For the purpose of this chapter, certain terms or words used herein shall be interpreted as follows: 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 building” means any structure designed and used (or intended to be used) for one of the accessory uses listed in each of the zoned districts set out in this chapter.

   2.   “Agriculture” means the use of land for agricultural purposes, including farming, dairying, pasturage, agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, silviculture, and animal and poultry husbandry. Included are the necessary accessory uses for packing, treating, or storing the product, providing that the operation of such accessory use is secondary to that of normal farming activities; but not including the feeding of garbage or offal to swine or other animals, commercial livestock feed lots or confinement stations, poultry farms, or commercial grain storage and drying facilities.

   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 rooms in a multiple dwelling intended or designated for use as a residence by a single family.

   5.   “Awning” means a roof-like cover entirely supported by and extending from a building for the purpose of protecting openings therein from the elements.

   6.   “Basement” means that portion of a building having part but not more than one-half its height below grade. A basement shall be counted as a story if the vertical distance from the average adjoining grade to its ceiling is over five feet.

   7.   “Billboard,” as used in this chapter, includes all structures, regardless of the material used in the construction of the same, which are erected, maintained, or used for public display of posters, painted signs, or wall signs, whether the structure is placed on the wall or painted on the wall itself, pictures, or other pictorial reading matters that advertise a business or attraction that is not carried on or manufactured in or upon the premises upon which said signs or billboards are located.

   8.   “Board” means the Board of Adjustment of the City of Prairie City.

   9.   “Boarding house” means a building (other than a hotel) where for compensation, meals and/or lodging is provided for four or more persons.

   10.   “Building” means any structure designed or intended for the support, enclosure, shelter, or protection of persons, animals, or property, but not including signs or billboards.

   11.   “Building height of” means the vertical distance from the average natural grade at the building line to the highest point of 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. On a corner lot, the height is the mean vertical distance from the average natural grade at the building line, from the higher of the two grades.

   12.   “Building lines” means a line defining the minimum front, side, and rear yard requirements outside of which no building or structure may be located, except as otherwise provided herein.

   13.   “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.

   14.   “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.

   15.   “Common land” means a parcel or parcels of land, together with the improvements thereon, whether retained in private ownership or the shared use and enjoyment of the owners and occupants of the individual building units in a planned unit development, or dedicated to the general public.

   16.   “Conditional permit” means a permit issued in view of specified conditions, limitations, or restrictions, and which is subject to review or cancellation by the issuing department.

   17.   “Court” means an open, unoccupied, unobstructed space except for trees, shrubs, statuary, or other articles normally considered accessory to landscaping, which is bounded on two or more sides by a building on the same lot.

   18.   “Cul-de-sac” means a local street having one end open to vehicular traffic and the other end terminated by a vehicular turnaround.

   19.   “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.

   20.   “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.

   21.   “Dwelling” means any building (or portion thereof) that is designed or used exclusively for residential purposes, but not including a tent, cabin, trailer, or trailer coach.

   22.   “Dwelling, condominium” means a multiple dwelling as defined herein whereby the fee title to each dwelling unit is held independently of the others.

   23.   “Dwelling, multiple” means a building or portion thereof designed for or occupied by more than two families with separate housekeeping and cooking facilities for each.

   24.   “Dwelling, row” means any one of three or more attached dwellings in a continuous row, each such dwelling designed and erected as a unit on a separate lot and separated from one another by an approved wall or walls.

   25.   “Dwelling, single-family” means a building designed for or occupied exclusively for residence purposes by one family.

   26.   “Dwelling, two-family” (duplex) means a building designed for or occupied exclusively by two families with separate housekeeping and cooking facilities for each.

   27.   “Family” means one or more persons occupying a single housekeeping unit and using common cooking facilities.

   28.   “Family home” means a community-based residential home which is licensed as a residential care facility under Chapter 135C or as a child foster care facility under Chapter 237 to provide room and board, personal care, habilitation services, and supervision in a family environment exclusively for not more than eight (8) persons with a developmental disability or brain injury and any necessary support personnel. However, family home does not mean an individual foster care family home licensed under Chapter 237 of the Code of Iowa.

   29.   “Farm” means an area comprising ten acres or more which is used for agriculture.

   30.   “Feed lot” means any parcel of land or premises on which the principal use is the concentrated feeding within a confined area of cattle, hogs, or sheep. A commercial feedlot is a feedlot in which the livestock or feed are owned by someone other than the owner of the feedlot.

   31.   “Fences, walls, and hedges” means decorative and/or enclosing devices used along boundary lines of lots. Fences, walls, and hedges may be constructed up to the lot line in accordance with the height rules set out in this chapter.

   32.   “Frontage” means all the property on one side of a street between two intersecting streets (crossing or terminating) measured along the line of the street, or if the street is dead-ended, then all of the property abutting on one side between an intersecting street and the dead end of the street.

