Except where specifically defined herein, all words used in this ordinance shall carry their customary dictionary meanings. Words used in the present tense include the future tense; the singular number includes the plural; the word "building" includes the word "structure"; the word "lot" includes the words "plot or parcel"; the term "shall" is always mandatory; 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"; the words "map" or "zoning map" shall mean the "Official Zoning Map of the City of Thomasville, North Carolina."

Accessory building: A detached subordinate structure operated and maintained under the same ownership and located on the same lot as the main building. No such building may be inhabited or used by other than the owners, lessee, or tenant of the premises, or their employees.

Accessory use: A use incidental to and customarily associated with the use by right, and located on the same lot with the use by right, and operated and maintained under the same ownership with the operation of the use by right.

Alley: A public or private roadway which affords only a secondary means of access to abutting property.

Alter: To make any structural changes in the supporting or loadbearing members of a building, such as bearing walls, columns, beams, girders, or floor joists.

Apartment house: See Dwelling, multiple-family.

Assembly: A joining together of completely fabricated parts to create a finished product.

Board of adjustment: A quasi-judicial body, appointed by the city council and Davidson County commissioners, that is given certain powers under this ordinance.

Building: Any structure enclosed and isolated by exterior walls, constructed or used for residence, business, industry or other public or private purposes, or accessory thereto, and including tents, lunch wagons, dining cars, trailers, freestanding signs, and similar structures whether stationary or movable.

Building, height of: The vertical distance measured from the grade to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof; to the deck line of a mansard roof; or to the mean height level between the eaves and ridge of a gable, hip, or gambrel roof.

Building line: A line establishing the minimum allowable distance between the nearest portion of any building, excluding the outermost three feet of any uncovered porches, steps, gutters and similar fixtures, and the right-of-way line of any street when measured perpendicular thereto.

Certificate of zoning compliance: A statement, signed by the zoning enforcement officer, setting forth that the building, structure, or use complies with the zoning ordinance and that the same may be used for the purpose stated therein.

City council: The city council of the City of Thomasville, North Carolina.

Customary home occupation: Any use conducted for gain within a dwelling and carried on by the occupants thereof, which use is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for residential purposes and does not change the character thereof, and in connection with which there is no display; provided further, no person not a resident on the premises shall be employed specifically in connection with the activity; no mechanical equipment shall be installed or used except as is normally used for domestic or professional purposes; and not over 25 percent of the total floorspace or 400 square feet of any structure, whichever is less, shall be used for home occupations.

Day care, child: Any child care arrangement wherein three or more children less than 13 years of age receive care away from their own home by persons other than their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, first cousins, guardians, or full-time custodians, or in the child's primary residence where other unrelated children are in care. Care must be provided on a regular basis for more than four hours per day, but less than 24 hours per day. Child day care also does not include arrangements that provide only drop-in or short-term child care for parents participating in activities that are not employment-related and where the parents are on the premises or otherwise easily accessible, such as drop-in or short-term care offered in health spas, bowling alleys, shopping malls, resorts, hotels, and churches. Also child day care does not include nursery schools, kindergartens, or other facilities of which the purpose is primarily educational, recreational, or medical treatment.

Day care, child, (accessory use): On-site child care centers at churches or religious organizations, at public or private schools or at businesses or industries for the benefit of employees of such businesses or industries.

Day care, child (large home): A day care operation in a private residence occupied by a permanent resident licensed operator in which day care is provided or six to 12 children when any child is preschool-age, or up to 15 children when all children are school-age not including the operator's own school-age children.

Day care, child, (small home): A day care operation in a private residence occupied by a permanent resident licensed operator in which day care is provided for three to five preschool-age children, plus up to three additional school-age children not including the operator's own school-age children.

Day care center, child: A day care facility other than in an occupied dwelling in which day care is provided for 13 or more children when any child is preschool-age or 16 or more children when all children are school-age.

Detached building: A building having no party or common wall with another building except an accessory building.

