The following definitions shall apply in the interpretation and the enforcement of this chapter. The terms not defined herein shall be construed in accordance with the customary usage and meaning in city planning and engineering practice.

When necessary for a reasonable construction of this chapter, words in the singular shall include the plural, words in the plural shall include the singular except where the natural and obvious construction of the writing indicates otherwise, and words used or defined in one tense or form shall include other tenses or derivative forms. The word "building" shall include the word "structure," the words "shall," "must," or "will" are mandatory and the word "may" is discretionary unless the context in which it is used indicates otherwise.

For the purpose of this chapter, certain terms and words are to be used and interpreted as hereinafter defined.

A-weighted sound pressure level—The sound pressure level in decibels as measured on a sound level meter using the A-weighting network. The level so read shall be designated dB(A) or dBA.

Accessory building—A minor building, not part of the principal structure, that is located on the same lot as a principal building and that is used incidentally to a principal building or that houses an accessory use. (Note: This can also be cross-referenced as "building, accessory." See below under "building.") Included in accessory building is a minor building that is incidental to, but located on the same lot or parcel as, the principal structure. A detached one-story garage with a maximum area of 1,600 square feet is exempt from inclusion within the maximum area of accessory buildings allowed on each single lot. All accessory buildings greater than one story in residential districts shall be placed only between the rear of the principal structure and the rear lot line. In no case shall accessory buildings be place in front of the principal structure. An accessory building cannot be occupied or used as living quarters.

Accessory objects—Objects or items usually placed above the roof line of a building that may include antennas, chimneys, clock towers, cupolas, flag poles, lightning rods, mechanical equipment, observatories, parapet walls, pipes, steeples, spires, vents, or weathervanes.

Accessory use—Accessory uses are incidental or subordinate to the principal use (located on the same premises) of a parcel of land or is a use commonly associated with the principal use and integrally related to it.

Adult business—Those uses which exclude minors by virtue of age under the penal code of the state unless such minor is accompanied by a consenting parent, guardian, or spouse and shall include, but are not limited to, adult arcade, adult bookstore, adult cabaret, adult drive-in theater, adult minimotion picture theater, adult model studio, adult motel, adult motion picture theater, adult theater, body painting studio, massage parlor, or any other commercial enterprise, the primary business of which is the offering of a service or the selling, renting or exhibiting of devices or any other items intended to provide sexual stimulation or sexual gratification to the customer.

Alley—A right-of-way that affords only a secondary means of access to adjacent property.

Amusement park or enterprise—Publicly or privately owned, profit-oriented, commercially operated business with various devices for entertainment, whether permanent or temporary.

Apartment—See dwelling, multiple-family.

Artificial obstruction—Any obstruction, other than a natural one, that is capable of reducing the flood-carrying capacity of a stream or may accumulate debris and thereby reduce the flood-carrying capacity of a stream.

Assisted living facility—A facility providing responsible adult supervision of or assistance with routine living functions of an individual, or individuals, in instances where the individual's condition necessitates that supervision or assistance.

Attached—Any structure or building having a common wall or connected roof with another structure or building.

Auto service station—An establishment where gasoline and other hydrocarbon fuels are sold and dispensed into motor-vehicle tanks. Such establishment may also have accessory facilities for washing cars, minor maintenance, oil and grease, battery charging, tire repair and sale of auto accessories, and retail food and beverage sales. Such establishment shall not perform body repair, engine or transmission overhaul and shall not display vehicles for sale except in districts allowing such sales.

Bar, dance hall, lounge, night club, or tavern—An establishment for the sale of beer and/or intoxicating liquor for consumption on premises as regulated by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

Base flood—Also known as the "100-year flood," this is the flood having a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.

Bed and breakfast home—A building or place where lodging is provided by prearrangement for definite periods, for compensation, for not more than 12 persons.

Block—Property bounded on one side by a street, railroad, right-of-way, waterway, unsubdivided areas, or other definite boundaries.

