For the purpose of interpreting this ordinance, certain words or terms used herein shall be defined as follows: Words used in the present tense include the future tense. Words used in the singular number include the plural, and words used in the plural include the singular. The word "person" includes a firm, association, organization, partnership, corporation, trust, and company as well as individual. The word "lot" includes the word "plot." The word "building" includes the word "structure." The word "shall" is always mandatory. The words used or occupied as applied to any land or building shall be construed to include the words intended, arranged, or designed to be used or occupied. The word maps, zoning map, or Senoia Zoning Map means the official zoning map of Senoia, Georgia.

(Ord. No. 07-05, Art. 1, § 1.1, 12-3-2007)

Any term set forth in the zoning ordinance that is defined by Georgia law, as amended, shall have said definition as used herein. The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Accessory structure or use: A use or structure customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal use or building located on the same lot with such principal use or building. A garage is not considered an accessory structure.

Amateur radio service antenna structure: A tower and antenna for radio transmission and reception, which is maintained by a licensed amateur radio operator as an accessory structure.

Apartment development: A development of multifamily dwelling units developed in accordance with the provisions of this article.

Automotive: All self-propelled vehicles, including automobiles, trucks, boats, motorcycles and motor homes; also accessory trailers.

Basement: An area below the first floor, having more than one-half of its clear floor-to-ceiling height below the average grade of the adjoining ground, used for storage, garages for use of occupants of the building, janitor or security guard quarters or other utilities common to the rest of the building. A basement used for any one or more of the above purposes shall not be counted as a story.

Bed and breakfast: A private residence offering short-term lodging to paying guests. Service of meals shall be limited to breakfast and served only to guests or residents. The owner/operator shall be in permanent residence and when located within a residential area, operation shall be an accessory use and must not alter the character of the premises with respect to the zoning district in which it is located. Thus, in any single-family residential district, a bed and breakfast establishment must maintain the appearance and character of a single-family dwelling. The operation of a bed and breakfast shall not adversely affect either the lifestyle of adjacent property owners, exterior architectural or environmental features of a property or landscape.

Bedroom: A room within a dwelling unit, which is normally used to provide sleeping accommodations for residents of the unit regardless of its daytime use.

Boardinghouse and lodging house: A building other than a motel or hotel, where, for compensation, which may include cash, services or similar reimbursement, lodging for not more than 20 persons is provided.

Buffer: A portion of a lot set aside for open space and visual screening purposes, pursuant to applicable provisions of this article, to separate different use districts, or to separate uses on one property from uses on another property of the same use district or a different use district.

Building: Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls and intended for shelter, housing, or enclosure of any individual, animal, process, equipment, good, or materials of any kind.

Building accessory: A building which is clearly incidental to, and is customarily found in connection with and is located on the same lot as the principal use of the lot on which it is located.

Building setback line: The minimum horizontal distance allowed between the existing or future street right-of-way line and the principal building or structure on a lot or any projection thereof except the projections of unenclosed porches, steps, eaves, gutter and similar fixtures as permitted by this article.

City: The City of Senoia, Georgia.

Child care facility: A building or portion of a building where care and supervision is provided of persons away from their place of residence for less than 24 hours per day on a regular basis for compensation. This facility serves 19 or more persons and is licensed by the State of Georgia; for children, the outdoor play area shall be enclosed by a fence of not less than four feet in height in the rear yard only. For the purposes of this article the term "Child Care" shall include but is not limited to the terms "day care," "nursery school," "early learning center," "pre-kindergarten," "private kindergarten," "play school" and "pre-school."

Child care home, facility: A customary home occupation which provides, for six or less persons who are not residents of the premises; care and supervision by a registered adult resident of Georgia for less than 24 hours per day on a regular basis for compensation.

Church: A structure built for the religious worship.

Cluster housing subdivision: A residential subdivision of at least ten acres established pursuant to the provision of this article.

Collector street: Those streets designated as such on official maps or in resolutions or ordinances of the city.

Community development subdivision: A development, which may encompass residential, neighborhood shopping and office-institution uses established in accordance with the provisions of this article.

