"Generally" means certain words and phrases, when used in this title, are defined as follows, unless the context of a particular provision clearly requires a different definition. The terms of phrases used in this title are technical or specialized, or may not reflect common usage. If any of the definitions in this chapter conflict with the definition in other provisions of the Sonora Municipal Code, these definitions shall control for the purposes of this title. If a word is not defined in this chapter, or in other provisions of this title, the most common dictionary definition is presumed to be correct.

"Accessory" means customarily incidental, related and subordinate to the principal legal use of the parcel and located on the same parcel.

"Accessory building" means a detached building which is subordinate to, and whose use is customarily incidental to, that of the main building or structure on the same lot.

"Animal nuisance", see Sonora Municipal Code Section 6.04.020(D).

"Animal shelter" or "animal clinic" means a place where four or more household pets, livestock, poultry or other animals of more than four months of age are kept, boarded, trained or cared for.

"Automotive service station" means a retail place of business engaged primarily in the sale of motor fuels but also in supplying goods and services generally required in the operation and maintenance of automotive vehicles and the fulfilling of motorist needs. These may include sale of petroleum products; sale and servicing of tires, batteries, automotive accessories and replacement items; washing and lubrication services; and the performance of minor automotive maintenance and repair. The supplying of other incidental customer services is excluded except where such uses are otherwise permitted.

"Bed and breakfast establishment" means a residential structure, located in a residential zone (where allowed by use permit) which provides overnight accommodations for travelers or tourists, on a daily basis, and which serves meals to its guests, but not to the public generally, the price for which is included in the charge for lodging.

"Building" means a roofed structure designed or used for the support, shelter or enclosure of persons, animals, vehicles, or materials of any kind.

"Building coverage" means the total of ground floor areas of all buildings, including accessory buildings, occupying a parcel, expressed as a percentage of the area of such parcel.

"Building height" means the vertical dimension measured from the ground level to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof; or to the deck line of a mansard roof; or to the average height between eaves and the highest ridge of a gable, hip or gambrel roof or between eaves and the highest point of an arch roof.

"The California Register of Historical Resources" is the state register of cultural resources as established pursuant to Public Resources Code Sections 5020.1, 5020.5, 5020.7, 5024.1, 5024.5, 5024.6, 21084 and 21084.1.

"Cargo container" means a pre-manufactured metal shipping container or standardized, reusable vessel, designed without axle or wheels, that was originally designed and fabricated for, or used in, the packing, shipping, movement or transport of freight, articles, goods, or commodities from one location to another and that is delivered to a site as a fully assembled unit. The term "cargo container" shall not include a storage shed that is assembled at the site or a trailer with wheels used in the transport of freight. This term shall only apply to those containers that are accessory to the primary use of the property for the storage of directly related nonflammable, noncombustible, nonhazardous materials, and supplies. This definition means also terms including "shipping container", "c-train", "conex box", and similar verbiage for means of implementation.

"Carport" means a covered motor vehicle parking structure accessory to a single- or multi-family residential use. It may be freestanding or attached to a single or multi-family structure. A carport shall be one story in height and entirely open on two or more sides except for structural supports. There can be no enclosed use above a carport.

"Chicken tractor" means a movable poultry coop lacking a floor.

"Child daycare facility" means a facility that provides nonmedical care to children under eighteen years of age in need of personal services, supervision, or assistance essential for sustaining the activities of daily living or for the protection of the individual on less than a twenty-four-hour basis. Child daycare facility includes daycare centers, employer-sponsored childcare centers, and family daycare homes. (Health and Safety Code Section 1596.750, as may be amended.)

"Commercial animal establishment", see Sonora Municipal Code Section 6.04.020(H) (1).

"Commission" means the planning commission of the City of Sonora.

"Community development department" means the city community development department administered by the community development director.

"Cottage food operation (CFO)" shall mean an enterprise in a private home where low- risk food products are prepared or packaged for sale to consumers and as more particularly defined in California Health and Safety Code Section 113758, as may be amended. "Low-risk foods products," for the purposes of a CFO, means those foods on the list of approved CFO food products maintained on the California Department of Public Health's website.

"Cultural resource(s) evaluation" means an evaluation of a building or structure prepared by a qualified professional(s), as determined by the community development director, using the criteria established by a cultural resources register which concludes with a determination of the building's eligibility for listing on a cultural resources register.

"Cultural resources register" means any of the following: the California Register of Historical Resources, the National Register of Historic Places, or any cultural resources register that may be adopted by the city.