Boarding house—A residence, not a hotel, consisting of at least one dwelling unit with more than two rooms that are rented or intended to be rented, for compensation, to three or more persons, not members of the household, to longer term residents on a monthly basis, as distinct from transient residents staying overnight or on a weekly basis.

Brewpub, microbrewery, microdistillery, or winery—An establishment for the manufacture, blending, fermentation, processing, and packaging of alcoholic beverages with a floor area of 10,000 square feet or less that takes place wholly inside a building, and allows retail sales of alcoholic beverages and related items and tastings or samplings in accordance with current and as subsequently amended Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission regulations.

Building—A structure designed to be used as a place of occupancy, storage or shelter.

Building, accessory—A minor building that is located on the same lot as a principal building and that is used incidentally to a principal building or that houses an accessory use.

Building, principal—The primary building on a lot or a building that houses a principal use.

Building area—The area in which development subject to this section may occur, and which is defined by the side and rear setback planes required by this section, together with the area defined by the front, side, and rear yard setbacks and the maximum height limit.

Building height—The height of a building measured from the ground surface level to the lowest part of the eave of the building, measured in stories.

Buildable depth—The depth of the lot remaining to be built upon after the required front and rear yards are provided.

Building official—The chief city administrator, or designee, whose duties include administration of this chapter.

Buildable width—The width of the lot remaining to be built upon after the required side yards are provided.

Business—Any nonresidential location where any commerce or transactions take place. Nonprofit organizations are also included in this description.

Carport—A permanent roofed structure open on at least two sides, designed for the parking and shelter of private passenger vehicles. Any carport greater in height than ten feet from the ground to the lowest point of the roof eave must be located only between the rear of the principal structure and the rear lot line and in no case can a carport be located in front of a principal structure.

Centerline—The line halfway between the street lines.

Child care home—A home providing 24-hour care for not more than six orphaned, abandoned, dependent, abused, or neglected children under the age of 18 with not more than two adults who supervise such children, all of whom live together as a single housekeeping unit.

Child care institution—An institutional facility housing 13 or more orphaned, abandoned, dependent, abused, or neglected children under the age of 18.

Church—See place of worship.

Clear sight triangle—That area of unobstructed vision at street intersections, entrances and exits, permitting a vehicle driver to see approaching vehicles to the right or left. Nothing over three feet in height measured from the street at the point where the pavement meets the curbstone shall be permitted to obstruct a sight line which shall be the front street and side street lines of a corner lot and a line connecting point 20 feet from the intersection of the back of curb line or if there is no curb the edge of payment, not property line of such lot. Any existing trees located within the clear sight triangle will be allowed to remain if all branches are trimmed from a height between three feet and eight feet. No single post or column within the designated triangle shall exceed 12 inches in thickness at its greatest cross-sectional. (See graphic "D.")

Clinic—An institution, public or private, or a station for the examination of persons who are not lodged overnight, but admitted for out-patient services by an individual or group of doctors, dentists or other licensed members of the human health-care profession.

Club—Building or use catering exclusively to a group of members and their guests for recreational and/or social purposes, and not operated primarily for profit; includes lodges.

Collector street—See street, collector.

Community home—A community-based residential home containing not more than eight disabled persons and two nonresident supervisory personnel and which otherwise meets the requirements of the Community Homes for Disabled Persons Location Act, V.T.C.A., Human Resources Code ch. 123.001.

Comprehensive plan—A compilation of policy statements, goals and objectives, standards, maps and statistical data for the physical, social, and economic development, both public and private, of this community.

Conditional use—A use which may be permitted in a district, subject to the requirements of this chapter as well as any additional requirements imposed by the city planning and zoning commission and/or the city council.

Condominium—One or more structures containing two or more dwelling units each that are sold to and held under individual ownership by the occupants, and which may or may not include ownership of the land upon which the dwelling units are situated.

Construction yard—A temporary area which contains building materials stored for on-site construction use.

Cross aisle or aisle or circulation area—The area required for driveways and other vehicle maneuvering to access a parking space.

Cul-de-sac—See street, cul-de-sac.

