The Lee County Board of Commissioners enacts this chapter under the exercise of powers conferred upon it by the Georgia State Constitution, Article IX, Section II, Paragraph IV, Planning and Zoning.

(Ord. of 12-2-2002, § 70-1)

This chapter shall apply to the unincorporated areas of the county.

(Ord. of 12-2-2002, § 70-2)

The purpose of these regulations shall be to promote the proper location, height, bulk, number of stories and size of buildings and other structures; to assure the appropriate sizes of yards, courts, and the use of other open spaces; the density and distribution of population; and the use of buildings, structures, and land for trade, industry, residence, recreation, agriculture, forestry, conservation, sanitation, protection against floods, public activities, and other purposes, so as to lessen congestion in the streets; to secure safety from fire, panic, and other dangers; to promote health and the general welfare; to provide adequate light and air; to prevent the overcrowding of land; to avoid undue concentration of population; to prevent urban sprawl; to facilitate the adequate provision of transportation, water, sewage, schools, parks, and other public requirements; to promote desirable living conditions and the sustained stability of neighborhoods; to protect against blight and depreciation; to secure economy in governmental expenditures; to conserve the value of buildings and to encourage the most appropriate use of land, buildings, and structures and for other purposes.

(Ord. of 12-2-2002, § 70-3)

It is declared to be the intention of the board of commissioners that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this Code are severable; and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this Code shall be declared invalid or unconstitutional by the valid judgment or decree of any court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity or unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this Code, since they would have been enacted by the board of commissioners without incorporation in this Code of any such invalid or unconstitutional phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section.

(Ord. of 12-2-2002, § 70-3a)

State Law reference— Severability, O.C.G.A. § 1-1-3.

In interpreting and applying the provisions of this chapter, they shall be held to be the minimum requirements for the promotion of the public safety, health, convenience, comforts, prosperity and general welfare. It is not intended by this chapter to interfere with, or abrogate or annul any ordinance, rules, regulations or permits previously adopted or issued and not in conflict with any of the provisions of this chapter, or which shall be adopted or issued pursuant to law relating to the use of buildings or premises, and likewise not in conflict with this chapter; nor is it intended by this chapter to interfere with, or abrogate, or annual any easements, covenants or other agreements between parties; provided, however, that where this chapter imposes a greater restriction or requires larger open spaces, or larger lot areas than are imposed or required by such chapter or agreements, the provisions of this chapter shall control.

(Ord. of 12-2-2002, § 70-4)

Any person violating or neglecting or refusing to comply with any of the provisions of this chapter shall upon conviction thereof, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by imposition of the appropriate fine or by imprisonment in the discretion of the court. Each day that a violation is permitted to exist shall constitute a separate offense.

(Ord. of 12-2-2002, § 70-5)

For the purposes of these zoning regulations certain words and tenses, used herein, shall be interpreted or defined as follows:

Words used in the present tense include the future tense.

The singular number includes the plural and the plural, the singular.

The word "person" includes a corporation, partnership, or association as well as an individual.

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

Terms not herein defined shall have the meanings customarily assigned to them.

The term "governing body" shall mean the Board of Commissioners of Lee County, Georgia.

Accessory building: A detached, subordinate structure, the use of which is clearly incidental to, customarily associated with and related to the principal structure or use of land, and which is located on the same lot as the principal structure or use. Accessory buildings shall include storage buildings, tool houses, party houses, bathhouses (used in conjunction with swimming pools) and similar uses.

Accessory, use: The use customarily incidental and accessory to the principal use of a building located upon the same building site as the principal use.

Agriculture: Agriculture shall be considered to mean the raising of soil crops and/or livestock in a customary manner on tracts of land 25 acres or more in size and shall include all associated activities. Retail selling of products raised on the premises shall be considered a permissible activity provided that space necessary for the parking of customer's vehicles shall be provided off the public right-of-way.

Airfield: Any area of land or water utilized for the landing or taking off of aircraft.

Alley: Any dedicated public way providing a secondary means of ingress to or egress from land or structure thereon.

Alteration: Any change, addition or modification in construction or type of occupancy; any change in the structural members of the building, such as walls, partitions, columns, beams, girders, or any change which may be referred to herein as "altered" or "reconstructed."

Ambulatory: In respect to a person, the ability to move from place to place by walking, either unaided or aided by prosthesis, brace, cane, crutches or hand rails, or by propelling a wheelchair; and can perceive an emergency condition, whether caused by fire or otherwise and escape without human assistance, using the normal means of egress.

Apartment: A room or suite of rooms used as dwelling for one family which does its cooking therein.

Apartment houses: A residential structure containing three or more apartment units.

Artificial lot: The area of a one-acre or larger tract to be built on that is delineated for the purposes of calculating landscape requirements. This is only for calculating landscape requirements and only for tracts that are one acre or larger.

Assisted living communities: Provide assisted living care to adults who require varying degrees of assistance with the activities of daily living, but who do not require continuous medical or nursing care.

Automobile wrecking yard, automobile used parts or auto graveyard: Anywhere three or more vehicles not in running condition, or the parts thereof, are stored in the open or any building or structure used principally for wrecking or storage of automobiles not in running condition for automobile parts.

