11.   “Building” means any structure designed or intended for the support, enclosure, shelter, or protection of persons, animals, or property, but not including signs or billboards.

   12.   “Building height” means the perpendicular distance measured in a straight line from the curb level to the highest point of the roof beams in the case of flat roofs, and to the mid-point of the gable of the roof in the case of pitched roofs, the measurement in all cases to be taken through the center of the front of the house. Where a dwelling is on a corner lot and there is more than one grade or level, the measurements shall be taken from the main entrance elevation. In all districts where permitted, exterior roof signs shall not be included in building height measurement.

   13.   “Building, principal” means a building in which the principal use of the lot is conducted.

   14.   “Business or commercial” refers to the engaging in the purchase, sale, or exchange of goods or services, or the operation for profit of offices or recreational or amusement enterprises.

   15.   “Carport” means a roofed structure providing space for the parking of motor vehicles and enclosed on not more than two sides. For the purposes of this Zoning Ordinance, a carport attached to a principal building shall be considered as part of the principal building and subject to all yard requirements herein.

   16.   “Cellar” means a story having more than one-half of the height of all walls below the highest level of the adjoining ground. A cellar shall not be considered a story for the purpose of this chapter.

   17.   “Clinic” means a building or buildings used by physicians and/or dentists, osteopaths, chiropractors, and allied professions for outpatient care or persons requiring such professional service.

   18.   “Convenience store” means a small retail store providing selected groceries and variety goods, provided that more than 60 percent of its gross income is derived from, and more than 75 percent of its retail floor space is devoted to, the sale of merchandise, services for on-site enjoyment, food, and beverages other than alcoholic beverages, in either case not including the sale of tobacco products, lottery tickets, or pumped vehicle fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and similar products, and provided further that not more than 25 percent of its gross income as so determined is derived from the sale of alcoholic beverages other than beer or wine.

   19.   “Court” means an open, unobstructed, and unoccupied space other than a yard which is bounded on two or more sides by a building on the same lot.

   20.   “Curb level” means the main level of the curb or the established curb grade in front of a lot.

   21.   “Day nursery” or “nursery school” means any private agency, institution, establishment or place which provides supplemental parental care and/or educational work, other than lodging overnight for six or more unrelated children of pre-school age, for compensation.

   22.   “District” means a section or sections of the City within which certain uniform regulations and requirements governing the use of buildings and premises or the height and areas of buildings and premises are uniform.

   23.   “Drinking establishment” refers to a business where a predominant amount of activity relates to the sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises. For the purpose of this Zoning Ordinance, bars, beer parlors, night clubs, and taverns are considered to be drinking establishments.

   24.   “Dwelling” means any building or portion thereof which is designed or used exclusively for residential purposes, but not including a tent, cabin, trailer, or mobile home.

   25.   “Dwelling, single-family” means a detached residence designed for or occupied by one family only.

   26.   “Dwelling, two-family” means a residence designed for or occupied by two families only with separate housekeeping and cooking facilities for each.

   27.   “Dwelling, single-family bi-attached” means a dwelling designed for or occupied by one family only which is erected on a separate lot and is joined to another such residence on one side only by a wall located on the lot line and which has yards on the remaining sides.

   28.   “Dwelling, multiple” means a residence designed for or occupied by three or more families with separate housekeeping and cooking facilities for each.

   29.   “Dwelling, multiple elderly” means a group of residences designed for elderly occupants and having special site development considerations distinct from multiple dwellings occupied by all age groups.

   30.   “Dwelling, condominium” means a multiple dwelling as defined herein whereby the fee title to each dwelling unit is held independently of the others.

   31.   “Dwelling, row” means any one of three or more attached dwellings in a continuous row, each such dwelling designed and erected as a unit on a separate lot and separated from one another by an approved wall or walls.

   32.   “Dwelling unit” means a room or group of rooms which are arranged, designed, or used as living quarters for the occupancy of one family containing bathroom and/or kitchen facilities.

   33.   “Dwelling unit, efficiency (or studio)” means a residence having a common living-sleeping area.

   34.   “Factory-built housing” means a factory-built structure designed for long-term residential use. For the purposes of these regulations, factory-built housing consists of three types: modular homes, mobile homes, and manufactured homes.

   35.   “Factory-built structure” means any structure which is, wholly or in substantial part, made, fabricated or assembled in manufacturing facilities for installation or assembly and installation on a building site.

   36.   “Family” means one or more persons occupying a single dwelling unit, provided that unless all members are related by blood, marriage, or adoption, no such family shall contain over four persons.

   37.   “Feed lot” means any parcel of land or premises on which the principal use is the concentrated feeding of cattle, hogs, or sheep within a confined area.

