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Two Harbors City Zoning Code

ARTICLE EIGHT

DEFINITIONS

SEC. 11.80.

   The following terms, as used in this Chapter, shall have the meanings stated in this section. The word "building" shall include the word "structure", and the word "lot" shall include the word "plot".
1. "Accessory Structure or Use" - A subordinate building or structure or use, or a portion of the main building, the use of which is incidental to that of the dominant use of the main building or premises.
2. "Adult Use, Accessory" - The offering of goods and/or services, as defined by Section 6.31 of the City Code, classified as printed matter and/or video tapes on a limited scale that is incidental to the primary business activity in the establishment, and where such items occupy no more than:
   A. Ten percent (10%) of the floor space of the establishment dedicated to retail sales or one hundred (100) square feet, whichever is less; and
   B. Ten percent (10%) of the wall space of the establishment dedicated to retail sales or one hundred (100) square feet, whichever is less.
3. "Adult Use, Principal" - The offering of goods and/or services classified as adult uses as a primary or sole activity of a business or establishment as regulated and defined by Section 6.31 of the City Code.
4. "Alley" - A public thoroughfare that affords only a secondary means of access to abutting property.
5. "Automotive Repair" - An establishment primarily engaged in providing repair and maintenance services for automotive vehicles, such as passenger cars, trucks and vans, and all trailers. This definition does not include sales of automotive vehicles. (NAICS industry 8111)
6. "Basement" - A story having part but not more than one-half (½) its height below grade. A basement is counted as a story for the purpose of height regulations, if subdivided and used for business or dwelling purposes by someone other than a janitor employed on the premises.
7. "Boarding House" - A building other than a hotel where, for compensation and by prearrangement for definite periods, meals or lodging are provided for three (3) or more persons, but not more than twenty (20) persons.
8. "Building" - Any structure for the shelter, support or enclosure of persons, animals or property. When separated by dividing walls without openings, each portion of such building so separated, shall be deemed a separate building.
9. "Building, Height of" - The vertical distance from the grade to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof, or to the average height of the highest gable of a pitch or hip roof.
10. "Cellar" - A story having more than one-half (½) its height below grade.
11. "Clinic" - An establishment where patients are not lodged overnight, but are admitted for examination and treatment by a group of physicians, dentists or other health care professionals practicing medicine, dentistry or health care together.
12. "Commercial and Industrial Machinery and Equipment Repair" - An establishment primarily engaged in the repair and maintenance of commercial and industrial machinery and equipment, such as welding repair, or repairing agricultural and other heavy and industrial machinery and equipment. (NAICS industry 81131)
13. "Common Open Space" - Land area within a development, not individually owned or dedicated for public use, that is designed and intended for the common use or enjoyment of the residents of the development.
14. "Data Processing, Hosting and Related Services" - An establishment providing the infrastructure for data hosting and/or data processing services. (NAICS industry group 5182)
15. "District" - Any section, as shown on the district map of the City, for which the regulations governing the use of buildings and premises or the height and area of buildings are uniform.
16. "Drive-Through and Drive-In Businesses" - Where services are provided by any direct means into a vehicle and the customer does not enter or approach the establishment on foot.
17. "Dwelling" - Any building, or portion thereof, that is designed or used exclusively for residential purposes.
18. "Dwelling, Multiple" - A building, or portion thereof, designed for occupancy by three (3) or more families.
19. "Dwelling, Single-Family" - A building designed for occupancy by one (1) family.
20. "Dwelling, Two-Family" - A building designed for occupancy by two (2) families.
21. "Dwelling Unit" - One (1) or more rooms in a dwelling designed for occupancy by one (1) family for living purposes, and having its own cooking and sanitary facilities.
22. “Dwelling Unit, Accessory” - A subordinate dwelling unit added to, created within, or detached from a single- or two-family dwelling, but located on the same lot or parcel as a primary residential structure and owned by the same owner as the primary residential structure, and providing basic requirements for living, sleeping, cooking, eating and sanitation, and constructed on compliant permanent footings or foundation, with permanent connections to public sanitary sewer and water. No recreational vehicle, or structure on a chassis, shall constitute an accessory dwelling unit.
