A chapter of the city, regulating:

(1)

The location, height, number of stories and size of buildings and other structures;

(2)

The density of population;

(3)

The size of yards and other open spaces;

(4)

The uses of land, buildings and structures for industry, commerce, agriculture, conservation, recreation, residence, public activities and other purposes;

(5)

Creating districts for said purposes and establishing the boundaries thereof;

(6)

Defining certain terms used herein; and

(7)

Providing for the method of administration, amendment and enforcement and for the imposition of penalties for violation, repealing conflicting ordinances and other matters.

(Code 2004, § 39-101)

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Berkeley Lake, Georgia.

(Code 2004, § 39-102)

(a)

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 buildings and uses means a subordinate building or portion of the main building, the use of which is incidental to that of the dominant use of the main building or land including bona fide servants' quarters. An accessory use is one which is incidental to the main use of the premises.

Accessory structure means a detached subordinate structure, the use of which is clearly incidental or related to that of the principal structure or use of the land, and which is located on the same lot as that of the principal structure or use.

Adjoining and adjacent means lying near, close; neighboring.

Basement means an area below the first floor which may have part, but not more than one-half, of its height aboveground level.

Boardinghouse and rooming house means a dwelling in which meals or lodging, or both, are furnished for compensation to more than two but not more than ten nontransient persons.

Building means a structure which is designed and suitable for the habitation or shelter of human beings, or animals, or the shelter or storage of property, or for use and occupation for some purpose of trade or manufacture.

Building, detached means a building having no party wall common with another building.

Building coverage means that portion of a lot that is covered by buildings as determined by the horizontal area measured within the outside of the exterior walls of the ground flood of all principal buildings, accessory buildings, and accessory structures on the lot, not including steps, terraces, and uncovered porches.

Building line and setback line means a line dropped from the outer edge of any portion of the structure to the surface of the ground.

Business and business use means necessarily requiring employment for one or more persons for the purpose of earning a livelihood, activities or person to improve their economic conditions and desires, and generally relate to commercial and industrial engagements.

Convenience store with or without fuel pumps means a facility that offers for sale, prepackaged food items and tangible consumer goods, primarily for self-service by the customer. This facility may be associated with the sale of gasoline products but does not include automotive service stations or vehicle repair shops.

Customary home occupation means an occupation customarily carried on within a dwelling for gain or support involving the sale of only those articles, products or services produced on the premises, conducted entirely within the dwelling by members of the immediate family residing in the dwelling unit and involving no display of articles or products.

Duplex means a residential structure designed for two-family occupancy.

Dwelling means a building or portion thereof designed exclusively for residential use, including one-family, two-family and multiple-family dwellings, but not including hotels, boardinghouses, lodging houses, or house trailers, whether such trailers be mobile or located in a stationary fashion as on blocks or other foundation.

Dwelling, detached means a dwelling entirely surrounded by open space.

Dwelling, single-family means a building designed for or occupied exclusively by one family.

Dwelling unit means a room or suite of two or more rooms that is designed for the occupancy, cooking and sleeping of one or more persons living as a family.

Exterior architecture feature means the architectural treatment and general arrangement of such portion of the exterior of a structure as is designed to be exposed to public view, including kind, color, and texture of the building material or such portion thereof and the type of all windows, doors, lights, signs, and any other fixture appurtenant to such portion.

Family means one or more persons living as a single housekeeping unit and in a single living space. The term "family" does not include any organization or institutional group.

Floor area means the sum of the gross horizontal areas of the several stories of the building measured from the exterior faces of the exterior walls or from the centerline of the party walls; included shall be any basement floor, interior balconies and mezzanines, elevator shafts and stairwells and enclosed porches.

Floor area, single dwelling means the gross horizontal area of the several floors of the one family residential structure, exclusive of carport, unfinished basement, attic and open porches.

Front and frontage means that side of a lot abutting on a street or way and ordinarily regarded as the front of a lot, but it shall not be considered as the ordinary side of a corner lot.

Garage, private means a detached accessory or portion of a main building used for the storage of self-propelled vehicles.

Height of building means the vertical distance from the mean, finished grade level at the front of the building to the highest point of the roof or parapet.

Hookah bar or lounge means an establishment wherein a single or multi-stemmed water pipe and/or any associated products, devices, and equipment are used to produce fumes, smoke, and/or vapors intended to be inhaled or exhaled, from the burning of any organic or synthetic material including, but not limited to, plants, herbs, tobacco related objects, alternative nicotine products, vapor products, or shisha. The term applies to any establishment where such activity is a principal or accessory use.

Improvement means any building, structure, place, work of art or other object constituting a physical betterment of real property, or any part of such betterment.

Incompatible use means a use which is incapable of existing in harmony with other uses situated in its immediate vicinity.

