§ 102-3. Definitions.

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Accessory building or structure means a building detached from and subordinate to the main building and located on the same lot or parcel of land with the main building, the use of which is appropriate, subordinate, and customarily incidental to that of the main building or main use of the land.

Alley means a public thoroughfare which affords only a secondary means of access to abutting property.

Apartments means a building arranged, intended, or designed to be occupied by two or more families living independently of each other and having separate cooking facilities in each dwelling unit.

Boardinghouse or lodginghouse means a dwelling containing at least one but not more than five guestrooms where boarding is provided with or without meals for compensation. This definition includes a bed and breakfast enterprise.

Building means a structure built, maintained or intended to be used for the shelter or enclosure of people, animals, property, or business activity. Temporary structures such as tents are not buildings. Mobile homes are defined as buildings for zoning purposes.

Building height means the vertical distance from the grade to the highest point of a roof.

Building, main, means the building occupied by the primary use of the lot on which the building is located.

Carport means a structure not completely enclosed by walls and used to shelter automobiles or other vehicles.

Centerline means the line halfway between the street right-of-way lines.

Clinic means an establishment occupied by one or more members of the medical profession for the purpose of providing medical services.

Club means any membership organization catering exclusively to members and their guests and whose facilities are limited to meeting, eating and/or recreational uses, and further whose activities are not conducted for monetary gain; including but not limited to civic, fraternal, charitable, religious, social and patriotic organizations.

Commission means the planning and zoning commission of the city.

Courtyard means an open space that is more than half surrounded by a single building or buildings.

District means any section of the city where regulations governing the use of buildings and premises, the height and area of buildings, and lot size are uniform.

Duplex means a type of apartment building arranged, intended or designed to be occupied by two families living independently of each other and having separate cooking facilities in each dwelling unit.

Dwelling means a building used entirely for residential purposes.

Dwelling, multiple-family, means a building arranged or designed to be occupied by two or more families living independently of each other and having separate cooking facilities in each dwelling unit.

Dwelling, single-family, means a building arranged or designed to be occupied by one family (without more than two lodgers or boarders), the structure having only one dwelling unit, but not including a mobile home.

Dwelling unit means one or more rooms and a single kitchen designed as a unit for occupancy by one family for living and sleeping purposes, but not including a recreational vehicle, travel trailer, or converted bus. A dwelling unit may be a mobile home, modular unit, manufactured housing, site-built house, or an independent unit of an apartment, townhouse, or other such multiple-unit residential structure.

Family means an individual or two or more persons related by blood or marriage, or a group of not more than five persons who need not be related by blood or marriage, living together in a dwelling unit.

Filling station means any building and premises used principally for the storing, dispensing, sale or offering for retail sale of gasoline, oil and/or fuels.

Floor area means the area included within the surrounding walls of a building, measured in square feet from the outside surface of outside walls, excluding courtyards.

Floor area, gross, means for the purpose of this chapter, the sum of all the floor areas of a building or buildings, measured from the exterior of the supporting walls or supporting devices, including all accessory buildings on the same lot.

Frontage means the distance along a street right-of-way line from one intersecting street to another or from one intersecting street to the end of a dead end street. Lot frontage is the width of a lot measured along a street right-of-way.

Gallery means a room or rooms for the exhibition and/or sale of works of art.

Garage apartment means a secondary dwelling unit erected above a garage, adjacent to a garage or converted from a garage.

Garage, commercial, means any building or structure where automobiles, trucks, tractors, or other vehicles are stored, painted, repaired or equipped for a charge, and where the service and sale of gasoline and oil may be incidental to the principal building use.

Garage, private, means any accessory building or portion of a building used for the primary purpose of housing vehicles which are owned and used by the occupants of the main building.

Golf course or club means a nine- or 18-hole course, which may or may not be associated with a club house, but not including miniature courses or golf driving ranges.

Grade means the average of the finished ground level at the center of all walls of a building or the points of support for a structure.

