Except as otherwise provided herein, all words shall have the customary dictionary meaning. The present tense includes the future tense, and the future tense includes the present. The singular number includes the plural and the plural includes the singular. The word "person" includes a firm, corporation, association, organization, trust or partnership. The word "lot" includes "plot" or "parcel." The word "shall" is always mandatory. The word "used" or "occupied," as applied to any land or building, shall be construed to include the words "intended, arranged, or designed to be used or occupied." The word "map" means the "Official Zoning Districts Map for the City of Buena Vista, Georgia."

When used in this ordinance, the following words and phrases shall have the meaning given in this section:

(1)

Accessory use. A use customarily incidental to the principal use of land.

(2)

Alley. A platted service way providing a secondary means of access to abutting properties.

(3)

Automobile service station. Any area of land including structures thereon, used for the retail sale of gasoline or oil, automobile accessories, and incidental services including facilities for lubricating, hand cleaning and washing, or otherwise servicing automobiles, but excluding painting, major repair, or automatic washing.

(4)

Banner. A sign of paper, cloth, plastic or vinyl with no other substantial backing, not permanently affixed to any building or structure.

(5)

Banner, decorative. A sign of cloth, plastic or vinyl with no other substantial backing hung or projecting from a pole, provided said sign is not commercial in nature and does not advertise a specific product or item.

(6)

Bed and breakfast inn. Any owner-occupied building or portion thereof offering transient lodging accommodations and breakfast to not more than 12 guests where compensation is received.

(7)

Block. A piece or parcel of land entirely surrounded by public highways or streets, other than alleys.

(8)

Boardinghouse. A building other than a hotel where, for compensation and/or by pre-arrangement, meals, or lodging and meals, are provided for three or more persons, but not exceeding 20 persons.

(9)

Buffer. A strip of land along a property line reserved for screening purposes from adjoining properties or public rights-of-way and planted with trees and/or shrubs in such a manner as to provide such screening.

(10)

Building. A structure, either temporary or permanent, having a roof impervious to weather and used or built for the shelter or enclosure of persons, animals, chattels, or property of any kind. This definition shall not include tents, cabanas, truck bodies, school buses and vehicles of any kind situated on private property and serving in any way the function of a building.

(11)

Building, accessory. A subordinate building, the use of which is incidental to that of the dominant use of the main building.

(12)

Building, alterations of. Any change in the supporting members of a building (such as bearing walls, beams, columns, and girders) except such change as may be required for its safety; any addition to a building; any change in use resulting from moving a building from one location to another.

(13)

Building, height of. The distance measured from the average elevation of the proposed finished grade at the front of the height level between the eaves and ridge for gable, hip, and gambrel roofs and to the deck line of a mansard roof.

(14)

Building, main. A building in which is conducted the principal use of the lot on which it is situated. In any residential district, any dwelling shall be deemed to be a main building on the lot on which it is situated.

(15)

Clinic. An establishment where patients, who are not lodged overnight, are admitted for examination and treatment.

(16)

Club. Building and facilities owned or operated by a corporation, association, person or persons for social, educational or recreational purposes, but not primarily for profit or to render a service to the general public.

(17)

Commission. The Buena Vista Planning and Zoning Commission.

(18)

Condominium. A form of individual ownership of a unit, combined with joint ownership of common areas of the building and grounds in a development. (Georgia Condominium Act, Georgia Code Annotated 85-16E.)

(19)

Conventional construction. A building constructed on the building site from basic materials delivered to the site. A conventional building is subject to local codes and ordinances.

(20)

City Council. The Mayor and City Council for the City of Buena Vista, Georgia.

(21)

Cut. A portion of land surface or area from which earth has been removed or will be removed by excavation; the depth below original ground surface to excavated surface. Also known as excavation.

(22)

Day-care center. Any place operated by a person, society, agency, corporation, or institution, or any other group wherein are received for pay seven or more children under 17 years of age for group care, without transfer of custody, for more than four hours and less than 24 hours per day.

(23)

Day-care home. Any place operated by any person who received for pay three to six children under 17 years of age for group care, without transfer of custody for more than four hours and less than 24 hours per day.

(24)

Department. The Department of Natural Resources.

(25)

Development. Any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, including, but not limited to, buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavating or drilling operations.

(26)

Director. The Director of the Environmental Protection Division.

(27)

District. A section of the City of Buena Vista within which the zoning regulations are uniform.

(28)

Drainage structure. Any roadway drainage structure, as defined below, and any piping or ditching for stormwater management purposes.

(29)

Dwelling. Any building or portion thereof which is designed for or used for residential purposes.

(30)

Dwelling, multifamily. A building designed for or occupied exclusively by three or more families living independently of each other.

