(a)

This chapter shall be known as the "Zoning Ordinance of the City of Hamilton, Alabama," and the map herein referred to as the Zoning Map of the City of Hamilton and further identified by the signature of the mayor and attested by the city clerk. The zoning map and all explanatory matter thereon are hereby adopted and made a part of this chapter. Such map shall be filed in the office of the city.

(b)

The zoning regulations and districts as herein set forth are made in accordance with a comprehensive plan for the purpose of guiding development in accordance with existing and future needs and in order to protect, promote and improve the public health, safety, morals, convenience, order, appearance, prosperity, and general welfare. These are designed to lessen congestion on the streets; to secure safety from fire, panic, and other dangers; to promote the public health and the general welfare; to provide adequate light and air; to prevent the overcrowding of land; to avoid undue concentration of population; to protect scenic areas; and to facilitate the adequate provision of transportation, water, sewerage, schools, parks, and other public requirements.

(c)

These regulations are made with reasonable consideration, among other things, of the character of each area and its peculiar suitability for particular uses, and with a view of promoting desirable living conditions and the sustained stability of neighborhoods, protecting property against blight and depreciation, securing economy in governmental expenditures and conserving the value of land and buildings and structures.

(Ord. No. 2010-4, art. III, 2-16-2010; Ord. No. 2013-12, arts. II, III, 12-2-2013)

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Alley means a public or private thoroughfare which affords only a secondary means of access to abutting property.

Basement means an underground or partly underground story. A basement shall be counted as a story for the purposes of height measurement if the vertical distance between its ceiling and the average level of the adjoining ground is more than five feet.

Bed and breakfast means a home in which rooms are provided overnight and breakfasts are served the following morning, both for compensation.

Boardinghouse means a building other than a hotel, cafe, or restaurant where, for compensation, meals are provided for three or more persons.

Building means any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls and intended for the shelter, housing or enclosure of persons, animals or chattels.

Building, accessory, means a subordinate building, the use of which is incidental to that of the principal building on the same lot.

Building, principal, means a building in which is conducted, or is intended to be conducted, the principal use of the lot on which it is located.

Drive-in restaurant means a restaurant or public eating business so conducted that food, meals or refreshments are brought to the motor vehicles for consumption by the customer or patron.

Drive-in theater means a theater so arranged and conducted that the customer or patron may view the performance while being seated in a motor vehicle.

Dwelling means a building containing one or more dwelling units, but in the case of a building having two or more portions divided by one or more party walls forming a complete separation, each such portion shall be considered to be a separate dwelling.

Dwelling, multifamily, means a building or portion thereof designed for occupancy by three or more families living independently of each other under one roof.

Dwelling, single-family, means a dwelling having only one dwelling unit from the ground to roof and having independent outside access.

Dwelling, two-family, means a detached building designed exclusively for occupancy by two families living independently of each other under one roof.

Dwelling unit means any room or group of rooms located within a residential building and forming a single habitable unit with facilities which are used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking and eating by one family.

Family means one or more individuals occupying a dwelling unit and living as a single housekeeping unit.

Floor area, gross, means the sum of the gross horizontal areas of the several floors of a building, measured from the exterior faces of the exterior walls including:

(1)

Basement space where more than one-half the basement height is above the finished lot grade averaged along the exterior walls of the building;

(2)

Elevators and stairwells at each floor;

(3)

Attic space, whether or not a floor has been laid, over which there is structural headroom of seven feet or more; and

(4)

Enclosed porches, interior balconies and mezzanines and penthouses, and excluding:

a.

Floor space permanently devoted to mechanical equipment used in the operation and maintenance of the building; and

b.

Floor space permanently devoted to parking spaces.

Frontage means all the property abutting on one side of a street between two intersecting streets measured along the street line.

Garage, private, means a building or space used as an accessory to or a part of a main building permitted in any residential district, and providing for the storage of motor vehicles and in which no business, occupation or service for profit is in any way connected.

Group home means a house where several individuals, unrelated, all clients of agencies such as mental health, alcohol, abuse, drugs, etc., that are treating those individuals and teaching them to function in the community.