Basement: A portion of a building partly below grade and having less than five feet above the finished grade level of the building.

Block: A tract of land bounded by streets, or by a combination of streets and public parks, cemeteries, railroad rights-of-way, shorelines of waterways, drainage ways, or boundary lines of municipalities or counties.

Boarding house: A residence or part thereof where meals and/or lodging are provided for compensation for three or more persons by pre-arrangement for definite periods. A boarding house is to be distinguished from a hotel, motel, or a nursing home.

Buffer: That portion of a given lot, not covered by buildings, pavement, parking, access and service areas, established as landscaped open space for the purposes of screening and separating properties with incompatible land uses, the width of which is measured from the common property line and extends the developed portion of the common property line. A buffer consists of trees, shrubs, and other natural vegetation undisturbed by grading or site development and replanted where sparsely vegetated or where disturbed for approved access and utility crossings.

Buildable area: The buildable area of a lot is the space remaining after the minimum open space requirements of these regulations have been complied with.

Building: Any structure having a roof, supported by columns or by walls and intended for shelter, housing or enclosure of any person, animal or goods. Where roofed structures are separated from each other by party walls having no opening passage, each portion so separated shall be considered a separate building.

Building inspector: The highest ranking building official of the governing body, or his representative.

Building height: The vertical distance of a building measured from the average elevation of the finished grade to the highest point on the roof surface.

Building, principal: A building in which the principal use of the lot on which it is located is conducted.

Building setbacks: The distance any part of any structure must be from any front, rear, or side property line. Building setbacks are established in this chapter.

Car wash establishment: Any commercial enterprise operated for profit and open to the public for the purpose of washing, cleaning, waxing, vacuuming, or detailing passenger motor vehicles which normally operate on public streets or highways. This definition shall include automatic, self-serve, and by-hand car wash establishments.

Caretaker or employee residence: An accessory residence located inside or in addition to the principal structure or use of a parcel of land. Said residence must be occupied by a bona fide caretaker or the owner himself as necessary to the property's orderly operation or safety.

Child care institution (CCI): Any child-welfare aid facility which either primarily or incidentally provides full-time room, board, and watchful oversight to six or more children through 18 years of age outside of their own homes, as licensed or commissioned by the Georgia Department of Human Services, Office of Residential Child Care (ORCC). This may include, at the discretion of the planning director, child caring facilities also regulated by ORCC for individuals up to 21 years of age, including outdoor child caring programs (OCCP), children transition care centers (CCTC), maternity homes, and runaway and homeless youth program (RHP).

Clerk: The clerk of the governing body.

Clinic: A professional office where the services of more than one practitioner can be obtained and where patients are studied or treated on an outpatient basis and where no overnight accommodations are provided.

Club: An organization of persons for special purposes or for the promulgation of sports, arts, science, literature, politics or the like, but not for profit.

Community living arrangement (CLA): Any residence, whether operated for profit or not, that undertakes through its ownership or management to provide or arrange for the provision of daily personal services, support, care, or treatment exclusively for two or more adults who are not related to the owner or administrator by blood or marriage and whose residential services are financially supported, in whole or in part, by funds designated by the department of behavioral health and developmental disabilities (DBHDD).

Community residence: A dwelling unit occupied to two or more typically unrelated persons as their normal place of residence, but in which separate cooking facilities are not provided for such resident persons. The term "community residence" includes, but is not limited to, a rooming house, boarding house, community living arrangement, and personal care home. A retirement community, assisted living facility, nursing home, hotel or motel, or bed and breakfast inn shall not be deemed to be a group (community) residence. (See chapter 70—Zoning, article III, section 70-99 for community residence requirements.)

Conditional use: A use which within certain districts specified by this chapter is not permitted as a matter of right but may be permitted within these districts by the county commission after the planning commission has:

(1)

Reviewed the proposed site plans for the use, its arrangement and design, its relationship to neighboring property and other conditions peculiar to the particular proposal which would determine its desirability or undesirability; and

(2)

Has found the proposal not to be contrary to the intent of this chapter. All conditional use applications will follow the same public notice, public hearing and review process as any application for rezoning.

Convalescent home: A convalescent home is a home for the care of children or the aged or infirm, or a place of rest for those suffering bodily disorders, wherein two or more persons are cared for. Said home shall conform and qualify for licensure under state law. A retirement community facility or an assisted living facility or a nursing home is not a convalescent home.

Cremation: The reduction of a dead human body to residue by intense heat.

Crematorium: A location containing properly installed, certified apparatus intended for use in the act of cremation. Crematoriums do not include establishments where incinerators are used to dispose of toxic or hazardous materials, infectious materials or narcotics.

Curb cut: An alteration to an existing curb and gutter for the construction of a driveway to provide for ingress/egress between property and an abutting public street.

Day care facility: A day care facility is an individual or jointly owned facility designated to offer care and/or training to children unrelated to the owner or director for any part of a day on a regular basis. Such facility may or may not be operated for profit. Day care is not a baby-sitting service to be used for the convenience of the parents at irregular intervals (drop-ins).

