1.   “Accessory use” means a structure that is not used or intended to be used for living or sleeping by human occupants.

2.   “Accessory structure” means a subordinate building located on the same lot with the main building and occupied by or devoted to an accessory use. When an accessory structure is attached to the main building by a common wall or breeze-way that provides entry to the principal building or a continuous foundation, such accessory building shall be considered part of the main building.

3.   “Agriculture” means the production, keeping to maintenance, for sale, lease or personal use, of plants useful to man or animals including but not limited to: forages and sod crops; grains and seed crops; trees and forest products; fruits of all kinds, including grapes, nuts and berries; vegetables; nursery, floral, ornamental and greenhouse products; or lands devoted to a soil conservation or forestry management program.

4.   “Airport” means any area of land which is used or intended for use for the landing and taking off of aircraft; and any accessory areas which are used or intended for use for airport buildings or other airport facilities or rights-of-way, together with all airport buildings and facilities located thereon.

5.   “Alley” means public property dedicated to public use primarily for vehicular access to the back or side of properties otherwise abutting on a street.

6.   “Beginning construction” means that construction is considered “started” upon approval of the building permit.

7.   “Building” means any structure for the shelter or enclosure of persons, animals or chattels.

8.   “Carport” means a roofed structure proving space for the parking of motor vehicles and enclosed on not more than three (3) sides. For the purpose of this chapter, a carport attached to a principal building shall be considered a part of the principal building and is subject to all yard requirements herein.

9.   “Comprehensive Plan” means the general plan for the development of the community, which may be titled master plan, comprehensive plan or some other title, which plan ahs been adopted by the Council. The Comprehensive Plan shall include any part of such plan separately adopted, and any amendment to such plan or parts thereof.

10.   “Deck” means any flat-floored, roofless structure, accessible at or from above grade, adjoining or directly adjacent to a building and attached to the ground.

11.   “Dwelling” means a building, or portion thereof, designed or used exclusively for residential occupancy, including one-family dwellings, two-family dwellings and multiple-family dwellings, but not including hotels, or motels.

12.   “Dwelling, multiple-family” means a building or portion thereof containing three or more dwelling units.

13.   “Dwelling, one-family attached” means a dwelling unit which is joined to another dwelling unit at one or more sides by a party wall or walls and which is designed and intended to be an individual ownership unit.

14.   “Dwelling, one-family detached” means a dwelling unit entirely surrounded by yards on the same lot.

15.   “Dwelling, two-family” means a building containing two dwelling units on the same lot.

16.   “Dwelling unit” means one or more rooms which are arranged, designed, or used as living quarters for one family only. Individual bathrooms and complete kitchen facilities, permanently installed, shall always be included for each “dwelling unit.”

17.   “District” means any section of the City within which the zoning regulations are uniform as prescribed herein.

18.   “Entry way” or “landing” means a way to enter the front of a principal residential building, most likely in the form of an uncovered staircase or steps. The entry way or landing will not be included as part of the principal residential building if its total size is less than 30 square feet.

19.   “Essential services” means the erection, construction, alteration or maintenance, by public utilities or municipal or other governmental agencies, of underground or overhead gas, electrical, steam or water transmission or distribution systems, collection, communication, supply or disposal systems, including poles, wires, means, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits, cables, fire alarm boxes, police call boxes, 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 municipal or other governmental agencies or for the public health or safety or general welfare, but not including buildings.

20.   “Family” means one or more individuals occupying a dwelling unit and living as a single household unit.

21.   “Family home” means a community-based residential home which is licensed as a residential care facility under Chapter 135C, Code of Iowa, or as a child foster care facility under Chapter 237, Code of Iowa, to provide room and board, personal care, rehabilitation service and supervision in a family environment exclusively for not more than eight developmentally disabled persons and any necessary support personnel.

22.   “Fence” means a structure more than 18 inches in height, erected as a barrier for separating or enclosing all or a portion of a field, yard, or other adjoining real property, or for the purpose of preventing intrusion or straying.

23.   “Floor area” means the sum of the gross horizontal areas of the several floors of a building measured from the exterior face of exterior walls, or from the centerline of a wall separating two buildings, but not including interior parking spaces, loading space for motor vehicles or any space where the floor-to-ceiling height is less than six feet.

24.   “Height” means the vertical distance from the finished floor to the peak.

25.   “Lot” means a designated parcel, tract or area of land established by plat, subdivision or as otherwise permitted by law, to be used, developed or built upon as a unit.

26.   “Lot area” means the total area within the lot lines of a lot, excluding any street right-of-way.

27.   “Lot, corner” means a lot or parcel of land abutting upon two or more streets at their intersection, or upon two parts of the same street forming an interior angle of less than 135 degrees.

28.   “Lot line” means a line of record bounding a lot which divides one lot from another lot or from a public or private street or any other public space.

29.   “Lot line, front” means the lot line separating a lot from a street right-of-way.

30.   “Lot line, rear” means the lot line opposite and most distant from the front lot line or in the case of triangular or otherwise irregularly shaped lots, a line ten feet in length entirely within the lot, parallel to and at a maximum distance from the front lot line.

31.   “Lot line, side” means any lot line other than a front or rear lot line.

32.   “Lot of record” means a lot which exists as shown or described on a plat or deed in the records of the local registry of deeds.

33.   “Lot width” means the horizontal distance between the side lines of a lot measured at right angles to its depth along a straight line parallel to the front lot line at the minimum required building setback line.

