Except as otherwise provided herein, all words shall have the customary dictionary meaning. The present tense includes the future tense and the future tense includes the present. The singular number includes the plural and the plural includes the singular. The word "person" includes a firm, corporation, association, organization, trust, limited liability companies, or partnership. The word "lot" includes "plot" or "parcel". The word "shall" is always mandatory. The word "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". The word "zoning map" means the "Official Zoning Districts Map for the City of Kingsland, Georgia."

(Amend. of 7-23-2007)

When used in this Ordinance, the following words and phrases shall have the meaning given in this Section.

(1)

ACCESSORY USE: A use customarily incidental to the principal use of land.

(2)

AIRPORT: A transportation terminal facility where aircraft take-off and land.

(3)

AIRPORT LANDING AREA: The area of an airport used for landing, taking off or taxing the aircraft.

(4)

ALLEY: A platted service way providing a secondary means of access to abutting properties.

(4a)

AMUSEMENT CENTER: means any freestanding privately owned and operated commercial recreational area containing an assortment of rides, games, arcades, attractions, water slides, and tracks for amusement vehicles.

(5)

AUTOMOBILE SERVICE STATION: Any area of land, including structures thereon, used for the retail sale of gasoline or oil, automobile accessories, and incidental services including facilities for lubricating, hand cleaning and washing, or otherwise servicing automobiles, but excluding painting, major repair, or automatic washing.

(6)

BASE FLOOD ELEVATION: The crest elevation in relation to mean sea level expected to be reached by the one percent annual chance flood, i.e., the 100-Year Flood.

(7)

BED AND BREAKFAST INN: Any owner-occupied building or portion thereof offering transient lodging accommodations and breakfast to not more than 12 guests where compensation is received.

(8)

BLOCK: A piece or parcel of land entirely surrounded by public highways or streets, other than alleys.

(9)

BOARDING HOUSE: A building other than a hotel where, for compensation and/or by pre-arrangement, meals or lodging and meals are provided for three (3) or more persons, but not exceeding twenty (20) persons.

(10)

BOOKSTORE, ADULT: A regulated use which contains or is used for the display or sale of books, magazines, movie films, still pictures and any and all other written materials, photographic material, novelties, devices, and related sundry items, which are distinguished or characterized by their emphases on matters depicting, describing or relating to "Specified Sexual Activities" or "Specified Anatomical Areas", as defined herein, or an establishment with a segment or section devoted to the sale or display of such material constituting a majority of its retail value of stock displayed for sale, or a majority of monthly gross receipts of the business.

(11)

BUILDING: A structure, either temporary or permanent, having a roof impervious to weather and used or built for the shelter or enclosure of persons, animals, chattels, or property of any kind. This definition shall not include tents, cabanas, truck bodies, school buses and vehicles of any kind situated on private property and serving in any way the function of a building.

(12)

BUILDING ACCESSORY: A subordinate building, the use of which is incidental to that of the dominant use of the main building.

(13)

BUILDING, ALTERATION OF: Any change in the supporting members of a building (such as bearing walls, beams, columns, and girders) except such change as may be required for its safety; any addition to a building; any change in use resulting from moving a building from one location to another.

(14)

BUILDING, HEIGHT OF: The vertical distance measured from the average elevation of the proposed finished grade at the front to the height level between the eaves and ridge for gable, hip, and gambrel roofs and to the deck line of a mansard roof.

(15)

BUILDING MAIN: A building in which is conducted the principal use of the lot on which it is situated. In any residential district, any dwelling shall be deemed to be a main building on which it is situated.

(16)

BUILDING OFFICIAL OR INSPECTOR: The Director of Community Planning and Development.

(17)

CLINIC: An establishment where patients, who are not lodged overnight, are admitted for examination and treatment.

(18)

CLUB: Building and facilities owned or operated by a corporation, association, person or persons for social, educational or recreational purposes, but not primarily for profit or to render a service to the general public.

(19)

COMMISSION: "The Kingsland Planning Commission".

(20)

CONDOMINIUM: A form of individual ownership of a unit, combined with joint ownership of common areas of the building and grounds in a development. (Georgia Condominium Act, Official Code of Georgia Annotated 44-3-70 et seq.