"Daycare" means the same as "Child daycare facility."

"Daycare center" means any child daycare facility other than a family daycare home, and includes infant centers, preschools, extended daycare facilities, and school-age childcare centers. (Health and Safety Code Section 1596.76, as may be amended.)

"Days" means calendar days, except when the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, in which case the following day is included.

"Demolition" means any intentional act or process which results in the destruction of sixty percent or more of an individual building or structure. Demolition excludes maintenance and repair and activities involving interior features only.

"Domestic animal", see Sonora Municipal Code Section 6.04.020(L).

"Dwelling unit" means a building or self-contained portion thereof, designed or used as living quarters for not more than a family; a rental unit, such as in a motel, hotel or roominghouse, containing cooking or housekeeping facilities; and is exclusive of mobile homes.

"Emergency shelter" means housing, within buildings and structures that have been constructed in accordance with the California Building Standards Code, with on-site management and minimal supportive services for homeless persons that is limited to occupancy of six months or less by a homeless person. No individual or household may be denied emergency shelter because of an inability to pay.

"Employer-sponsored child care center" means any child daycare facility at the employer's site of business operated directly or through a provider contract by any person or entity having one or more employees, and available exclusively for the care of children of that employer, and of the officers, managers, and employees of that employer. (Health and Safety Code Section 1596.771, as may be amended.)

"Family" means one individual, or two or more individuals related by blood, marriage or adoption, their servants, and not more than four unrelated individuals, occupying a dwelling unit as a single, nonprofit housekeeping unit.

"Family daycare home" means a home that regularly provides care, protection, and supervision for fourteen or fewer children, in the provider's own home, for periods of less than twenty-four hours per day, while the parents or guardians are away, and is either a "large family daycare home" or a "small family daycare home". (Health and Safety Code Section 1596.78(a), as may be amended.)

"Floor area" means the total gross area of all floors, with a ceiling height of seven feet or more, of all buildings occupying a parcel, measured horizontally from the exterior faces of exterior walls or foundations, inclusive of enclosed or roofed porches or terraces, and exclusive of inner courts open vertically to the sky, and basements unless designed or used for the primary use of the building.

"Ground level" means the average elevation of the finished ground levels contiguous to the centers of the exterior walls or foundations of a building. When the front wall of a building is parallel to and not more than five feet from the street Right-of-Way, the ground level shall be the elevation of the crown of the street at a point opposite the center of such front wall.

"Guesthouse" means a detached building designed or used as sleeping quarters without cooking or housekeeping facilities, accessory to a one-family dwelling, and exclusive of a mobile home.

"Home occupation" means any use customarily carried on within a residential dwelling by the inhabitants thereof for which the inhabitants receive some form of remuneration, which use is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for dwelling purposes and does not change the character thereof, and does not adversely affect the uses permitted in the zone and vicinity in which it is located, provided the home occupation is approved pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 17.59. "Home Occupation" excludes cottage food operations (CFOs) as defined in the California Health and Safety Code Section 113758 and governed pursuant to California Government Code Section 51035 and Sonora Municipal Code Section 17.77.030.

"Hotel" or "motel" means a building or group of buildings containing five or more rental units, with or without meals provided for the guests, and does not include bed and breakfast establishments.

"Junkyard" means storage of waste or salvaged metal or materials, unused vehicles, dismantling or demolition of machinery or vehicles, covering more than two hundred fifty square feet of land and not within a completely enclosed building.

"Large family daycare home" means a home that provides family daycare for nine to fourteen children, inclusive, including children under the age of ten years who reside at the home. (Health and Safety Code Section 1596.78(b), as may be amended.)

"Livestock" means domesticated hoofed animals, poultry, or rabbits.

"Maintenance and/or repair" includes, but is not limited to, work necessary for the ordinary upkeep of property in response to normal deterioration generally caused by natural forces other than neglect (e.g., weather). Maintenance or repair normally involves mending or fixing existing structural features rather than replacing them. Maintenance or repair normally involves the preservation of existing, or use of like, materials to mend or fix structural features without causing a change in exterior appearance.

"Minor accessory building or structure" means a one story building or structure less than one hundred twenty square feet in size as measured from the outside of the building or structure-except for carports regulated pursuant to Section 17.40.080. Includes, but is not limited to, garden sheds, play structures, greenhouses, gazebos, and art studios.

