Walton County Unincorporated
City Zoning Code

ARTICLE 2

DEFINITIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS

Section 2-1-100 - Definitions

For the purpose of these Regulations, certain words or terms used herein are interpreted as follows:

Words used in the present tense include the future tense. Words used in the singular include the plural; and words in the plural include the singular.

The word "shall" is always mandatory, and the word "may" is permissive.

The word "person" includes a firm, association, organization, partnership, trust, company, or corporation, as well as an individual.

The word "lot" includes the words "plot," "parcel" or "tract."

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."

The word "erected" shall be deemed also to include "constructed," "reconstructed," "altered," "moved" or "placed."

The word "land use" and "use of land" shall be deemed also to include "building use" and "use of building."

The word "adjacent" means contiguous not withstanding road right-of-way.

The word "map" means the "Official Zoning Districts Map for Walton County, Georgia."

When used in this Ordinance, the following words and phrases shall have the meaning given in this Section. For words and phrases where no definition is included in this Section that are listed in the use table in Article 5 with a NAICS code, the NAICS definition shall be the legal definition. All remaining words used in this Ordinance are intended to have the commonly accepted definitions contained in a recent edition of the Merriam Webster Dictionary.

Abandoned "Junk" Vehicle: Any vehicle, automobile, truck, van, trailer of any kind or type, or contrivance or part thereof (with or without a current license plate and/or decal) which is wrecked, dismantled, partially dismantled, stripped, partially stripped, inoperative, abandoned, discarded, and kept parked, stored, or maintained on any premises or public right-of-way.

Abandoned Vehicle: Any wrecked or non-operable dismantled or abandoned automobile or truck.

Accessory Structure: A structure detached from the principal building located on the same lot and customarily incidental and subordinate in area, extent, and purpose to the principal building or use. See Article 5, Part 5-2.

Accessory Unit: An accessory dwelling unit for one (1) family.

Accessory Use: A use of land or a building, or portion thereof, customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal use of the land or building and located on the same lot with such principal use. See Article 5, Part 5-2, Accessory Uses

Addition (To An Existing Building): Any walled and roofed expansion to the perimeter of a building in which the addition is connected by a common load-bearing wall other than a firewall. Any walled and roofed addition that is connected by a firewall or is separated by an independent perimeter load-bearing wall shall be considered "New Construction."

Adult Entertainment: See Article 6, Part 6-3.

Agriculture: Raising soil crops, livestock, fish, fowl and/or commercial timber including General Farming, Feedlots, Greenhouses, Nurseries and Floriculture.

Air Transportation: Establishments engaged in transportation by air including airports and flying fields, as well as terminal services.

Airport: A transportation terminal facility where aircraft take off and land.

Airstrip, Private: An area designated for the landing of private, non-commercial aircraft with no terminal facilities and no scheduled takeoffs and landings.

Alley: A public or privately maintained platted service way providing a secondary means of access to abutting properties

Alteration: Any change, addition or modification in construction or type of occupancy; any change in the structural members of a building, such as walls, partitions, columns, beams, girders, or any change which may be referred to herein as "altered" or "reconstructed."

Alternative Tower Structure: Clock towers, bell towers, church steeples, light/power poles, electric transmission towers and similar natural or alternative-design mounting structures that camouflage or conceal the presence of antennas or towers.

Animal Feeding Operation (Feedlots): A lot or facility (other than an aquatic animal production facility) permitted under State Rule Chapters 391-3-6-.21 for non-swine and 391-3-6-.20 for swine of the Rules and Regulations for the State of Georgia. A place where livestock have been, are, or will be confined, concentrated, and fed for forty-five (45) or more days in any 12-month period. Pasture, crops, or other vegetation are not normally managed or sustained for grazing during the normal growing season and animal waste or manure accumulates. Adjoining animal feeding operations under common ownership are considered to be one (1) animal feeding operation if they use common areas or systems for manure handling.

Animal Unit (AU): a unit of measurement for any animal feeding operation calculated by adding the following numbers: the number of slaughter and feeder cattle multiplied by 1.0, plus the number of mature dairy cattle multiplied by 1.4, plus the number of swine weighing over twenty-five (25) kilograms (approximately 55 pounds) multiplied by 0.4, plus the number of sheep multiplied by 0.1, plus the number of horses multiplied by 2.0.

Three hundred (300) AU: State Rule Paragraph 391-3-6-.20(2)(c) regulations notwithstanding, the numbers of animals in any of the following categories are equivalent to three hundred (300) AU:

Three hundred (300) slaughter and feeder cattle,

Two hundred (200) mature dairy cattle (whether milked or dry cows),

One hundred fifty (150) horses,

Seven hundred fifty (750) swine each weighing over twenty-five (25) kilograms (approximately 55 pounds),

Three thousand (3,000) sheep or lambs,

Sixteen thousand (16,000) turkeys,

Thirty thousand (30,000) laying hens or broilers (if the facility has continuous overflow watering),

Nine thousand (9,000) laying hens or broilers (if the facility has a liquid manure handling system),

One thousand five hundred (1,500) ducks.

One Thousand (1,000) AU: State Rule Paragraph 391-3-6-.20(2)(c) regulations notwithstanding, the numbers of animals in any of the following categories are equivalent to one thousand (1,000) AU:

One thousand (1,000) slaughter and feeder cattle,

Seven hundred (700) mature dairy cattle (whether milked or dry cows),

Two thousand five hundred (2,500) swine each weighing over twenty-five (25) kilograms (approximately 55 pounds),

Five hundred (500) horses,

Ten thousand (10,000) sheep or lambs,

Fifty-five thousand (55,000) turkeys,

One hundred thousand (100,000) laying hens or broilers (if the facility has continuous overflow watering),

Thirty thousand (30,000) laying hens or broilers (if the facility has a liquid manure handling system),

Five thousand (5,000) ducks.

Three Thousand (3,000) AU: State Rule Paragraph 391-3-6-.20(2)(c) regulations notwithstanding, the numbers of animals in any of the following categories are equivalent to three thousand (3,000) AU:

Three thousand (3,000) slaughter and feeder cattle,

Two thousand one hundred (2,100) mature dairy cattle (whether milked or dry cows),

Seven thousand five hundred (7,500) swine each weighing over twenty-five (25) kilograms (approximately fifty-five (55) pounds),

One thousand five hundred (1,500) horses,

Thirty thousand (30,000) sheep or lambs,

One hundred sixty-five thousand (165,000) turkeys,

Three hundred thousand (300,000) laying hens or broilers (if the facility has continuous overflow watering),

Ninety thousand (90,000) laying hens or broilers (if the facility has a liquid manure handling system),

Fifteen thousand (15,000) ducks.

Antenna: Any exterior apparatus designed for wireless telecommunication, radio, or television communications through the sending and/or receiving of electromagnetic waves.

Antenna, Satellite Television: A specific device, the surface of which is used to transmit and/or receive radio frequency signals, microwave signals, or other signals transmitted to or from other antennas for commercial purposes.

Apartment: A multi-family dwelling held through a lease or rental agreement. See also Dwelling, Multi-Family.

Apartment, Efficiency: An apartment consisting of two (2) or fewer rooms, not including a separate bedroom.