(1)

A group center (day nursery, day care center) is defined as a facility for six or more children, regardless of age, whose primary purpose is the care of the child for part of a day, while his parent or parents are absent from home.

(2)

A nursery school is defined as a school for two-, three-, and four-year old children which operates for periods not to exceed four hours a day and whose primary purpose is education and guidance for healthy emotional and social development of children.

(3)

Kindergarten is defined as a school for four- or five-year old children which operates for periods not to exceed four hours a day and whose primary purpose is education and guidance for healthy emotional and social development.

(4)

Family day care is defined as a service in a private home, offering care in a family setting to a maximum of five children, including the foster family's own children during part of the day while the natural parents are absent from their home.

(5)

Adult day care is defined as personal care and supervision in a protective setting for adults outside their own home for less than 24 hours per day. The program may include the provisions of daily medical supervision, nursing and other health care support, psycho-social assistance, or appropriate socialization stimuli or a combination of these. Adult day care is available for those persons who do not require 24-hour per day institutional care, but who, because of physical and/or mental disability, are not capable of full time independent living.

Density: The number of dwelling units developed on an acre of land. As used in this chapter, all densities are stated in dwelling units per gross acre.

District: A portion of the jurisdiction of the governing body within which, on a uniform basis, certain uses of land and buildings are permitted and within which certain yards, open spaces, lot areas and other requirements are established.

Drive-in establishment: A business establishment, other than a drive-in restaurant, so developed that its retail or service character is dependent on providing a driveway approach or parking spaces for motor vehicles so as to serve patrons while in the motor vehicle, and may include drive-in banks, drive-in cleaners, and drive-in laundries.

Drive-in restaurant: A restaurant or other establishment serving food and/or drink so developed that its retail or services character is dependent on providing a driveway approach or parking spaces for motor vehicles so as to serve patrons while in the motor vehicle.

Dwelling, single-family: A building used or designed for use as a residence for a single-family.

Dwelling, two-family (duplex): A duplex is a building either designed, constructed, altered or used for two adjoining dwelling units that are connected by a common wall and/or if two stories by a common floor.

Dwelling, multiple: A building or portion thereof used or designed as a residence for three or more families living and cooking independent of each other in said building. This definition includes three-family houses, four-family houses and apartment houses, but does not include hotels, motels, trailer camps or mobile home parks.

Efficiency unit: An efficiency unit is a dwelling unit consisting of one room, exclusive of bathroom, kitchen, hallway, closets or dining alcove directly off the principal room, providing not less than 400 square feet of floor area.

Erected: Includes built, constructed, reconstructed, moved upon, or any physical operations on the premises required for the building. Excavations, fill, drainage, and the like, shall be considered a part of the erection.

Essential services: The erection, construction, alteration, or maintenance by public utilities, governmental departments or commissions, of underground, surface, or overhead; gas, communication, electrical, steam, fuel or water transmission or distribution systems, sewers, pipes, conduits, cable, fire alarm and police call boxes, traffic signals, hydrant and similar accessories in connection therewith, but not including buildings, which are necessary for the furnishing of adequate service by such utilities or governmental departments for the general public health, safety, convenience or welfare.

Event: An event consists of a celebration, reception, party, concert, holiday gathering, family gathering, corporate function, general gathering, birthday party, retirement event, employee appreciation event, wedding, wedding reception, anniversary celebration, funeral, and other similar parties, receptions and events. An event center does not include retail sales, amphitheaters, rodeos, circuses, or similar public events. An event center may host either public or private events. An event center shall be open only for scheduled event-based operations.

Event center: A commercial building or facility where events are permitted to occur under this article. Any such center shall be a permanent structure (not a temporary structure) which meets all local and state-wide building codes applicable to the type of commercial building to be used as an event center. An event center, building or facility, or the portion of a building or facility utilized as an event center, shall consist of not more than 10,000 square feet. No residential structure shall be considered to be an event center. Event centers may utilize indoor and outdoor spaces, provided that any outdoor activities hosted at event centers adjacent to residentially zoned property shall be limited to the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and Sundays from 12:00 noon to 10:00 p.m. All event facilities shall be located on a collector or arterial street. Any on-site kitchen or catering facility shall comply with all applicable local and state regulations, including, but not limited to, the rules and regulations of the environmental health department, the Georgia Department of Agriculture, and compliance with chapter 6—Alcoholic Beverages in its entirety; particularly including section 6-37, alcoholic beverage caterers.

Family: No more than six unrelated persons or one or more related persons occupying a housing unit and using common kitchen facilities and entrances, as distinguished from a group occupying a boarding house, or personal care home.

Fast food restaurant: A fast food restaurant is defined to be a restaurant that has all of the following characteristics:

(1)

Its principal business is the sale of food items and beverages of the kind, which can readily be taken out of the restaurant for consumption off the premises.

(2)

Utensils, if used at all, are made of plastic or other disposable materials. Food is packaged in paper or styrofoam or other disposable containers.

(3)

Service is not customarily provided to customers at their tables by employees of the restaurant.

Farm: A platted or unplatted parcel of land 25 acres or more in an area which is used for growing crops, raising livestock or other agricultural purposes.