23. "Entity" - Any corporation, limited liability partnership, partnership, limited liability company, joint venture or any other legally recognized business organization.
24. "Erosion Hazard Area" - Those areas of Lake Superior’s north shore where the long-term average annual rate of recession is one (1) foot or greater per year as mapped in the North Shore Management Plan.
25. "Family" - One (1) or more persons occupying a premises and living as a single housekeeping unit as distinguished from a group occupying a boarding house, lodging house or hotel as defined herein.
26. "Gasoline Service Station" - Any building or premises used principally for the storing, dispensing, sale or offering for sale at retail of automobile fuels or oils, or for the servicing of motor vehicles.
27. "Frontage" - All the property on one (1) side of a street between two (2) intersecting streets (crossing or terminating), measured along the line of the street or, if the street is dead-ended, then all of the property abutting on one (1) side between an intersecting street and the dead end of the street, but not including the dead end of the street.
28. "Garage, Private" - An accessory building designed or used for the storage of not more than three (3) motor-driven vehicles owned and used by the occupants of the building to which it is necessary.
29. "Garage, Public" - A building, or portion thereof, other than a private or storage garage, designed or used for servicing, repairing, equipping, hiring, selling or storing motor-driven vehicles.
30. "Grade":
   A. For buildings having walls adjoining one (1) street only, the elevation of the sidewalk or, if there be no sidewalk, then the elevation of the roadway at the center of the wall adjoining the street.
   B. For buildings having walls adjoining more than one (1) street, the average of the elevation of the sidewalk or, if there is no sidewalk, then the elevation of the roadway at the center of all walls adjoining the streets.
   C. For buildings having no wall adjoining the street, the average level of the finished surface of the ground adjacent to the exterior walls of the building. Any wall approximately parallel to, and not more than five (5) feet from, a street line is to be considered as adjoining the street.
31. "Head Shop" - Any retail establishment open to the public that advertises, displays or offers for sale, transfer or barter:
   A. Controlled substances, as is defined by Minnesota Statutes, Section 152.01, Subd. 4 (2013), as it may be amended from time to time;
   B. Analog, as is defined by Minnesota Statutes, Section 152.01, Subd. 23 (2013), as it may be amended from time to time; or
   C. Drug paraphernalia, as is defined by Minnesota Statutes, Section 152.01, Subd. 18 (2013), as it may be amended from time to time, regardless of whether it might also be possible to use drug paraphernalia for a lawful purpose.
32. "Home and Garden Equipment Repair" - An establishment primarily engaged in repairing and servicing home and garden equipment, such as lawnmowers, snow-blowers, trimmers and similar equipment. This definition does not include sales of home and garden equipment. (These services are included in NAICS industry 81141. This definition is not inclusive of establishments for the repair of appliances and tools categorized as NAICS industry 81141.)
33. "Home occupation" - An occupation or activity carried on in a dwelling or accessory structure by the resident thereof as a secondary use.
34. "Hospital" - An establishment where patients are admitted for examinations, diagnosis, treatment and care by physicians and medical practitioners, and facilities are available for patients to be lodged overnight.
35. "Hotel" - A building in which temporary lodging is provided for and offered publicly to transient motorists, guests or travelers for compensation, and does not include any unit in a common-interest community.
36. “Indoor Recreation and Entertainment Facility, Commercial” - A commercial facility providing entertainment or recreation activities where all activities take place within enclosed structures, but not including a convention or event center. Examples include, but are not limited to: bowling, bowling alleys, trampoline centers, video arcades, climbing-wall, paint-ball or laser-tag centers, theaters, dance and martial arts studios.
37. “Indoor Recreation and Entertainment Facility, Public” - A public facility providing entertainment or recreation activities where all activities take place within enclosed structures.
