For the purpose of this chapter, the words “used or occupied” include the words “intended, designated, or arranged to be used or occupied,” and the following definitions apply for the purpose of interpreting this chapter:

   1.   “Accessory use or structure” means a use or structure subordinate to the principal use of a building or to the principal use of land and which is located on the same lot serving a purpose customarily incidental to the use of the principal building or land use. Accessory uses or structures shall be located on the same lot as the principal use or structure, except as otherwise specified.

   2.   “Alley” means a public way, other than a street, twenty-six (26) feet or less in width, affording secondary means of access to abutting property.

   3.   “Alteration, structural” means any change in the load bearing members of a building, such as bearing walls, partitions, columns, beams or girders. The enlargement of the size or height of a building shall be construed to be a structural alteration.

   4.   “Basement” means a story partly underground but having at least one-half (½) of the height of one or more walls above the highest level of the adjoining ground. A basement shall be counted as a story under the provisions of this chapter.

   5.   “Billboard” includes all structures, regardless of the material used in the construction of same, that are erected, maintained, or used for public display of posters, painted signs, wall signs, whether the structure be placed on the wall or painted on the wall itself, pictures or other pictorial reading matter which advertise a business or attraction which is not carried on or manufactured in or upon the premises upon which said signs or billboards are located.

   6.   “Board” means the Board of Adjustment of the City.

   7.   “Boardinghouse” means a building other than a hotel, where for compensation, meals and/or lodging are provided for four (4) or more persons, but not exceeding ten (10) persons.

   8.   “Building” means any structure designed or intended for the support, enclosure, shelter, or protection of persons, animals, chattels, or property.

   9.   “Building, height of” means the vertical dimension measured from the average elevation of the finished lot grade at the front of the building to the highest point.

   10.   “Building line” means a line parallel to the street right-of-way line at any story level of a building and representing the distance which all or any part of the building is set back from said right-of-way.

   11.   “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 chapter a carport attached to a principal building shall be considered as part of the principal building and subject to all yard requirements. Such carport shall have a portland cement concrete floor.

   12.   “Cellar” means a story having more than one-half (½) of the height of all walls below the highest level of the adjoining ground. A cellar shall not be considered as a story for the purpose of this chapter.

   13.   “Clinic, dental or medical” means a building in which a group of physicians, dentists, or physicians and dentists and allied professional assistants are associated for the purpose of carrying on their profession. The clinic may include a dental or medical laboratory. It does not include inpatient care or operating rooms for major surgery.

   14.   “Commission” means the City Planning and Zoning Commission.

   15.   “District” means a section or sections of the City within which the regulations governing the use of buildings and premises or the height and area of buildings and premises are uniform.

   16.   “Dormitory” means a dwelling where lodging with or without meals is provided for compensation to more than ten (10) persons and which is not composed of apartment units and is located only on a campus of a school or college.

   17.   “Dwelling” means a building or portion thereof designed or used exclusively for residential occupancy, but not including house trailers, mobile homes, hotels, motels, boarding and lodging houses, tents, tourist courts or tourist homes.

   18.   “Dwelling, single-family” means a building designed for or occupied exclusively for residence purposes by one family.

   19.   “Dwelling, two-family (duplex)” means a building designed for or occupied exclusively by two (2) families with separate housekeeping and cooking facilities for each.

   20.   “Dwelling, multiple” means a building or portion thereof designed for or occupied by more than two (2) families with separate housekeeping and cooking facilities for each, but not including auto courts or motels.

   21.   “Family” means a single individual, doing his own cooking, and living upon the premises as a separate housekeeping unit, or a collective body of persons doing their own cooking and living together upon the premises as a separate housekeeping unit in a domestic relationship based upon birth, marriage, or other domestic bond as distinguished from a group occupying a boardinghouse, lodging house, club, fraternity or hotel.

   22.   “Farm” means an area which is used for the growing of the usual farm products and their storage, as well as for the raising thereon of the usual farm poultry and farm animals such as horses, cattle, sheep and swine. The term “farming” includes the operating of such an area for one or more of the above uses, including dairy farms with the necessary accessory uses for treating or storing the produce; provided, however, the operation of any such accessory uses shall be secondary to that of the normal farming activities.

   23.   “Frontage” means land abutting a street or alley. Where a specified amount of frontage is required, such shall be measured between and perpendicular to parallel lines intersecting the street or alley and extending into the lot or group housing project.

   24.   “Garage, private commercial” means a building or a portion of a building that is used for refueling, servicing, repairing, hiring, selling, or storing vehicles or equipment which are owned by the owner of the building.

   25.   “Garage, private residential” means an accessory building, or an accessory portion of the main building, designed and/or used for the shelter or storage of vehicles owned or operated by the occupants of the main building except that a one- or two-car capacity garage may be rented for the private vehicles of persons not residents on the premises. Any private residential garage shall have a portland cement concrete floor.

   26.   “Garage, public” means any building, other than a private garage, used for equipping, refueling, servicing, repairing, hiring, selling or storing motor-driven vehicles. Such public garage shall have a portland cement concrete floor.

   27.   “Grade” means the average elevation of the finished ground at the exterior walls of the main building.

   28.   “Home occupation” is defined in Section 165.12 of this chapter.

   29.   “Hospital” means an institution providing health services, primarily for inpatients, and medical and surgical care of the sick and injured, including as an integral part of the institution such related facilities as laboratories, central service facilities, and staff offices.

   30.   “Junkyard” means any area where waste, discarded, or salvaged materials are bought, sold, exchanged, baled or packed, disassembled 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 the processing of used, discarded, or salvaged materials as part of manufacturing operations.

