(a)

It is hereby declared to be the purpose and intent of the city council in enacting this chapter that the zoning regulations and districts as established in this chapter have been made in accordance with a comprehensive plan for the purpose of promoting the health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the city. They have been designed to lessen the congestion in the streets; to secure safety from fire, panic, and other dangers; to provide adequate light and air; to prevent the overcrowding of land; to avoid the undue concentration of population; to facilitate the adequate provision of transportation, water, sewerage, schools, parks and other public requirements. They have been made with reasonable consideration, among other things, for the character of the district, and its peculiar suitability for the particular uses specified; and with a view to conserving the value of buildings and encouraging the most appropriate use of land throughout the city, consistent with a comprehensive plan.

(b)

Except as otherwise provided in this chapter:

(1)

No land may be used except for a purpose permitted in the zoning district in which it is located;

(2)

No structure shall be erected, converted, enlarged, reconstructed, moved, or structurally altered, nor shall any structure or part of a structure be used, except for a use permitted in the zoning district in which the structure is located;

(3)

No structure shall be erected, converted, enlarged, reconstructed, or structurally altered to be in violation of the development standards established for the zoning district in which the structure is located; and

(4)

No structure shall be erected and no structure existing at the time of passage of this chapter shall be enlarged or structurally altered except in conformity with the standards established in this chapter.

(c)

Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the minimum yards, off-street parking, parking, loading, and stacking spaces, and open spaces required by this chapter for any use or structure shall not be encroached upon or considered as required minimum yard, parking, loading and stacking spaces or open space for any other use or structure, nor shall any lot area be reduced below the requirements of this chapter.

(d)

Every structure hereafter erected or structurally altered shall be located on a lot and, except as provided in this chapter, in no case shall there be more than one principal structure on one single-family or two-family residential lot.

(Ord. No. 2023-27, § 1, 12-12-23)

In interpreting and applying the provisions of this chapter, they shall be held to be the minimum requirements for the promotion of the public safety, health, convenience, comfort, morals, prosperity and general welfare. It is not intended by this chapter to interfere with or abrogate or annul any easements, covenants, or other agreements between parties; provided, however, that where this chapter imposes a greater restriction upon the use of buildings or premises or upon height of buildings or requires larger open spaces than are imposed or required by agreements, the provisions of this chapter shall govern.

(Ord. No. 2023-27, § 1, 12-12-23)

For the purpose of this chapter, certain terms and words are hereby defined: words used in the present tense shall include the future; the word "shall" is mandatory and not directive. Said words and terms are as follows:

Accessory building means a subordinate building or portion of the main building, the use of which is incidental to that of the main building, and which is not used for dwelling purposes except when designed for residential occupancy by domestic employees employed on the premises, or such as mothers-in-law or other family members, but is not to become a rental unit, and is located on the same lot occupied by the main use or building.

Administrative officer means the person designated by the city manager as the administrative officer to enforce this chapter.

Adult day care facility means a facility which provides counseling, recreation or food or any combination of these services on a daily or regular basis excluding overnight care to four or more elderly or handicapped persons who are not related by blood, marriage or adoption to the owner of the facility.

Alley means a public way which affords a secondary means of access to property abutting thereon.

Billboard means an outdoor advertising display sign when such sign is supported by uprights or braces in or upon the ground.

Building, height of means the vertical distance from the grade (elevation of the curb, sidewalk or average elevation of the ground around the structure) to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof, or to the deck line of a mansard roof, or to the mean height level between eaves and ridge for gable, hip, or gambrel roofs.

Building line means a line parallel or approximately parallel to the street line and beyond which buildings may not be erected.

Day care center means any facility, whether or not known or incorporated under descriptive titles or names such as nursery school, kindergarten, play school, child development center, early childhood center, and others that correspond, which accepts 13 or more children under the age of 14 for day care. This term applies to the program, buildings, grounds, furnishings, and equipment.

Dwelling means any building or portion thereof designed and used exclusively for residential purposes.

Dwelling, single-family means a building designed for or occupied exclusively by one family as a residence.

Dwelling, two-family means a building designed for or occupied by two families, living independently of each other for residential purposes.

Dwelling, three-family means a building designed for or occupied by three families, living independently of each other, for residential purposes.

Dwelling, four-family means a building designed for or occupied by four families, living independently of each other, for residential purposes.

Dwelling, multiple-family means a building designed for or occupied exclusively by five or more families, living independently of each other, for residential purposes.

Family means one or more individuals living together as a single housekeeping unit, as distinguished from a group occupying a lodging house, boardinghouse, or hotel.

Farm means an area used for the growing of products and their storage on the areas, as well as the raising thereon of the animals and poultry.

Frontage means all the property abutting upon one side of a street between two intersecting streets measured along the street line, or if the street is dead ended, then all of the property abutting on one side between an intersecting street and the dead end of the street.

Garage, private means a building used for the housing of motor vehicles, which are the property of and for the private use of the occupants of the lot on which it is located. No more than one of the vehicles may be a commercial vehicle of not more than three tons capacity.

