In the construction of this resolution, the following definitions and rules of construction shall be observed, unless it shall be otherwise expressly provided in any section or unless inconsistent with the manifest intent of the board of commissioners, or unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

Except as specifically described herein, all words shall have the customary dictionary meaning. Words used in the present tense include the future tense and words used in the future tense include the present. Words used in the singular number include the plural and words used in the plural include the singular. The word "person" includes an individual, firm, corporation, club, association, society, organization, trust, partnership or body politic. The word "lot" includes "plot" or "parcel." The word "building" includes "structure.

The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory; the word "may" is permissive. The word "used" or "occupied," as applied to any land or building, shall be construed to include the words "intended, arranged, or designated to be used or occupied." The word "map" means the "Official Zoning Map of the Unincorporated Area of Peach County."

When used in this resolution, the following words and phrases shall have the meaning given in this section:

1.

Accessory use: A use customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal use or building and located on the same lot with such principal use or building.

2.—5.

Reserved.

6.

Airport: A transportation terminal facility where aircraft take off and land (not to include private landing strips at which less than ten airplanes are based).

7.

Airport elevation: The highest point of an airport's usable landing areas measured in feet from sea level.

8.

Airport hazard: Any structure or object of natural growth located on or in the vicinity of a public airport, or any use of land near such airport, which obstructs the airspace required for the flight of aircraft in landing and take off at such, airport or is otherwise hazardous to such landing or take off of aircraft.

9.

Alley: A public way dedicated to and accepted by a governing body and which is primarily for vehicular service access to the rear or side of properties otherwise abutting on a street.

10.

Approach, transitional, horizontal and conical zones: These zones apply to the area under the approach, transitional, horizontal and conical surfaces as defined in section 75.1.5.

11.

Automobile repair garage: A building or portion thereof, other than a private or parking garage, designed or used for the storage, servicing, repairing equipping, or hiring of motor-driven vehicles.

12.

Automobile service station: Any area of land, including structures thereon, used for the retail sale of gasoline or oil, automobile accessories, and incidental services including facilities for lubricating, automobile washing, and cleaning, or otherwise servicing automobiles, but excluding painting and major repair.

13.

Block: A piece or parcel of land entirely surrounded by public highways or streets, other than alleys.

14.

Boardinghouse: A building other than a hotel where, for compensation and/or by prearrangement, meals or lodging and meals are provided for three or more persons, but not exceeding 20 persons.

15.

Buffer: A dense planting of shrubs and trees established and maintained to a height of not less than six feet on a strip of land not less than ten feet in width.

16.

Building: Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls and intended for the shelter, housing, or enclosure of persons, animals, or chattels.

17.

Building, accessory: A subordinate building, the use of which is incidental to that of the dominant use of the main building or land.

18.

Building, alterations of: Any change in the supporting members of a building (such as bearing walls, beams, columns, and girders) except such change as may be required for its safety; any addition to a building; any change in use resulting from moving a building from one location to another.

19.

Building, height of: The vertical distance measured from the average elevation of the proposed finished grade at the front of the building, including parapets, except that the distance shall be measured to the average height between the eaves and ridge for gable, hip, and gambrel roofs and to the deck line of a mansard roof.

20.

Building, main: A building in which is conducted, the principal use off the lot on which it is situated. In any residential district, any dwelling shall be deemed to be a main building on the lot on which it is situated.

21.

Building setback line: A line across a lot, generally parallel to the street right-of-way line, indicating the limit beyond which buildings or structures may not be erected.

22.

Clinic: An establishment where patients, who are not lodged overnight, are admitted for examination and treatment by doctors, nurses or other such medical professionals.

23.

Club: Buildings and facilities owned or operated by corporation, association, person or persons for social, educational, or recreational purposes but not primarily for profit or to render a service to the general public.

24.

Community sewer system: A privately owned sewer system meeting the minimum standards set by the Georgia Department of Human Resources, as approved by the Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

25.