Farm stand: A booth or stall located on a farm from which produce and farm products are sold to the general public.

Filling: Shall mean the depositing or dumping of any matter on or into the ground, except deposits resulting from common household gardening and general farm care.

Flea market: An outdoor and/or indoor facility established for the purpose of selling at retail such new or used items as household goods, tools, crafts or any other combination of new or used goods. These markets, sales and displays are those that occur continuously or frequently, and specifically more than two times per year, normally at a fixed location where a proprietor, partnership, or corporation leases to vendors a booth, commercial stall or designated area from which the vendor markets his/her goods.

Flood plain: A nearly level alluvial plain that borders a stream and is subject to flooding unless protected artificially.

Foster child: A child unrelated to a family by blood or adoption with whom he or she lives for the purposes of care and education.

Garage, private: An accessory building designed or used for the storage of motor driven vehicles owned and used by the occupants of the building to which it is an accessory.

Garage, public: Any premises used for the storage or care of motor vehicles or place where any such vehicles are equipped for operation, repaired or kept for pay, hire or sale.

Garden, private: A non-commercial private garden which is an accessory use to the primary use of the zoning district. The primary use must be present at the same location as the garden in any zoning district with the exception of agricultural zoning districts.

Ground mounted solar energy system means an SES facility that is structurally mounted to the ground and does not qualify as an integrated SES. For purposes of the Lee County zoning code, any solar canopy that does not qualify as an integrated SES shall be considered a ground mounted SES, regardless of where it is mounted.

The footprint of a ground mounted SES facility is calculated by drawing a perimeter around the outermost SES panels and any equipment necessary for the functioning of the SES facility, such as transformers and inverters. The footprint does not include any visual buffer or perimeter fencing. Transmission lines (or portions thereof) required to connect the SES facility to a utility or consumer outside the SES perimeter shall not be included in calculating the footprint.

Ground mounted SESs shall be delineated by size as follows:

Small scale ground mounted solar energy system (small scale SES) means a ground mounted SES where the solar facility totals five acres or less.

Intermediate scale ground mounted solar energy system (intermediate scale SES) means a ground mounted SES where the solar facility totals not less than more than five acres, but less than 50 acres.

Large scale ground mounted solar energy system (large scale SES) means a ground mounted SES where the solar facility totals more than 50 acres.

Group home: A group home is a residential home use of a property for the care of individuals in the home environment who have mental and/or developmental disabilities, or individuals will benefit socially from living in a group environment. All group homes must be licensed by the appropriate state agency and must have a conditional use permit granted by the Board of Lee Commissioners prior to opening.

Guest house: A building or portion thereof used or designed for use as a residence, specifically as an accessory use to the principal building. Occupation of guesthouses shall be temporary [30 continuous days at a maximum].

Halfway house: A group home facility which is licensed or supervised by any federal, state, or county correctional facility to be used for health/welfare rehabilitation or similar purposes.

Home occupation: Any use conducted entirely within the dwelling and carried on by the inhabitants thereof, which use is incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for dwelling purposes and does not change the character thereof. Provided further, that no article or service is sold or offered for sale on the premises, except such as is produced, sold, or provided to customers in connection with such occupation; that such occupation shall not require internal or external alterations or construction, open storage or signs not customary in residential areas. One non-illuminated name plate, which is not more than two square feet in area, may be attached to the building which shall contain only the name and occupation of the resident of the premises. Clinics, hospitals, childcare centers, and day nurseries, among others, shall not be deemed to be home occupations.

Home occupation, residential:

(1)

The home occupation use shall only be allowed in residential zoning districts which allow home occupations.

(2)

The dwelling unit must maintain a residential appearance and there shall be no outward evidence of the occupation or impacts in appearance, noise, light, odor, traffic and utilities that would be detectable beyond the dwelling unit.

(3)

The use shall be conducted entirely within the dwelling unit and accessory structures with not more than 25 percent of a property's gross floor area devoted to the home occupation.

(4)

No more than one home occupation shall be authorized for any residential dwelling unit.

(5)

No business materials or equipment shall be stored at the premises of the home occupation unless such material or equipment is stored in an area within the residence. No business vehicles used in the home occupation shall be stored on the premises where the home occupation is undertaken.

(6)

The following businesses, uses, and activities shall be prohibited as home occupation uses: adult entertainment establishments; kennels; stables; veterinarian clinics; medical and dental clinics; restaurants, clubs, and drinking establishments; motor vehicle repair or small engine repair; funeral parlors; adult businesses; limousine service; taxi service; and wrecker service.

(7)

Motor vehicles of customers of the person conducting the home occupation may be parked at the premises of the home occupation during business hours while the customer is conducting business with the person operating the home occupation. No provision or this subsection shall be construed to authorize a violation of either restrictive covenants applicable to the premises where the home occupation is being conducted or to amend any provision of the county's Code of Ordinances with respect to the types of motor vehicles which may be parked in a residential subdivision.

(8)

Non-conforming home occupation uses: non-conforming uses permitted as of October 1, 2005, shall be allowed to continue to operate under the following conditions:

a.