Appeal: A request for a review to hear and decide where it was alleged there was an error in any order, requirement, permit, decision, determination, or refusal made by any officer of Walton County in the enforcement of this Ordinance.

Applicant: Any person, firm or governmental agency that executes the necessary forms and procedures to procure official approval of a project or a permit to carry out construction of a project.

Aquifer: Any stratum or zone of rock beneath the surface of the earth capable of containing or producing water from a well.

Area of Shallow Flooding: A designated AO or AH Zone on a community's Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) with base flood depths from one (1) to three (3) feet, and/or where a clearly defined channel does not exist, where the path of flooding is unpredictable and indeterminate, and where velocity flow may be evident.

Area of Special Flood Hazard: The land in the flood plain within a community subject to a one percent (1%) or greater chance of flooding in any given year.

Automobile: Every motorized vehicle with not more than six (6) wheels, designed for carrying ten (10) passengers or less and used for the transportation of persons.

Automotive, Major Repair and Maintenance: A site used for the repair of automobiles, commercial trucks, farm equipment, construction equipment, motorcycles, motor-homes, recreational vehicles, or boats, including the sale, installation, and servicing of equipment and parts. This uses includes engine, transmission, paint, body and fender shops, and similar repair and services activities, but excludes dismantling, salvage operations or junk yards.

Automotive, Minor Repair and Maintenance: A site used for the repair of automobiles, non-commercial trucks, motorcycles, motor homes, recreational vehicles or boats, including the sale, installation, and servicing of equipment and parts. This includes tires, brakes, mufflers, normal upkeep of engine, and similar repair and service activities, but excludes major automobile repair and maintenance.

Awning: Any non-rigid material, such as fabric or flexible plastic, that extends from the exterior wall of a building and is supported by or attached to a frame.

Base Flood: The flood having a one percent (1%) chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year also known as the 100-year flood or intermediate regional flood.

Basement: See current edition of the Walton County Building Code.

Beacon: Any light with one or more beams directed into the atmosphere or directed at one or more points not on the same site as the light source; also, any light with one or more beams that rotate or move.

Bed & Breakfast: A building or group of buildings containing one or more guest rooms for an overnight stay which are rented at a daily rate and where breakfast is the only meal served to guests.

Best Management Practices (BMPs): A collection of structural practices and vegetative measures which, when properly designed, installed and maintained, will provide effective erosion and sedimentation control for all rainfall events up to and including a 25-year, 24-hour rainfall event.

Billboard: Refers to Highway Oriented Sign as defined in the Walton County Sign Ordinance.

Block: A piece or parcel of land entirely surrounded by public highways or streets, other than alleys.

Board of Appeals: The Walton County Board of Appeals.

Board of Commissioners: The Walton County Board of Commissioners.

Board of Natural Resources: The Georgia Board of Natural Resources.

Boarding House: A building, other than a hotel, where, for compensation and/or by pre-arrangement, meals, or lodging and meals are provided for one or more persons but not more than twenty (20) persons.

Buffer Area: An area of natural vegetation or man-made construction which is intended to provide a visual and dimensional separation between dissimilar land uses.

Buffer, Natural: A visual screen created by vegetation of such density so as to present an opaque visual separation when viewed from one side to the other throughout the year.

Buffer, Non-Buildable: Non-buildable buffer areas required by this Ordinance shall be established and maintained by the property owner under the following provisions:

Be maintained as a planted area, using existing vegetation or, when required, additional plantings as provided in this Section.

Be landscaped with trees, shrubs, flowers, grass, stone, rocks and other landscaping materials.

Not be used for parking or a structure other than a fence or drainage improvements required by the County. However, a non-buildable buffer area may be used for vehicular access (except as prohibited by Article 9, Section 9-1-110) and utility easements (only if these uses are provided approximately perpendicular to the buffer area) and for drainage improvements required by the County based upon competent engineering studies which show these improvements to be necessary.

Except as otherwise provided, the natural topography of the land shall be preserved and natural growth shall not be disturbed beyond that which is necessary to prevent a nuisance, or to thin this natural growth where too dense for normal growth, or to remove diseased, misshapen or dangerous and decayed timbers. However, a slope easement may be cleared and graded where required to prevent soil erosion upon approval of the county; this easement may cover no more than ten percent (10%) of the required buffer area, and shall be immediately replaced upon completion of easement improvements.

Where the conditions described in paragraph four (4) of this Section cannot be met by reason of the topography of the land or of the prior removal of or lack of timber and foliage, the owner of the buffer area shall plant evergreen plantings, so designed and developed to provide visual screening between the property described herein. These plantings shall consist of evergreen shrubs no less than six (6) feet in height. The following plants shall be approved for this purpose but shall not be exclusive of other plants which may be suitable, provided that they can form a hardy screen, dense enough and high enough both to interrupt vision and to diffuse the transmission sound:

Magnolia grandiflora (Southern Magnolia)

Pinus Strobus (White Pine)

Prunus caroliniana (Cherry Laurel)

Ligustrum lucidum (Glossy Ligustrum)

Ilex burfordi (Buford Holly)

Elaegnus pungens (Elaeagnus)

Be designated on each plat and recorded as a permanent easement.

Buffer, State Waters: The area of land immediately adjacent to the banks of state waters in its natural state of vegetation, which facilitates the protection of water quality and aquatic habitat.

(8-5-2003)

Buffer, Stream: An area twenty-five (25) feet in width along the course of any state waters, that is in addition to the state waters buffer, and is to be maintained in an undisturbed and natural condition.

Buffer, Structural: A visual screen created through construction of a solid wooden fence, decorative masonry wall, earthen berm, or combination of fence or wall with an earthen berm, which may be supplemented with vegetation, so as to present an opaque visual separation when viewed from one side to the other throughout the year.

Buffer, Transitional: A natural, undeveloped portion of a lot or parcel of land set aside for open space and visual screening purposes pursuant to applicable provisions of this Ordinance for the purpose of separating different use districts, or to separate dissimilar uses on one property from uses on another property of the same use district.

Buffer, Unbuildable: See Setback.

Building: Any structure built for support, shelter, or enclosure for any occupancy or storage.

Building, Accessory: A subordinate building, the use of which is incidental to that of the dominant use of the principal building or land.

Building, Alterations of: Any change in the supporting members of a building (such as bearing walls, beams, columns, and girders) except such change as may be required for its safety; any addition to a building; any change in the location of a use within an existing building or on a developed site.

Building, Elevated: A non-basement built to have the lowest floor elevated above the ground level by means of fill, solid foundation perimeter walls, pilings, columns (post and piers), shear walls or break away walls.

Building Height: The vertical distance measured from the average finished yard grade at its parallel juncture with the structure, to the highest point of the roof surface if a flat roof; to the deck line of mansard roofs; and to the mean height level between eaves and ridge of gable, hip and gambrel roofs. Does not include steeples, cupolas, decorative towers, antennas and mechanical equipment when attached to a building, and does not include accessory agricultural structures.

Building Inspector: Walton County Building Inspectors.