Comprehensive plan (master plan): The various maps, plats, charts, and descriptive and explanatory material and all textual matter approved by the Peach County Planning Commission for the purpose of guiding and shaping the growth of any portion of the unincorporated area of Peach County.

26.

Conical zone: Refer to section 75.1.5.

27.

County commission: The board of commissioners of Peach County, Georgia.

28.

Day care center: Any place operated by a person, society, agency, corporation, or institution, or any other group wherein are received for pay seven or more children under 18 years of age for group care, without transfer of custody, for more than four hours and less than 24 hours per day.

29.

Day care home: Any place operated by any person who receives for pay three to six children under 17 years of age for group care, without transfer of custody, for more than four hours and less than 24 hours per day.

30.

District: A section of the unincorporated area of Peach County within which the zoning regulations are uniform.

31.

Dwelling: Any building or portion thereof which is designed for or used for residential purposes.

32.

Dwelling, multifamily: A building designed for or occupied exclusively by three or more families living independently of each other with individual kitchen and bathroom facilities.

33.

Dwelling, single-family: A building designed for or occupied exclusively by one family (but not including manufactured homes or mobile homes).

34.

Dwelling, tenant: A residential structure located on a farm and occupied by a farm worker employed by the owner of the farm as defined in section 71.1.5.

35.

Dwelling, two-family (duplex): A building designed for and occupied exclusively by two families living independently of each other with individual kitchen and bathroom facilities.

36.

Dwelling unit: A dwelling or portion thereof providing complete living facilities for one family.

37.

Easement: A grant by a property owner for the use for a specific purpose (or purposes) of a piece of land by the general public, a corporation, or a person or persons when not used for subdivision purposes.

38.

Factory built or modular home (industrialized building): Any structure or component thereof which is wholly or in substantial part made, fabricated, formed, or assembled, in accordance with the Georgia Industrial Building Act (O.C.G.A. § 8-2-110 et seq.) and the Rules of the Commissioner of Community Affairs, in manufacturing facilities for installation or assembly and installation on a building site and has been manufactured in such a manner that all parts or processes cannot be inspected at the installation site without disassembly, damage to, or destruction thereof. State-approved buildings meet the state building and construction codes and bear an insignia of approval. In lieu of state approval, under certain circumstances (section 3282.12 Federal Register, May 13, 1976) inspection and approval may be granted by the zoning enforcement official.

39.

Fallout shelter: A structure or portion of a structure intended to provide protection to human life during periods of danger from nuclear fallout, air raids, storms, or other emergencies.

40.

Family: One or more persons occupying a dwelling and living as a single housekeeping unit, as distinguished from persons occupying a boardinghouse, motel or hotel, as herein defined.

41.

Fence: A barrier, intended to prevent unwarranted intrusion, made of post and wire or boards.

42.

Flea market: The ongoing sale or trading of new or used clothing, furniture, household items, food, dishes, baked goods or other food items, antiques, or similar goods or merchandise where said inventory may have been received by purchase, on consignment, or by donation with the intent to resale. Flea markets shall be subject to section 95 of this Code.

43.

Floodplain: The area adjoining any watercourse which has been or may hereafter be inundated by flood waters.

44.

Floodway: The channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than one foot.

45.

Floor area: The sum of the gross horizontal areas of the total number of floors of a building measured from the exterior faces of the exterior walls or from the centerline of walls separating two buildings, but not including: The attic space providing headroom for less than seven feet; unusable basement or cellar space not used for retailing; uncovered steps or fire escapes; open porches; accessory water or cooling towers; accessory off-street parking spaces; and accessory off-street loading berths.

46.

Frontage, lot: The distance for which the front boundary line of the lot and the street line are coincident.

47.

Frontage, street: All the property on the side of a street between two intersecting streets (crossing or terminating), or if the street is dead ended, then all the property abutting on one side between an intersecting street and the dead end of the street.

48.

Garage apartment: A dwelling unit for one family erected above a private garage detached from the main dwelling.

49.

Garage, parking: A building or portion thereof designed or used for storage of motor-driven vehicles, and at which motor fuels and oils may be sold, and in connection with which may be performed general automotive servicing as distinguished from automotive repairs.

