This Ordinance shall be known as the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Newaygo.

The provisions of this Ordinance shall be held to be minimum requirements adopted for the promotion of the public health, safety, and general welfare. This Zoning Ordinance is used as an enforcement tool to ensure the Master Plan for the City is being adhered to and that the Community as a whole is uniform and protected. The provisions of this Ordinance are also intended to meet the needs of the City's residents for food, fiber, energy, and other natural resources, places of residence, recreation, industry, trade, service, and other uses of land; to ensure that uses of land shall be situated in appropriate locations and relationships; to limit the inappropriate overcrowding of land and congestion of population and transportation systems and other public facilities; and to facilitate adequate and efficient provision for transportation systems, sewage disposal, water, energy, education, recreation, and other public service and facility needs. For these purposes this Ordinance divides the City into districts of the number, shape, and area considered best suited to carry out this section. For each of those districts, regulations are imposed designating the uses for which buildings or structures shall or shall not be erected or altered, and designated the trades, industries, and other land uses or activities that shall be permitted, excluded or subjected to special regulations.

It is not intended by this Ordinance to repeal, abrogate, annul, or in any other way impair or interfere with existing provisions of other laws or ordinances except those specifically repealed by this Ordinance, or any private restrictions placed upon property by covenant, deed or other agreement, provided, however, where this Ordinance imposes a greater restriction upon the use of buildings or premises or upon the height of buildings or lot coverage, or specifies a definite land use or requires greater lot area or larger yards or other open spaces than are imposed or required by such rules, regulations or permits or by such private restrictions, the provisions of this Ordinance shall control. Such construction of terms, such as "should" "shall" "may" "must" "and" "or" "either…or" etc., used in this Ordinance to clarify their parameter, shall meet the meanings as denoted in an accredited dictionary.