Lot means a piece, parcel, or plot of land occupied or intended to be occupied by one main building, accessory buildings, uses customarily incidental to such main building and such open spaces as are provided in this chapter, or as are intended to be used with such piece, parcel or plot of land.

Lot, corner, means a lot with frontage on two or more streets at their intersections.

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

Lot of record means a lot which is part of a subdivision, or a plat which had been recorded in the county at the time of the adoption of the ordinance from which this chapter is derived; or a lot described by metes and bounds, the description of which had been recorded in the county at the time of the adoption of the ordinance from which this chapter is derived.

Manufactured home means a transportable structure, which exceeds either eight body feet in width or 32 body feet in length, built on a chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities. This structure is also known as a "mobile home" and as a "house trailer" and all have the same meaning in this chapter.

Manufactured home parks means any premises where manufactured homes are parked for living and sleeping purposes, or any premises used or set apart for the purpose of supplying to the public parking space for manufactured homes for living and sleeping purposes, and which include any buildings, structures, vehicles or enclosure used or intended for use as part of such manufactured home park.

Mini-storage means buildings divided into small compartments, each accessible from the outside of the building with each compartment usually being rented to different persons for the use of temporary storage of personal property.

Nonconforming structure means a building or structure lawfully constructed prior to the passage of this chapter or an amendment thereto, which does not conform to the dimensional requirements or other requirements, except use, for the zone in which it is located.

Nonconforming use means a lawful use of land, building or structure existing at the time of the passage of this chapter, or an amendment thereto, which does not conform to the use regulations for the zoning district in which it is located.

Signs means any structure, part thereof, or device or inscription attached thereto or painted or representation thereon, which is located upon any land, on any building, or on the outside or inside of a window, and which displays or includes any numeral, letter, word, model banner, emblem, insignia, device, trademark, or other representation used as, or in the nature of an announcement, advertisement, direction, warning, or designation of any person, firm, group, organization, place, commodity, product, service, business, profession, enterprise or industry. The term "signs" does not include the flag, emblem, insignia, poster or other display of any nation or political subdivision, including traffic or similar regulatory devices, or legal notices, warnings at railroad crossings, signs or tablets which are primarily memorials, or emblems of religious institutions that are attached to buildings.

Advertising sign means a sign which directs attention to a business, commodity, industry or other activity which is sold, offered or conducted elsewhere than on the premises upon which such sign is located, or to which it is affixed, and which is sold, offered or conducted on such premises only incidentally if at all.

Businesssign means a sign which directs attention to a business, commodity, service, industry or other activity which is sold, offered, or conducted on the premises upon which such sign is located, or to which it is affixed.

Ground sign means a freestanding sign resting upon the ground or attached to it by means of two or more poles or standards.

Identification sign means a sign used to identify only the name of the individual, family, organization or enterprise occupying the premises; the profession of the occupant; the name of the building on which the sign is displayed.

Illuminated sign, directly, means a sign designed to give forth artificial light directly (or through transparent or translucent material) from a source of light within such sign, including, but not limited to, neon and exposed lamp signs.

Illuminated sign, indirectly, means a sign illuminated with a light so shielded that no direct rays therefrom are visible elsewhere than on the lot where said illumination occurs. If such shielding device is defective, such sign shall be deemed to be a directly illuminated sign.

Non-illuminated sign means a sign which is not illuminated, either directly or indirectly.

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 be no floor above it, then the space between such floor and the ceiling next above it.

Street means a public thoroughfare which affords the principal means of access to abutting property.

Structural alteration. The term "alteration" shall include any of the following:

(1)

Any addition to the height or depth of a building or structure.

(2)

Any change in the location of any of the exterior walls of a building or structure.

(3)

Any increase in the interior accommodations of a building or structure. In addition to the foregoing, a building or structure shall be classified as altered when it is repaired, renovated, remodeled, or rebuilt at a cost in excess of 50 percent of its value prior to the commencement of such repairs, renovation, remodeling or rebuilding.

