For the purpose of this zoning ordinance, certain terms and words are hereby defined. Words used in the present tense shall include the future; the singular number shall include the plural and the plural the singular; the word "building" shall include the word "structure"; the word "person" includes a firm or corporation as well as an individual; the word "lot" includes the word plot or parcel; the term "shall" is always mandatory; and, the word "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.

(Res. No. 2013-14, 12-2-2013)

For the purpose of this Zoning ordinance certain words and terms shall be defined as follows:

Accessory structure or use. The use of a building, structure or land that is subordinate to, customarily incidental to, and ordinarily found in association with, a principal use, which it serves.

Alley. A public thoroughfare, which affords only a secondary means of access to abutting property.

Apartment building. See "Multiple dwelling."

Assisted living facility. A term for a permanent building, portion of a building, or group of buildings (not including manufactured homes or trailers), used for adult congregate care in which room, board, meals, laundry, and assistance with personal care and other services are provided for not less than twenty-four hours in any week to a minimum of two ambulatory adults not related by blood or marriage to the owner and/or administrator, including independent living facilities and residential care facilities. Assisted living facilities shall be classified as set forth in the Alabama Administrative Code (AAC) 420-5-4.03.

Basement. A story having a part but not more than one half of its height below grade. A basement is counted as a story for the purpose of height regulations.

Bed and breakfast inn. An existing residence where the owner lives on the premises and provides short time lodging for compensation. The residence contains no more than eight guest rooms with breakfast being provided for the guests.

Boardinghouse. A dwelling other than a hotel, where for compensation and by prearrangement for definite periods, meals, or lodging and meals, are provided for three or more persons.

Brownfield. Land that has been previously used for industrial or certain commercial uses that may be contaminated by low concentrations of hazardous waste or pollution. As a result, the site is currently unusable or abandoned, but has the potential for productive reuse once it is properly cleaned up.

Building. Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls designed or built for the support, enclosure, shelter, or protection of persons, animals, chattels, or property of any kind.

Building, height of. The vertical distance from the grade to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof or to the deck line of a mansard roof, or to the average height between eaves and ridge for gable, hip and gambrel roofs.

Build-to setback line. A line shown on a site development plan which designates a specific location for proposed structures or landscaping for the purpose of meeting certain design or development purposes, in lieu of the minimum yard requirements and specified as part of a site development plan approved by the planning commission.

Cellar. That portion of a building between floor and ceiling which is wholly or partly below grade, and having more than one half of its height below grade. A cellar is not counted as a story for the purpose of height regulations.

Childcare facility. A facility established for the care of children as defined in §38-7-2 of the Code of Alabama, 1975. For the purposes of this zoning ordinance, this definition includes the following:

a.

Child care center. This includes facilities licensed as day care centers and nighttime centers in accordance with §38-7-2 of the Code of Alabama, 1975. Day care centers and nighttime centers serve more than twelve children.

b.

Child care institution. This includes facilities licensed as group homes and child care institutions in accordance with §38-7-2 of the Code of Alabama, 1975. These facilities provide full time care.

Clinic. A building or a portion of a building where patients are not lodged overnight, but are admitted for examination and treatment by a group of physicians or dentists practicing together.

Club, private. A building or portion thereof or premises owned or operated by a corporation, association, person or persons for a social, educational, or recreational purpose, but not primarily for profit or to render a service which is customarily carried on as a business.

Continuing care retirement community. A licensed housing development that is planned, designed, and operated to provide a full range of accommodations and services for elderly adults, including independent living, congregate residential housing, medical care, and other support services. These facilities are generally designed utilizing a campus concept, and may offer rental as well as ownership options. CCRCs may also accommodate adult day-care facilities within the community, provided sufficient land area for any additional structures and parking requirements is available.

District. Same as Zoning District.

Dwelling. Any building or portion thereof, which is used for residential purposes.