No non-conforming use may be changed to another non-conforming use.

b.

No non-conforming use shall be increased, extended or enlarged beyond the size or scope of the use as it existed on the date of issuance of the current occupation tax certificate.

c.

The non-conforming use is specially designated to the current property and business owner. (The home occupational use is not transferable.)

d.

Violation of these conditions will result in an immediate and permanent revocation of the right to continue the non-conforming use.

Hospital: An institution providing health services, primarily for in-patients and medical or surgical care of the sick or injured, including as an integral part of the institution, such related facilities as laboratories, out-patient departments, training facilities, central service facilities and staff offices.

Hotel: Any structure or any portion of a structure, including any lodging house, rooming house, dormitory, bed and breakfast inn, motel, motor hotel, auto court, tourist cabin, lodge, inn, or apartment community containing guest rooms and which is occupied, or is intended or designed for occupancy, by paying guests, whether rent is paid in money, goods, labor, or otherwise. Such term does not include any hospital, asylum, sanitarium, orphanage, jail, prison, or other buildings in which human beings are housed and detained under legal restraint. In addition, such term also does not include any short-term rental house operated under chapter 22, article VI of this Code.

Industrialized building: Any structure or component thereof which is designed and constructed in compliance with the state minimum standards codes and O.C.G.A. § 8-2-2 (Georgia Industrialized Buildings Act) and is wholly or in substantial part made, fabricated, formed, or assembled in manufacturing facilities for installation or assembly and installation on a building site and has been manufactured in such a manner that all parts or processes cannot be inspected at the installation site without disassembly, damage to, or destruction thereof. See Rule 110-2-01.

Junk: Any motor vehicle, machine, appliance, scrap material or other items that are in a condition which prevents its use for the purpose for which it was originally manufactured.

Junkyard: Includes automobile wrecking yards and includes any area of more than 200 square feet for the storage, keeping or abandonment of junk, including scrap metals or other scrap materials, or for the dismantling, demolition or abandonment of automobiles, or other vehicles or machinery or parts thereof, but does not include uses established entirely within enclosed buildings.

Kennel: Any lot or premises on which three or more dogs, four months or older, are kept either permanently or temporarily for commercial or breeding purposes.

Laboratory: A place devoted to experimental study, such as testing and analyzing. Manufacturing of product or products is not permitted within this definition.

Landscape strip: That portion of a given lot, not covered by buildings, pavement, parking, access and service areas, established as landscaped open space, the width of which is measured from the common property line and extending the developed portion of the property line. A landscape strip, as distinguished from a buffer, may be disturbed by grading or site development but shall be maintained as landscaped open space. A landscape strip may consist of grass lawns, decorative planting, berms, walls, fences or other approved features designed and arranged to produce an aesthetically pleasing effect within the development.

Loading strip: An off-street space on the same parcel of property with the building or group of buildings, for temporary parking of a commercial vehicle while loading and unloading merchandise or materials.

Lodging house: A lodging house or rooming house is a building other than a hotel or motel where lodging is provided for five or more persons for compensation pursuant to previous arrangement.

Lot: A parcel of land occupied or intended to be occupied by a principal building or use and any accessory building and uses customarily incident to it, and including open spaces not less in extent than those required in connection therewith by these regulations.

Lot area: The size of a lot measured within the lot lines as expressed in terms of acres or square feet.

Lot, corner: A lot abutting on two streets at their intersection. The minimum front yard setback shall be observed on both street frontages.

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

Lot, double frontage: An interior lot having frontages on two or more parallel streets as distinguished from a corner lot. In the case of a row of double frontage lots, one street will be designated as the front street on the plat and the request for a building permit will indicate which street is the designated front street.

Lot, flag: Lots which have adequate land area for two lots but which do not have adequate street frontage for more than one lot. The standards require access for fire protection and also require screening in the higher density residential areas to protect the privacy of abutting residences. The intent of flag lots is to provide additional housing and commercial opportunities and to promote the efficient use of land.

Lot, frontage: That portion of a lot extending along a street right-of-way line.

Lot, interior: A lot other than a corner lot.

Lot lines: The property lines bounding the lot.

(1)

Front lot line: On a lot abutting upon a public street, the front lot line shall mean the line separating such lot from such street right-of-way.

(2)

Rear lot line: Ordinarily, the lot line that is opposite and most distant form the front lot line of the lot. In the case of an irregular shaped lot the county planner shall designate the rear lot line.

(3)

Side lot line: Any lot line that is not a front or rear lot line.

Lot of record: A parcel of land, the dimensions of which are shown on a map or plat on file with the clerk of superior court of the county and which actually exists as shown, or any part of such parcel held in a recorded ownership separate from the ownership of the remainder thereof.

Lot width: The distance between the side lot lines, measured along the front building line and parallel to the street right-of-way.

Manufactured home: A factory built structure that is manufactured or constructed under the authority of 42 United States Code Section 5401 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 it to a permanent site, and which does not have permanently attached to its body or frame any wheels or axles. A mobile home is not a manufactured home, except as hereafter provided.

