2.1.1 Word Usage

For the purposes of this Ordinance, certain terms are defined as indicated in this Section. These definitions and all other provisions of this Ordinance are subject to the following rules of interpretation:

A.

Except as specifically defined within this Section or anywhere within this Ordinance, all words used in this Ordinance shall be construed to have their customary dictionary definitions;

B.

Words used in the present tense shall include, where appropriate, the past and future tense. Where appropriate, words in the singular shall include the plural and words used in the plural shall conversely include the singular;

C.

The words "shall" is always mandatory; the word "may" is permissive;

D.

The words "used" or "occupied," as applied to any land or building, shall be construed to include the words "intended, arranged, or designed to be used or occupied";

E.

Utility and Infrastructure abbreviations and definitions specific to Water, Sewer, Electrical and other Infrastructure requirements and standards shall be found in the Public Works Specifications Manual; and

F.

Where a word defined in this article is also defined, explained, or used in a more specific context in another article, such further definition, explanation, or use shall control in the interpretation of the provision in question.

Accommodation: Any part of a building used as or constituting a unit used as temporary lodging for an individual or a single family. See also hotel, motel, and tourist home.

Adult Establishments: Adult bookstore, adult motion picture theater, adult mini-motion picture theater, adult live entertainment business, or other such adult establishment as outlined in the current N.C.G.S.

Affiliate: A person who directly or indirectly, through one (1) or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control of another person.

Alley: Any strip of land, publicly or privately owned, which is at least twenty (20) feet in width and set aside for public or private vehicular access to adjoining properties.

Antenna Array: One (1) or more rods, panels, discs or similar devices used for the transmission or reception of radio frequency signals, which may include omni-directional antenna (rod), directional antenna (panel) and parabolic antenna (disc). The Antenna Array does not include the Support Structure.

Apartment: A room or suite of rooms in a building comprising a dwelling unit separate from others in the building, and typically having its own separate bath, sanitary, and kitchen facilities. Such apartments are in most cases rented from the owner by those dwelling in them.

Apartment, Incidental: An apartment located within a building used primarily for commercial uses.

Basement: The lowest level of a building that is wholly or partly below ground. For the purposes of this Ordinance, a basement shall not be deemed a habitable story if it is fifty percent (50%) or more below grade, and is used only for storage and mechanical space; a basement that is less than fifty percent (50%) below grade, or is used for any other purpose, shall be deemed a habitable story.

Being Conducted: A land-disturbing activity that has been initiated and permanent stabilization of the site has not been completed.

Best Management Practices (BMP): A structural or nonstructural management-based practice used singularly or in combination to reduce nonpoint source inputs to receiving waters in order to achieve water quality protection goals in Watershed Overlay Districts.

A.

Structural BMP - A physical device designed to trap, settle out, or filter pollutants from stormwater runoff; to alter or reduce stormwater runoff velocity, amount, timing or other characteristics; to approximate the pre-development hydrology and runoff water quality on a developed site; or to achieve any combination of these goals. Structural BMPs include physical practices such as detention ponds, constructed wetlands, vegetative practices, filter strips, grassed swales and other methods installed or created on real property. "Structural BMP" is synonymous with "structural practice," "stormwater control facility," "stormwater control practice," "stormwater treatment practice," "stormwater management practice," "stormwater control measures," "structural stormwater treatment system" and similar terms used in this Ordinance.

B.

Non-Structural BMP - Non-Structural BMPs include but are not limited to education, proper fertilizer and pesticide applications, street sweeping, maintenance of structural BMPs, litter control, and proper maintenance of developed lands.

Board of Commissioners: The Board of Commissioners of the Town of Highlands.

Borrow: Fill material which is required for on-site construction and is obtained from other locations.

Brewpub: A brewery that sells twenty-five percent (25%) or more of its beer on-site. The beer is brewed primarily for sale on the brewery site. The beer is often dispensed directly from the brewery's storage tanks.

Buffer, Landscape: The use of vegetation, berms, walls, fences or some combination thereof to visibly separate a use of property from another adjacent use or road.

Buffer, Riparian: The protected strip or zone of land adjacent to a lake or natural watercourse. See also Trout and Vegetative Buffers.

Buffer, Trout: The undisturbed zone adjacent to waters that have been classified as trout waters by the Environmental Management Commission.

Buffer, Vegetative: A zone or area of natural or planted vegetation adjacent to a lake or natural watercourse that is not classified as trout waters by the Environmental Management Commission.

Building: Any structure built for the support, shelter, or enclosure of persons, animals, or property of any kind, including sheds, pole sheds and other open-walled buildings, carports, garages, guest cottages, and other outbuildings, and also including any extension and extrusion of the building such as balconies, decks, and porches. Satellite dish antennas shall be considered buildings under this Ordinance insofar as they shall be required to meet the setback requirement of the zoning district in which they are located. See also Customary Accessory Outbuilding and Structure definitions.

