This title shall be known as the "Zoning Ordinance" of the City of Sutter Creek. For the purpose of this title, certain terms and words are defined. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future, words in the singular number include the plural number, and words in the plural number include the singular number, and the masculine includes the feminine. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory.

"Affordable rent" means the maximum monthly rent for a specified income level calculated in accordance with Health and Safety Code Section 50053 and implementing regulations.

"Affordable sales price" means the maximum housing cost for a specified income level, calculated in accordance with Health and Safety Code Section 50052.5 and implementing regulations.

"Affordable units" means those dwelling units which are required to be rented at affordable rents or sold at an affordable sales price to very low income households, low income households, or moderate income households.

"Alley" means a public way permanently maintained as a secondary means of access.

"Apartment hotel" means a building, or portion thereof, designed for or containing both individual guest rooms or suites of rooms and dwelling units.

"Apartment house" means a building, or portion thereof, designed for or occupied by five or more families living independently of each other.

"Area requirements" means the minimum net square footage of any lot excluding street rights-of-way. Area requirements are the equivalent of land use density.

"Automobile service station" means an establishment for the primary purpose of gasoline or vehicle fuel retail sales. This may also include sales of automotive accessories, vehicular operating fluids, and convenience goods or groceries, as well as the provision of minor vehicle maintenance, such as vehicle washing facilities, excluding automotive repair.

"Boarding and rooming house" means a residence, other than a hotel, wherein a room or rooms, with or without individual or group cooking facilities, are rented, leased, or subleased under two or more separate written or oral rental agreements, leases, or subleases, whether or not the owner, agent or rental manager resides within the dwelling unit.

"Building" means any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls for the housing or enclosure of persons, animals, chattels, or property of any kind. See also structure.

"Building footprint" means the ground area of a building or group of buildings.

"Building height" means the vertical distance from the average finished grade of a building footprint to the highest point of the structure. See also Grade.

"Building setback" is the minimum distance allowed between a lot line and the nearest building, column, wall, or fence structure requiring a building permit.

"Bungalow court" means a group of two or more detached one-family or two-family dwellings as rental units located upon a single lot, together with all open spaces as required by this title.

"Carport" means a permanent roofed structure with not more than two enclosed sides used or intended to be used for automobile shelter or storage.

"Change of occupancy" means a discontinuance of an existing use and substitution therefore of a use of a different kind or class.

"Child day care 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, as defined in California Health and Safety Code Section 1596.750 as amended. "Child day care facility" includes day care centers - child and family day care homes.

"Day care center, adult" means a social rehabilitation facility or adult day program, as defined in Health and Safety Code Section 1502, that provides care to persons eighteen years of age or older on less than a twenty-four-hour basis.

"Day care center, child" means a child day care facility, other than a family day care home, and includes infant centers, preschools, extended day care facilities, and school age childcare centers, and includes childcare centers licensed pursuant to Health and Safety Code Section 1596.951.

"Club" means an association of persons, whether incorporated or unincorporated, for some common purpose but not including groups organized primarily to render a service carried on as a business.

"Concession or incentive" is as defined in Government Code Section 65915.

"Condominium" means a building or group of buildings in which the interior spaces of units are owned, individually, but the structure, common areas, and facilities are owned by the owners on a proportional, undivided basis.

"Convenience store" means a retail business with primary emphasis placed on providing the public a convenient location at which to purchase from a wide array of consumable products, predominantly food or food and gasoline services.

"Corner lot" means a lot situated at the intersection of two or more streets having an angle of intersection of not more than one hundred thirty-five degrees.

"Director" means the community development director, or a designee of the community development director.

"Duplex dwelling" or "duplex" means a single building consisting of two dwelling units designed for or occupied exclusively by two families living independently of each other.

"Dwelling" means a building or portion thereof designed or occupied for residential purposes, including one-family/single-family, two-family, multiple dwellings, but not including hotels, boarding and lodging houses, trailers and mobile homes.

"Dwelling group" means a combination or arrangement of dwellings on one building site.

"Dwelling unit" means a room or group of rooms (including sleeping, eating, cooking, and sanitation facilities, but not more than one kitchen), that constitutes an independent housekeeping unit, occupied or intended for occupancy by one household on a long-term basis.

"Educational animal project" means an animal husbandry activity which is under the supervision of an educationally-oriented youth program or organization that is connected with a school or nonprofit organization.

"Educational institution" means a college or university giving general academic instruction equivalent to the standards prescribed by the State Board of Education.