50.

Garage, private: An accessory building or a portion of a main building used for the parking or storage of automobiles of the occupants of the main building. A carport is considered a private garage.

51.

Garage sale: See Yard sale.

52.

Home occupation: An occupation for gain or support conducted only by members of a family residing on the premises and entirely within the main dwelling and will be subject to section 95 of this Code. Home occupations shall not include yard sales, garage sales, or flea markets.

53.

Horizontal zone: Refer to section 75.1.5.

54.

Hotel: A building in which lodging or board and lodging are provided for more than 20 persons and offered to the public for compensation and in which ingress and egress to and from each sleeping room is generally made through the interior of the building.

55.

Institution: A nonprofit corporation or a nonprofit establishment.

56.

Junkyard: A lot, land, or structure, or part thereof, used primarily for the collecting, storage, and sale of old or scrap copper, brass, rope, rags, batteries, paper, trash, rubber, debris, or waste; junked, dismantled, or wrecked automobiles, or parts thereof; iron, steel, and other old scrap ferrous or nonferrous material, waste paper, rags, scrap metal, or discarded material, or for the collecting, dismantling, storage, and salvaging, or for the sale of parts thereof.

57.

Kennels: Any location where raising, grooming, caring for, or boarding of dogs, cats, or other small animals for commercial purposes is carried on.

58.

Kindergarten: A school for pre-elementary school children ranging in age from four through six years, which operates for less than four hours per day.

59.

Landing area: The area of an airport used for landing, taking off, or taxiing of aircraft.

60.

Laundromat: A business that provides home-type washing, drying, and/or ironing machines for hire.

61.

Laundry and dry cleaning pickup: A business that provides only for the convenience of taking and picking up of laundry, such as establishments not having any equipment for processing of the laundry.

62.

Loading space: A space within the main building or on the same lot, providing for the standing, loading, or unloading of trucks and other carriers.

63.

Lot: A portion of a subdivision or other parcel of land, intended as a unit for transfer of ownership or for building development.

64.

Lot, corner: A lot bounded on two adjacent sides by streets.

65.

Lot, depth of: A mean horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines, measured in the general direction of its side lot lines.

66.

Lot, double frontage: A lot having frontage on two streets as distinguished from a corner lot.

67.

Lot, interior: A lot other than a corner lot.

68.

Lot of record: A lot or parcel of land the existence, location, and dimensions of which have been recorded in the office of the Clerk of the Superior Court of Peach County.

69.

Lot width: The distance between lot side lines measured at the building line.

70.

Manufactured home: A structure, transportable in one or more sections, which, in the traveling mode, is eight body feet or more in width or 40 body 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 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 of housing and urban development and complies with the standards established under the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, 42 USC 5401 et seq.

71.

Maximum probable flood elevation line: That line, established by the county commission, adjacent to and generally paralleling a watercourse below which the land would be expected to be inundated by a flood or a 100-year frequency magnitude or greater.

72.

Mobile home (house trailer): A structure, transportable in one or more sections, which, in the traveling mode, is eight body feet or more in width or 40 body 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 contained therein and manufactured prior to June 15, 1976.

73.

Mobile home park or manufactured home park: Any parcel of land where mobile homes or manufactured homes are customarily parked for a longer period of time than 30 days for living or sleeping purposes, or where spaces are set aside and offered for rent for use by mobile homes or manufactured homes for living or sleeping purposes, including any land, building, structure, or facility used by occupants of mobile homes or manufactured homes on such premises.

74.

Mobile home space or manufactured home space: A plot of ground within a mobile home park or a manufactured home park designed for the accommodation of one mobile home or manufactured home.

75.

Mobile home subdivision or manufactured home subdivision: A subdivision designed and intended for residential use where residence is primarily in mobile homes or manufactured homes.

76.

Motel: A building or a group of buildings containing sleeping accommodations for rental primarily to automobile transients and in which ingress and egress to and from each sleeping room is generally to the outside of the building.

77.