Building, Commercial: A building, in a commercial zoning district, housing a commercial use and constructed according to the North Carolina State Building Code (Commercial Code).

Building, Multi-Family: Any building, other than a motel, hotel, tourist home or short-term rental as defined in this Ordinance, containing more than one (1) dwelling unit. This term includes single-family attached dwellings, duplexes, and apartments.

Building, Public/Civic: A building housing a public or civic use and constructed according to the North Carolina State Building Code (Commercial Code).

Building Frontage: The distance which is occupied by a business or other activity, measured along the outside wall of the building side on which the main entrance of the business or other activity is located. If a business has a main entrance on a corner of a building, the building frontage shall be the width of the building parallel to the main street on which it is located.

Building Wall: An exterior bearing or non-bearing vertical structure encompassing the area between the final grade elevation and the eaves of a building, which is used as an enclosing wall for a building.

Built-Upon Area: That portion of a development project in Watershed Overlay Districts that is covered by impervious or partially impervious cover, including buildings, pavement, gravel roads, decorative pavers or paving stones, and recreation facilities (e.g., tennis courts). (Note: Wooden slatted decks and the water area of a swimming pool are considered pervious.)

Churches and Other Places of Public Worship: A building primarily used by a nonprofit organization for organized religious services and supporting uses.

Common open space: A portion of a development site that is permanently set aside for public or private use, is held in common ownership by all individual owners within a development, and restricted from development as provided herein. Common open space may include wetlands, upland recreational area, wildlife areas, historic sites, and areas unsuitable for development in their natural state. Common open space shall not be construed to mean the space between buildings within cluster developments, or any impervious surface.

Completion of Construction or Development: The time at which no further land-disturbing activity is required on a phase of a project except that which is necessary for establishing a permanent ground cover.

Conditional zoning: A legislative zoning map amendment with site-specific conditions incorporated into the zoning map amendment.

Condominium: Real estate, portions of which are designated for separate ownership and the remainder of which is designated for common ownership solely by the owners of those portions. Real estate is not a condominium unless the undivided interests in the common elements are vested in the unit owners.

Corner Lot: A lot abutting upon two (2) or more streets at their intersection.

Critical Area: The area in a Watershed Overlay District adjacent to a water supply intake or reservoir where risk associated with pollution is greater than from the remaining portions of the watershed, as defined on the Zoning Map.

Cul-de-Sac: A street permanently terminated by a turn-around.

Customary Accessory Outbuilding: Buildings customarily appurtenant to single-family dwellings such as private garages, noncommercial buildings such as greenhouses and workshops. Not a dwelling unit.

Customary Incidental Home Occupation: An occupation actually pursued or carried on within a person's place of residence by himself or family members who reside there, as well as no more than one (1) person not a resident of the premises, and including professional offices of accountants, architects, artists, attorneys, beauticians, dentists, engineers, musicians, physicians, surveyors, and family day care homes keeping less than six (6) unrelated children, but excluding veterinary, kennel, or animal shelter services for animals.

Dam: A structure and appurtenant works erected to impound or divert water, and including beaver dams.

Day Care Center: An institution that provides for the care or instruction of six (6) or more unrelated children, but excluding family day care homes keeping less than six (6) unrelated children (see Customary Incidental Home Occupation).

Development: Any land disturbing activity which adds to or changes the amount of impervious or partially pervious cover on a land area or which otherwise decreases the infiltration or precipitation into the soil. See also definition of "Redevelopment" this section specific to Stormwater Management.

Development, Cluster: A development pattern and technique whereby structures or building sites are grouped or arranged in close proximity to one another adjacent to permanently preserved common open space within the same development.

Development, Industrial: Any nonresidential development in a Watershed Overlay District that requires an NPDES permit for an industrial discharge and/or requires the use or storage of any hazardous material for the purpose of manufacturing, assembling, finishing, cleaning, or developing any product or commodity.

Development, Nonresidential: All development other than residential development, agriculture, and silviculture.

Development, Residential: Buildings for residential use, such as attached and detached single-family dwellings, apartment complexes, condominiums, townhouses, cottages, etc., together with their associated outbuildings, such as garages, storage buildings, gazebos, etc., and including customary incidental home occupations.

Discharge Point: That point at which stormwater runoff leaves a tract of land.

District, Overlay: A district with supplementary regulations that are superimposed upon existing use districts. Such a district is mapped and on file with the Town Clerk.

District, Soil and Water: The Macon or Jackson County Soil and Water Conservation District created pursuant to G.S. ch. 139.

District, Underlying Use: The existing general use district shown on the Official Zoning Map of the Town of Highlands.

District, Watershed Overlay: A zoning district implementing the requirements of G.S. ch. 143, art. 21, Watershed Protection Rules, within areas designated as a Public Water Supply Watershed by the N.C. Environmental Management Commission, and encompassing one (1) or more underlying use districts. The regulations of a Watershed Overlay District supplement rather than supplant the regulations of the underlying use district; whenever the regulations in one (1) district require more restrictive standards than in the other, the more restrictive standards shall apply.

