The following rules shall apply in the construction and interpretation of this title and of the terms used herein:

   A.   The present tense includes the future tense.

   B.   The masculine gender includes the feminine and the neuter genders.

   C.   The singular number includes the plural, and vice versa.

   D.   The word "shall" is always mandatory; the word "may" is always permissive.

   E.   The word "person" includes a partnership, association, firm, trust, club, company, or corporation as well as the individual.

   F.   The word "used" or "occupied" or "located", as applied to any land, building, use, structure, or premises, shall be construed to include the words "intended, arranged, or designed to be used or occupied or located".

   G.   The word "lot" shall include the words "plot" and "parcel". (Ord. 158, 6-15-1978)

Unless otherwise expressly stated, for the purpose of this title, the following terms, phrases, words, and their derivations shall have the meanings herein indicated:

   A.   Governmental units, boards and officials:

    PLANNING COMMISSION: The planning commission of the village.

   VILLAGE: The village of Germantown Hills, county of Woodford, Illinois.

   VILLAGE BOARD: The governing body of the village.

   ZONING BOARD OR BOARD: The zoning board of appeals of the village.

   ZONING OFFICER: The officer designated by the village board to enforce this title.

   B.   General terms:

    ACCESSORY: As applied to a building, structure, or use, one which is on the same lot with, incidental and subordinate to the main or principal structure or use and which is used for purposes customarily incidental to the main or principal structure, or the main or principal use.

   ALTER; ALTERATION: Any change in the bearing walls, columns, beams, girders, or supporting members of a structure; any change or rearrangement in the floor area of a building; any enlargement of a structure, whether by extending horizontally or by increasing in height; and/or any movement of a structure from one location or position to another.

   BLOCK FRONT: Property abutting on one side of a street and lying between the two (2) nearest intersecting or intercepting streets, or between the nearest intersecting or intercepting street and railroad right of way, waterway, unsubdivided area, or other definite boundary.

   DWELLING: A building designed for residential living purposes and containing one or more dwelling units and/or lodging units.

   DWELLING UNIT: One or more rooms constituting all or part of a dwelling which are used exclusively as living quarters for one and not more than two (2) roomers or boarders, and which contain a stove, sink and other kitchen facilities.

   FAMILY: 1. An individual; or

      2.   Two (2) or more persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption; or

      3.   A maximum of five (5) persons not so related, together with his or their domestic servants and gratuitous guests maintaining common household in a dwelling unit or lodging unit.

   FENCE: A structure forming a physical barrier which is so constructed that not less than thirty percent (30%) of the vertical surface is open to permit the transmission of light, air and vision through such surface in a horizontal plane, in contrast to a wall which need have no openings in the vertical surface.

   HEIGHT: The vertical measurement from the average level of the surface or the ground immediately surrounding a structure to a point midway between the ridge and eave lines of the roof of the structure, or if unroofed, to the highest point of such structure.

   JUNKYARD: A lot, land, building, or structure, or part thereof, used primarily for the collecting, storage, and/or sale of wastepaper, rags, scrap metal, or discarded material or for the collecting, dismantling, storing, and salvaging of machinery or vehicles not in running condition and for sale of parts therefrom.

   LOT, CORNER: A lot located:

      1.   At the junction of and abutting two (2) or more intersecting streets; or

      2.   At the junction of and abutting a street and the nearest shoreline or high water line of a stormwater or floodwater runoff channel or basin; or

      3.   At the junction of and abutting two (2) or more stormwater or floodwater runoff channels or basins; or

      4.   At and abutting the point of abrupt change of a single street where the interior angle is less than one hundred thirty five degrees (135°) and the radius of the street is less than one hundred feet (100').

   LOT DEPTH: The average distance from the front to the rear lot lines, measured in the general direction of the side lot lines.

   LOT, INTERIOR: A lot other than a corner lot.

   LOT WIDTH: The horizontal distance between the side lot lines, measured along a straight line between them at points in the side lot lines which are distant from the front lot line at the minimum front yard depth.