Building Line: A line into which no foundation wall or part of the structure of any building projects, with the exception of roof overhang, steps, and the sub-surface projection of footing. Such a line may coincide with the building setback line.

Building Permit: A permit issued by the Department.

Building, Principal: A building in which is conducted the principal use of the lot on which it is situated. In any residential district any dwelling shall be deemed to be a principal building on the lot on which it is situated.

Building Wall: An exterior load-bearing or non-load-bearing vertical structure, that encompasses the area between the final grade elevation and eaves of the building, and used to enclose the space within the building. A porch, balcony or stoop is part of the building structure and may be considered as a building wall.

Caliper: The diameter of the trunk measured six (6) inches above the ground for trees up to and including four-inch caliper size and twelve (12) inches above the ground for trees of larger size.

Cambial Dieback: The irreparable radial or vertical interruption of a tree's cambium, usually caused by mechanical damage, such as "skinning bark"; or from excessive heat.

Cambium: Tissue within the woody portion of trees and shrubs which gives rise to the woody water and nutrient conducting system, and the energy substrate transport system in trees. Cambium growth activity results in a tree's radial development, i.e., increase in diameter.

Campground: See Recreational Vehicle Parks and Campgrounds.

Canopy: A roof structure constructed of rigid materials, including but not limited to, metal, wood, concrete, plastic, or glass, which is attached to and supported by a building, or which is free-standing and supported by columns, poles or braces extended to the ground. Unlike a marquee, a canopy generally has very limited vertical surface area; and unlike an awning, a canopy is generally supported by vertical elements rising from the ground at two (2) or more corners.

Caretaker Dwelling or Employee Residence: An accessory one-family dwelling unit placed on an occupied tract for use by an employee where the tract is owned by the employer as a part of the same farming operation or business. At least one (1) of the occupants of the caretaker dwelling or employee residence must be employed on the premises or their presence must be necessary and essential for the orderly operation and security of premises.

Cemetery: Any plot of ground, churchyard, building, mausoleum, or other enclosure used for the burial of deceased persons.

Cemetery, Pet: Property used for the interring of dead domestic animals.

Cemetery, Private: Any plot of ground, building, mausoleum, or other enclosure used for the burial of deceased persons of one (1) collateral line of descent.

Civic and Social Organization: Establishments primarily engaged in promoting the civic and social interests of their members.

Clear Cutting: The clearing or removal of trees from a site in a manner contrary to the Best Management Practices of the Georgia Forestry Commission, except as authorized by a development permit or building permit.

Clearing: The removal of trees and brush from the land but not including the ordinary mowing of grass.

Clerk: The Clerk serving the Board of Commissioners of Walton County, Georgia.

Clinic: A medical establishment where patients, who are not lodged overnight, are admitted for examination and treatment.

Club, Private: A building in which members of a community or association may gather for social, educational, or cultural activities.

Colleges, Universities and Professional Schools: Establishments primarily engaged in furnishing academic courses and granting degrees at baccalaureate or graduate levels.

Co-Location: The placement of the antennas of two (2) or more service providers upon a single tower or alternative tower structure.

Columbarium: A structure with niches for the placement of cinerary urns.

Commercial Use: An occupation, place of employment, or enterprise that is carried on for profit by the owner, lessee, or licensee.

Community Living Arrangement: See Personal Care Home

Community Septic System: Community alternative drip system, or any such system as approved by the Environmental Protection Division, Walton County Health Department and Board of Commissioners.

Community Water System (CWS): A public drinking water system permitted by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division per State Rule Chapter 391-3-5 that serves at least fifteen (15) service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at least twenty-five (25) year-round residents.

Composting Facility, Municipal Solid Waste: An establishment converting municipal solid waste to humus through a controlled process of degrading organic matter by microorganisms.

Composting Facility, Yard Trimmings: An establishment converting yard trimmings to humus through a controlled process of degrading organic matter by microorganisms. This definition does not include composting conducted on a residential lot for home gardening purposes.

Comprehensive Plan: Any part or element of the overall plan for development adopted by the Board of Commissioners as provided by O.C.G.A. § 50-8-1 and State Rule Chapter 110-3-2, Minimum Standards and Procedures for Local Comprehensive Planning.

Conditional Use: A use listed in this Ordinance as being permitted if it meets stated conditions and is approved by the Board of Commissioners of Walton County.

Conditional Zoning: The imposition of conditions in the grant of a rezoning application which are in addition to or different from the regulations set forth in this land development ordinance and which are related to the promotion of the public health, safety, morals, or general welfare and designed to minimize the negative impact on surrounding property.

Condominium: Individual ownership units in a multi-family structure, combined with joint ownership of common areas of the buildings and grounds platted per the requirements of the State of Georgia.

Coniferous: Belonging to the group of cone-bearing evergreen trees or shrubs.

Construction/Demolition Waste: Means waste building materials and rubble resulting from construction, remodeling, repair, and demolition operations on pavements, houses, commercial buildings and other structures. Such wastes include, but are not limited to asbestos containing waste, wood, bricks, metal, concrete, wall board, paper, cardboard, inert waste landfill material, and other nonputrescible wastes which have a low potential for groundwater contamination.

Construction, Existing: Any structure for which "the start of construction" commenced before the effective date of these Regulations, or before February 6, 1990 when the new construction lies within a flood plain.

Construction, New: Structures for which the "start of construction" commenced on or after the effective date of these Regulations, or before February 6, 1990 when the new construction lies within a flood plain.

Construction, Start of: The date the development permit was issued, provided the actual start of construction, repair, reconstruction, or improvement was within one hundred eighty (180) days of the permit date. The actual start means the first placement of permanent construction of the structure such as the pouring of slabs or footings, installation of piles, construction of columns, or any work beyond the stage of excavation, and includes the placement of a manufactured home on a foundation. (Permanent construction does not include initial land preparation, such as clearing, grading and filling; nor does it include the installation of streets and/or walkways; nor does it include excavation for a basement, footings, piers or foundations or the erection of temporary forms; nor does it include the installation on the property of buildings appurtenant to the permitted structure, such as garages or sheds not occupied as dwelling units or part of the main structure. (NOTE: accessory structures are NOT exempt from any ordinance requirements.) For a substantial improvement, the actual start of construction means the first alteration of any wall, ceiling, floor, or other structural part of a building, whether or not that alteration affects the external dimensions of the building.

Convenience Store With Gasoline Station: A retail stores that includes gasoline stations that sells a limited line of groceries and household items. See also Truck Stop.

County: Walton County, Georgia.

County Official: Any member of the Walton County Board of Commissioners, Walton County Planning Commission or the Walton County Board of Appeals; or staff of Planning and Development Office when exercising the duties authorized in Article 3, Administrative Mechanism.

Cremation: As described in O.C.G.A. § 10-14-3G, cremation includes any mechanical or thermal process whereby a deceased human being is reduced to ashes. Cremation also includes any other mechanical or thermal process whereby human remains are pulverized, burned, recremated, or otherwise further reduced in size or quantity.

Crematory: A location containing properly installed, certified apparatus intended for use in the act of cremation.

Critical Root Zone: An area of root space that is within a circle circumscribed around the trunk of a healthy tree using a radius of one (1) foot per inch diameter at breast height (DBH). See "DBH."

