SECTION 2.0 RULES AND DEFINITIONS
2.01 Rules
For purposes of this Ordinance, words used in the singular number includes the plural, and the plural the singular, the present tense includes the past and future tenses and the future the present, the word "shall" is mandatory and the word "may" is permissive, all measured distances shall be to the nearest integral foot, whenever a word or term defined herein after appears in the text of this Ordinance, its meaning shall be construed as set forth in such definition thereof.
2.02 Definitions
For the purpose of this Ordinance, certain words and terms are herein defined:
1. APARTMENT. A room or suite of rooms which is designed for, intended for or occupied by one family and equipped with cooking facilities.
2. ASSISTED LIVING. A building used to provide care for the aged or infirm persons requiring or receiving personal care or custodial care in accordance with the regulations of the State Board of Health.
3. BED AND BREAKFAST. Any dwelling other than a motel or hotel where, by prearrangement, meals and or lodging are provided for compensation by transient guests.
4. BLOCK. That property abutting on one side of a street and lying between the two nearest intersecting or intercepting streets and railroad right-of-way or unsubdivided acreage.
5. BUILDING ACCESSORY. A subordinate building, the use of which is incidental to that of a main building on the same lot.
6. BUILDING HEIGHT. The vertical distance from the average level of the highest and lowest point of that portion of the lot covered by the building to the highest point of the roof for flat roofs, to the deck line of mansard roofs, and to the mean height between eaves and ridge for gable, hip, and gambrel roofs.
7. BUILDING, PRINCIPAL. A building in which is conducted the principal use of the lot upon which it is situated.
8. COURT. An open, unoccupied space bounded on two or more sides by the exterior walls of a building or buildings on the same lot.
9. CONDITIONAL USE. A use which, because of unique characteristics, cannot be classified as a permitted use in any particular district. After due consideration, in each case, the impact of such use upon neighboring land and of the public desirability for the particular use at the particular location a "Conditional Use Permit" may be granted.
10. DWELLING. A building or portion thereof used exclusively for residence occupancy, including one-family, two-family, and multiple dwellings but not including hotels, or lodgings or boarding houses.
11. DWELLING, SINGLE-FAMILY. A building used exclusively for occupancy by one family.
12. DWELLING, TWO-FAMILY. A building used exclusively for occupancy by two families living independently of each other.
13. DWELLING, MULTIPLE. A building or portion thereof used for occupancy by three or more families living independently of each other.
14. DWELLING UNIT. A dwelling or portion of a dwelling or of an apartment used by one family for cooking, living, and sleeping.
15. ESSENTIAL SERVICES. The phrase "essential services" means the erection, construction, alteration or maintenance by public utilities or municipal departments of commissions, of underground or overhead gas, electrical, communication, steam or water transmissions or distribution systems, including poles, wires, mains, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits, cables, fire alarm boxes, police call boxes, traffic signals, hydrants, towers and other similar equipment and accessories in connection therewith (but not including buildings) reasonably necessary for the furnishing of adequate service by such public utilities or municipal departments or commissions for the public health, safety or general welfare.
16. FAMILY. A family is any number of persons living together in a room or rooms comprising a single housekeeping unit and related by blood, marriage, adoption or any unrelated person who resides therein as though a member of the family including the domestic employees thereof. Any group of persons not so related but inhabiting a single house shall, for the purpose of this Ordinance, be considered to constitute one family for each five (5) persons, exclusive of domestic employees, contained in each such group.
17. GARAGE, PRIVATE. An accessory building for only the storage of self-propelled vehicles.
18. GARAGE, PUBLIC. Any premises, except those herein defined as a private or storage garage, used for the storage or care of self-propelled vehicles or where any such vehicles are equipped for operation or repair, or kept for remuneration, hire or sale.
19. GROUP HOME. A state licensed group home or foster home serving six (6) or fewer mentally retarded or physically handicapped persons.
20. HOME OCCUPATIONS. Any gainful occupation or profession, engaged in by the occupant of a dwelling unit, within said dwelling unit or within any lawfully existing accessory structure, which occupation is clearly incidental to the residential use of the premises. Such activity shall not produce light glare, noise, odor or vibration perceptible beyond the boundaries of the premises and shall not involve the use of accessory structures.
The following are examples of prohibited uses:
a. Repair, service or manufacturing which requires equipment other than that customarily found in a home,
b. Over-the-counter sale of merchandise produced off the premises, or
c. The employment of persons on the premises, other than those customarily
residing on the premises. The above examples are illustrative in nature
and shall not be construed as comprehensive.
