When used in this ordinance, the following words and phrases shall have the meaning given in this article. Terms not herein defined shall have their customary dictionary definitions where not inconsistent with the context, words used in the singular number include the plural and those used in the plural number include the singular. Words used in the present tense include the future.

The word "person" includes a firm, corporation, co-partnership, association, or institution. The word "lot" includes the word "plot" or "parcel." The word "building" includes the word "structure." The words "used" or "occupied" as applied to any land or building shall be construed to include the words "intended, arranged, or designed to be used or occupied."

Accessory use of building: A subordinate use or building customarily incidental to and located on the same lot with the principal use or building.

Administrative officer: The town clerk of Tallulah Falls, or any authorized representative.

Agriculture: The cultivation or growth of a field or horticultural crop, including dairying, livestock and poultry raising, farm forestry, and other similar enterprises or uses.

Alley: A private or public thoroughfare which affords only a secondary means of access to a building or property and not intended for general traffic circulation.

Alteration: Any change in the supporting members of a building, any modification or change in construction, any addition which increases the area or height, any change in use from that of one district classification to another, or movement of a building from one location to another.

Apartment house: A multi-family dwelling located on a parcel of land under a single ownership, designed for use by three or more housekeeping units, living independently of each other, and doing their own cooking on the premises.

Architectural features, exterior: The architectural style, general design and general arrangement of the exterior of a building or other structure, including but not limited to, the kind or texture of the building material and the type and style of all windows, doors, signs and other appurtenant architectural fixtures, features, details or elements relative to the foregoing.

Building: Any structure, either temporary or permanent, above or below ground, having a roof or other covering, and designed, built, or used as a shelter or enclosure for persons, animals, or property of any kind, including tents, awnings, or vehicles used for purposes of a building.

Building line: A line formed by the face of a building, and for the purpose of this ordinance, a minimum building line is the same as a setback line.

Building, principal: A building in which is conducted the main use of the property on which the structure is located.

Campground: Land containing two (2) or more campsites which are located, established or maintained for occupancy by people in temporary lodging units such as camp tents, or cabins, for recreation, education or vacation purposes.

Camping: To place, pitch, or occupy camp facilities for overnight use, including recreational vehicles; to live temporarily in a camp facility or outdoors; or to use camp paraphernalia for the purpose of temporary human habitation.

Camping equipment: Includes, but is not limited to, tents, huts, vehicles, recreational vehicles, vehicle camping outfits, or temporary shelter.

Camping accessories: Includes, but is not limited to, bedrolls, tarpaulins, cots, beds, sleeping bags and similar equipment.

Centerline of street: That line surveyed and monumented by the governing body and designated as the center of a public street. If a centerline has not been surveyed, it shall be the line running midway between the outside curbs or ditches of such street.

Certificate of appropriateness: A statement or other formal indication by the planning commission that a proposed demolition, change in the exterior architectural appearance of construction, reconstruction, alteration or restoration, construction or change in, or establishment of, a use that has been approved by the commission.

Certificate of occupancy: A legal statement or document issued by the building official indicating that the building and use or reuse of a particular building or land is in conformity with all applicable codes and regulations, and that such building or land may be occupied for the purpose stated therein.

Compatibility: The characteristics of different uses or activities that permit such uses or activities to be located near each other in harmony and without conflict. Some elements affecting compatibility include: intensity of occupancy as measured by dwelling units per acre or gross square feet per acre; pedestrian or vehicular traffic generated; volume of goods handled; and such environmental affects as noise, vibration, odor, glare, air pollution, water pollution or radiation.

Comprehensive plan: Those coordinated plans or portions thereof which have been prepared by or for the governing body for the physical development of the jurisdiction; or any plans that designate plans or programs to encourage the most appropriate use of the land in the interest of public health, safety and welfare.

Conditional zoning: The granting or adoption of zoning for property subject to compliance with restrictions as to use, size, density or actions stipulated by the governing body to mitigate adverse impacts that are anticipated without imposition of such conditions.

Condominium: A building or complex of multiple-unit dwellings in which a tenant holds full title to his unit and joint ownership in the common grounds.

Curb cut: A provision for vehicular ingress and/or egress between property and an abutting public street.

Doghouse: A detached and unconditioned structure or building being thirty-two (32) sq. ft. or less in size, erected outside for the purpose of sheltering animals.

Dwelling: A building designed or used as living quarters for one or more families.

Dwelling unit: A dwelling or portion thereof providing facilities for one or more persons living as a single housekeeping unit.

Family: An individual, or two (2) or more persons related by blood, marriage, adoption or guardianship, or a group of not more than four (4) unrelated persons, occupying a single dwelling unit and using the same cooking facilities; provided, however, that domestic servants employed on the premises may be housed on the premises without being counted as a separate family or families.