(21)

CONVENTIONAL CONSTRUCTION: A building constructed on the building site from basic materials delivered to the site. A conventional building is subject to local codes and ordinances.

(22)

COUNCIL: "The Mayor and Council for the City of Kingsland, Georgia."

(23)

CUT: A portion of land surface or area from which earth has been removed or will be removed by excavation; the depth below original ground surface to excavated surface. Also known as excavation.

(24)

DAY-CARE CENTER: Any place operated by a person, society, agency, corporation, or institution, or any other group wherein are received for pay seven (7) or more children under 17 years of age for group care, without transfer or custody, for more than four (4) hours and less than 24 hours per day.

(25)

DAY-CARE HOME: Any place operated by any person who received for pay three (3) to six (6) children under 17 years of age for group care, without transfer or custody, for more than four (4) hours and less than 24 hours per day.

(26)

DEVELOPMENT: Any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, including but not limited to buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavating or drilling operations.

(27)

DIRECTOR: The Director of the Community Planning and Development of the City of Kingsland.

(28)

DISTRICT: A section of the City of Kingsland within which the zoning regulations are uniform.

(29)

DWELLING: Any building or portion thereof which is designed for or used for residential purposes.

(30)

DWELLING, MULTI-FAMILY: A building designed for or occupied exclusively by three (3) or more families living independently of each other.

(31)

DWELLING, SINGLE-FAMILY: A building designed for or occupied exclusively by one (1) family.

(32)

DWELLING, TWO-FAMILY (DUPLEX): A building designed for or occupied exclusively by two (2) families living independently of each other.

(33)

EASEMENT: A grant by a property owner for the use of land for a specific purpose or purposes by the general public, or a corporation or a certain person or persons.

(34)

ENTERTAINMENT ESTABLISHMENT, ADULT: A regulated use which contains, or is used for commercial entertainment where the patron directly or indirectly is charged a fee to engage in person contact by employees, devices, equipment, or by personnel provided by the establishment; or where the patron views a series of dance routines, strip performances, or other gyrational choreography provided by the establishment which appeals to the prurient interest of the patron of an establishment where the majority of the annual gross receipts are derived from such uses as herein defined.

(35)

EROSION AND SEEDIMENTATION CONTROL PLAT: A plan for the control of soil erosion and sediment resulting from a land-disturbing activity.

(36)

EXISTING GRADE: The vertical location of the existing ground surface prior to cutting or filling.

(37)

FALL-OUT SHELTER: A structure or portion of a structure intended to provide protection to human life during periods of danger to human life from nuclear fall-out, air raids, storms or other emergencies.

(38)

FAMILY: One or more persons occupying a dwelling and living as a single house keeping unit, as distinguished from persons occupying a boarding house, lodging house, or hotel, as herein defined.

(39)

FILLING: The placement of any soil or other solid material either organic or inorganic on a natural ground surface or an excavation.

(40)

FINISHED GRADE: The final grade or elevation of the ground surface forming the proposed design.

(41)

FLOOD OR FLOODING: A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from: (a) the overflow of inland waters; (b) the unusual and rapid accumulations or run off of surface waters from any source.

(42)

FLOOD FRINGE AREA: That area of the flood plain lying outside the floodway but still within the area of special flood hazard, i.e., within the 100-Year Flood Plain.

(43)

FLOOD INSURANCE STUDY: The official report provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The report may contain flood profiles as well as the Flood Hazard Boundary Flood-way Map and the water surface elevation of the base flood.

(44)

FLOOD PLAIN: Any normally dry land area that is susceptible to being inundated by waters of the one percent (1%) annual chance flood, i.e., the 100-Year Flood.

(45)

FLOODWAY: The channel of a river or other water course and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the velocity waters of the regulatory flood.

(46)

FLOOR AREA: The sum of the gross horizontal areas of the total number of floors of a building measured from the exterior faces of the exterior walls or from the centerline of walls separating two building, but not including the attic space providing headroom of less than seven (7) feet; unusable basement or cellar space not used for retailing; uncovered steps or fire escape; open porches; accessory water or cooling towers; accessory off-street parking spaces; and accessory off-street loading berths.