Junkyard means a place where junk, waste, discarded or salvage materials are bought or sold, exchanged, stored, baled, packed, disassembled or handled, including automobile wrecking yards, house wrecking, and structural steel material or equipment, scrap metal, rags, paper, or other scrap materials, used lumber, or for the dismantling, demolition or abandonment of automobiles or other vehicles or machinery or parts thereof.

Lot means a developed or undeveloped tract of land in one ownership, legally transferable as a single unit of land.

Lot area means the area of a horizontal plane bounded by the front, side and rear lot lines.

Lot, building means 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 in the provisions of this chapter, having not less than the minimum area and width required by this chapter for a lot in the district in which such land is situated, and having its principal frontage on a street or on such other means of access an may be determined in accordance with the provisions of the law to be adequate as a condition of the issuance of a building permit for building on such land.

Lot, corner means a lot which occupies the interior angle of two street lines which make an angle of less than 135 degrees with each other.

Lot coverage means that portion of a lot that is covered by impervious surfaces. Impervious surfaces include, but are not limited to, rooftops, buildings, drives, parking spaces, walkways, decks, patios, tennis courts, swimming pools and similar structures, compacted gravel, and any concrete or asphalt surface.

Lot depth means the mean horizontal distance between the front lot line and the rear lot line of a lot measured within the lot boundaries.

Lot, through means a lot other than a corner lot having frontage on more than one street.

Lot width means the horizontal distance between the side lot lines measured along the setback or building line as established by this chapter.

Mobile home means a detached, single-family dwelling designed for long-term occupancy; designed to be transported after fabrication on its own wheels, arriving at a site where it is to be occupied as a complete dwelling unit usually, but not necessarily, including appliances and furniture and ready for occupancy. Any such structure shall be deemed to be a mobile home whether or not the wheels have been removed therefrom and whether or not resting upon a temporary or permanent foundation. Travel trailers or camp-type trailers are not mobile homes.

Mobile home lot means a parcel of land for the exclusive use of the occupants of a single mobile home.

Mobile home park means a tract of land in single ownership which has been developed with all necessary facilities and services in accordance with a site development plan for the placement of mobile homes for nontransient use.

Modular home means a factory fabricated transportable building consisting of units designed to be incorporated at a building site on a permanent foundation into a structure to be used for residential purposes.

Nonconforming building or structure means a building or structure that does not meet one or more setbacks for the zoning district in which said building or structure is located, or a building or structure that exceeds the maximum lot coverage for the zoning district in which said building or structure is located, or a principal building or accessory structure that otherwise does not comply with dimensional requirements established by this section for the particular principal building or accessory structure or for the zoning district in which the nonconforming building or structure is located.

Nonconforming use means any building or land lawfully occupied by a use at the effective date of the ordinance from which this chapter is derived or amendments thereto which does not conform after the passage of this chapter or amendment with the use requirements of this district in which it is situated.

Noxious manufacturing or industrial uses means:

(1)

A manufacturing or industrial activity that produces any of the following as products or by-products of the manufacturing process: Caustic or corrosive acids, chlorine or other noxious gases, explosives, fertilizer or glue, products involving hair or fur; or

(2)

A manufacturing or industrial activity that involves any of the following: Tanning or finishing of leather or other hides, except taxidermy, petroleum refining, rendering or refining of fats and oils, and wood preservation.

Noxious matter means material which is capable of causing injury to living organisms by chemical reaction or is capable of causing detrimental effects upon the physical or economic well-being of individuals.

Occupancy means, pertains to and is the purpose for which a building is used or intended to be used. A change of occupancy is not intended to include a change of tenants or proprietors.

Office means a room or building in which a person transacts his business or carries on his stated occupation.

Open air market means display and retail sales of new goods, merchandise, and farm products in unenclosed space.

Open space means an unoccupied space open to the sky on a single lot with a building.

Park means a pleasure ground set apart for recreation of the public, to promote its health and enjoyment.

Porch, open means a roofed open structure projecting from the outside wall of a building without window sash or any other form of permanent enclosure.

Principal use means the primary purpose that a lot serves or is intended to serve.

Private deed restrictions or covenants means private deed restrictions or covenants that are imposed on land by private landowners. They bind and restrict land in the hands of present owners and subsequent purchasers. They are enforced only by the landowners involved and not by any city or other public agency.

Public building means any building held, used or controlled exclusively for public purposes by any department or branch of government without reference to the ownership of the building or of the realty upon which it is situated.

Setback means the distance between a street line and the front building line of a principal building or structure, projected to the side lines of the lot and including driveways and parking areas, except where otherwise restricted by this chapter.