Garage, public means a garage other than a private garage where motor vehicles are equipped for operation, repaired, or kept for remuneration, hire or sale.

Group homes or personal care facilities with more than three residents unrelated to the property owner in a residential community in the State of Texas must be properly licensed through the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS). Personal care facilities with less than four residents unrelated to the property owner are not required to register with the state.

The following uses are permitted in some or all residential districts, by right or with a special use permit:

Group day care facility means a facility where a maximum of 12 children under the age of 14 years of age may be cared for on a regular basis for a period of less than 24 hours per day whether for compensation or not. This maximum number of children shall include any children at the facility under the age of 14 that are related to the director and/or staff of the facility. The children may be any combination of infants, preschoolers, and school age as outlined in the T.D.P.R.S. guide on group day care facilities. This definition shall not include kindergarten, prekindergarten, and schools listed elsewhere in this chapter.

Family Home means a facility or area providing food and shelter, personal guidance, care, rehabilitation services, or supervision for not more than six disabled persons, regardless of their legal relationship to one another, and two supervisory personnel. A family home is a community-based residential home operated by the Texas Dept. of Mental Health and Mental Retardation Act, which provides services to disabled persons, or a nonprofit entity certified by the Texas Dept. of Human Resources as a provider under the intermediate care facilities for the mentally retarded program.

Foster Family Home means a facility or area providing full time parental care for six or fewer total minor children for which reimbursement or fee is received for any one or more of the children in return for such services. This use must comply with statutory licensing requirements.

Foster Group Home means a facility of area providing full time parental care for seven to 12 total minor children for which reimbursement or fee is received for any one or more of the children in return for such services. This use must comply with statutory licensing requirements.

Personal Care Facility means a residence, licensed by the Texas State Dept. of Health which provides services to ambulatory residents, such as food preparation, housekeeping, and supervisory assistance for routine daily activities. The chapter allows 6 or fewer residents by right, while requiring an SUP for 7 or more persons in all residential districts other than multifamily residential districts, where it is allowed by right.

Other care facilities that are not permitted in most or all residential districts are:

Boarding House means a residential structure that provides lodging for five or more persons with or without meals, is available on a more or less temporary basis, and which makes no provisions for cooking in any of the rooms occupied by paying guests. (This definition also provides separate categories and definitions for fraternity/sorority house and private dorm).

Halfway House means a facility for the housing, rehabilitation, and training of persons on probation or parole from correctional institutions, or other persons found guilty of criminal offenses.

Nursing Home means a facility or area furnishing food and shelter in single or multiple facilities to five or more persons who are not related by blood, marriage, or adoption to the owner or proprietor of the establishment. In addition, the facility provides minor treatment under the direction and supervision of a physician or provides a service which meets some need beyond the basic provisions of food, shelter and laundry.

Supervised Living Facility means a residential facility of three or more dwelling units providing living quarters restricted to individuals who require access to services but not daily nursing or medical intervention. Incidental uses and/or services may include protective supervision, personal care, social and recreational services, assistance with medical requirements, laundry, and transportation service, private or common kitchens/dining facilities, as long as such services are provided to residents only.

Home occupation means any occupation or profession engaged in by the occupants of a dwelling not involving the conduct of a retail business, and not including any occupation conducted in any building on the premises excepting the building which is used by the occupant as his private dwelling. Home occupations shall include, in general, personal services such as those furnished by an architect, lawyer, physician, dentist, musician, artist, and seamstress, when performed by the persons occupying the building as his private dwelling and not including a partnership or the employment of more than one assistant in the performance of such services.

Hotel means a building in which lodging or boarding and lodging are provided and offered to the public for compensation and in which ingress and egress to and from all rooms is made through an inside lobby or office supervised by a person in charge at all hours. As such, it is open to the public in contradistinction to a lodging house or boardinghouse.

Industrialized housing means a residential structure that is:

(1)

Designed for the occupancy of one or more families;

(2)

Constructed in one or more modules or constructed using one or more modular components built at a location other than the permanent site; and

(3)

Designed to be used as a permanent residential structure when the module or the modular component is transported to the permanent site and erected or installed on a permanent foundation system.

Industrialized housing includes buildings and structures defined in the Industrialized Housing and Buildings Law, Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 1202 and Industrialized Housing and Buildings Administrative Rules, Texas Administrative Code, Chapter 70.

Lodging house or Boardinghouse means a building or part of a building containing no fewer than three lodging units, which does not appear to function as a dwelling unit, although one may be included with the lodging units. It includes, without limitation, a rooming house and a boarding house, a fraternity house, a sorority house, a student residence, and an apartment hotel. It does not include a hotel, a crisis care residence, a group home, a correctional group home, a bed and breakfast establishment, a nursing home, or a retirement residence.

Lot means any designated parcel of land located in a residential subdivision, including any improvements on the designated parcel occupied or intended for occupancy by a use permitted in this chapter, including one main building together with accessory buildings, open spaces, and parking spaces required by this chapter, and having its principal frontage upon a street, or upon an officially approved place.