Flood hazard area: Any area within the Town of Tallulah Falls which is subject to periodic flooding due to natural or man-made causes and which includes all lands with a one percent chance of flooding as determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Height, building: The vertical distance measured from the grade to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof; to the decklines of a mansard roof; or to the mean height level between the eaves and ridge of a gable, hip or gambrel roof. Grade is defined as the average elevation of the ground on all sides of a building.

Home occupation: An occupation for gain or support conducted only by members of a family residing on the premises and conducted entirely within the dwelling.

Impervious surface coverage: That area of land within a subject lot, occupied by buildings, structures, or improvements which consist of materials that are not porous or which do not permit water to soak through to the ground, including the roofs of buildings and paved driveways.

Land-disturbing activity: Any activity which may result in soil erosion from water or wind and the movement of sediments into state waters or onto lands within the state, including but not limited to clearing, dredging, grading, excavating, transporting and filling of land, but not including agricultural practices.

Loading and unloading space: A space, typically with dimensions of twelve (12) feet by sixty (60) feet, logically and conveniently located for pickups and/or deliveries or for loading and/or unloading, scaled to delivery vehicles to be used, and accessible to such vehicles.

Lot: A parcel of contiguous land in the same ownership which is not divided by any public highway or alley, including any part thereof subject to any easement for any purpose other than a public highway or alley, but excluding any part thereof severed from another lot where severance creates any non-conforming use or structure.

Lot area: The total horizontal area within the lot lines of a lot, exclusive of public street rights-of-way.

Lot, corner: A lot abutting upon two or more streets at their intersection.

Lot coverage: The part or percent of a lot occupied by buildings and structures, including accessory buildings and structures, but not including unenclosed parking areas.

Lot, double frontage: Any lot, other than a corner lot, which has frontage on two (2) streets that do not intersect at a point abutting the property.

Lot of record: A lot which is part of a subdivision, a plat of which has been recorded in the records of the county superior court; or a parcel of land, the deed of which was recorded in the same office prior to the date of adoption of these regulations.

Lot width: The horizontal distance between side lot lines measured at the minimum required front yard (regulatory front building setback) line.

Major artery: Any route designated as an interstate route or connector, as a state or federal route, or any four-lane street or road, or any avenue, street, or road designated as a major artery by the Tallulah Falls Planning Commission and shown as such on the official zoning map.

Manufactured home: A structure, built to conform to national standards embodied in the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 as amended, 42 USC 5401 et seq. administered by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, transportable in one or more sections, which, in the traveling mode, is eight (8) body feet or more in width or forty (40) body feet or more in length, or when erected on site, is three hundred twenty (320) or more square feet, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning and electrical systems contained therein.

Manufactured home park: A parcel of land under single ownership which has been planned or improved for the placement of two or more manufactured homes for residential use, including land, buildings and facilities used by the occupants of manufactured homes on such property.

Material change in appearance: A change that will affect either the exterior architectural or environmental features of property or any building, structure, site, object, landscape feature or work of art. This includes material changes in colors but not repainting to the same or similar color. Normal maintenance, such as reroofing, residing, etc., with a like or similar material is not included in this definition.

Mobile home: A structure, transportable in one or more sections, which, in the traveling mode, is eight (8) body feet or more in width or forty (40) body feet or more in length or, when erected on site, is three hundred twenty (320) or more square feet and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities and includes the plumbing, heating air conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein and manufactured prior to June 15, 1976.

Mobile home park: A parcel of land under single ownership which has been planned or improved for the placement of two or more mobile homes for residential use, including land, buildings, and facilities used by the occupants of mobile homes on such property.

Modular home: A factory fabricated transportable building consisting of units designed to be incorporated at a building site on a permanent foundation into a permanent structure to be used for residential purposes and which bears a seal of compliance with regulations of either the Southern Building Code Congress International or the Georgia Industrialized Building Act.

Multi-family dwelling: A structure designed or used for residential occupancy by more than two housekeeping units, with or without common or separate kitchen or dining facilities, including apartment houses, apartment hotels, rooming houses, boarding houses, fraternities, sororities, dormitories, row houses, townhouses, and similar housing types, but not including motels, hotels, hospitals, nursing homes, or public institutions such as prisons and mental institutions.

Natural feature: Includes, but is not limited to, boulders, rock outcroppings, streams, topsoil, etc., being in its native state.

Natural protective barrier: Any natural formation, such as a land swell, bench, berm, tree line, ridge, saddle dike or sand bar, which effectively controls or limits flooding or assists in confining a specific flood-prone area.

Non-conforming lot: A lot, the area, width, or other characteristic of which fails to meet requirements of the zoning district in which it is located and which was of record prior to the enactment of the zoning ordinance. Any lot which is subsequently annexed into the Tallulah Falls Town limits which does not meet the requirements of the particular zoning district shall also be considered a non-conforming lot.

