In pursuance of the authority granted by the Code of Alabama, 1975, as amended, the Town [City] Council of the Town [City] of Moundville, Alabama, hereby ordains and enacts into law the following articles and sections.

This ordinance shall be titled: The Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance of the Town [City] of Moundville, Alabama. The map herein referred to, identified by the title "Zoning Map of Moundville," shall be further identified by the signature of the Mayor of Moundville, and attested by the City Clerk. The Zoning Map of Moundville and all explanatory matter thereon are hereby adopted and made a part of this ordinance. Such map shall be on file in the Moundville Town [City] Hall and shall show thereon the date of this ordinance.

The regulations set forth herein shall apply to all land and improvements thereon within the town [city] limits of the Town [City] of Moundville, Alabama.

The zoning regulations and districts as herein set forth are made in accordance with a comprehensive plan for the purpose of guiding development in accordance with existing and future needs and in order to protect, promote and improve the public health, safety, morals, convenience, order, appearance, prosperity, and general welfare. These regulations are designed to lessen congestion on the streets; to secure safety from fire, panic, and other dangers; to promote the public health and the general welfare; and to provide adequate provision of transportation, water, sewerage, schools, parks, and other public requirements. These regulations are made with reasonable consideration, among other things, of the character of each area and its peculiar suitability for particular uses, and with a view to promoting desirable living conditions and the sustained stability of neighborhoods, protecting property against blight, and depreciation, securing economy in governmental expenditures and conserving the value of land, buildings, and structures.

1-5.1.

The following words used throughout this ordinance shall have meanings as shown. The word "may" shall suggest possibilities; "shall" is mandatory. The word "building" shall include the word "structure."

(1)

Accessory building, structure, or use. A building, structure, or use which is:

a.

Subordinate to and serves a principal building or principal use; and

b.

Subordinate in extent, area, or purpose to the principal building or use served; and

c.

Located on the same lot as the principal building or use served.

(2)

Alley. A public right-of-way less than 25 feet in width.

(3)

Automobile service station. Any place of business having pumps and storage tanks at which fuels or oils for the use of motor vehicles are dispensed, sold, or offered for sale at retail and where minor repairs, services, and inspections may be carried on incidental to the sale of such fuels and oils. A facility for washing automobiles, the offering of vehicles for rent and similar auto-related uses may be permitted as a special exception on the same premises as a gasoline service station. Permissible uses do not include major mechanical and body work, straightening of body parts, painting, welding, storage of damaged or derelict automobiles for more than one week, or other work involving noise, glare, fumes, or smoke to an extent greater than normally found in automobile service stations. An automobile service station is not a repair garage nor a body shop.

(4)

Bed and breakfast inns. A house, or portion thereof, where short-term lodging rooms, with or without meals, are provided for compensation.

(5)

Board of Adjustment. The Zoning Board of Adjustment of the town [city] of Moundville. See Article X (page 105).

(6)

Building. A roofed structure for shelter, housing, or enclosure of persons or property.

(7)

Buildable area. The portion of a lot remaining after required yards have been provided.

(8)

Building line. A line parallel to the street line at a distance there from equal to the depth of the front yard required for the district in which the lot is located, or at a distance on a recorded plat or deed covenant, whichever is greater.

(9)

Town [City]. The Town [City] of Moundville, Alabama.

(10)

Town [City] Council. Elected town [city] council of Moundville.

(11)

Drive-in restaurant. Any establishment selling meals, sandwiches or refreshments to customers who remain in their automobile or sit at a counter for consumption on the premises or for carryout.

(12)

Drive-in theater. A theater so arranged and conducted that the patrons may view the performance while seated in motor vehicles.

(13)

Dwelling. Any building which is arranged, designed, or used or intended to be used for residential occupancy by one or more families, not including motels and similar uses intended for the accommodation of transient. Dwelling types include the following:

a.

Single-family. A. building designed as a residence for one family.

b.

Two-family. A building designed as a residence for two families.

c.

Multifamily or apartment. A building designed as a residence for three or more families, not including townhouses.

d.

Townhouses. A row of three or more dwellings flush against each other at the side or attached at the sides by common walls, each unit of which is designed a residence for one family.

(14)

Dwelling unit. One or more rooms in a residential building which are arranged, designed, used, or intended for use as living quarters for one family, are physically separated from any other rooms or dwelling units which may be in the same structure, and contain independent cooking and sleeping facilities.

(15)

Family. For the purposes of this chapter[ordinance], a family shall be deemed to include the following groups of persons, and no others:

a.

Any number of persons related by blood or marriage and living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit plus not more than two unrelated roomers, boarders, or domestic servants; or

b.

Not more than three unrelated persons living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit.

(16)

Floor area ratio. The mathematical ratio between:

a.

The sum of gross floor areas on all floors of all buildings on a lot, and

b.

The area of the lot on which the building(s) is situated.

(17)

Ground coverage ratio. The percentage of lot area covered by all buildings on a lot.