Draining: Any act in furtherance of the release of water from an impoundment at a rate greater than the rate by which the impoundment is normally replenished by its usual groundwater and subsurface sources.

Driveway: A private vehicle access located on a parcel or lot serving a maximum of two (2) lots. See also definition of "Street, Private".

Duplex: A building containing two (2) dwelling units located on the same lot or parcel.

Dwelling: A building, structure, manufactured home or mobile home, or part thereof, used and occupied for human habitation or intended to be so used, including customary accessory outbuildings belonging thereto or usually enjoyed therewith, but not including any recreational vehicle that is used solely for a seasonal vacation purpose.

Dwelling Unit: A single residential unit consisting of one (1) or more rooms designed, occupied, or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters, with cooking, sleeping, and bathroom facilities provided within the dwelling unit for the exclusive use of a single-family maintaining a household.

Dwelling, Multi-Family: A dwelling unit designed, intended and used by more than one (1) family.

Dwelling, Single-family: A building designed for and containing one (1) dwelling unit.

Dwelling, Single-family attached: A dwelling unit constructed in compliance with the North Carolina Uniform Building Code and located on an individual lot attached to one (1) or more dwelling units by a common party wall or walls.

Dwelling, Single-family detached: A dwelling unit constructed in compliance with the North Carolina Uniform Building Code and located on an individual lot unattached to another dwelling unit.

Dwelling, Single-family detached condominiums: Single-family detached dwelling units constructed in compliance with the North Carolina Uniform Building Code which are owned under the condominium form of ownership such that there are no individual lots associated with the units and the common areas are held in common ownership by a condominium association.

Dwellings, Single-family Zero Lot Line: A dwelling unit located on an individual lot so that one (1) of the building's sides is located directly on a side lot line notwithstanding the requirement to maintain a ten-foot setback between each building.

Easement: A right of privilege vested in the public or the owner of one (1) parcel of land to use the land of another for a specific purpose or purposes (such as road or utility rights-of-way).

Electronic Gaming Operations: Any business enterprise, whether as a principal or an accessory use, where persons utilize electronic machines, including, but not limited to, computers and gaming terminals, to conduct games of chance, including sweepstakes, and where cash, merchandise, or other items of value are redeemed or otherwise distributed, whether or not the value of such distribution is determined by electronic games played or by predetermined odds. The term includes, but is not limited to, internet sweepstakes, internet sweepstakes café, video sweepstakes, or cybercafes, which have a finite pool of winners. This does not include any lottery endorsed by the State of North Carolina.

Energy Dissipater: A structure or a shaped channel section with mechanical armoring placed at the outlet of pipes or conduits to receive and break down the energy from high velocity flow.

Erosion: The wearing away of land surfaces by the action of wind, water, gravity, or any combination thereof.

Erosion, Accelerated: Any increase over the rate of natural erosion as a result of land-disturbing activity.

Erosion Control Measure, Structure, or Device, Adequate: One that controls the soil material within the land area under responsible control of the person conducting the land-disturbing activity.

Erosion, Natural: The wearing away of the earth's surface by water, wind, or other natural agents under natural environmental conditions undisturbed by man.

Facility, Equipment: An Equipment Facility is any structure used to contain ancillary equipment for a Wireless Communication Facility which includes cabinets, shelters, a build-out of an existing structure, pedestals, and other similar structures.

Family: One (1) or more individuals residing in a dwelling unit, living as a single housekeeping unit, and complying with the following rules:

A.

Any number of individuals related by the fifth degree of consanguinity, marriage, or adoption may occupy a dwelling unit; as long as it meets all applicable health and building code requirements;

B.

Where some or all of the occupants are unrelated by blood, marriage, or adoption, the total number of occupants who are unrelated shall not exceed five (5). In applying this provision, children who are under the age of twenty-three (23) and who are children of the owner or a person renting an entire dwelling unit from the owner shall be counted as a single occupant. In addition, in all cases, the limitation set out in subsection C. below shall apply; and

C.

The presence of household employees or children in foster care shall not disqualify any premises otherwise satisfying the above rules.

Fixture: The assembly that houses the lamp or lamps and can include all or some of the following parts: a housing, a mounting bracket or pole socket, a lamp holder, a ballast, a reflector or mirror, and/or a refractor lens.

Foot-candle: A unit of measurement (fc) of luminance, or the amount of light falling on a given amount of surface area. One (1) foot-candle is equal to one (1) lumen per square foot, and is the equivalent of 10.76 Lux (1 Lux = 0.0929 fc).

Full cut-off luminaire: Outdoor light fixtures shielded or constructed so that no direct light rays are emitted by the installed fixture at angles above the horizontal plane. That is, they do not shine light upward above the fixture into the sky.