(31)

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

(32)

Dwelling, two-family (duplex). A building designed for or occupied exclusively by two families living independently of each other.

(33)

Easement. A grant by a property owner for the use of land for a specific purpose or purposes by the general public, or a corporation or a certain person or persons.

(34)

Erosion. The process by which land surface is worn away by the action of wind, water, ice or gravity.

(35)

Existing grade. The vertical location of the existing ground surface prior to cutting or filling.

(36)

Fallout shelter. A structure or portion of a structure intended to provide protection to human life during periods of danger to human life from nuclear fallout, air raids, storms or other emergencies.

(37)

Family. One or more persons occupying a single dwelling unit, provided that, unless all members are related by blood, marriage or adoption, no such families shall contain over three persons. In addition, a related family may have up to two unrelated individuals living with them. The term "family" does not include any organization or institutional group.

(38)

Fence. A structure or partition erected for the purpose of enclosing a piece of land, or to divide a piece of land into distinct portions, or to separate two contiguous estates.

(39)

Filling. The placement of any soil or other solid material either organic or inorganic on a natural ground surface or an excavation.

(40)

Finished grade. The final elevation and contour of the ground after cutting or filling and conforming to the proposed design.

(41)

Floor area. The sum of the gross horizontal areas of the total number of floors of a building measured from the exterior faces of the exterior walls or from the centerline of walls separating two buildings, but not including the attic space providing headroom of less than seven feet; unusable basement or cellar space not used for retailing; uncovered steps or fire escape; open porches; accessory water or cooling towers; accessory off-street parking spaces; and accessory off-street loading berths.

(42)

Frontage lot. The distance for which the front boundary line of the lot and the street line are coincident.

(43)

Frontage street. All the property on the side of a street between two intersecting streets (crossing or terminating), or if the street is dead-ended, then all the property abutting on one side between an intersection street and the dead end of the street.

(44)

Garage, parking. A building or portion thereof designed or used for storage of motor-driven vehicles, and at which motor fuels and oils may be sold, and, in connection with, may be performed general automotive servicing as distinguished from automotive repair.

(45)

Garage, private. An accessory building or a portion of a main building used for the parking or storage of automobiles of the occupants of the main building. A carport would be considered as a private garage.

(46)

Garage, repair. A building or portion thereof, other than a private or parking garage, designed or used for the storage, servicing, repairing, equipping or hiring of motor-driven vehicles.

(47)

Halfway house (drug rehabilitation center). A licensed home for inmates on release from more restrictive custodial confinement or initially placed in lieu of such more restrictive custodial confinement, wherein supervision, rehabilitation, and counseling are provided to mainstream residents back into society, enabling them to live independently. Such placement is pursuant to the authority of the State Department of Corrections.

(48)

Home occupation. An occupation for gain or support conducted only by members of a family residing on the premises and entirely within the main dwelling.

(49)

Hotel. A building in which lodging or board are provided for more than 20 persons and offered to the public for compensation and in which ingress and egress to and from each sleeping room is generally made through the interior of the building.

(50)

Institution. A nonprofit corporation or a nonprofit establishment.

(51)

Junkyard. A lot, land or structure, or part thereof, used primarily for the collecting, storage and sale of wastepaper, rags, scrap metal or discarded materials; or for the collecting, dismantling, storage and salvaging of machinery or vehicles not in running condition, or for the sale of parts thereof.

(52)

Kennels. Any location where raising, grooming, caring for or boarding of dogs, cats, or other small animals for commercial purposes is carried on.

(53)

Kindergarten. A school for pre-elementary school children ranging in age from four through six years; which operates for less than four hours per day.

(54)

Laundromat. A business that provides home-type washing, drying and/or ironing machines for hire.

(55)

Laundry and dry cleaning, pick up. A business that provides only for the convenience of taking and picking up of laundry, such as establishments not having any equipment for processing of the laundry.

(56)

Loading space. A space within the main building or on the same lot, providing for the standing, loading or unloading of trucks, and other carriers.

(57)

Lot. A portion of a subdivision or other parcel of land which satisfies the dimensional requirements for the district within which it is located, has frontage along a street, and is intended as a unit for transfer of ownership or for building development.

(58)

Lot of record. A lot or parcel of land whose existence and location and dimensions have been recorded in the Office of the Clerk of the Superior Court of Marion County.

(59)

Lot, corner. A lot having frontage of two or more streets at their intersection.

(60)

Lot, double frontage. A lot having a frontage of two streets and distinguished from a corner lot.

(61)

Lot, interior. A lot other than a corner lot.

(62)

Lowest floor. The floor, including basement, in a building, which is the lowest elevation above mean sea level.

