For the purpose of the regulations codified in this title, certain terms or words are used in a limited or special sense, as defined in this chapter. Words used in the present tense include the future, words in the singular number include the plural, and words in the plural number include the singular. The word "shall" is mandatory and not directory.

"Accessory use or structure" means a use or a structure subordinate to the principal use or building on the same lot and serving a purpose customarily incidental to the principal use or building.

"Agriculture" means the use of land for agriculture purposes, including necessary buildings and structures which shall be used for agriculture including, but not limited to, farming, dairying, pasturage, horticulture, floriculture, and animal and poultry husbandry and the necessary accessory uses for packing, treating or storing the produce; provided, however, that the operation of any such accessory uses shall be secondary to that of normal agricultural activities.

"Alley" means a public or private way usually less than twenty-one feet in width affording secondary means of access to abutting property.

"Major automobile repair" means general repairs, rebuilding or reconditioning of engines, motor vehicles or trailers; collision service, including body, frame or fender straightening or repair; overall painting or paint shop; vehicle steam cleaning.

"Minor automobile repair" means minor repairs, incidental body and fender work, painting and upholstering, replacement of parts and motor service to passenger automobiles and trucks, but not including any operation specified as "major automobile repair" under Section 17.04.050.

"Automobile wrecking yard" means any area of land where two or more motor vehicles, not in running condition, or parts thereof, are stored in the open and are not being restored to operation; or any land, building or structure used for the wrecking or storing of such motor vehicles, or parts thereof, not in running condition.

"Basement" means a story having part but not more than fifty percent of its height below the average grade of the adjoining ground; as distinguished from a "cellar." A basement shall be counted as a story for purpose of height measurement.

"Building" means any structure for the shelter or enclosure of persons, animals or chattels.

"Cellar" means a story having fifty percent or more of its height below the average grade of the adjoining ground. A cellar shall be counted as a story, for purposes of height measurement, only if used for dwelling purposes other than by a janitor or caretaker employed on the premises.

"Dwelling" means a building or portion thereof occupied or intended to be occupied exclusively for residence purposes, but not including a tent.

"Essential services" means the erection, construction, alteration, or maintenance, by public utilities or municipal or other governmental agencies, of underground or overhead gas, electrical, steam or water transmission or distribution systems, collection, communication, supply or disposal systems, including poles, wires, mains, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits, cables, fire alarm boxes, police call boxes, traffic signals, hydrants, and other similar equipment and accessories in connection therewith; reasonably necessary for the furnishing or adequate service by such public utilities or municipal or other governmental agencies or for the public health or safety or general welfare, but not including buildings.

"Family" means one or more persons related by blood, marriage or adoption, together with domestic servants, maintaining a common household in a dwelling.

"Floor area" means the sum of the gross horizontal area of the several floors of a building or buildings, measured from the exterior faces of exterior walls or from the centerline of party walls separating two buildings. In particular, "floor area" includes:

A.

Basement space if at least one-half of the basement story is above established curb level, or where the curb level has not been established, above the average level of the finished grade;

B.

Elevator shafts and stairwells at each floor;

C.

Floor space used for mechanical equipment where the structural headroom exceeds seven and one-half feet, except equipment open or enclosed, located on the roof, i.e., bulk needs, water tanks and cooling towers;

D.

Attic floor space where the structural headroom exceeds seven and one-half feet;

E.

Interior balconies and mezzanines;

F.

Enclosed porches, but not terraces and breezeways;

G.

Accessory uses, other than floor space devoted exclusively to accessory off-street parking or loading.

"Private garage" means a detached accessory building or portion of a principal building used for the storage of self-propelled passenger vehicles or trailers of the occupants of the premises.

"Height," in the case of a wall, or part of a building, means the vertical distance from the average established curb grade in front of the lot or from the average finished grade at the building line, if higher, to the average height of the top of the cornice of a flat roof, or roof line, or to the deck line of a mansard roof, or to the middle height of the highest gable or dormer in a pitched or hipped roof, or if there are no gables or dormers, to the middle height of such pitched or hipped roof.

"Highway or primary thoroughfare" means an officially designated federal or state numbered highway or other road designated as a highway or primary thoroughfare on the transportation plan as officially adopted and amended from time to time by the Whiteside County regional planning commission and the county board of supervisors.

"Junkyard" means an open area or fenced-in enclosure, where used or secondhand materials are bought, sold, exchanged, stored, baled, packed, disassembled or handled including but not limited to scrap iron and other metals, paper, rags, rubber tires and bottles. A junkyard includes an automobile wrecking yard, but does not include uses established entirely within enclosed buildings.