Comprehensive plan: A comprehensive, long-range plan intended to guide the growth and development of a community or region that generally includes inventory and analytic sections leading to recommendations for the community's future economic development, housing, community services, natural resources, population, historic resources, land use, and transportation, all related to the community's goals and objectives for these locations.

Conditional zoning: The imposition of conditions in the grant of a rezoning application which are in addition to or different from the regulations set forth in this article and which are related to the promotion of the pubic health, safety, morals or general welfare and designed to minimize the negative impact on surrounding lands. Such conditions may include, but are not limited to, restrictions on land use, height, setbacks and other non-use requirements, physical improvements to the property and infrastructure serving the property.

Condominium: Individual ownership units in a multi-family structure, combined with joint ownership of common areas of the building and grounds, in accordance with all applicable provisions of this article and the Georgia Condominium Act, O.C.G.A. §44-3-70 et seq.

Construction vehicle: Any vehicle (other than a passenger vehicle, a pickup or panel truck) whose primary purpose is use in land development and construction including, but not limited to, earth-moving equipment and dump trucks.

County: Coweta County, Georgia.

Conventional construction: A dwelling unit constructed on the building site from basic materials delivered to the site; and which is constructed in accordance with the International Residential Code, and meeting the following development standards:

(1)

The home has a minimum width in excess of 24 feet.

(2)

The pitch of the dwelling unit's roof has a minimum vertical rise of four feet for each 12 feet of horizontal run, except that any such dwelling unit for which a building permit was applied prior to the adoption of this article may be extended, enlarged or repaired as otherwise provided by this article with the same roof pitch as that allowed by the aforesaid building permit.

Density: As used in residential categories of the comprehensive land use plan, means the number of dwelling units permitted per acre or other specified area of land.

Department: The department charged with enforcement of the provision in which the term appears. When appropriate "department" includes the department head or the designated thereof.

Development permit: A permit that authorizes the use, construction thereon or alteration of any property within the incorporated limits of the city.

Dwelling, multiple-family or multifamily: A building designed for and containing four or more dwelling units.

Dwelling, single-family: A building designed for and containing one dwelling unit.

Dwelling, two-family or duplex: A building designed for and containing two dwelling units.

Dwelling, three-family or triplex: A building designed for and containing three dwelling units.

Dwelling unit: A house or other structure or a portion of any building or structure designed, arranged and used for living quarters for one or more persons living as a single housekeeping unit with cooking facilities, but not including units in hotels or other structures designed for transient residence.

Dwelling, vertical mixed use: A vertical mixed use building contains a mix of residential and commercial uses. Typically, commercial uses (i.e. retail shops, restaurants, offices) are located on the ground floor, while residential units are located on upper levels.

Family: One or more person occupying a single housekeeping unit and using common cooking facilities. Families related by blood, marriage or law may have two cooking facilities in a single-family dwelling unit when approved in accordance with provisions of this article.

Fast food restaurant: An eating establishment in which food is prepared and served to the public over a counter or through a drive-in window. This use may also provide a patron area with tables and seating as a service to customers.

Floodplain: That area threatened by possible flood under normal to severe circumstances as shown on the most current Flood Insurance Rate Map, published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Floor area: The sum of the gross horizontal areas of the several floors of a building or structure from the exterior face of exterior walls, or from the centerline of a wall separating two buildings, but excluding any space where the floor-to-ceiling height is less than six feet.

Frontage: The distance for which the boundary line of a lot and a street right-of-way line are coincident.

Greenspace: An area of undeveloped, open space that comprises that portion of a conservation subdivision reserved for permanent protection. Uses of greenspace are restricted in perpetuity through the recording of an approved legal instrument.

Home occupation: Any business or occupational use customarily conducted within a principal dwelling or accessory building and carried on by the occupant thereof; provided that, such use shall not occupy more than 30 percent of the heated floor space; provided, further, that such use is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling as a residence and does not change the character thereof or reveal from the exterior that the dwelling is being used in part for other than a residence; provided, further, that there is no display, no stock and trade, and no mechanical equipment used except as such is commonly used for purely domestic household purposes. Such permissible occupations, include, in general, such personal services as furnished by a musician, artist, seamstress, cook or laundress, but shall not include such uses as barber shops, beauty parlors, tea rooms, tourist homes, animal hospitals, professional offices, wholesale, retail or manufacturing business.

