For the purpose of this chapter, certain terms and words are hereby defined. The words “used” or “occupied” include the words “intended, designed or arranged to be used or occupied.”

   1.   Words beginning with “A.”

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

      B.   “Alley” means a public or private thoroughfare which affords only a secondary means of access to abutting property.

      C.   “Apartment” means a single room or set of rooms occupied as a dwelling (including independent sleeping, sanitary, and cooking facilities) which is part of multi-family structure.

      D.   “Awning” or “canopy” means a roof-like cover extending over or before a place as a shelter. An awning shall have a pedestrian head clearance of at least seven feet.

   2.   Words beginning with “B.”

      A.   “Basement” means a story having more than one-half of its height below grade. A basement is not counted as a story for the purpose of height regulations.

      B.   “Billboard” means a structure, regardless of the material used, that is erected, maintained, or used for public display of posters, painted signs, or wall signs, whether the structure be placed on the wall or painted itself, pictures or other pictorial reading material which advertise a business or attraction which is not carried on, manufactured, grown, or sold on the premises where said sign or billboard is located.

      C.   “Block” means property abutting on at least one street and lying within two or more intersecting or parallel streets or unsubdivided acreage or railroad right-of-way.

      D.   “Boarding, rooming, or lodging house” or “bed and breakfast” means a building other than a hotel where for compensation, and by arrangement, lodging is provided.

      E.   “Buildable area” means the portion of a lot remaining after required yards have been provided.

      F.   “Building” means a structure designed or intended for the support, enclosure, shelter, or protection of persons, animals, or property.

      G.   “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 average height of the highest gable of a pitch or hip roof.

      H.   “Business,” “commercial,” and “manufacturing” means the engaging in the purchase, sale, or exchange of goods or services, or the operation for profit of offices or recreational amusement enterprises.

   3.   Words beginning with “C.”

      A.   “Carport” means space for the housing or storage of motor vehicles and enclosed on not more than two sides by walls. A carport may be attached to another building or be an accessory structure.

      B.   “Club” or “lodge” (private) means an association of persons for the promotion of a nonprofit objective, who are bona fide members paying annual dues, which owns, hires, or leases a building, or portion thereof, the use of such premises being restricted to members and their guests. It shall be permissible to serve food and meals to members and their guests on such premises provided adequate dining room space and kitchen facilities are available and are operated in compliance with State and municipal laws.

   4.   Words beginning with “D.”

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

      B.   “Driveway” means a traffic way providing access for vehicles to a building on property abutting a public street.

      C.   “Dwelling” means any building or portion thereof designed or used exclusively for residential purposes, but not including a tent or seasonal trailer. A mobile home which has been converted to real estate and is greater in width than 20 feet and has a permanent foundation and is attached to normal City utilities, is considered a dwelling for purposes of this chapter.

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

      E.   “Dwelling, single-family” means a detached residence designed for or occupied by only one family and contains independent cooking facilities for the family.

      F.   “Dwelling, two-family” means a residence designed for or occupied by two families, with separate entrances, housekeeping, and cooking facilities for each.

   5.   Words beginning with “E.”

      A.   “Essential services” means the erection, construction, alteration, or maintenance by developers, public utilities, or governmental agencies of underground or overhead gas, telephone, television, electrical, wastewater collection, water transmission or distribution systems, including poles, wires, mains, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits, cables, traffic signals, hydrants, and other similar equipment and accessories in connection therewith reasonably necessary for the furnishing of adequate service by such public utilities or governmental agencies or for public health or safety or general welfare.

   6.   Words beginning with “F.”

      A.   “Family” means one or more persons occupying a dwelling and living as a single housekeeping unit, as distinguished from a group occupying a boarding or lodging house, nursing or convalescent home, hotel or motel, as herein defined.

      B.   “Farm/Agriculture” means an area which is used for the growing of the usual farm products such as vegetables, fruits, and grains and their storage on the area, as well as for the raising thereon of the usual farm poultry and farm animals, but not including the concentrated feeding of animals within a confined area. The definition includes the operating of such area for one or more of the above uses with the necessary accessory uses for treating or storing the produce, provided, however, that the operation of any such accessory uses shall be secondary to that of the normal farming activity and such accessory uses do not include the feeding of garbage or offal to swine or other animals.