   33.   “Garage, private” means an accessory building, or an accessory portion of the principal building, designed and or used for the shelter or storage of vehicles owned or operated by the occupants of the principal building, except that a one- or two-car capacity garage may be rented for the private vehicles of persons not residents on the premises, but not more than one vehicle owner or operated by the occupants may be used for business purposes.

   34.   “Garage, public automobile” means any building or premises (other than a private garage) used for equipping, refueling, servicing, repairing, hiring, selling, or storing automobiles, excluding body and fender repair shops.

   35.   “Garage, public trucks” means any building or premises (other than a private garage) used for equipping, refueling, servicing, repairing, hiring, selling, or storing trucks.

   36.   “Garage, public farm tractors, and other mobile machinery” means any building or premises (other than a private garage) used for equipping, refueling, servicing, repairing, hiring, selling, or storing farm tractors and/or other mobile machinery.

   37.   “Grade, finished” means the average elevation of the finished surface of the ground adjacent to the exterior walls of the main building.

   38.   “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.

   39.   “Junk yard” means any area where waste, discarded, or salvaged materials are bought, sold, exchanged, baled or packed, disassembled, or handled, including house wrecking yards, used lumber yards, and places or yards for storage of salvaged house wrecking and structural steel materials and equipment, including automobile, tractor or machinery wrecking, and used parts yards, and the processing of used, discarded, or salvaged materials as part of manufacturing operations, but not including areas where such uses are conducted entirely within a completely enclosed building.

   40.   “Living space” means that part of the building that is enclosed and supported upon the main foundation system of the structure excluding garages, basements, and cellars.

   41.   “Loading space” means any off-street space or berth on the same lot with a building or contiguous to a group of buildings, for the temporary parking (less than twenty-four hours) of a commercial vehicle while loading or unloading merchandise or materials.

   42.   “Lodging house” means a building where lodging (only) is provided for compensation for four or more persons.

   43.   “Lot,” for zoning purposes, as covered by this chapter, a lot is a parcel of land at least of 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;

      B.   A portion of a lot of record;

      C.   A combination of complete lots of record, or complete lots of record and portions of lots of record, or of portions of lots of record;

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

   44.   “Lot line” means the lines defining the bounds of a lot.

   45.   Lot measurement definitions are as follows:

      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.

   46.   “Lot of record” means a lot which is part of a subdivision, the deed of which is recorded in the Office of the County Recorder of Jasper County, or a lot or parcel described by metes and bounds, the description of which has been so recorded.

   47.   Lot types are as follows:

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

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

      C.   “Through lot” is a lot other than a corner lot with frontage on more than one street other than an alley. Through lots with frontage on two streets may be referred to as “double frontage” lots.

      D.   “Reversed frontage lot” is 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.

   48.   “Manufactured home” means a factory-built structure, built under authority of 42 U.S.C. Sec. 5403, is required by federal law to display a seal from the United States Department of housing and urban development, and was constructed on or after June 15, 1976. If a manufactured home is placed in a mobile home park, the home must be titled and is subject to the mobile home square foot tax. If a manufactured home is placed outside of a mobile home park, the home is to be assessed and taxed as real estate. A manufactured home shall not be constructed with a permanent hitch or other device allowing it to be moved other than for the purpose of moving to a permanent site, and shall not have permanently attached to its body or frame any wheels or axles. A mobile home constructed to the Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards is not a manufactured home unless it has been converted to real property and is taxed as a site built dwelling as is provided in Code of Iowa, Section 435.26. For the purpose of any of these regulations, manufactured homes shall be considered the same as a single-family detached dwelling.

   49.   “Mobile home” means a vehicle without motive power used or so constructed as to permit its being used as a conveyance upon the public streets and highways and so designed, constructed, or reconstructed as will permit the vehicle to be used as a place for human habitation by one or more persons; but shall also include any vehicle with motive power not registered as a motor vehicle in Iowa. A “mobile home” is not built to a mandatory building code, contains no federal or state seals, and was built before June 15, 1976. If a mobile home is placed outside of a mobile home park, the home is to be assessed and taxed as real estate.

   50.   “Mobile home converted to real estate” means a mobile home which has been attached to a permanent foundation on real estate owned by the mobile home owner, rendering it totally immobile, and which has been inspected by the assessor, the mobile home vehicle title, registration, and license plates collected from the owner, and the property entered upon the tax roles of the County.

   51.   “Mobile home park” means any site, lot, field, or tract of land under common ownership upon which two or more occupied mobile homes, manufactured homes, modular homes, or a combination of the homes are harbored, either free of charge or for revenue purposes, and shall include any building, structure, tent, vehicle, or enclosure used or intended for use as part of the equipment of such mobile home park. The term "mobile home park" shall not be construed to include mobile homes, buildings, tents, or other structures temporarily maintained by an individual, educational institution, or company on their own premises and used exclusively to house their own labor or students. A “mobile home park” must be classified as to whether it is a residential mobile home park or a recreational mobile home park or both. The mobile home park residential landlord tenant act only applies to residential mobile home parks.