Nonconforming use: A building, structure, or use of land existing on January 9, 1973, or at the time of a zoning amendment and which does not conform with the regulations of the use district in which it is located.

78.

Open space: A yard area which is not used for or occupied by a driveway, off-street parking, loading space, drying yard, or refuse storage space.

79.

Parking space: The area required for parking one automobile, which in this resolution is held to be an area of 200 square feet, excluding passageways, and so arranged as to accommodate a standard automobile and to provide necessary maneuvering space.

80.

Planned unit development (PUD): A parcel of land which is developed as an integrated unit under single ownership or control, which includes two or more main buildings and where the specific requirements of a given district may be modified and where the minimum area is fixed.

81.

Planning commission or commission: The Peach County Planning Commission, as established by the county government.

82.

Plat: A map, plan, or layout of a county, city, town, section, or subdivision indicating the location and boundaries of individual properties.

83.

Playschool: A school for pre-kindergarten children ranging in age from three to four years and which operates for less than four hours per day.

84.

Primary surface: A surface longitudinally centered on a runway. When the runway has a specially prepared hard surface, the primary surface extends 200 feet beyond each end of that runway; but when the runway has no specially prepared hard surface, or planned hard surface, the primary surface ends at each end of that runway. The width of the primary surface of a runway will be that width proscribed in Part 77 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) for the most precise approach existing or planned for either end of that runway. The elevation of any point on the primary surface is the same as the elevation of the nearest point on the runway centerline.

85.

Principal use: The primary purpose for which land or a building is used.

86.

Professional: When used in connection with "use" and "occupancy" a use or occupancy by persons generally engaged in rendering personal, executive, sales, or administrative services or activities, including accountants, architects, engineers, and land surveyors, doctors, lawyers, insurance offices, real estate offices, religious organizations, stockbrokers, and administrative agencies considered professional in character. The term, however, does not include repairs or sales of tangible personal property stored or located within the structure nor any use which would create any loud noise or noxious odors.

87.

Public way: Any piece of land over which the general public has a right of usage, whether acquired through prescription, by adverse use of the general public, or otherwise.

88.

Restaurant, drive-in: An eating and/or drinking establishment which caters to motor-driven vehicle business where the person being served may consume food and/or drink while sitting in a motor-driven vehicle.

89.

Right-of-way: Access over or across particularly described property for a specific purpose or purposes.

90.

Right-of-way line: The dividing line between a lot, tract, or parcel of land contiguous to street, railroad, or other public utility rights-of-way.

91.

Roominghouse: A building other than a hotel or motel where lodging for three, but not more than 20 persons, is provided with no meals served.

92.

Runway: A defined area on an airport prepared for landing and take off of aircraft along its length.

93.

Runway, nonprecision instrument: A runway having existing instrument approach procedure utilizing air navigation facilities with only horizontal guidance, or area type navigation equipment, for which a straight-in nonprecision instrument approach procedure has been approved or planned, and for which no precision approach facilities are planned or indicated on an FAA planning document or military service's military airport planning document.

94.

Runway, visual: A runway intended solely for the operation of aircraft using visual approach procedures with no straight-in instrument approach procedure and no instrument designation indicated on an FAA approved airport layout plan, a military service's approved military airport layout plan, or by any planning document submitted to the FAA by competent authority.

95.

Shopping center: A group of commercial establishments planned and developed as a unit, with common off-street parking provided on the property.

96.

Sign: Any words, lettering, parts of letters, figures, numerals, phrases, sentences, emblems, devices, designs, trade names, or marks, or combinations thereof by which anything is made known, such as the designation of an individual, a firm, an association, a profession, a business, a commodity, or a product which are visible from any public way and used as an outdoor display.

97.

Sign area: The smallest square, rectangle, triangle, circle, or combination thereof encompassing the entire advertising area, excluding architectural trim and structural supports.

98.

Sign, outdoor advertising: A structural poster panel or painted sign, either freestanding or attached to a building, for the purpose of conveying information, knowledge, or ideas to the public about a subject unrelated to the premises upon which it is located.