   LOT; ZONING LOT: A single property, parcel, unit, tract, plot, or otherwise designated, to be used as a unit under single ownership or control, and which may be occupied by one or more structures and the accessory structures or uses customarily incidental thereto, including such open spaces as are arranged and designed to be used in connection with such structure. A "zoning lot" may or may not coincide with a lot of record.

   PREMISES: A lot or tract of land and any structure located thereon.

   PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY: A system of providing a potable water supply to two (2) or more premises including all associated structures, wells, and distribution systems and which is approved by the Illinois department of public health as a public water supply.

   SANITARY SEWER: A constructed conduit for the collection and carrying of liquid and solid sewage wastes from two (2) or more premises, other than stormwater, to a sewage treatment plant, and which is approved by the Illinois environmental protection agency.

   SETBACK LINE: The building restriction line nearest the front and across a lot establishing the minimum distance to be provided between the line of a structure located on said lot and the nearest street right of way line or centerline or the nearest shoreline or high water line of a stormwater or floodwater runoff channel or basin.

   STREET: A thoroughfare within the right of way which affords the principal means of access to abutting property. A street may be designated as: an avenue, a boulevard, a drive, a highway, an arterial, a lane, a parkway, a place, a road, a thoroughfare, or by other appropriate names. Streets are identified according to type of use by the major thoroughfare plan, as follows:

   Arterial: A street designated on the official zoning map and representing a partially access controlled divided facility serving speeds for trip lengths generally in excess of three (3) miles.

   Collector: A street designated on the official zoning map and generally meant to serve secondary traffic generators and to collect and distribute traffic between arterials and minor streets.

   Minor: A street primarily designed to provide access to abutting property and to gather individual trips for delivery to a collector street.

   STRUCTURE: Anything constructed or erected with a fixed location on the surface of the ground or affixed to something having a fixed location on the surface of the ground, including, but not limited to: buildings, walls, swimming pools, fences, billboards, and signs.

   STRUCTURE, MAIN OR PRINCIPAL: The structure in or on which is conducted the main or principal use of the lot on which it is located.

   SUBDIVISION: Any division, development, or resubdivision of any part, lot, area, or tract of land by the owner or agent, either by lots or by metes and bounds, into lots two (2) or more in number, for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of conveyance, transfer, improvement, or sale, with the appurtenant streets, alleys, and easements, dedicated to public use or for the use of the purchasers or owners within the tract subdivided. The division of land for agricultural purposes not involving any new street, alley, or other means of access shall not be deemed a subdivision for the purpose of the regulations and standards of this title.

   TRAILER COACH: Any portable or mobile vehicle or mobile home used for residential living purposes by a family. For the purpose of this title, such a vehicle shall be classified as a trailer coach, whether or not its wheels, rollers, skids, or other rolling equipment have been removed, or whether or not any addition thereto has been built on the ground.

   USE: The specific purpose for which land, a structure or premises is designed, arranged, or intended, or for which it is or may be occupied or maintained. The term "permitted use" or its equivalent shall not be deemed to include any nonconforming use.

   YARD: An open space, other than a court, on the same lot with a structure, lying between the structure and the nearest lot line, and is unoccupied and unobstructed from the surface of the ground upward except as may be specifically provided by this title.

   YARD, FRONT: A yard extending the full width of a lot and situated between the front lot line and the nearest line of a structure located on said lot. Where a lot is located such that its rear and front lot lines each abut a street right of way line, both such yards shall be classified as front yards. Every yard of a corner lot facing a street right of way line shall be classified as a front yard.

   YARD, REAR: A yard extending the full width of a lot and situated between the rear lot line and the nearest line of a structure located on said lot.

   YARD, SIDE: A yard situated between the side lot line and the nearest line of a structure located on said lot and extending from the rear line of the front yard to the front line of the rear yard. (Ord. 158, 6-15-1978; amd. 2012 Code)