Non-conforming structure: Any building or structure which does not conform to the regulations governing the bulk, location, height or size of buildings or structures permitted in the district and which existed on the date of adoption of these regulations.

Non-conforming use: Any building or land lawfully occupied by a use at the date of adoption of this ordinance which does not conform with the use regulations of the district in which it is located.

Nursing home: Any building or dwelling where persons are housed or lodged and furnished with meals and nursing care for hire, but not including hospitals and mental health institutions.

Official zoning map: The map, which accompanies the zoning ordinance text, that delineates the geographic location of the boundaries of zoning districts established in this ordinance in relation to natural features, man-made features and/or property uses.

Outdoor storage: The keeping in an unenclosed area of any goods, junk, material, merchandise, or commercial vehicles in the same place for more than twenty-four hours.

Parking lot: Any public or private open area used for the express purpose of temporary storage of private motor vehicles. A parking lot may be the principal use on a given lot or an accessory use to the principal use on a given lot.

Parking space: An area having typical dimensions of not less than nine (9) feet by twenty (20) feet and three hundred (300) square feet including maneuvering space within a parking lot, to be used exclusively as a temporary storage space for a motor vehicle.

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

Planned unit development (PUD): A form of development within which clustered housing, other unusual arrangements of buildings, or a mixture of uses may be permitted by special approval in a district in which such development would not ordinarily be allowed. A site plan must be submitted, and the approved site plan becomes part of the restrictions.

Planning commission: The Town of Tallulah Falls Planning Commission as established in this ordinance, or by previous ordinance.

Playhouse: A detached and unconditioned structure or building, 200 square foot or less, that is erected outside for children to play in, on, and/or around and shall include, but not be limited to, swing sets, playhouses, forts, treehouses, and the like.

Premises: A lot as otherwise used in this ordinance.

Public highways: Roads in the state or county highway system.

Public use: Any building, structure or use owned and/or operated by the Federal Government, State of Georgia, Habersham County, Rabun County or other county, the City [Town] of Tallulah Falls or other municipality, or any authority, agency, board or commission of the above governments, which is necessary to serve a public purpose, such as but not limited to the following: government administrative buildings, police and fire stations, public health facilities and hospitals, public works camps, parks and community centers, public roads and streets, airports, water and sanitary sewerage storage, intake, collection and treatment and pumping facilities, public housing facilities, jails and correctional centers.

Recreational vehicle: A vehicular type portable structure which can be towed, hauled or driven and is primarily designed as temporary living accommodations for recreational, camping and travel uses.

Recreational vehicle (RV) park: Any lot of land upon which two or more recreational vehicle sites are located, established or maintained for occupancy on a temporary basis by recreational vehicles of the general public as temporary living quarters by campers, vacationers or travelers.

Rehabilitation: The process of returning a property to a state of utility, through repair or alteration, which makes possible an efficient contemporary use while preserving those portions of the property which are significant to its historic, architectural and cultural values.

Remove or removal: Includes the cutting of trees and the injury and/or destruction of any form of vegetation, geological formation or ecological sensitive area, by whatever method, on any lands subject to this ordinance.

Rezoning: An amendment to or a change in the official zoning map.

Right-of-way: That area, distinguished from an easement, which is owned in fee-simple title by the governing body or other government, for the present or future use of roads, streets, and highways, together with its drainage facilities and other supporting uses and structures.

Screening: A method of shielding, obscuring or buffering one use or building from another use or building by fencing, walls, berms, densely planted vegetation, natural vegetation or other means; a visual and acoustical barrier which is of such nature and density that provides year-round maximum opacity from the ground to a height of at least six (6) feet or that screens structures and activities from view from the normal level of a first story window on an abutting lot.

Semi-public use: Any building, structure or use owned and/or operated by private utilities or private companies for a public purpose, or which is reasonably necessary for the furnishing of adequate service by such utilities, such as but not limited to the following: underground or overhead gas, electrical, steam or water distribution or transmission lines or systems, electric power substations, wires, towers, cables, and poles.

Setback: The minimum horizontal distance between the property boundary lines of a lot and the front, rear, or side lines of a building located on that lot.

Sign: Any device for visual communication that is used for the purpose of bringing the subject thereof to the attention of the public, but not including the flag of any government or government agency, or of any civic, charitable, religious, patriotic, fraternal, educational, or similar organization; standard house numbers, lettering on mail boxes, or similar identification not exceeding two (2) square feet in area.

Sign, attached: Attached signs include wall, projecting and marquee signs as defined below:

(a)

Wall sign: A sign attached to or painted on the exterior wall of a building with the no part of the sign projecting more than twelve (12) inches from the building wall to which it is affixed.

(b)

Projecting sign: A sign affixed to the exterior wall of a building, any part of which extends more than twelve (12) inches beyond the building wall.