Crown Dripline: A vertical line extending from the outer surface of a tree's branch tips down to the ground.

Cul-de-Sac: A local street or road with only one (2) outlet and having an appropriate terminal for the safe and convenient reversal of traffic movement.

Curb Cut: The area of vehicular ingress and egress between property and an abutting public street.

Cut: A portion of land surface or area from which earth has been removed or will be removed by excavation; the depth below original ground surface to excavated surface. Also known as excavation.

Dam: Means the following:

Any artificial barrier, including appurtenant works, which impounds or diverts water and which the improper operation or failure of such would result in probable loss of human life as determined pursuant to the Act, and which

Is twenty-five (25) feet or more in height from the natural bed of the stream or water course measured at the downstream toe or the lowest elevation of the outside limit of the barrier (whichever is lower) to the maximum water storage elevation; or

Has an impounding capacity at maximum water storage elevation of one hundred (100) acre-feet or more.

Any artificial barrier, including appurtenant works, constructed in conjunction with the reclamation of surface mined land, and meeting the requirements of Subsection 1 above, and when improper operation or failure would result in probable loss of human life.

Dam, Category I: The classification where improper operation or dam failure would result in probably loss of human life. Situations constituting "probable loss of life" are those situations involving frequently occupied structures of facilities, including, but not limited to, residences, commercial and manufacturing facilities, schools and churches.

Dam, Category II: The classification where improper operation or dam failure would not be expected to result in probable loss of human life.

Day Care Center, Adult: An establishment operated by any person with or without compensation for providing for the care, supervision, and oversight during day-time hours of seven (7) or more adults who are elderly, physically ill or infirm, physically handicapped or mentally handicapped.

Day-Care Center, Child: An establishment operated by a person, society, agency, corporation or institution, or any group, wherein are received with or without pay, seven (7) or more children under eighteen (18) years of age for group care, without transfer of custody, for as much as twenty-four (24) hours per day.

Day Care Facility, Adult: Any place operated by any person with or without compensation for providing for the care, supervision, and oversight only during day-time hours of six (6) or fewer adults who are elderly, physically ill or inform, physically handicapped, or mentally handicapped.

Day-Care Facility, Child: Any place operated by any person with our without compensation providing for the care, supervision, and protection of six (6) or fewer children who are under the age of eighteen (18) years for less than twenty-four (24) hours per day, without transfer of legal custody. For the purpose of computing the number of children within the child day-care facility, all children who are related by blood, marriage, adoption or guardianship to the person or persons operating the facility shall be included.

Dead End: A street that must be exited at the same point as is entered.

Deciduous Tree: A tree that sheds its leaves annually.

Density: The total number of square feet, lots or dwelling units per acre of land unless specifically provided otherwise in this Ordinance.

Department: The Planning and Development Department of Walton County.

Detention Facility: A permanent structure for the temporary storage of storm water runoff and its subsequent gradual discharge.

Developer: Any person, individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, estate, trust or any other group or combination acting as a unit who directs the undertaking or proposes to undertake development activities as herein defined, whether the development involves the subdivision of land or land for sale to individual users, the construction of buildings or other improvements on a single land ownership or both.

Development: Any human-caused change to improved or unimproved real estate that requires a permit or approval from any agency of the county, including but not limited to, buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation or drilling operations, and storage of materials.

Development Permit: An official authorization issued by the Director allowing clearing, grubbing, grading or other alteration of the site that entails land disturbance related to construction activities in compliance with this Ordinance.

Development Standards: The specifications to landowners or developers for the preparation of plats, both preliminary and final, indicating among other things, the optimum, minimum or maximum dimensions of such items as rights-of-way, blocks, easements, and lots.

DBH (Diameter at Breast Height): A standard measure of the diameter of a tree trunk measured in inches at a height of four and one-half (4½) feet above the ground. If a tree splits into multiple trunks below four and one-half (4½) feet, then the trunk is measured at its most narrow point beneath the split.

DHR: The Georgia Department of Human Resources.

Director: Planning and Development Director of Walton County or his or her designee.

District: A section of Walton County, Georgia within which the zoning regulations are uniform.

DNR: The Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Drainage Area: That area contributing runoff to a single point; measured in a horizontal plane that is enclosed by a ridgeline.

Drainage Structure: A device composed of a non-erodible material such as concrete, steel, plastic or other such material that conveys water from one place to another by intercepting the flow and carrying it to a release point for storm water management, drainage control or flood control purposes.

DRI: Development of Regional Impact.

Dripline: A vertical line extending from the outermost edge of the tree canopy or shrub branch to the ground.

Driveway: A vehicular access, other than a private street, which is in private ownership and provides access primarily to one (1) property.

Dry Cleaning and Laundry Services: A business that provides for the cleaning of laundry and dry cleaning, excluding self service, and contains on the premises, equipment necessary for the processing of laundry and dry cleaning.

Dwelling: The structure that is used as the primary residence.

Dwelling, Multi-Family: A building designed, constructed, altered or used for more than two (2) adjoining dwelling units, with each dwelling unit having a party wall and/or party floor or ceiling connecting it with at least one (1) other dwelling unit.

Dwelling, Principal: The structure that is used as the primary residence.

Dwelling, Single-Family: A dwelling structure that is designed for the use of one (1) family.

Dwelling, Single-Family Attached: See Townhouse.

Dwelling, Single-Family Detached: A dwelling unit on an individual lot unattached to another dwelling unit.

Dwelling, Single-Family Zero Lot Line: A single family dwelling unit which is either: (1) erected in a row as part of a single building on adjoining lots, each being separated from the adjoining unit or units by an approved fire resistant party wall or walls, extending from the basement or cellar floor to the roof along the dividing lot line (See Townhouse), or (2) erected as a detached dwelling unit with side and/or front setback requirements relaxed so as to allow the dwelling unit to be built on the property line.

Dwelling, Two-Family or Duplex: A building designed, constructed, altered or used for two (2) adjoining dwelling units, with each dwelling unit having a party wall connecting it with one other dwelling unit.

Dwelling Unit: One (1) or more rooms, designed, occupied or intended for occupancy as a separate living quarter, with cooking, sleeping and sanitary facilities provided within the dwelling unit for the exclusive use of a single family.

Easement, Access: An easement created for the purpose of providing vehicular or pedestrian access to a property.

Easement, Drainage: Land required for the installation of storm water sewers or drainage ditches and/or required for the preservation or maintenance of a natural stream or watercourse or other drainage facility.

Easement, Utility: A grant by a property owner for the use of real property for the specified purpose of constructing and maintaining utilities; including, but not limited to sanitary sewers, water mains, electric lines, telephone lines, cable lines, storm sewer or storm drainage ways and gas lines.

Electric, Petroleum or Gas Substation: Facilities devoted to the distribution of electricity, gas or petroleum

Elevated Building: A non-basement building built to have the lowest floor elevated above the ground level by means of fill, solid foundation perimeter walls, pilings, columns, piers or shear walls.