Day care center—A facility that provides nonmedical care and supervision for more than six children, elderly persons or persons with physical and/or mental disabilities less than 24 hours a day. This definition does not include those uses defined as a child care home, group home, or child care institution.

District—Any zone of the city within which certain zoning and land use requirements are specified and are uniform, and which are designated on the official city zoning map.

Dwelling unit—Any building or portion thereof which contains living facilities, including provisions for sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation purposes.

Dwelling unit, attached—A dwelling having one or more walls common with a principal building, or joined to a another dwelling unit by a roof or firewall.

Dwelling unit, detached—A dwelling unit which is fully separated from any other building or not joined to another building by structural members or common wall.

Dwelling (two-family)—A building or buildings designed for two families occupying separate, attached or detached from private structure dwelling units, including duplexes.

Dwelling (multiple-family or multi-family)—A building or buildings designed for three or more families occupying separate, attached or detached dwelling units.

Family—One or more persons related by blood or marriage, or a group of not more than five persons who need not be related by blood or marriage occupying a premise and living together as a single housekeeping unit.

Farm—An area which is used for the growing of the usual farm products such as vegetables, fruit, fodder, trees and grain, and their storage on the area.

Floodplain—Any land area susceptible to being inundated by water from the base flood. The term refers to that area designated as subject to flooding from the base flood on the latest flood insurance rate map (FIRM) available from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). A copy of the latest FIRM is on file at city hall.

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. The term refers to that area designated as a floodway on the latest flood insurance rate map (FIRM) available from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). A copy of the latest FIRM is on file at city hall.

Floor area—The total gross area of all floors of a building.

Floor area ratio—Commonly known as FAR, means the relationship of the floor area to the lot area computed by dividing the total floor area by the lot area.

Fraternity or sorority (also fraternity house or sorority house)—A dwelling with sleeping rooms or a dormitory used for occupancy by individuals in a recognized organization, and in which kitchen facilities are for the common use of all occupants.

Frontage—A specified distance measured along a street line or front property line.

Garage, private—An accessory building or a part of a main or principal building used for storage purposes only for motor vehicles used solely by the occupants and their guests for the building which it is accessory. Any accessory, detached garage with a height greater than ten feet from the ground to the lowest point of the roof eave must only be located between the rear of the principal structure and the rear lot line.

Garage, public—Any garage, other than a private garage, available to the public, used for the care or servicing of motor vehicles where such vehicles are parked or stored for remuneration. The term servicing shall not include an automotive body repair shop nor the building, dismantling, or storage of wrecked or junked vehicles.

Grade—The average of the finished ground level at the center of all walls of a building.

Greenhouse—A structure with a glass or plastic roof and frequently glass or plastic walls that heats up because of incoming solar radiation from the sun, that warms plants, soil, and other things inside the building.

Ground surface level—That surface of a yard which directly abuts a wall, fence, building, or structure or the average grade level, whichever is more appropriate.

Group home—A family-based facility which provides 24-hour care in a protected living arrangement for the mentally and/or physically impaired, developmentally disabled, or victims of abuse or neglect. This classification includes congregate living facilities for the elderly, maternity homes, emergency shelters during crisis intervention for victims of crime, abuse, or neglect, and residential services licensed by the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, but not primarily for criminal rehabilitation.

Halfway house—A residential facility located in a building or dwelling unit designed, used, or intended to be used as human habitation which principal use is to serve as a place for persons seeking rehabilitation, recovery, or counseling from any physical, mental, emotional, penal or legal infirmity, in a family setting, as part of a group rehabilitation or recovery program.

Home occupation—An occupation, for gain, conducted by the occupant, in a dwelling unit or accessory building, which is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for residential purposes and is subject to the regulations of this chapter and requires a home occupation permit. Requests for home occupation permits are made to the building official. Any appeal of home occupation permit decisions made by the building official shall be to the zoning board of adjustment. (See also, section 126.5.3)

Hospice—Temporary residence for patients and their families receiving medical or psychological care from a licensed institution. May include family counseling, group therapy, psychiatric treatment and training of family members by authorized practitioners in the provision of a caring environment for supplying the physical and emotional needs of the ill and their families. Includes homes for alcoholic, narcotic, or psychiatric patients, and institutions for patients with a contagious disease, such as tuberculosis sanitariums.

