Abutting: Having a common border with, or being separated from such common border by, an alley or easement.

Access: An entry to or exit from a property.

Accessory building: A building which is (1) subordinate to and serves a principal structure or principal use; (2) is subordinate in area, extent and purpose to the principal structure or principal use; (3) is located on the same lot as the principal structure or principal use; and (4) is customarily incidental to the principal structure or principal use. Any portion of a principal building which is devoted to an accessory use is not an accessory building.

Accessory use: A use which (1) is subordinate to and serves a principal structure or principal use, (2) is subordinate in area, extent, and purpose to the principal structure or principal use served, (3) is located on the same lot as the principal structure or principal use served except as otherwise expressly authorized by provisions of this ordinance, and (4) is customarily incidental to the principal structure or principal use.

Acre: Forty-three thousand five hundred sixty (43,560) square feet.

Alley: A public or private way permanently reserved as a secondary means of access to abutting property.

Appeal: A means for obtaining review of a decision, determination, order, or failure to act under the terms of this ordinance.

Association, or associations: The association or associations of all the owners of property in the PUD charged with the ownership and maintenance of common open space and associated facilities and operated pursuant to articles of incorporation and bylaws. Initially, the developer shall maintain control of the association until such time as seventy-five (75) percent of lots in the PUD have been sold, or as otherwise set forth in its articles or bylaws. A PUD may have a residential association and a commercial association.

Buffer, or buffer yard: A unit of land, together with a specified type and amount of planting and any fencing which may be required between land uses to minimize conflicts between them.

Building: A structure built, maintained, or intended for use as a shelter or enclosure of persons, animals, or property. The term includes any part of the structure. Where independent units with separate entrances are divided by party walls, each unit is a building.

Building line: A line on a lot, generally parallel to a lot line or road right-of-way, located a sufficient distance there from to provide the minimum yards required by this ordinance. The building line delimits the area where buildings are permitted subject to all applicable provisions of this ordinance.

City council, or council: The governing body of City of Gonzales having the power to adopt and enforce ordinances.

Commissions: The planning commission and the zoning commission, individually and collectively.

Common open space: A parcel or parcels of land and/or an area of water within a development that are held in some form of common ownership and designated, designed and intended for benefit, use or enjoyment of the occupants of the development. It may contain such complementary structures and improvements as necessary and appropriate for the benefit and enjoyment of the occupants of such development, including those uses set forth in Article II, Section 22-203.

Concept plan: The initial plan of development for a PUD which an applicant/developer submits to the commissions containing all those items described in the concept plan checklist, including written and graphic documents, which represents a conceptual plan of the proposed land uses and their overall impact on the land and surrounding land for rezoning of the land to PUD concept.

Concept plan checklist: A list containing items which must be included in a concept plan submitted to the commissions for PUD approval.

Condominium: The property regime under which portions or units (whether horizontal or vertical) of immovable property are subject to individual ownership and the remainder thereof is owned in indivision by all unit owners, in accordance with the Louisiana Condominium Act, LA R.S. 9:1121.101 et seq.

Density: A measure of the intensity of development. In this ordinance, density for residential development is calculated in terms of units per acre. Density for commercial development is calculated as the gross floor area for each development project.

Developer: The legal or beneficial owner(s) of a lot or parcel of any land proposed for inclusion in a development, including the holder of an option or contract to purchase.

Development: The division of a parcel of land into two (2) or more parcels; the construction, reconstruction, conversion, structural alteration, relocation, or enlargement of any buildings or structures; any use or change in use of any buildings or land; or any extension of any use of land or any clearing, grading, or other movement of land.

Drainage: The removal of surface water or groundwater from land by drains, grading, or other means. Drainage includes the control of runoff to minimize erosion and sedimentation during and after development and includes the means necessary for water supply preservation or the prevention or alleviation of flooding.

Dwelling: Any building or portion of a building which is designated or used for residential purposes.

Dwelling, multi-: A building that contains more than one (1) living unit.

Dwelling, single-: A building that contains only one (1) living unit, including attached buildings in the case of townhomes.

Final development plan: The final plan of development for a PUD which an applicant/developer submits to the commissions containing all those items described in the Final development plan checklist, including written and graphic documents, for detailed plan review and subdivision of land zoned PUD concept.

Final development plan checklist: A list containing items which must be included in a final development plan submitted to the commissions for final PUD approval.

Flood, or flooding: A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from the overflow of inland or tidal waters, or the unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source.

Floor area: The sum of the gross floor area for each of a building's or structure's stories measured from the exterior limits of the faces of the building or structure. The floor areas of the building include the basement floor area. The floor area includes the attic only if it is habitable floor area.

Height: The vertical distance measured from the lowest ground elevation to the highest point of the building or structure. The building height may be prescribed as a maximum number of stories or as a dimension from sidewalk grade to the eave. The height limit shall not apply to chimneys.