District: Any section of the City of Thomasville or its extraterritorial jurisdiction in which zoning regulations are uniform.

Dwelling: Any building, or portion thereof, which is designed for living and/or sleeping purposes.

Dwelling, multiple-family: A building arranged or designed to be occupied by three or more families living independently of each other.

Dwelling, single-family: A building arranged or designed to be occupied by one family, the structure having only one dwelling unit.

Dwelling, two-family: A building arranged or designed to be occupied by two families living independently of each other (the structure having only two dwelling units).

Dwelling unit: A dwelling or that portion of a multiple dwelling used or designed as a residence for one family. In nursing homes, homes for the aged, convalescent homes and other such multiunit facilities, two resident persons shall be the equivalent of one dwelling unit.

Erect: Build, construct, erect, rebuild, reconstruct, or re-erect as the same are commonly defined.

Fabrication: Manufacturing, excluding the refining or other initial processing of basic raw materials such as metal ores, lumber, or rubber. Fabrication relates to stamping, cutting or otherwise shaping the processed materials into useful objects.

Family care home: A home defined and described in G.S. 168-20 et seq., as having support and supervisory personnel, that provides room and board, personal care and habilitation services in a family environment for not more than six resident handicapped persons.

Fine arts and crafts: Individual art pieces not mass-produced, consisting of one or more of the following: paintings, drawings, etchings, sculptures, ceramics, inlays, needlework, knitting, weaving and/or craftwork of leather, wood, metal or glass.

Flea market: Buildings or open areas in which sales areas or stalls are set aside or rented, and which are intended for use by two or more individuals or by educational, religious or charitable organizations to sell a variety of articles such as those which are either homemade, homegrown, handcrafted, old, obsolete or antique.

Frontage: All property abutting on one side of a street measured along the street line.

Garage, private: A building or space used as an accessory to or a part of the main building permitted in any residence district, and providing for the storage of motor vehicles and in which no business, occupation, or service for profit is in any way conducted.

Garage, public: Any building or premises, except those described as a private or storage garage, used for the storage or care of motor vehicles for the public or where any such vehicles are equipped for operation, repaired or kept for remuneration, hire or sale.

Garage, storage: Any building or premises, other than a private or public garage, used exclusively for the parking or storage of motor vehicles.

Home for the aged: A boarding home with more than six beds meeting all of the requirements of the State of North Carolina for the boarding and care of persons who are not critically ill and who do not need regular professional medical attention.

Hotel: A building used as an abiding place of more than 14 persons who for compensation are lodged with or without meals and in which no provision is made for cooking in any individual room or suite.

Junkyard: The use of more than 600 square feet of any lot or tract for the outdoor storage and/or sale of wastepaper, rags, scrap, metal or other junk, and including storage of motor vehicles and dismantling of such vehicles or machinery.

Lot: A parcel of land occupied or to be occupied by a main building or group of main buildings and accessory buildings, together with such yards, open spaces, lot width and lot area as are required by this ordinance, and having not less than the minimum required frontage upon a street, either shown on a plat of record, or considered as a unit of property and described by metes and bounds.

Lot, corner: A lot which occupies the interior angle at the intersection of two street lines which make an angle of more than 45 degrees and less than 135 degrees with each other. The street line forming the least frontage shall be deemed the front of the lot except where the two street lines are equal, in which case the owner shall be required to specify which is the front when requesting a zoning permit.

Lot, depth of: The average horizontal distance between front and rear lot lines.

Lot line, rear:

(a)

If the lot has one front line, the boundary opposite that front line shall be the rear line;

(b)

If the lot has two front lines the boundary opposite the shorter of the two front lines shall be the rear line, provided that, if both front lines are of equal length, the rear line shall be fixed by the building inspector, subject to review by the board of adjustment, on the basis of orientation of existing structures;

(c)

If the lot has three or more front lines, there shall be no rear line.