EPD: The Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. The EPD protects Georgia's air, land and water resources through the authority of state and federal environmental statutes. These laws regulate public and private facilities in the areas of air quality, water quality, hazardous waste, water supply, solid waste, surface mining, underground storage tanks, and others. EPD issues and enforces all state permits in these areas and has full delegation for federal environmental permits except Section 404 (wetland) permits.

EPD Director: The Director of the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources.

Equestrian Training and Sales Facility: Establishments providing equestrian training and the sale of horses, mules, donkeys, and other equines.

Erosion: The process by which ground surface is worn away by the action of wind, water, ice or gravity.

Erosion and Sedimentation Control Plan: A plan for the control of soil erosion and sedimentation resulting from a land-disturbing activity. See Article 11, Part 11-3.

Exempt Subdivision: A subdivision satisfying the criteria established in Section 8-1-140 which is exempt from the procedures and required site improvement provisions of these regulations.

Facade: That portion of any exterior elevation on the building extending from grade to top of the parapet, wall, or eaves and the entire width of the building elevation.

Family: One or more individuals related by blood, marriage, adoption, guardianship, or other custodial relationship, or not more than three (3) unrelated individuals, who live together in a single dwelling unit and function as a single housekeeping unit based on an intentionally structured relationship providing organization and stability.

(6-2-2015)

Farming, Commercial: Any primary use of a tract or parcel of land for the purpose of raising commercial agriculture products, nursery stock, including, but not limited to, soil crops, fish, fowl, timber or livestock, regardless of the quantity or value of production. See also animal feeding operation, slaughterhouses and greenhouse, nursery and floriculture production.

Feeder Roots: A complex system of small annual roots growing outward and predominantly upward from the system of "transport roots." These roots branch four (4) or more times to form fans or mats of thousands of fine, short, non-woody tips. Many of these small roots and their multiple tips are two-tenths (0.2) to one (1) mm or less in diameter, and less than one (1) to two (2) mm long. These roots constitute the major fraction of a tree's root system surface area, and are the primary sites of absorption of water and nutrients.

Feedlot: See animal feeding operation.

Fence: A structure designed to provide separation and security constructed of materials including chain link, wire, metal, artistic wrought iron, vinyl, plastic and other such materials as may be approved by the Director.

(12-2-2003)

Feral Cat: is a cat which has been separated from domestication, whether through abandonment, loss, or running away, and becomes wild.

(12-2-2008)

Fill: A portion of land surface to which soil or other solid materials has been added; the depth above the original ground.

Final Plat: A finished drawing or map of a subdivision or development, meeting all of the requirements of this Ordinance and showing, completely and accurately, all legal design and engineering information, and certified as necessary for recording.

Finished Grade: The final elevation and contour of the ground after cutting or filling and conforming to the proposed design.

Flag Lot or Panhandle Lot: A prohibited lot not meeting minimum frontage requirements and where access to the lot from a public road is achieved by a narrow strip of land. (For exceptions see Article 6 Flag Lots.)

Flea Market: An occasional or periodic market held in an open area or structure where groups of individual sellers offer goods for sale to the public.

Flood or Flooding: A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from:

The overflow of inland or tidal waters, or

The unusual and rapid accumulation or run-off of surface waters from any source.

Flood Hazard Boundary Map (FHBM): An official map of a community, issued by the Federal Insurance Administration, where the boundaries of areas of special flood hazard have been defined as Zone A.

Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM): An official map of a community on which the Federal Emergency Management Agency has delineated both the areas of special flood hazard and the risk premium zones applicable to the community.

Flood Insurance Study: Official report provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency containing flood profiles, as well as the Flood Boundary-Floodway Map and the water surface elevation of the base flood.

Floodplain: That area within the intermediate regional flood (100-year or base flood contours) contour elevations subject to periodic flooding as designated. See Article 11, Part 11-4, Section 11-4-190.

Floodway: The channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than one (1) foot.

Floor: The top surface of an enclosed area in a building (including basement), i.e., top of slab in concrete slab construction or top of wood flooring in wood frame construction. The term does not include the floor of a garage used solely for parking vehicles.

Floor Area: The sum of the gross horizontal areas of the total number of floors of a building measured from the exterior faces of the exterior walls or from the centerline of walls separating two (2) buildings; excluding unusable basement or cellar space, uncovered steps or fire escape, open porches, accessory off-street parking spaces, accessory off-street loading berths, and any space where the floor-to-ceiling height is less than six (6) feet.

Floor Area Ratio: The gross floor area of all heated floor space in all buildings or structures on a lot divided by the total lot area.

Floor, Lowest: The lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area, including basement. An unfinished or flood resistant enclosure, usable solely for parking of vehicles, building access or storage, in an area other than a basement area, is not considered a building's lowest floor, provided that such enclosure is not built as to render the structure in violation of the applicable non-elevation design requirements of these Regulations.

Forestry: Establishments primarily engaged in the operation of timber tracts, tree farms, forest nurseries, the gathering of forest products, or in performing forest services.

Freeway: A multiple-lane roadway carrying local, regional, and interstate traffic of relatively high volumes that permits access only at designated interchanges and is so designated in the comprehensive plan.

Frontage, Building: The width in linear feet of each exterior wall of a building that faces a street or public way.

Frontage, Road: The distance on which a parcel of land adjoins a public street or street right-of-way or private easement for an approved private drive.

(5-2-2006)

Functionally Dependent Facility: A facility which cannot be used for its intended purpose unless it is located or carried out in close proximity to water, such as docking or port facility necessary for the loading and unloading of cargo or passengers, shipbuilding, ship repair, or seafood processing facilities. The term does not include long-term storage, manufacture, sales or service facilities.

Garage, Attached: A garage that shares a common roof with a dwelling unit or that adjoins a dwelling unit with a common wall along a distance of at least ten (10) feet.

Garage, Two-Car: A permanent enclosed structure having at least four hundred (400) square feet of interior paved floor area designed with adequate access and egress for two (2) standard automobiles. All "required" garages must comply with the specific regulations for residential units regarding roof pitch, roof surfaces, exterior materials and foundation as listed in each zoning category.

Grade: A reference plan representing the average of finished ground level adjoining the building at all exterior walls. When the finished ground level slopes away from the exterior walls, the reference plane shall be established by the lowest points within the area between the building and the lot line or between the building and a point six (6) feet from the building, whichever is closer.

Grading: Altering the shape of ground surface to a predetermined condition; this includes stripping, cutting, filling, stockpiling and shaping or any combination thereof and shall include the land in its cut and filled condition.

Green Space: As defined by the Governor's Greenspace Program. Areas of a development that allow for light, air, wildlife habitat, and for scenic and recreational use. These areas should preserve natural resources; and protect the quality of the environment. Also included are areas designed to enhance the privacy or general appearance of a development. Green space is open space that is deeded to Walton County.

Green Space Conservation Development: A planned development subdivision that allows a reduction in minimum lot size in exchange for the dedication of green space.

Greenhouse, Nursery and Floriculture Production: Establishments primarily engaged in growing crops of any kind under cover and/or growing nursery stock and flowers. See also Nursery and Garden Center.

Greenway, Stream: An area along the course of any state waters to be maintained in an undisturbed and natural condition for both recreation and conservation, that may contain limited minor land disturbances, such as trails and picnic areas.