Lot, corner means a lot situated at the intersection of and abutting upon two streets, or upon two parts of the same street, the adjacent sides of which street or streets, for, in the case of a curved corner, the tangents at the street extremities of the side lot lines) contain an angle of not more than 135 degrees.

Lot, depth of means the mean horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines. If the front and rear lot lines are not parallel, lot depth means the length of a straight line joining the middle of the front lot line with the middle of the rear lot line.

Lot, reverse corner means a corner lot, the side street line of which is substantially a continuation of the front line of the first lot to its rear.

Lot, width means the mean horizontal distance between the side lot lines, measured at right angles to the lot depth at a point midway between the front and rear lot lines for rectangular shaped lots parallel to street right-of-way.

Manufactured home and manufactured home park, travel trailer and travel trailer park, recreational vehicle and recreational vehicle park, and HUD-Code manufactured home subdivision shall have the meanings given in division 13 of article IV of this chapter.

Motel means a building or group of buildings which provide lodgings and in which the rooms are usually reached directly from an outdoor parking lot used for the temporary residence of motorists or travelers.

Nonconforming use means any use, building, or yard existing legally at the time of passage of the ordinance from which this section derived which does not conform with the regulations of the district within which it is located.

Parking space means an area of not less than 180 square feet, measuring approximately nine feet by 20 feet, not on a public street or alley, with a permanent concrete or asphalt paved surface capable of sustaining striping and signage located on the same lot, an adjoining lot or nearby lot.

Place means an open, occupied space other than a street or alley permanently reserved as the principal means of access to abutting property.

Registered adult personal care facility means a facility licensed by the state to provide care for adults on a 24-hour basis. This type of facility is limited to a maximum of 12 adults at any time.

Registered family home facility means a facility where care is provided for a maximum of six children under the age of five years and no more than six additional school age children as defined by the state department of protective and regulatory services (T.D.P.R.S.). The maximum number of children, including any children related to a licensee, is no more than 12 at any time. Children may be kept 24 hours per day, but the facility must meet the guidelines of T.D.P.R.S.

Servant's quarters means an accessory building or portion of a main building located on the same lot as the main building used as living quarters for servants employed on the premises and not rented or otherwise used as a separate dwelling.

Story means that portion of a building, other than a basement, included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the floor next above it or, if there is no floor above it, then the space between the floor and ceiling next above it.

Story, half means a space under a sloping roof which has the line of intersection of roof decking and wall face not more than five feet above the top floor level, and that is finished off for use. A half story may be used for occupancy only in conjunction with and by the occupants of the floor immediately below.

Street means any public or private way set aside as a permanent right-of-way for street purposes and used as a means of access to abutting property.

Structural alteration means any change to the supporting members of a building, including foundations, bearing walls, partitions, columns, beams or girders, or any structural change in the roof or in the exterior walls.

Structure means anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires permanent location on the ground or attached to something having a location on the ground including, but not limited to, buildings of all types, advertising signs, billboards, and poster panels, but exclusive of customary fences or boundary or retaining walls.

Trailer means a vehicular portable structure such as a travel trailer or camping trailer or self-propelled pickup truck camper or motor home designed as a temporary dwelling for travel, recreation and vacation uses.

Yard means an open space at grade between a building and the adjoining lot lines, unoccupied and unobstructed by any portion of a structure from the ground upward, except as otherwise provided. A yard extends along a lot line and at right angles to such lot line to a depth or width specified in the yard regulations of the zoning district in which such building lot is located.

Yard, front means a yard extending across the front of a lot between the side lot lines, and being the minimum horizontal distance between the street or place line and the main building or any projections thereof, other than the projections of the usual uncovered steps, terraces, porches or entranceways. On corner lots the front yard shall be considered as parallel to the street upon which the lot has its least dimension.

Yard, rear means a yard extending across the rear of the lot, measured between the side lot lines, and being the minimum horizontal distance between the rear lot line and rear of the main building or any projection other than uncovered steps, porches, entranceways or private garages.

Yard, side means a yard between the main building and the sideline of the lot and extending from the required front yard to the required rear yard, and being the minimum horizontal distance between a side lot line and the side of a main building or projection thereto.

(Ord. No. 2023-27, § 1, 12-12-23)

Cross reference— Definitions generally, § 1-2.

(a)

Any person or corporation who shall violate any of the provisions of this chapter or fail to comply therewith or with any of the requirements thereof, or who shall build or alter any building or use in violation of any detailed statement or plan submitted and approved under this chapter shall, upon conviction, be punished as provided in section 1-14.

(b)

Each day such violation shall be permitted to exist, shall constitute a separate offense.

(c)

The owner of any building or premises or part thereof where anything in violation of this chapter shall be placed or shall exist, and any architect, builder, contractor, agent, person or corporation employed in connection therewith and who may have assisted in the commission of any such violation shall be guilty of a separate offense and, upon conviction, shall be fined as provided in section 1-14.

(d)

The city shall have the power to enforce the provisions of this chapter through civil court action as provided by state law.

(Ord. No. 2023-27, § 1, 12-12-23)