"Microbrewery" means a brewery that produces no more than fifteen thousand barrels of ales, beers, meads, hard ciders, and/similar beverages on-site per year, in keeping with the regulations of the Alcohol Beverage Commission and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and other applicable state and local requirements.

"Mobile home" means a vehicle designed or used as a semipermanent dwelling unit.

"Mobile home park" means land designated or used for the rental of one or more spaces for the occupancy of mobile homes.

"The National Register of Historic Places" means the federal inventory of cultural resources established pursuant to 16 United States Code (U.S.C.) 470 (1966) under the authority of the Historic Sites Act of 1935 16 U.S.C. 461-467 (1935, and as amended) and the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 470, 1966 and as amended)).

"Office" means a place where business is transacted or services are offered without the handling of goods or products.

"Owner" means the person having title to real property, singly or jointly, in fee simple, life estate, or under a term of ten years or more.

"Owner representative" means any person authorized by the owner to fully manage the transient use parcel.

"Parcel" means all contiguous land held by one owner and not traversed by a public street. See also Section 17.54.020.

"Parcel area" means land within the boundaries of a parcel measured horizontally, exclusive of:

A.

Vehicular or pedestrian rights-of-way or easements not for the exclusive use of the parcel on which it is located;

B.

Access strip to the parcel in excess of five percent of the total parcel area;

C.

All land normally under water for all or part of the year.

"Parcel width" means the horizontal distance between side parcel lines measured in a straight line substantially parallel to the street Right-of-Way, at such distance therefrom as specified in this title for any zone, exclusive of vehicular easement not for the exclusive use of the parcel.

"Pasture, grazing or unoccupied land", see Sonora Municipal Code Section 8.12.010.

"Person" means an individual, firm, corporation, partnership, association or similar entity.

"Place of entertainment" means a facility for theater, dance, sports or other amusement.

"Pot-bellied pig" is livestock for the purposes of Titles 6 and 17.

"Poultry" means domesticated fowl raised for meat or eggs. For the purposes of livestock keeping, "poultry" includes chickens (hens), pheasants, quail, doves, domestic turkeys and domestic hybrids of these species. For the purposes of livestock keeping, "poultry" excludes roosters, ducks, pigeons, guinea fowl, geese, peacocks, pea hens, guineas, chukars, grouse and all large fowl (e.g., ostriches, emus).

"Remuneration" means compensation, money, rent, or other bargained for consideration given in return for occupancy, possession or use of real property.

"Rental unit" means sleeping accommodations with one individual bath and entrance, without cooking facilities, designed or used for lodging of guests for compensation.

"Repair", see "Maintenance."

"Residential transportation vehicle" means a car, truck, van or other vehicle driven by the occupants of the on-site residence for the purpose of personal transportation. "Residential transportation vehicle" includes vehicles used for both personal transportation and business uses, but excludes vehicles used solely for commercial purposes. Residential transportation vehicles do not include tractors, forklifts, dump trucks or similar vehicles that are not used for personal transportation to destinations off-site.

"Residential property" means any dwelling unit, except those dwelling units lawfully established as second units established pursuant to Chapter 17.55 of the Sonora Municipal Code or as part of a bed and breakfast inn, motel, hotel, timeshare development, or other transient use.

"Responsible tenant", means a person aged eighteen or older who has received notice of occupancy, parking and other limits that apply to the transient use parcel, and who has agreed to be responsible to ensure than impermissible or inappropriate behavior does not occur at the transient use parcel.

"Roominghouse" or "boardinghouse" means a building containing rental units designed or used for the lodging of three or more persons, with or without meals provided.

"Secretary of the Interior Standards" means those standards identified in the Secretary of the Interior Standards and Guidelines for Historic Preservation Projects (36 Code of Federal Regulations 67), the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation, and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines for Archaeology and Historic Preservation, with accompanying interpretive guidelines and as may be amended.

"Self-storage, indoor", means a structure consisting of individual, self-contained units leased for storage of business, commercial, or personal goods and belongings. A single self-storage, indoor facility will contain a variety of individual units inside a building that are rented out for the purpose of storing belongings. No retail sales are allowed from the individual units. One building per parcel shall be allowed with no outdoor storage permitted.

"Senior housing facilities" means a facility that provides housing for the elderly which includes services such as meals and laundry. These facilities may include live alone units as well as communal living where all meals are provided. The facilities also provide services for transportation to shopping and other activities. Some recreational and social events are provided on-site for the residents.

"Setback" means the distance from a parcel boundary or property line to the nearest exterior wall of a building.

