Macon County Unincorporated
City Zoning Code

SPECIAL REGULATIONS

§ 155.180 SPECIAL USES.

(A) The County Board may grant a special permit, for the following special uses in certain district(s), unless otherwise prohibited by this chapter.

(B) Any special use (permit) may include a specified period of time and may be limited to the applicant or owner, in order, to comply with the intent of this chapter and to conserve and protect the property and property values in the neighborhood:

(1) Private landing field, or landing strip for aircraft and heliports owned and operated by the property owner thereof;

(2) Cemetery, including animal, or mausoleum;

(3) A hospital, clinic, nursing home, sheltered care home, or similar institutions which may be permitted in a residential district, shall be located on a site of not less than five acres, shall not occupy more than 10% of the total lot area, and shall be set back from all yard lines at least two feet for each foot of building height. A special use permit shall not be available in the agricultural district;

(4) Privately operated community building or recreation field, except in agricultural and residential districts;

(5) A public or government building and public use of any publicly owned and operated property, except in the agricultural and residential districts;

(6) Radio and television broadcasting tower or station;

(7) Mobile home parks, mobile home developments, and travel trailer camp. (The definition of the term MOBILE HOME shall be expanded, for the purpose of this section, to also include manufactured homes.)

(a) A mobile home park. A mobile home park may be permitted by a special permit in any residential or business zone on areas topographically or locationally well suited, when it can be found that the granting of the permit to allow construction of the mobile home park will not adversely affect public health, safety, or surrounding property values. Mobile home park facilities shall comply with the following and any additional requirements as may be deemed necessary of surrounding areas.

1. All appropriate state and county sanitary regulations shall strictly be observed.

2. With the request for zoning shall be submitted a plat showing the lot sites, streets, utilities, easements, and open spaces.

3. The development density will not exceed 14 units per acres and the minimum lot size for any single unit will be 3,000 square feet.

4. Both community water and community sewer shall be provided for each and every lot in a mobile home park.

5. No mobile home shall be parked closer to any street or highway than the required front yard setback, nor shall any mobile home be parked closer than 35 feet to any property line, except in the B2 Districts. The perimeter of the park shall be planted in evergreen shrubs or have constructed a site-break fence not less than six feet in height; a clearance of not less than 15 feet shall be maintained between the mobile homes on all sides.

6. Service buildings or other facilities for bathing, laundry, and sanitation shall be provided as required by the state and local health regulations, except that mobile home sales shall not be considered part of the service area unless the park is located in a business zone. The services shall be located at least 35 feet from the side and rear lot lines and shall be accessible to mobile home spaces by means of the access drives or hard-surfaced walks.

7. A fenced, protected recreation and playground area shall be established and maintained and shall comprise at least 8% of the total park area.

8. Each lot shall contain a driveway or parking space of sufficient size to accommodate at least two vehicles on the trailer site.

9. All mobile home spaces shall abut upon a hard-surfaced driveway or access way of not less than 25 feet in width.

10. All mobile home parks shall be constructed in accordance with standards developed for the construction as adopted by the County Board, and no unit shall be placed on any addition to a mobile home park until streets and improvements are constructed and have been inspected by the building and health inspectors of this county.

(b) A tourist or trailer camp. A trailer camp may be allowed in any B or Agriculture Zone, provided that there are at least ten acres in the proposed development tract, subject to approval of a special permit development plan, and provided that the following and any additional requirements as may be deemed necessary for proper development and the protection of surrounding areas are met.

1. All appropriated state and county sanitation regulations shall be strictly observed.

2. Exclusive of all drives, at least 2,000 square feet of lot area per dwelling shall be provided; no trailer shall be parked closer to the street or highway than 20 feet to any property line. All the parks shall be buffered by a planted hedge or site-screened fence constructed around their perimeter. Clearance of not less than 15 feet shall be maintained between trailers.

3. All trailer spaces shall abut upon a hard-surfaced driveway or access way of not less than 25 feet in width.

4. Service buildings or other facilities for bathing, laundry, and sanitation shall be provided as required by state and local health regulations and shall be located at least 35 feet from the side and rear lot lines and shall be accessible to spaces by means of the access drives or hard-surfaced walks.

5. A protected recreation and playground area shall be established and maintained.

(8) A special permit may be issued by the County Board to operate a refuse disposal area in any district other than an R District on areas topographically or locationally well suited, when it can determine that the operation of a refuse disposal area on the area will not adversely affect public health, safety, or surrounding property values.

