§ 9-205. Definitions.

For the purpose of this chapter, the following terms, phrases, words, and their derivations shall have the meaning given herein. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future, words in the plural number include the singular number, and words in the singular number include the plural number. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory.

Accessory use of building is a subordinate use of building customarily incidental to and located on the same lot with the main use of building;

Alteration as applied to a building or structure, is a change or rearrangement in the structural parts or in the exit facilities, or an enlargement, whether by extending on a side or by increasing in height, or the moving from one location or position to another;

Apartment house is a multifamily dwelling for three or more families, living independently of each other, and doing their own cooking upon the premises;

Area building is the aggregate of the maximum horizontal cross section area of the main building on a lot, excluding cornices, eaves, gutters, chimneys, open porches, open carports, balconies, and terraces projecting not more than two and one-half feet;

Boarding house. See "Rooming or lodginghouse."

Building is a structure designed, built, or occupied as a shelter or roofed enclosure for persons, animals, or property used for residential, business, mercantile, storage, commercial, industrial, institutional, assembly, educational, or recreational purposes. For the purpose of this definition "roof" shall include awning or other similar covering, whether or not permanent in nature;

Building line is the line parallel to the street line, intersecting the foremost point of the building, forming an area within which no building or other structure or portion thereof, except as provided in this Code, may be erected above the grade level. The building line is considered a vertical surface intersecting the ground on such line;

Day care center is a facility for the care of infants and other preschool children by non-family members approved and licensed by the appropriate state agency;

Dwelling is a building designed for and occupied exclusively as the residence of not more than two families each living as an independent housekeeping unit;

Dwelling house is a detached house designed for and occupied exclusively as the residence of not more than two families each living as an independent house-keeping unit;

Dwelling unit is one or more rooms providing complete living facilities for one family, including equipment for cooking or provisions for the same, and including a room or rooms for living, sleeping, and eating.

Dwelling, multiple-family is a dwelling or group of dwellings on one plot containing separate living units for three or more families, but which may have joint services or facilities for both;

Essential service is the erection, construction, alteration, or maintenance by municipal utilities or departments or commissions, of underground or overhead gas, electrical, steam or water transmission or distribution systems, collection, communication, supply or disposal systems, including poles, wires, mains, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits, cables, fire alarm boxes, police call boxes, traffic signals, hydrants, and other similar equipment and accessories in connection therewith, but not including buildings reasonably necessary for the furnishing of adequate service by the municipal utilities or departments, or commissions or for the public health or safety or general welfare;

Family is a single individual, doing his own cooking, and living upon the premises as a separate housekeeping unit, or a collective body or persons doing their own cooking and living together upon the premises as a separate housekeeping unit in a domestic relationship based upon birth, marriage, or other domestic bond as distinguished from a group occupying a boardinghouse, lodginghouse, club, fraternity, or hotel;

Floor area, grass. For the purpose of determining the ratio of the floor area of a building to the area of the lot, the "gross floor area" shall be the sum of the gross horizontal areas of the several floors of the building excluding areas used for accessory garage purposes and basement and cellar areas as are devoted exclusively to uses accessory to the operation of the building. All horizontal dimensions shall be taken from the exterior faces of walls, including walls or other enclosures of enclosed porches;

Garage, private, is a building or part thereof accessory to a main building and providing for the storage of automobiles, and in which no occupation or business for profit is carried on;

Garage, public or storage, is a building or part thereof other than a private garage for the storage of motor vehicles and in which service station activities may be carried on;

Home occupation is a professional occupation conducted by the resident in a dwelling and including the following: a physician, surgeon, dentist, lawyer, clergyman, or other similar professional persons, dressmaking and tailoring; provided, that not more than 20 percent of the floor area of any dwelling unit shall be used for such home occupations; and provided that no windows or other display or sign not more than six inches in width and 24 inches in length shall be permitted; and provided further that only one person who does not reside on the premises may be employed as an assistant;

Hotel is a building containing 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 guests and where only a general kitchen and dining room are provided with the building or in an accessory building;

Junk is any worn out, cast off, or discarded article or material which is ready for destruction or has been collected or stored for salvage or conversion to some use. Any article or material which, unaltered or unchanged and without further reconditioning can be used for its original purposes as readily as when new shall not be considered junk;

Junk yard is the use of more than 500 square feet of the area of any lot, whether inside or outside a building, or the use of any portion of that half of any lot that joins any street, for the storage, keeping or abandonment of junk;

Lot is a parcel of land occupied or capable of being occupied by one building and the accessory building or uses customarily incident to it, including the open spaces as are required by this chapter;

Mobile home is any vehicle or similar portable structure mounted or designed for mounting on wheels, used or intended for use for dwelling, commercial or industrial purposes or uses, including structural additions, except parked and unoccupied camping-type trailers. Any such vehicle or structure shall be deemed to be a mobile home whether or not the wheels have been removed therefrom and whether or not resting upon temporary or permanent foundations;

Mobile home lot is a designated site within a mobile home court for the exclusive use of the occupant of a single mobile home;

Mobile home park is a tract of land in single ownership which has been developed with all necessary facilities and services in accordance with a site development plan meeting all the requirements of this ordinance and which is intended for the express purpose of providing a satisfying living environment for mobile home residents on a long term occupancy basis;

Modular home is any factory assembled structure or structures transported in one or more sections, with or without a permanent foundation and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning and electrical systems contained therein.

