the actual sign surface, not including any structural elements outside the limits of such sign and not forming an integral part of the display. (Only one side of a double-faced or V-type sign structure shall be used in computing total surface area.)
SIGN, TEMPORARY. A non-permanent sign erected, affixed, or maintained for a limited period of time. Examples include, but are not limited to, garage sale signs, for sale signs, banners, and the like.
STORY. That portion of the building included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the next floor above it or, if there is no floor above it, the space between the floor and the ceiling next above it.
STORY-HALF. A story with at least two opposite exterior sides meeting a sloping roof not more than two feet above the floor of such story.
STRUCTURE. Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires location on the ground or attachment to something having a location on the ground.
STRUCTURAL ALTERATION. Any change or addition to the supporting members of a building such as bearing walls, columns, beams or girders.
USES. The purpose for which land or premises or the building thereon is designated, arranged or intended, or for which it may be occupied or maintained.
USE, ACCESSORY. A use incidental or accessory to the principal use of a lot or building located on the same lot as the accessory use.
YARD. An open space other than a court on the same lot with a building, which open space is unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward.
YARD, FRONT. A yard extending across the full width of the lot and lying between the front lot line and the front building line.
YARD, REAR. A yard extending across the width of the lot and lying between the rear lot line and the nearest line of the principal building.
YARD, SIDE. A yard extending from the front lot line to the rear lot line and lying between the side lot line and the nearest line of a building.
(Ord. 151, passed 1-10-96; Am. Ord. passed 6-12-96; Am. Ord. 6, Second Series, passed 12-9-03; Am. Ord. passed - - ; Am. Ord. 5, 2011 Series, passed 11-8-11; Am. Ord. 1, 2012 Series, passed 3-13-12; Am. Ord. 2, Second Series, passed 6-13-23)