Lot of record: A lot which is part of a subdivision, a plat of which has been recorded in the office of the register of deeds of Davidson County prior to the adoption of this ordinance, or a lot described by metes and bounds, the description of which has been so recorded prior to the adoption of this ordinance.

Lot, width of: The average horizontal distance between side lot lines.

Microbrewery: A distillery that produces no more than 15,000 US barrels (460,000 US gallons) per year.

Micro-distillery: A distillery that produces no more than 50,000 US gallons per year. Other typical names include, but are not limited to, "craft distillery," "small batch distillery," and artisan distillery.

Mobile home park: Land used or intended to be used, leased or rented for occupancy by six or more mobile homes, anchored in place by a foundation or other stationary support, to be used for living purposes and accompanied by automobile parking spaces and incidental utility structures and facilities required and provided in connection therewith. This definition shall not include mobile home sales lots on which unoccupied mobile homes are parked for purposes of inspection and sale.

Mobile homes: Factory-assembled, movable dwellings designed and inspected under regulations pertaining to mobile homes of the NC Building Codes Council constructed to be towed on their own chassis, comprised of frame and wheels, to be used without permanent foundation and distinguishable from other types of dwellings in that the standards to which they are built include provisions for mobility on that chassis as a vehicle.

Modular home: A unit defined and inspected under regulations pertaining to modular units of the NC Building Codes Council.

Motels or motor lodges: A building or a group of buildings containing sleeping rooms, designed for or used temporarily by automobile transients, with garage or parking space conveniently located to each unit.

Nonconforming lot: A lot existing at the effective date of this ordinance or an amendment to it (and not created for the purpose of evading the restrictions of this ordinance) that cannot meet the minimum area or lot width requirements of the district in which the lot is located.

Nonconforming situation: A situation that occurs when, on the effective date of this ordinance or any amendment to it, an existing lot or structure or use of an existing lot or structure does not conform to one or more of the regulations applicable to the district in which the lot or structure is located. Among other possibilities, a nonconforming situation may arise because a lot does not meet minimum acreage requirements, because structures do not satisfy maximum height limitations, because the relationship between existing buildings and the land (in such matters as density and setback requirements) is not in conformity with the ordinance, or because land or buildings are used for purposes made unlawful by the ordinance.

Nonconforming use: A nonconforming situation that occurs when property is used for a purpose or in a manner made unlawful by the use regulations applicable to the district in which the property is located. (For example, a commercial office building in a residential district may be a nonconforming use.) The term also refers to the activity that constitutes the use made of the property. (For example, all the activity associated with running a bakery in a residentially zoned area is a nonconforming use.)

Nonconformity, dimensional: A nonconforming situation that occurs when the height or size of a structure or the relationship between an existing building or buildings and other buildings or lot lines does not conform to the regulations applicable to the district in which the property is located.

Open storage: Unroofed storage areas, whether fenced or not.

Ordinance: This ordinance, including any amendments. Whenever the effective date of the ordinance is referred to, the reference includes the effective date of any amendment to it.

Parking space: The storage space for one automobile of not less space than prescribed by this ordinance, plus the necessary access space. It shall always be located outside the dedicated street right-of-way.

Planning board: A board appointed by the city council and by the Davidson County commissioners to study Thomasville and its environs, to recommend plans and policies for the future, and to advise the city council and Davidson County commissioners in matters pertaining to planning and zoning.

Preschool: A facility for the care and/or education of children of preschool age, including kindergartens and day care centers.

Processing: Any operation changing the nature of material or materials, such as chemical composition or physical qualities. Does not include operations described as fabrication.

Projecting sign: Any sign attached to a building wall and extending laterally more than 18 inches from the face of such wall.

Retail trade: Businesses which sell goods (that are not for resale) to the public and which are open on a regular basis for consumer shopping. At least 40 percent of the floorspace of a retail business must be open to the public and devoted to the sale and display of goods on the premises.

Rooming house: A building or portion thereof which contains guest rooms which are designed or intended to be used, let, or hired out for occupancy by, or which are occupied by, four or more but not exceeding nine individuals for compensation, whether the compensation be paid directly or indirectly.