(47)

FRONTAGE LOT: The distance for which the front boundary line of the lot and the street line are coincident.

(48)

FRONTAGE STREET: All the property on the side of a street between two intersecting streets (crossing or terminating), or if the street is dead ended, then all the property abutting on one side between an intersection street and the dead end of the street.

(49)

GARAGE, PARKING: A building or portion thereof designed or used for storage of motor-driven vehicles, and at which motor fuels and oils may be sold, and in connection with may be performed general automotive servicing as distinguished from automotive repair.

(50)

GARAGE, PRIVATE: An accessory building or a portion of a main building used for the parking or storage of automobiles of the occupants of the main building. A carport would be considered as a private garage.

(51)

GARAGE, REPAIR: A building or portion thereof, other than a private or parking garage, designed or used for the storage, servicing, repairing, equipping or hiring of motor driven vehicles.

(52)

GRADING: Altering surfaces to specified elevations, dimensions, and/or slopes; this includes stripping, cutting, filling, stockpiling, and shaping or any combination thereof and shall include the land in its cut or filled combination.

(53)

HOME OCCUPATION: An occupation for gain or support conducted only by members of a family residing on the premises and entirely within the main dwelling.

(54)

HOTEL: A building in which lodging or board are provided for more than twenty (20) persons and offered to the public for compensation and in which ingress and egress to and from each sleeping room is generally made through the interior of the building.

(55)

INDUSTRIALIZED BUILDING (ALSO FACTORY-BUILT HOUSING: A building or building component manufactured in accordance with the Georgia Industrialized Building Act and the Rules of the Commissioner of Community Affairs issued pursuant thereof.

(56)

INSTITUTION: A non-profit corporation or a non-profit establishment.

(57)

JUNK YARD: A lot, land or structure, or part thereof, used primarily for the collecting, storage and sale of waste paper, rags, scrap metal, or discarded materials; or for the collecting, dismantling, storage and salvaging of machinery or vehicles not in running condition, or for the sale of parts thereof.

(58)

KENNELS: Any location where raising, grooming, caring for or boarding of dogs, cats, or other small animals for commercial purposes is carried on.

(59)

KINDERGARTEN: A school for pre-elementary school children ranging in age from four (4) through six (6) years; which operates for less than four (4) hours per day.

(60)

LAND-DISTURBING ACTIVITY: Any land change which may result in soil erosion from water or wind and the movement of sediments into state water or onto lands within the state, including but not limited to, clearing, dredging, grading, excavating, transporting, and filling of land.

(61)

LAUNDROMAT: A business that provides home type washing, drying and/or ironing machines for hire.

(62)

LAUNDRY AND DRY CLEANING, PICK UP: A business that provides only for the convenience of taking and picking up of laundry, such as establishments not having any equipment for processing of the laundry.

(63)

LOADING SPACE: A space within the main building or on the same lot, providing for the standing, loading or unloading of trucks, and other carriers.

(64)

LOT: A parcel of land occupied or to be occupied by one or more main buildings and its accessory buildings with such open parking spaces as are required by the provisions in this ordinance and having its frontage upon a public street or streets.

(65)

LOT OF RECORD: A lot or parcel of land whose existence and location and dimensions have been recorded in the office of the Clerk of the Superior Court of Camden County.

(66)

LOT, CORNER: A lot having a frontage of two (2) or more streets at their intersection.

(67)

LOT, DOUBLE FRONTAGE: A lot having a frontage of two (2) streets and distinguished from a corner lot.

(68)

LOT, INTERIOR: A lot other than a corner lot.

(69)

LOWEST FLOOR: The floor, including basement, in a building which is the lowest elevation above mean sea level.

(70)

MEAN SEA LEVEL: The average height of the sea for all stages of the tide. It is used as a reference for establishing varying elevations within the flood plain. For purposes of this Ordinance the term is synonymous with National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD).