"Land use plan" means the comprehensive long-range plan for the desirable use of land in the county, as officially adopted and as amended from time to time by the planning commission and/or county/municipal government; the purpose of such plan being, among other things, to serve as a guide to the zoning and progressive changes in the zoning of land to meet changing county needs, in the subdividing and use of undeveloped land, and in the acquisition of land for such public purposes as streets, parks, schools, and other public buildings or public uses.

"Lot" means a parcel of land, abutting on a street, whose area, in addition to the parts occupied or to be occupied by a building and its accessory buildings, is sufficient to provide the yards and courts required by the regulations.

"Corner lot" means a lot of which at least two adjacent sides abut for their full lengths upon a street, provided that the interior angle at the inter-section of such two sides is less than one hundred thirty-five degrees.

"Lot area" means the horizontal area within the lot lines of the lot.

"Lot depth" means the mean horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines.

"Lot width" means the mean horizontal distance across the lot between side lot lines at the building line measured at right angles to the depth.

"Mobile home, dwelling" means a detached residential dwelling unit designed for transportation, after fabrication, on streets or highways on its own wheels or on flatbed or other trailers, and arriving at the site where it is to be occupied as a dwelling complete and ready for occupancy except for minor and incidental unpacking or assembly operations, location on jacks or other temporary or permanent foundations, connections to utilities, and the like. A recreation travel trailer is not to be considered as a mobile home.

"Motor fuel station" means a place where minor automobile repair is conducted and where gasoline, diesel oil, kerosene, or other motor fuel or lubricating oil or grease for operating motor vehicles is offered for sale to the public and deliveries are made directly into vehicles, including greasing and oiling and the sale of automobile accessories on the premises.

"Nonconforming use" means a building, structure or premises lawfully occupied at the time of the enactment of the regulations by a use that does not conform with the provisions of the regulations for the district in which it is located; also, such use resulting from changes in zoning districts or in textual provisions made after the effective date of the ordinance codified in this title.

"Accessory parking area" means an area of one or more parking spaces located on the same property as the building, structure, or premises it is intended to serve, or on adjoining or nearby property other than the public right-of-way, and of such shape and nature as to be appropriate and usable for the parking or storage, loading and unloading of self-propelled vehicles.

"Scenic route" means the roadway and adjacent corridor as viewed from a road or highway designated as a scenic route by the state of Illinois and/or the Whiteside County regional planning commission.

"Sign" means any structure or device for visual communication that is used for the purpose of bringing the subject thereof to the attention of the public, but not including any flag, badge or insignia of any government or governmental agency.

"Gross surface area of a sign" means the entire area within a single continuous perimeter enclosing the extreme limits of such sign and in no case passing through or between any adjacent elements of the same. However, such perimeter shall not include any structural elements lying outside the limits of such sign and not forming an integral part of the display.

"Story" means that portion of a building included between the upper surface of any floor and the upper surface of the floor next above, or the ceiling or roof next above such floor; provided that, for the purpose of determining the required dimensions of yards and courts, when the average story height of a building exceeds twelve feet, each twelve feet or fraction thereof of the total building height shall be considered a separate full story or fractional story respectively, except the first story which may be fifteen feet high.

"Half story" means a partial story under a gable, hip or gambrel roof, the wall plates of which on at least two opposite exterior walls are not more than four feet above the floor of such story; provided, however, that any partial story used for residence purposes, other than for a janitor or caretaker and his family, shall be deemed a full story.

"Street" or "road" means any public way set aside as a permanent right-of-way for vehicular or pedestrian access twenty-one feet or more in width if it existed at the time of the enactment of the regulations codified in this title; and any such public way created after enactment of the regulation, provided it is fifty feet or more in width.

"Structural alteration" means any change in the supporting members of a building including but not limited to bearing walls, load-bearing partitions, columns, beams, or girders, or any substantial change in the roof or in the exterior walls.

"Structure" means anything constructed, the use of which requires permanent location on the ground, or attached to something having permanent location on the ground.

"Front yard" means an open space extending the full width of the lot between a building and the front lot line, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward, except as specified in this title. A corner lot shall have two front yards.

"Least depth of the front yard" means the shortest distance, measured horizontally, between any part of a building, other than such parts as excepted in this title, and the front lot lines.

"Rear yard" means an open space extending the full width of a lot between a building and the rear lot line, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward, except as specified in this title.

"Least depth of the rear yard" means the shortest distance, measured horizontally, between any part of a building, other than such parts as excepted in this chapter, and the rear lot line. In the case of an irregular, triangular or gore-shaped lot, a line ten feet in length entirely within the lot, parallel to and a maximum distance from the front lot line shall be considered the rear lot line.

"Side yard" means an open space extending from the front yard to the rear yard between a building and the side lot line, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward, except as specified in this chapter.

"Least width of the side yard" means the shortest distance, measured horizontally, between any part of a building, other than such parts as excepted in this chapter, and the nearest side 1ot line.