Nonconforming use is a building structure or use of land existing at the time of the enactment of this chapter and which does not conform to the regulations of the district in which it is located;

Notice of public hearing. A notice of public hearing related to planning and zoning matters will be by means of the following three procedures.

(1)

The date, the location, and the subject of the hearing will be posted in the "official journal" of the town once a week in three different weeks commencing at least 15 days prior to the hearing date.

(2)

An official sign including the date, the location, and the subject of the hearing will be posted on site, at the involved location.

(3)

The date, the location, and the subject of the hearing will be posted on the town's website.

Nursery school. See "Day care center."

Occupancy pertains to and is the purpose for which a building is used or is intended to be used;

Public hearing is an official meeting where members of the public hear the facts about a planned road, building, etc. and voice their opinions. A public hearing provides an applicant the opportunity to explain the need for a request and affords the public an opportunity to respond.

Rooming or lodginghouse is any dwelling in which not more than ten persons are housed or lodged for hire, with or without meals pursuant to previous arrangement and not to any one who may apply. A boardinghouse or furnished room house shall be deemed to a "rooming house;"

Setback building line is a building line back of the street line;

Site development plan is a plot or survey prepared and certified by a registered engineer showing the size and location of each mobile home lot, and the location of all water distribution lines, sewage collection lines, electrical distribution lines, sewage collection lines, electrical distribution lines, telephone service lines and other such utilities, and specifications thereon; and such other specifications, and information as may be required by this chapter or any regulations and requirements issued pursuant hereto;

Street is a public thoroughfare which has been dedicated or deeded to the public for public use and which affords principal means of access to abutting property;

Structure is anything constructed or erected which requires location on the ground or attached to something having location on the ground, including signs and billboards, but not including fences or walls used as fences;

Trailer is a vehicle equipped for use as a dwelling, commercial or industrial use or purpose and designed to be hauled along a road or highway. It includes a vehicle standing on wheels or rigid supports which is used for living or sleeping purposes;

Trailer camp includes any place or premises adapted for parking or used for parking two or more motor trailers or house cars for living or sleeping purposes, or any place or premises used or held out to the public for the purposes of supplying motor trailers or house cars for living or sleeping purposes;

Vacant. For the purpose of this chapter the word "vacant" shall be construed to mean that the building or land has not been occupied or used in whole or in part, or by any nonconforming use, for a period of 12 calendar months. Neither the intention of the owner nor that of anybody else to use a building or lot or part of either for any prohibited business, nor the fact that the building or lot or part of either may have been used by a makeshift or pretended business, shall be taken into consideration interpreting and construing the word "vacancy" as used in this chapter; provided that any building or part of any building known as a place of business, which had been constructed at the date of the adoption of any prohibitory ordinance affecting the building or part thereof shall not be deemed vacant for a period of 12 months from that date, and any building or part thereof which had not been constructed at that date, if completed within 12 months from that date, shall not be deemed vacant for a period of 12 months from the date of its completion; provided further that if the lessee of any building or place used or occupied for commercial purposes under a lease duly recorded in the conveyance office shall at any time before the expiration of the lease cease to occupy or use the building for commercial purposes, the building or place shall nevertheless be considered as used or occupied for those purposes and shall not be considered vacant until the owner of the building or place shall again obtain legal control of its occupancy and use;

Yard is an open space other than a court, on a lot, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward, except as otherwise provided in this chapter;

Yard, front, is an open unoccupied space on the same lot with a main building, extending the full width of the lot and situated between the street line and the front line of the building projected to the side lines of the lot;

Yard, rear, is an open unoccupied space on the same lot with the building between the rear line of the building and the rear line of the lot extending to full width of the lot;

Yard, side, is an open unoccupied space on the same lot with the building situated between the building and the side line of the lot and extending from the front yard to the rear yard. Any lot line not a rear line or a front line shall be deemed a side line.

(Ord. No. 108, § 19.14, 9-4-79; Ord. No. 175, 1-28-94; Ord. No. 310, 10-17-06; Ord. No. 323, 8-21-07; Ord. No. 439, 4-16-2013)