For the purpose of this Ordinance, certain items, terms or words used herein shall be interpreted or defined as follows:

Words used in the present tense include the future tense.

The singular includes the plural.

The word "person" includes a firm, association, organization, partnership, trust, company or corporation as well as an individual. The words "used" or "occupied" include the words "intended," "designed," or "arranged" to be used or occupied.

The word "lot" includes the word "plot" or "parcel."

The term "shall" is mandatory; the term "may" is permissive.

The word "City" shall mean the City of Portales. The word "Council" shall mean the City Council of the City of Portales.

The word "Commission" shall mean the Planning Commission of the City of Portales.

ACCESSORY USE OR STRUCTURE—A use or structure incidental to the principal use of a building or land.

ALLEY—A public way, at the rear or side of property which has been dedicated or deeded to the public for public travel as a means of secondary access to abutting property.

ALTERATION—Any change in the supporting members of a building, such as bearing walls, beams, girders, joists, foundations, pilings, or retaining walls.

APARTMENT HOUSE—A building or portion thereof designed or used for three (3) or more dwelling units, with separate housekeeping and cooking facilities for each.

BASEMENT—A story in any building having less than one-half its average height below grade.

BUILDING—Any structure built, maintained or occupied for the support, shelter or enclosure of persons, animals, chattels, or property of any kind.

BUILDING HEIGHT—The vertical distance above the average existing grade measured to the highest point of the building. The height of a stepped or terraced building shall be the maximum height of any segment of the building.

BUILDING LINE—The line between which no building or other structure, or portion thereof, except as provided in this Ordinance, may be erected above the grade level. The building line is considered a vertical surface intersecting the ground on such line. (Ord. No. 430, § 1, 9-6-77)

BUILDING, MAIN—The building occupied by the primary use.

CELLAR—A story having one-half or more of its average height below grade.

DWELLING—A building used entirely for residential purposes.

DWELLING, SINGLE-FAMILY—A detached structure designed for and used by one family only for living purposes.

DWELLING, MULTI-FAMILY—A structure designed for and used by two or more families for living purposes, with separate housekeeping facilities for each.

FAMILY—An individual or two or more persons related by blood, marriage or adoption, or a group of not more than five persons, excluding servants, who are not related by blood, marriage, or adoption, living together as a single housekeeping unit in a dwelling.

GARAGE—PRIVATE—An accessory building housing one or more vehicles owned and used by occupants of the main building.

GARAGE—PUBLIC—A building, or portion thereof, designed or used for servicing, repairing, equipping, hiring, selling, or storing motor-driven vehicles.

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

HOME OCCUPATION—Any use conducted entirely within a dwelling and carried on by the inhabitants thereof, which use is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the structure for dwelling purposes and which does not change the character thereof or does not adversely affect the uses permitted in the district of which it is a part. (Ord. No. 430, § 2, 9-6-77)

HOTEL—A building designed for or occupied as the temporary abiding place of individuals, or used, rented or hired out to be occupied for sleeping purposes by guests who are lodged with or without meals, in which there are six or more guest rooms, but not including institutions or buildings in which individuals are housed or detained under legal restraint.

LOT—(1) A parcel of land abutting on one or more public streets with a separate and distinct number or other designation shown on a plat or record of survey filed in the office of the County Clerk, or (2) A parcel of real property abutting at least one public street and shown on the records of the County Assessor as held under separate ownership from adjacent property prior to effective date of this Ordinance.

LOT FRONTAGE—The front of a lot shall be construed to be that portion of a lot nearest the street.

LOT DEPTH—The horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines measured in the mean direction of the side lot lines.

LOT WIDTH—The horizontal distance between the side lot lines measured at right angles to the lot depth at the building lines.

LOT, CORNER—A lot situated at the intersection of two or more streets.

LOT, REVERSED CORNER—A corner lot, the side street line of which is substantially a continuation of the front line of the lot upon which it rears.

LOT, INTERIOR—A lot other than a corner lot.

LOT, THROUGH—A lot having frontage on two parallel or approximately parallel streets.

MOTEL—A group of attached or detached buildings containing individual sleeping or dwelling units with garage attached or parking space conveniently located to each unit, all for temporary use by automobile tourists or transients; includes auto courts, motor hotels, motor lodges, auto camps.

NON-CONFORMING BUILDING—A building or portion thereof lawfully existing at the time this Ordinance became effective and which was designed, erected or structurally altered for a use which does not conform to the district in which it is located, or which does not comply with all the height and area regulations of the district in which it is located.

NON-CONFORMING USE—A use of a building or land existing at the time of adoption of this Ordinance which does not conform to the regulations for the district in which it is located as set forth in this Ordinance.

PARKING SPACE, AUTOMOBILE—Space within a building or public parking area for the temporary parking or storage of one automobile consisting of a minimum area nine feet wide by twenty feet long, exclusive of streets, alleys, driveways, aisles, and the area of egress and ingress, and having access at all times to a public street or alley.

REST HOMES—A building where lodging and meals, and nursing, dietary, or other personal services are rendered to one or more convalescents, invalids, or aged persons for compensation, but excluding cases of contagious or communicable diseases, surgery, or primary treatment customarily provided in sanitariums or hospitals.

SALVAGE YARD—The use of more than two hundred square feet of the area of any lot, whether inside or outside of any building, for the storage, keeping or abandonment of junk, including scrap metals or other scrap material, or of the dismantling, demolition or abandonment of automobiles or other vehicles, or machinery or parts thereof.

SIGN—Any device for visual communication that is used for the purpose of bringing the subject thereof to the attention of the public.

STORY—That portion of a building included between the surface of a floor and the ceiling next above it.

STREET—Any public way which affords principal means of access to abutting properties.

STRUCTURE—Anything constructed or built, any edifice or building or any kind, or any piece of work artificially built or composed of parts joined together in some definite manner, which requires location in the ground or is attached to something having a location on the ground.

TRAILER, AUTOMOBILE—A vehicle without motive power, designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and to be used for human habitation or for carrying persons and property, including trailer coaches and mobile homes.

MOBILE HOME PARK—TRAILER COURT OR TRAILER PARK—Any area or tract of land where space is rented or held for rent to owners or users of auto trailers, trailer coaches, or mobile homes.

USE—The purpose for which land or buildings are arranged, designed or intended or for which either is or may be occupied or maintained.

YARD—A required open space unoccupied and unobstructed by any structure or portion of a structure from thirty inches above the general ground level of the graded lot upward, provided, however, that fences and walls may be permitted in any yard subject to the height limitation indicated herein.

YARD, FRONT—A yard extending across the full width of the lot, the depth of which is the minimum horizontal distance between the front lot line and a line parallel thereto on the lot.

YARD, REAR—A yard contiguous to the rear line of a lot and extending from side lot line to side lot line.

YARD, SIDE—A yard between the main building and the side lot line, extending from the front yard to the rear yard.

All other words, terms, and phrases used in this Ordinance shall have the meanings generally ascribed to them or as defined or used in the New Mexico Statutes related to Planning.

(Ord. No. 669, 10-2-07)