The provisions of this bylaw shall be interpreted to be the minimum requirements adopted for the promotion of the health, safety, or the general welfare of the Town of Abington, Massachusetts and except for the Zoning Bylaw of the Town of Abington dated 10/2/62 and any amendments thereto, the provisions of this bylaw are not intended to repeal, or in any way impair or interfere with any lawfully adopted bylaw, regulations, or rules. Whenever the regulations made under the authority hereof differ from those prescribed by any bylaw or other regulations, that provision which imposes the greater restriction or the higher standard shall govern.

Except as herein provided, or as specifically exempted by the Zoning Enabling Act, the provisions of this bylaw shall apply to the erection, construction, reconstruction, alteration, or use of buildings and structures or use of land. Except as herein provided, any existing conforming use, structure, or lot shall not by any action become nonconforming, and any existing nonconforming use, structure, or lot shall not become further nonconforming.

When a lot is situated in part in the Town of Abington and in part in an adjacent municipality, the provisions of the bylaw shall be applied to the portion of such lot in the Town of Abington in the same manner as if the entire lot were situated in the Town of Abington

When a lot is transected by a zoning district boundary line, the regulations of the bylaw applicable to the larger part (50% or greater) of such lot may also at the option of the lot owner be deemed to govern in the smaller part up to a maximum distance of 100 feet beyond such zoning district boundary line, provided that the buffer areas required in § 175-66 of this bylaw are met.

No principal building shall be built except on a lot fronting on a street. There shall be not more than one principal building on a lot except for attached dwellings, apartments, and condominium developments in accordance with §§ 175-31 and 175-32 of this bylaw or for commercial development in accordance with §§ 175-33, 175-37, 175-38 or 75-39 of this bylaw. For any residential dwelling unit, the driveway access to all principal buildings shall be from the same location on which the required lot frontage is located.

Land within the lines of a street on which a lot abuts shall not be counted as part of such lot for the purposes of meeting the area requirements of the bylaw even though the fee to such land may be in the owner's abutting lots.

This bylaw shall not apply to existing buildings, structures, or recorded lots, nor to the existing use of any building, structure, or land to the extent to which it is used at the adoption of this bylaw. It shall apply to any change of use thereof and to any alteration of a building or structure when the same would amount to reconstruction, extension or structural change, and to any alteration of a building or structure to provide for its use for a purpose or in a manner substantially different from the use to which it was put before alteration or for its use for the same purpose to a substantially greater extent.

In cases of mixed occupancy, the regulation for each use shall apply to the portion of the building or land so used.