38. "Industry, General" - The use of land or buildings for the production, manufacture, warehousing, storage or transfer of goods, products, commodities or other wholesale items. Due to their size, nature, infrastructure requirements, and greater traffic generation, general industrial uses have greater adverse impacts on surrounding properties and the environment that require careful site selection, special measures and the attachment of conditions to ensure compatibility with surrounding properties and the environment. Objectionable features include, but are not limited to, noise, dust, odor, smoke, air and waste emissions, glare, vibration and other features commonly recognized as hazardous or objectionable.
39. "Industry, Light" - The use of land or buildings for the production, manufacture, warehousing, storage or transfer of goods, products, commodities or other wholesale items. Light industrial uses create little or no adverse impacts on surrounding properties and the environment by virtue of being relatively free from objectionable features, including but not limited to, noise, dust, odor, smoke, glare or vibration, or whose objectionable features can be eliminated by design, screening and other appropriate devices, and do not create objectionable amounts of traffic.
40. "Institution" - A building occupied by a non-profit corporation or a non-profit establishment for public use.
41. "Licensed Family Day-Care Home, Licensed Group Family Day-Care Home, Licensed Child-Care Center" - A facility holding a license from Lake County or Minnesota pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 245A, as it may be amended from time to time, and/or Minnesota Rules, Chapter 9502 or Chapter 9503, as they may be amended from time to time.
42. "Light Vehicle Repair" - An establishment primarily engaged in providing repair and maintenance services for light vehicles, such as motorcycles, bicycles, boats, small engines, snowmobiles and ATVs. This definition does not include sales of light vehicles. (These services are included in NAICS industry 81149. This definition is not inclusive of other non-vehicular repair establishments categorized as NAICS industry 81149.)
43. "Loading Space” - A space on a lot accessible to an alley or a street, not less than ten (10) feet in width, twenty (20) feet in length and ten (10) feet in height.
44. "Lot" - A parcel of land occupied or intended for occupancy by one (1) main building, together with
its accessory buildings, and uses customarily incidental to it, including the open spaces required by this Chapter, and having its principal frontage on a street or upon a place as defined in this Chapter.
45. "Lot, Corner" - A lot adjoining two (2) or more streets at their intersection.
46. "Lot Coverage" - The percentage of lot surface encumbered by impervious surfaces, including but not limited to, structures, paved parking lots, sidewalks, and the like.
47. "Lot, Depth of" - The mean horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines.
48. "Lot, Double Frontage" - A lot having a frontage on two (2) non-intersecting streets, as distinguished from a corner lot.
49. "Lot Frontage" - The portion of the lot nearest the street, road or body of water if the lot abuts water.
50. "Lot, Interior" - A lot other than a corner lot.
51. "Lot Lines” - The lines bounding a lot.
52. "Lot of Record" - A lot that is a part of a subdivision, the plat of which has been recorded in the office of the County Recorder of Lake County, Minnesota, or a lot described by metes and bounds, the description of which has been recorded in the office of the County Recorder of Lake County, Minnesota.
53. "Lot Width" - The shortest distance between lot lines measured at the structure setback line.
54. "Lumber Yards and Heavy Building Materials" - An establishment primarily engaged in retailing specialized lines of new building materials, such as lumber, fencing, glass, doors, plumbing fixtures and supplies, electrical supplies, prefabricated buildings and kits, and kitchen and bath cabinets and counter tops to be installed. This definition does not include home centers, paint and wallpaper stores, and hardware stores. (NAICS industry 44419)
55. "Manufactured Home, Class 'A'" - Manufactured housing of modular design that requires more than one (1) module to form an integral single-family dwelling unit, and that complies with the following minimum criteria:
   A. The minimum width of the main body of the home, as assembled on site, shall not be less than twenty-four (24) feet, as measured across the narrowest portion, and a minimum of seven hundred fifty (750) square feet of living area;
   B. The pitch of the main roof shall be not less than one (1) foot for each four (4) feet of horizontal run. In general, any roofing material may be used that is generally acceptable for housing built on the site, if applied in such a manner as to be similar in appearance; provided, however, that flat, sheet-metal-type panels shall not be considered acceptable for Class "A" manufactured homes;
   C. Any materials that meet State Building Code standards generally acceptable for housing built on the site may be used for exterior finish, if applied in such a manner as to be similar in appearance; provided, however, that reflection from such exterior shall not be greater than from siding coated with clean, white, gloss exterior enamel; and
   D. The home shall be placed upon a permanent foundation complying with the minimum standards of the Minnesota State Building Code.