Sandwich board signs: A temporary sign, not secured or attached to the ground or any building or structure, composed of a sign panel and supporting structure or one or more panels that form both the structure and sign face, and that is intended to be placed in a sidewalk or pedestrian way.

Service station: Any building or land used for the dispensing, sale or offering for sale at retail of any automobile fuels, lubricants, or tires, except that indoor car washing, minor motor adjustment, and flat tire repair are only performed incidental to the conduct of the service station.

Sign: Any words, lettering, parts of letters, pictures, figures, numerals, phrases, sentences, emblems, devices, design, trade names, or trademarks by which anything is made known, such as the designation of an individual, a firm, an association, a profession, a business, a commodity, or product, which are visible from any public way and used to attract attention.

A.

Business identification sign: Any sign which advertises an establishment, a service, commodity, or activity conducted upon the premises where such sign is located.

B.

Outdoor advertising sign: Any sign which advertises an establishment, service, commodity, goods or entertainment sold or offered on premises other than that on which such sign is located.

Sign area: The surface area of a sign shall be computed as including the entire area within a regular geometric form or combinations of regular geometric forms comprising all of the display area of the sign and including all of the elements of the matter displayed. However, in computing sign area only one side of a double-faced sign structure shall be considered. Frames and structural members not bearing advertising matter shall not be included in computation of the surface area.

Story: That portion of a building, other than the basement, included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the floor next above it; or, if there is no floor above it, the space between the floor and the ceiling next above it.

Story, half: A space under a sloping roof, which has the line of intersection of roof decking and wall face not more than three feet above the top floor level, and in which not more than two-thirds of the floor area is finished off for use.

Street: A public thoroughfare which affords the principal means of access to abutting property, including avenue, place, way, drive, lane, boulevard, highway, road, and any other thoroughfare except an alley.

Street line: The dividing line between a street or road right-of-way and the contiguous property.

Structure: Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires permanent location on the ground, or attachment to something having a permanent location on the ground, including signs.

Tourist home: A dwelling where lodging only is provided for compensation for not exceeding 14 persons, and open to transients.

Use: The purpose for which land or structures thereon is designed, arranged or intended to be occupied or used, or for which it is occupied, maintained, rented or leased.

Use, accessory: See Accessory use.

Use by right: A use which is listed as a use by right in any given zoning district in this ordinance.

Variance: A modification or alteration of zoning requirements. This can be done only by the board of adjustment after specific findings of fact. See article XI.

Warehouse: A building or compartment in a building used and appropriated by the occupant for the deposit and safekeeping or selling of his own goods at wholesale, and/or for the purpose of storing the goods of others placed there in the regular course of commercial dealing and trade, to be again removed or reshipped.

Warehousing: The depositing or securing of goods, wares, and/or merchandise in a warehouse.

Wholesale: Sale for resale, not for direct consumption.

Yard: An open space on the same lot with a principal building, unoccupied and unobstructed by any structure from the surface of the ground upward except for drives, sidewalks, lampposts, entrance steps, retaining walls, fences, landscaping, and as otherwise provided herein.

Yard, front: An open space on the same lot with a building, between the front line of the building (exclusive of steps) and the front property or street right-of-way line and extending the full width of the lot.

Yard, rear: An open space between the rear line of the principal building (exclusive of steps) and the rear line of the lot and extending the full width of the lot; may be used for accessory building.

Yard, side: An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a building between the side line of the building (exclusive of steps) and the side line of the lot and extending from the front yard line to the rear yard line.

Zoning enforcement officer: The official charged with the enforcement of the zoning ordinance.

(Ord. of 5-17-99, § 5; Ord. of 7-21-08(2), § 1; Ord. No. 06-09-ORD17, § 1, 6-15-09; Ord. No. 06-2021-ORD12, § 1(Exh. 1), 6-21-21; Ord. No. 02-2024-ORD06, 2-19-24)

The following supplemental special definitions apply to the watershed overlay district regulations.

