The cessation of a nonconforming use or structure as indicated by the visible or otherwise indicated intention to discontinue a nonconforming use of a structure or a lot, or the cessation of a nonconforming use or structure by its replacement with a conforming use or structure.

A subordinate building, located on the same lot as the main, or principal building or principal use, the use of which is customarily incidental to the main or principal use permitted in the district.

A use customarily incidental to that of the main or principal building or use of the land.

Capacity is considered to be adequate if the grade of service is p. 05 or better for a worst-case day in a preceding month, based on the Erllang B Tables, prior to the date of application; or as measured using direct traffic measurement of the personal wireless service facility in question for existing facilities requesting major modification and where the call blocking is due to frequency contention at the antenna(s).

Coverage is considered to be adequate within that area surrounding a base station where the predicted or measured median field strength of the transmitted signal for at least 75% of the covered area is greater than -95 dbm. It is acceptable for there to be holes within the area of adequate coverage where the signal is less than -95 dbm, as long as the signal regains its strength to greater than -95 dbm further away from the base station. For the limited purpose of determining whether the use of a repeater is necessary or desirable, there shall be deemed not to be adequate coverage within said holes. The outer boundary of the area of adequate coverage, however, is that location past which the signal does not regain a strength of greater than -95 dbm.

A building or structure where care, protection, and supervision are provided, on a regular schedule, to adults over the age of 18.

The production, keeping or maintenance, for sale or lease, of plants and animals useful to man, including but not limited to: forages and sod crops; grains and seed crops; dairy animals and dairy products; poultry and poultry products; livestock, including beef cattle, swine, horses, mules, ponies, or goats or any mutations of hybrids thereof, including the breeding and grazing of any or all such animals, bees, and apiary products, for animals, trees and forest products; fruits of all kinds, including grapes, nuts and berries, vegetables, floral, nursery, ornamental and greenhouse products; or lands devoted to a soil conservation or forestry management program.

Any construction, reconstruction or other action resulting in a change in the structural parts, height, number of stories, exits, size, use or location of a building or other structure.

A commercially operated park with a predominance of outdoor games and activities for entertainment, including shows or riding devices, games of skill or chance, or any combination of shows, riding devices, water slides, miniature golf, batting cages or any combination of several enterprises, such as revolving wheels, merry-go-rounds, giant swings, panoramas, musical and theatrical entertainments, or riding devices, whether carried on, engaged in or conducted as one enterprise or by several concessionaries, and whether an admission fee is charged for admission to all such shows for entertainment, or a separate fee for admission is charged for each amusement.

A place where animals or pets are given medical or surgical treatment, and the boarding of animals is limited to short-term care incidental to the clinic or hospital use.

A device which is attached to a tower or other structure for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves.

A building or structure arranged, intended and designed to be occupied by two to eight families, living independently of each other, and each including its own separate kitchen and bathroom accommodations. Garden-type apartments shall be considered as an apartment house.

The unfinished space between the ceiling of the top story of a building and its roof which is not used for living, sleeping or eating quarters.

The primary sending and receiving site in a wireless telecommunications network.

A structure enclosed within exterior walls or firewalls, built, erected and framed of a combination of any materials, whether portable or fixed, having a roof, to form a structure for the shelter of persons, animals or property. For the purpose of this definition, "roof" shall include an awning or any similar covering, whether or not permanent in nature. The word "building" shall be construed, where the context requires, as though followed by words "or part or parts thereof." A porch or an attached garage, greenhouse or similar structure is to be considered as part of a building when considering the requirements of setback, side or rear yards.

The transacting or carrying on of a trade or commercial enterprise with a view to profit or for livelihood.

Land used or intended to be used for the burial of the dead and dedicated for cemetery purposes, including columbariums, crematoriums, mausoleums, and funeral establishments, when operated in conjunction with and within the boundary of such cemetery under the care and supervision of the Town or other public authority.

The segment of the radiation spectrum from an antenna which carries one signal. An antenna may radiate on many channels simultaneously.