Manufactured home park: A licensed business operation which leases spaces for permanent or for temporary occupancy for periods exceeding 30 days for mobile homes and, under some conditions, travel trailers.

Manufactured home stand: The site designed for the placement of a manufactured home and its cabana, accessory structures, utility connections and off-street parking facilities.

Maximum lot coverage: The part or percentage of the lot that may be occupied by buildings or structures, including accessory buildings or structures.

Memory care services means the additional watchful oversight systems, programs, activities, and devices that are required for residents who have cognitive deficits which may impair memory, language, thinking, reasoning, or impulse control, and which place the residents at risk of eloping, i.e., engaging in unsafe wandering activities outside the home.

Memory care unit means a specialized unit or home that either holds itself out as providing memory care services or provides personal services in secured surroundings.

Mobile home: A manufactured home built before June 15, 1976, which does not meet current building codes.

Modular homes: Factory built housing certified as meeting local or state building codes as applicable to modular housing. Once certified by the state, modular homes shall be subject to the same standards as site built homes.

Motor vehicle repair: General repair, engine rebuilding, rebuilding or reconditioning of motor vehicles; collision service such as body, frame or fender straightening and repair; overall painting; but not including undercoating of automobiles unless conducted in a completely enclosed spray booth.

Non-conforming use: Any building or land use which lawfully exists at the time of adoption of this chapter and which does not now conform with the use regulations of the district in which it is located.

Nursery (tree and shrub): An area or establishment devoted to the raising and care of trees, shrubs, or similar plant materials.

Nursing home: Any facility which primarily provides skilled nursing care and related services to residents who require medical or nursing care, rehabilitation services to the injured, disabled, or sick; or, on a regular basis, provides health care and services to individuals who, because of their mental or physical condition, require care and services (above the level of room and board) which is available to them only through such facility and is not primarily for the care or treatment of mental disease or defect. A nursing home must be properly licensed as a nursing home under state law.

Off-street parking lot: A facility providing vehicular parking spaces, along with adequate drives and aisles for maneuvering, so as to provide access for entrance and exits for the parking of more than two automobiles.

Open air business uses: Open-air business use shall include the following:

(1)

Retail sale of trees, shrubbery, plants, flowers, seeds, topsoil, humus, fertilizer, trellises, lawn furniture, playground equipment and other home garden supplies and equipment.

(2)

Retail sale of fruits and vegetables.

(3)

Tennis courts, archery courts, shuffleboard, horseshoe courts, miniature golf, golf driving range, children's amusement park or similar recreation uses.

(4)

Bicycle, trailer, motor vehicles, mobile homes, boats or home equipment sales, services or rental services.

(5)

Outdoor display and sale of prefabricated storage buildings, garages, swimming pools and similar use.

Open space, landscaped: That portion or portions of a given lot, not covered by buildings, pavement, parking access and service areas, set aside and maintained as a buffer, landscape strip or other approved open area.

Outdoor display: The open display of items, outside of any principal or accessory building that does not include walls for enclosure, that is for the primary purpose of attracting attention to the specific item from nearby or adjacent streets or roads.

Outdoor storage: The open storage of any items, whether business related or personal, outside of any principal or accessory building or structure that does not include walls for enclosure.

Parking space: An area of not less than nine feet wide and 20 feet long, for each automobile or motor vehicle, such space being exclusive of necessary drives, aisles, entrances or exits and being fully accessible for the storage or parking of permitted vehicles.

Personal care home: A building or buildings in which housing, meals, and 24-hour continuous watchful oversight for two or more adults are provided and which facility is licensed or permitted as a personal care home by the State of Georgia. The term "personal care home" shall not include a child caring institution, transitional housing, a rehabilitation housing facility, a rooming house, a boarding house, or any other facility which provides residential services for federal, state, or local correctional institutions. A personal care home includes a community living arrangement, which is an establishment licensed by the state which undertakes, through their ownership or management, to provide or arrange for the provision of daily personal services, care, or treatment for two or more adults who are not related to the owner or administrator and whose residential services are financially supported, in whole or in part, by funds designated to the department of behavioral health and development disabilities. The term also includes memory care units which provide memory care services in a secured environment. There are three types of personal care homes, as follows:

(1)

Family personal care home: A personal care home of any family-type residence, which is non-institutional in character, and which offers care for two to six adults;

(2)

Group personal care home: A personal care home in a residence or other type of building that is non-institutional in character and offers care for seven to 15 adults; and

(3)

Congregate personal care home: A personal care home that offers care to 16 or more adults.

For purposes of the definitions of "personal care home," personal services include, but are not necessarily limited to, individual assistance with or supervision of self-administered medication, assistance with ambulation and transfer, and assistance with essential activities of daily living, such as eating, bathing, grooming, dressing, and toileting.

Planned unit development: A planned unit development is a single parcel of land within which a number of buildings (uses) are located or intended to be located in accordance with an overall plan of design and not in relation to a prearranged pattern of land subdivision. Examples of a planned unit development (P.U.D.) include a complex of apartment buildings, offices and a shopping center with a number of stores.

Prime farm land: Land in the county which is best suited for producing feed, forage, fiber, and oil seed crops and also available for these uses. It has the soil quality, growing season, and moisture supply needed to produce sustained good yield of crops economically if treated and managed, including water management, according to modern farming methods.