"Setback line" means the line parallel to a property line at a distance from the property line equal to the yard requirement for structures at that location as specified in this title.

"Sign" means a structure or portion thereof and its support, located outdoors, and designed or used to attract the attention and communicate a specific message.

"Small family daycare home" means a home that provides family daycare for eight or fewer children, including children under the age of ten years who reside at the home. (Health and Safety Code Section 1596.78(c), as may be amended.)

"Small non-hoofed animal" means poultry or rabbits for the purposes of Section 17.77.020 (Livestock Keeping).

"State housing law" means California Health and Safety Code Division 13 (Housing), Part 1.5 (Regulation of Buildings Used for Human Habitation), Section 17910 et seq., as may be amended.

"Story" means part of a building between the level of any floor and the level of the floor next above, or the ceiling above in the case of the uppermost floor. A basement or cellar with a ceiling height of seven feet or more shall be considered a story if the vertical distance from ground level to ceiling exceeds the vertical distance from ground level to floor below. A mezzanine with a ceiling height of seven feet or more shall be considered a story if its floor area exceeds one-third of the floor area immediately below it.

"Half story" means the uppermost story with a floor area not exceeding two-thirds of the floor area immediately below it. An attic with a ceiling height of seven feet or more shall be considered a half story if its floor area exceeds one-third of the floor area immediately below it.

"Street" means any land permanently designed or used for the passage of vehicles, not for the exclusive access to one parcel, whether in public or private ownership. The Right-of-Way lines of such streets are those established by recorded subdivision maps, precise street plans, deeds or other instruments creating them. The Right-of-Way lines of streets created by use without instruments follow the limits of such use and its accessory drainage ways.

"Structure" means anything constructed or erected, requiring placement on or in the ground directly or by means of another structure and generally created primarily for purposes other than sheltering human activity.

"Transient" means a period of time less than thirty consecutive calendar days.

"Transient use" means the commercial use, by any person, or residential property for transient lodging uses where the term of occupancy, possession or tenancy of the property by the person entitled to such occupancy, possession or tenancy is less than thirty consecutive calendar days.

"Transient use of residential property" and "transient use parcel" mean property occupied and used for transient or short-term rental purposes.

"Transitional housing" means buildings configured as rental housing developments, but operated under program requirements that require termination of assistance and recirculating of the assisted unit to another eligible program recipient at a predetermined future point in time that shall be no less than six months from the beginning of the assistance.

"Transmission line" means a power line of fifty thousand volts potential or over, sewer or water line of twelve inches inside diameter or over, a gas pipe of six inches inside diameter or over, or a toll telephone line.

"Tri-level senior community" means a community that provides progressive care for the elderly including all of the following: live alone, self-sufficient, units either in a single- family or multi-family residential structure, assisted living where some services are provided such as laundry, meals, and long-term care facilities that include full care including medical care and administration of medication.

"Use" means the purpose for which a parcel or structure is occupied, maintained, designed or intended.

"Wireless telecommunication facilities" means facilities that consist of commercial wireless communication systems, including but not limited to cellular, PCS, paging, broadband, data transfer, and any other type of technology that fosters wireless communication through the use of portable electronic devices. A facility includes all supporting structures and associated equipment.

"Yard" means open space unoccupied from the ground level vertically to the sky on a parcel.

"Front yard" means the area between any contiguous street Right-of-Way and a line drawn parallel thereto at such distance therefrom as specified in this title for any zone, and extending between side parcel lines.

"Rear yard" means the area between the rear parcel line and a line drawn parallel thereto at such distance therefrom as specified in this title for any zone extending between side parcel lines.

"Side yard" means the area between each side parcel line and a line drawn parallel thereto at such distance therefrom as specified in this title, for any zone.

(Ord. 816, 2013; Ord. 814, 2012; Ord. 811, 2012; Ord. 808, 2012; Ord. 801, 2012; Ord.800, 2011; Ord. 613, 1985; Ord. 587, 1983; Ord. 376 § 10-1-4 (part), 1967; Amended by Ord. 822 on 2/2/2015; Amended by Ord. 824 on 2/2/2015; Amended by Ord. 832 on 11/16/2015; Amended by Ord. 845 on 12/18/2017; Amended by Ord. 851 on 12/17/2018; Amended by Ord. 855 on 3/4/2019; Amended by Ord. 865 on 4/20/2020; Amended by Ord. 891 on 6/9/2023)