99., 100.

Reserved.

101.

Sign structure: A structure composed of one or more poles which is located on the ground or on top of another structure and which supports no more than two signs.

102.

Sign structure facing: The surface of the sign upon against, or through which the message of the sign is exhibited, not including architectural trim and structural supports.

103.

Site plan: The drawing(s) which put forth the pattern of development to take place on a particular piece of land.

104.

Story: That portion of a building other than a cellar included between the surface of the floor and the ceiling above it.

105.

Street: A public way dedicated to and accepted by a governing body for the use of vehicular or pedestrian traffic by the general public and may be referred to as a street, highway, parkway, road, avenue, drive, boulevard, lane, place, etc.

106.

Street line: A right-of-way or property line of a street as indicated by dedication or by deed or plat of record.

107.

Structure: Anything constructed or erected material, the use of which requires a location on the ground, or attached to something having a location on the ground.

108.

Subdivider: Any person who undertakes the subdivision of land as herein defined.

109.

Subdivision: Any division of a tract or parcel of land into two or more lots, building sites or other divisions for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of sale, legacy or building development, and includes all division of land involving a new street or a change in existing streets, and includes resubdivision and, where appropriate to the context, relates to the process of subdividing or to the land or area subdivided; provided, however, that the following are not included in this definition:

(a)

The division of land into parcels of five acres or more where no new street is involved, provided that the requirements of article XIV, section 144.2 are met.

(b)

The sale or exchange of parcels of land between separate or common owners of adjoining properties, provided that additional lots are not thereby created, and that the lots created are in accordance with the provisions of this regulation.

110.

Townhouses: A number of single-family dwelling units which are attached and erected in a row as part of a single building, on adjoining lots, each being separated from the adjoining unit or units by an approved fire resistant party wall or walls extending from the basement, cellar, or ground floor to a roof along the divided lot line.

111.

Transitional zone: Refer to section 75.1.5.

112.

Travel trailer: A vehicular portable structure designed as a temporary dwelling for travel, recreational, and vacation uses which is not more than eight feet in body width and is of any weight provided its body length is less than 32 feet.

113.

Travel trailer park: Any parcel of land on which are temporarily parked one or more travel trailers for a period of less than 30 days.

114.

Wall: A barrier, intended to prevent unwarranted intrusion, made of a type of masonry construction such as brick, concrete block, stone, etc.

115.

Yard: A space on the same lot with a main building, such space being open, unoccupied, and unobstructed by buildings or structures from ground to sky except where encroachments and accessory buildings are expressly permitted.

116.

Yard, front: An open unoccupied space on the same lot with the main building, extending the full width of the lot and situated between the street line and the front line of the building projected to the side lines of the lot. The depth of the front yard shall be measured between the front line of the building and the street line. Covered porches, whether enclosed or unenclosed, shall be considered as part of the main building and shall not project into a required front yard. On corner lots the front yard shall be considered as parallel to the street upon which the lot has its least dimension.

117.

Yard, rear: An open space on the same lot with the main building, such space being unoccupied except possibly by an accessory building and extending the full width of the lot and situated between the rear line of the lot and the rear line of the main building projected to the side lines of the lot. On all corner lots the rear yard shall be at the opposite end of the lot from the front yard.

118.

Yard, side: An open, unoccupied space, on the same lot with a main building, situated between the side line of the building and the adjacent side line of the lot extending from the rear line of the front yard to the front line of the rear yard. If no front yard is required, the front boundary of the side yard shall be the front line of the lot and if no rear yard is required, the rear boundary of the side yard shall be the rear line of the lot. On corner lots, the side yard shall be considered as parallel to the street upon which the lot has its greatest dimension.

119.

Yard sale: The sale or trading of used clothing, furniture, household items, food, dishes, baked good or other food items, antiques, or similar goods or merchandise where said inventory was not originally obtained with the intent to resell. Yard sales will be subject to section 95 of this Code.

(Amd. of 10-11-2005; Amd. of 4-11-2006; Amd. of 2-12-2008)