A.

Interpretation and Grammar. For the purpose of this Title, certain terms used in this Title are defined as follows: All words used in the present tense shall include the future tense; all words in the plural number shall include the singular; and all words in the singular number shall include the plural number, unless the natural construction of the wording indicates otherwise. The word "lot" includes the word "plot"; the word "building" includes the word "structure"; and the word "shall" is mandatory and not directory. The word "County" means the "County of Monterey, State of California"; The words "Board of Supervisors" means the "Board of Supervisors of the County of Monterey, State of California". The words "Planning Commission" mean the "County Planning Commission of the County of Monterey, State of California"; and the words "County boundary" mean "the boundary of the County of Monterey, State of California, or the boundary of any incorporated municipality within the County".

B.

Terms in Common Usage. Any term, word, or phrase not specifically defined in this Chapter shall be defined, firstly, in the light of the other Chapters of the Monterey County Code; secondly, state law, particularly the State Planning Act; thirdly, as defined in "Anderson on Zoning", latest edition; fourthly as defined in Webster's New International Dictionary of the American Language, latest edition and fifthly, any accepted dictionary of the English language.

"Affordable housing" means those residential projects, for rent or sale, which are intended for and restricted to households of very low, low and moderate income, which meet the following qualifications:

a.

A rental project for very low income households (income up to fifty (50) percent of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) median household income for Monterey County) where the unit has a monthly contract rent less than or equal to thirty (30) percent of fifty (50) percent of the HUD median household income adjusted for household size; or

b.

A rental project for low income households (income between fifty (50) percent and eighty (80) percent of Housing and Urban Development median household income for Monterey County) where the unit has a monthly contract rent less than or equal to thirty (30) percent of seventy (70) percent of the HUD median household income adjusted for household size; or

c.

A project for sale to low income households (income between fifty (50) percent and eighty (80) percent of Housing and Urban Development median household income for Monterey County) where the units are for sale to households with incomes not more than eighty (80) percent of the HUD median household income for Monterey County. The average price of the unit will be based on the affordability of such a unit to a four person household earning seventy (70) percent of the Monterey County median income as defined by HUD; or

d.

A project for sale to moderate income households (income between eighty (80) percent and one hundred twenty (120) percent of Housing and Urban Development median household income for Monterey County) where the units are for sale to households with incomes not more than one hundred twenty (120) percent of the HUD median household income for Monterey County. The average price of the unit will be based on the affordability of such a unit by a four person household earning one hundred (100) percent of the Monterey County median income as defined by HUD; or

e.

Any combination of the above.

(Ord. 3784, 1994)

"Agriculture" means the art or science of cultivating the ground; harvesting of crops; rearing and management of livestock; tillage; husbandry; farming; horticulture; and forestry science and art of the production of plants and animals useful to man; and wildlife management.

"Agricultural employee" means a person engaged in agriculture, including: farming in all its branches, and, among other things, includes the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any agricultural or horticultural commodities, the raising of livestock, bees, furbearing animals, or poultry, and any practices performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with such farming operations, including preparation for market and delivery to storage or to market or to carriers for transportation to market.

(Ord. No. 5177, § 1, 5-24-2011)

"Agricultural employee housing" means any living quarters or accommodations of any type, including mobile homes, which comply with the building standards in the State Building Standards Code or an adopted local ordinance with equivalent minimum standards for building(s) used for human habitation, and buildings accessory thereto, where accommodations are provided by any person for individuals employed in farming or other agricultural activities, including such individuals' families. The agricultural employee housing is not required to be located on the same property where the agricultural employee is employed.

(Ord. No. 5177, § 2, 5-24-2011)

"Agricultural processing plant" means a structure, building, facility, area, open or enclosed, or any other location for the refinement, treatment, or conversion of agricultural products where a physical, chemical or similar change of an agricultural product occurs. Examples of agricultural processing include but are not limited to, coolers, dehydrators, cold storage houses, hulling operations, and the sorting, cleaning, packing, and storing of agricultural products preparatory to sale or shipment in their natural form including all customarily incidental uses. Agricultural processing plants include wineries.

"Agricultural support service" means a necessary and accessory facility principally established to serve on site farming or ranching activities and which relies on the on site agriculture as its major means of support. Agricultural support facilities include but are not limited to coolers, cold storage, loading docks and shops.

"Airport" means a place, either on land or on water, where aircraft may land and take off and where additional space may be provided to discharge or receive cargoes and passengers, make repairs, or take in fuel.

"Alley" means a passage or way, public or private, open to public travel, affording a secondary means of vehicular access to abutting lots and not intended for general traffic circulation.

"All-weather road surface" means a drivable road having a weight bearing capability to support the loads of fire fighting equipment used or likely to be used by the local fire protection agency in all weather conditions.

"Structural alteration" means any change or rearrangement in the supporting members of an existing structure, such as bearing walls, columns, beams, girders, or interior bearing partitions, or any enlargement to or diminution of a structure, whether horizontally or vertically, or the moving of a structure from one location to another.

"Apartment" means a room, or suite of two or more rooms, occupying a portion of a structure and such room or rooms are designated for, intended for, or occupied by one family.