Ground Elevation: The original elevation of the ground surface prior to cutting and filling.

Groundwater Recharge Area: Any portion of the earth's surface where water infiltrates into the ground to replenish an aquifer.

Guest House: An attached or detached accessory building that: provides living quarters for guests, may or may not contain a kitchen or cooking facility. Guesthouse shall never be used for rental or lease. Guest house must comply with the specific regulations for residential units as listed in each zoning district.

Hardship: A condition of significant practical difficulty in using a lot because of physical problems relating solely to the size, shape or topography of the lot in question which are not economic difficulties and which are not self-imposed.

Hazardous Waste: Any solid waste which has been defined as a hazardous waste in regulations, promulgated by the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to the federal act, which are in force and effect on February 1, 1988, codified as 40 C.F.R., Section 261.3.

Health Department: The Walton County Health Department.

Height: The vertical distance of a structure measured from the average elevation of the finished grade surrounding the structure to the highest point of the structure. The height limits of this Ordinance shall not apply to structures not intended for human occupancy such as church spires, flag poles, chimneys, monuments, radio or television towers or aerials, water towers or similar structures. The height limits shall apply to signs. See also Building Height.

Highest Adjacent Grade: The highest natural elevation of the ground surface, prior to construction, adjacent to the proposed foundation of a building.

Historic Structure: Any structure that is:

Listed individually in the National Register of Historic Places (a listing maintained by the Department of the Interior) or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior as meeting the requirements for individual listing in the National Register;

Certified or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior as contributing to the historic significance of a registered historic district or a district preliminarily determined by the Secretary to qualify as a registered historic district;

Individually listed on a state inventory of historic places in states with historic preservation programs which have been approved by the Secretary of the Interior; or

Individually listed on a local inventory of historic places in communities with historic preservation programs that have been certified either by an approved state program as determined by the Secretary of the Interior or directly by the Secretary of the Interior in states without approved programs.

Home Occupation: An occupation carried on by an occupant of a dwelling unit as a secondary use of the dwelling that is incidental to the primary use of the dwelling unit for residential purposes being the legal or primary residence of occupant and is operated in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter. For purposes of this Ordinance, certain uses are considered an accessory use and not a home occupation.

Hospital: An establishment providing physical or mental health services, in-patient or overnight accommodations, and mental or surgical care of the sick or injured. Includes health clinics and sanatoriums.

Host Home: A single-family residence where no more than two (2) unrelated individuals live in a home with the occupants as a family unit. DBHDD certification is required. No Occupational Tax Certificate is required.

Hotel: A building in which lodging or board and lodging is provided and offered to the public for compensation and in which ingress and egress to and from each sleeping room is generally made through the interior of the building. (Over four hundred (400) rooms requires DRI.)

Impermeable or Imperviousness: Characterized as being something (such as a layer of rock) that water cannot pass through or be absorbed by.

Impervious Surface: A man-made structure or surface, which prevents the infiltration of storm water into the ground below the structure or surface. Examples are buildings, roads, driveways, parking lots, decks, swimming pools or patios.

Impound Lot, Vehicle: A secured storage area for vehicles that have been taken under temporary custody of the civil authorities.

Impoundment: The water or liquid substance that is or will be stored by a dam—commonly referred to as the reservoir.

Industrial Park: A tract of land subdivided and developed according to a comprehensive development plan in a manner which provides a landscaped setting for industrial establishments.

Industrialized Building (Modular Home): Any structure or component thereof which is wholly or in substantial part made, fabricated, formed, or assembled in manufacturing facilities for installation or assembly and installation on a building site and has been manufactured in such a manner that all parts or processes cannot be inspected at the installation site without disassembly, damage to, or destruction thereof and meets the requirements of the International Residential Code, latest edition.

Inert Waste Landfill: A disposal facility regulated by Department of Natural Resources accepting only wastes that will not cause production of leachate (a liquid that has passed through or emerged from solid waste and contains soluble, suspended, or miscible materials removed from such wastes) of environmental concern. Only the following waste may be deposited in the inert landfill: earth and earth-like products, concrete, cured asphalt, rock, bricks, yard trimmings, stumps, limbs, and leaves. This definition specifically excludes any transfer stations, recycling stations, household materials or the storage of these items to be taken to another location.

Infiltration: The passage or movement of water from the surface into the soil.

Interim Development Control: An ordinance (moratorium) that temporarily imposes developmental regulations when existing regulations do not adequately protect the public's health, safety and welfare in accordance with the standards specified in this chapter.

Intermodal Terminal Facility: An industrial establishment in which freight is transferred in containerized form from truck to railroad cars for transportation.

Issuing Authority: The governing authority of any county or municipality which has been certified by the Director of the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources as an Issuing Authority, pursuant to the Erosion and Sedimentation Act of 1975, as amended, or the Division in those instances where an application for a permit is submitted to the Division.

Junkyard: See salvage operation, junk yard or recyclable material wholesaler.

Kennel, Commercial: An establishment for the breeding, raising, boarding, caring for and keeping of dogs or cats or other small domestic animals or combination thereof (except litters of animals of not more than six (6) months of age), for commercial purposes.

Kennel, Hobby: An establishment for the boarding, caring for and keeping of not more than ten (10) dogs or cats or other small domestic animals or combination thereof (except litters of animals of not more than six (6) months of age), not for commercial purposes, but as a hobby such as the raising of show and hunting dogs.

Kindergarten: A school for pre-elementary school children ranging in age from four (4) through six (6) years.

Kiosk: A freestanding structure upon which temporary information and/or posters, notices, and announcements are posted.

Kitchen Facilities: A room used to prepare food containing, at a minimum, a sink and a stove or oven.

Land Use: A description of how land is occupied or utilized.

Land-Disturbing Activity: Any activity which may result in soil erosion and the movement of sediments into State waters or onto lands within the State, including but not limited to clearing, dredging, grading, excavating, transporting, and filling or land, but not including agricultural practices as described in O.C.G.A. § 12-7-17-(5).

Landfill: A method of disposing of waste on land by placing an earth cover thereon. The term "landfill" shall include Construction and Demolition Debris Landfill, Hazardous Waste Landfill, Industrial Waste Landfill, Inert Waste Landfill, Monofill, Municipal Solid Waste Landfill and Private Industry Landfill. The term "landfill" shall not include approved on-site disposal of inert waste at a building, land disturbing, or development site.

Landfill, Construction and Demolition Waste: A landfill in which construction/demolition waste is disposed. Construction/demolition waste means waste building materials and rubble resulting from construction, remodeling, repair and demolition operations on pavements, houses, commercial waste, wood, bricks, metal, concrete, wallboard, paper, cardboard, inert waste landfill material and other non-putrescible wastes which have a low potential for groundwater contamination.

Landfill, Private: A privately owned and operated landfill for the purpose of profit. This may be each or all of the above types of landfills.

Landing Area: The area of an airport or private airstrip used for landing, taking-off or taxiing of aircraft.

Landscape Strip: Land area located within the boundary of a lot and required to be set aside and used for landscaping upon which only limited encroachments are authorized.