(18)

Lot. A parcel of land occupied or intended to be occupied by one main building, accessory buildings, and uses customarily incidental to such main building, and such open spaces as are required by this ordinance.

(19)

Lot frontage. The front of a lot shall be construed to be the portion nearest the street. For the purposes of determining yard requirements on corner lots and through lots, all sides of a lot adjacent to streets shall be provided as indicated in the particular zoning district.

(20)

Major arterial. To serve traffic through major centers of activity, the higher volume traffic corridors and longer trips. The facilities can also help define residential, commercial and industrial areas. While these streets should be designed primarily to carry traffic, they can have a secondary function of serving some of the access needs for abutting property.

(21)

Manufactured home. A structure, transportable in one or more sections, which in the traveling mode, is eight feet or more in width and forty feet or more in length, or erected on site, is three hundred twenty or more square feet, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without permanent foundations, when connected to the required utilities, and included the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein: except that such term shall include any structure which meets all the requirements of this paragraph except the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification required by the secretary and complies with the standards established under this title.

(22)

Marina. An establishment for mooring, servicing, and storing recreational boars, as well as providing supplies, provisions, and fueling facilities. A marina may include a restaurant and/or boat and motor sales store. Boat building or facilities for the dry docking or repair of watercraft exceeding two tons in weight are not included.

(23)

Medical or dental clinic.

a.

Public health clinic. A facility owned by the public or by a nonprofit organization and operated for the primary purpose of providing health services in more than one medical or dental specialty to the public, and including related facilities operated in connection with the clinic.

b.

Private group clinic. An establishment consisting of two or more physicians or dentists in cooperative practice using joint or common office facilities and equipment for the outpatient medical or dental care of the sick or injured.

(24)

Mobile homes. A structure, transportable in one or more sections, which in the traveling mode, is eight feet or more in width or 40 feet or more in length, or when erected on site, is 320 or more square feet and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning and electrical systems. A vehicle intended as a temporary dwelling for travel and recreational purposes and having a body width of eight feet or less is not included.

(25)

Mobile home park. Any establishment or premises complying with this ordinance and all other ordinances and regulations of the town [city] which is designed, arranged, or used for the placement of mobile homes occupied as dwellings, and providing streets, utilities, landscaping, sanitary facilities, and recreational facilities for the residences thereof. A mobile home sales establishment is not included.

(26)

Modular panelized home. A factory fabricated transportable building consisting of units designed to be incorporated at a building site on a permanent foundation into a permanent structure to be used for residential purposes and which bears a seal of compliance with regulations of the Alabama Manufactured Housing Commission.

(27)

Motel or hotel. A building containing individual sleeping or living units, designed for and used by transient motorists as a temporary lodging, except that one dwelling unit for a resident manager or proprietor may be included. It may or may not include common dining and drinking facilities, meeting rooms, and recreation facilities.

(28)

Nonconforming building or use. (See Article IV, page 12.)

(29)

Nonconforming lot of record. (See Article IV, page 12.)

(30)

Nursing home. A building in which nursing care and related medical facilities are provided for individuals who because of illness, disease, injury or physical or mental infirmity need such care.

(31)

Off-street loading berth or space. (See Section 6-2, page 71.)

(32)

Off-street parking space. (See Section 6-1, page 66.)

(33)

Office building. A building whose predominant use is for offices.

(34)

Self-service storage facility. Any real property designed and used for the purpose of renting or leasing individual storage spaces to tenants who are to have access to such space for the purpose of storing and removing personal property.

(35)

Shopping center or mall. A commercial development built in accordance with a unified architectural plan on a tract of land in single ownership or control, and including at least four retail or service establishments of 30,000 square feet of rental floor area.

(36)

Sign. (See Article VII, page 91.)

(37)

Special exception. A use that would not be appropriate generally or without restriction throughout a zoning district but which, if controlled as to number, area, location or relation to the neighborhood, would promote the public health, safety, morals, order, comfort, convenience, appearance, prosperity, or general welfare. The Board of Adjustment may permit such uses in a zoning district as special exceptions if specific provision for such special exception is made in this ordinance. (See Articles V (page 19), XI (page 106), [and] IX (page 99) of this ordinance.)

(38)

Street. Any public or private way set aside for public travel which is 25 feet or more in width.

(39)

Structure. Any combination of materials, other than public utilities poles and lines, including buildings, constructed or erected, the use of which requires location on the ground or attachment to anything having location on the ground, including, among other things, signs and overhead wires, wire fences, retaining walls, and terraces.

(40)

Travel trailer. A vehicular portable structure designed as a temporary dwelling for travel, recreational and vacation use. For purposes of these regulations, the term includes pick-up campers, camping trailers, pop-up trailers, and motorized home living facilities constructed as integral parts of self-propelled vehicles.

(41)

Variance. A deviation or change in the specific requirements as set forth in the zoning ordinance authorized by the Board of Adjustment and only in strict accordance (Article IX-page 99 and Article X-page 105) of this ordinance.