      C.   “Fence” means an erection intended to prevent escape or intrusion or to mark a boundary. For purposes of this chapter, a fence is composed of posts, wire, or boards. Within a required front yard, fences shall not exceed 48 inches in height and shall not be opaque.

   7.   Words beginning with “G.”

      A.   “Garage, commercial” means a building, or portion thereof, designed, intended, or used for the equipping, servicing, selling, hiring, storing, care, or repair of motor vehicles, and which is operated for commercial purposes.

      B.   “Garage, private” means an enclosed structure intended for and used for the parking of the private motor vehicles of the families resident upon the premises.

      C.   “Gasoline service stations” means any building or premises used for the retail sale of liquid fuels, oils, and other items customarily associated with the sale of such products, but not for the purpose of making other than minor repairs. When the dispensing, retail sale, or offering for retail sale is incidental to the conduct of a commercial garage, the premises shall be classified as a commercial garage.

      D.   “Grade” means the average level of the finished surface of the ground adjacent to the exterior walls of the building.

      E.   “Granny flat” means a temporary accessory residential structure placed on a residential zoned lot and occupied by relatives of the owners of the lot on which it is located.

   8.   Words beginning with “H.”

      A.   “Home occupation” means an occupation or a profession conducted in a dwelling unit, which:

         (1)   Is customarily carried on in a dwelling unit or accessory buildings, and

         (2)   Is carried on by a member of the family residing in the dwelling unit, and

         (3)   Is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling unit for residential purposes, and

         (4)   Does not employ more than two persons outside the immediate family, and

         (5)   Has no exterior display, no exterior storage of materials, and no other exterior indication of the home occupation or variation from the residential character of the principal building, other than one exterior sign mounted flush with the face of the building, which sign shall not exceed four square feet in area, and

         (6)   Does not occupy more than 30 percent of the area of the dwelling unit, and

         (7)   Produces no offensive noise, vibration, smoke, excessive congestion, dust, odors, heat, or glare rendering such building or premises objectionable or detrimental to the residential character of the neighborhood.

   9.   Words beginning with “I.”

   10.   Words beginning with “J.”

      A.   “Junk yard” means any area where waste, discarded or salvaged materials are bought, sold, exchanged, baled or packed, disassembled, kept, stored 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; but not including areas where such uses are conducted entirely within a completely enclosed building, and not including automobile, tractor, or machinery wrecking and used parts yards, and the processing of used, discarded, or salvaged materials as part of manufacturing operations. Where permitted by district regulations, salvage shall either be located within a rear yard or fully enclosed within a building. In addition, junk yards located within 1,000 feet of a State, federal, or County highway shall obtain a current “recycler’s license” from the Iowa Department of Transportation. Junk yards located over 1,000 feet from a State, federal, or County highway shall be screened from view from a public street by the same screening regulations as provided by the Iowa Department of Transportation when granting a “recycler’s license.”

      B.   “Junk vehicle” or “junk machinery” means any vehicle or portion thereof not in running condition or not licensed for the current year as provided by law and not legally placed in storage with the County Treasurer, or any other vehicle or machinery which, because of its defective or obsolete condition, or rotted, rusted, or loose parts, or in any other way constitutes a threat to the health and safety of the citizens and is a nuisance within the meaning of Section 657.1 of the Code of Iowa.

   11.   Words beginning with “K.”

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

   12.   Words beginning with “L.”

      A.   “Lot” means a parcel of land of at least sufficient size to meet minimum zoning requirements for use, coverage, and area to provide such yards and other open space as herein required. Such lot shall have frontage on a public street and may consist of:

         (1)   A single lot of record;

         (2)   A portion of a lot of record;

         (3)   A combination of complete lots of record; of complete lots of record and portions of lots of record; or of portions of lots of record; and

         (4)   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.

      B.   “Lot area” means the area of a horizontal plane bounded by the front, side, and rear lot lines.

      C.   “Lot, corner” means a lot fronting on two intersecting streets.

      D.   “Lot depth” means the mean horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines.

      E.   “Lot, interior” means a lot other than a corner lot.

      F.   “Lot lines” means the lines bounding a lot.

      G.   “Lot line, front,” in the case of an interior lot, abutting on only one street, means the street line of such lot. In the case of any other lot, the front lot line shall be considered as the line adjacent to the street upon which the lot has its least dimension.