(c)

Marquee sign: A projecting sign attached to or hung from a marquee and said marquee shall be known to mean a canopy or covered structure projecting from and supported by a building, when such canopy or covered structure extends beyond the building wall, building line, or property line of the premises on which it is located.

Sign area: The entire area within a circle, triangle, or parallelogram enclosing the extreme limits of writing, representation, emblem, or any figure of similar character, together with any frame or other material or color forming an integral part of the display or used to differentiate the sign from the background against which it is placed; excluding the necessary supports or uprights on which such sign is placed. Where a sign consists solely of lettering or other sign elements printed or mounted on a wall of a building without any distinguishing border, panel, or background; any blank rectangular area which consists of ten (10) percent or more of the area of the sign as otherwise computed shall be disregarded. All of the lettering and other sign elements printed or mounted upon a wall of a building without any distinguishing border, panel, or background and pertaining to the same enterprise shall be treated as a single sign for purposes of area computation. Where a sign has two or more faces, the area of all faces shall be included in determining the area of the sign, except that where two such faces are placed back to back and are at no point more than two (2) feet from one another, the area of the sign shall be taken as the area of one face if the two faces are of equal area, or as the area of the larger face if the two faces are of unequal area.

Sign, on-premises advertising: A sign which advertises only goods, services, facilities, events, or attractions available on the premises where located, or identifies the owner or occupant or directs traffic on the premises.

Site plan: A graphic illustration, two-dimensional, prepared to scale, showing accurately and with complete dimensioning, the boundaries of a lot or tract and the location of all buildings, structures, uses and principal site development features proposed for a specific lot or tract of land.

Street: A public or private thoroughfare which is open to the general public and which affords the principal means of access to abutting property.

Street, public: A dedicated and accepted public right-of-way which affords the principal means of access to abutting properties.

Stripping: Any activity which significantly disturbs vegetated or otherwise stabilized soil surfaces, including clearing and grubbing operations.

Structural-bearing capacity: The capacity of any given soil or fill material to support a foundation for any given structure without sinking or sliding.

Structure: Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires more or less permanent location on the ground, or which is attached to something having more or less permanent location on the ground, not including utility poles.

Subdivision: The division of a parcel or tract of land into two (2) or more lots for the purposes of creation of lots for development, the rearrangement of existing lot lines, or for the purpose of transfer of ownership.

Townhouse: One (1) of a group of three (3) or more attached dwelling units under fee simple ownership.

Travel trailer: A portable dwelling or lodging unit, distinguished from a mobile home, designed for short-term travel, recreational or vacation use, including pickup campers and motor homes.

Tree: A wood perennial plant having a single main axis or stem (trunk), exceeding ten (10) feet in height or a flowering ornamental tree having a caliper of two (2) or more inches measured at four and one-half (4.5) feet above the ground.

Unconditioned space: A lack of an active climate control system for a structure or building. The intent of this definition is to define a space that is specifically not intended for human habitation.

Undergrowth: Shrubs, bushes, small trees, etc., growing beneath large trees in a wood.

Use: Any purpose for which a building or structure or a tract of land may be designed, arranged, intended, maintained, or occupied; or any activity, occupation, business, or operation carried on, or intended to be carried on, in a building or structure or on a tract of land.

Variance: A minimal relaxation or modification of the strict terms of the height, area, placement, setback, yard, buffer, landscape strip, parking and loading regulations, and sign regulations as applied to specific property when, because of particular physical surroundings, shape, or topographical condition of the property, compliance would result in a particular hardship upon the owner, as distinguished from a mere inconvenience or a desire to make a profit.

Wetland: An area that is inundated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances does support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, commonly known as hydrophytic vegetation.

Yard: A space on the same lot with a principal building, which is open, unoccupied, and unobstructed by buildings or structures from ground to sky except where encroachments and accessory buildings are expressly permitted.

Yard, front: An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a principal building, extending the full width of the lot and situated between the street right-of-way and the front line of the building projected to the side lines of the lot. In such cases as the street right-of-way has not been established or cannot be determined, said front yard requirement shall be measured from a point ten (10) feet beyond the construction limits of the road (edge of pavement or curb) or edge of drainage ditch, whichever is greater.

Yard maintenance: The upkeep and preparation of grounds around a residence or business establishment to include the sowing and cutting of lawns, pruning of trees and shrubs, planting and upkeep of flower and vegetable gardens, and the removal of leaves and other dead organic debris.

Yard, rear: An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a principal building, extending the full width of the lot and situated between the rear line of the lot and the rear line of the building projected to the side lines of the lot.

Yard, side: An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with the main building, situated between the building and the side line of the lot and extending from the rear line of the front yard to the front line of the rear yard.

(Ord. of 12-5-2019, § 1; Ord. No. 22-04, § 1, 6-9-2022)