Hospital—An institution providing in-patient medical or surgical care for the acutely sick, chronically ill, or injured, included as an integral part of the institutions are such related facilities as laboratories, outpatient departments, educational facilities, food services and staff offices. Includes homes for alcoholic, narcotic, or psychiatric patients, and institutions for patients with a contagious disease, such as tuberculosis sanitariums.

Hotel—One or more buildings containing individual living or sleeping units specially designed as temporary quarters for payment for transient guests, including provisions for meals and personal services.

Institution—Building housing an organization dedicated to public or nonprofit service.

Junkyard—The use of premises of any size for the storage, handling, dismantling, wrecking, keeping, or sale of wrecked or discarded automobiles and/or other vehicles and parts thereof, or for the storage of wood, plastic, fiber, or any other tangible scrap materials.

Kennel, public—A commercial operation that provides food and shelter and care of animals for purposes not primarily related to medical care (a kennel may or may not be run by or associated with a veterinarian) or engages in the breeding of animals for sale and does not include veterinary hospitals, or the humane societies, or animal shelters or pounds approved by a governmental agency. No public kennel may be kept, maintained, used, operated or occupied without a special permit obtained from city council, and no permit shall be granted for a period longer than 12 months. Refer also to section 14-89 of this Code.

Kennel, private—A place at or adjoining a private residence where not more than four adult dogs, owned by the persons residing on said property, are bred (private breeding kennel) or kept for the purpose of hunting, training, for fieldwork, obedience trials, and other competition or for the enjoyment of the species. Dogs under the age of four months shall not be included for the purposes of determining the total number of dogs within the private kennel. Refer also to section 14-89 of this Code.

Loading and unloading area—The area required for delivery of goods, merchandise, people or equipment.

Loft apartment—One or more dwelling units which contain living facilities, including provisions for sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation purposes. Any loft apartment shall at a minimum meet the following requirements:

(a)

Be a minimum of 600 square feet.

(b)

Meet all building and fire codes.

(c)

The loft apartment shall be permitted in any building in which there is an existing or proposed commercial use.

Lot—A portion of a legally platted subdivision that is shown as a lot, tract, or parcel of land and can be held in separate ownership, as shown on the record of the county assessor. A legal lot is a parcel that has been divided in accordance with present or past zoning and subdivision requirements. (See graphic "A.")

Lot, corner—A lot abutting two or more streets at their intersection.

Lot depth—The horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines as an average of the distance at each side of the lot.

Lot division—The subdivision or division of a lot, tract, or parcel of land into two or more separate lots, tracts, or parcels.

Lot, double frontage—An interior lot fronting on two or more streets. All frontages on streets shall be construed as front yards unless access to the street is legally denied.

Lot frontage—The width of a lot as measured at the front property line.

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

Lot of record—A legal lot, tract, or parcel, the map or deed of which has been recorded in the office of the county clerk.

Lot width—The width of a lot as measured at the front or rear building setback line or yard, whichever is less. (See graphic "A.")

Ministorage unit—Small, permanent storage units, no larger than ten feet wide by 20 feet long, inside measurement, each used for the sole purpose of storage and strictly prohibiting the use for any other business.

Mobile home—A structure that was constructed before June 15, 1976, 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.

Manufactured home—A structure, constructed on or after June 15, 1976, according to the rules of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, 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. The term does not include a recreational vehicle as that term is defined by 24 CFR 3 3282.8(q).

Mobile or manufactured home park—A parcel of land on which space is leased for terms of 12 months or less, or rented for occupancy for 30 days or more by mobile or manufactured homes, and which contains permanent facilities for the use of mobile or manufactured homes and their occupants. A mobile or manufactured home park can include locations for recreational vehicles and travel trailers.

Mobile or manufactured home subdivision—A parcel of land equal to one city block or its equivalent, subdivided into lots individually owned and utilized at the site for placement of a single mobile or manufactured home, not including recreational vehicles or travel trailers.