Home occupation means an occupation conducted in a dwelling unit provided that:

(1)

Members of the family residing on the premises shall be actively engaged in the home occupation. They may hire a reasonable number of employees.

(2)

The use of the dwelling unit for the home occupation shall be clearly incidental and subordinate to its use for residential purposes by its occupants, and not more than 25 percent of the floor area of the dwelling unit shall be used in the conduct of the home occupation, nor more than 600 square feet of an accessory building;

(3)

There shall be no visible evidence of the conduct of such home occupation other than one sign, not exceeding five square feet in area and nonilluminated.

(4)

There shall be no sales in connection with such home occupation that would disrupt the residential nature of the district.

(5)

No traffic shall be generated by such home occupation in greater volumes than would normally be expected in a residential neighborhood, and 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.

(6)

No equipment or process shall be used in such home occupation which creates noise, vibration, glare, fumes, odors, or electrical interference detectable to normal senses off the lot if the occupation is conducted in a single-family dwelling, or outside the dwelling unit if conducted in a multiple-family dwelling. In the case of electrical interference, no equipment or process shall be used which creates visual or audible interference in radio or television receivers off the premises, or causes fluctuation in line voltage off the premises.

Lot means any parcel of land platted and placed on record in accordance with laws and ordinances, described by metes and bounds, and having frontage on a public right-of-way, road, or street.

Manufactured home means a 1976 or newer manufactured home or modular home that is a single-family dwelling constructed in a factory to the standards of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, the National and Urban Development Zone Code 2 or the Uniform Building Code, as amended to the date of the unit's construction, and installed consistent with the Manufactured Housing Act (NMSA 1978, ch. 60, art. 14) and with the regulations made pursuant thereto relating to ground level installation and ground anchors.

Mobile home means a movable or portable housing structure larger than 40 feet in body length, eight feet in width or 11 feet in overall height, designed for and occupied by no more than one family for living and sleeping purposes that is not constructed to the standards of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Act of 1974 and the Housing and Urban Development Zone Code 2 or Uniform Building Code, as amended to the date of the unit's construction or built to the standards of any municipal building code.

Mobile home park means a parcel of land on which space is leased or rented for occupancy by mobile homes.

Modular or prefabricated home means a factory-fabricated transportable building designed to be used by itself or to be incorporated with similar units at a building site into a modular structure on a permanent foundation; the term applies to major assemblies designed to be permanently affixed to real property in conformance with the local building code, and does not include prefabricated subelements such as panels, trusses, or plumbing trees which are to be incorporated into a structure at a building site.

Nonconforming uses, lots, or structures means any building, structure or portion thereof, or use of any building or land which does not conform to the regulations of this chapter and which existed on the effective date of the regulations to which it does not conform.

Office building means a building designed for or used as the offices of professional, commercial, industrial, religious, public or semi-public persons or organizations.

Overlay zone means a zone district placed over any other zone district such that special zoning requirements are imposed in addition to those of the underlying zone district. Development within the overlay district must conform to the requirements of both zoning districts or the more restrictive of the two.

Park means an open space reserved in the public domain upon which no development may take place and which is intended primarily for passive activity.

Park, recreational, means an area developed and maintained primarily for active recreation.

Parking area, private, means an open off-street area of land used for the parking of more than five motor vehicles used by occupants including employees of a building to which such area is appurtenant.

Parking space means an area on a lot sufficient in size to store one automobile (not less than nine feet wide and 20 feet long) connected to a public street or alley by a driveway not less than 20 feet wide and so arranged as to permit ingress and egress of the automobile at all times without moving any other automobile parked adjacent to the parking space.

Patio home means a dwelling containing an inner courtyard which is open to the sky and considered as a structural component of the building for purposes of this chapter.

Pickup camper means a structure designed to be mounted on a pickup or truck chassis with sufficient equipment to render it suitable for use as a temporary dwelling for travel and recreational use.

Premises means land together with any buildings or structures occupying it.