(71)

MOBILE HOME (Also known as Manufactured Housing): A detached single-family dwelling unit designed for long-term occupancy and constructed originally with wheels for movement (removal of wheels and placement on a foundation does not change its classification) and which has plumbing and electrical connections provided for attachment to outside systems.

(72)

MOBILE HOME PARK: Any tract of land that is approved by the Planning Commission for the renting of spaces for sleeping purposes or where spaces are set aside and offered for rent or use by mobile homes for living or sleeping purposes including any land, building, structure, or facility used by occupants of mobile homes on such premises.

(73)

MOBILE HOME SUBDIVISION: A subdivision designed and intended for residential use where residence is in mobile homes exclusively.

(74)

MOTEL: A building or group of buildings containing sleeping accommodations for rental primarily to automobile transients and in which ingress and egress to and from each sleeping room is generally to the outside of the building.

(75)

NATIONAL GEODETIC VERTICAL DATUM (NGVD): As corrected in 1929 is a vertical control used as a reference for establishing varying elevations within the flood plain.

(76)

NATURAL GROUND SURFACE: The ground surface in its original state before any grading, excavation of filling.

(77)

NON-CONFORMING USE: A use of land existing at the time of the enactment of this Ordinance, or at the time of a Zoning Amendment and which does not conform with the regulations of the use district in which it is located.

(78)

NURSING HOME (REST HOME, CONVALESCENT): An establishment which provides full-time convalescent or chronic care or both for three (3) or more individuals who are not related by blood or marriage to the operator and who, by reason of chronic illness or infirmity, are unable to care for themselves. No care for the acutely ill, or surgical or obstetrical services, shall be provided in such home; a hospital or sanitarium shall not be construed to be included in this definition.

(79)

OPEN SPACE: A yard area which is not used for or occupied by a driveway, off street parking, loading space, drying yard or refuse storage space.

(80)

PERMIT, LAND DISTURBING: The authorization necessary to begin a land-disturbing activity under the provisions of this Ordinance.

(81)

PERSONAL CARE HOME: A building, group of buildings, facility, or place in which are provided two or more beds and other facilities and services, including room, meals, and personal care, for non-family ambulatory adults. For the purposes of these regulations, personal care homes shall be classified as family personal care homes, group personal care homes, and congregate personal care homes.

(82)

PERSONAL CARE HOMES, CONGREGATE: A personal care home which offers care to sixteen or more persons.

(83)

PERSONAL CARE HOMES, FAMILY: A personal care home in a family type residence, non-institutional in character, which offers care to two through six persons.

(84)

PERSONAL CARE HOMES, GROUP: A personal care home in a residence or other type building or buildings, non-institutional in character, which offers care to seven through fifteen persons.

(85)

PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT (PUD): A parcel of land which is developed as an integrated unit under single ownership or control, which includes two or more main buildings and where the specific requirements of a given district may be modified and where the minimum area is fixed.

(86)

PLAT: A map, plan or layout of a county, city, town, section or subdivision indicating the location and boundaries of properties.

(87)

PLAY SCHOOL: A school for pre-kindergarten children ranging in age from three (3) to four (4) years and which operates for less than four (4) hours a day.

(88)

PRINCIPAL USE: The primary purpose for which land or a building is used.

(89)

PROFESSIONAL: When used in connection with "use" and "occupancy" a use or occupancy by persons generally engaged in rendering personal, executive, sales, or administrative services or activities, including accountants, architects, professional engineers and land surveyors, doctors, lawyers, insurance offices, real estate offices, religious organizations, stock brokers and administrative agencies considered professional in character. The term, however, does not include repairs or sales of tangible personal property stored or located within the structure nor any use which would create loud noise or noxious odors.

(90)

REGULATED ADULT BUSINESS: Any building or structure or portion of any building or structure used or proposed to be used for an adult bookstore, adult entertainment establishment, or adult theater.

(91)

REGULATORY FLOOD ELEVATION: For purposes of this Ordinance, the crest elevation in relation to mean sea level expected to be reached by the one percent (1%) flood (base flood elevation) plus two feet.

(92)

RESTAURANT, DRIVE-IN: An eating and/or drinking establishment which caters to motor-driven vehicle business where the person being served consumes his food and/or drink while sitting in a motor-driven vehicle, as opposed to a restaurant serving exclusively inside an enclosed building.