   31.   “Living unit” means the room or rooms occupied by a family provided that a living unit must include a kitchen, bath and closet.

   32.   “Loading space” means an off-street space or berth on the same lot with a building, or contiguous to a group of buildings, for the temporary parking of a commercial vehicle while loading or unloading merchandise or materials, and which abuts upon a street, alley, or other appropriate means of access.

   33.   “Lodging house” means a building where lodging only is provided for compensation for four (4) or more persons.

   34.   “Lot” means, for zoning purposes, as covered by this chapter, a parcel of land at least sufficient in size to meet minimum zoning requirements for use, coverage and area, and to provide such yards and other open spaces as are herein required. Such lot shall have frontage on a dedicated street, and may consist of:

      A.   A single lot of record;

      B.   A portion of a lot of record;

      C.   A combination of complete lots of record, of complete lots of record and portions of lots of record, or of portions of lots of record;

      D.   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 chapter.

   35.   “Lot line, front” means, in the case of an interior lot abutting on only one street, the street line of such street. In the case of any other lot, it may be such street line as is elected by the owner to be the front line for the purpose of this chapter.

   36.   “Lot line, rear” means that boundary line which is opposite and most distant from the front line.

   37.   “Lot line, side” means any boundary line not a front lot line or a rear lot line.

   38.   “Lot measurements” are:

      A.   Depth – the mean horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines.

      B.   Width – the distance between straight lines connecting front and rear lot lines at each side of the lot, measured across the rear of the required front yard.

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

   40.   “Lot types” are:

      A.   Corner lot – a lot located at the intersection of two (2) or more streets.

      B.   Interior lot – a lot other than a corner lot with only one frontage on a street other than an alley.

      C.   Through lot – a lot other than a corner lot with frontage on more than one street other than an alley. Through lots with frontage on two streets may be referred to as “double frontage lots.”

      D.   Reversed frontage lot – a corner lot, the side street line of which is substantially a continuation of the front lot line of the first lot to its rear.

   41.   “Mobile home” means any structure used for living, sleeping, business, or storage purposes, having no foundation other than wheels, blocks, skids, jacks, horses, or skirting, and which is, has been, or reasonably may be equipped with wheels or other devices for transporting the structure from place to place, whether by motive power or other means. The term “mobile home” includes camp car and house car, or house trailer. The placing of such vehicles on a foundation shall not alter the definition of such structure.

   42.   “Mobile home park” means any lot or portion of a lot upon which two or more trailers or mobile homes, occupied for dwelling or sleeping purposes, are located, regardless of whether or not a charge is made for such accommodation.

   43.   “Motel, auto court” means a building or group of attached or detached buildings containing individual sleeping or living units for overnight auto tourists, with garage attached or parking facilities conveniently located to each such unit.

   44.   “Nonconforming use” means use of building or of land that does not conform to the regulations as to use for the district in which it is situated.

   45.   “Office” means a place where business or service for others is transacted and not a place where chattels or goods, wares or merchandise are commonly created, exchanged or sold.

   46.   “Parking lot” means an area of land, a yard, or other open space on a lot used for or designed for use by standing motor vehicles, together with a driveway connecting the parking lot with a public place.

   47.   “Parking space” means a surfaced area, enclosed or unenclosed, on a lot sufficient in size to store one standard automobile, together with a driveway connecting the parking space with a public place.

   48.   “Preschool nursery” means the facilities of any dwelling, institution, or organization which, for profit or nonprofit, are used in the temporary care of five (5) or more children at any one time.

   49.   “Principal building” means a non-accessory building in which the principal use of the lot on which it is located is conducted.

   50.   “Private drive” means a right-of-way set aside for the use of visitors to and residents of the large scale residential development.

   51.   “Public notice” means the publication of time and place of any public hearing, in accordance with prescribed time limits, prior to the date of said hearing in one newspaper of general circulation within the City.

   52.   “Separate tract” means a parcel of land or a group of contiguous parcels of land under one ownership.

   53.   “Story” means that portion of a building included between the upper surface of any floor and the upper surface of the floor next above, except that the topmost story shall be that portion of a building included between the upper surface of the topmost floor and the ceiling or roof above. If the finished floor level directly above a basement or cellar is more than six (6) feet above grade, such basement or cellar shall be considered a story.

   54.   “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 (4) feet above the top level. A half-story containing independent apartments or living quarters shall be counted as a full story.

   55.   “Street” means a paved public thoroughfare with curb and gutter which affords the principal means of access to abutting property.

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

   57.   “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, walls, fences, billboards, and poster panels.

   58.   “Swimming pool” means any constructed or prefabricated pool used for swimming or bathing, twenty-four (24) inches or more in depth.

   59.   “Swimming pools, private” means all constructed or prefabricated pools which are used as swimming pools in connection with single-family residences, and available only to the families of the householders and private guests.

   60.   “Swimming pools, public” means any constructed or prefabricated pools other than private swimming pools.

   61.   “Variance” means a modification or variation of the provisions of this chapter as applied to a specific piece of property, as distinguished from rezoning.

   62.   “Wall height” means the vertical dimension measured from the average elevation of the side yard adjacent to the adjoining property to the top plate.

   63.   “Yard” means an open space on the same lot with a building, unoccupied and unobstructed by any portion of a structure from the ground upward, except as otherwise provided herein. 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. Fences and walls are permitted in any yard, subject to height limitations as indicated herein.

   64.   “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 thereof, other than the projection of the usual steps or unenclosed porches; the narrow frontage on a corner lot.

   65.   “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, unenclosed balconies or unenclosed porches. On corner lots, the rear yard shall be considered as adjoining the street upon which the lot has its greater dimension. On both corner lots and interior lots, the opposite end of the lot from the front yard.

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