(a) In addition to other requirements governing requests or petitions for such a special use permit, the petitioner shall submit with the request or petition sufficient information and/or maps concerning the topography, soil conditions, and availability of water to provide a basis for making the above mentioned findings.

(b) The request or petition for a special use permit shall also include information concerning the method to be used in disposing of the refuse; the nature of the refuse to be placed in the area; the approximate amount of refuse to be disposed of weekly; the plans for operation; the equipment to be used in the area; and the proposed reclamation of the area.

(c) The request or petition and the special use permit shall provide for the dumping of one or more of the types of refuse enumerated in § 1 of Article 1 of the County Refuse Ordinance, which are classified as follows; I – Garbage; II – Combustible rubbish; III – Non-combustible rubbish; IV – Street rubbish; V – Ashes; VI – Bulky wastes; VII – Construction and demolition wastes; VIII – Putrescible industrial refuse; IX – Non-putrescible industrial refuse; and X – Household pets, birds, rodents, and the wastes thereof.

(d) The Administrative Officer shall furnish a copy of the petition, together with a copy of each of the supplementary documents or maps submitted therewith, to the Director of the County Regional Planning Commission and to the Director of the County Health Department, who shall submit written recommendations of approval or denial and their reasons thereof to the Board of Appeals and to the Zoning Committee of the County Board.

(e) In addition to any other conditions and safeguards imposed by the Board of this county, all these special permits shall contain the following conditions and safeguards. All refuse disposal operations in the refuse disposal area for which the permit is granted shall be conducted in compliance and conformity with all applicable state statutes and county ordinance, including but not limited to the county refuse ordinance.

(f) Any special use permit issued hereunder shall expire two years from the date of its issuance unless state and county licenses for operation of a refuse disposal area on the real estate for which the permit is granted are obtained within that period of time, unless the request or petition and special permit issued thereafter state otherwise.

(9) Except in the agricultural and residential districts, railroad right-of-way (together with tracks and auxiliary facilities for tracks operations), passenger stations, freight terminals, switching yards, classification yards, repair shops, roundhouses, power houses, interlocking towers, fueling, sanding, and water stations, and other similar facilities not in existence on the effective date of this chapter;

(10) Telephone exchange buildings;

(11) Pumping or booster stations along a pipeline or substations along an electric transmission line; and

(12) Automobile graveyards or automobile wrecking yards (junkyards) may be allowed in any zoning districts except the agricultural and residential districts.

(Ord. O-95-2-12, passed 2-9-2012)

§ 155.181 HEARING.

Before authorization of any special uses or any of the special uses delineated in the individual districts, the petition for the special permit shall be referred to the Board of Appeals for public hearing.

(Ord. O-95-2-12, passed 2-9-2012)

§ 155.182 COMPLIANCE.

Any proposed special use shall otherwise comply with all the regulations set forth in this chapter for the district in which the use is located.

(Ord. O-95-2-12, passed 2-9-2012)

§ 155.184 EXCEPTIONS AND MODIFICATIONS.

(A) Height.

(1) Except in the vicinity of the airport, where airport zoning regulations apply, the height regulations prescribed herein shall not apply to television and radio towers, church spires, belfries, monuments, tanks, water and fire towers, state towers and scenery lots, cooling towers, ornamental towers and spires, chimneys, grain elevators, elevator bulkheads, silos, smokestacks, conveyors, and flag poles.

(2) Public, semipublic, public utility or public service buildings, hospitals, institutions, or schools where permitted may be erected to a height not exceeding 60 feet, and churches and temples may be erected to a height not exceeding 75 feet, when the required side and rear yards are each increased by one foot for each foot of additional building height above the height regulations for the district in which the building is located; provided, however, that the exceptions shall not be permitted when in conflict with the adopted Airport Zoning Ordinance.

(3) No building or structure or any portion thereof shall be erected or structurally altered so as to be in conflict with the regulations established in the adopted Airport Zoning Ordinance.

(B) Front yards.

(1) When more than 40% of the lots on one side of the street between two intersecting streets are improved with buildings that have a front yard different from the required front yard in the district, no building shall project beyond the average front yard so established; provided, however, that a front yard depth shall not be required to exceed 50% in excess of the front yard otherwise required in the district in which the lot is located.

(2) On lots having double frontage, the required front yard shall be provided on both streets.

(3) In a residential district, no fence, structure, or planting higher than three and one-half feet above the established street grades shall be maintained within 25 feet of any street intersection.

(4) An open, uncovered porch or paved terrace may project into a required front yard for a distance of not more than ten feet, but this shall not be interpreted to include or permit fixed canopies. Covered porches on buildings erected prior to the adoption of this amendment, extending into required front yards, shall not be enclosed nor included in computing the front yard requirements for adjoining buildings.

