For the purpose of this chapter, the following terms or words are defined. The words “used or occupied” include the words intended, designed, or arranged to be used or occupied. The word “lot” includes the words plot or parcel.

   1.   “Accessory use or structure” means a use or structure on the same lot with and of a nature subordinate to the principal use of a building on the lot and serving a purpose customarily incidental to use of the principal building.

   2.   “Adult entertainment business” means and includes any of the following:

      A.   “Adult amusement or entertainment” means an amusement or entertainment which is distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on acts or material depicting, describing or relating to “sex act” or “specified anatomical areas,” as defined herein, including, but not limited to, topless or bottomless dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, or similar entertainment.

      B.   “Adult bookstore” means an establishment having as a significant portion of its stock in trade books, films, magazines, and other periodicals or goods and items held for sale which are distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on matter depicting or describing “sex act” or “specified anatomical areas.”

      C.   “Adult hotel or motel” means a building with accommodations used for the temporary occupancy of one or more individuals and is an establishment wherein material is presented which is distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on depicting or describing “sex act” or “specified anatomical areas” for observation by the individuals therein.

      D.   “Adult motion picture arcade” means any place to which the public is permitted or invited wherein coin or slug-operated or electronically, electrically or mechanically controlled still or motion picture machines, projectors, or other image-producing devices are maintained to show images to five or fewer persons per machine at any one time, and where the images so displayed are distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on matter depicting or describing “sex act” or “specified anatomical areas.”

      E.   “Adult motion picture theater” means an enclosed building used for presenting material distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on matter depicting or describing “sex act” or “specified anatomical areas.”

      F.   “Adult photo studio” mans an establishment which, upon payment of a fee, provides photographic equipment and/or models for the purpose of photographing “specified anatomical areas” or “sex acts” as defined herein.

      G.   “Massage parlor” means any building, room, place or establishment, where manipulated massage or manipulated exercise is practiced for pay upon the human body with an emphasis on “sex act” or “specified anatomical areas” by anyone not a duly licensed physician, osteopath, chiropractor, registered nurse or practical nurse operating under a physician’s direction, physical therapist, registered speech pathologist and physical or occupational therapist who treat only patients recommended by a licensed physician and operate only under such physician’s direction, whether with or without the use of mechanical, therapeutic or bathing devices. The term does not include a regular licensed hospital, medical clinic or nursing home, duly licensed beauty parlors or barber shops.

      H.   “Sexual encounter center” means any business, agency or person who, for any form of consideration or gratuity, provides a place where three or more persons may congregate, assemble or associate for the purpose of engaging in “sex act” or exposing “specified anatomical areas.”

      I.   “Sex act,” as used in the definition of “adult entertainment business,” means any sexual contact, actual or simulated, either natural or deviate, between two or more persons, or between a person and an animal, by penetration of the penis into the vagina or anus, or by contact between the mouth or tongue and genitalia or anus, or by contact between a finger of one person and the genitalia of another, or by use of artificial sexual organs or substitute therefor in contact with the genitalia or anus.

      J.   “Specified anatomical areas” means and includes the following: human genitals, pubic region, buttocks, and female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola.

   3.   “Alley” means a public way, other than a street, 20 feet or less in width, affording secondary means of access to abutting property.

   4.   “Apartment” means a room or suite of room in a multiple dwelling intended or designed for use as a residency by a single family.

   5.   “Attic” means a space under a gable, hip, gambrel, or other roof, the finished floor of which is, or would be, at or entirely above the level of the wall plates of at least two exterior walls, and the height of which, from the floor level to the highest point of the roof, does not exceed 10 feet.

   6.   “Basement” means a story having part but no more than one-half of its height below grade. A basement shall be counted as a story for the purpose of height regulation. When a story has more than one-half of its height below grade, the story constitutes a cellar and shall not be counted as a story for the purpose of height regulation.

   7.   “Bed and Breakfast” or “B & B” means a facility providing temporary lodging other than a hotel, motel or boarding house and which are classified as follows:

      A.   Residential B & B which is owner occupied and has less than three rental units.

      B.   B & B Inn which may be owner occupied and has up to and including 12 rental units.

      C.   B & B Hotel which may be owner occupied and has more than 12 rental units.

   8.   “Block” means that property abutting on one side of a street and lying within the two nearest intercepting or intersecting streets, or lying within the nearest intercepting or intersecting streets and unsubdivided acreage, railroad right-of-way or water.

