Accessory building or use. A subordinate building having a use customarily incident to and located on the lot occupied by the main building; or a use customarily incident to the main use of the property.

Alley. A minor way which is used primarily for vehicular access to the back or side of properties otherwise abutting on a street.

Apartment. A suite of rooms or a room arranged and intended as a place of residence of a single person, a single family or a group of individuals living together as a single housekeeping unit, and equipped for the preparation of food.

Apartment house. Same as "Dwelling, Multiple-Family."

Barn. A building for the storage of farm products or feed or farm animals or farm equipment.

Basement. A story partly or wholly underground. For purposes of height measurement, a basement shall be counted as a story where more than one-half (1/2) of its height is above the average level of the adjoining ground.

Bed and Breakfast. A private single-family residence offering tourist lodging services including breakfast within rooms of the property owner's principal residence and accessory buildings or structures served by a single water and electrical meter.

Block. A piece or parcel of land entirely surrounded by public highways or streets, other than alleys. In cases where the platting is incomplete or disconnected, the building inspector shall determine the outline of each block.

Boarding House. A building other than a hotel, motel or an apartment hotel where, for compensation and by prearrangement for a definite period, meals, or lodging and meals are provided for five (5) or more persons but not exceeding twenty (20) persons.

Commercial Amusement. Any enterprise whose main purpose is to provide the general public with an amusing or entertaining activity. Commercial amusements may include bowling alleys, dance halls, indoor shooting ranges, skating rinks, miniature golf, and other similar enterprises. Sexually-Oriented Businesses and Nightclubs are excluded from this definition.

Condominium. A form of ownership wherein residents own the interior space, appliances and accessories in their individual living units. All other elements of a condominium development (structural systems, ground, etc.) are owned in common with other resident owners.

Council, City. The legislative and governing body of the City of Katy or the city council.

Court. An open, unoccupied space, other than a yard, on the same lot with the building or group of buildings and which is bound on two (2) or more sides by such buildings or building.

Curb Level. The elevation of the established curb in front of a building measured at the center of such front.

Depth of Rear Yard. The mean horizontal distance between the rear line of the main building and the rear lot line.

Dwelling. A building or portion thereof, designed exclusively for residential occupancy, including one-family, two-family and multiple-family dwellings, but not including boarding houses, apartment hotels, hotels, tourist courts, motels and condominiums.

Dwelling, One-Family. A detached building arranged, intended, or designed for occupancy by one (1) family.

Dwelling, Two-Family. A building arranged, intended or designed for occupancy by two (2) families, living independently of each other.

Dwelling, Multiple-family. A building or a portion thereof arranged, intended or designed to contain five (5) or more dwelling units.

Dwelling Unit. A residential unit providing complete, independent living facilities for one (1) family including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, cooking, eating, and sanitation.

Family. An individual, or two (2) or more persons related by blood, marriage or adoption, or a group or not more than five (5) unrelated persons living together as a single housekeeping unit in a dwelling unit on a nonprofit cost-sharing basis. The above shall include employees working within the residence for the family.

Flatwork. All-weather surface extending a maximum of four inches (4") above grade level when used as driveways, patios and sidewalks, not including structural foundations.

Garage, Private. An accessory building primarily uses [used] for the storage of motor vehicles.

Garage, Public. A building or portion thereof, designed or used for the storage, sale, hiring, care or repair of motor vehicles, which is operated for commercial purposes.

High-Rise. A building or structure whose overall height exceeds forty-five feet (45') or three (3) stories.

Height of Buildings. The vertical distance measured from the highest of the following three (3) levels:

Hotel. A building occupied or used as a more or less temporary abiding place of individuals or groups or individuals who are lodged, with or without meals, and in which there are more than twelve (12) sleeping rooms and no provision for cooking in individual rooms.

Industrial, Heavy. A use engaged in the basic processing and manufacturing of materials or products or parts, predominantly from extracted raw materials, or storage and manufacturing processes that potentially involve hazardous or commonly recognized offensive conditions.

Industrial, Light. A use engaged in manufacturing, predominantly from previously prepared materials, of finished products or parts, including processing, fabrication, assembly, treatment, packaging, incidental storage, sales, and distribution of such products, but excluding basic industrial processing.

Industrial, Micro. A use engaged, on a limited scale, in basic processing and/or manufacturing of materials or products or parts, predominantly from extracted raw materials, entirely contained within a building and not deemed to be a public nuisance, as determined by the City Planner.

Lot. A parcel of land occupied or to be occupied by one (1) building, or group of buildings, and the accessory buildings or uses customarily incident thereto, including such open spaces as are required under this ordinance, and having its principal frontage upon a public street, alley or a place.

Lot, Corner. A lot abutting upon two (2) or more streets at their intersection. A corner lot shall be deemed to front on that street on which it has its least dimension, unless otherwise specified by the building inspector.

Lot, interior. A lot whose side lines do not abut upon any street.

Lot, through. An interior lot having frontage on two (2) streets.

Lot lines. The lines bounding a lot as defined herein.