   38.   “Fill” means the placing, storing, or dumping of any material such as earth, clay, sand, rubble, concrete, or animal waste upon the surface of the ground which results in increasing the natural surface elevation.

   39.   “Flood plain” or “flood prone area” means the area adjoining the river or stream which has been or may be hereafter covered by flood water, as established in Chapter 165 of this Code of Ordinances.

   40.   “Floodway” means the channel of a river or stream and those portions of the flood plains adjoining the channel which are reasonably required to carry and discharge the flood water or flood flow of any river or stream as defined by the Iowa Natural Resources Council.

   41.   “Floor area” means the sum of gross horizontal areas of all floors of a building measured from the exterior faces of the exterior walls or from the center line of walls separating buildings.

   42.   “Floor area ratio” means the gross floor area of all buildings on a lot divided by the lot area on which the building or buildings are located.

   43.   “Foster child care” means care and education of not more than five children unrelated to the residents by blood or adoption.

   44.   “Frontage” means all the property on one side of a street between two intersecting streets crossing or terminating measured along the line of the street, or if the street is dead-ended, then all of the property abutting on one side between an intersecting street and the dead-end of the street.

   45.   “Garage, private” means an enclosed structure intended for and used for the parking of the private motor vehicles of the families resident upon the premises.

   46.   “Garage, public” means any building or premises except those used as private garages, used for equipping, refueling, servicing, repairing, hiring, selling, or storing motor-driven vehicles.

   47.   “Gasoline or service station” means any building or premises used for the retail sale of liquefied petroleum products for the propulsion of motor vehicles and may include such products as kerosene, fuel oil, packaged naphtha, lubricants, tires, batteries, antifreeze, motor vehicle accessories, and other items customarily associated with the sale of such products; for the rendering of services and making of adjustments and replacements to motor vehicles, and the washing, waxing, and polishing of motor vehicles, as incidental to other services rendered; and the making of repairs to motor vehicles except those of a major type. Repairs of a major type are defined to be spray painting, body, fender, clutch, transmission, differential, axle, spring, and frame repairs; major overhauling of engines requiring the removal of engine cylinder head or crankcase pan; repairs to radiators requiring the removal thereof; or complete recapping or retreading of tires.

   48.   “Grain elevator” means a structure or group of related structures whose purpose is limited to the receiving, storage, drying, and transporting of bulk grain.

   49.   “Height” - See “building height.”

   50.   “Home” means a mobile home, a manufactured home, or a modular home.

   51.   “Home occupation” means a secondary use where there is no evidence of such occupation being conducted on the premises by virtue of noise, odors, electrical disturbances, or traffic generation, and where not more than 49% is devoted to such use. The operation of such occupation shall be limited to the proprietor and one employee.

   52.   “Hotel/motel” means a building in which lodging is provided and offered to the public for compensation, and which is open to transient guests, as distinguished from a boarding house or rooming house.

   53.   “Institution” means a building occupied by a non-profit corporation or a non-profit establishment for public use.

   54.   “Junk or salvage yard” means any area where waste, discarded, or salvaged materials are bought, sold, exchanged, baled or packed, disassembled, kept, stored or handled, including house wrecking yards, used lumber yards and places or yards for storage of salvaged house wrecking and structural steel materials and equipment; but not including areas where such uses are conducted entirely within a completely enclosed building, and not including automobile, tractor, or machinery wrecking and used parts yards, and the processing of used, discarded, or salvaged materials as part of manufacturing operations and not including contractors, storage yards.

   55.   “Kennel” (commercial) means any parcel of land on which three or more dogs, cats or similar animals or pets, six months old or older are kept for the purpose of breeding, grooming, boarding or other activities associated with the care of said animals for commercial purposes.

   56.   “Kennel” (private) means any parcel of land on which three or more dogs, cats or similar animals or pets, are kept, however, this shall not include breeding, grooming, boarding or other activities associated with the care of said animals other than the owner’s.

   57.   “Lawful use” means the use of a building or land which existed on the effective date of the Zoning Ordinance codified in this chapter, and for which a legal zoning permit has been issued thereafter.

   58.   “Liquor store” means a retail store where sales of alcoholic beverages comprise 39 percent or more of its gross income, and 24 percent or more of its retail floor space is devoted to such merchandise, in either case not including the sale of tobacco products, lottery tickets, or pumped vehicle fuels such as gasoline, diesel and similar products.

   59.   “Lot” means a parcel of land of at least sufficient size to meet minimum zoning requirements for use, coverage, and area to provide such yards and other open space as are herein required. Such lot shall have frontage on a public street or private street and may consist of: (i) a single lot of record; (ii) a portion of a lot of record; (iii) a combination of complete lots of record and portions of lots of record; or of portions of lots of record; and (iv) a parcel of land described by metes and bounds; provided that in no case of division or combination shall any residual lot or parcel be created which does not meet the requirements of this Zoning Ordinance.