Short-term rental means an accommodation for transient guests where, in exchange for compensation, a residential dwelling unit or portion thereof is provided for lodging for a period of less than 30 days. For the purposes of this definition, a short-term rental shall include all housing types, but shall exclude boarding and rooming houses as they are defined by this Code. Short-term rentals shall not constitute professional home offices or home occupations and shall not be subject to the general requirements and performance criteria governing home occupations set forth in sections 78-204 through 78-207.

Sign, business or institution identification means a sign which directs attention to a business or profession conducted or to a commodity, service or entertainment sold upon the premises where said sign is located or to which it is affixed.

Sign, flashing means any illuminated sign on which the artificial light is not maintained stationary or constant in intensity and color at all times when the sign is in use. For the purpose of this chapter, any revolving illuminated sign shall be considered a flashing sign.

Sign, outdoor advertising means an attached or freestanding sign that directs attention to a business, commodity or service not normally available on the premises on which the sign is located.

Start and commencement means the doing of some act upon the ground on which the building is to be erected, and in pursuance of a design to erect, the result of which act would make known to a person viewing the premises, from observation alone, that the erection of a building on that land had been commenced.

Storage means holding or safekeeping goods in a warehouse or other depository to await the happening of some future event or contingency which will call for removal of goods.

Street means a public thoroughfare which affords the principal means of access to abutting property.

Street line means the dividing line between a lot, tract, or parcel of land and a contiguous street.

Structural alteration means any change in either the supporting members of a building such as loadbearing walls, columns, beams, or girders or in the roof and exterior walls.

Structurally altered means the making of a substantial change in the construction, identity and use of a present building.

Structure means anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires a location on the ground or attached to something having a location on the ground. A single structure encompasses all manmade materials which are tightly integrated to form the whole.

Terrace and patio means an open porch without a permanent roof.

Townhouse means a single-family dwelling constructed as part of a series of dwellings, all of which are either attached to the adjacent dwelling or dwellings by party walls or are located immediately adjacent thereto with no visible separation between the walls or roofs having two stories, not including a basement.

Use means:

(1)

Any purpose for which a building or structure or tract of land may be designed, arranged, intended, maintained or occupied, or

(2)

Any activity, occupation, business or operation carried on, or intended to be carried on, in a building or other structure or on a tract of land.

Vape/CBD shop means a commercial establishment which, as one of its principal business activities, offers for sale or rental of any alternative nicotine product, vapor product items, and/or hemp product items. A "principal business activity" exists where the commercial establishment meets any one or more of the following criteria:

(a)

The establishment regularly offers for sale or rental of 1,000 said items; or

(b)

At least 25 percent of the establishment's revenue derives from the sale or rental of said items; or

(c)

The establishment maintains at least 25 percent of its floor space for the display, sale, and/or rental of said items (aisles and walkways used to access said items, as well as cashier stations where said items are rented or sold, shall be included in "floor space" maintained for the display, sale, or rental of said items); or

(d)

The establishment maintains at least 500 square feet of its floor space for the display, sale, and/or rental of said items (aisles and walkways used to access said items, as well as cashier stations where said items are rented or sold, shall be included in "floor space" maintained for the display, sale, or rental of said items; or

(e)

The establishment regularly makes said items available for sale or rental and holds itself out, in any medium, as an establishment that caters to customer interest in alternative nicotine products or vapor products.

Warehouse means a structure or part of a structure for storing goods, wares and merchandise, whether for the owner or for others and whether it is a public or private warehouse.

Way means a street, alley or other thoroughfare or easement permanently established for passage of person or vehicles.

Width means a dimension measured from side to side at right angles to length.

Yard means an open space at grade between a building and the adjoining lot line occupied and unobstructed by any portion of a structure from the ground upward, except as otherwise provided herein. In measuring a yard for the purpose of determining a side yard, the depth of a front year or the depth of a rear yard, the minimum horizontal distance between the lot line and the main building shall be used.

Yard, front means a yard extending across the full width of the lot and measured between the front lot line and the front line of the main building.

Yard, rear means a yard extending across the full width of the lot and measured between the rear line of the lot and the rear line of the main building.

Yard, side means a yard between the exterior wall of the building and attached structures and the adjacent side line of the lot and extending from the front yard to the rear yard.

Zone and zoning district means an area within which certain uses of land and buildings are permitted and certain others are prohibited. Yards and other open space are required, lot areas, building height limits and other requirements are established, all of the foregoing being identical for the zone in which they apply.

(Code 2004, § 39-103; Ord. No. O-109-09, 11-19-2009; Ord. No. O-119-10, 12-16-2010; Ord. No. O-143-12, 4-26-2012; Ord. No. O-22-245, § 1, 12-1-2022; Ord. No. O-24-255, § 1.a, 1-16-2025)