Dwelling, multiple. A building designed for or occupied exclusively by three or more families.

Dwelling, single-family. A building designed for or occupied exclusively by one family.

Dwelling, two-family. A building designed for or occupied exclusively by two families.

Dwelling unit. One or more rooms located within a building and forming a single habitable unit with facilities, which are used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking and eating purposes.

Family. One or more persons occupying a dwelling and living in a single housekeeping unit, all of whom or all but two of whom are related to each other by birth, adoption, or marriage as distinguished from a group occupying a boardinghouse, rooming house, assisted living facility, independent living facility, residential care facility, nursing home or hotel, as herein defined.

Floor area. The gross horizontal areas of all floors, including penthouses (but excluding such areas within a building which are used for parking) measured from the exterior faces of the exterior walls of a building. Basements and cellars shall not be included in the gross floor area.

Frontage, street. All the property on one side of a street between two streets which intersects such street (crossing or termination), measured along the line of the street, or if the street is dead-ended, then all of the property abutting on one side between a street which intersects such street and the dead end of the street.

Garage, private. An accessory building designed or used for the storage of motor-driven vehicles owned and used by the occupants of the building to which it is accessory.

Garage, public. A building or portion thereof, other than a private, storage, or parking garage, designed or used for equipping, servicing, repairing, hiring, selling, or storing of motor-driven vehicles, but not including the storage of wrecked or junked vehicles.

Garage, storage or parking. A building or portion thereof designed or used exclusively for storage of motor-driven vehicles, and within which motor fuels and oils may be sold, but no vehicles are equipped, repaired, hired or sold.

Grade. The average level of the finished ground surface adjacent to the exterior walls of the building.

Greyfield. An area that is characterized by economically obsolescent, outdated, failing, moribund and/or underused real estate assets or land.

Home occupation. Any occupation or activity which is clearly incidental to use of the premises for dwelling purposes and which is carried on wholly within a main building or accessory building by a member of a family residing on the premises, in connection with which there is no advertising and no display or storage of materials or exterior identification of the home occupation or variation from the residential character of the premises and in connection with which no person outside the family is employed and no equipment used other than that normally used in connection with a residence. A home occupation shall not include beauty parlors, barbershops, or doctors' or dentists' offices for the treatment of patients.

Hotel. A building which lodging, or boarding and lodging are provided and offered to the public for compensation and in which ingress and egress to and from all rooms are made through an inside lobby or office supervised by a person in charge at all hours. A hotel is open to the transient public in contradistinction to a boardinghouse, or a rooming house, which are herein separately defined.

Independent living facility. A licensed facility planned, designed, and managed to include multi-unit rental housing with self-contained apartment dwellings intended for elderly adults. Support facilities may include meals, laundry, housekeeping, transportation, social, recreational, or other services. The facility may or may not include resident staff and administration.

Institution. The structure or land occupied by a group, cooperative, board, agency or organization created for the purpose of carrying on non-profit functions of a public or semi-public nature, including but not limited to hospitals, schools, churches, fraternal orders and orphanages, and also including residential accessory uses, such as rectories, parsonages, dormitories and dwellings for resident administrators, watchmen, custodians or caretakers.

Loading space. A space having a minimum dimension of twelve by thirty-five feet and a vertical clearance of at least fourteen feet within the main building or on the same lot, providing for the standing, loading or unloading of trucks.

Loft apartment. An apartment in a building that was converted from commercial, or more commonly industrial, use often with exposed plumbing and beams so that spaces tend to be more open and the ceilings higher than for more common apartments.

Lot. Land occupied or intended for occupancy by a use including the yards and parking spaces required therein, and having its principal frontage upon a street.

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

Lot, through. A lot other than a corner lot abutting two streets.