   60.   “Lot area” means total horizontal area within lot lines.

   61.   “Lot, corner” means a lot abutting upon two or more streets at their intersection.

   62.   “Lot, depth” means the mean horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines.

   63.   “Lot, double frontage” means a lot having a frontage on two nonintersecting streets, as distinguished from a corner lot.

   64.   “Lot, interior” means a lot other than a corner lot.

   65.   “Lot lines” means the lines bounding a lot.

   66.   “Lot line, front” means the line separating the lot from the street on which it fronts.

   67.   “Lot line, rear” means the lot line opposite and most distant from the front lot line.

   68.   “Lot line, side” means any lot line other than a front or rear lot line.

   69.   “Lot of record” means a lot which is a part of a subdivision recorded in the office of the County Recorder or a lot or parcel described by metes and bounds, the description of which has been so recorded.

   70.   “Lot, reversed frontage” means a corner lot, the side street line of which is substantially a continuation of the front line of the first platted lot to its rear.

   71.   “Lot width” means the width of a lot measured at the building line and at right angles to its depth.

EXAMPLES OF LOT DEFINITIONS

   72.   “Manufactured home” means a factory-built structure built under authority of 42 U.S.C. 6 5403, is required by federal law to display a seal from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, and was constructed on or after June 15, 1976. If a manufactured home is placed in a mobile home park, the home must be titled and is subject to the mobile home square foot tax. If a manufactured home is placed outside a mobile home park, the home must be titled and is to be assessed and taxed as real estate.

   73.   “Mobile home” means any vehicle without motive power used or so manufactured or constructed as to permit its being used as a conveyance upon the public streets and highways and so designed, constructed, or reconstructed as will permit the vehicle to be used as a place for human habitation by one or more persons; but shall also include any such vehicle with motive power not registered as a motor vehicle in Iowa. A “mobile home” is not built to a mandatory building code, contains no State or federal seals, and was built before June 15, 1976. If a mobile home is placed outside a mobile home park, the home is to be assessed and taxed as real estate.

   74.   “Mobile home park” means a site, lot, field, or tract of land upon which three or more mobile homes, manufactured homes, or modular homes, or a combination of any of these homes are placed on developed spaces and operated as a for-profit enterprise with water, sewer or septic, and electrical services available. The term “mobile home park” shall not be construed to include mobile homes, buildings, tents or other structures temporarily maintained by any individual, educational institution, or company on their own premises and used exclusively to house their own labor or students. A mobile home park must be classified as to whether it is a residential mobile home park or a recreational mobile home park or both. The Mobile Home Park Residential Landlord Tenant Act only applies to residential mobile home parks.

   75.   “Modular home” means a factory-built structure which is manufactured to be used as a place of human habitation, is constructed to comply with the Iowa state building code for modular factory-built structures, and must display the seal issued by the State Building Code Commissioner. If a modular home is placed in a mobile home park, the home is subject to the annual tax as required by Section 435.22. If a modular home is placed outside a mobile home park, the home shall be considered real property and is to be assessed and taxed as real estate,

   76.   “Nonconforming use” means the lawful use of any building or land that was established prior to or at the time of passage of the Zoning Ordinance or amendments thereto and which does not conform after the passage of the Zoning Ordinance or amendments thereto with the use regulations of the district in which it is situated.

   77.   “Nursing, convalescent or retirement home” means a home for the aged, chronically ill or incurable persons in which three or more persons not of the immediate family are received, kept, or provided with food, shelter and care, for compensation; but not including hospitals, clinics, or similar institutions devoted primarily to the diagnosis, treatment or care of the sick or injured.

   78.   “Obstruction” means any dam, wall, wharf, embankment, levee, dike, pile, abutment, projection, excavation, channel rectification, bridge, conduit, culvert, building, wire, fence, rock, gravel, junk, solid waste, refuse, fill, or other analogous structure or matter in, along, across, or projecting into any floodway which may impede, retard, or change the direction of the flow of water, either in itself or by catching or collecting debris carried by such water, or that is placed where the natural flow of the water would carry the same downstream to the damage or detriment of either life or property.

   79.   “Occupancy permit” means a certificate issued by the Building Official to insure the compliance with this Zoning Ordinance and the building and health ordinances of the City.

   80.   “Office” means a place where chattels or goods, wares, and merchandise are not commonly created, sold, or exchanged.

   81.   “Official flood prone area map” means that map on file in the office of the City Clerk and which delineates the flood plain within the City.