Modular home or housing unit (MDH)—A standardized factory-fabricated transportable building module not having a chassis or wheels of its own, designed and constructed in accordance with all applicable local building codes and intended to be placed on a permanent foundation, meeting all local zoning codes and to be used by itself or incorporated with similar units at a building site. Modular homes can be used for residential or commercial uses when located in appropriate zoning districts.

Motel—Any building or portion thereof or group of buildings containing five or more quest rooms or suites where such rooms or suites are directly accessible from an outdoor parking area and where each is used, designed or intended to be used, let or hired out for occupancy by transient guests for compensation or profit.

Motor vehicle repair—The repair of cars, recreational vehicles, trucks or any motorized vehicle, maintenance, oil and grease, battery charging, tire repair, engine or transmission overhaul and shall not display vehicles for sale except in districts allowing such sales. Such establishment shall not perform vehicle body repair.

Nonsingle-family residential—Any residential use in which there are more than one dwelling unit per lot.

Nonconforming use—The use of land or a building, lot or structure, or a portion thereof, which does not conform to the current land use regulations of the zoning district in which it is located.

Nuisance—The use of property or land which creates unusual, unnecessary, or undue problems or situations for persons in the vicinity that would not have normally occurred otherwise.

Nursing home—An institution which provides meals and resident care and services for persons who are generally admitted for periods of time exceeding 30 days. Such service includes custodial or attendant care, and may or may not provide for routine and regular medical and nursing services. Nursing and care homes include homes for the aged, and convalescent and rest homes.

Open space—That area of a lot, tract, or parcel not devoted to any building or structure.

Overlay district—An additional district that is overlaid upon other base districts and the land so encumbered may be used in a manner permitted in the underlying district only if such use is also permitted in the applicable overlay district. The regulations of both the overlay district and the underlying zoning district apply for any property in an overlay district. In the case of conflict between the regulations of the underlying district and the overlay district, the most restrictive regulations take precedence.

Permanent accessory building—A building or structure which is permanently attached to a slab or foundation, the use of which is clearly incidental to the principal building and which is located on the same lot.

Person—An individual, trustee, executor, other fiduciary, corporation, firm, partnership, association, organization, or other entity acting as a unit.

Place of worship—A building in which persons regularly assemble for religious worship.

Pool house—An accessory building, associated with a swimming pool, that may contain restrooms and clothes changing facilities and may contain cooking facilities but is not used for dwelling purposes.

Public right-of-way—The land area deeded, reserved, or otherwise acquired by the city, the county, or the state public use.

Recreational vehicle (RV), (travel trailer)—A vehicular-type unit, not exceeding eight feet in width, primarily designed as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping or travel use, which has its own motive power or is mounted on or drawn by another vehicle. The basic entities are travel trailer, camping trailer, truck camper, motor home or other individual camping unit.

Recreational vehicle park (RV park)—A parcel of land under single ownership upon which two or more recreational vehicle sites are located, established, or maintained for occupancy by recreational vehicles of the general public as temporary living quarters for recreation or vacation purposes.

Recreational vehicle site (RV site)—That plot of ground within a recreational vehicle park intended for the accommodation of a recreational vehicle on a temporary basis.

Religious institution—A building in which persons regularly assemble for religious worship and activities intended primarily for purposes connected with such worship or for propagating a particular form of religious belief.

Riding school or stable—Any place which has available for hire, boarding, and/or riding instruction any horse, pony, donkey, mule, or burro. Refer to section 14-31 of this Code.

Satellite dish—A type of parabolic antenna designed with the specific purpose of transmitting signals to and/or receiving from satellites. Modern dishes intended for home television use are generally 18 inches to 31 inches in diameter and are usually attached to the exterior of a structure.

School—Public and private, primary and secondary educational facilities providing education up through and including the 12th-grade level. Uses providing educational facilities as well as long-term treatment or rehabilitative services are not considered schools for the purposes of this definition.