Private event: A private event is an event held under this article which is an invitation-only event.

Private home care provider: A private home care provider provides private home care services. The private home care provider is an agency that is licensed by the state to provide services at a client's residence that involves direct care to the client of the provider and includes nursing services, personal care tasks, and companion or sitting tasks. Such services are provided through the private home care providers own employees or agents.

Produce stand/curb market: A permanent or semi-permanent building stand not exceeding 200 square feet of floor area intended to provide a place to sell at retail only perishable farm and garden vegetables and orchard or grove fruits, but not including buildings or structures erected by a bona fide farmer for the sale of seasonal produce grown on their land in an agricultural zoning district.

Public event: A public event is an event held under this article where the public is invited or allowed to attend. For purposes of this article, an event for which tickets or other evidence of authority to attend the event are required for persons in attendance at the event, whether such tickets are purchased or distributed without any cost or considerations, shall be considered to be a public event.

Recovery residents: Housing for persons released from prisons, jails, or mental health facilities, who need a more restrictive environment than outpatient services in order to establish or maintain abstinence from alcohol and other drugs, criminal activities, or other behavioral issues which are not compatible with general society. Recovery residences are characterized according to the intensity of the substance abuse services counseling that is delivered as follows:

(1)

Standard recovery residences (SRR) require all residents to attend one or more hours of substance abuse services or counseling, or mental health counseling, per week;

(2)

Intensive recovery residences (IRR) require all residents to attend five or more hours of substance abuse counseling, or mental health counseling, per week, which counseling is delivered by certified substance abuse counselors.

Recreation facility, commercial: A recreation facility operated as a business and open to the public for a fee.

Reference level: The reference level for any building is seven inches above the existing curb, or in the absence of an existing curb, above the crown of the adjacent public road.

Rubbish: The miscellaneous waste material resulting from housekeeping, mercantile enterprises, trades, manufacturing offices and construction enterprises, including other waste material such as slag, stone, broken concrete, fly ash, tin cans, glass, scrap metal, rubber, paper, rags, chemicals, and/or similar or related combinations thereof.

Screening: Also referred to in the text as "protective screening" is a visual and acoustical barrier which, through the use of buffers, natural topography, landscaping, fences, walls, beams or approved combination thereof, is of such nature and density that provides year-round maximum capacity from the ground to a height of at least six feet that screens structures and activities on the lot from view from the normal level of a first story window on an abutting lot.

Service station: A building or structure designed or used for the retail sale or supply of fuels, lubricants, air, water and other operating commodities for motor vehicles, aircraft or boats, and including the customary space and facilities for the installation of such commodities on or in vehicles, and including space for facilities for the temporary storage of vehicles, minor repair or servicing.

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

Sign, business: A sign which directs attention to a business, profession, product, service, activity or entertainment conducted, sold or offered on the premises at which the sign is located.

Sign, freestanding: A sign which is supported by one or more columns, uprights or braces in or upon the ground, or by another structure, the sole purpose of which is to support the sign. A freestanding sign is not attached to a building.

Sign, general advertising: A sign which directs attention to a business, profession, idea, product, service, activity, or entertainment not conducted, sold or offered on the premises upon which the sign is located. It may either be freestanding or be attached to the building. A general advertising sign is commonly known as a "billboard."

Sign, wall: A sign, which is attached to the wall of any building. A wall sign shall project not more than 12 inches from the building.

Sign, area: The smallest square, rectangle, triangle, circle or combination thereof that encompasses the entire area devoted to advertising, information or identification. The term "sign area" includes trim, but excludes structural supports. (In the case of a sign with two sides for display, one side only shall be counted in determining sign area.)

Single parcel ownership: Possession of a parcel of property wherein the owner does not own adjoining property.

Soil removal: Shall mean the removal of any kind or soil or earth matter which includes topsoil, sand, gravel, clay or similar materials or any combination thereof, except common household gardening and general farm care.

Solar energy system (SES) means a device, a structural design feature, or a facility which provides for the collection of solar energy for electricity generation, consumption, or transmission, or for thermal applications.

For purposes of the Lee County zoning code, SES or SES facility refers only to (1) photovoltaic SES that convert solar energy directly into electricity through a semiconductor device or (2) solar thermal systems that use collectors to convert the sun's rays into useful forms of energy for water heating, space heating, or space cooling.

SES or SES facility, as used in the Lee County zoning code excludes concentrated solar power, which uses mirrors to focus the energy from the sun to produce electricity.

Stable, commercial: Any place established for gain or profit at which more than four adult horses are kept for the purpose of training, boarding, riding, sale or breeding or where instruction pertaining to the same is given for a fee.

Story: That portion of a building, other than the cellar or mezzanine, included between the surface of any floor and the floor next above it, or, if there is no floor above it, then the space between the floor and the ceiling next above it. For the purpose of these regulations, a basement or cellar shall be counted as a story if over 50 percent of its height is above the level from which the height of the building is measured, or if it is used for business purposes, or if it is used for dwelling purposes by other than a janitor or domestic servant employed in the same building including the family of the same.