Facilities that serve children under seven years of age, or 16 years if the children have special needs, or school-age children (under 14 years of age or 16 years if they have special needs), in programs that are held before or after school hours or during vacations. A child-care facility defined in MGL c. 28A, § 9.

Buildings, structures and premises used by a nonprofit social or civic organization or by a nonprofit organization, catering exclusively to members and their guests for social, civic, recreation, or athletic purposes which are not conducted primarily for gain and provided there are no vending stands, merchandising, or commercial activities except as may be required generally for the membership and purposes of such organization.

A structure for recreational, social or amusement purposes, which may include as an accessory use the consumption of food and drink, including all connected rooms or space with a common means of egress and entrance. Places of assembly shall include theaters, concert halls, dance halls, skating rinks, bowling alleys, health clubs, dance studios, or other commercial recreational centers conducted for or not for profit.

Driving range, bathing beach, sports club, horseback-riding stable, boathouse, marina or other commercial recreation carried on, in whole or in part, outdoors, except those activities more specifically designated in this chapter.

A structure located at a base station designed principally to enclose equipment used in connection with personal wireless service transmissions.

A retail store that sells groceries and may also sell gasoline; does not include automotive service stations or vehicle repair shops.

A building containing a furnace designed and intended to be used for cremating the dead and owned and controlled by a cemetery corporation or crematory corporation duly organized under the laws of the state.

Unit of measure of the power level of an electromagnetic signal expressed in decibels referenced to one milliwatt.

Separate from.

A private vehicular right-of-way providing access to a lot from a street or private way.

A driveway that provides shared access to two or more neighboring lots.

A building designed and occupied as the living quarters of one or more families. Single- and two-family dwellings shall be designed for and occupied by not more than one or two families, respectively. A multifamily dwelling shall be one designed for and occupied by two or more families. Hotels, lodging houses, hospitals, membership clubs, or dormitories shall not be considered dwellings.

Extraction of sand, gravel, topsoil, or other earth for sale or for use at a site removed from the place of extraction, exclusive of the grading of a lot preparatory to the construction of a building for which a building permit has been issued or the grading of streets in accordance with an approved definitive plan, and exclusive of granite operations.

Use of land or structures for education purposes on land owned or leased by the commonwealth or any of its agencies, subdivisions or bodies politic or by a religious sect or denomination or by a nonprofit education corporation. Educational facilities not exempted from regulation by MGL c. 40A, § 3.

Electromagnetic frequency radiation.

To build, construct, reconstruct, move upon, or conduct any physical development of the premises required for a building; to excavate, fill, drain, and the like preparation for building shall also be considered to erect.

Services provided by a public service corporation or by governmental agencies through erection, construction, alteration, or maintenance of gas, electrical, steam, or water transmission or distribution systems and collection, communication, supply, or disposal systems, whether underground or overhead, but not including wireless communications facilities. Facilities necessary for the provision of essential services include poles, wires, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits, cables, fire alarm boxes, police call boxes, traffic signals, hydrants and other similar equipment in connection therewith.

The location within a Wireless Telecommunications Overlay District leased by one or more personal wireless service providers and upon which one or more personal wireless service facility(ies) and required landscaping are located.

A number of individuals related by blood, marriage and/or adoption or a group of unrelated individuals, not to exceed four, who are occupying a dwelling unit and living as a single nonprofit housekeeping unit. This definition, however, does not apply to nonrelated disabled persons as defined by any applicable federal and/or state law and/or regulations.

Any private residence which on a regular basis receives for temporary custody and care, during part or all of the day, children under seven years of age or children under 16 years of age if such children have special needs; provided, however, in either case, that the total number of children shall not exceed more than six, excluding participating children living in the residence.

A facility for the sale of produce, and wine and dairy products, provided that during the months of June, July, August, and September of every year, or during the harvest season of the primary crop raised on land of the owner or lessee, the majority of such products for sale, based on either gross sales dollars or volume, have been produced by the owner or lessee of land containing more than five acres on which the facility is located, used primarily for agriculture in conformance with MGL c. 40A, § 3.