      H.   “Lot line, rear” means that boundary line which is opposite and most distant from the front line.

      I.   “Lot line, side” means any boundary line not a front lot line or a rear lot line.

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

      K.   “Lot, through” means an interior lot having frontage on two parallel, or approximately parallel, streets and also known as a double fronted lot.

      L.   “Lot width” means the width of a lot as measured at the required front yard setback line.

   13.   Words beginning with “M.”

      A.   “Mobile home” means a vehicle used, or so originally constructed as to permit being used, as conveyance upon the public streets or highways and duly licensed as such, and constructed in such a manner as will permit occupancy thereof for human habitation, dwellings, or sleeping places for one or more persons, provided further that this definition refers to and includes all portable contrivances used or intended to be used generally for living and sleeping quarters and which is capable of being moved by its own power, towed, or transported by another vehicle. Mobile homes of less than 20 feet in width shall be located within a mobile home park. (See also definition for “dwelling.”)

      B.   “Mobile home converted to real estate” means a mobile home, at least 20 feet in width, which has been attached to a permanent foundation on real estate, which has had the vehicular frame destroyed rendering it impossible to reconvert to a mobile home, and which has been inspected by the assessor, the mobile home title, registration, and license plates collected from the owner and the property entered on the tax rolls of the County.

      C.   “Mobile home park” or “trailer park” means any lot or portion of a lot upon which one or more mobile homes or trailers for dwelling or sleeping purposes are located regardless of whether or not a charge is made for such accommodations.

      D.   “Motel,” “motor court,” “motor lodge,” or “tourist court” means any building or group of buildings containing guest rooms primarily for temporary occupancy, and laid out to provide space for parking vehicles used by the traveling public. Such building or group of buildings may include quarters for the use of the operating personnel.

   14.   Words beginning with “N.”

      A.   “Nursing home” (including convalescent and group homes) means a building or structure having accommodations and where care is provided for invalid, infirm, aged, convalescent, or physically disabled or injured persons, but not including penal or disciplinary cases.

   15.   Words beginning with “O.”

   16.   Words beginning with “P.”

      A.   “Parking space” means a surfaced area of not less than 180 square feet plus necessary maneuvering space for the parking of a motor vehicle. Space for maneuvering, incidental to parking or unparking, shall not encroach upon any public right-of-way.

      B.   “Porch, unenclosed” means a roofed projection which is partially enclosed by a building or siding material other than meshed screens.

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

      D.   “Professional office” means any building or part thereof used by one or more persons engaged in the practice of law, accounting, architecture, medicine, engineering, or other occupation customarily considered as a profession.

   17.   Words beginning with “Q.”

   18.   Words beginning with “R.”

      A.   “Roadside stand” means a temporary structure, unenclosed, and so designed and constructed so the structure is easily portable or can be readily moved, and which is adjacent to a road and used for a sale of farm products produced or grown on the premises.

   19.   Words beginning with “S.”

      A.   “Shouses” means a structure more than 50 percent garage, but no less than 30 percent living quarters. Any residential structure meeting the definition of a shouse shall meet the following criteria:

         (1)   Shouses shall be structurally anchored to a permanent foundation and said foundation shall meet local, State, or federal building codes;

         (2)   Once a shouse has been established, the overall structure, including the shop area, will no longer be considered an agricultural structure or building;

         (3)   Shouse homes shall have not less than 30 percent of gross floor area;

         (4)   Habitable rooms shall have not less than seven feet in any horizontal dimension;

         (5)   Ceiling height effect on room area:

            a.   Portions of a sloped ceiling measuring less than five feet or a furred ceiling measuring less than seven feet from the finished floor;

            b.   The finished ceiling shall not be considered as contributing to the minimum required habitable area for the room;

         (6)   Ceiling heights shall be a minimum of seven feet in habitable spaces, hallways, bathrooms, and toilet rooms;

         (7)   Every dwelling shall have toilet facilities - water closet, lavatory, and a bathtub or shower;

         (8)   Shouses shall have a kitchen area and sink;

         (9)   The unit shall provide heating and cooling systems as required by local, State, or federal codes;

         (10)   All electrical shall be in compliance with all local, State, or federal electrical codes;

         (11)   The unit shall meet all egress requirements found in local, State, or federal codes;