Glare: Light emitting from a luminaire with intensity great enough to reduce a viewer's ability to see, and in extreme cases causing momentary blindness, or that causes annoyance or discomfort.

Grading Calculations: The result of cut + fill, as measured in cubic yards. This means that when one (1) cubic yard of earth is cut, and then that same yard if used as fill elsewhere on the property, the Town would view this as two (2) cubic yards of earth movement (sometimes this method is referred to as a "double counting"). This form of measurement takes into consideration the total disturbance of a site from its existing state.

Grantor: The Town of Highlands as represented by the Board of Commissioners acting within the scope of its jurisdiction.

Greenway or Highlands Greenway: An area for pedestrian use dedicated by easement to the Town of Highlands or dedicated by conservation easement to promote the purposes of the Highlands Greenway.

Greenway Map or Highlands Greenway Map: "Conceptual Greenway Map" as adopted by the Town and the "Highlands Greenway Map - Phase I" as adopted by the Town on November 6, 2007, as amended from time to time in accordance with this Ordinance and permanently kept on file in the office of the Town Clerk.

Gross Floor Space: The entire area of a building, including storage areas, garages, closets, hallways, and restrooms, but excluding basement or attic storage areas not accessible to the public. Gross floor space shall be measured to the outside of exterior walls.

Ground Cover: Any natural vegetative growth or other material which renders the soil surface stable against accelerated erosion.

Hazardous Material: Any substance listed as such in: SARA Section 302, Extremely Hazardous Substances, CERCLA Hazardous Substances, or Section 311 of CWA (oil and hazardous substances).

Height, Building: The vertical distance from the established grade elevation at the center of the front of the structure to the highest point of the roof or parapet of the structure, but not including, steeples, chimneys, sky lights, and roof structures for elevators, stairways, tanks, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment, or similar equipment for the operation and maintenance of a building.

Height, Signage: The height of a sign shall be measured as the distance from finish grade or surface at the base of the sign, or top of sign post footing, to the top of the highest component of the sign, including the sign face or sign structure.

Height, Wireless Communication Facility: The vertical distance measured from the base of the foundation of the tower to the highest point on the Wireless Communication Facility, including the antenna array and other attachments.

High Quality Waters: Those classified as such in 15A NCAC 2B.0101(e)(5) - General Procedures, which is incorporated herein by reference to include further amendments pursuant to former G.S. 150B-14(c).

High Quality Water Zones: Areas within one (1) mile and draining to high quality waters.

Hotel: A hotel or motel is any building containing five (5) or more guest rooms where temporary sleeping accommodations—and in some cases minimal eating and cooking facilities—are provided for guests on a daily or weekly basis.

Impoundment: The body of water impounded by a dam.

Individual Sewer System: Any septic tank, privy, or other facility with a design capacity of three thousand (3,000) gallons per day or less and having no discharge to surface waters.

Individual Water System: Any well, spring, stream, or other source used to supply a single connection, privately owned.

Intermittent: Starting, stopping, and starting again, not constant or steady.

Lake or Natural Watercourse: Any stream, river, brook, swamp, creek, run, branch, canal, waterway, estuary, and any reservoir, lake or pond, natural or impounded, in which sediment may be moved or carried in suspension, and which could be damaged by accumulation of sediment.

Land-Disturbing Activity: Any use of the land by any person in residential, industrial, education, institutional, or commercial development, including highway and road construction and maintenance that results in a change in the natural cover or topography and that may cause or contribute to sedimentation.

Landscape Area: The area of a parcel of property that is not devoted to buildings, parking lots, sidewalks, or driveways.

Light Trespass: The shining of light produced by a luminaire beyond the boundaries of the property on which it is located.

Lodging: The use of a building, or any portion thereof, for someone to live or stay temporarily, often for periods of less than thirty (30) consecutive days in return for the payment of compensation. Lodging includes a hotel, motel, tourist home and short-term rental.

Lot: A portion of a subdivision or any other parcel of land intended as a unit for transfer of ownership or for development, or both.

Lot of Record: A parcel of land whose boundaries have been established by some legal instrument, such as a recorded deed or a recorded map, and which is recognized as a separate legal entity for purposes of transfer of title.

Luminaire: A lighting system, including a lamp or lamps and a fixture. This term shall be interpreted broadly as applying to all outdoor electrically powered illuminating devices, outdoor lighting or reflective surfaces, permanently installed or portable, used for illumination.

Manufactured Home: A dwelling unit that is not constructed in accordance with the standards of the North Carolina Uniform Residential Building Code for one- and two-family dwellings; and is composed of one (1) or more components, each of which was substantially assembled in a manufacturing plant and designed to be transported to the home site on its own chassis. Additional specific use requirements apply in the Town of Highlands (Article 6.3.1.C).

