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El Lago City Zoning Code

CHAPTER III

GENERAL PROVISIONS

§ 3.01 Conformity with regulations.

(1) 
No building, structure, or premises shall be used or occupied and no building or part thereof or other structure shall be erected, raised, moved, placed, reconstructed, extended, enlarged or altered except in conformity with the regulations herein specified for the district in which it is located as shown on the official map.
(2) 
No building, structure, or premises shall be occupied by more families than prescribed for such building, structure or premises for the district in which it is located.
(3) 
No yard, court or open space or part thereof shall be included as a part of the yard, court or open space similarly required for any other building, structure or dwelling under this ordinance.
(Ordinance 185B, sec. 3, adopted 2/1/93)

§ 3.02 Corner lots, reversed.

On a reverse corner lot in any district, the rear line on which abuts a lot zoned or designated for residential purposes, no structure or portion thereof shall be located within ten (10) feet of any part of said rear lot line. Further, any portion of a structure which is located within fifteen (15) feet of such rear lot line shall observe the same yard requirements on its side street side as are specified by this ordinance for the lot which it abuts to its rear.

§ 3.03 Special rule for double frontage lots.

Double frontage lots shall provide the required front yard on both streets, except where it is intended to back a structure upon a major thoroughfare; in such case, the required rear yard shall be a minimum of twenty-five (25) feet and shall not be occupied by an accessory structure.

§ 3.04 Principal and accessory buildings and uses.

All residential uses and buildings except servants’ quarters and guesthouses, as defined in Chapter 5[V], Section 5.04, are principal uses and buildings.
Accessory buildings, except servants’ quarters and guesthouses, located in districts where permitted, shall not be used for dwelling purposes. All portable buildings must have a permanent foundation such as slabs, grade beams or other excavated footings.
All accessory uses shall conform to the regulations for the district in which they are located.
In addition to those uses listed as accessory uses in the various district regulations, the following are also accessory uses to appropriate principal uses except for accessory buildings located on NASA Road One which back single-family dwellings.
(1) 
Storage of goods used or produced by manufacturing activities upon the building lot occupied by such activities unless such storage is prohibited by the district regulations;
(2) 
The production, processing, cleaning, servicing, altering, testing, repairing, or storing of merchandise normally incidental to a retail service or business use if conducted by the same ownership as the principal use.

§ 3.05 Permitted obstructions in required yards and open space.

The following shall not be considered to be obstructions when located in the required yards or open spaces specified:
(1) 
In all yards and open space:
Open terraces not over four (4) feet above the average level of the adjoining ground but not including a permanently roofed-over terrace or porch; awnings and canopies; steps four (4) feet or less above grade which are necessary to provide access to a permitted building or for access to a building lot from a street or alley; chimneys projecting twenty-four (24) inches or less into the yard, but not occupying more than two (2) percent of the required yard area; recreational equipment (e.g., swing sets); flagpoles; fences and nonstructural walls not over six (6) feet in height. In no case shall a fence, wall, shrub or other screening device be of a height or located so as to cause danger to traffic by obstructing the view.
(2) 
In front yards:
One-story bay windows, balconies and overhanging eaves or gutters, none of which shall project more than four (4) feet into required yards.
(3) 
In side yards:
Overhanging eaves or gutters projecting three (3) feet or less into the required yards, but in no case shall such eaves or gutters be closer than one (1) foot to the side lot line; and enclosed, attached, or detached off-street parking structures, when accessory to apartment projects, but in no case shall such parking structures be closer than five (5) feet to the side lot line.
(4) 
In rear yards:
Enclosed, attached or detached off-street parking structures; open off-street parking spaces; servants’ quarters’, accessory sheds, toolrooms, and similar buildings or structures for domestic or agricultural storage; balconies; breezeways and open porches; one-story bay windows; and overhanging eaves or gutters.
(Ordinance 220, sec. 1, adopted 7/6/87)

§ 3.06 Special rules for front yards.

The following special rules for front yards shall apply where front yards are required.
Where on the effective date of this ordinance, forty (40) percent or more of a block face was occupied by two (2) or more buildings, the front yard is established in the following manner, otherwise the required front yard for the district shall apply. Where no intersection street occurs for a distance of twelve hundred (1,200) feet in either direction, measured from the midpoint of the street frontage of the lot or tract in question, the forty (40) percent shall apply to this distance along the frontage.
(1) 
The front yard of a lot in a block having not more than a ten-foot variation in the depth of existing front yards shall be an average of those yards existing on either side.
(2) 
Where section 3.06(1) does not apply and a lot is within one hundred (100) feet of a building on each side, then the front yard line of a lot is a line drawn parallel to the front lot line from the point of intersection of a line connecting the closest front corners of the two (2) adjacent buildings and the side yard line closest to the front lot line.
(3) 
Where neither section 3.06(1) or (2) applies and the lot is within one hundred (100) feet of an existing building on one (1) side only, then the front yard is the same as that of the existing adjacent building, except that a required front yard need not exceed forty (40) feet.

§ 3.07 Special fencing rule for a portion of the El Lago/Seabrook cities’ boundary.

No fence shall exceed eight (8) feet in height when constructed along the subject city boundary between the property known as El Lago, Section 1, Block 7, Lot 76 as recorded in Volume 89, pages 78-84, Harris County, Texas and El Lago Estates, Section 7, Block 10, Lot 14, as recorded in Volume 97, Pages 363-376, Harris County, Texas. If fences are of masonry construction they shall be professionally designed and shall be approved by the city building official prior to construction.
(Ordinance 185-A, sec. 1, adopted 8/7/89)