56. " Manufactured Home, Class 'B'" - Manufactured transportable housing built in conformance with Sections 327.31 to 327.35 of Minnesota Statutes, and intended for occupancy as a complete, year-round, single-family dwelling unit upon arrival and placement on a site, with or without a permanent foundation designed to support such transportable unit. For the purposes of this Chapter, the term shall include all such transportable housing over twenty-nine (29) feet in length, less than twenty (20) feet in width, and five thousand (5,000) or more pounds in weight, containing the same waste water supply, waste disposal, and electrical conveniences as immobile housing, but shall exclude housing of modular design where more than one (1) module is required to form an integral single-family dwelling unit. The term "mobile home" shall be synonymous and interchangeable with the term "Class B Manufactured Home" wherever either term shall be used elsewhere in this Chapter.
57. "Manufacturing, General" - An establishment engaged in the basic processing, manufacturing, packaging, assembly, compounding or treatment of materials or products predominantly from extracted or raw materials.
58. "Manufacturing, Light" - An establishment primarily engaged in the manufacture, fabrication, processing, packaging or assembly, predominantly from previously prepared materials, of finished products or parts, generally excluding processing of raw materials.
59. "Mini-Warehouses and Self-Storage Units" - An establishment engaged in renting or leasing space for self-storage. These establishments provide secure space (i.e., rooms, compartments, lockers, containers or outdoor space) where clients can store and retrieve their goods. This definition refers to the storage facilities and not necessarily where the business is administered. No materials of hazardous nature, i.e., toxins, highly flammable and/or similar materials, shall be stored at such storage units; nor shall there be warehousing of wholesale and/or retail materials and/or products at such storage units; nor shall a business be operated from such storage units. (NAICS industry 53113)
60. "Motel" - A building or group of buildings in which temporary lodging is provided for and offered publicly to transient motorists, guests or travelers for compensation, and does not include any unit in a common-interest community.
61. "Nonconforming Structure, Lot or Use" - Any structure, lot, use of land, or combination thereof, that is contrary to the provisions of the Chapter for the district in which it is located.
62. "Nursing Home" - A home for the aged, chronically ill or incurable persons, except for mental or alcoholic patients, in which two (2) or more persons are received, kept or provided with food and shelter and care for compensation; but not including hospitals, clinics or similar institutions devoted primarily to the diagnosis, treatment or care of the sick and injured. Includes assisted living facilities.
63. “Outdoor Recreation and Entertainment Facility, Commercial” - A commercial outdoor facility whose main purpose is to provide entertainment or recreation, including batting cages, drive-in theaters, golf driving ranges, miniature golf courses, go-cart tracks, skating rinks, skateboard parks, swimming pools, tennis courts, sports courts, and similar uses, but not including auto- or horse-race tracks.
64. “Outdoor Recreation and Entertainment Facility, Public” - A commercial outdoor facility whose main purpose is to provide entertainment or recreation, including golf, baseball, football, track, tennis, softball, volleyball, and other competitive and spectator-related recreational activities and sports, trails, swimming, boating, fishing and other aquatic activities.
65. "Parking Lot" - A parcel of land devoted to unenclosed parking spaces.
66. "Parking Space" - An area, enclosed or unenclosed, sufficient in size to store one (1) automobile, together with a driveway connecting the parking space with a street or alley, and permitting ingress and egress of an automobile.
