Methuen City Zoning Code
ARTICLE VI
Dimensional Controls
§ 6.1 Purpose and intent.
The purpose and intent of this and the subsequent two articles is to provide adequate lot size, frontage, privacy, daylight, sunlight and air in the City; to secure safety; to prevent overcrowding of land; to provide at least a minimum of useful outdoor space; to require provisions for off-street parking and loading and sign requirements in proportion to the need generated by the uses; and to establish a minimum and a maximum relationship between lot and structure for the purpose of retaining and preserving the amenities of the various areas of the City of Methuen.
§ 6.2 General dimensional regulations.
A.
Reduction of lot areas and separation of lots.
(1)
The lot or yard areas required for any new building or use may not include any part of a lot that is required by any other building or use to comply with any provisions of this ordinance, nor may these areas include any property of which the ownership has been transferred subsequent to the effective date of this ordinance if such property was a part of the area required for compliance with the dimensional regulations applicable to the lot from which such transfer was made.
(2)
No lot shall be made nonconforming under the requirements of this ordinance and no lot shall be made more nonconforming than its status at the time it became nonconforming.
B.
Residential building on the same lot with another principal building. Any one lot shall not contain more than one single-family or two-family dwelling.
C.
Exceptions to minimum lot size, frontage, open space, and side yard requirements in RR and Residential (R) Districts for one-, two-, and three-family structures:
(1)
Preexisting lots. See § 9.5 hereof.
(2)
Buildings in floodplains. Dimensional controls shall apply to buildings located in floodplains. Additional regulations are contained in subsequent sections of this ordinance.
(3)
Compliance with Community Development Board Subdivision Regulations. Not more than one principal structure designed or available for use for single-family dwelling purposes shall be erected or placed or converted to use as such on any lot without receiving a special permit from the Community Development Board.
D.
Lot and frontage requirements for all districts.
(1)
New subdivision lots. As a part of a definitive subdivision approval, the Community Development Board may waive the required frontage for a newly created but not irregularly shaped lot by up to 50% on curved streets where the radius of the arc at its degree of greatest curve is less than 100 feet and lots on turning circles, provided that the required lot width is attained at the required minimum from setback line.
(2)
Prohibition on creating nonconforming lot. No lot upon which any building or structure stands in conformance with this ordinance shall be changed for any reason in size or shape so as to violate the provisions of this ordinance except through an exercise of the powers of eminent domain.
(3)
Lot area calculation. When the distance between any two points on lot lines is less than 20 feet measured in a straight line (the threshold line), the smaller portion of the lot which is bounded by such a straight line and such lots lines beyond the threshold line shall not be considered in computing the minimum lot area unless the cumulative distance (perimeter) along such lot line between such two points and including the threshold line is less than 150 feet.
(4)
Frontage exception lots. The Community Development Board may grant a special permit for reduced frontage in any residential district except in the MA or the MB Districts and except for duplexes in the RG District. See special permit § 11.15.
E.
Yard requirements for all districts.
(1)
Where a side yard is adjacent to a street, the side yard requirement shall be the same as the distance specified for front yard setback.
(2)
Where a rear yard is adjacent to a street, the rear yard requirement shall be the same as the distance specified for front yard setback.
(3)
No building or subsurface structure, or portion thereof, shall be permitted within the required front setback or side yard areas or less than 7.5 feet from the rear lot line.
(4)
No front yard shall be used for the open storage of boats, vehicles, travel trailers or any other equipment. A fifteen-foot landscaped strip shall be provided adjacent to the street right-of-way line when a front yard is used for parking in Business and Industrial Districts.
(5)
Business structures or uses shall not display goods for sale purposes or display coin-operated vending machines of any type in any location which would infringe upon the required yard areas specified in this ordinance.
(6)
Except as provided below, an accessory building attached to a principal building shall comply in all respects with the yard requirements of this ordinance for the principal building, shall be completely screened from adjacent properties and shall not interfere in any way with access to parking spaces in off-street parking areas. An unattached accessory building serving a one- or two-family dwelling may be located in a rear yard within 7.5 feet of a side or rear lot line.
(7)
No structure intended for agricultural use, such as a greenhouse, or a building, structure or pen for poultry or other livestock, shall be less than 50 feet from any lot line or 100 feet from any dwelling. No commercial farming establishment shall be allowed unless the parcel is over five acres, other than in a Rural Residential or Conservancy District.
F.
(Reserved)
G.
Court requirements for all districts. A court shall be deemed to exist between portions of a principal building or structure and between a principal or accessory building or structure located upon the same lot. The minimum width of an outer or inner court shall be the greater of 40 feet or equal to the highest building or structure.
H.
Exemptions to maximum height regulations.
(1)
The height limitations as set forth in the Table of Dimensional Controls[1] shall not apply to chimneys, ventilators, skylights, water tanks, bulkheads, penthouses and other accessory additions which are required or are customarily carried above the roofs of buildings, or to towers, spires, domes, cupolas and similar additions to buildings if such additions do not exceed 45 feet in height, are not used for living purposes, and if such structures are not equal to more than 20% of the space occupied by the ground floor of the building. Additionally, all farm accessory structures are exempt from the height requirements of this ordinance.
