4.001. No land or building shall hereinafter be used or occupied, and no building or parts shall hereafter be constructed, erected, altered, or moved, unless in conformity with all of the regulations herein specified for the district in which it is located.

4.002. No building or other structure shall hereafter be erected or altered:

a.

To exceed the original size or bulk;

b.

To accommodate or house a greater number of families;

c.

To occupy a greater percentage of the area;

d.

To have narrower or smaller rear yards, front yards, side yards, or other open spaces than herein required or in any other manner contrary to the provision of this ordinance.

4.003. No part of a yard, or other open space, or off-street parking or loading required about or in connection with any building for the purpose of complying with this ordinance shall be included as part of a yard, open space, or off-street parking or loading space similarly required for any other building.

4.004. Right-of-way easements for streets and roads shall not be considered a part of a lot or open space, or front, rear, or side yard for the purpose of meeting yard requirements.

No yard or lot existing at the time of passage of this ordinance shall be reduced in dimension or area below the minimum requirements set forth herein. Yards or lots created after the effective date of this ordinance shall meet at least the minimum requirements established by this ordinance.

Where the owner of a lot at the time of the adoption of this ordinance does not own sufficient land to enable him to conform to the dimensional requirements of this ordinance, such lot may nonetheless be used as a building site provided that said lot requirements are not reduced below the minimum specified in this ordinance by more than twenty (20) percent. If, however, the owner of two or more adjoining lots with insufficient land dimensions decides to build on or sell off these lots, he must first combine said lots to comply with the dimensional requirements of the ordinance. Any lot requiring dimensional waivers below the twenty (20) percent minimum set forth in this section may be approved by the city council provided that further decreased dimensional requirements shall conform as closely as possible to the required dimensions.

Only one principal building and its customary accessory buildings may hereafter be erected on any one lot.

Where commercial or industrial districts abut residential districts, a ten-foot wide buffer strip shall be provided along the abutting property lines, and the ten (10) feet shall be added to the side or rear yard requirements as well as the lot width unless specified otherwise in this ordinance. Such buffer strip shall be planted with evergreen trees or shrubs that grow at least eight feet tall and provide an effective visual screen.

In all districts no fence, wall, shrubbery or other obstruction to vision between the heights of two and one-half feet and ten (10) feet above the finished grade of streets shall be erected, permitted, or maintained within twenty (20) feet of the intersection of the right-of-way lines of streets or of streets and railroads.

Access to public streets shall be maintained in accordance with the following requirements:

4.071. Each principal use shall be located on a lot or parcel which provides frontage on a public street having a right-of-way of not less than thirty (30) feet.

4.072. Any additional dwelling shall have access to a public street by means of a passageway open to the sky at least fifteen (15) feet in width.

4.073. Local streets which will carry less than six hundred (600) vehicles per day may have access points as needed to fit the development. Collector streets and arterial streets which are projected to carry more than six hundred (600) vehicles per day shall have a minimum distance between access points equal to seven times the speed limit for that street.

4.074. For all developments fronting on a state highway, no land use permit or sign permit shall be issued until the appraisal of the Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) has been obtained regarding access points, curb radii, drainage and related engineering design of concern to the DOT as well as the planning commission and the city council.

On lots having frontage on more than one street at an intersection, the minimum front yard requirement may be reduced to one-half the regulated distance on the portion of the lot fronting on the street or streets of lesser importance. However, in no case shall the setback be reduced to less than fifteen (15) feet. The minimum front yard for the portion of the lot fronting on the street of greater importance shall be provided in accordance with the provisions established by this ordinance for the district in which the lot is located.

On lots having frontage on two streets, but not located on a corner, the minimum front yard shall be provided on each street in accordance with the provisions of this ordinance. On lots having frontage on more than two streets, the minimum front yard shall be provided in accordance with the regulations set forth in this ordinance on at least two of the street frontages. The minimum front yard on the other frontage or frontages may be reduced along the other streets in accordance with the provisions of Section 4.08.

The setback requirements of this ordinance shall not apply to any lot where the average setback on already built upon lots located wholly or in part within one hundred (100) feet on each side of such lot and within the block and zoning district and fronting on the same street as such lot is less than the minimum required setback. In such cases, the setback of said lot may be less than the required setback but not less than the average of the existing setbacks on the developed lots. However, in no case shall setbacks be less than fifteen (15) feet.

All structures shall meet the requirements of all adopted codes in effect including, but not limited to department of transportation and state fire marshal regulations, building codes, plumbing code, electrical code, fire prevention code, and housing code. Where such codes exceed the minimum requirements of this ordinance, the stricter provisions shall apply.