Federal Communications Commission. The government agency responsible for regulating telecommunications in the United States.

A report and order which sets new national standards for emissions of radio frequency emissions from FCC-regulated transmitters.

An artificially constructed barrier of wood, decorative metal, chain link, vinyl or composite, or other things such as a natural barrier which the Building Inspector considers equivalent thereto, erected to enclose or screen areas of land.

A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from:

The channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than one foot.

The land in the floodplain within a community subject to a one-percent-or-greater chance of flooding in a given year that is located outside of the floodway.

A building or space used as an accessory to or a part of a main building permitted in any residential district, and providing for the storage of one or more motor vehicles and in which no business, occupation or service for profit is in any way conducted.

A garage, other than a private or storage garage, which is used for the short-term parking of vehicles.

A building or portion thereof, other than a private or storage garage, designed or used for equipping, servicing, repairing, hiring, selling, and/or storing of motor vehicles. The term "repairing" shall not include an automobile body repair shop nor the rebuilding, dismantling, or storage of wrecked or junked vehicles.

A gasoline service station shall include any business selling or offering for sale any motor fuel, such as gasoline or diesel fuel, to the public, whether or not the public is permitted or expected to operate the pump to put the fuel into a motor vehicle's fuel tank or a container, and shall include gasoline filling stations and gasoline self-service stations. For the purposes of this chapter, "gasoline service station" shall also include any site used or operated as a retail refueling site, including the fuels of gasoline, propane, electricity and hydrogen.

Gigahertz: one billion hertz.

A measure of the percentage of calls which are able to connect to the base station during the busiest hour of the day. Grade of service is expressed as a number, such as p. 05, which means that 95% of callers will connect on their first try. A lower number (p. 04) indicates a better grade of service.

The space between the ceiling of the top story of a building and the roof where the area and height are sufficient for sleeping and living quarters.

Any substance which is listed in, but not limited to, the EPA priority pollutants as described in Section 307(a) of the Clean Water Act, as amended.

The vertical distance from the average finished grade of the adjacent ground to the top of the structure of the highest roof beams of a flat roof, or the mean level of the highest gable or slope of a hip roof.

One hertz is the frequency of an electric or magnetic field which reverses polarity once each second or one cycle per second.

An occupation, business, trade, service or profession which is incidental to and conducted in a dwelling unit or in a building or other accessory structure thereto, by a resident thereof.

An institution providing primary health services and medical or surgical care to persons, primarily inpatients, suffering from illness, disease, injury, deformity and other abnormal physical or mental conditions, and including, as an integral part of the institution related facilities such as laboratories, outpatient facilities or training facilities, a sanitarium, and clinic. The term "hospital" does not include a rest home, nursing home and/or convalescent home.

See definition of "family."

A wrecked, damaged, destroyed, nonoperational, abandoned or disassembled trailer, house trailer, boat, tractor, automobile, aircraft, or other motor vehicle, or any parts thereof. A junk vehicle includes apparently inoperable, immobile, disassembled or extensively damaged vehicles. Evidence of nonoperation and damage includes, but is not limited to, a buildup of debris that obstructs use, a broken window or windshield, a missing wheel, a flat tire, a nonfunctional motor or transmission, missing bumpers, or missing plates and the like.

An establishment licensed to operate a facility housing dogs, cats, or other household pets and where grooming, breeding, boarding, training or selling of animals is conducted as a business.

Any building or land designated or arranged for the care of dogs, cats or other household pets belonging to the owner of the residential, principal use, kept for purposes of show, hunting, or as pets.

A building containing more than five lodging units for semipermanent residence (longer than one week) for compensation and which meals may also be supplied as part of the fee. This shall not include bed-and-breakfast home uses, congregate housing, motels, hotels, multifamily dwellings, or nursing homes.

Fabrication, assembly, processing, finishing work or packaging.