   82.   “Official major street plan” means a map on file in the office of the City Clerk which identifies the existing and proposed major streets of the City and their right-of-way.

   83.   “Official zoning map” means that map on file in the office of the City Clerk, and all references hereinafter to said official map shall mean the map just referred to. The map by this reference thereto is made a part of this chapter.

   84.   “Parking lot” means a parcel of land devoted to unenclosed parking spaces.

   85.   “Parking space” means an area of not less than 180 square feet plus necessary maneuvering space for the parking of a motor vehicle. Space for maneuvering, incidental to parking or leaving a parking space, shall not encroach upon any public right-of-way. Parking spaces for other than residential use shall be dust-free surfaces.

   86.   “Porch, unenclosed” means a roofed projection which has no more than 50 percent of each outside wall area enclosed by a building or siding material other than meshed screens.

   87.   “Principal use” means the main use of structures as distinguished from an accessory use.

   88.   “Retail store” means an enterprise offering for sale to the ultimate consumer for direct consumption and not for resale.

   89.   “Right-of-way” means the land area the right of possession of which is secured or reserved by the contracting authority for road purposes.

   90.   “Shop” means a use devoted primarily to the sale of a service or a product or products, but the service is performed or the product to be sold is prepared in its finished form on the premises. Packaging is not to be considered preparation.

   91.   “Sign, exterior” means a sign which directs attention to a business, profession, service, product, or activity sold or offered upon the premises where such sign is located. An exterior sign is a sign attached flat against a building or structure, or projecting out from a building or structure or erected upon the roof of a building or structure.

   92.   “Sign, free standing or post” means any sign erected or affixed in a rigid manner to any pole or post, and which carries any advertisement strictly incidental and subordinate to a lawful use of the premises on which it is located, including signs, or sign devices indicating the business transacted, services rendered, or goods sold or produced on the premises by an occupant thereof.

   93.   “Sign, illuminated” means a sign designed to give forth artificial light or through transparent or translucent material from a source of light within such sign, including but not limited to neon and exposed lamp signs.

   94.   “Special exception” means a use not in specific conformity with the provisions of this chapter, which may be allowed according to enumerated community safeguards.

   95.   “Stable, private” means a building or structure used or intended to be used for housing horses belonging to the owner of the property for non-commercial purposes.

   96.   “Stable, public” means a building or structure used or intended to be used for the housing of horses on a fee basis or the activity of giving riding instructions.

   97.   “Story” means that portion of a building included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the floor next above it, or if there is no floor above it, then the space between the floor and the ceiling or roof next above it.

   98.   “Story, half” means a space under a sloping roof which has the line of intersection of roof decking and wall face not more than four feet above the top floor level.

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

   100.   “Street, road, or drive, private” means any private property intended for use by vehicular traffic but not dedicated to the public or controlled or maintained by the City.

   101.   “Street, road, or drive, public” means any property intended for use by vehicular traffic which has been dedicated to the public or deeded to the City for street purposes.

   102.   “Structural alterations” – See “alterations, structural.”

   103.   “Structure” means anything constructed or erected with a fixed location on the ground, or attached to something having a fixed location on the ground. Among other things, structures include buildings, mobile homes, billboards and poster panels.

   104.   “Trailer park” - See “mobile home park.”

   105.   “Truck terminal” means a commercial facility where truck freight is stored, handled, and dispatched between various locations by way of different major truck carriers and including facilities for the storage and repair of trucks and trailers while awaiting consignment.

   106.   “Use” means any activity, occupation, business, or operation carried on, or intended to be carried on, in a building or structure or on a tract of land.

   107.   “Variance” means a legal modification or variation of the provisions of this chapter as applied to a specific piece of property as distinct from rezoning.

   108.   “Yard” means an open space on the same lot with a building or structure unoccupied and unobstructed by any portion of a structure from 30 inches above the general ground level of the graded lot upward. In measuring a yard for the purpose of determining the depth of a front yard or the depth of a rear yard, the least distance between the lot line and the main building shall be used. In measuring a yard for the purpose of determining the width of a side yard, the least distance between the lot line and nearest permitted building shall be used.

   109.   “Yard, front” means a yard extending across the full width of the lot and measured between the front lot line and the building or any projection other than the steps.

   110.   “Yard, rear” means a yard extending across the full width of the lot and measured between the rear lot line and the building or any projections other than steps. On both corner lots and interior lots, the opposite end of the lot from the front yard.

   111.   “Yard, side” means a yard extending from the front yard to the rear yard and measured between the side lot lines and the nearest building.

EXAMPLES OF YARD DEFINITIONS

   112.   “Zoning Permit” means a permit issued by the Building Official authorizing the use of land in the manner and for the purpose specified in the application.