(63)

Manufactured home. A dwelling defined in the state code as a manufactured home, subject to the standards and regulations of the Department of Housing and Urban Development adopted June 15, 1976, and as amended.

(64)

Manufactured home park. Any tract of land that is approved by the Buena Vista Planning and Zoning Commission for the renting of spaces for sleeping purposes or where spaces are set aside and offered for rent or use by manufactured homes for living or sleeping purposes, including any land, building, structure, or facility used by occupants of mobile homes on such premises.

(65)

Motel. A building or group of buildings containing sleeping accommodations for rental primarily to automobile transients and in which ingress and egress to and from each sleeping room is generally to the outside of the building.

(66)

Nonconforming use. A use of land existing at the time of the enactment of this ordinance, or at the time of a zoning amendment and which does not conform with the regulations of the use district in which it is located.

(67)

Nursing home (rest home, convalescent). An establishment which provides full-time convalescent or chronic care or both for three or more individuals who are not related by blood or marriage to the operator and who, by reason of chronic illness or infirmity, are unable to care for themselves. No care for the acutely ill [is] provided in such a home; a hospital or sanitarium shall not be construed to be included in this definition.

(68)

Open space. A yard area which is not used for or occupied by a driveway, off-street parking, loading space, drying yard or refuse storage space.

(69)

Personal care home. A building, group of buildings, facility, or place in which are provided two or more beds and other facilities and services, including room, meals, and personal care, for non-family ambulatory adults. For the purposes of these regulations, personal care homes shall be classified as family personal care homes.

(70)

Personal care homes, congregate. A personal care home, which offers care to 16 or more persons.

(71)

Personal care homes, family. A personal care home in a family-type residence, non-institutional in character, which offers care to two through six persons.

(72)

Personal care homes, group. A personal care home in a residence or other type building or buildings, non-institutional in character, which offers care to seven through 15 persons.

(73)

Plat. A map, plan or layout of a county, city, town, section or subdivision indicating the location and boundaries of properties.

(74)

Playschool. A school for pre-kindergarten children ranging in age from three to four years and which operates for less than four hours a day.

(75)

Principal use. The primary purpose for which land or a building is used.

(76)

Professional. When used in connection with "use" and "occupancy," a use or occupancy by persons generally engaged in rendering personal, executive, sales, or administrative services of activities, including accountants, architects, professional engineers and land surveyors, doctors, lawyers, insurance offices, real estate offices, religious organizations, stockbrokers and administrative agencies considered professional in character. The term, however, does not include repairs or sales of tangible personal property stored or located within the structure nor any use which would create loud noise or noxious odors.

(77)

Recreational vehicle. Any type of portable structure without a permanent foundation, which can be towed, hauled or driven and designed for temporary living accommodations for recreational, camping, and travel use, including, but not limited to, travel trailers, truck campers (on or off the truck), camping trailers and self-propelled motor homes.

(78)

Recreational vehicle park. A parcel of land which is used solely for the rental or lease of lots for transient campers, trailers, motor homes, or temporary parking of any other recreational vehicle that is not a manufactured home.

(79)

Regulatory flood elevation. For purposes of this ordinance, the crest elevation in relation to mean sea level expected to be reached by the one percent flood (base flood elevation) plus two feet.

(80)

Restaurant, drive-in. An eating and/or drinking establishment which caters to motor-driven vehicle business where the person being served consumes his food and/or drink while sitting in a motor-driven vehicle, as opposed to a restaurant serving exclusively inside an enclosed building.

(81)

Right-of-way. Access over or across particularly described property for a specific purpose or purposes.

(82)

Right-of-way line. The dividing line between a lot, tract or parcel of land and a continuous street, railroad, or other public utility right-of-way.

(83)

Roadway drainage structure. Bridges, culverts and ditches associated with roadway construction, which allow stream flows to move freely under a stream crossing or to convey stormwater runoff from a roadway to a stream.

(84)

Roominghouse. A building other than a hotel where lodging for three but not more than 20 persons is provided with no meals served.

(85)

Shopping center. A group of commercial establishments, planned, and developed as a unit, with common off-street parking provided on the property.

(86)

Sign. Any words, lettering, parts of letters, figures, numerals, phrases, sentences, emblems, devices, designs, trade names or marks, or combinations thereof, by which anything is made known, such as the designation of an individual, a firm, an association, a profession, a business, a commodity, or product which are visible from any public way and used as an outdoor display.

(87)

Sign area. The smallest square, rectangle, triangle, circle, or combination thereof encompassing the entire advertising area excluding architectural trim and structural supports.

(88)

Sign, outdoor advertising. A structural poster panel or painted sign, either freestanding or attached to a building, for the purpose of conveying information, knowledge, or ideas to the public about a subject unrelated to the premises upon which it is located.