Structure means anything constructed or erected, including a building, which has permanent location on the ground or anything attached to something having a permanent location on the ground.

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

Use, accessory, means a use located on the same lot with a principal use, and clearly incidental or subordinate to and customarily in connection with the principal use.

Use, principal, means the main use on a lot.

Yard means an open space on the same lot with a principal building, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward, except by trees or shrubbery or as otherwise provided in this chapter.

Yard, front, means an open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a principal building extending the full width of the lot and situated between the street and the front line of the building projected to the side lines of the lot.

Yard, rear, means an open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a principal building, extending the full width of the lot, and situated between the real line of the lot and the rear line of the building projected to the side lines of the lot.

(Ord. No. 2010-4, § 180, 2-16-2010; Ord. No. 2013-12, § 160, 12-2-2013)

(a)

This chapter amends and in part carries forward by re-enactment some of the provisions of the zoning ordinance of the City of Hamilton, adopted September 21, 2010, as amended.

(b)

All provisions of the zoning ordinance of the City of Hamilton enacted September 21, 2010, as amended, which are not re-enacted herein are hereby repealed.

(c)

All suits at law or inequity and/or all prosecutions resulting from the violation of any zoning ordinance heretofore in effect, which are not pending in any of the courts of this state or of the United States, shall not be abated or abandoned by reason of the adoption of the ordinance from which this chapter is derived, but shall be prosecuted to their finality the same as if this chapter had not been adopted; any and all violations of existing zoning ordinances, prosecutions for which have not yet been instituted, may be hereafter filed and prosecuted; and nothing in this chapter shall be so construed as to abandon, abate, or dismiss any litigation or prosecution not pending, and/or which may heretofore have been instituted or prosecuted.

(Ord. No. 2010-4, § 190, 2-16-2010; Ord. No. 2013-12, § 190, 12-2-2013)

Nothing herein contained shall require any change in the plans, construction, size or designated use of any building structure or part thereof for which a building permit had been granted by the building inspector before the time of passage of this chapter; provided, however, that where construction is not begun under such outstanding permit within a period of 60 days subsequent to passage of this chapter or where it has not been prosecuted to completion within 18 months subsequent to passage of this chapter, any further construction or use shall be in conformance with this chapter.

(Ord. No. 2010-4, § 191, 2-16-2010; Ord. No. 2013-12, § 191, 12-2-2013)

If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this chapter is, for any reason, held to be invalid, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this chapter. The city council of the city hereby declares that they would have passed the ordinance from which this chapter is derived and each section, subsection, sentence, clause and phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared invalid.

(Ord. No. 2013-12, § 192, 12-2-2013)

In their interpretation and application, the provisions of this chapter shall be considered minimum requirements adopted for the promotion of the public health, safety, morale, convenience, order, prosperity, and general welfare of the community. Where other ordinances or regulations which may be adopted hereafter impose greater restrictions than those specified herein, compliance with such other ordinances is mandatory. This chapter shall not lower the restrictions of plats, deeds, or private contracts, if such are greater than the provisions of this chapter.

(Ord. No. 2010-4, § 193, 2-16-2010; Ord. No. 2013-12, § 193, 12-2-2013)

The regulations and the number, area, and boundaries of districts established by this chapter may be amended, supplemented, changed, modified or repealed by the municipal governing body, but no amendment shall become effective, unless it is first submitted to the municipal planning commission for its recommendation. The municipal planning commission, upon its own initiative, may hold public hearings, public notice of which shall be given for the consideration of any proposed amendment to the provisions of this chapter or to the zoning map and report its recommendations to the city council. The provisions Code of Ala. 1975, § 11-52-76, as the same may be amended, shall apply to all changes and amendments. A proposed amendment shall not be heard by the municipal planning commission more than once in any 12-month period since the same request was submitted to the municipal planning commission, except that the municipal planning commission may accept such amendments with unanimous consent of all members of a quorum present at a meeting of the municipal planning commission.

(Ord. No. 2010-4, § 170, 2-16-2010; Ord. No. 2013-12, § 170, 12-2-2013)