Hotel: A building in which lodging or board and lodging are provided for at least twenty-one transient guests and offered to the public for compensation and in which ingress and egress to and from all rooms are made through an inside lobby or office supervised by a person in charge at all hours.

Industrialized home: A home manufactured in accordance with the Georgia Industrialized Building Act and the Rules of the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs issued pursuant thereto. State approved buildings meet the state building and construction codes and bear an insignia of approval issued by the commissioner, and meeting the following standards:

(1)

The home has a minimum width in excess of 24 feet.

(2)

The pitch of the home's roof has a minimum vertical rise of four feet for each 12 feet of horizontal run, and the roof is finished with a type of shingle that is commonly used in conventional residential construction, except that any such home for which a building permit was applied prior to the adoption of this article may be extended, enlarged or repaired as otherwise provided by this article with the same roof pitch as that allowed by the aforesaid building permit.

Junkyard: Any use on private property involving the parking, storage or disassembly of junked vehicles, or wrecked or non-operable automobiles, trucks or other vehicles; storage, bailing or otherwise dealing in bones, animal hides, scrap iron and other metals, used paper, used cloth, used plumbing fixtures, old refrigerators and other household appliances, and used brick, wood or other building materials. These uses shall be considered junkyards whether or not all or part of these operations are conducted inside a building or in conjunction with, in addition to or accessory to other uses of the premises.

Kennel: Any location where boarding, caring for and keeping of more than a total of three dogs or cats or other small animals or combination thereof (except litter of animals of not more than six months of age) is carried on, and also raising, breeding, caring for or boarding dogs, cats or other small animals for commercial purposes; provided, however, nothing herein shall apply to structures designed and used for the containment of pigeons.

Landfill: A disposal site where solid wastes, other than putrescible wastes or hazardous wastes, are disposed of on land by placing an earth cover thereon.

Lot corner: A lot fronting on two streets at their intersection. When the frontage on one street exceeds the frontage of the other, the one with the least frontage shall be deemed the front of the lot. However, the orientation of buildings and frontage to which street numbers are assigned shall be at the option of the developer.

Lot coverage: The percentage of a lot, which may be covered with buildings or structures, excluding walks, drives and other similar uses, and recreational facilities, which are accessory to a permitted use.

Lot of record: A lot which is part of an approved subdivision, a plat of which has been recorded in the office of the clerk of the superior court of the county, or a parcel of land, the deed of which has been recorded in the office of the clerk of the superior court of the county.

Lot parcel: A developed or undeveloped tract of land in one ownership, legally transferable as a single unit of land.

Lot width: The distance from one side lot line to the other side lot line measured at the minimum building setback line.

Low density residential: The comprehensive land use plan category which includes, but is not limited to, the following use: single-family detached residential development.

Major thoroughfare: Those streets designated as such on official maps or in resolutions or ordinances of the city.

Manufactured home, class A: A dwelling unit fabricated in an off-site facility for installation or assembly at the building site, bearing a label certifying it is constructed in compliance with the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act 42 U.S.C. 5401 et seq. (the HUD Code, which became effective on June 15, 1976), and meeting the following development standards:

(1)

Minimum width in excess of 24 feet.

(2)

The pitch of the home's roof has a minimum vertical rise of four feet for each 12 feet of horizontal run, and the roof is finished with a type of shingle that is commonly used in conventional residential construction, except that any such home for which a building permit was applied prior to the adoption of this article may be extended, enlarged or repaired as otherwise provided by this article with the same roof pitch as that allowed by the aforesaid building permit.

(3)

The exterior siding consisting of wood, hardboard, vinyl, brick, or masonry. The exterior siding shall be comparable in composition, appearance, and durability to the exterior siding commonly used in conventional residential construction.

(4)

A curtain wall, solid except for required ventilation and access and constructed of masonry, is installed so that it encloses the area located under the home to the ground level. Such a wall shall have a minimum thickness of four inches.