"Emergency shelter" has the meaning ascribed to it in Government Code Section 65582(d) and Health and Safety Code Section 50801(e), as such sections may be amended from time to time, and which presently define the term "emergency shelter" to mean housing with minimal supportive services for homeless persons that is limited to occupancy of six months or less by a homeless person.

"Employee housing" has the meaning ascribed to it in Health and Safety Code Section 17008, as may be amended, and that is regulated by the California Department of Housing and Community Development.

"Exploration" or "prospecting" means the search for minerals by geological, geophysical, geochemical or other techniques, including, but not limited to, sampling, assaying, drilling, or any surface or underground works needed to determine the type, extent, or quantity of minerals present.

"Family" means a group of individuals, not necessarily related by blood or marriage, or adoption, or guardianship, living together in a single dwelling unit as a single housekeeping unit.

"Family day care home" means a licensed home in which the daycare provider resides and that provides family child care for up to twelve children, or for up to fourteen children, as may be applicable if the criteria in Health and Safety Code Sections 1597.44 and 1597.465 are met, as set forth in Health and Safety Code Section 1596.78, as may be amended from time to time, provided the provider holds a license from the state to operate as such. A family day care home is not required to hold a business license from the city nor pay a fee or tax to the city to operate.

"Family food production" means the non-commercial raising or keeping of animals by a family on the same lot as the primary residence of the family, solely for the purposes of personal use and consumption.

"Farmworker housing" has the same meaning as "employee housing," as set forth in Health and Safety Code Section 17008(a), for farmworkers.

"Floor area" means the sum of the gross floor area for each story of a building measured from the exterior faces of the exterior walls. Floor area includes all enclosed spaces.

"Floor area ratio" means the total floor area of the building or buildings on a lot, divided by the lot area. For example, on a lot with ten thousand square feet of lot area, a FAR of 1.00 will allow ten thousand square feet of gross square feet of building floor area to be built, regardless of the number of stories in the building (e.g., five thousand square feet per floor on two floors or ten thousand square feet on one floor). On the same lot, a FAR of 0.50 would allow five thousand square feet of floor area and a FAR of 0.25 would allow two thousand five hundred square feet.

"Fourplex dwelling" or "fourplex" means a single building consisting of four dwelling units.

"Front lot line" means the boundary line of a lot that separates the property from the street or right-of-way. On a corner lot, only the line separating the street on which the proposed or existing structure will face is considered as a front lot line.

"Front yard" means a yard extending across the full width of the lot, the depth of which is the minimum horizontal distance between the front lot line and the building setback line.

"Garage" means a building or portion of a building in which motor vehicles used by the occupants or tenants of the main building or buildings on the premises are stored or kept.

"Gas station" means an automobile service station and convenience store which supplies fuel to motor vehicles, groceries, and sundry items, and can include vehicle servicing and repairing, vehicle washing, sales of motor vehicle accessories and other customary services for automobiles, but excluding painting and body work.

"Grade" means the average of the finished ground level at the center of all walls of a building. "Gross acre" means the entire acreage of a parcel.

"Half story" means a story with at least two of its opposite sides situated in a sloping roof, the floor area of which does not exceed two-thirds of the floor area immediately below it.

"Halfplex dwelling" or "halfplex" means one-half of a duplex dwelling which is located on a separate lot from the other half of the duplex. Also referred to as a zero lot line unit.

"Home occupation" means an occupational activity or business use conducted within a dwelling unit and/or an accessory structure by a resident of the property, and that is secondary to the residential use of a property, but does not include a family day care home.

"Hospital" means any building or portion thereof used for the accommodation and medical care of sick, injured or infirm persons and including sanitariums.

"Hotel" means a building that provides accommodations for temporary lodging and services for travelers and tourists, in which there are five or more guest rooms, and in which no provision is made for cooking in any individual room or suite.

"Interior lot" means a lot other than a corner lot.

"Live-work unit" means a building or space within a building that is used jointly for office/business and residential uses allowed in the applicable zoning district.

"Lot" means a parcel.

"Lot area" means the total horizontal area (i.e. map area) within the lot lines of a lot.

"Lot coverage" means the ratio of the total footprint area of all structures and impervious cover on a lot relative to the lot area. The sum of the footprints of all primary and accessory structures, including garages, carports, covered patios, and roofed porches is used to calculate lot coverage.

"Lot depth" means the lesser of the horizontal distances separating the front and rear lot lines measured at the side lot lines.

"Lot width" means the lesser of the horizontal distances separating side lot lines measured at the front and rear lot lines.