Microbrewery: A brewery that produces less than fifteen thousand (15,000) barrels of beer per year with seventy-five percent (75%) or more of its beer sold off-site. Microbreweries sell to the public by one (1) or more of the following methods: the traditional three-tier system (brewer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer); the two-tier system (brewer acting as wholesaler to retailer to consumer); and directly to the consumer through carryouts and/or on-site tap-room or restaurant sales.

Mobile Home: A manufactured home.

Modular Home: A dwelling unit constructed in accordance with the construction standards of the North Carolina Uniform Residential Building Code for one- and two-family dwellings, and composed of components substantially assembled in a manufacturing plant and transported to the building site for final assembly and placement on a permanent foundation. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, a modular home may consist of two (2) or more sections, with each section being transported to the site on its own chassis or steel frame, or a series of panels or room sections transported to the site on a truck and erected, assembled, or joined there.

Motel: A hotel or motel is any building containing five (5) or more guest rooms where temporary sleeping accommodations—and in some cases minimal eating and cooking facilities—are provided for guests on a daily or weekly basis.

Multi-Family Residential Use: The use of a lot or parcel for human habitation by more than one (1) family within a multi-family building or a multi-family dwelling unit. This term does not include lodging uses such as hotel, motel, tourist home or short-term rental.

Nonprofit Visual Art Centers: Any visual art center funded by private donors and fees from visual art classes, which is deemed to be nonprofit by the Internal Revenue Service in accordance with IRS Code Section 501(C)(3). Failure to maintain nonprofit status with the Internal Revenue Service automatically and immediately voids the visual art center special use permit.

Notice: Whenever in this Ordinance notice is required, it shall be deemed to mean the date that such certified mail is delivered.

Occupant: A person, his sub-lessee, successor, or assign, entitled to the use of the storage space at a self-service storage facility under a rental agreement, to the exclusion of others.

Official Maps or Plans: Any maps or plans, but not including the Zoning Map, officially adopted by the Board of Commissioners as a guide for the development of the Town and surrounding area.

Outdoor Area: Any area outside the limits of the building, as defined by this Ordinance.

Outdoor Display: The placing or placement of merchandise in the Outdoor Area adjacent to a commercial establishment, for the purpose of the sale of such goods at that establishment to the public in the ordinary course of business.

Outdoor lighting: The nighttime illumination of an outside area or object by any manmade device located outdoors that produces light by any means.

Outdoor Storage Yard: The area containing materials for sale by businesses such as building supply centers, lumber yards, and hardware stores, as allowed within the Town of Highlands use table. Additional specific use requirements apply in the Town of Highlands.

Owner: Any person having charge of any real property according to the records held by the Macon or Jackson County Register of Deeds. See also below for additional definition of "Owner" specific to Stormwater Management or Self-Service Storage Facility.

Owner: For the purposes of Sec. 12.7, Stormwater Management, "Owner" shall mean the legal or beneficial owner of land including, but not limited to, a mortgagee or vendee in possession, receiver, executor, trustee, long-term or commercial lessee, or any other person or entity holding proprietary rights in the property or having legal power of management and control of the property. "Owner" shall include long-term commercial tenants, management entities, such as those charged with or engaged in the management of properties for profit, and every person or entity having joint ownership of the property. A secured lender not in possession of the property does not constitute an owner unless the secured lender is included within the meaning of "owner" under another description in this definition, such as management entity. The term "Owner" also applies to a person, association, or corporation that gains possession of the property through default of a loan.

Owner, Self-Service Storage Facility: The owner, operator, lessor, or sub-lessor of a self-service storage facility, his agent, or any other person authorized by him to manage the facility or to retrieve rent from an occupant under a rental agreement.

Parcel: A tract of real property within the jurisdiction of this Ordinance.

Parent: An affiliate that directly, or indirectly through one (1) or more intermediaries, controls another person.

Parks and Playgrounds: A park or playground available to the general public.

Parking Space, Dual-Use: A private parking space not being utilized by the primary use when closed for business, which may be shared, by written agreement, between the primary use and a restaurant when meeting the requirements of this Ordinance.

Parking Space, Public: A public parking space either located within a public parking lot or on a public street. A public parking space may be used to count towards parking requirements for restaurants when meeting the requirements of this Ordinance.

Person: Any individual, partnership, firm, association, joint venture, public or private corporation, trust, estate, commission, board, public or private institution, utility, cooperative, interstate body, or other legal entity.

Person Conducting Land-Disturbing Activity: Any person who may be held responsible for violation (unless expressly provided otherwise by this article), of the North Carolina Sedimentation Pollution Control Act of 1973 (the Act), or any order adopted pursuant to this article or the Act as amended, and all rules and orders adopted pursuant to it.

Phasing Schedule: A schedule that sets forth the timing of the development of a development proposal, including, but not limited to, provision of necessary public facilities, the number of units, as applicable, and their location on the site.