34.   “Manufactured home” means a factory-built structure which is manufactured or constructed under the authority of 42 U.S.C. Sec. 5403, Federal Manufacture Home Construction and Safety Standards, and is to be used as a place for human habitation, but which is not constructed or equipped with a permanent hitch or other device allowing it to be moved other than for the purpose of moving to a permanent site, and which does not have permanently attached to its body or frame any wheels or axles.

35.   “Mobile home” means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling unit, with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities. A mobile home is not a manufactured home.

36.   “Mobile home park” means a site with required improvements and utilities for the long-term parking of two or more mobile homes, which may include services and facilities for the residents.

37.   “Modular home” means a structure transportable in one or more sections which is substantially assembled at a location other than where used, which is not built on a permanent chassis.

38.   “Nonconforming use” means a use or activity which was lawful prior to the adoption, revision or amendment of this zoning ordinance but which fails, by reason of such adoption, revision or amendment, to conform to the present requirements of the zoning district.

39.   “Parking” means the short-term storage of an operable motor vehicle.

40.   “Parking space, off-street” means a parking space for the parking of a motor vehicle entirely within the lot lines of the lot.

41.   “Patio” means a surfaced area directly adjacent to a principal building at or within the main floor area grade of the building and not covered by a permanent roof.

42.   “Porch” means a roofed open area, which may be screened, usually attached to or part of and with direct access to or from a building. Once the area is enclosed with building materials, other than screen, it becomes a room.

43.   “Principal building” means a building, including covered porches, decks, carports, and attached garages, in which is conducted the principal use of the lot on which it is situated. In any residence district the main dwelling unit shall be deemed to be the principal building on the same lot.

44.   “Retail” means selling goods or merchandise to the general public for personal or household consumption and rendering services incidental to the sale of such goods.

45.   “Services” means providing services for individuals, business and government establishments and other organizations, including hotels and other lodging places, establishments providing personal, business, repair and amusement services, health, legal, engineering and other professional services, educational institutions, membership organizations, and other miscellaneous services, but not principally selling goods or merchandise.

46.   “Sight triangle area” means the portion of a corner lot lying within a triangle area formed by measuring back along the property lines adjacent to the intersecting streets and/or alley to a point on each property line 20 feet from the intersection of said property and then connecting the two points, thus establishing a third line.

47.   “Sign” means any object, device, display or structure, or part thereof, situated outdoors or indoors, which is used to advertise, identify, display, direct or attract attention to an object, person, institution, organization, business, product, service, event or location by any means, including words, letters, figures, design, symbols, fixtures, colors, illumination or projected images.

48.   “Sign area” means the entire face of a sign including the advertising surface and any framing, trim or molding but not including the supporting structure.

49.   “Sign, advertising” means a sign which directs attention to a business or profession conducted or to a commodity or service sold, offered or manufactured or to an entertainment offered on the premises where the sign is located.

50.   “Sign, directional” means a sign limited to directional messages, principally for pedestrian or vehicular traffic, such as “one-way,” “entrance,” and “exit.”

51.   “Sign face” means the area or display surface used for the message.

52.   “Sign, flashing” means any directly or indirectly illuminated sign which exhibits changing natural or artificial light or color effects by any means whatsoever.

53.   “Sign, pedestal” means a sign that is mounted on a free standing pole or other support so that the bottom edge of the sign face is six feet or more above grade.

54.   “Sign, projecting” means a sign that is wholly or partly dependent upon a building for support and which projects more than 12 inches from such building.

55.   “Sign, real estate” means a sign pertaining to the sale or lease of the premises, or a portion of the premises, on which the sign is located.

56.   “Sign, wall” means a sign fastened to or painted on the wall of a building or structure in such a manner that the wall becomes the supporting structure for, or forms the background surface of the sign and which does not project more than 12 inches from such building or structure.

57.   “Sign, window” means a sign that is applied or attached to the exterior or interior of a window or located in such manner within a building that it can be seen from the exterior of the structure through a window.

58.   “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 next above it and including those basements used for the principal use.

59.   “Street” means public property, not an alley, intended for vehicular circulation. In appropriate context the term “street” may refer to the right-of-way bounded by the property liens of such public property, or may refer to the paving installed within such right-of-way.

60.   “Structure” means a combination of materials to form a construction for use, occupancy, or ornamentation whether installed on, above, or below the surface of land.

61.   “Use” means the purpose or activity for which a piece of land or its buildings are designed, arranged or intended, or for which they are occupied or maintained.

62.   “Utilities” means systems for the collection or distribution of water, sanitary waste, storm water, electricity or telephone or cable television services.

63.   “Yard” means an open space that lies between the principal or accessory building or buildings and the nearest lot line. Such yard is unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward except as may be specifically provided herein.

64.   “Yard, front” means a space extending the full width of the lot between any building and the front lot line, and measured perpendicular to the building at the closest point to the front lot line. Such front yard is unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward except as may be permitted elsewhere herein.

65.   “Yard, rear” means a space extending across the full width of the lot between the principal building or any projections thereof, other than uncovered steps less than 30 square feet, and the rear lot line, and measured perpendicular to the building to the closest point of the rear lot line. Such rear yard is unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward except as may be permitted elsewhere herein. On all lots, the rear yard shall be in the rear of the front yard.

66.   “Yard, side” means a space extended from the front yard to the rear yard between the principal building and the side lot line measured perpendicular from the side lot line to the closest point of the principal building. Such side yard is unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward except as may be permitted elsewhere herein.

67.   “Zoning Administrator” means the official of the City who has been duly designated to enforce the provisions of this chapter.