Space located on the same lot with a principal building, or contiguous to a group of buildings, for bulk pickups and deliveries, scaled to delivery vehicles expected to be used, and accessible to such vehicles when required off-street parking spaces are filled. It shall abut a street, alley, or other appropriate means of ingress or egress.

A continuous parcel of land with legally definable boundaries.

The horizontal area of the lot exclusive of any area in a street or recorded way open to public use.

A lot located at the intersection of two or more streets.

The mean distance from the street line of the lot to its opposite rear line measured in the general direction of the side lines of the lot.

A lot line coinciding with the sideline of a street which provides legal rights of vehicular access and actual physical vehicular access to the lot. Frontage shall be measured continuously along a street and shall be the horizontal distance between the side lot lines measured at the point where the side lot lines intersect with the front setback line. Lots adjacent to paper streets may not use any portion of the paper street in calculating frontage or lot area.

A line dividing one lot from another, or from a street or any public place.

The lot line opposite the street line, except that, in the case of a corner lot, the rear lot line shall be the line opposite the street line on which the building is numbered or would be numbered.

A major modification is defined as a modification that substantially changes the physical dimensions of a tower or station by including one of the following conditions:

A building designed and used for the diagnosis and treatment of human patients that does not include overnight care facilities.

Megahertz: one million hertz.

A mile (5,280 feet) is to be measured from a point on an imaginary line which is perpendicular to the vertical line at that point.

The measurement, by the use of instruments in the field, of the radiation from a site as a whole or from individual personal wireless service facilities, towers or antennas.

The testing protocol, initially the Cobbs Protocol, which is to be used to monitor the emissions from existing and new personal wireless service facilities and towers upon adoption of this chapter. The SPGA may, as the technology changes, require, by written regulation, the use of other testing protocols. A copy of the monitoring protocol shall be on file with the Town Clerk.

A single self-supporting vertical pole with below-grade foundations.

The structure or surface upon which antennas are mounted, including the following four types of mounts:

A building or buildings intended and designed for transient overnight or extended occupancy, divided into separate units within the same building, with or without a public dining facility.

Any vehicle used or designed to be used for business or commercial purposes that infringes on the residential character of residential districts and includes, but is not necessarily limited to, a bus, cement truck, commercial tree-trimming equipment, construction equipment, dump truck, garbage truck, panel truck, semitractor, semitrailer, stake bed truck, step van, tank truck, tar truck, fire truck, or the like, or other commercial-type vehicle licensed by the state as a commercial vehicle or truck.

An establishment, garage or work area enclosed within a building where repairs are made or caused to be made to motor vehicles and their bodies, including fenders, bumpers and similar components of motor vehicle bodies, but does not include the storage of vehicles for the cannibalization of parts or fuel sales.

Facilities owned or operated by the Town of Agawam.

A building or structure, existing at the effective date of this chapter, or any subsequent amendment thereto, which does not conform to one or more provisions of this chapter.

A lot lawfully existing at the effective date of this chapter, or any subsequent amendment thereto, which is not in accordance with all the provisions of this chapter.

A use lawfully existing at the time of adoption of this chapter, or any subsequent amendment thereto, which does not conform to one or more provisions of this chapter.

An extended or intermediate care facility licensed or approved to provide full-time convalescent or chronic care to individuals who, by reason of advanced age, chronic illness or infirmity, are unable to care for themselves.

A registered marijuana dispensary that is located off site from the cultivation/processing facility (and controlled and operated by the same registered and approved not-for-profit entity which operates an affiliated RMD) but which serves only to dispense the processed marijuana, related supplies and educational materials to registered qualifying patients or their personal caregivers in accordance with the provisions of 105 CMR 725.00.

A space of 200 square feet or more plus access and maneuvering space, whether inside or outside a structure, for exclusive use as a parking stall for one motor vehicle, and further being surfaced with durable pavement.

The space on a lot unoccupied by buildings, structures, driveways, off-street parking or loading spaces or other impervious surfaces.

The highest point on the bank of a floodway or floodplain at which the water level has been for a sufficient period of time to leave a definite mark.