School, vocational/technical—A secondary or higher educational facility primarily teaching skills that prepare students for jobs in a trade and/or meeting the state requirement for a vocational facility such as a barber/beauty college, or electrical training.

Screening and buffering—The use of walls, thick shrubbery, or similar materials to minimize the potentially adverse impact of one land use on another.

Setback—The distance between a wall or any projection of a building and the property line excluding steps, unenclosed porches, and roof eaves or roof overhangs, or as allowed by the building code as encroachments.

Stall or parking space—The area set for parking of one vehicle.

Story—A single-level area between a floor and its ceiling, excluding all subterranean building area. A minimum story height is eight feet and a maximum story height is 14 feet.

Street—A public thoroughfare, not including an alley, that affords principal means of access to adjacent property.

Street, arterial—A street that accommodates a large volume of comparatively high-speed traffic from one area of the city to another.

Street, collector—A street which carries moderate volumes of traffic from local or minor residential streets to the major arterial streets and highways.

Street, cul-de-sac—A street that terminates in a vehicular turnaround.

Street, residential—A street of relatively short length and width that provides direct access to a limited number of abutting residential properties, and is designed to discourage its use for through traffic.

Street line—The outermost boundary or property line of a street right-of-way that is the mutual property line of abutting properties.

Structural alteration—Any change in the supporting members of a building, such as bearing walls, columns, beams, or girders, or any increase in the floor area.

Structure—Anything constructed or erected.

Tower—Any structure that is designed and constructed primarily for the purpose of supporting one or more antennas, including self-supporting lattice towers, guy towers or monopole towers. The term includes radio and television transmission and reception towers, microwave towers, common-carrier towers, cellular telephone towers, and the like, but shall not include towers accessory to residential uses. Towers accessory to residential uses shall mean amateur radio equipment not used for commercial purposes, including ham radio and CB equipment.

Townhouse—A single-family residence consisting of one of a group of three or more attached dwelling units divided from each other by common walls and each having a separate entrance leading directly to the outdoors at ground level or no more than one-half story above ground level.

Use—The activity or function that actually takes place or is intended to take place on a lot.

Variance—A relaxation of the exact terms of this chapter where granting such variance will not be contrary to the public interest and where, owing to conditions peculiar to the property and not the result of actions of the applicant, a literal enforcement of this chapter would result in unnecessary and undue hardship. As used in this chapter, a variance may be authorized only for area, height, dimension, distance, setback, off-street parking, and off-street loading requirements or as elsewhere specifically authorized by the chapter. A variance to this zoning chapter can only be approved by the zoning board of adjustment.

Vehicle accommodation area—That portion of a lot that is used by vehicles for access, circulation, parking, loading and unloading. It comprises all circulation areas, loading and unloading areas, and parking areas.

Veterinary hospital—Any establishment maintained and operated by a licensed veterinarian for surgery, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases and injuries of animals.

Visibility triangle—A triangular area adjacent to the intersection of any street or driveway established by measuring a distance of 20 feet from the point of intersection of two streets or drives along the right-of-way of each of the intersecting streets or drives and connecting the ends of each measured distance, to assure adequate visibility sight lines for vehicular traffic approaching the intersection. (See graphic "D.")

Warehouse—A building used primarily for storage of products or wares, in conjunction with retail stores, not including accessory uses such as storerooms or stockrooms. Ministorage or off-site self-storage of household goods and similar uses shall not be construed as a warehouse use.

Workshop, private—A room or a building incidental to a principal structure, which provides both the area and the tools that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods.

Yard—The space on a lot including sidewalks, driveways, patios, and other ground level surfaces, which is unobstructed by buildings from the ground to the sky. (See graphic "B.")

Yard, front—The required setback between a front property line and a building or structure.

Yard, rear—The required setback between a rear property line and a building or structure.

Yard, side, interior—The required setback between an interior side property line and a building or structure.

Yard, side, corner—The required setback between a corner lot side property line and a building or structure.

Zero lot line—A common side lot line on which a wall of a structure may be constructed.

(Ord. No. 2015-03, § II, 3-12-2015)