"Low barrier navigation center" means a housing first, low-barrier, service-enriched shelter focused on moving people into permanent housing that provides temporary living facilities while case managers connect individuals experiencing homelessness to income, public benefits, health services, shelter, and housing, that meets the requirements of Government Code Section 65662, as may be amended.

"Major transit stop" means a site containing any of the following: (a) an existing rail or bus rapid transit station; (b) a ferry terminal served by either a bus or rail transit service; or (c) the intersection of two or major bus routes with a frequency of service interval of fifteen minutes or less during the morning or afternoon peak commute period, or as otherwise defined by Public Resources Code Section 21064.3.

"Manufactured housing" has the same meaning as "manufactured home" in Section 18007 of the Health and Safety Code.

"Mined lands" means and includes the surface, subsurface, and groundwater of an area in which surface mining operations will be, are being or have been conducted, including private ways and roads appurtenant to any such area, land excavations, working, mining waste and areas in which structures, facilities, equipment, machines, tools or other materials or property which result from, or are used in, surface mining operations are located.

"Minerals" means any naturally occurring chemical element or compound, or groups of elements and compounds, formed from inorganic processes and organic substances, including, but not limited to, coal, peat, and bituminous rock, but excluding geothermal resources, natural gas, and petroleum.

"Mining waste" means and includes the residual of soil, rock, mineral, liquid, vegetation, equipment, machines, tools, or other materials or property directly resulting from, or displaced by, surface mining operations.

"Mobile home" means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, built on a permanent chassis and designed for use as a single-family dwelling unit and which (1) has a minimum of four hundred square feet of living space; (2) has a minimum width in excess of one hundred two inches; (3) is connected to permanent utilities; and (4) is tied down to a permanent foundation or is set on piers, with wheels removed and skirted, in a mobile home park or on a lot owned, rented, or leased by the homeowner.

"Mobile home parks" means a parcel or contiguous parcels under one ownership that are planned and improved, or on which two or more mobile home lots are rented, leased, or held out for rent or lease, to accommodate mobile homes for human habitation. The rental paid for any such mobile home shall be deemed to include rental for the lot it occupies. Mobile home parks may include accessory outdoor storage areas for recreational vehicles, boats, etc., for the exclusive use of park residents.

"Multiple family dwelling" means a building containing two or more dwelling units for the use of individual households; an apartment or condominium building is an example of this dwelling unit type.

"Nonconforming building" means a building or structure or portion thereof conflicting with the provisions of this title applicable to the zone in which it is situated.

"Nonconforming use" means a use that conflicts with the provisions of this general plan, and may include use of a conflicting structure, a conflicting use within a conforming building, a conflicting use within a conflicting structure, or a conflicting use of land.

"Nuisance" means anything which is injurious to the health, safety or public welfare, or is an obstruction to the free use and enjoyment of property in the affected area.

"Occupied" means the active use of a property, structure, or dwelling.

"One-family dwelling" or "single-family dwelling" means a dwelling, not attached to any other dwelling, which is designed for and occupied by not more than one family and surrounded by open space or yards.

"Operator" means any person who is engaged in surface mining operations, himself, or who contracts with others to conduct operations on his behalf.

"Outdoor retail sales" means the outdoor display of products by a permanent business establishment and temporary retail operations, including farmer's markets; sidewalk sales; seasonal sales; semi-annual sales of art or handcrafted items in conjunction with community festivals or art shows; and retail sales of various products from individual vehicles. Does not include flea markets or swap meets which occupy more than two acres of land.

"Parcel" means a contiguous area of land, except for intervening easements and right-of-way with a continuous boundary defined by the description of said parcel as recorded in the office of the county clerk or by reference to a recorded subdivision plat.

"Permit" means any formal authorization from, or approved by, the city, the absence of which would preclude surface mining operations.

"Person" means any individual, firm, partnership, joint venture, association, club, fraternal organization, corporation, estate trust, receiver, organization, syndicate, city, county, municipality, district or other political subdivision, or any other group or combination acting as a unit. In regard to surface mining and reclamation "person" means any individual, firm, association, corporation, organization, or partnership, or any city, county, district, or the state or any department or agency thereof.

"Pet" means domestic animals ordinarily permitted in the house and kept for company or pleasure, such as dogs, cats, birds and the like

"Planned development" is as defined in Civil Code Section 1351(k).