Laundromat: A business that provides self-service, coin-operated washing, drying and/or ironing machines for clothing and similar laundry.

Library: A public facility for the use, but not sale, of literary, musical, artistic or reference material.

Liquified Petroleum Gases: As defined in O.C.G.A. § 10-1-262, any material that is composed predominantly of any of the following hydrocarbons, or mixtures of the same: propane, propylene, butane (normal butane or isobutane), and butylenes.

Litter: Sand, gravel, slag, brickbats, rubbish, waste material, tin cans, refuse, garbage, trash, debris, dead animals, discarded materials of every kind and description or paper products of every kind and description including, but not limited to, advertising materials, newspapers, promotional papers, letters, bills, publications or other writings.

Livestock: Any animal raised for food, raw materials or pleasure, and customarily kept on a farm including, but not limited to, beef and dairy cattle, swine, poultry, horses, mules, donkeys, turkeys, bison, llama, emus and pot-bellied pigs; small hoofed animals including but not limited to sheep and goats.

(10-2-2007)

Loading Space: A space within the principal building or on the same lot, providing for the standing, loading or unloading of trucks, and other carriers.

Lot: A portion, plot, or parcel of land separated from other portions, plots, or parcels by description as on a subdivision plat or record or survey map or as described by metes and bounds, and intended for transfer of ownership or for building development. For the purpose of this Ordinance, the term does not include any portion of a right-of-way.

Lot Area: The total area within the lot lines of a lot.

Lot, Conforming: A designated parcel, tract, or area of land which meets the lot area and lot width requirements of this Ordinance, which has the amount of frontage on a public street required by this Ordinance, and which has its own independent driveway located entirely within its boundaries and connected to a public street.

Lot, Corner: A lot abutting upon two (2) or more streets at their intersection.

Lot, Double Frontage: A lot other than a corner lot abutting two (2) streets.

Lot, Interior: A lot with a single street frontage.

Lot of Record: A lot which is part of a subdivision, the plat of which has been recorded in the Office of the Clerk of the Superior Court of Walton County, Georgia, or a parcel of land described by metes and bounds, the plat or description of which has been recorded in said office. If a portion of a parcel has been conveyed at the time of the adoption of this Ordinance, the remaining portion of said lot or parcel shall be considered a lot of record.

Lot Remnant: Any portion or portions of a lot not suitable for building upon because of size or topography and remaining after the transfer of other portions of said lot to adjoining lots.

Lot Width: The width of a lot at the required front setback line measured parallel to the street right-of-way or in the case of a curvilinear street, parallel to the chord of the arc between the intersection of the side lot lines and the street right-of-way line.

Lowest Floor: The lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area, including basement. An unfinished or flood resistant enclosure, used solely for parking of vehicles, building access, or storage, in an area other than a basement, is not considered a building's lowest floor, provided that such enclosure is not built so as to render the structure in violation of other provisions of this Code.

Major Intersection: Intersection of an arterial with another arterial or major collector in accordance with the Walton County Major Thoroughfare Classification Plan.

Major Thoroughfare: A street, road or highway shown as a thoroughfare in the Walton County Comprehensive Plan.

Major Woody Roots: First order tree roots, originating at the "root collar" and growing horizontally in the soil to a distance of between three (3) and fifteen (15) feet from the tree's trunk. These roots branch and decrease in diameter to give rise to "rope roots." The primary functions of major woody roots include anchorage, structural support, the storage of food reserves, and the transport of minerals and nutrients.

Manufactured Home: A factory built, single-family structure that is manufactured under the authority of 42 U.S.C. Section 5401, the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, is transportable in one or more sections, is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein. See also O.C.G.A. § 8-2-131.

Manufactured Home Lot: A parcel of land, approved pursuant to the subdivision requirements of Article 4, Part 4-3 in a manufactured home park which is intended and used for the placement of a single manufactured home and for the exclusive use of its occupants.

Manufactured Home Park, Existing: A manufactured home park for which the construction of facilities servicing the spaces on which the manufactured homes are to be affixed (including at a minimum the installation of utilities, the construction of streets, and either final site grading or the pouring of concrete pads) is completed on or before the effective date of these regulations, or before February 6, 1990 when the manufactured home park lies within a flood plain.

Manufactured Home Space: A parcel of land within a manufactured home park which is reserved or leased for the placement of an individual manufactured home, accessory structures and the exclusive use of its occupants.

Materials Recovery Facility (Recycling): A solid waste handling facility that provides for the extraction from solid waste of recoverable materials, materials suitable for use as a fuel or soil amendment, or any combination of such materials.

Maximum Water Storage Elevation: The elevation of the lowest point of the top of the impoundment structure independent of low points caused by partial.

Mean Sea Level: The average height of the sea for all stages of the tide. It is used as a reference for establishing various elevations within the floodplain. For purposes of these Regulations, the term is synonymous with National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD).

Metropolitan River Protection Act (MRPA): A state law referenced as O.C.G.A. § 12-5-440 et seq., which addresses environmental and developmental matters in certain metropolitan river corridors and their drainage basins.

Mini-Warehouse: A group of buildings or building that contain(s) varying sizes of individual, compartmentalized stalls or lockers used for storage, including accessory office, but not including retail sale on the premises, commercial repair or other services, manufacturing or any other commercial use.

Mining: The extraction of minerals, including solids, such as coal and ores; liquids, such as crude petroleum; and gases, such as natural gases. The term mining includes quarrying; ground-water diversion; soil removal; milling, such as crushing, screening, washing, and flotation; and other preparation customarily done at the mine site as part of a mining activity.

Modular Home: A factory-manufactured single-family dwelling which is constructed in one or more sections and complies with the definition of "industrialized building."

Motel: A building or a group of buildings containing sleeping accommodations for short-term rental primarily to the motoring public and in which ingress and egress to and from each sleeping room is generally on the outside of the building.

Motor Vehicle Sales: An open area, other than a right-of-way or public parking area, used for display, sale, or rental of new or used motor vehicles in operable condition and where no repair work is done.

Municipal Sewer System: Sewer system maintained by a city or the County or other public governmental agency.

Municipal Water System: Water system maintained by a city or the County or other public governmental agency.

Museum: A building having public significance by reason of its architecture or former use or occupancy or a building serving as a repository for a collection of objects of interest, intended to be used by the public for viewing and which may include as an accessory use the sale of goods to the public.

NAICS: North American Industrial Classification System.

National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD): Vertical control used as a reference for establishing varying elevations within the floodplain (as corrected in 1929).

Natural Ground Surface: The ground surface in its original state before any grading, excavation or filling.

NEGRDC: Northeast Georgia Regional Development Center.

Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU): Numerical units of measure based upon photometric analytical techniques for measuring the light scattered by finely divided particles of a substance in suspension. This technique is used to estimate the extent of turbidity in water in which colloidally dispersed particles are present.

Non-Conforming, Legal: A lot, structure or use that does not comply with the current requirements of this Ordinance, but was lawfully established and authorized prior to the adoption, revision or amendment of this Ordinance.

Non-Conforming Lot: A lot with an area, dimension or location that fails by reason of the adoption, revision or amendment to conform to the present requirements of the zoning district.