Place of Adult Entertainment: A place of adult entertainment is any place where one (1) or more of the following activities take place:

A.

The serving of food or drink by topless, partially nude, or nude waitresses/waiters;

B.

Topless dancing, go-go dancing, stripping, nude or partially nude dancing, or similar entertainment or activities.

Plan, Master: A comprehensive site plan incorporating multiple separate and distinct developments within one (1) development; including but not limited to, a Subdivision, a Planned Cluster Development or a plan that recombines multiple lots into a lesser number of lots.

Plan, Phased Development: A development plan wherein the proposed development will be constructed incrementally in a logical time and geographical sequence according to an approved Phasing Schedule.

Plan, Site: A plan, prepared to scale, showing accurately all information required by this Ordinance with respect to the development proposal.

Plan, Site Specific Development Plan: A plan accepted by the Town describing with reasonable certainty the type and intensity of use for a specific parcel or parcels of property. Such plan may be in the form of, but not limited to, a master plan developed with specificity or a conditional zoning plan. Unless specific items are exempted in writing by the Planning and Development Director, such a plan shall include the approximate boundaries of the site; significant topographic and natural features affecting development of the site; approximate dimensions of proposed structures; and the approximate location of all existing and proposed infrastructure on the site, including water, sewer, roads, and pedestrian walkways. Neither a sketch plan nor any other document that fails to describe with reasonable certainty the type and intensity of use for a specified parcel or parcels of a property shall constitute a site specific development plan. A variance shall not constitute a site specific development plan, and approval of a site specific development plan with the condition that a variance be obtained shall not confer a vested right unless and until the necessary variance is obtained.

Planning Board: The Town of Highlands Planning Board.

Private Social Club: A private social club or health club is any private association occupying or meeting regularly in a building owned or rented by said association for social or recreational purposes and offering membership to individuals. No residential use shall be permitted on the premises of a private social club other than one (1) caretaker quarters. Such clubs shall include, but not be limited to, country clubs, health clubs, private spas, and exercise centers.

Quasi-judicial decision: A decision involving the finding of facts regarding a specific application of a development regulation and that requires the exercise of discretion when applying the standards of the regulation. The term includes, but is not limited to, decisions involving variances, special use permits, certificates of appropriateness, and appeals of administrative determinations. Decisions on the approval of subdivision plats and site plans are quasi-judicial in nature if the regulation authorizes a decision-making board to approve or deny the application based not only upon whether the application complies with the specific requirements set forth in the regulation, but also on whether the application complies with one or more generally stated standards requiring a discretionary decision on the findings to be made by the decision-making board.

Redevelopment: For the purpose of Sec. 12.7, Stormwater Management, any rebuilding activity is considered redevelopment unless the rebuilding activity results in no net increase in built-upon area and provides equal or greater stormwater control than the previous development.

Restaurant: A restaurant is a place of business where food is prepared and served, and where seating is provided for the consumption of food. A business such as a bakery, delicatessen, or take-out pizza vendor, which prepares and sells food but at which food is not consumed on the premises, shall be considered a retail business rather than a restaurant under this Ordinance.

Right-of-Way: An area owned or maintained by the Town of Highlands or the North Carolina Department of Transportation for the placement of roads or utilities.

Roof Line: The edge of the roof around a building, where a building wall intersects the eave of a roof.

School, Public or Private: A public or private institution offering a curriculum of education authorized by the State of North Carolina giving regular instruction at the primary, secondary level, or a school for the mentally or physically handicapped. Included in this definition are preschool programs. However, this definition does not include day care facilities, individual instruction, or classes in a specialized subject.

Security lighting: Exterior lighting installed solely to enhance the security of people and property.

Sediment: Solid particulate matter, both mineral and organic, that has been or is being transported by water, air, gravity, or ice from its site of origin.

Sedimentation: The process by which sediment resulting from accelerated erosion has been or is being transported off the site of the LDA or into a lake or natural watercourse.

Setback, Building Line: The minimum distance between a property line, road centerline, or right-of-way line and a building.

Setback, Wireless Communication: When referring to a Wireless Communication Facility, setback shall mean the required distance from the property line of the parcel on which the Wireless Communication Facility is located to the base of the Support Structure and equipment shelter or cabinet where applicable, or, in the case of guy-wire supports, the guy anchors.

Shopping Center: Four (4) or more commercial establishments planned, constructed and managed as a single unit containing a minimum of five thousand (5,000) gross square feet, and sharing common sidewalks, driveway entrances, or parking areas.

Short-term rental: The rental of a residential dwelling unit, for compensation, for a period of less than thirty (30) consecutive days. This term does not include hotels, motels, or tourist homes.

Sight Distance Triangle: That area immediately adjacent to a street intersection encompassed by a triangle ten (10) feet back from the intersection on one (1) street and thirty-five (35) feet back along the perpendicular street.