(5) Filling station pumps and pump islands may be located within a required yard, provided they are not less than 40 feet from the boundary of any residential district.

(6) Off-street parking facilities may be located within the required front yard of any B or M District but shall not be nearer than 50 feet to any R District, and no off-street parking shall be permitted in the required front yard of any R District.

(7) Merchandise offered for sale or rent shall not be displayed or stored in the required front yard.

(8) Signs.

(a) A freestanding advertising sign relating to the business carried on by the establishment occupying the lot may be located in the front yard if the sign is attached to a standard consisting of not more than three poles or supports, each with a diameter or width of not more than 12 inches, and if no individual face of the sign exceeds an area of 60 square feet plus one additional foot for each additional foot of lot frontage over 60 feet measured along the front lot line.

(b) In addition to a freestanding advertising sign, one sign which projects into the front yard may be attached to the building, provided that no individual face of the sign exceeds 32 square feet plus one-half square foot for each additional foot of lot frontage over 32 feet measured along the front lot line.

(c) Where there are no freestanding advertising signs in the front yard, one sign which projects into the front yard may be attached to the building, provided that no individual face to the sign exceeds 60 square feet plus one additional square foot for each individual foot of lot frontage over 60 feet measured along the front lot line.

(d) Two or more signs may be mounted on the same standard of a freestanding advertising sign, provided that the combined areas of the signs do not exceed the area requirements for a single freestanding sign as provided herein.

(e) Two or more signs which project into the front yard may be attached to the building, provided that the combined area of the signs do not exceed the area requirement for a single projecting sign as set forth above, and provided further, that the signs shall be mounted on one common fixture or support.

(f) Where a lot is occupied by two or more establishments within the same building, they may jointly erect a sign or signs. Two or more freestanding advertising signs may be located in the front yard where the lot is occupied by two or more establishments within the same building, provided that only one sign shall be erected for each 40 feet of lot frontage or fraction thereof, and the area of an individual face of each sign does not exceed 60 square feet, and provided that there shall be only one sign for each establishment occupying the lot. Two or more signs which project into the front yards adjoining the street and are attached to the building shall be permitted on a lot which is occupied by two or more establishments within the same building, provided that only one sign shall be erected for each 40 feet of lot frontage or fraction thereof, and the area of the signs does not exceed 32 square feet, and provided that there shall be only one sign for each establishment occupying the lot.

(g) In addition to the signs allowed in or to project into a front yard as hereinabove provided, the signs shall also be allowed in the side yard on the street side of a corner lot, subject to the same conditions and restrictions as those permitted in the front yard.

(h) No portion of any sign, exclusive of the standard of a freestanding sign, shall be less than nine feet above the level of the sidewalk; or, if there is no sidewalk, the level of the lot line nearest the sign, except where traffic lights may be obscured, the minimum height shall be 12 feet.

(i) No billboard, poster, flag, pennant, streamer, outdoor display or other advertising device not meeting the requirements above shall be permitted.

(j) Revolving beacons which resemble traffic control devices or emergency vehicle signs shall not be used. No signs employing exterior, brilliant, intermittent, rotating, or flashing lights shall be permitted within 50 feet of the boundary of any R District.

(9) The minimum width of the lot at the street line shall not be less than one-half of the required lot width.

(1) On a corner lot, the width of the yard along the side street shall not be less than any required front yard on the street, provided, however, that the buildable width of a lot of record shall not be reduced to less than 26 feet.

(2) Where dwelling units are erected above a commercial establishment, no side yard is required except when required for the commercial building on the side of a lot adjoining a residence district.

(3) A porte-cochere or canopy may project into a required side yard, provided every part of the porte-cochere or canopy is unenclosed and not less than five feet from any side lot line.

(4) For the purpose of side yard regulations, a two-family dwelling or multiple dwelling shall be considered as one building occupying one lot.

(5) Where a lot of record at the time of the effective date of this chapter is less than 50 feet in width, the required side yard may be reduced to 10% of the width of the lot; provided, however, that no side yard be less than three feet.

(D) Rear yards.

(1) Where a lot abuts upon an alley, one-half of the alley width may be considered as part of the required rear yard.

(2) Unenclosed parking spaces may occupy not to exceed 90% of the area of a required rear yard.

(3) The ordinary projections of sills, belt courses, cornices, and ornamental features may extend to a distance not to exceed 18 inches into a rear yard.