Balance of watershed (BW): The remainder of a watershed outside the critical area.

Best management practices (BMP): A structural or nonstructural management-based practice used singularly or in combination to reduce nonpoint source inputs to receiving waters in order to achieve water quality protection goals.

Buffer: An area of natural or planted vegetation through which stormwater runoff flows in a diffuse manner so that the runoff does not become channelized and which provides for infiltration of the runoff and filtering of pollutants. The buffer is measured landward from the normal pool elevation of impounded structures and from the bank of each side of streams or rivers.

Built-upon area: Built-upon areas shall include that portion of a development project that is covered by impervious or partially impervious cover including buildings, pavement, gravel roads, drives and parking areas, recreation facilities (e.g. tennis courts), etc. (Note: Wooden slatted decks and the water area of a swimming pool are considered pervious.)

Critical area: The area adjacent to a water supply intake or reservoir where risk associated with pollution is greater than from the remaining portions of the watershed. The critical area is defined as extending either one-half mile from the normal pool elevation of the reservoir in which the intake is located or to the ridge line of the watershed (whichever comes first); or one-half mile upstream from the intake located directly in the stream or river (run-of-the-river), or the ridge line of the watershed (whichever comes first). Local governments may extend the critical area as needed. Major landmarks such as highways or property lines may be used to delineate the outer boundary of the critical area if these landmarks are immediately adjacent to the appropriate outer boundary of one-half mile.

Development: Any land disturbing activity which adds to or changes the amount of impervious or partially impervious cover on a land area or which otherwise decreases the infiltration of precipitation into the soil.

Existing development: Those projects that are built or those projects that at a minimum have established a vested right under North Carolina zoning law as of the effective date of these provisions based on at least one of the following criteria:

(1)

Substantial expenditures of resources (time, labor, money) based on a good faith reliance upon having received a valid local government approval to proceed with the project; or

(2)

Having an outstanding valid building permit as authorized by the General Statutes (G.S. 160D-108), or

(3)

Having expended substantial resources (time, labor, money) and having an approved site specific or phased development plan as authorized by the General Statutes (G.S. 160D-108).

Hazardous material: Any substance listed as such in: Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) section 302, Extremely Hazardous Substances, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) Hazardous Substances, or Section 311 of Clean Water Act (CWA) (oil and hazardous substances).

Major variance: A variance that result in any one or more of the following:

(1)

The complete waiver of a watershed management requirement;

(2)

The relaxation, by a factor of more than ten percent, of any management requirement that takes the form of a numerical standard.

Minor variance: A variance that does not qualify as a major variance.

Nonresidential development: All development other than residential development, agriculture and silviculture.

Residential development: Buildings for residence such as attached and detached single-family dwellings, apartment complexes, condominiums, townhouses, cottages, mobile homes, etc. and their associated outbuildings such as garages, swimming pools, storage buildings, gazebos, etc.

Sedimentation control permit: A permission granted by the State of North Carolina for a person to conduct a land disturbing activity pursuant to the Sedimentation Pollution Control Act of 1973, as amended.

Toxic substance: Any substance or combination of substances (including disease causing agents), which after discharge and upon exposure, ingestion, inhalation, or assimilation into any organism, either directly from the environment or indirectly by ingestion through food chains, has the potential to cause death, disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutations, physiological malfunctions (including malfunctions or suppression in reproduction or growth) or physical deformities in such organisms or their offspring or other adverse health effects.

Variance: A permission to develop or use property granted by the board of adjustment relaxing or waiving a water supply watershed management requirement that is incorporated into this ordinance.

Water dependent structure: Any structure for which the use requires access to or proximity to or siting within surface waters to fulfill its basic purpose, such as boat ramps, boat houses, docks and bulkheads. Ancillary facilities such as restaurants, outlets for boat supplies, parking lots and commercial boat storage areas are not water dependent structures.