Lot: A parcel of land undivided by any street or private road and occupied by or intended for occupancy by, or designated to be developed for, one (1) building or principal use and the accessory buildings or uses customarily incidental to such building, use or development, including such open spaces and yards as are designed and arranged or required by this ordinance for such building use or development.

Lot area: The area contained within the boundary lines of a lot.

Lot line: A line bounding a lot which divides one (1) lot from another or from a street or any public or private space.

Lot width: The horizontal distance between side lot lines measured at the front setback. Where there is only one side lot line, lot width shall be measured between such lot line and the opposite lot line or future right-of-way line.

Major change: A change to an approved planned unit development as set forth in Article I, Section 22-106(A—C).

Minor change: A change to an approved planned unit development as set forth in Article I, Section 22-106(D).

Owner: The Person or Persons having the right of legal title to, beneficial interest in, or a contractual right to purchase a Lot or parcel of land.

Parcel: The area within the boundary lines of a development.

Person: An individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint stock association or government entity; including a trustee, a receiver, and assignee, or a similar representative of any of them.

Planned unit development, or PUD: The subdivision, development and use of land as an integral unit, combining more than one (1) primary land use which may provide for single-family residential, multiple-family residential, educational, business, commercial, retail, industrial, recreational, park and common open space areas.

Planning commission: An agency legally established by the city council in conformity with state legislation with all the rights and responsibilities defined by such legislation.

Planning staff, or commissions staff: Professional and non-professional personnel employed by the commissions to carry out and fulfill the directives and responsibilities of the commissions. Staff functions may be conducted by private or public consultants at the discretion of the commissions.

Principal building: A building in which the principal use of the lot on which the building is located is conducted or intended to be conducted.

Principal use: The specific primary purpose for which land is used.

Public improvement: Any improvement, facility, or service, together with customary improvements and appurtenances thereto, necessary to provide for such public needs as vehicular and pedestrian circulation systems, storm sewers, flood control improvements, water supply and distribution facilities, sanitary sewage disposal and treatment, public utility, and energy services.

Rear lot line: That lot line which is parallel to and most distant from the front lot line of the lot; in the case of an irregular, triangular, or gore-shaped lot, a line twenty (20) feet in length, entirely within the lot, parallel to and at the maximum possible distance from the front line, shall be considered to be the rear lot line. In the case of lots which have frontage on more than one (1) road or street, the rear lot line shall be opposite the lot line along which the lot takes access to a street.

Restrictive, more (less): A regulation imposed by this ordinance is more (less) restrictive than another if it prohibits or limits development to a greater (lesser) extent or by means of more (less) detailed specifications.

Right-of-way: A strip of ground dedicated by the developer for public use, title to which shall rest in the public for the purpose stated in the dedication.

Servitude (easement): A strip existing or to be reserved by the developer for public utilities, drainage and other public purposes, the title to which shall remain with the property owner, subject to the right of use designated in the reservation of servitude; or a strip of ground designated or intended to be used for access to buildings and other portions of property.

Side lot line: Any lot line other than a front or rear lot line.

Sign: Any structure, part thereof, or device attached thereto or painted or represented thereon, or any material or thing, illuminated or otherwise, which displays or includes any numeral, letter, word, model, pennant, streamer, banner, emblem, insignia, device, trademark or other representation used as, or in the nature of, an announcement, advertisement, direction or designation of any person, firm, group, organization, place, commodity, product, service, business, profession, enterprise or industry which is located upon any land or on any building.

Story, or stories: A space in a building between the surface of any floor and the surface of the next floor above, or if there is no such floor above, then the space between such floor and the ceiling or roof above.

Street: A strip of land, including the entire right-of-way, publicly or privately owned, serving as a means of slow vehicular travel, and furnishing access to abutting properties, which may also be used to provide space for sewers, public utilities, shade trees, and sidewalks. A street may be public or private.

Structure: An object, including a mobile object, constructed or installed by man, including but without limitation, buildings, towers, cranes, and overhead transmission lines.

Subdivision: Any division, subdivision or re-division of a subdivision, tract, parcel, or lot of land into two (2) or more lots, plots, sites, parts, or other division of land by means of mapping, platting, conveyance, or change of rearrangement of boundaries for the purpose of sale, lease or development, whether immediate or future. All subdivisions are also developments.

Townhome: Two (2) or more attached living units with common or party sidewalls between units, designated so that each unit may be sold independently as a Lot with its own yards and parking spaces.

Tree: Any self-supporting perennial woody plant that is at least four (4) inches in diameter.

Use: The purpose or activity for which land or any building thereon is designed, arranged, or intended, or for which it is occupied or maintained.

Variance: Permission to depart from the literal requirements of this ordinance granted by the planning commission.

Zoning commission: An agency legally established by the city council in conformity with state legislation with all the rights and responsibilities defined by such legislation.

(Ord. No. 4158, Art. IV, 5-24-21)