Sign: A visual display designed to advertise, identify, direct, promote, or in any way attract attention to a product, service, business, event, person, or specific location.

Siltation: Sediment resulting from accelerated erosion which is settleable or removable by properly designed, constructed, and maintained control measures, and which has been transported from its point of origin within the site of a LDA, and which has been deposited, or is in suspension in water.

Single-Family Residential Use: The use of a single-family dwelling by a single family for human habitation. This term does not include lodging uses such as hotel, motel, tourist home, or short-term rental.

Special use permit: A permit issued to authorize development or land uses in a particular zoning district upon presentation of competent, material, and substantial evidence establishing compliance with one (1) or more general standards requiring that judgment and discretion be exercised as well as compliance with specific standards. The term includes permits previously referred to as conditional use permits or special exceptions.

Spill light: Light that goes beyond the area that was intended to be illuminated. This may also be the same as light trespass, where light spills across a property line.

Storage, Facility, Flammable Liquid: Any facility, wholesale or retail, where flammable liquids are stored in tanks of more than one thousand (1,000) gallons aggregate storage capacity.

Storage Facility, Self-Service: Any real property designed and used for the purpose of renting or leasing individual storage space to occupants who are to have access to such for the purpose of storing and removing personal property.

Storm Drainage Facilities: The system of inlets, conduits, channels, ditches and appurtenances which serve to collect and convey stormwater through and from a given drainage area.

Storm Event: A rainfall event with a specified precipitation amount during a specified duration of time and statistical frequency of occurrence.

Storm, Ten-Year: The stormwater runoff resulting from precipitation of an intensity that is expected to be equaled or exceeded, on the average, once in ten (10) years, and of a duration that will produce the maximum peak rate of runoff for the watershed of interest under average antecedent wetness conditions as calculated according to procedures in the U.S.D.A., Soil Conservation Service's "National Engineering Field Manual for Conservation Practices", or according to procedures adopted by any other agency of North Carolina or the United States.

Storm, Twenty-Five Year: The stormwater runoff resulting from precipitation of an intensity that is expected to be equaled or exceeded on the average, once in twenty-five (25) years, and of a duration that will produce the maximum peak rate of runoff for the watershed of interest under average antecedent wetness conditions as calculated according to procedures in the United States Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service's "National Engineering Field Manual for Conservation Practices" or according to procedures adopted by any other agency of North Carolina or the United States.

Stormwater Administrator: The Planning and Development Director of the Town of Highlands or his authorized representative.

Stormwater runoff: In general, this is the surface flow of water resulting from precipitation in any form and occurring immediately after rainfall or melting. For the purpose of Sec. 12.7, Stormwater Management, the runoff of Stormwater from lands, paved surfaces, and buildings calculated from a particular storm event using hydrologic and hydraulic equations and methodologies.

Street: A dedicated right-of-way intended for vehicular traffic. The term "street" shall also encompass "road."

A.

Street, Public: A street offered for dedication to the public. If located outside the corporate limits of the Town of Highlands, "public" means the State of North Carolina; if located within the corporate limits, "public" may mean either the State of North Carolina or the Town of Highlands.

B.

Street, Private: A street not offered for dedication to the public, but having an established right-of-way used or intended to be used for vehicular traffic by more than one (1) property. A driveway serving two (2) or less properties shall not be considered a street.

Structure: Anything constructed or erected, including—in addition to buildings—walls, fences, gates, mailboxes, reflectors or mirrors associated with driveways, residential parking decks (whether constructed of fill dirt or retaining walls, or other methods), and private bridges or tunnels. Wireless communications facilities, as defined herein, shall be considered structures, and shall be regulated pursuant to this Ordinance.

Structure, Support: A Support Structure is a structure designed and constructed specifically to support an Antenna Array, and may include a monopole, self-supporting (lattice) tower, guy-wire-support tower, and other similar structures. Any device (Attachment Device) which is used to attach an Attached Wireless Communication Facility to an existing building or structure (Attachment Structure) shall be excluded from the definition of and regulations applicable to Support Structures.

Structure, Water Dependent: Any structure in a Watershed Overlay District the use of which requires access to, proximity to, or siting within surface waters to fulfill its basic purpose, including boat ramps, boat houses, docks, and bulkheads. Ancillary facilities, such as restaurants, outlets for boat supplies, parking lots, and commercial boat storage areas are not water-dependent structures.

Subdivider: Any person, firm, or corporation who subdivides or develops any land deemed to be a subdivision as herein defined.

Subdivision: All divisions of a tract or parcel of land into two (2) or more lots, building sites, or other divisions for the purpose of sale or building development, whether immediate or future, including all divisions of land involving the dedication of a new street or a change in existing streets; but the following shall not be included within this definition, nor be subject to the regulations of this Ordinance:

A.

The combination or recombination of portions of previously subdivided and recorded lots, where the total number of lots is not increased and the resultant lots are equal to or exceed the standards of the Town as required by this Ordinance;

B.