"Primary dwelling unit "means an existing or proposed single-family residential structure on a single parcel with provisions for living, sleeping, eating, a single kitchen for cooking, and sanitation facilities occupied and intended for one household, and does not include an accessory dwelling unit or junior accessory dwelling unit.

"Public garage" means a garage, other than a private garage.

"Rear lot line" means the line opposite the front lot line.

"Rear yard" means a yard extending across the full width of the lot between the building setback line and the rear lot line. The depth of the required rear yard is measured horizontally from the nearest part of a main building toward the nearest point of the rear lot line.

"Reclamation" means the process of land treatment that minimizes water degradation, air pollution, damage to aquatic or wildlife habitat, flooding, erosion and other adverse effects from surface mining operations, including adverse surface effects incidental to underground mines, so that mined lands are reclaimed to a usable condition which is readily adaptable for alternate land uses and create no danger to public health or safety. The process may extend to affected lands surrounding mined lands, and may require backfilling, grading, resoiling, revegetation, soil compaction, stabilization, or other measures.

"Recreational vehicle" means a motor home, travel trailer, truck camper, or camping trailer, with or without motive power, originally designed for human habitation for recreational or emergency occupancy, and bearing the state or federal insignia of approval for recreational vehicles.

"Residential care facility, large" means any family home or group care facility serving seven or more persons in need of personal services, supervision, or assistance essential for sustaining the activities of daily living or for the protection of the individual, excluding jails or other detention facilities.

"Residential care facility, small" means any family home or group care facility serving six or fewer persons in need of personal services, supervision, or assistance essential for sustaining the activities of daily living or for the protection of the individual, excluding jails or other detention facilities.

"Residential caretaker unit" means permanent or temporary housing that is secondary or accessory to the primary use of the property. Such dwellings are used for housing a caretaker employed on the site of a nonresidential use where a caretaker is needed for security purposes or to provide twenty-four hour care or monitoring facilities, equipment, or other conditions on the site, or for employees and seasonal workers employed on the site where work is in locations deficient in housing. Caretaker units are limited in size to a maximum of eight hundred square feet.

"School" means a public or private elementary, junior high, or high school which offers instruction in the several branches of learning and study required to be taught by the Education Code of the State of California.

"Senior housing" means a housing development consistent with the California Fair Employment and Housing act (Government Code Section 12900 et. Seq., including 12955.9 in particular), which has been "designed to meet the physical and social needs of senior citizens," and which otherwise qualifies as "housing for older persons" as that phrase is used in the federal Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 P.L. 100-430) and implementing regulations (24 CFR, part 100, subpart E), and as the phrase is used in California Civil Code Sections 51.2 and 51.3. Senior housing shall be allowed the same as other residential uses in the same zone.

"Short-term rental unit" or "Vacation rental" means a residential dwelling unit or accessory building rented for periods of thirty consecutive days or fewer. Also known as a vacation rental.

"Side lot line" means any lot lines other than a front lot line or a rear lot line.

"Side yard" means a yard between the main building and the side lot line extending from the building setback line of the required front yard to the rear yard the width of which side yard shall be measured horizontally from, and at right angles to, the nearest point of a side lot line towards the nearest part of a main building.

"Single housekeeping unit" means an interactive group of persons jointly residing in a single dwelling unit exercising joint responsibility for and use of the dwelling's common areas, jointly sharing household expenses, and jointly sharing household activities and responsibilities such as meals, chores, and household maintenance.

"Single room occupancy facility" means a structure that provides living units that have separate sleeping areas and may have private or some combination of shared bath or toilet facilities. The structure may or may not have separate or shared cooking facilities for the residents.

"Single room occupancy unit" means a room that is used, intended or designed to be used by no more than two persons as a primary residence, but which lacks either or both a self-contained kitchen or bathroom.

"Special event" means any commercial outdoor gathering of at least twenty-five individuals, whether on public or private property, assembled with a common purpose for a period of up to seventy-two hours. Special events include, but are not limited to concerts, fairs, carnivals, parades, races, festivals, celebrations, or any other gathering or events of similar nature. Special events do not include: a temporary event conducted in an approved place of public assembly, such as a theater, convention center, meeting hall, public school events on school property, sports facility, or fairgrounds; or private non-commercial events/ parties held at a private residence. Events occurring for more than three contiguous days are not special events and require a conditional use permit.

"State board" means state mining and geology board, in the department of conservation, State of California.

"State geologist" means individual holding office as structured in Section 677 of Article 3, Chapter 2 of Division 1 of the Public Resources Code.

"Storage" means the placement or keeping of an object, vehicle, or materials in a stationary location on private property for a period of time exceeding seventy-two hours.