(4) Open or lattice-enclosed fire escapes, outside stairways, and balconies opening upon fire towers and the ordinary projections of chimneys and flues into a rear yard may be permitted by the Administrative Officer for a distance not to exceed five feet when these are so placed as not to obstruct light and ventilation.

(E) Lot area per family. Where a lot of record at the time of the effective date of this chapter has less area or width than herein required in the district in which it is located, and the owner of the lot at the time of the adoption of this chapter does not own any other parcel or tract adjacent thereto, the lot may nonetheless be used for a one-family dwelling or for any non-dwelling use permitted in the district in which it is located.

(F) Setbacks. The County Board may, upon recommendation of the Zoning Board of this county, establish setbacks in excess of those setbacks required by a zone district. The setbacks shall be granted when it is deemed necessary to protect any existing or proposed street, traffic way, freeway, highway, drive, or parkway, or any storm or flood runoff channel within the unincorporated area of the county. The setbacks shall only be valid, however, after the holding of public hearing as required by law in the township in which the special setback is proposed. All special setbacks shall be clearly shown on a map which is displayed in the office of the Zoning Inspector of this county.

(Ord. O-95-2-12, passed 2-9-2012)

Zoning District

Zoning District	Minimum Lot Area	Minimum Lot Width	Minimum Front Yard	Minimum Side Yard		Minimum Rear Yard	Maximum Height 1, 2	Maximum Coverage 3	Maximum Floor Area Ratio
Zoning District	Minimum Lot Area	Minimum Lot Width	Minimum Front Yard	Per Side	Total	Minimum Rear Yard	Maximum Height 1, 2	Maximum Coverage 3	Maximum Floor Area Ratio
A1 – Agricultural 5	10 acres	190 ft.	50 ft.	50 ft.	100 ft.	50 ft.	35 ft.	None	None
F1 – Floodplain	None	None	50 ft.	100 ft.	200 ft.	100 ft.	35 ft.	0.20	None
R1 – Single Family Residential	1 acre	100 ft.	35 ft.	15 ft.	20 ft.	50 ft.	35 ft.	0.30	None
R4 – Single Family Residential	1 acre	100 ft.	35 ft.	15 ft.	30 ft.	50 ft.	35 ft.	0.30	None
RE5 – Single Family Estate	2 acres	190 ft.	50 ft.	50 ft.	100 ft.	50 ft.	35 ft.	0.20	None
R6 – Multiple Family Residential	1 acre	100 ft.	35 ft.	15 ft.	12 ft.	50 ft.	35 ft.	0.50	0.60
B1 – Neighborhood Shopping	1 acre	100 ft.	35 ft.	5 ft.	20 ft.	20 ft.	35 ft.	None	None
(Adjacent to an R District)	1 acre	100 ft.	35 ft.	20 ft.	20 ft.	20 ft.	35 ft.	0.35	0.40
B2 – Commercial	1 acre	None	35 ft.	5 ft.	20 ft.	None	45 ft.	None	None
(Adjacent to an R District)	1 acre	None	60 ft.	20 ft.	20 ft.	20 ft.	45 ft.	0.35	0.40
B3 – Planned Shopping Center	3 acres	400 ft.	None	None	None	None	35 ft.	None	None
(Adjacent to an R District)	5 acres	400 ft.	60 ft.	50 ft.	50 ft.	35 ft.	35 ft.	0.35	0.40
M1 – Light Industrial	1 acre	100 ft.	35 ft.	None	None	None	125 ft.5	0.50	0.60
(Adjacent to an R District)	1 acre	100 ft.	100 ft.	20 ft.	40 ft.	25 ft.	125 ft.5	0.50	0.60
M2 – Heavy Industrial	1 acre	100 ft.	35 ft.	None	None	None	125 ft.5	0.50	0.80
(Adjacent to an R District)	1 acre	100 ft.	100 ft.	50 ft.	100 ft.	25 ft.	125 ft.5	0.50	0.80
1 Refer to airport zoning restrictions in vicinity of airport.
2 35-foot height shall be considered to be 3 stories, 45-foot height shall be considered to be 4 stories.
3 Maximum coverage refers to that area of a lot covered by a non-porous surface.
4 Whenever a building in an M District adjoins or abuts an R District, within 100 feet therefrom, the building shall not exceed 45 feet in height unless it is set back 1 foot from the required side and rear yard line for each foot of additional height above 45 feet.
5 Minimum lot area for A1, Agricultural District is as follows: A lot area as small as one acre may be permitted within the conditions set forth in § 155.100(C)(1).
* If in subdivision with a sanitary sewer, or with an approved sanitation system, the lot could remain 20,000 square feet including any commercial lot on a sanitary sewer.