(93)

RIGHT-OF-WAY: Access over or across particularly described property for a specific purpose or purposes.

(94)

RIGHT-OF-WAY LINE: The dividing line between a lot, tract or parcel of land and a continuous street, railroad, or other public utility right-of-way.

(95)

ROOMING HOUSE: A building other than a hotel where lodging for three (3) but not more than twenty (20) persons is provided with no meals served.

(96)

SEDIMENT: Solid material, both mineral and organic, that is in suspension, is being transported, or has been moved from its site of origin by air, water, ice, or gravity, as a product of erosion.

(97)

SHOPPING CENTER: A group of commercial establishments, planned, and developed as a unit, with common off-street parking provided on the property.

(98)

SIGN: Any words, lettering, parts of letters, figures, numerals, phrases, sentences, emblems, devices, designs, trade names or marks, or combinations thereof, by which anything is made known, such as the designation of an individual, a firm, an association, a profession, a business, a commodity, or product which are visible from any public way and used as an outdoor display.

(99)

SIGN AREA: The smallest square, rectangle, triangle, circle, or combination thereof encompassing the entire advertising area, excluding architectural trim and structural supports.

(100)

SIGN, OUTDOOR ADVERTISING: A structural poster panel or painted sign, either free-standing or attached to a building, for the purpose of conveying information, knowledge, or ideas to the public about a subject unrelated to the premises upon which it is located.

(101)

SIGN STRUCTURE: A structure composed of a single pole or multiple poles which is located on the ground on top of another structure and which supports no more than two (2) signs.

(102)

SIGN STRUCTURE FACING: The surface of the sign upon, against, or through which the message of the sign is exhibited, not including architectural trim and structural supports.

(103)

SITE PLAN: Drawing which puts forth the pattern in these dimensions of the activity, circulation and visual form to take place on a particular piece of land.

(104)

SLOPE: Degree of deviation of a surface from the horizontal, usually expressed in percent or degree.

(105)

SPECIFIED ANATOMICAL AREAS:

(a) Less than completely and opaquely covered: (i) human genitals, public region, (ii) buttocks and (iii) female breasts below a point immediately above the top of the areola; and (b) human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state, even if completely and opaquely covered.

(106)

SPECIFIED SEXUAL ACTIVITIES:

(a)

Acts of human masturbation, sexual intercourse, sodomy, or any acts of bestiality;

(b)

fondling or other erotic touching of human genitals, pubic region, buttocks, or breasts of either male or female

(c)

human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal.

(106a)

SPORTS CENTER: means any freestanding privately owned and operated commercial recreational area containing ball fields, tennis courts, and/or other sports venues.

(107)

STABILIZATION: The process of establishing an enduring soil cover of vegetation and/or mulch or other ground cover and/or in combination with installing temporary or permanent structures for the purpose of reducing to a minimum the transport of sediment by wind, water, ice or gravity.

(108)

STORY: That portion of a building, other than a cellar, included between the surface of the floor and the ceiling above it.

(109)

STREET: A public or private thoroughfare which affords the principal means of access to abutting property.

(110)

STREET, HALF: A street which does not meet the minimum right-of-way widths as set forth in this Ordinance.

(111)

STREET LINE: The legal line between street right-of-way and abutting property.

(112)

STRUCTURE: Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires a location on the ground, or attached to something having a location on the ground.

(113)

STRUCTURAL PRACTICES: Soil and water conservation measures, other than vegetation, utilizing the mechanical properties of matter for the purpose of either changing the surface of the land or storing, regulating, or disposing of runoff to prevent excessive sediment loss. Including but not limited to riprap, sediment basin, dikes, level spreaders, waterways or outlets, diversions, grade stabilization structures, sediment traps, land grading, etc.

(114)

SUBDIVIDER: Any person who undertakes the subdivision of land as herein defined.