"Story" means that portion of a building included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the floor next above it, or if there is no floor above it, then the space between such floor and the ceiling next above it.

"Street" means a thoroughfare which affords the principal means of access to abutting property.

"Structure" means anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires being attached to the ground or attached to something located on the ground. For the purposes of this document, the term "structure" includes "buildings."

"Supportive housing" or "permanent supportive housing" means permanent housing with no limit on the length of stay that is occupied by the target population and that is linked to onsite or offsite services that assist the supportive housing residents in retaining the housing, improving his or her health status, and maximizing his or her ability to live, and when possible, work in the community. Shall also include associated facilities if used to provide services to housing residents.

"Surface mining operations" means all or any part of the process involved in the mining of minerals on mined lands by removing overburden and mining directly from the mineral deposits, open-pit mining of minerals naturally exposed, mining by the auger method, dredging and quarrying, or surface work incidental to an underground mine. Surface mining operations shall include, but are not limited to:

A.

In-place distillation, retorting or leaching;

B.

The production and disposal of mining waste;

C.

Prospecting and exploratory activities.

"Target population" means people with low incomes who have one or more disabilities, including mental illness, HIV or AIDS, substance abuse, or other chronic health condition, or individuals eligible for services provided pursuant to the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act [Division 4.5 (commencing with Section 4500) of the Welfare and Institutions Code] and may include, among other populations, adults, emancipated minors, families with children, elderly people, young adults aging out of the foster care system, individuals exiting from institutional settings, veterans, and people experiencing homelessness.

"Time share unit" means a condominium or similar unit that can be purchased for a specified annual term of use (typically one to two weeks).

"Townhouse" means a dwelling unit occupied or intended for occupancy by only one household that is structurally connected with at least one other such dwelling unit and where no unit is located over another unit.

"Trade school" or technical school means a postsecondary educational institution designed to train students for a specific job in a skilled trade career.

"Transient occupancy building" means a building that has an occupancy of 30 consecutive days or fewer, and may include a boarding house, vacation rental unit, hospice, or hostel.

"Transitional housing" means housing with supportive services for up to 24 months that is exclusively designated and targeted for recently homeless persons, with the ultimate goal of moving recently homeless persons to permanent housing as quickly as possible. Transitional housing limits rents and service fees to an ability-to-pay formula reasonably consistent with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development's requirements for subsidized housing for low-income persons. Rents and service fees paid for transitional housing may be reserved, in whole or in part, to assist residents in moving to permanent housing.

"Triplex dwelling" or "triplex" means a single building consisting of three dwelling units.

"Use" means the purpose for which a lot or structure is or may be leased, occupied maintained, arranged, designed, intended, constructed, erected, moved, altered, and/or enlarged in accordance with the general plan land use designations and city zoning ordinance.

"Yard" means an open space on a lot unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward.

(Ord. 373, §4(Att. 1), 2023)

A.

Terminology. The following rules apply to all provisions of the zoning code:

1.

Language. The words "shall", "must", "will", "is to", and "are to" are always mandatory. "Should" is not mandatory but is strongly recommended, and "may" is permissive.

2.

Tense. The present tense includes the past and future tense, and the future tense includes the present.

3.

Number. The singular number includes the plural number, and the plural the singular, unless the natural construction of the words indicates otherwise.

4.

Conjunctions. "And" indicates that all connected items or provisions shall apply. "Or" indicates that the connected items or provisions may apply singly or in any combination. "Either-or" indicates that the connected items and provisions shall apply singly but not in combination. "Includes" and "including" shall mean "including, but not limited to".

5.

Local reference. "City" as used herein means the City of Sutter Creek and all public officials, bodies and agencies referenced herein are those of the city unless otherwise stated.

B.

Number of days. Whenever the number of days is specified in the zoning code, or in any permit, condition of approval, or notice issued or given as provided in the zoning code, the number of days shall be construed as calendar days. when the last of the specified number of days falls on a weekend or city holiday, time limits shall extend to the end of the next working day.

C.

Minimum requirements. In interpreting and applying the provisions of the zoning code, such provisions shall be held to be the minimum requirements for the promotion of the public health, safety, comfort, convenience and general welfare. Where the zoning code imposes a greater restriction upon the use of buildings or land or requires larger open spaces than are imposed or required by this Code or other ordinances, rules, regulations or by easements, covenants or agreements, the provisions of the zoning code shall control.

(Ord. 373, §4(Att. 1), 2023)