21. HOTEL. Any building or portion thereof where lodging is offered to transient guests for compensation and in which there are more than five (5) sleeping rooms with no cooking facilities in an individual room or apartment.
22. JUNK YARD. Land or buildings used for the storage or keeping of junk, including scrap metals, or for the dismantling or "wrecking" of automobiles or other vehicles or machinery, other than the storage of materials which is incidental or accessory to any business or industrial use on the same lot.
23. LOT. Land occupied or to be occupied by a building and its accessory buildings, or by a dwelling group and its accessory buildings, together with such open spaces as are required under the provisions of this Ordinance, having not less than the minimum area required by this Ordinance for a building frontage on a street.
24. LOT, CORNER. A lot situated at the intersection of two or more streets, or bounded On two or more adjacent sides by street lines.
25. LOT, INTERIOR. A lot other than a corner lot.
26. LOT, WIDTH. The shortest horizontal distance between the side lot lines measured at the building setback line.
27. MOBILE HOME. Means a structure transportable in one or more sections, which when erected on site measures eight (8) body feet or more in width and designed to be used as a dwelling, with or without permanent foundation, when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning and electrical systems contained therein, and bears the appropriate Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development inspection label certifying that the mobile home meets Federal Mobile Home Construction and Safety Standards.
28. MOTEL, MOTOR COURT OR HOTEL. A motel, motor court or hotel is a business comprising of a series of attached, semi-detached or detached rental units with or without eating facilities for the overnight accommodation of transient guests.
29. NON-CONFORMING USE. A use lawfully in existence on the effective date of this Ordinance and not conforming to the regulations for the district in which it is situated, except that such a use is not non-conforming if it would be authorized under special use permit where located.
30. NURSING HOME. A building used to provide care for the aged or infirm persons requiring or receiving personal care or custodial care in accordance with the regulations of the State Board of Health.
31. REST HOME. A building used to provide care for the aged or infirm persons requiring or receiving personal care or custodial care in accordance with the regulations of the State Board of Health.
32. SALVAGE YARD: Land or buildings where waste, discarded or salvaged materials are bought, sold, stored, exchanged, cleaned, packed, disassembled, recycled, or handled, including, but not limited to, scrap metal, oil, antifreeze, freon, rags, paper, hides, rubber products, glass products, lumber products and products resulting from the wrecking or dismantling of motor vehicles and the storing of wrecked or dismantled motor vehicles.
33. SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEM. A set of devices whose primary purpose is to collect solar energy and convert and store it for useful purposes including heating and cooling of buildings and other energy-using processes, or to produce generated power by means of any combination of collecting, transferring or converting solar-generated energy.
34. STORY. That portion of a 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, then the space between the floor and the ceiling next above it.
35. STRUCTURE. Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires location on the ground or attachment to something having location on the ground.
36. STRUCTURAL ALTERATIONS. Any change in the supporting members of a building such as bearing walls, columns, beams, or girders.
37. TOWNHOUSE. Single family attached units in structures housing three (3) or more dwelling units contiguous to each other, only by the share of one (1) common wall and each dwelling unit shall have separate and individual front and rear entrances.
38. USE. The purpose for which land or premises or a building thereon is designed, arranged or intended or for which it is or may be occupied or maintained.
39. USE, ACCESSORY. A use incidental and accessory to the principal use of a lot or a building located on the same lot as the accessory use.
40. USED MOTOR VEHICLE: Any vehicle which has minor or no damage, including but not limited to; Theft vehicles, Water or Flood damaged vehicles, Storm damaged vehicles, Repossessed vehicles, Repairable vehicles, and any other vehicle providing the vehicle has minor or no damage.
41. VARIANCE. The waiving of, specific literal provisions of the zoning ordinance in instances where their strict enforcement would cause undue hardship because of circumstances unique to the individual property under consideration. Variances are to be granted only when it is demonstrated that a waiving of the provision will be in keeping with the spirit and intent of the Zoning Ordinance. Hardship must be demonstrated on a non-economic basis, and may include the inability to use solar energy systems.
42. YARD. An open space on the lot which is unoccupied and unobstructed from its lowest level to the sky. A yard extends along a lot line at right angles to such lot line to a depth or width specified in the yard regulations for the zoning district in which such lot is located.
43. YARD, FRONT. A yard extending across the front of the lot between the inner side yard lines and lying between the front line of the lot and the nearest line of the building.
44. YARD, REAR. A yard extending across the full width of the lot and lying between the rear line of the lot and the nearest line of the building.
45. YARD, SIDE. A yard between the side line of the lot and the nearest line of the building and extending from the front line of the lot to the rear yard.