Public utility means an office, pumping station, communication center, distribution or transfer facility, or other management or operational need for electricity, communication, gas, water, transportation, and sewerage, but exclusive of production or disposal plants, storage yard or supply base, unless otherwise provided for by this chapter.

Roadway means that portion of a public right-of-way or private way or thoroughfare which is primarily devoted to vehicular use. This definition shall not apply to private access driveways.

Setback means the required distance between every building or structure and a boundary line of the lot upon which it is located. Setbacks shall consist of an open space, unoccupied and unobstructed by any part of a building or structure except as otherwise provided in this chapter.

Setback, front, means the minimum allowable distance between a structure and the boundary line of the lot upon which such structure is located, bordering on a roadway. No more than one front setback shall be designated on corner lots or double frontage lots.

Setback, rear, means the minimum allowable distance between a structure and the boundary line of the lot upon which such structure is located, which is opposite and most distant from a roadway and does not intersect with a roadway. On double frontage lots, the rear setback shall be designated on the opposite side of the lot from the designated front setback.

Setback, side, means the minimum allowable distance between a structure and the boundary line of the lot upon which such structure is located, which intersects a roadway. On corner lots, a side setback shall be designated along the lot line bordering a roadway that is not designated as the front setback.

Sign means a structure or device designed or intended to convey information to the public in written or pictorial form.

Sign area means the total area that will contain the entire sign excluding architectural embellishments and supports on neither of which there is displayed any advertising material nor any lighting.

Sign, freestanding, means a sign attached to or supported from the ground and not attached to a building.

Sign, wall, means a sign flush to the exterior surface of a building, whether applied directly on the building or a signboard attached flush to the building.

Street means a thoroughfare which has been dedicated to the public or which has been made public by right-of-use and which affords the principal means of access to abutting property.

Structural alteration means any change in the supporting members of a building, such as bearing walls, or partitions, columns, beams, or girders, or any substantial change in the roof or exterior walls. "

Structure means anything constructed or erected which requires location on the ground or is attached to something having a location on the ground, but not including a tent or vehicle.

Studio means the working space of a painter, sculptor, or other artist, limited to the production and sale of the works of said painter, sculptor or other artist and to one occupational employee.

Swimming pool, private, means a swimming pool to which admission is limited by ownership or membership.

Swimming pool, public, means a swimming pool to which admission may be gained by the general public with or without payment of a fee.

Townhouse means a dwelling consisting of a group of two to six attached dwelling units divided from each other by common walls, each dwelling unit situated on separate lots, and each dwelling unit having a separate entrance at ground level.

Tract means a parcel of land or a group of contiguous parcels of land under one ownership on the effective date of the ordinance from which this definition is derived.

Travel trailer or recreational vehicle means a vehicular, portable structure built on a chassis, designed to be used as a temporary dwelling for travel and recreational purposes, and not permanently connected to utilities.

Travel trailer or recreational vehicle park or campground means a land with spaces or stands provided for temporary use by travel trailers, pickup campers, or recreational vehicles.

Usable open space means an area uncovered and open, or covered and open to light and air on at least one of its sides and available to some or all of the occupants of the structure for private or public recreation or leisure time activities; it does not include driveways or parking areas.

Variance means a relaxation of the terms of this chapter where such relaxation will not be contrary to the public interest and where, owing to conditions peculiar to the property and not the result of actions of the applicant, a literal enforcement of this chapter would result in unnecessary hardship. As used in this chapter, a variance may be authorized only for area, height, dimension, distance, parking, or setback requirements. Financial gain or loss shall not be the determining factor in deciding a variance.

Zero lot line development means a dwelling whereby the main building is situated on a lot such that the building line or a common wall between attached dwelling units is along a property line; and may include detached single-family dwellings, patio homes, and townhouses.

(Ord. No. 369, § 4, 7-27-2004; Ord. No. 383, 1-11-2005; Ord. No. 408, 7-10-2007)