The division of land into parcels greater than ten (10) acres where no street right-of-way dedication is involved;

C.

The public acquisition by purchase of strips of land for the widening or opening of streets; or

D.

The division of a tract in single ownership whose entire area is no greater than two (2) acres into not more than three (3) lots, where no street right-of-way dedication is involved, and where the resultant lots are equal to or exceed the standards of the Town, as required by this Ordinance.

E.

The division of a tract into parcels in accordance with the terms of a probated will or in accordance with intestate succession under G.S. ch. 29.

Tourist home: A building or part thereof, not including a motel, hotel, or short-term rental, where sleeping accommodations or lodging of not more than four (4) bedrooms are provided to guests paying compensation, where the owner, operator or manager also stays on the same parcel during any period of guest occupancy. This term includes bed and breakfast homes, inns, or rooming or boarding houses.

Town: The Town of Highlands, North Carolina, a political subdivision of the State of North Carolina.

Toxic Substance: Any substance or combination of substances (including disease causing agents), which after discharge and upon exposure, ingestion, inhalation, or assimilation into any organism, either directly from the environment or indirectly by ingestion through food chains, has the potential to cause death, disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutations, physiological malfunctions (including malfunctions or suppression in reproduction or growth), or physical deformities in such organisms or their offspring, or other adverse health effects.

Tract: All contiguous land and bodies of water being disturbed or to be disturbed as a unit, regardless of ownership.

Use Designations Definitions:

A.

Permitted: A use is allowed by right in the respective district. Such uses are subject to all other applicable requirements of this Ordinance.

B.

Special: A use is allowed only by a Special Use Permit, provided that the use meets the additional requirements imposed by the Town. Such uses are subject to all other applicable requirements of this Ordinance.

C.

Limited: A use shall be permitted by right, provided that the use meets the additional requirements imposed by the Town. Such uses are subject to all other applicable requirements of this Ordinance.

D.

Not Allowed: A use that is not allowed in the respective district.

Variance, Major: A variance in a Watershed Overlay District that results in any one (1) or more of the following:

A.

The complete waiver of a management requirement;

B.

The relaxation, by a factor of more than ten percent (10%), of any management requirement that takes the form of a numerical standard; or

C.

The relaxation of any management requirement that applies to a development proposal intended to qualify under the high density option.

Variance, Minor: A variance in a Watershed Overlay District that does not qualify as a major variance; one which, because of its limited scope, is delegated by the Environmental Management Commission to the local jurisdiction.

Velocity: The average velocity of flow through the cross section of the main channel at the peak flow of the storm of interest. The cross section of the main channel shall be that area defined by the geometry of the channel plus the area of flow below the flood height defined by vertical lines at the main channel banks. Overload flows are not to be included for the purpose of computing velocity of flow.

Wallpack: A wall-mounted luminaire.

Watershed: The entire land area contributing surface drainage to a specific point (e.g., the water supply intake), defined as Watershed Overlay Districts on the Zoning Map.

Watershed Administrator: The Planning and Development Director of the Town of Highlands or his duly authorized designee.

Wetlands: Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.

Wireless Communications: Wireless Communications shall mean any personal wireless services as defined in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which includes FCC licensed commercial wireless telecommunications services including cellular, PCS (Personal Communication Services), SMR (Specialized Mobile Radio), ESMR (Enhanced Specialized Mobile Radio), paging, and similar services.

Wireless Communication Facility: Any unstaffed facility for the transmission and/or reception of wireless telecommunications services, usually consisting of an Antenna Array, connection cables, an Equipment Facility, and a Support Structure to achieve the necessary elevation.

Wireless Communication Facility, Attached: An Antenna Array that is attached to an existing building or structure (Attachment Structure), which structures shall include, but not be limited to, utility poles, signs, water towers, rooftops, towers with any accompanying pole or device (Attachment Device) which attaches the Antenna Array to the existing building or structure and associated connection cables, and an Equipment Facility which may be located either inside or outside of the Attachment Structure.

Wireless Communication Facility, Co-location/Site Sharing: Co-location/Site Sharing shall mean use of a common Wireless Communication Facility or common site by more than one (1) wireless communication license holder or by one (1) wireless license holder for more than one (1) type of communications technology and/or placement of an antenna array on a structure owned or operated by a utility or other public entity.

Wireless Communication Facility, Temporary: A Wireless Communication Facility to be placed in use for ninety (90) or fewer days.

Working Days: Days exclusive of Saturday, Sunday, and legal Town holidays.

Zoning Administrator: The Planning and Development Director of the Town of Highlands or his duly authorized representative.

Zoning Board: The Town of Highlands Zoning Board of Adjustment.

(Amend. of 11-17-16(1); ; Amend. of 5-27-2021(4); Amend. of 9-14-22(1), § 1; Amend. of 3-21-2024(1))