(5)

The tongue, axles, transporting lights, and towing apparatus are removed after placement on the lot and before occupancy.

(6)

All manufactured homes must be installed in accordance with O.C.G.A. § 8-2-160, et seq.

(7)

Landings of the requisite composition and size as per Section 1113 of the Standard Building Code of the Southern Building Code Congress International, with said provisions being expressly incorporated by reference herein as part of this requirement.

(8)

Manufactured homes are not permitted to be used as storage buildings.

Manufactured home, class B: A dwelling unit fabricated in an off-site facility for installation or assembly at the building site, bearing a label certifying it is constructed in compliance with National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act 42 U.S.C. 5401 et seq. (the HUD Code, which became effective on June 15, 1976), but does not satisfy the criteria necessary to qualify the unit as a class A manufactured home. All manufactured homes must be installed in accordance with O.C.G.A. § 8-2-160, et seq. Manufactured homes are not permitted to be used as storage buildings.

Motel: A building in which lodging or board and lodging are provided for transient guests and offered to the motoring public for compensation in which ingress and egress to and from all rooms are made primarily direct from an exterior walkway rather than from an inside lobby.

National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act: The national building code for all manufactured homes built since June 15, 1976, written and administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; also know as the HUD Code.

Nonconforming building: A structure or building, the size, dimensions, or location of which was lawful prior to the adoption, revision, or amendment to this zoning ordinance, but fails by reason of such adoption, revision, or amendment to conform to the present requirements of the zoning ordinance.

Nonconforming use: A use or activity that was lawful prior to the adoption, revision, or amendment of this zoning ordinance, but fails by reason of such adoption, revision, or amendment to conform to the present requirements of the zoning ordinance.

Nonresidential development: All commercial, office, institutional, industrial and similar lands and uses.

Office professional: The land use category, which includes, but is not limited to, the following uses: Less intensive office and professional center land uses including low-rise office parks, single office buildings and houses converted to office uses, characterized by buildings that are three stories in height or less.

Open space: That portion of a lot, including yards, established pursuant to the requirements of this article as open space, which is open and unobstructed from its lower level to the sky, with the exception of natural foliage or accessory recreational facilities or walkways, which is accessible to all persons occupying a building on the lot and is not part of the roof of any portion of any building.

Parking lot: Any area designed for temporary accommodation of motor vehicles of the motoring public in normal operating condition, whether for a fee or as a service.

Parking space: An area of not less than nine feet wide by 18 feet deep, the exclusive purpose of which is the parking of a vehicle.

Permitted use: A use by right, which is specifically authorized in a particular zoning district.

Personal care home: Any dwelling, whether operated for profit or not, which undertakes through its ownership or management to provide or arrange for the provision of housing, food service, and one or more personal services for two or more adults who are not related to the owner or administrator by blood or marriage and is either licensed or otherwise approved by the department of human resources pursuant to the provision of O.C.G.A. § 31-7-12.

Planned center, shopping, office, institutional or industrial: Any planned concentration of at least three business establishments which also provides planned and shared parking, access and service.

Planned manufactured home community: A lot used or intended for use as a residential area occupied by manufactured homes; and conforming to an approved development plan with appropriate and adequate community services, recreation facilities, utilities, streets, and sidewalks provided by the developer; where the resident owns or rents the manufactured home and rents the manufactured home space. All manufactured homes located within a manufactured home community must be installed in accordance with O.C.G.A. § 8-2-160, et seq., and all manufactured home communities shall be designed in accordance with the applicable provision[s] of this chapter.

Planned shopping development: A commercial development of at least 40,000 square feet on a site of not less than four acres developed in accordance with the provision of this article.

Public and institutional: Refers to the comprehensive plan land use element category which includes, but is not limited to, the following uses: government-owned facilities and institutions which are anticipated to remain in public use, including government offices and facilities, public hospitals and health care facilities, public schools, public colleges, public educational research lands, public park lands, and both public and private cemeteries.

Residential district: Any district or use, the primary purpose of which is for residential dwelling units.

Restaurant: A facility serving meals to the general public for a profit.