"Appropriate Authority" means that person, official, or body designated to hear, grant, deny, modify, condition, revoke or otherwise act on permits required by this Title.

"Automobile wrecking yard" means any structure, portion thereof, property, location, facility, or area used for the dismantling or wrecking of more than two motor vehicles or trailers, or the storage, sale or dumping of more than two dismantled, partially dismantled, obsolete or wrecked vehicles or their parts, but not including the incidental storage of vehicles in connection with the operation of a repair garage, providing the repair period of any one vehicle does not exceed sixty (60) days, and not including the active noncommercial repair of one personal motor vehicle within a one hundred twenty (120) day period and not including the storage, dismantling, wrecking and repair of vehicles or equipment accessory to on-site agricultural operations.

"Average lot depth" means the distance of a line extending from the midpoint of the front lot line to the midpoint of the rear lot line, with that line being equidistant from the side lot lines.

(Ord. 3784, 1994)

"Average lot width" means the quotient of the lot area divided by the average lot depth.

(Ord. 3784, 1994)

"Bed and breakfast facility" means an establishment providing overnight accommodations and a morning meal by people who rent rooms in their homes. Rent or rental fee can include any form of remuneration including cash, goods or services, barter, or forgiveness of debt.

"Block" means that property abutting on one side of a street and lying between the two nearest intersecting or intercepting streets or nearest intersecting or intercepting streets and railroad right-of-way, unsubdivided acreage, watercourse, or body of water.

"Building" means any structure built entirely of frame or a more lasting type of construction, having a roof supported by columns or by walls and intended for the shelter, housing, or enclosure of any person, animal, or chattel, but not including any tent or trailer.

"Building site" means a parcel of land occupied or intended to be occupied by main structures and accessory structures and uses, including such open spaces as are provided or are intended to be used in connection therewith or are required by the regulations for the district wherein such parcel is located.

"Campground" means land or premises which is used, or intended to be used, let, or rented for transient occupancy by persons traveling by automobile or otherwise, or by transient persons using tents, recreational vehicles or similar quarters.

"Cannabis" means all parts of the plant Cannabis sativa Linnaeus, Cannabis indica, or Cannabis ruderalis, whether growing or not; the seeds thereof; the resin, whether crude or purified, extracted from any part of the plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the plant, its seeds, or resin. "Cannabis" also means the separated resin, whether crude or purified, obtained from cannabis. "Cannabis" does not include the mature stalks of the plant, fiber produced from the stalks, oil or cake made from the seeds of the plant, any other compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the mature stalks (except the resin extracted therefrom), fiber, oil, or cake, or the sterilized seed of the plant which is incapable of germination. For the purpose of this Title, "cannabis" does not mean "industrial hemp" as defined by Section 11018.5 of the Health and Safety Code.

(Ord. No. 5270, § 2, 7-12-2016; Ord. No. 5292, § 2, 12-5-2017)

"Caretaker unit" means a permanent residence, secondary and accessory to an existing allowed use for persons employed on-site for purposes of care and protection of property, plants, animals, equipment, or other circumstances on site or on contiguous lots under the same ownership.

(Ord. No. 5177, § 3, 5-24-2011)

"Child care center" means a facility, other than a day care home, licensed by the State of California to provide non-medical care to children under eighteen (18) years of age in need of personal services, supervision or assistance on less than a twenty-four (24) hour basis.

"Chaparral" means an evergreen plant community of drought-adapted shrubs usually found on dry slopes and ridges.

"Coastal scrub" means a plant community related to the chaparral community in that it consists primarily of low-growing, woody shrubs.

"Commercial cannabis activity" means the cultivation, possession, manufacture, processing, storing, laboratory testing, packaging, labeling, transporting, distribution, or sale of cannabis or a cannabis product.

(Ord. No. 5270, § 3, 7-12-2016; Ord. No. 5292, § 3, 12-5-2017)

"Common public viewing area" means a public area such as a public street, road, designated vista point, or public park from which the general public ordinarily views the surrounding viewshed.

(Ord. 3784, 1994)

"Actual construction" means the placing of construction materials in their permanent position, fastened in a permanent manner; actual work in excavation or grading, or the demolition or removal of an existing structure begun preparatory to rebuilding; provided, that in all cases diligent work shall be carried on until the completion of the building or structure.

(Ord. 3784, 1994)

"Convenience store" means a market with a floor area of less than five thousand (5,000) square feet, frequently located near residential development, which offers a limited variety of food, household sundry items and which is operated primarily for the convenience of the walk-in shopper or persons purchasing a few items.

"Cottage food operation" means an enterprise that is registered or permitted by the Monterey County Environmental Health Bureau and is conducted within the registered or permitted area of a dwelling unit where the cottage food operator, as defined by California Health and Safety Code Section 113758, resides and where cottage food products, as defined by California Health and Safety Code Section 113758, are prepared and packaged for direct, indirect, or direct and indirect sale to consumers.

(Ord. No. 5217, § 2, 6-11-2013)

"Cottage industry" means a business in a residential area conducted primarily by the residents of the property manufacturing artistic, handicraft and other craft items.