For the purpose of interpreting this chapter, certain words and terms shall be interpreted as indicated below. All other words used in this chapter shall have their customary dictionary definitions.

(1)

Word interpretation.

a.

The word "person" includes a firm, association, organization, partnership, corporation, trust, family, and company as well as an individual.

b.

The word "lot" includes the words "plot" and "parcel."

c.

The word "building" includes the word "structure."

d.

The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory.

e.

The word "may" is permissive and not mandatory.

f.

The words "used" and "occupied" include "intended, arranged, or designed to be" used or occupied.

g.

The word "city" shall mean the City of Ranson, a municipal corporation in the State of West Virginia.

h.

The words "ordinance," "regulations," and "requirements" unless otherwise explained, mean this official zoning ordinance of the City of Ranson, West Virginia.

i.

The words "map," "zoning map," and "official zoning map" shall mean the official zoning map of the city.

j.

References to "city council," "planning commission," "board of adjustment," or similar official board shall mean the corresponding public body of municipal government in the city.

(2)

Specific definitions.

Accessory building or use: A nonattached building or use clearly incidental to a principal building or use, serving or contributing to the principal building or use, subordinate in area, extent and/or purpose to the principal building or use, and located on the same lot as the principal building or use. The term "accessory buildings or uses" includes the terms "garages," "storage sheds," "playhouses," and "swimming pools."

Artisan manufacturing: The shared or individual use of hand-tools, mechanical tools and electronic tools for the manufacture of finished products or parts including design, processing, fabrication, assembly, treatment, and packaging of products; as well as the incidental storage, sales and distribution of such products. Typical artisan manufacturing uses include, but are not limited to electronic goods, food, and bakery products; beverages; printmaking; household appliances: leather products; jewelry and clothing/apparel; metal work; furniture; glass or ceramic production; paper manufacturing.

Automobile service station: A business providing gasoline, oil, grease, tires, batteries, accessories, minor maintenance and related services.

Boardinghouse: A building where, for compensation, lodging with or without meals for nontransient persons is provided.

Building: Any structure having a roof supported by columns or by walls designed for shelter, housing, enclosure of persons, animals, property or business activity.

Building height: The vertical distance from the highest point of the building, excluding spires, antennas, and any other specific exceptions in the "General provisions" section of this chapter.

District: A zoning district is an area within the city in which the zoning regulations are uniform.

Duplex: A residence designed for or occupied by two families only with separate housekeeping and cooking facilities for each.

Dwelling, multi-family: A dwelling containing two or more dwelling units, including apartment houses, townhouses, condominiums and duplexes.

Dwelling unit: A building or portion thereof providing complete living facilities (bathroom, kitchen, sleeping quarters) for one family.

Family: One or more persons occupying a single dwelling unit, provided that unless all members are related by blood or marriage, no such family shall contain over five persons.

Family care home: A home with support and supervisory personnel that provides room, residential care and habitation services in a family environment for not more than six resident handicapped persons.

Fence: Any permanent partition, structure, or gate erected as a dividing marker, barrier, or enclosure, including hedges or living bushes or shrubs, encircling either wholly or any portion of any area. See section 16-179 for fencing standards.

Frontage: All the property abutting one side of a street, measured along the street line.

Garage, private: An accessory structure to a dwelling designed for the storage of family motor vehicles and in which no business, occupation, or service is conducted.

Home occupation: Work for compensation conducted within a dwelling by a person or family residing therein. Home occupations are extensions of traditional home-making activities and crafts or professions which are generally only headquartered in the home and do not customarily have regular hours for the public. Customary home occupations include, but are not limited to, dress making, seam stressing, cooking and baking, quilting, hairdressing, music instructing, renting (but not more than one room to boarders), insurance sales-persons, accountants, bookkeepers, consultants, and manufacturers' sales representatives.

Hotel: A commercial structure and business in which sleeping accommodations are provided, including customary accessory uses, if they are a physical and integrated part of the principal use. The term "hotel" includes the terms "motel" and "tourist home."

Industrial district: A category which provides for the location of industrial uses that are able to be performed in such a manner as to control the external effects of the process, such as smoke, noise, soot, dirt, vibration, odor, etc. Uses within this category, other than outside storage, shall be conducted within an enclosed building. Generally, industrial uses involve materials that have previously been prepared, or raw materials that do not need refining. These uses do not create a noticeable amount of noise, dust, odor, smoke, glare, or vibration outside of the building or on the site in which the activity takes place.

Lot: A parcel of land intended as a unit for transfer of ownership or for development or both.

Lot, corner: A lot abutting a street on two intersecting sides of the lot.

Lot depth: The average distance between front and rear lot lines.

Lot frontage: The distance between the two side lot lines as measured along the street right-of-way.

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

Mobile home: A factory-assembled, movable dwelling designed and constructed to be towed on its own chassis, comprised of frame and wheels, to be used without a permanent foundation and distinguishable from other types of dwellings in that the standards to which it is built include provisions for its mobility on that chassis as a vehicle.

Nonconforming lot: A lot which does not conform to the district regulations in which it is located.

Nonconforming structure: A building, mobile home, wall, fence, sign or other structure which does not conform to the regulations of this chapter.

Nonconforming use: A use of land and/or structure which was a conforming use prior to the effective date of the ordinance from which this chapter is derived.

Permitted use: A use permitted by right in a district, not subject to approval as a special exception nor prohibited in the district.

Principal building or use: The principal purpose for which the lot or the main structure thereon is designed, arranged, intended or used.

Restaurant, drive-in: A food service establishment whereby food is dispensed directly over the counter and consumed in the vehicle or served directly to customers in vehicles.

Right-of-way: An area dedicated to and/or maintained by the city, chartered public utilities, or the state for the placement of roads and/or utilities.

Setback: The minimum required distance between the lot line and the building line.

Shopping center: Two or more commercial establishments planned and constructed as a single unit with off-street parking and loading facilities provided on the property.

Special exception: A proposed special use which the board of adjustment must review to determine whether that use is compatible with authorized uses.

Street: A dedicated and accepted public right-of-way for vehicular traffic which provides the principle means of access to abutting properties.

Structure: Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires more or less permanent location on the ground, or which is attached to something more or less permanently located on the ground. Among other things, the term "structure" includes the terms "buildings," "manufactured housing," "walls," "fences," and "signs."

Variance: A device which grants a property owner relief from certain provisions of a zoning ordinance to relieve such owner from a particular hardship; in particular, relief from dimensional requirements.

Yard: A required open space on the same lot with a building or structure unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward except by trees, shrubbery, landscaping features, or other exceptions specified in this chapter.

Yard, front: A yard from the front line of the principal building to the street right-of-way or front property line extending across the full width of the lot.

Yard, rear: A yard from the rear line of the principal building to the rear lot line and extending across the full width of the lot.

Yard, side: A yard from the side-line of the principal building to side lot line and extending from the front yard to the rear yard.

(Ord. No. 233, § 1, 4-17-12; Ord. No. 298, § 1, 3-21-17; Ord. No. 321, § 1, 11-17-20; Ord. No. 355, 4-9-24)