Lot line, front. The boundary between a lot and the street on which it fronts.

Lot line, rear. The boundary line which is opposite and most distant from the street line; except that in the case of uncertainty, the building inspector shall determine the rear line.

Lot line, side. Any lot boundary line not a front or rear line thereof. A side line may be a part lot line, a line bordering on an alley or place or a side street line.

Lot depth. The mean horizontal distance from the front street line to the rear line.

Lot width. The horizontal distance between side lines, measured at the front building line, as established by the minimum front yard requirement of this ordinance.

Mobile home. A movable or portable dwelling which is constructed on a chassis, and which is designed to be towed over Texas roads and highways under special permit, designed for yearround occupancy, designed primarily to be used without a permanent foundation, but which may sit on a permanent foundation, and designed to be connected to utilities. It may consist of one (1) or more units that can be telescoped when transported and expanded later for additional capacity, or of two (2) or more units, separately transportable, but designed to be joined together into one (1) integral unit. The following shall not be included in this definition:

Nonconforming use. A nonresidential single-family use, building or yard which does not, by reason of design, use or dimensions, conform to the regulations of the district in which it is situated. It is a legal nonconforming use if established prior to the passage of this ordinance, and an illegal nonconforming use if established after the passage of this ordinance and not otherwise approved as provided herein.

Parking space. An area of two hundred fifty (250) square feet minimum which shall include driveway exits and entrance areas.

Zero lot line subdivision. (Also known as patio home subdivision.) A development designed for small to single-family detached dwelling units which are situated on their respective lots so as to provide maximum usable open space for the private use of occupants of each individual unit. Usable open space is achieved by allowing one (1) side building line and property line to coincide and the orientation of windows and doors toward the remaining yards.

Person. The word "person" when used in this ordinance shall, for the purpose of this ordinance, means every natural person, firm, partnership, association, corporation or society, and the term "person" shall include both singular and plural, and the masculine shall embrace the feminine gender.

Personal Service Shop. An establishment which provides services related to grooming, appearance, care, or repair of personal apparel; and which may sell products used or recommended for those same purposes incidental to the services provided.

Place. An open, unoccupied space other than a street or alley permanently established or dedicated as the principal means of access to property abutting thereon.

through 2.39.4. Reserved for future use.

Recreational vehicle. Recreational vehicle being travel trailer, pickup coach, motor home or camping trailer that does not exceed eight feet, six inches (8'6") in width and forty feet (40') in length.

Sexually Oriented Business. Sexually Oriented Business means: a sex parlor, nude studio, modeling studio, love parlor, adult bookstore, adult movie theater, adult video arcade, adult movie arcade, adult video store, adult motel or other commercial enterprise the primary business of which is the offering of a service or the selling, renting, or exhibiting of devices or any other items intended to provide sexual stimulation or sexual gratification to the customer.

Stable, private. An accessory building for the keeping of horses, ponies, or mules owned by occupants of the premises, and not kept for remuneration, hire or sale.

Stable, riding. A structure in which horses, ponies, or mules used exclusively for pleasure riding or driving, are housed, boarded, or kept for hire.

Story. That part of a building included between the surface on [of] one (1) floor and the surface of the floor next above, or if there be no floor above that part of the building which is above the surface of the highest floor thereof. A top story attic is a half story when the main line of the wall plates is not above the middle of the interior height of such story. The first story is the highest story having its interior floor not more than four (1) [sic] feet above the curb level.

Street. A public maintained thoroughfare which affords principal means of access to property abutting thereon and normally consists of the road surface, ditch or curbs, and sidewalk or parkway areas.

Street line. The dividing line between the street and the abutting property, normally to the lot property line.

Structure. Anything constructed or erected, which requires location on the ground, or attached to something having a location on the ground; including, but not limited to, advertising signs, billboards, and poster panels, but exclusive of customary fences or boundary or retaining walls.

Structural alterations. Any change in the supporting members of a building, such as bearing walls, columns, beams or girders.

Surface, all-weather. Concrete or asphalt.

Tourist court. A group of attached or detached buildings which are provided primarily for transient guests; including auto courts, motels and motor lodges.

Townhouse development. A development designed for small-lot single- or multiple-story attached dwellings which are situated on their respective lots so as to provide residents with commonly owned open space and recreation areas in close proximity to their places of residence.

Mobile home park. Any plot of ground where accommodation is provided for two (2) or more mobile homes used as living or sleeping quarters.

Yard. An open space between a building and the nearest lot line, unoccupied and unobstructed by any portion of a structure from the ground upward. In measuring a yard for the purpose of determining the width of a side yard, the depth of a front yard or the depth of a rear yard, the least horizontal distance between the lot line and the main building shall be used.

Yard, front. A yard across the full width of the lot extending from the front line of the main building to the front line of the lot.

Yard, rear. A yard between the rear lot line and the rear line of the main building.

Yard, side. A yard between the main building and the adjacent side line of the lot, and extending entirely from the front yard to the rear yard thereof.