(1)

Ground story: The lowest story of a building, the floor of which is not more than 12 inches below the elevation of the reference level.

(2)

Half story: The part of a building between a pitched roof and the uppermost full story, said part having a finished floor area which does not exceed one-half of the floor area of said story.

(3)

Mezzanine: Shall be deemed a full story when it covers more than 50 percent of the story underneath said mezzanine, or, if the vertical distance from the floor next below it to the floor above it is 24 feet or more.

Street: A thoroughfare which affords traffic circulation and principal means of access to abutting property, including avenue, place, way, drive, lane, boulevard, highway, road, and any other thoroughfare except an alley. A public street is a street accepted by dedication or otherwise by the governing body. A private street is a street not so accepted.

Structure: Anything constructed or erected with a fixed location on or in the ground, or attached to something having a fixed location on or in the ground. Among other things, structures include buildings, manufactured homes, signs, swimming pools and fallout shelters but do not include walls or fences.

Structural alteration: Any change in the supporting members of a building or structure, such as bearing walls or partitions, columns, beams or girders or any change in the width or number of exits, or any structural change in the roof.

Subdivision regulations: Regulations as adopted by the governing body governing the subdivision of land.

Swimming pool: Any structure or container intended for swimming or bathing located either above or below grade designed to hold water to a depth of greater than 24 inches.

Townhouse: One of a group of two or more attached single-family residences. Each townhouse unit is separated from the adjoining unit or units by an approved firewall or walls. Firewalls shall be located on the lot line. Each townhouse has a front and rear ground level entrance. The townhouse is located on its own approved, recorded, lot.

Transitional housing facility: A building or buildings in which is provided long-term but not permanent living accommodations for more than six persons who have no permanent residence and who are in need of long-tern, housing assistance.

Truck gardening: Truck gardening is the use of land for growing edible vegetables, fruits, and other crops for resale and commercial purposes. Household gardening by a property owner for a hobby or purely local consumption by himself and his family residing on the same premises shall not be considered to be truck gardening.

Use: The purpose for which land, premises, or a building thereon is designed, arranged, or intended, or for which it is occupied, maintained, let, or leased.

Utility room: A room or space, located other than in the basement, specifically designed and constructed to house utilities, such as major home appliances.

Variances: A variance is a relaxation to the terms of this zoning chapter where such variance will not be contrary to the public interest and where, owing to conditions peculiar to the particular property and not the result of any action of the applicant, a literal enforcement of the ordinance requirements would result in unnecessary and undue hardship.

Water system, community: A public water system which serves at least 15 service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at least 25 year-round residents.

Water system, individual: A potable water system other than a community or public water system, serving no more than two principal buildings, residence or other facility designed or used for human occupancy or congregation on one lot.

Water system, public: A system for the provision to the public of piped water for human consumption, if such system has at least 15 service connections or regularly serves an average of at least 25 individuals daily at least 60 days out of the year.

(1)

Any collection, treatment, storage and distribution facilities under the control of the operator of such system and used primarily in connection with such system.

(2)

Any collection or pretreatment storage facilities not under such control which are primarily in connection with such system. A public water system is either a community water system or a noncommunity water system.

Yard, front: A space extending the full width of the lot and situated between the right-of-way line of the abutting street and the front line of the principal building.

Yard, rear: A space extending across the full width of the lot between the rear line of the principal building and the rear line of the lot.

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

Zero lot line: The location of a building on a lot in such a manner that one or more of the building sides rest directly on a lot line.

Zoning: The power of local governments, including Lee County, to provide within its territorial boundaries for the zoning of property for various uses and the prohibition of other or different uses within such zones and for the regulation and development and improvement of real estate within such zones in accordance with the uses of property for which such zones were established.

Zoning decision means final legislative action by the Lee County Board of Commissioners which results in:

(1)

The adoption or repeal of a zoning ordinance;

(2)

The adoption of an amendment to a zoning ordinance which changes the text of the zoning ordinance;

(3)

The adoption or denial of an amendment to a zoning ordinance to rezone property from one zoning classification to another;

(4)

The grant or denial of a permit relating to a special use property;

(5)

The grant or denial of a variance or conditions concurrent and in conjunction with a decision pursuant to subparagraph 3 or subparagraph 4 of this paragraph.

Zoning ordinance: The ordinance or ordinances adopted from time to time by Lee County establishing procedures and zones within the unincorporated area of Lee County which regulates the uses and development standards of property within such zones. The term shall also include the zoning map adopted in conjunction with the zoning ordinance which shows the zones and zoning classifications of the property therein.

(Ord. of 12-2-2002, § 70-6; Res. No. Z05-020, 9-19-2005; Ord. of 3-27-2018, pt. 1; Ord. of 1-28-2020, pt. 1; Ord. of 4-27-2021; Ord. of 10-12-2021; Ord. of 10-26-2021, pt. 1; Ord. of 7-25-2023(1), Ord. of 7-25-2023(2); Ord. of 11-12-2024(3); Ord. of 5-27-2025, § 1)

Cross reference— Definitions generally, § 1-2.