Commercial mobile services, unlicensed wireless services and common carrier wireless exchange access services. These services include cellular services, personal communications services (PCS), specialized mobile radio services and paging services.

All equipment (excluding any repeaters) with which a personal wireless service provider broadcasts and receives the radio frequency waves which carry their services and all locations of said equipment or any part thereof. This facility may be sited on one or more towers or structures(s) owned and permitted by another owner or entity.

An entity licensed by the FCC to provide personal wireless services to individuals or institutions.

A building in which is conducted the principal use of the lot on which it is located.

The main or primary purpose for which a structure or lot is designed, arranged or intended, or for which it may be used, occupied or maintained under this chapter. Any other use within the main structure or the use of any other structure or land on the same lot and incidental or supplementary to the principal use and permitted under this chapter shall be considered an accessory use.

Computer-generated estimates of the radiation emanating from antennas or repeaters sited on a specific tower or structure. The height above mean sea level, power input and output, frequency output, type of antenna, antenna gain, topography of the site and its surroundings are all taken into account to create these simulations. They are the primary tool for determining whether a site will provide adequate coverage for the personal wireless service facility proposed for that site.

The required unoccupied space or area within the rear lot line and the part of the principal building nearest such rear lot line.

A use operated by a not-for-profit entity registered and approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in accordance with 105 CMR 725.000, and pursuant to all other applicable state laws and regulations, also to be known as a "medical marijuana treatment center," that acquires, cultivates, possesses, processes (including development of related products such as food, tinctures, aerosols, oils, or ointments), transfers, transports, sells, distributes, dispenses, or administers marijuana, products containing marijuana, related supplies, or educational materials to registered qualifying patients or their personal caregivers. An RMD shall explicitly include facilities which cultivate and process medical marijuana and which may also dispense and deliver medical marijuana and related products. The cultivation and processing of medical marijuana in accordance with these regulations is considered to be a manufacturing use and is not agriculturally exempt from zoning.

A building, or portion thereof, which is designed, intended and used for the indoor sales and consumption of food prepared on the premises, except that food may be consumed outdoors in landscaped terraces, designed for dining purposes, which are adjuncts to the main indoor restaurant facility. The term "restaurant" shall not include "fast-food establishments."

An establishment engaged primarily in the business of preparing food and purveying it on a self-service or semi-self-service basis. Customer orders and/or service may be by means of a walk-up counter or window designed to accommodate automobile traffic. Consumption is either on or off the premises.

A restaurant which provides convenient vehicular access and may provide service to customers while in their vehicles.

A hospital used for treating chronic and usually long-term illness.

A single-family residential unit that is joined on one side to another single-family residential unit having a party wall between the units.

Establishments primarily engaged in rendering services by professional persons on a fee or contract basis, including, but not limited to, the following: accounting, auditing, and bookkeeping; medical, dental or health; planning, engineering and architectural; education and science; attorneys and notary publics; etc.

The minimum required unoccupied space or area between the street line of which the building is numbered or would be numbered and the part of the building nearest such street line, such unoccupied space or area extending the entire width or distance across the lot.

The line dividing one lot from another.

The required unoccupied space and area within the lot between the side lot line and parts of the building nearest such side lot line. In the case of a corner lot, one of the side yards shall be the unoccupied space or area between the street line of the side street and the parts of the building nearest to such street line.

Any device, surface or framework on which words, symbols or other designs are inscribed or displayed and designed to call attention thereto, including flags, banners and the like.

Any sign that advertises or indicates the person occupying the premises on which the sign is erected or maintained or the business transacted thereon or the products sold thereon.

Any nonaccessory sign greater in face area than 40 square feet.

The color concept of the sign shall be such that it does not violate the purpose of this chapter.

Signs indicating "entrance," "exit" or the like, erected on premises for the direction of persons or vehicles.

The Outdoor Advertising Board of the Commonwealth or any board or official which may hereafter succeed to its powers or functions.

A sign or other advertising device which hangs or extends over a sidewalk or a way in which the public has a right of access. Wall signs and standing signs shall not be included in this definition.