Restaurant, drive-in: Any restaurant where the primary activity is directed to the motoring public by providing curb, carry-out, pickup and other related services.

SBCCI: Southern Building Code Congress International

School: Structure built for educational purposes.

Self-storage facility: A building or group of buildings in a controlled-access and secured compound that contains varying sizes of individual, compartmentalized and controlled-access stalls or lockers for the dead storage of customers' goods or wares.

Single-family attached dwelling: A dwelling unit on an individual lot attached to another dwelling unit on an adjoining lot by a common party wall.

Single-family attached subdivision: A subdivision development of single- family attached or other dwellings developed in accordance with the provision of this article.

Single-family detached dwelling: A dwelling unit on an individual lot unattached to another dwelling unit.

Site-built home: See definition of conventional construction.

State: The State of Georgia.

Stick-built home: See definition of conventional construction.

Story: That portion of a building, other than a basement, included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the floor next above or, if there is no floor above, the space between the floor and the ceiling next above. Each floor or level in a multistory building used for parking, excluding a basement, shall be classified as a story.

Street, future right-of-way line: The right-of-way line, which has been projected and established as being required for any street, existing or future, under the transportation and thoroughfare plan of the city or designated as such on official maps or in resolutions or ordinances of the city.

Street-private: Any right-of-way or area set aside to provide vehicular access within a development which is not dedicated or intended to be dedicated to the city, and which is not maintained by the city.

Street, right-of-way line: A strip of land acquired by reservation, dedication, forced dedication, prescription, condemnation or purchase and occupied and intended to be occupied by a street, crosswalk, multi-use trail, railroad, electric transmission line, oil or gas pipeline, water main, sanitary or storm sewer main, shade tree or other special use. The dividing line between a lot, tract or parcel of land and a street right-of-way.

Structure: Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires a location on the ground, or attached to something having a location on the ground, including but not limited to, tennis courts, fences, swimming pools and buildings.

Subdivision: All divisions of a tract or parcel of land into two or more lots, building sites or other divisions for the purpose (whether immediate or future) of sale, legacy or building development; it includes all divisions of land involving a new street to which the public has access (whether public or private) or a change in an existing street, and includes, where appropriate to context, the process of subdividing or the land subdivided; provided, however, that the following are not included in this definition:

(1)

The combination or recombination of portions of previously platted lots where the total number of lots is not increased and the resultant lots are equal to the standards of this article.

(2)

The division of land into parcels of five acres or more where no new street is involved.

Transportation/communications-utilities: Refers to the comprehensive land use plan category which includes, but is not limited to, the following uses: public, semipublic and private land uses which provide transportation, communications or utility land uses.

Yard: That area of a lot between the principal building and adjoining lot lines, unoccupied and unobstructed by any portion of a structure from the ground upward, except as otherwise provided herein. The minimum required width or depth of a yard shall be determined as the horizontal distance between lot or street lines and minimum setback lines as established by this article.

Yard-front: A yard extending across the total width of a lot between side lot lines and being that area between the street lines and that line established by the front wall or walls of the principal structure projected to intersect the side lot lines.

Yard-rear: A yard extending across the total width of a lot between side lot lines and being that area between the lot lines and being that area between the rear lot line and that line or lines established by the rear wall or walls of the principal structure projected to intersect the side lot lines.

Yard-side: Extending the total depth of a lot between the front and rear yards and the area between the sideline and lines of the sidewall or walls of the principal structure.

(Ord. No. 07-05, Art. 1, § 1.2, 12-3-2007; Amd. of 5-2-2011; Ord. No. 15-04, § 4, 8-3-2015; Ord. No. 23-06, Art. I, 12-4-2023)

The various use districts, which are created by this article, are adopted for the following purposes, among others:

(1)

To prevent flooding of improved property.

(2)

To prevent overcrowding of schools and other public facilities.

(3)

To achieve such timing, density and distribution of land development and use as will prevent overloading systems for providing water supply, sewage disposal, drainage, sanitation, police and fire protection and other public services.

(4)

To achieve such density, distribution and design of land development and use as will protect and preserve the design capacity of the streets and roads within the city and prevent traffic congestion and traffic hazards.