Watershed: The entire land area contributing surface drainage to a specific point (e.g. the water supply intake).

(Ord. of 6-21-93(2), pt. 7; Ord. No. 06-2021-ORD12, § 1(Exh. 1), 6-21-21)

The following supplemental special definitions apply to the adult oriented business overlay district.

Adult oriented business: An adult arcade, adult bookstore or adult video store, adult cabaret, adult motel, adult motion picture theater, adult theater, escort agency, nude model studio, sexual encounter center (including adult massage parlor and adult health club), sexually oriented device business or any combination of the foregoing or any similar business. As used in this ordinance the following definitions shall apply:

a.

Adult arcade (also known as "peep show"): Any place to which the public is permitted or invited wherein coin-operated or slug-operated or electronically, electrically, or mechanically controlled still or motion picture machines, projectors, or other imagine-producing devices are maintained to show images to persons in booths or viewing rooms where the images so displayed depict or describe "specified sexual activities" or "specified anatomical areas".

b.

Adult bookstore or Adult video store: A commercial establishment which as one of its principal business purposes offers for sale or rental for any form of consideration any one or more of the following:

1.

Books, magazines, periodicals or other printed matter, or photographs, films, motion pictures, video cassettes or video reproductions, slides, or other visual representations that depict or describe "specified sexual activities" or "specified anatomical areas"; or

2.

Instruments, devices, or paraphernalia that are designed for use in connection with "specified sexual activities".

c.

Adult cabaret: A nightclub, bar, restaurant, or other commercial establishment that regularly features, exhibits or displays as one of its principal business purposes:

1.

Persons who appear nude or semi-nude; or

2.

Live performances which are characterized by the exposure of "specified anatomical areas" or by "specified sexual activities"; or

3.

Films, motion pictures, video cassettes, slides, or other photographic reproductions which depict or describe "specified sexual activities" or "specified anatomical areas".

d.

Adult motel: A hotel, motel or similar commercial establishment that:

1.

Offers accommodations to the public for any form of consideration which provides patrons with closed-circuit television transmissions, films, motion pictures, video cassettes, slides, or other photographic reproductions that depict or describe "specified sexual activities" or "specified anatomical areas" as one of its principal business purposes; or

2.

Offers a sleeping room for rent for a period of time that is less than ten hours; or

3.

Allows a tenant or occupant of a sleeping room to subrent the room for a period of time that is less than ten hours.

e.

Adult motion picture theater: A commercial establishment where, for any form of consideration, films, motion pictures, video cassettes, slides, or similar photographic reproductions are regularly shown as one of its principal business purposes that depict or describe "specified sexual activities" or "specified anatomical areas".

f.

Adult theater: A theater, concert hall, auditorium, or similar commercial establishment which regularly features, exhibits or displays, as one of its principal business purposes, persons who appear in a state of nudity or semi-nude, or live performances that expose or depict "specified anatomical areas" or "specified sexual activities".

g.

Escort: A person who, for any tips or any other form of consideration, agrees or offers to act as a date for another person, or who agrees or offers to privately model lingerie or to privately perform a striptease for another person.

h.

Escort agency: A person or business that furnishes, offers to furnish, or advertises to furnish escorts as one of its principal business purposes, for a fee, tip, or other consideration.

i.

Nude model studio: Any place where a person who appears nude or semi-nude, or who displays "specified anatomical areas" is provided to be observed, sketched, drawn, painted, sculptured, photographed, or similarly depicted by other persons who pay money or any form of consideration. Nude model studio shall not include a proprietary school licensed by the State of North Carolina or a college, junior college or university supported entirely or in part by public taxation; a private college or university which maintains and operates educational programs in which credits are transferable to a college, junior college, or university supported entirely or partly by taxation; or in a structure:

1.

That has no sign visible from the exterior of the structure and no other advertising that indicates a nude or semi-nude person is available for viewing; and

2.

Where in order to participate in a class a student must enroll at least three days in advance of the class; and

3.