   9.   “Board” means the Board of Adjustment.

   10.   “Boarding house” or “Rooming house” means a building other than a hotel where, for compensation, meals and lodging are provided for up to two persons and only as an accessory use to the principal single-family residence and no more than 50 percent transient occupancy.

   11.   “Building” means any structure having a roof supported by walls or by columns designed or intended for enclosure, shelter or housing of persons, animals or property. When any portion thereof is separated by party walls without window, door or other openings, each portion so separated shall be deemed a separate building.

   12.   “Building frontage” means that wall or side of a building which is adjacent and most nearly parallel to a street.

   13.   “Building, height of” means the vertical distance from the average natural grade at the building line to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof, or to the deck line of a mansard roof, or to the mean height level (between eaves and ridge) for gable, hip, and gambrel roofs.

   14.   “Building line” means the line of the outside wall of the building or any enclosed projection thereof nearest the street.

   15.   “Bulk stations” means distributing stations, commonly known as bulk or tank stations, used for the storage and distribution of flammable liquids or liquefied petroleum products, where the aggregate capacity of all storage tanks is more than 12,000 gallons.

   16.   “Carport” means a roofed structure providing space for the parking of motor vehicles and enclosed on not more than two sides. For the purposes of this chapter, a carport attached to a principal building shall be considered as part of the principal building and subject to all yard requirements herein.

   17.   “Cellar” means that portion of a building having more than one-half of its height below grade. A cellar is not included in computing the number of stories for the purpose of height measurement.

   18.   “Center” or “complex” means a building or group of buildings which are designed to use common facilities such as parking or sidewalk.

   19.   “Channel” means a natural or artificial watercourse of perceptible extent, with a definite bed and definite banks to confine and to conduct continuously or periodically blowing water.

   20.   “Clinic, medical or dental” means a building or buildings in which physicians, dentists, or physicians and dentists, and allied professional assistants are associated for the purpose of carrying on their profession.

   21.   “Convenience store” means an establishment for retail sale of petroleum products and other supplies for motor vehicles, as well as for the retail sale of a variety of other items typically sold in grocery stores.

   22.   “Court” means an open, unobstructed and unoccupied space other than a yard, which is bounded on two or more sides by a building on the same lot.

   23.   “Day nursery” or “nursery school” means any private agency, institution, establishment or place which provides supplemental parental care and/or educational work, other than lodging overnight, for six or more unrelated children of preschool age, for compensation.

   24.   “District” means a section or sections of the City within which the regulations governing the use of buildings and premises or the height and area of buildings and premises are uniform.

   25.   “Duplex” means a residential two-family dwelling with a common wall.

   26.   “Dwelling” means any stationary, permanent building or portion thereof which is designed or used exclusively for residential purposes, but not including a cabin or camping trailer.

   27.   “Dwelling, single-family, detached” means a residence designed for or occupied by one family only, entirely surrounded by yard on the same lot.

   28.   “Dwelling, single-family, bi-attached” or “semi-detached” means a dwelling designed for or occupied by one family only, which is erected on a separate lot and is joined to another such residence on one side only by wall located on the lot line and which has yards on the remaining sides.

   29.   “Dwelling, duplex” or “two-family” means a residence designed for or converted for occupancy on a single lot by two families only, with separate housekeeping and cooking facilities for each dwelling.

   30.   “Dwelling, multiple” means a residence designed for or occupied by three or more families, with separate housekeeping and cooking facilities for each.

   31.   “Dwelling, condominium” means a multiple dwelling as defined herein whereby the fee title to each dwelling unit is held independently of the others and where the general common elements of the structure, as defined under the Code of Iowa, is shared by one or more persons, corporations or other legal entities capable of holding or owning an interest in real property.

   32.   “Dwelling, rowhome” means any one of two or more residences designed for or occupied only by one family within a townhome development which are attached and in a continuous row. Each dwelling is designed and erected as a unit on a separate lot with an individual entrance. All dwelling units must be separated horizontally from each other dwelling by a dividing wall, but may not be separated vertically from each other by a dividing floor or ceiling. No more than six units shall be permitted in a single structure.

   33.   “Dwelling, villa,” “dwelling, garden home” or “dwelling, patio home” means a building containing only one dwelling unit on a separate lot and designed for and occupied exclusively for residence purposes by only one family within a townhome development.