         (12)   Any and all extensions off the shouse shall be structurally designed regarding all attachments and cantilevers;

         (13)   All modifications needed to convert the machine shed into a dwelling unit shall be required to have all modifications designed and engineered by a licensed architect or engineering;

         (14)   All items requiring the structure to be structurally designed or modified shall be sealed by a structural engineer;

         (15)   All structures shall meet the maximum coverage on a lot as any ordinary single-family dwelling;

         (16)   Firewall. From bottom plate to top rafter - two layers of five-eighths sheet rock or equivalent between garage and residence;

         (17)   Strongly suggest a storm shelter;

         (18)   Geothermal. Clearly marked - same lot line rules for structure;

         (19)   Must have Council approval.

      B.   “Sign area” means the surface area of a sign shall be computed as including the entire area within a regular geometric form or combination of such forms comprising all of the display area of the sign and including all of the elements of the matter displayed. Frames and structural members not bearing advertising matter shall not be included in computation of surface area.

      C.   “Sign, exterior” means a sign which directs attention to a business, profession, service, product, or activity sold or offered upon the premises where such sign is located. An exterior sign may be attached flat against a building or structure, painted on the building or structure, projecting out from a building or structure, or erected upon the roof of a building or structure.

      D.   “Sign, free standing or post” means any sign erected or affixed in a rigid manner to any pole or post, and which carries any advertisement strictly incidental and subordinate to a lawful use of the premises on which it is located, including signs, or sign devices indicating the business transacted, services rendered, or goods sold or produced on the premises by an occupant thereof.

      E.   “Split level” means a story having not more than one-half of its height below grade. A split-level story is counted as a story for purposes of height regulations.

      F.   “Stable” means an accessory structure including, but not limited to, a corral or paddock for the keeping of hoofed animals owned or controlled by the occupants of the premises and which are kept for pets, board, propagation, sale, or lease.

      G.   “Story” means that portion of a building, other than a basement, included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the floor above it, or if there is no floor above it, then the space between the floor and the ceiling next above it.

      H.   “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.

      I.   “Street line” means the right-of-way line of a street, road, or highway.

      J.   “Street, public” means a public thoroughfare more than 20 feet in width.

      K.   “Structural alteration” 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.

      L.   “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, mobile homes, billboards, decks, poster panels, and carports.

   20.   Words beginning with “T.”

   21.   Words beginning with “U.”

   22.   Words beginning with “V.”

      A.   “Variance” means a relaxation of the terms of the Zoning Code where such variance will not be contrary to the public interest and where, owing to conditions peculiar to the property and not the result of the actions of the applicant, a literal enforcement of the Zoning Code would result in unnecessary and undue hardship. A variance may be authorized only for height of structures and area and size of lots, yards, and open spaces. Establishment or expansion of a use otherwise prohibited shall not be allowed by variance nor shall a variance be granted because of the presence of nonconformities in the zoning district or uses in adjoining zoning districts.

   23.   Words beginning with “W.”

   24.   Words beginning with “X.”

   25.   Words beginning with “Y.”

      A.   “Yard” means an open space on the same lot with a building or structure. In measuring a yard for the purpose of determining the depth of a front yard or the depth of a rear yard, the least distance between the lot line and the main building shall be used. In measuring a yard for the purpose of determining the width of a side yard, the least distance between the lot line and the nearest permitted building shall be used.

      B.   “Yard, front” means a yard extending across the full width of the lot and measured between the front lot line and the building or any projection thereof, other than the projection of the usual steps and eaves. In the case of corner lots, the front yard shall be considered as the yard adjacent to the street upon which the lot has its least dimension, unless the structure can be placed on the lot and meet all required yard requirements, in which case either street side may be the front yard.

      C.   “Yard, rear” means a yard extending across the full width of the lot and measured between the rear lot line and the structure or any projections other than uncovered steps, balconies, or eaves. On both corner lots and interior lots the opposite end of the lot from the front yard shall be considered the rear yard.

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

   26.   Words beginning with “Z.”

      A.   “Zoning Administrative Officer” means the individual appointed by the Council to administer and enforce the provisions of this chapter.

      B.   “Zoning Compliance Permit” means a permit issued by the Zoning Administrative Officer, authorizing the use of land in the manner and for the purpose specified in the application.