A sign advertising the sale, rental or lease of the premises on which it is maintained.

A sign standing or hanging free on its own support; such support may be attached to a building or fixed in or to the ground. Standing signs may have two faces or sides showing in opposite directions.

The supports, uprights, bracing and framework of a sign. Any color applied to the "structure" shall meet the purposes of this chapter.

Any sign, including its supporting structure, intended to be maintained for a period less than 180 days for agricultural purposes and 60 days for any other purposes.

A sign fastened or affixed parallel to and within 12 inches of the wall of a building.

A sign painted or placed on the inside or outside of a window.

A structure designed exclusively for and occupied exclusively by one family.

A plan, to scale, showing uses and structures proposed for a parcel of land as required by the zoning regulations, including lot lines, streets, building sites, buildings, landscape features, traffic circulation, parking, drainage, utilities, signs, topography and lighting within the parcel.

The Board of Appeals of the Town of Agawam.

The volume of space above an area of floodplain that can be occupied by floodwater of a given stage at a given time, regardless of whether the water is moving.

The horizontal portion through a building between floor and ceiling. The word "story" shall not include the portion of the basement or cellar of a building above grade or an attic as defined in this section.

An accepted Town way, or a way established by or maintained under county, state, or federal authority, or a way established by a subdivision plan approved in accordance with the Subdivision Control Law,[3] actually constructed to specifications or for which adequate security exists to construct such a way.

The dividing line between a street and a lot and, in the case of a public way, the street line established by the public authority laying out such way upon which the lot abuts.

A street shown on a recorded plan but never built on the ground.

A general term denoting land, property or interest therein, usually a strip acquired for or devoted to a planned roadway. A street right-of-way should be sufficient to accommodate the ultimate roadway, including, but not limited to, the street pavement, shoulder, grass strip, sidewalk, public utility facilities, street trees, and snow storage.

A combination of materials assembled at a fixed location to give support or shelter, such as a building, framework, retaining wall, tent, reviewing stand, platform, bin fence, sign, flagpole, recreational tramway, and mast for radio antenna or the like. The word "structure" shall be construed, where the context allows, as though followed by the words "or part or parts thereof."

Any repair, reconstruction or improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50% of the assessed value of the structure either before the improvement is started or, if the structure has been damaged and is being restored, before the damage occurred. Substantial improvement is started when the first alteration of any structural part of the building commences.

A monopole that is designed to support personal wireless service transmission, receiving and/or relaying antennas and/or equipment.

Any so-called automobile trailer, mobile home or trailer coach, including any portable structure, means of conveyance or vehicle so designed or constructed, altered or converted in any manner as to permit occupancy thereof for dwelling or sleeping purposes.

Terminal facilities for handling freight, with or without maintenance facilities.

Any motor vehicle or trailer not registered in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 90, or any motor vehicle which fails to carry or display its license plate as provided in § 6 of said Chapter 90; or any motor vehicle or trailer owned by a nonresident who has failed to comply with the registration laws of the nonresident state or country.

A use which by reason of its normal operation would cause readily observable differences in patronage, service, sight, noise, employment or similar characteristics from the use to which it is being compared.

Specific area(s), determined by engineering analysis to contain sites where adequate service may be provided to the Town of Agawam, which, at the same time, have the potential of reducing or mitigating negative impacts in accordance with the overlay district as defined in this chapter.

A space open to the sky, located between a building or structure and a lot line, unoccupied except by fences, walls, poles, paving, and other customary yard accessories.

A yard extending the full width of the lot and situated between the street line and nearest point of the building.

The required unoccupied space or area within the rear lot line and the part of the principal building nearest such rear lot line.

The required unoccupied space or area within the lot between the side lot line and parts of the building nearest such side lot line. In the case of a corner lot, one of the side yards shall be the unoccupied space or area between the street line of the side street and the parts of the building nearest to such street line.

A structure designed to house hens.

A female chicken.

A completely enclosed outdoor area designed to allow hens access to the outdoors while providing protection from predators.

A male chicken.