   34.   “Dwelling, townhome” means a row dwelling or villa as defined herein which is characterized by common elements which are specified in or determined under the rules and regulations set forth by recorded covenants. Said covenants shall establish the guidelines for maintenance of common elements and permit free movement through common areas by members of the homeowners association to assure access to the structure exterior of each townhome unit by the individual unit owner.

   35.   “Dwelling, group home” means a dwelling shared by four or more handicapped persons, including resident staff, who live together as a single housekeeping unit and in a long-term, family-like environment in which the staff provide care, education, and participation in community activities for the residents with the primary goal of enabling the resident to live as independently as possible.

   36.   “Dwelling unit” means a room or group of rooms which are arranged, designed or used as living quarters for the occupancy of one family containing bathroom and/or kitchen facilities.

   37.   “Family” means one or more persons each related to the other by blood, marriage, adoption, legal guardianship or as foster parent-children who are living together in a single dwelling and maintaining a common household. Not more than two persons not so related, living together on the premises as a common household, may constitute a “family” in a single-family residential district. A “family” may include domestic servants residing with said “family.”

   38.   “Farm” means an area of 10 acres or more which is used for the growing of the usual farm products, such as vegetables, fruits, trees and grain, and their storage on the area, as well as for the raising thereon of the usual farm poultry and farm animals. The term “farming” includes the operating of such an area for one or more of the above uses, including the necessary accessory uses for treating or storing the produce; provided, however the operation of such accessory uses shall be secondary to that of the normal farming activities, and provided further that “farming” does not include the feeding of garbage or offal to swine or other animals.

   39.   “Flood” means a temporary rise in steam flow or stage that results in water overtopping its banks and inundating areas adjacent to the channel.

   40.   “Floodplain” means the land adjacent to a body of water that has been or may be hereafter covered by flood water, including but not limited to the 100-year flood.

   41.   “Floodway” means the channel of a stream and those portions of the floodplain adjoining the channel that are required to carry and to discharge the flood water or flood flows of any river or stream, including but not limited to flood flows associated with the 100-year flood.

   42.   “Floor area ratio” means the gross floor area of all buildings on a lot divided by the lot area on which the building or buildings are located.

   43.   “Garage, private” means an enclosed structure intended for and used for the housing of motor-driven vehicles of the residents of the premises.

   44.   “Garage, public” means any building or premises other than a private garage used for the equipping, refueling, servicing, repairing, hiring, selling or storing motor-driven vehicles.

   45.   “Gas station” means any building or premises used for the retail sale of liquefied petroleum products for the propulsion of motor vehicles, and including such product as kerosene, fuel oil, packaged naphtha, lubricants, tires, batteries, antifreeze, motor vehicle accessories and other items customarily associated with the sale of such products; for the rendering of services and making of adjustments and replacements to motor vehicles, and the washing, waxing and polishing of motor vehicles, as incidental to other services rendered; and the making of repairs to motor vehicles except those of a major type. Repairs of a major type are: spray painting, body, fender, clutch, transmission, differential, axle, spring and frame repairs; major overhauling of engines requiring the removal of engine cylinder head or crankcase pan; repairs to radiators requiring the removal thereof; or complete recapping or re-treading of tires. No service operations are permitted outside a fully enclosed building. No outdoor storage of parts and/or vehicles in the process of being repaired is permitted. Truck stops are specifically excluded from this definition.

   46.   “Height” means the vertical distance from the average level of ground grade to the highest portion of the structure.

   47.   “Home occupation” means any use customarily conducted entirely within the dwelling and carried on by the inhabitants thereof, which use is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for dwelling purposes and which does not change the character thereof; and provided that no article is sold or offered for sale except such as may be produced on the premises by members of the immediate family residing on the premises. The following, but not limited to the following, are NOT deemed home occupations: clinics, doctors’ offices, hospitals, barber shops, beauty parlors, dress shops, real estate offices, millinery shops, tea rooms, tourist or nursing homes, animal hospitals and kennels.

   48.   “Hotel” means a building in which lodging is provided and offered to the public for compensation and which is open to transient guests in contradistinction to a boarding house or lodging house.

   49.   “Inoperable motor vehicle” means any motor vehicle which lacks current registration or two or more wheels or other component parts, the absence of which renders the vehicle totally unfit for legal use of highways.

   50.   “Junk” means all old or scrap copper, brass, lead, or any other non-ferrous metal; old rope, rags, batteries, paper trash, rubber debris, waste; dismantled or inoperable vehicles, machinery and appliances, or parts of such vehicles, machinery or appliances; iron, steel, or other old or scrap ferrous material; old discarded glass, tinware, plastic, or old discarded household goods or hardware.