Lot of record. A lot which is part of a subdivision, the plat of which has been recorded in the office of the probate judge of Bullock County, Alabama, or a parcel of land described by meets and bounds, the plat of description of which has been recorded in said office. If a portion of a lot or parcel has been conveyed at the time of the adoption of this zoning ordinance, the remaining portion of said lot or parcel shall be considered a lot of record.

Lot width. The width of the lot at the front building setback line.

Manufactured home. A structure, originally designed to be transportable in one or more sections which is built on a permanent chassis, and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without permanent foundation, when connected to the required utilities, and includes plumbing heating, air-conditioning and electrical systems contained therein.

Manufactured home community. A contiguous parcel of land under single or same ownership, which has been planned, improved and used for the placement of six or more manufactured homes for residential occupancy. The placement of manufactured homes on the property shall be by leasehold only, and no individual lots may be sold within the community without proper subdivision approval.

Mobile home. Any manufactured home built prior to June 15, 1976. See also "Manufactured home."

Mobile home park. See Manufactured home community.

Motel. A building or group of buildings used for the temporary occupancy of transients and containing no facilities for cooking in the individual units.

Nonconforming use. The use of any building or land which was lawful at the time of passage of this zoning ordinance, or amendment thereto, but which use does not conform, after the passage of this zoning ordinance or amendment thereto, with the use regulations of the district in which it is situated.

Nursing home. A licensed facility or home for the aged and/or infirm in which three or more persons not of the immediate family are received, kept, provided with food and shelter, or care for compensation; but not including hospitals, clinics, independent living facilities, residential care facilities, or similar establishments devoted primarily to the diagnosis and treatment of the sick or injured. Twenty-four hour direct medical, nursing, and other health services are provided.

Outdoor recreation. This land use includes areas where outdoor recreational activities are the primary use such as public parks or other recreational areas whether public or private. Activities may include picnicking, jogging, cycling, arboretums, hiking, golf courses, play grounds, ball fields, outdoor ball courts, stables, outdoor swimming pools, and water-related or water-dependent uses such as boat ramps, fishing docks and piers, and similar outdoor recreational uses. Specifically excluded from this group of uses are firing ranges, marinas, miniature golf courses, golf driving ranges, race tracks, and similar commercial recreational or quasi-recreational activities inconsistent with the allowable outdoor recreation uses described.

Overlay district. A special district that includes supplemental development and/or design guidelines or standards due to the overlay district's special characteristics.

Parking lot. An open area used exclusively for the temporary storage of motor vehicles and within which motor fuels and oils may be sold and fees charged, but no vehicles are to be equipped, repaired, rented or sold.

Parking space, off-street. An accessible space permanently reserved for the temporary storage of one vehicle, connected with a street by a driveway or an alley, having a minimum area of not less than one hundred eighty square feet, a minimum width of nine feet, and a minimum, length of eighteen feet, exclusive of driveways and maneuvering area.

Planned district. A district with single or multiple uses with special provisions for dimensional, development and design standards or guidelines and developed in accord with a site development plan approved by the planning commission, prior to the establishment of such a district.

Portable building. A portable building is any building or vehicle comprised of one or more units designed, manufactured or converted for transportation on public streets or highways on wheels, arriving at the site substantially ready for occupancy, whether for residential, office, commercial or manufacturing use. Removal of packing, baffles, and other travel supports; assembly of units; and connection of or to utilities shall not be considered in determining whether a unit or units are substantially ready for occupancy. The towing hitch, wheels, axles, and other running gear may be removable for the placement of the portable building and may be reinstalled to permit its further movement. A manufactured home or mobile office including any doublewide manufactured home or office is a portable building.

Premises. A lot, together with all building and structures existing thereon.

Residential care facility. A licensed facility in which congregate private and/or shared room, staff-supervised meals, housekeeping, social services, and assistance with personal care and other services are provided for not less than twenty-four hours in a week to a minimum of two ambulatory adults not related by blood or marriage to the owner and/or administrator. The facility may or may not include resident staff and administration.