[1]
Editor's Note: See the Table of Dimensional Regulations, included as an attachment to this chapter.
(2)
Accessory buildings or structures used for accessory structures are exempt from the height requirements of this ordinance.
(3)
Accessory buildings or structures used for accessory purposes in all RR and Residential (R) Districts shall not exceed a height of 25 feet.
I.
Traffic visibility across corners. Between the property lines of intersecting streets and a line joining points on such lines 20 feet distant from their point of intersection or, in the case of a rounded corner, the point of intersection of their tangents, no building or structure in any residence district may be erected and no vegetation other than shade trees may be maintained between a height of three feet and seven feet above the plane through their curb grades.
J.
Traffic visibility for driveways. A fence, hedge, wall, sign or other structure or vegetation may be maintained on any lot, provided that in the front yard area, no such structure or vegetation shall be over 2 1/2 feet in height above the adjacent ground within five feet of the front lot line unless it can be shown that such vegetation or structure will not restrict visibility in such a way as to hinder the safe entry or exit of a vehicle from any driveway to the street.
K.
Fire lanes. Fire lanes shall be provided in accordance with the regulations of the Massachusetts State Building Code and Board of Fire Prevention, and Methuen City Resolutions No. 145 and 275 and all subsequent amendments thereto.
L.
Screening and space buffers in Industrial and Business Districts.
(1)
Screening and space buffers shall be required in any Industrial or Business District which abuts residential districts. The minimum width of this strip shall be 30 feet in addition to the minimum yard setback requirements specified in the Table of Dimensional Regulations for that zone.[2]
[2]
Editor's Note: the Table of Dimensional Regulations is included as an attachment to this chapter.
(2)
The buffered strip shall contain a vertical screen of plantings not less than four feet in width and five feet in height at the time of planting and shall be evenly spaced, planted no less than 10 feet on center. The owner or occupants shall maintained said buffered strip so as to maintain a dense screen year-round.
(3)
At least 50% of the plantings shall consist of evergreens.
(4)
A solid wall or fence, five feet to six feet in height, complemented by suitable plantings, may be substituted for such buffered strip at the discretion of the permitting agent. The construction, height and maintenance of fences shall conform to all other applicable ordinances and shall not exceed six feet in height. Shrubbery and other growth planted on property shall not be subject to six-foot limits.
(5)
The buffered strip shall not be closer than five feet to a public or private street right-of-way line.
(6)
The buffered strip as described above must be planted at the time of occupancy of such lot. If the weather conditions are not suitable for planting at the time of occupancy, a cash bond shall be posted with the City equivalent to the cost to the City installing the required plantings.
(7)
The buffered strip may be reduced in size up to 50% by the Community Development Board through the site plan review or special permit process. The Board may reduce the buffer if the size and location of the lot are such that the size buffer may be reduced without negatively impacting abutting parcels. If the size of the buffered strip is reduced, additional landscaping, fencing or berms may be required.
M.
Subdivision exemption. See MGL c. 40A, § 6, addressing lots approved under previous zoning regulations.
§ 6.3 Specific intensity regulations.
Any structure hereafter altered, constructed, erected, placed or converted for any use in any district shall be located on a lot only in conformance with the minimum requirements of the Table of Dimensional Regulations as found in Appendix B[1] or the General Intensity Regulations in § 6.2.
[1]
Editor's Note: The Table of Dimensional Regulations is included as an attachment to this chapter.
§ 6.4 Table of Dimensional Regulations.
A.
All buildings shall conform to the requirements of the Table of Dimensional Regulations as found in Appendix B[1] unless exempted by the exceptions to minimum lot size, frontage, open space and side yard requirements for one-, two- and three-family structures as specified in Article VI and Article XI, Special Permits.
[1]
Editor's Note: The Table of Dimensional Regulations is included as an attachment to this chapter.
B.
Notwithstanding the Table of Dimensional Regulations, where low-impact development (LID) techniques are employed in the design of a subdivision and in accordance with the LID requirements of the Subdivision Rules and Regulations, the minimum dimensional requirements on a lot shall be 50 feet of frontage and 5,000 square feet of area with not less than a twenty-foot setback from other structures on the same or adjacent lots and a front and rear setback of no less than 20 feet.
§ 6.5 Neighborhood consistency requirements.
[Added eff. 11-6-2002 by Ord. No. 748]
In any residentially zoned area where a new residential structure is to be constructed there shall be a requirement that curbing, underground utilities and sidewalk, if existing on or in front of a lot within 500 feet and on the same way to the lot to be built upon, shall be constructed on or in front of that lot as applicable. Such construction shall be performed under standards equivalent to those under the then-existing subdivision rules and regulations, or which currently exist if no regulations were in place at the time of construction. Additionally, if the lots adjacent to the lot to be built upon have located thereon leaf-bearing shade trees bordering on the way, said lot to be built upon shall have planted a leaf-bearing shade tree with a minimum breast height diameter of four or more inches.