   51.   “Junk yard” means any place not fully enclosed in a building, used in whole or in part for the storage, salvage or deposit of junk, used lumber or salvaged wood, whether in connection with a business or not, which encompasses an area of 200 square feet or more, or any place where more than two inoperable motor vehicles or used parts and materials thereof, when taken together equal the bulk of two motor vehicles, are stored or deposited. For the purpose of this chapter, “junk yard” includes salvage yard, wrecking yard, used lumber yard and places for storage of salvage wood.

   52.   “Kennel, dog” means any premises on which four or more dogs, six months old or older, are kept.

   53.   “Lodging house” means a building where lodging or boarding is provided for compensation for five or more, but not exceeding 20 persons not members of the family therein residing.

   54.   “Lot” means, for zoning purposes as covered by this chapter, a parcel of land of at least sufficient size to meet minimum zoning requirements for use, coverage and area, and to provide such yards and other open spaces as are herein required. Such lot shall have frontage on a dedicated or private street and may consist of:

      A.   A single lot of record or a portion of a lot of record;

      B.   A combination of complete lots of record and/or portions of lots of record;

      C.   A parcel of land described by metes and bounds, provided that in no case of subdivision shall any residual lot or parcel be created which does not meet the requirements of this chapter.

   55.   “Lot line” means the property line bounding a lot.

   56.   “Lot measurements” means:

      A.   “Depth” means the mean horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines.

      B.   “Width” means the distance between straight lines connecting front and rear lot lines at each side of the lot, measured at the minimum building setback line.

   57.   “Lot of record” means a lot which is part of a subdivision or a lot or parcel described by metes and bounds, the deed to which is recorded in the office of the Polk County Recorder.

   58.   “Lot types” means:

      A.   “Corner lot” means a lot located at the intersection of two or more streets.

      B.   “Interior lot” means a lot other than a corner lot with only one frontage on a street, other than an alley.

      C.   “Double frontage lot” means a lot other than a corner lot with frontage on more than one street, other than an alley. Double frontage lots have two front yards. Lots with frontage on two non-intersecting streets may be referred to as “through” lots.

      D.   “Reverse corner lot” means a corner lot, the side street line of which is substantially a continuation of the front lot line of the first lot to its rear.

   59.   “Manufactured home,” as used in this chapter, means a factory-built structure, which is manufactured or constructed under the authority of 42 USC § 5403 and which is to be used as a place for human habitation, but which is not constructed or equipped with a permanent hitch or other device allowing it to be moved other than for the purpose of moving it to permanent site, and which does not have permanently attached to its body or frame any wheels or axles. A “mobile home” is not considered to be a manufactured home, unless it has been converted to real property as provided in the Code of Iowa, and shall be taxed as a site-built dwelling.

   60.   “Mini warehouse” means a building or group of buildings not more than one story and 20 feet in height and not having any other dimension greater than 150 feet per building, containing varying sizes of individualized, compartmentalized and controlled access stalls or lockers for the dead storage of customers’ goods or wares, excluding junk explosives or flammable materials, and other noxious or dangerous materials, including, if any, caretaker or supervisors’ quarters as an accessory use. No business activities other than rental or storage units shall be conducted on the premises.

   61.   “Mobile home” means any vehicle which has been designed and constructed to be towed or driven upon the public highway or waterways, and may be used as a place for human habitation or sleeping place for one or more persons, which has not been converted to real property under the provisions of the Code of Iowa.

   62.   “Mobile home, independent” means a mobile home which has a water closet and a bath tub or shower.

   63.   “Mobile home service building” means a building housing toilet and bathing facilities for men or women and a “slop-water sink.”

   64.   “Mobile home space, independent” means a mobile home space which has individual water and sewer connections available.

   65.   “Mobile home park” means any site, lot or portion of a lot upon which two or more mobile homes, occupied for dwelling or sleeping purposes, are located, regardless of whether or not a charge is made for such accommodation, and includes any building, structure, tent, vehicle or enclosure used or intended for use as a part of the equipment of such mobile home park.

   66.   “Motel,” “motor lodge,” “auto court,” etc. means a building or group of attached or detached buildings containing individual sleeping or living units for nonresidents or transients with garage attached or parking facilities conveniently located to each such unit.

   67.   “Nonconforming use” means any building or land lawfully occupied by a use at the time of passage of this Zoning Code (or any amendment thereto) which does not conform after the passage of the Zoning Code (or amendment thereto) with the use regulations of the district in which it is situated.