67. "Passive Recreation" - Emphasizes the open-space aspect of a park and that involves a low level of development, including, but not limited to, picnic areas, trails, swimming, non-motorized boating, and structures supporting such activities.
68. "Place" - An open, unoccupied space other than a street or alley, permanently reserved as the principal means of access to adjoining property.
69. "Recreation and Entertainment Facility, Private" - Private, non-commercial recreation areas, including country clubs, golf courses and swimming pools.
70. "Religious Assembly" - A building or space that is principally used as a place where people of the same faith or religion regularly assemble for worship.
71. "Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (Industrial Class)" - An establishment primarily engaged in providing professional, scientific and technical activities for others. This sector includes a number of industry groups that are appropriate for the "I-1" Light Industrial District:
   A. Architectural, engineering, and related services (includes laboratory testing, except medical, veterinary or emissions). (NAICS industry group 5413)
   B. Industrial design services. (NAICS industry group 5414)
   C. Scientific and technical consulting services. (NAICS industry group 5416)
   D. Scientific research and development services. (NAICS group 5417)
   E. Services to buildings and dwellings. (NAICS industry group 5617)
   F. Veterinary services (NAICS industry 54194) is an allowed conditional use.
   G. Incompatible uses include legal services (NAICS industry group 5411); accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services (NAICS industry group 5412); and advertising and related services   (NAICS industry group 5418); and other professional, scientific and technical services (NAICS industry group 5419), except veterinary services (NAICS industry 54194).
72. "Public Buildings" - Public buildings shall include, but not be limited to, municipal offices, county offices, including jails and law enforcement centers, state offices, federal offices, offices of other governmental units, fire stations, public safety buildings, public buildings for the storage and warehousing of materials and equipment, teenage centers, community centers, senior citizens centers, libraries, and buildings in support of and used with public recreational facilities located nearby.
73. "Public Library" - Any library that provides free access to all residents of a city or county without discrimination and is organized under the provisions of Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 134, as it may be amended from time to time.
74. "Public Market and Market Stand" - Outdoor markets and vendor stands open to the public, including farmers markets, craft markets, flea markets, and vendors of other miscellaneous goods, utilizing temporary or permanent vendor stalls and other structures.
75. "Public Park" - A park, reservation, open space, playground, beach, recreation or community center in the City owned, leased or used, wholly or in part, by the City, county, state, school district or federal government for recreation purposes.
76. "Railroad Yard" - Rail infrastructure and support functions suitable for large-volume, rail-oriented activities. This land use can be in conjunction with a separate industrial use or shipyard.
77. "Campground" - An area containing one (1) or more structures designed or intended to be used as the temporary living facilities of two (2) or more families, and intended primarily for automobile transients; or providing space where two (2) or more tents, auto trailers or motor homes (RVs) can be parked.
78. "Residential Care Facility" - Living quarters for those with disabilities or for seniors located in a facility where a variety of living assistance and medical-related services are offered to residents.
79. "School" - A building or space that is principally used as a place where twenty-five (25) or more persons receive a full course of educational instruction. Any post-secondary or post-high school educational building, including any college or any vocational-technical college, shall not be deemed a "school" for purposes of this Section.
80. "Shipyard" - An establishment primarily engaged in providing port and harbor operations for the water transportation of cargo in the Great Lakes Water Transportation System. This land use can be in conjunction with, or independent of, a separate industrial use. (NAICS industry 48831)
81. "Street" - All property dedicated to or intended for public or private street purposes, or subject to public easements therefor.
82. "Story" - That portion of a building other than a cellar, included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the floor next above it or, if there be no floor above it, then the space between the floor and the ceiling next above it.
83. "Story, Half" - A space under a sloping roof that has the line of intersection of roof decking and wall face not more than three (3) feet above the top floor level, and in which space not more than two-thirds (2/3) of the floor area is finished off for use. A half story containing independent apartment or living quarters shall be counted as a full story.
84. "Street Line" - A dividing line between a lot, tract or parcel of land and a contiguous street.
