Except where specifically defined herein, all words used in this title shall carry their customary meanings. Words used in the present tense include the future, and the plural includes the singular; lot includes plot, tract, site and parcel; buildings includes structure; shall is intended to be mandatory; may is intended to be discretionary; abutting shall include adjacent and contiguous; occupied or used shall be considered as though followed by the words or intended, arranged or designed to be used or occupied.

Alley means a public right-of-way providing a secondary means of access to abutting properties.

Access way means a curb cut, ramp, driveway or other means for providing vehicular access to an off-street parking or loading area.

Apartment house means a building arranged, intended or designed to be occupied by three or more families living independently of each other.

Building area means the total of areas taken on a horizontal plane at the main grade level of the principal building and all accessory buildings exclusive of uncovered porches, terraces and steps.

Habitable area means the building area minus square footage occupied by interior partitions and exterior walls.

"Net site area means the total area within the property lines excluding exterior streets.

Basement means a story partly underground, but having less than half its clear height below finished grade.

A neutral area of landscaping or other means which separates incompatible land uses and helps preserve the character, appearance and value of the neighborhood.

Building means any structure having a roof supported by columns or by walls permanently attached to the ground and intended for the shelter, housing or enclosure of persons, animals or chattels.

Accessory building means a subordinate building or portion of the main building on a lot, the use of which is customarily incidental to that of the main or principal building.

Detached building means a building surrounded by open space on the same lot.

Front line of building means the line of that face of the building nearest the front line of the lot. This face includes sun parlors and covered, enclosed porches, but does not include steps. On a corner lot, the building front is the side on which it is addressed.

Height of building means the vertical distance measured from the average elevation of the proposed finished grade at the front of the building to the highest point of the roof for flat roofs, to the deck line of mansard roofs, and the mean height between eves and ridge for gable, hip and gambrel roofs.

Principal building means a building in which is conducted the main or principal use of the lot on which the building is situated.

Camp means any area of land or water on which are located two or more cabins, trailers, tents, shelters, houseboats or other accommodations of a design or character suitable for seasonal living purposes or other more or less temporary living purposes, regardless of whether such structure or other accommodations actually are occupied seasonally or otherwise.

Trailer camp means a land or floor area occupied or designed for occupancy by two or more trailers or camp cars in use for living purposes.

Camping ground means a parcel of land used or intended to be used, let or rented for occupancy by campers or for occupancy by or of trailers, tents or movable or temporary dwellings, rooms or sleeping quarters of any kind.

Court means an open unoccupied space bounded on two or more sides by the exterior walls and lot lines.

Auto court means a building or group of buildings, whether detached or in connected units, used as individual sleeping or dwelling units designed primarily for transient automobile travelers and providing for accessory off-street parking facilities. Auto court includes buildings designated as tourist courts, motor lodges, motels and similar appellations.

Inner court means a court enclosed on all sides by exterior walls or a building or by exterior walls and lot lines on which walls are allowable.

Coverage means that percentage of the plot or lot area covered by the building area.

Curb level means the officially established grade of the curb in front of the mid-point of the lot.

Dump means a lot or land or part thereof used primarily for the disposal of waste material of any kind.

Dwelling means a building designed or used as the living quarters of one or more families. Dwelling, one-family dwelling, multiple dwelling, two-family dwelling, or dwelling group shall not be deemed to include auto court, rooming house or tourist home.

Multifamily dwelling means a dwelling or group of dwellings on one plot containing separate living units for three or more families, but which may have joint services or facilities or both.

One-family dwelling means a detached building designed for or occupied exclusively by one family.

Two-family dwelling means a detached building containing two dwelling units.

Easement means a right to use another person's real property for certain limited purposes.

Efficiency apartment house means an apartment house in which the minimum dwelling area shall be five hundred square feet and which may house no more than two adults and one child under twelve years of age in each dwelling unit.

Family means one or more persons occupying a dwelling unit and living as a single, nonprofit housekeeping unit.

Farm means any parcel of land containing at least ten acres which is used for gain in the raising of agricultural products, livestock, poultry and dairy products. It includes necessary farm structures within the prescribed limits and the storage of equipment used. It excludes the raising of fur bearing animals, riding academies, livery or boarding stables and dog kennels.

Fire hazard means any area of land, including the structures thereon, that is used or intended to be used for manufacturing processes of, or the storage use or manufacture of materials or products of combustible nature. Such uses include, but are not limited to, ammunition storage, bakeries, building material establishment, cleaning plants, coal and coke yards, contractor's plant or storage yards, foundries or forges, feed establishments, freight yards or terminals, junkyards, laundries, lumberyards, paint stores and shops, potteries, paper storage, welding shops, warehouses, wholesale houses and the storage, use or manufacture of explosive gases, liquids or solids.

The floor area of a building means the sum of the gross horizontal areas of the several floors of a building and its accessory buildings on the same lot, excluding basement floor areas not devoted to residential use, but including the area of roofed porches and roofed terraces. All dimensions shall be measured between exterior faces of walls.

A private garage means an accessory building intended or designed to be used for the storage of noncommercial motor vehicles. "Garage, private" includes "carport."

Public garage means any garage not a private garage, and which is used for storage or servicing of motor vehicles.

Gasoline station means any area of land, including structures thereon, that is used for the sale of gasoline or other motor vehicle fuel and oil and other lubricating substances, accessories, and which may or may not include facilities for lubricating, washing or otherwise servicing motor vehicles. Gasoline station shall include "filling station" and "auto service station."

Established grade means the elevation of the centerline of the streets as officially established by the city authorities.