(5)

To encourage such distribution of population, land development and use as will facilitate the efficient and adequate provision of public services and facilities.

(6)

To achieve such density, design and distribution of housing as will protect and enhance residential property values, facilitate economic and adequate provision of housing and secure decent housing for every citizen.

(7)

To secure such accessibility, design and density of land development and use as will reduce fire hazards and fire loses.

(8)

To promote the continued and safe operation of general-purpose airports within the city.

(9)

To promote the health, safety, morals, convenience, order, prosperity and welfare of the present and future inhabitants of the city.

(10)

To encourage greater efficiency and economy of land development.

(11)

To preserve the city's natural beauty and encourage architecturally pleasing development.

(12)

To improve the quality of life through protection of the city's total environment including, but not limited to, the prevention of air, water and noise pollution.

(13)

To preserve the existing historical character of the city.

(Ord. No. 07-05, Art. 1, § 1.3, 12-3-2007)

The comprehensive plan, which is adopted by resolution by the City Council of the City of Senoia, has the following purposes, among others:

(1)

To control, guide and direct growth and development in the city.

(2)

To protect, preserve and enhance the city's cultural, environmental, economic and social resources.

(3)

To identify current land uses in order to assist the city in making budgetary, utilities and other resource allocations.

(4)

To enable the city to predict future land uses for planning purposes.

(5)

To stabilize the land use and development expectations of the citizens of the city.

(6)

To assist the city in fulfilling its statutory and other legal obligations.

(7)

To provide a public document which will serve as a means of general information on land use and development for the citizens of the city and other interested parties.

(8)

To serve as official policy for the City of Senoia regarding land use decisions.

(Ord. No. 07-05, Art. 1, § 1.4, 12-3-2007)

By this section, the comprehensive plan adopted by resolution of the city council is established as the official policy of the city concerning proposed land uses under which the incorporated areas of the city are divided into land use categories.

(Ord. No. 07-05, Art. 1, § 1.5, 12-3-2007)

The comprehensive plan does not alter or affect the existing zoning districts in the city, does not effectuate an amendment to the official zoning maps, and does not itself permit or prohibit any existing land uses.

(Ord. No. 07-05, Art. 1, § 1.6, 12-3-2007)

The land use element of the comprehensive plan shall be updated once each year. This update will be used to identify current uses of land, emerging growth patterns and any significant change in land use policy as identified by the future land use map of the comprehensive plan. This update shall also be used a policy in the city's consideration of proposed amendments to the zoning map or to the text of the zoning ordinance. All amendments to the City of Senoia Comprehensive Plan will be in accordance with the Minimum Planning Standards and Procedures of the Georgia Planning Act.

(Ord. No. 07-05, Art. 1, § 1.7, 12-3-2007)

This article shall apply in all areas of the city.

(Ord. No. 07-05, Art. 1, § 1.8, 12-3-2007)

No land, building or structure shall be used, no building or structure shall be erected and no existing building or structure shall be moved, added to, enlarged or altered except in conformity with this article.

(Ord. No. 07-05, Art. 1, § 1.9, 12-3-2007)

In case any building or structure is erected, constructed, reconstructed, altered, converted or maintained in violation of any provision of this article, as amended, or any building, structure or land is used in violation of any provision of this article, as amended, or any person does anything prohibited by this article, as amended, shall, upon conviction of such violation, be guilty of a misdemeanor as provided by law. Each day that a violation exists shall be deemed a separate offense. Upon such violation, the city shall issue a citation for violation of this article requiring a presence of the violator in the city's municipal court. The city may also in such cases institute a complaint in a court of competent jurisdiction for an injunction or other appropriate relief to prevent an unlawful erection, construction, reconstruction, alteration, conversion, maintenance or use to correct or abate such violation or to prevent the occupancy of such building, structure or land.

(Ord. No. 07-05, Art. 1, § 1.10, 12-3-2007)

Any person who is convicted of a violation of this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be subject to a fine for each separate offense in an amount not to exceed $1,000.00 and/or for confinement not to exceed 12 months.

(Ord. No. 07-05, Art. 1, § 1.11, 12-3-2007)