(115)

SUBDIVISION: Any division of a tract or parcel of land into two or more lots, building sites, or other divisions for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of sale, legacy, or building development. This includes any division of land involving a new street or a change in existing streets, and includes resubdivision and, where appropriate to the context, relates to the process of subdividing or to the land or area subdivided; provided, however, that the following are not included in this definition: The combination or recombination of portions of previously platted lots where the total number of lots is not increased and the resultant lots are equal to the standards of the municipality.

(116)

SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT: For a structure built prior to the enactment of this Ordinance, any repair, reconstruction, or improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds fifty percent (50%) of the market value of the structure either (1) before the improvement or repair is started, or (2) if the structure has been damaged and is being restored, before the damage occurred. For the purpose of this definition, "substantial improvement" is considered to occur when the first alteration of any wall, ceiling, floor, or other structural part of the building commences, whether or not that alteration affects the external dimensions of the structure. The term does not, however, include any projects for improvement of a structure to comply with existing state or local health, sanitary, or safety code specifications which are solely necessary.

(117)

THEATER, ADULT: A regulated use for the viewing of performances or activities by others, whether such performances are in the form of live shows, motion pictures, slide shows, or other forms of photographic or visual display, which are distinguished or characterized by their emphasis on matters depicting, describing, or relating to "Specified Sexual Activity" or "Specified Anatomical Areas", as defined herein, or any establishment with a segment or section devoted to the sale or display of such material constituting a majority of the annual gross receipts of the business.

(118)

TOWNHOUSE: A single-family dwelling unit which is erected in a row as part of a single building, on adjoined lots, each being separated from the adjoining unit or units by an approved fire resistant party wall or walls extending from the basement or cellar floor to the roof along the dividing lot line.

(119)

TRAVEL TRAILER: A vehicular portable structure designed as a temporary dwelling for travel, recreational and vacation uses which is not more than eight feet in body width and is of any weight provided its body length does not exceed 32 feet.

(119.5)

TURKEY SHOOT: A marksmanship contest using shotguns with a barrel length of 30 inches or less offering prizes and conducted as a charity fundraiser.

(120)

VEGETATIVE PRACTICES: Measures for the stabilization of erosive or sediment producing areas by covering soil with: (a) Permanent seeding, sprigging, or planting producing long-term vegetative cover, or (b) short-term seeding, producing temporary vegetative cover, or (c) sodding, covering areas with a turf or perennial sod-farming grass.

(121)

WATERCOURSE: Any natural or artificial watercourse, stream, river, creek, channel, ditch, canal, in which water flows either continuously or intermittently and which has a definite channel, bed and banks, and including any area adjacent thereto, subject to inundation by reason of overflow or floodwater.

(122)

YARD: A space on the same lot with a main building, such space being open, unoccupied and unobstructed by buildings or structures from ground to sky except where encroachments and accessory buildings are expressly permitted.

(123)

YARD, FRONT: An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with the main building, extending the full width of the lot and situated between the right-of-way line and the front line of the building projected to the side lines of the lot. The depth of the front yard shall be measured between the front line of the building and the right-of-way line. Covered porches, whether enclosed or unenclosed, shall be considered as part of the main building and shall not project into a required front yard. On corner lots the front yard shall be considered as parallel to the street upon which the lot has its least dimension.

(124)

YARD, REAR: An open space on the same lot with the main building, such space being unoccupied except possibly by an accessory building and extending the full width of the lot and situated between the rear line of the lot and the rear line of the main building projected to the side lines of the lot. On all corner lots the rear yard shall be at the opposite end of the lot from the front yard.

(125)

YARD, SIDE: An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a main building, situated between the side line of the building and the adjacent side line of the lot extending from the rear line of the front yard to the front line of the rear yard. If no front yard is required, the front boundary of the side yard shall be the front line of the lot and if no rear yard is required, the rear boundary of the side yard shall be considered as parallel to the street upon which the lot has its greatest dimension.

(126)

ZONING ORDINANCE: The Zoning and Land Development Ordinance of the City of Kingsland.

(Amend. of 7-23-2007; Ord. No. 2014-03, 3-31-2014; Ord. No. 2015-16, 10-26-2015; Ord. No. 2015-19, 12-28-2015; Ord. No. 2017-09, 10-23-2017)