Finished grade means that completed surfaces of lawns, walks, and roads brought to grades shown on official plans or designs relating thereto.

Green belt planting strip means a cultivated strip of ground of width specified and planted with such plant materials that will, at maturity, grow to an average height or greater than the specified height.

Home occupation means any use customarily conducted entirely within a dwelling and carried on by the inhabitants thereof, which use is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for dwelling purposes and does not change the character thereof. The conducting of a clinic, hospital, barber shop, beauty parlor, tea room, tourist home, animal hospital or any similar use shall not be a home occupation.

Such home occupations, where permitted in a residential district of any zoning type, shall be subject to the following conditions:

1. The occupation shall be conducted wholly within the principal building;
2. Only persons residing within the dwelling unit shall be employed in the occupation;
3. No equipment shall be used in the occupation, other than that which is customarily incidental to domestic use;
4. No outdoor storage in conjunction with the occupation shall be allowed;
5. No exterior display or exterior sign shall be permitted, except as allowed by the sign regulations for each district;
6. No alterations of any kind shall be made to the dwelling which changes its residential character;
7. No equipment or material or compounds used in such occupation shall be of a dangerous, hazardous, poisonous, noxious or like nature.

Hospital means a building used for the diagnosis, treatment or other care of human ailments, unless otherwise specified.

Hotel means a building containing rooms intended or designed to be used, rented or hired out to be occupied or which are occupied for sleeping purposes by guests and where only a general kitchen and dining room are provided within the building or in an accessory building.

House trailer means any portable or mobile vehicle used or designed to be used for living purposes and with its wheels, rollers or skids in place.

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

Launderette means a business premises equipped with individual clothes washing machines for use of retail customers, exclusive of laundry facilities provided as an accessory use in an apartment house or an apartment hotel. It shall also include dry cleaners.

Off-street loading space is a unit space being ten feet wide, thirty feet long and fourteen feet high located within the structure, or within a side or rear yard or within an access drive or aisle of a required off-street parking space.

Lot means a parcel of land occupied or capable of being occupied by one building, and the accessory buildings or uses customarily incident to it, including such open spaces as are required by this title.

Corner lot means a parcel of land at the junction of and fronting on two or more intersecting streets.

Depth of lot means a mean horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines, measured in the general direction of its side lot lines.

Interior lot means a lot other than a corner lot.

Width of lot means the mean width measured at right angles to its depth.

Lot lines means the lines bounding a lot.

Motor vehicle shop means a building, or portion of a building, arranged, intended or designed to be used for making repairs to motor vehicles.

Motor vehicle sales lot means a lot arranged, designed or used for the storage and display for sale of any motor vehicle including trucks or any type of trailer, provided that the trailer is unoccupied and where repair work as an accessory use is done to automobiles or trailers.

Nursing or convalescent home means a licensed public or private home or institution which provides maintenance, personal care and nursing for three or more persons who by reason of physical illness or infirmity are incapable of maintaining a private, independent residence. It shall also include assisted living facilities.

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

Off-street parking space means each unit or space being nine feet wide and twenty feet long exclusive of access drives and turning areas, located within an accessory garage or in a side or rear yard, properly graveled, or paved and maintained.

Plat means a map, plan or layout of a parcel or parcels of land, indicating the location and boundaries of individual properties.

Recreational vehicle means any type of vehicle used primarily for recreational pleasure, including but not limited to, travel trailers, motor homes, boats, campers, water craft, 4-wheelers, snowmobiles and the like.

Sign means any device for visual communication that is used for the purpose of bringing the subject thereof to the attention of the public, but not including any flag, badge or insignia of any government or government agency, or of any civic, charitable, religious, patriotic, fraternal or similar organization.

Street means a public way which affords principal means of access to abutting property. It shall not include an alley or easement.

Street grade means the officially established grade of the street upon which a lot fronts or in its absence the established grade of other street upon which the lot abuts, at the midpoint of the frontage of the lot thereon. If there is no officially established grade, the existing grade of the street at such midpoint shall be taken as the street grade.

Street line means the dividing line between the street and the lot.

Structure means a combination of materials other than a building to form a construction that is safe and stable and includes among other things platforms, bleachers, towers, bins, fences and display signs.

Tourist home means a dwelling in which overnight accommodations are provided or offered for a transient guest for compensation.

Accessory use means a use incidental to the principal use of a building. In buildings restricted to residence use, the office of a professional man, customary family occupations and workshops not conducted for compensation shall be deemed accessory uses.

Manufacturing use means any building or lot used for making articles or products and employing more than four persons or consuming more than sixty man-hours per week for manufacturing purposes.

Conforming use means a building, structure or use of land in compliance with the applicable provisions of the title.

Nonconforming uses means a building, structure or use of land existing at the time of enactment and codified in this title, and which does not conform to the regulations of the district or zone in which it is situated.

Yard means an unoccupied space open to the sky, on the same lot with a building or structure.

Front yard means a yard on the same lot with the building between the front line of the building and the front line of the lot and extending the full width of the lot. As used in this title front yard applies to all buildings on the lot.

Rear yard means a yard on the same lot with the building between the rear line of the building and the rear line of the lot and extending the full width of the lot. As used in this title rear yard applies to principal buildings only.

Side yard means a yard on the same lot with the building situated between the building and the side line of the lot and extending from the front yard to the rear yard. Any lot line not a rear line or a front line shall be deemed a side line. As used in this title side yard applies to principal buildings only.

Short term rental properties mean any structure offered for rent to any person, other than a member of the owner's family, for a period which does not exceed thirty (30) consecutive days. The term "short term rental properties" shall not include hotels, bed and breakfast inns or boarding facilities.