Where no more than one nude or semi-nude model is on the premises at any one time.

j.

Nude or a state of nudity:

1.

The appearance of a human anus, male genitals or female genitals; or

2.

A state of dress which fails to opaquely cover a human anus, male genitals or female genitals.

k.

Semi-nude: A state of dress in which clothing covers no more than the genitals, pubic region, and areola of the female breast, as well as portions of the body covered by supporting straps or devices.

l.

Sexual encounter center: A business or commercial enterprise that, as one of its principal business purposes, offers for any form of consideration physical contact in the form of wrestling or tumbling (including sexually oriented massaging) between persons of the opposite sex, or similar activities between male and female persons and/or between persons of the same sex when one or more of the persons is in a state of nudity or semi-nude.

m.

Sexually oriented devices: Any artificial or simulated specified anatomical area or other device or paraphernalia that is designed principally for specified sexual activities but shall not mean any contraceptive device.

n.

Specified anatomical areas: Human genitals in a state of sexual arousal.

o.

Specified sexual activities: Is and includes any of the following:

1.

The fondling or other erotic touching of human genitals, pubic region, buttocks, anus, or female breasts; or

2.

Sex acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated, including intercourse, oral copulation, or sodomy; or

3.

Masturbation, actual or simulated; or

4.

Excretory functions as part of or in connection with any of the activities set forth in [subsection] 1. through 3. above.

(Ord. of 4-18-94(2), pt. 5)

This ordinance in part comes forward by reenactment of some of the provisions of the zoning ordinance of the City of Thomasville enacted July 17, 1967, as amended, and it is not the intention to repeal but rather to reenact and continue in force without interruption such existing provisions, so that all rights and liabilities that have accrued thereunder are reserved and may be enforced. The enactment of this ordinance shall not affect any action, suit, or proceeding instituted or pending. All provisions of the zoning ordinance of the City of Thomasville enacted on July 17, 1967, as amended, which are not reenacted herein are repealed.

Nothing herein contained shall require any change in the plans, construction, size or designated use of any building, structure or part thereof for which a building permit has been granted by the building inspector prior to the time of passage of this ordinance or any amendment thereto; provided, however, that where construction is not begun under such outstanding permit within a period of 180 days subsequent to the passage of this ordinance or any amendment thereto, or where it has not been prosecuted to completion within 18 months subsequent to passage of this ordinance or any amendment thereto, any further construction or use shall be in conformity with the provisions of this ordinance or any such amendment.

Nothing herein contained shall require any change in the plans, construction, size or designated use of any special use permit which has been granted by the city council prior to the date of the amendment deleting special uses from article V, section 2, table of permitted uses, provided that a building permit has been obtained and construction begun within 180 days of the date of the approval of such permit by the city council and provided that such building permit is prosecuted to completion as provided for above. Such valid special uses including those already existing may be constructed, continued and reconstructed the same as any permitted use subject to such use limitations and other conditions as provided for in the original issuance of the special use permit. Any such special use that is changed to any permitted use for any period of time shall not be permitted to resume the special use.

In interpreting and applying the provisions of this ordinance they shall be held to be the minimum requirements for the promotion of the public health, safety, community-accepted standard of morals, and general welfare. It is not intended by this ordinance to interfere with or abrogate or annul any easements, covenants, or other agreements between parties, provided, however, that where this ordinance imposes a greater restriction upon the use of buildings or premises, or upon the height of buildings or requires larger open spaces than are imposed or required by other ordinances, rules, regulations, or by easements, covenants, or agreements, the provisions of this ordinance shall govern.

If for any reason any one or more sections, sentences, clauses or parts of this ordinance are held invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remaining provisions of this ordinance but shall be confined in its operation to the specific sections, sentences, clauses or parts of this ordinance held invalid and the invalidity of any section, sentence, clause or part of this ordinance in any one or more instances shall not affect or prejudice in any way the validity of this ordinance in any other instance.

This ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its date of adoption.