   68.   “Nursing or convalescent home” means a building or structure having accommodations where care is provided for invalid, infirm, aged, convalescent or physically disabled persons, including insane and other mental cases, and inebriate, but not including contagious cases.

   69.   “Occupant frontage” means that side or wall of a building in which the main public entrance to the premises is located.

   70.   “100-year flood” or “base flood” means a flood, the magnitude of which has a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year as determined by the Iowa Natural Resources Council.

   71.   “Principal use” means the main use of land or structures as distinguished from an accessory use.

   72.   “Parking space” means a permanently surfaced area which includes the parking stall plus the maneuvering space required for the parking of motor vehicles. Space for maneuvering, incidental to parking, shall not encroach upon any public right-of-way.

   73.   “Porch, unenclosed” means a roofed projection which has no more than 50 percent of each outside wall area enclosed by a building or siding material, other than meshed screens.

   74.   “Recreational vehicle” means any camping-type vehicle, boat trailer, All-Terrain vehicle trailer, snowmobile trailer or utility trailer used or so constructed as to permit its frequent use as a conveyance upon the public streets or highways and duly licensable as such, and includes self-propelled and non-self-propelled vehicles. For the purposes of this chapter, recreational vehicles shall not include boats, ATVs, or snowmobiles.

   75.   “Restaurant” means a business where the dispensing and the consumption at indoor tables of edible foodstuff and/or beverage is the principal business, including a café, cafeteria, coffee shop, delicatessen, lunchroom, tearoom, dining room, bar, cocktail lounge or tavern. The total seating area located within the enclosed portion of the premises is more than 50 percent of the total floor area.

   76.   “Restaurant, drive-in/carry-out” means an auto-oriented use whose principal operation is the dispensing of edible foodstuff and/or beverage for consumption in automobiles, at indoor or outdoor tables, at standup counters or to be carried off the premises. The total seating area, if provided, is less than 50 percent of the floor area.

   77.   “Story” means that portion of a building included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the floor next above it, or if there be no floor above it, then the space between the floor and the ceiling of roof next above it.

   78.   “Story, half” means a space under a sloping roof which has the line of intersection of roof decking and wall face not more than four feet above the top floor level. A half story containing independent apartments or living quarters shall be counted as a full story.

   79.   “Street” means a public or private thoroughfare which affords the principal means of access to abutting property.

   80.   “Street line” means a dividing line between a lot, tract, or parcel of land and a contiguous street.

   81.   “Structural alterations” means any replacement or changes in the type of construction or in the supporting members of a building, such as bearing walls or partitions, columns, beams or girders, beyond ordinary repairs and maintenance.

   82.   “Structure” means anything constructed or erected with a fixed location on the ground or attached to something having a fixed location on the ground. Among other things, “structure” includes buildings, walls, fences, billboards and poster panels.

   83.   “Truck stop” means any large gas station facility containing more than 10 pump dispensers or any gas station designed to accommodate the regular fueling or servicing of semi-trucks.

   84.   “Vehicle service station” or “Automotive service station” or “lube shop” means any building or premises used for the rendering of minor services and making of adjustments and replacements to motor vehicles, such as oil changes and replacement of filters, and the washing, waxing and polishing of motor vehicles, as incidental to other services rendered; and the making of repairs to motor vehicles except those of a major type. Repairs of a major type are: spray painting, body, fender, clutch, transmission, differential, axle, spring and frame repairs; major overhauling of engines requiring the removal of engine cylinder head or crankcase pan; repairs to radiators requiring the removal thereof; or complete recapping or re-treading of tires. No service operations are permitted outside a fully enclosed building. No outdoor storage of parts and/or vehicles in the process of being repaired is permitted.

   85.   “Yard” means an open space on the same lot with a building unoccupied and unobstructed by any portion of a structure from the ground upward, except as otherwise provided herein.

   86.   “Yard, front” means a yard extending across the full width of the lot and measured, using the least distance, between the front lot line and the building or any projection thereof, other than the projection of the usual steps.

   87.   “Yard, rear” means a yard extending across the full width of the lot and measured, using the least distance, between the rear lot line and the principal building, excluding steps, decks, unenclosed balconies and porches. On corner lots, the rear yard is the yard opposite the narrowest front yard.

   88.   “Yard, side” means a yard extending from the front yard to the rear year and measured between the side lot lines and the building.