(89)

Sign, permanent. Any sign attached securely to a building, roof, wall or a canopy or the ground by means of concrete, bolts, metal braces, treated wood or cedar and continuing in the same state or without essential change to the sign structure.

(90)

Sign, portable. Any sign which is mounted or designed for mounting on wheels, or which is mounted or designed for mounting on a code vehicle, and the primary purpose of which is advertising.

(91)

Sign structure. A structure composed of a single pole or multiple poles which is located on the ground on top of another structure and which supports no more than two signs.

(92)

Sign structure facing. The surface of the sign upon, against, or through which the message of the sign is exhibited, not including architectural trim and structural support.

(93)

Sign, temporary. Any sign that is not a permanent or portable sign.

(94)

Site plan. Drawing which puts forth the pattern in these dimensions of the activity, circulation and visual form to take place on a particular piece of land.

(95)

Slope. Degree of deviation of a surface from the horizontal, usually expressed in percent or degree.

(96)

Story. That portion of a building, other than a cellar, included between the surface of the floor and the ceiling above it.

(97)

Street. A public or private thoroughfare, which affords the principal means of access to abutting property.

(98)

Street, centerline. The centerline of a street is the line surveyed and monumented by the governing body as such or, if a centerline has not been surveyed and monumented, it shall be that line running midway between the outside curbs or ditches of the streets.

(99)

Street, half. A street, which does not meet the minimum right-of-way widths as set forth in this ordinance.

(100)

Street line. The legal line between street right-of-way and abutting property.

(101)

Street, major. A street designated as a major street on the "Zoning Districts Map" of the City of Buena Vista, Georgia.

(102)

Street, secondary. A street designated as a secondary street on the "Zoning Districts Map" of the City of Buena Vista, Georgia.

(103)

Structure. Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires a location on the ground, or attached to something having a location on the ground.

(104)

Subdivider. Any person who undertakes the subdivision of land as herein defined.

(105)

Subdivision. Any division of a tract or parcel of land into two or more lots, building sites, or other divisions for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of sale, legacy, or building development. This includes any division of land involving a new street or a change in existing streets, and includes re-subdivision and, where appropriate to the context, relates to the process of subdividing or to the land or area subdivided; provided, however, that the following are not included in this definition: (a) The combination or recombination or portions of previously platted lots where the total number of lots is not increased and the resultant lots are equal to the standards of the municipality.

(106)

Substantial improvement. For a structure built prior to the enactment of this ordinance, any repair, reconstruction, or improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50 percent of the market value of the structure either: (1) before the improvement or repair is started, or (2) if the structure has been damaged and is being restored, before the damage occurred. For the purpose of this definition, substantial improvement is considered to occur when the first alteration of any wall, ceiling, floor, or other structural part of the building commences, whether or not that alteration affects the external dimensions of the structure. The term does not, however, include any projects for improvement of a structure to comply with existing state or local health, sanitary, or safety code specifications, which are solely necessary.

(107)

Townhouse. A single-family dwelling unit which is erected in a row as part of a single building, on adjoining lots, each being separated from the adjoining unit or units by an approved fire-resistant party wall or walls extending from the basement or cellar floor to the roof along the dividing lot line.

(108)

Trailer home, mobile home, orhouse trailer. See "Manufactured home."

(109)

Trailer park. See "Manufactured home park."

(110)

Wall. An erection of stone, brick, or other material raised to some height and intended for purposes of security or enclosure.

(111)

Yard. A space on the same lot with a main building, such space being open, unoccupied and unobstructed by buildings or structures from ground to sky except where encroachments and accessory buildings are expressly permitted.

(112)

Yard, front. An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with the main building, extending the full width of the lot and situated between the right-of-way line and the front line of the building projected to the side lines of the lot. The depth of the front yard shall be measured between the front line of the building and the right-of-way line. Covered porches, whether enclosed or unenclosed, shall be considered as part of the main building and shall not project into a required front yard. On corner lots, the front yard shall be considered as parallel to the street upon which the lot has its least dimension.

(113)

Yard, rear. An open space on the same lot with the main building, such space being unoccupied except possibly by an accessory building and extending the full width of the lot and situated between the rear line of the lot and the rear line of the main building projected to the side lines of the lot. On all corner lots, the rear yard shall be at the opposite end of the lot from the front yard.

(114)

Yard, side. An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a main building, situated between the side line of the building and the adjacent side line of the lot extending from the rear line of the front yard to the front line of the rear yard. If no front yard is required, the front boundary of the side yard shall be the front line of the lot and if no rear yard is required, the rear boundary of the side yard shall be considered as parallel to the street upon which the lot has its greatest dimension.