Rooming house. A building other than a hotel where lodging for three or more persons not of the immediate family is provided for definite periods and for compensation and by prearrangement for definite periods.

Service station. Any building, structure, or land used primarily for the dispensing, sale or offering for sale at retail of any automobile fuels, oils or accessories but not including major repair work such as motor overhaul, body and fender repair of spray painting.

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.

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 space not more than two thirds 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.

Street. A public thoroughfare, which affords the principal means of access to abutting property.

Street line. A dividing line between a lot, tract or parcel of land and a contiguous street.

Structural alterations. Any change in the supporting members of a building or structure, such as bearing walls, columns, beams or girders; provided, however, that the application of any exterior siding to an existing building for the purpose of beautifying and modernizing shall not be considered of a structural alteration.

Structure. Anything constructed or erected, the use of which required a location on the ground, or attached to something having a location on the ground, including but not limited to buildings, signs, billboards, back stops for tennis courts, fences or radio towers.

Tourist home. A dwelling, also including bed and breakfast inns, in which accommodations are provided or offered for one or more transient guests for compensation.

Trailer. Any manufactured home built prior to June 15, 1976. See also "Manufactured home".

Transportation, communication and utility. This group of activities includes those uses which provide essential or important public services, and which may have characteristics of outdoor storage, or potential nuisance to adjacent properties due to noise, light and glare, or appearance. Uses include the following, and substantially similar activities, based upon similarity of characteristics:

a.

Emergency service activities such as buildings, garages, parking, and/or dispatch centers for ambulances, fire, police and rescue;

b.

Utility facilities, such as water plants, wastewater treatment plants, sanitary landfill operations and electric power substations;

c.

Maintenance facilities and storage yards for schools, government agencies, and telephone and cable companies;

d.

Airports, airfields, and truck or bus terminals; and

e.

Railroad stations, terminals, yards and service facilities.

Travel trailer. A trailer designed primarily for transport under its own power or by passenger vehicles and providing temporary living quarters.

Wireless telecommunications facility. A facility that transmits and/or receives electromagnetic signals. It includes antennas, microwave dishes, horns, and other types of equipment for the transmission or receipt of such signals, telecommunications towers, broadcasting towers, radio towers, television towers, telephone transmission towers or similar structures supporting said equipment, equipment buildings, access roads, parking area, access roads and other accessory structures.

Yard. An open space between a building or use and the adjoining lot lines, unoccupied and unobstructed by any structure or use from the ground upward. 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 distance between the lot line and the main building shall be used. A required yard shall mean a yard the depth of which is specified in Section 5.4: Area and Dimensions, pertaining to the district in which such yard is required to be provided.

Yard, front. A yard extending across the front of a lot between the side lot lines. On corner lots the front yard shall be considered as parallel to the street upon which the lot has its least dimension.

Yard, rear. A yard extending across the rear of a lot between the side lot lines. On all lots the rear yard shall be in the rear of the front yard.

Yard, side. A yard between the main building and the side lot line and extending from the required front yard to the required rear yard.

Zoning. A legal mechanism for local governments provided by the police power granted in the Code of Alabama, 1975, as amended, §11-52-70 to divide the territory within the municipal boundaries into districts and to regulate the kind, character and use of the land, structures and improvements therein.

Zoning district. A section or sections of The City of Union Springs for which the zoning regulations governing the use of buildings and premises, the height of buildings, the size of yards, and the intensity of use are uniform.

Zoning district map. The zoning map.

Zoning map. The map identified by the title "Official Zoning Map of the City of Union Springs" as referred to in Article 3.3, of this zoning ordinance which shows the number of districts into which the locality is divided, and the status and usage of each district. In addition the zoning map must contain sufficient information to permit a person of ordinary intelligence to locate any legally describe tract of land and to determine with reasonable accuracy and precision the boundaries of any zoning district.

(Res. No. 2013-14, 12-2-2013)