   52.   “Modular home” means a factory-built structure which is manufactured to be used as a place of human habitation, is constructed to comply with the Iowa State Building Code for modular factory-built structures, and must display the seal issued by the state building code commissioner. If a modular home is placed in a mobile home park, the home is subject to the annual tax as required by Section 435.22, Code of Iowa. If a modular home is placed outside a mobile home park, the home shall be considered real property and is to be assessed and taxed as real estate.

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

   54.   “Nonconforming use” means use of a building or of land that does not conform to the regulations as to use for the district in which it is situated.

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

   56.   “Parking space” means a permanently surfaced area of not less than 171 square feet for the parking of a motor vehicle.

   57.   “Principal permitted uses” means the uses designated under this chapter and are to be considered as guidelines. The administrating officer shall use his or her discretion in determining proper applications of use within these guidelines.

   58.   “Setback” means the building restriction line nearest the front of and across a lot establishing the minimum distance to be provided between the line of a building located on said lot and the nearest street right-of-way line.

   59.   “Sign” means any device designed to inform or to attract the attention of persons not on the premises on which the sign is located, provided, however, that the following shall not be included in the application of the regulations herein:

      A.   Signs not exceeding two square feet in area and bearing only property numbers, post box numbers, names of occupants of premises, not having commercial connotations.

      B.   Flags and insignias of any government except when displayed in connection with commercial promotion.

      C.   Legal notices, identification, information, or directional signs erected or required by governmental bodies.

      D.   Integral decorative or architectural features of buildings, except letters, trademarks, moving parts, or moving lights.

   60.   “Sign, building or wall” means a sign, other than a roof sign, which is supported by a building or wall.

      A.   “Fascia sign” is a single-faced building or wall sign that is parallel to its supporting wall.

      B.   “Projecting sign” is a building or wall sign other than a fascia sign.

   61.   “Sign, freestanding” means a sign which is supported by one or more uprights or braces in or upon the ground and not attached to any building or wall.

      A.   “Monument sign” is a freestanding sign affixed to a structure, built on grade, that forms an integral part of the sign or its background and is in conformance with the zoning requirements of the district in which it is located.

      B.   “Pole sign” is a freestanding table sign other than a portable sign or monument sign.

      C.   “Portable sign” is a freestanding sign not permanently anchored or secured.

   62.   “Sign, off-site” means a sign other than an on-site sign. (See “billboard.”)

   63.   “Sign, on-site” means a sign relating to its subject matter to the premises on which it is located, or to products, accommodations, services, or activities on the premises. On-site signs do not include signs erected by the outdoor advertising industry in the conduct of the outdoor advertising business.

   64.   “Sign, roof” means a sign erected upon or above a roof or parapet of a building.

   65.   “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 or roof next above it.

   66.   “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.

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

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

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

   70.   “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, structures include buildings, walls, fences, billboards, and poster panels.

   71.   “Subdivision” means a division of a lot, tract or parcel of land into three or more lots, plats, or sites, for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of sale, lease, conveyance, or transfer with the appurtenant streets, alleys, and easements, dedicated or intended to be dedicated to public use or for the use of purchasers or owners within the tract subdivided. If a new street is involved, any division of a parcel of and or the division into two or more parts of any residential lot shall also be deemed a subdivision.

   72.   “Tourist home” means a residential building in which rooms are available for rental purposes as overnight sleeping accommodations primarily for automobile travelers.

   73.   “Variance” means a modification of the specific regulations of this chapter granted by resolution of the Board of Adjustment in accordance with the terms of this chapter for the purpose of assuring that no property, because of special circumstances applicable to it, shall be deprived of privileges commonly enjoyed by other properties in the same vicinity and zone.

   74.   “Yard” means an open space on the same lot with a building, unoccupied and unobstructed by any portion of a structure or parking lot from the ground upward, excepting as otherwise provided herein. In measuring a yard for the purpose of determining the depth of a front yard or the depth of a rear yard, or width of a side yard, the least distance between the lot line and the main building shall be used, except that in no case shall any eave or overhang (or any other projection) extend into the said front, side, or rear yard by more than 24 inches. If eaves or overhangs exceed 24 inches, then the building shall be set back into the permissible building area as necessary to eliminate any eaves or overhangs from extending more than 24 inches. Fences and walls are permitted in any yard, subject to height limitations as indicated herein.

   75.   “Yard, front” means a yard extending across the full width of the lot and measured between the front lot line and the front of the building other than the projection of the usual steps or unenclosed porches. See “yard” for eave or overhang limitations.

   76.   “Yard, rear” means a yard extending across the full width of the lot and measured between the rear lot line and the building other than steps, unenclosed balconies, or unenclosed porches. On both corner lots and interior lots, rear yard is the opposite end of the lot from the front. See “yard” for eave or overhang limitations.

   77.   “Yard, side” means a yard extending from the front yard to the rear yard and measured between the side lot lines and the building. See “yard” for eave or overhang limitations.