85. "Structure" - Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires a permanent location on the ground or attached to something having a permanent location on the ground, including, but without limiting the generality of the foregoing, advertising signs, billboards, back stops for tennis courts, and pergolas.
86. "Structural Alterations" - Any change in the supporting members of a building, such as bearing walls or partitions, columns, beams or girders, or any complete rebuilding of the roof.
87. "Structure Setback" - The minimum horizontal distance between a structure or other facility, and the vegetation line, road centerline, road right-of-way line, front, side or rear lot lines.
88. "Structure Setback Line" - A line measured across the width of a lot at a point where a structure is placed in accordance with the minimum shoreland setback requirements of this Chapter.
89. "Telecommunications Processing and Transmission Services" - An establishment primarily engaged in operating and/or providing access to facilities for the transmission of voice, data, text, sound and video. Transmission facilities may be based on a single technology or a combination of technologies. (Telecommunications processing and transmission services are included under the NAICS subsector 517.)
90. "Townhouse" - A single structure consisting of not less than two (2) or more than four (4) dwelling units each, with no other dwelling or portion of other dwelling directly above or below, with each dwelling unit having direct ground level access to the outdoors, and connected to the other dwelling by a single party wall with no opening.
91. "Trailer" - Any structure used for living, sleeping, business or storage purposes, having no foundation other than wheels, blocks, skids, jacks, horses or skirting, and which has been, or reasonably may be, equipped with wheels or other devices for transporting the structure from place to place, whether by motive power or other means. The term "trailer" shall include a camp-car and a house-car.
92. "Vegetation Line" - The first clearly identifiable line of terrestrial vegetation above the water’s edge.
93. "Warehousing and Storage" - An establishment primarily engaged in operating warehousing and storage facilities for general merchandise, refrigerated goods, and other warehouse products. Such establishments do not sell the goods they handle, but they may also provide a range of incidental logistical services related to the distribution of goods. (NAICS industry group 4931)
94. "Wetland" - A surface water feature classified as a wetland in the United States Fish and Wildlife Circular No. 39 (1971 Edition).
95. "Wholesale Trade" - An establishment engaged in an intermediate step in the distribution of merchandise. Wholesalers either sell or arrange the purchase of goods to other businesses, and normally operate from a warehouse or office. They may be in an office building or a warehouse. Unlike retailers, their warehouses and offices have little or no display of merchandise. (NAICS sector 42)
96. "Yard" - An open space at grade between a building and the adjoining lot lines, unoccupied and unobstructed by any portion of a structure from the ground upward, except as otherwise provided herein. In measuring a yard for the purpose of determining the width of a side yard, the depth of a front yard or the depth of a rear yard, the minimum horizontal distance between the lot line and the main building shall be used.
97. "Yard, Front" - A yard extending across the front of a lot between the side yard lines, and being the minimum horizontal distance between the street line and the main building or any projection thereof.
98. "Yard, Rear" - A yard extending across the rear of a lot, measured between side lot lines and being the minimum horizontal distance between the rear of the main building or any projection thereof. On corner lots, the rear yard shall be considered as parallel to the streets upon which the lot has its least dimension. On both corner lots and interior lots, the rear yard shall in all cases be at the opposite end of the lot from the front yard.
99. "Yard, Side" - A yard between the building and the side line of the lot, extending from the front lot line to the rear lot line, and being the minimum horizontal distance between a side lot line and the side of the main building or any projection thereof.
Source: Ordinance No. 123
Effective Date: 07-16-2021

SEC. 11.99. VIOLATION A MISDEMEANOR.

   Every person violates a section, subdivision, paragraph or provision of this Chapter when he or she performs an act thereby prohibited or declared unlawful, or fails to act when such failure is thereby prohibited or declared unlawful, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as for a misdemeanor except as otherwise stated in specific provisions hereof. Each day that a violation is permitted to exist shall constitute a separate offense.
Source: Ordinance No. 123
Effective Date: 07-16-2021