Non-Conforming Structure: Any building that does not meet the limitations on building size and location on a lot, for the district in which such building is located.

Non-Conforming Use: A use of land or building structure existing at the time of the enactment of this Ordinance, or at the time of any subsequent amendments and which does not conform with the ordinances of the use district in which it is located.

Normal Pool: The reservoir storage volume at normal storage elevation.

Nursery and Garden Center: Establishments primarily engaged in retailing nursery and garden products, such as trees, shrubs, plants, seeds, bulbs, and sod, which are predominantly grown elsewhere. These establishments may sell a limited amount of a product they grow themselves. See also greenhouse nursery and floriculture production.

Nursing Home: A skilled nursing care facility primarily engaged in providing full-time convalescent or rehabilitative care to individuals who, by reason of advanced age, chronic illness or infirmity, are unable to care for themselves and require continuous care under the direction of a physician. See in contrast "Convalescent Home."

OCGA or O.C.G.A.: The Official Code of Georgia Annotated, as amended.

Office, Professional: A land use that includes office parks, single freestanding office buildings, banks and similar financial institutions, and residential structures converted to office use.

Office-Warehouse: A structure which may include space for an office for administration or sales and related space for temporary storage or assembly or repair of goods, equipment or products.

Opaque Fence: A fence constructed of brick, stone, treated wood, painted rustproof metal, chain link with vinyl or metal screening inserts, vinyl, or other commercially produced synthetic fencing material so long as it is durable, uniform, and attractive. Opaque gates matching the type, height, etc. of the fence shall be provided for access. The use of chain link fencing or gates with mesh screening, tarps, and similar materials shall not be considered as opaque.

Open Space: Areas of a development that allow for light, air, wildlife habitat, and for scenic and recreational use. Also included are areas designed to enhance the privacy or general appearance of a development. Private open space is open space that is owned by a corporation, individual, or homeowners association.

Open Space Conservation Development: A planned development subdivision that allows a reduction in minimum lot size in exchange for the conservation of open space.

Outdoor Recreation Facilities, Commercial: Any establishment whose main purpose is to provide the general public with facilities for active, outdoor recreational activities and where tickets are sold or fees are collected for participation in the activity. Outdoor commercial recreation facilities include, but are not limited to: water slides and parks, golf courses and miniature golf courses, driving ranges, baseball batting cages, and tracks for motor sports.

Outdoor Recreation Facilities, Private: This category includes greenways, trails, bikeways, paths, tennis courts, ball fields, playfields, courts, swimming pools, clubhouses, lockers, bicycle facilities, equestrian facilities, beaches, docks, seating areas, amphitheaters, stages, band shells, community buildings, fountains, plazas, patios, decks, lawns, picnic shelters and picnic areas, landscaping and other land containing outdoor recreation structures and facilities.

Outdoor Storage: The keeping, in an unenclosed area, of any goods, material, merchandise, or vehicles in the same place for more than twenty-four (24) hours.

Overlay District: A zoning district that encompasses one (1) or more underlying zones and that may vary the requirements uses and standards of the underlying zone.

Owner: Any person, corporation or partnership or any other entity having a financial interest in the income of the business. The term "owner" shall also include any person, corporation or use, building, property or partnership operating a business under a management contract.

Owners of Record: The owner(s) of property as specified on the deed of the lot of record.

Parking Lot: Any area designed for temporary storage of motor vehicles of the motoring public in normal operating condition.

Parking, Off-Street: A temporary storage area for a motor vehicle that is directly accessible to an access aisle and that is not located on a dedicated street right-of-way.

Parking Structure: A covered or sheltered structure of two (2) or more stories designed, constructed and used for the parking of motor vehicles.

Parks and Playgrounds: Public or community land, open spaces, or recreation areas represented on a plat of a subdivision as dedicated, reserved or to be reserved, for recreational purposes.

Paved: An area which is covered by asphalt, concrete, or other hardened surface approved by the Director.

Pawn Shop: A business operated by a pawnbroker with whom property is deposited as security for the payment of a debt.

Pedestrian Way: Crosswalk or other areas designed and marked specifically for pedestrian traffic.

Percentage of Grade: On a street centerline, means the distance vertically (up and down) from the horizontal in feet and tenths of a foot for each one hundred (100) feet of horizontal distance.

Perennial River: A river or section of a river that flows continuously throughout the year as indicated by a solid blue line on USGS maps.

Perennial Stream: A stream that flows throughout the whole year as indicated by a solid blue line on the USGS Quad map.

Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Activities: Establishments that produce or organize and promote live presentations involving the performances of actors and actresses, singers, dancers, musical groups and artists, athletes, and other entertainers, including independent (i.e., freelance) entertainers and the establishments that manage their careers. This use includes venues and related activities for performing arts, theatre and dance companies, spectator sports and excludes racetracks.

Permit: The authorization necessary to conduct a land disturbing activity under the provisions of these rules and regulations.

Permitted Use: Any use that is specifically authorized in a particular zoning district.

Person: Any individual, partnership, firm, association, joint venture, public or private corporation, trust, estate, commission, board, public or private institution, utility, cooperative, state agency, municipality or other political subdivision of this State, any interstate body or any other legal entity.

Personal Care Home: A dwelling, whether operated for profit or not, which undertakes through its ownership or management to provide or arrange for the provision of housing, food service, and one or more personal services, which include but are not limited to individual assistance with or supervision of self-administered medication, assistance with ambulation and transfer, and essential activities of daily living such as eating, bathing, grooming, dressing, and toileting, for one or more adults who are not related to the owner or administrator by blood or marriage.

Personal Care Home, Community: A personal care home that provides services for seven (7) or more adult.

Personal Care Home, Family: A personal care home that provides services for three (3) or fewer adults.

Personal Care Home, Group: A personal care home that provides services for four (4) to six (6) adults.

(6-2-2015)

Personal Services: Services that include, but are not limited to, individual assistance with or supervision of self-administered medication, assistance with ambulation and transfers, and essential activities of daily living such as eating, bathing, grooming, dressing and toileting.

Pet Care Services: This use comprises establishments primarily engaged in providing pet care services (except veterinary), such as boarding, grooming, sitting, and training pets. See also kennel, commercial.

Pets, Household: Domestic animal, not including livestock, which is cared for by members of a household for companionship.

Place of Worship: See religious organization.

Planned Development: One or more land uses developed under unified control, to be planned and developed as a whole in a single development operation or a definitely programmed series of development operations or phases. May include principal and accessory structures and those uses substantially related to the character and purposes of the planned development

Planning Commission: The Walton County Planning Commission.

Plat: A map, plan or layout of a county, city, landlot, lot, tract, parcel or subdivision indicating the location and boundaries of properties.

Playschool: A school for pre-kindergarten children ranging in age from three (3) to four (4) years.

Pollution Susceptibility: When used in relation to groundwater recharge areas, the relative vulnerability of an aquifer to being polluted from spills, discharges, leaks, impoundments, applications of chemicals, injections, and other human activities in the recharge area.

Pollution Susceptibility Maps: Maps of relative vulnerability to pollution prepared by the Department of Natural Resources, using the DRASTIC methodology. Pollution susceptibility maps categorize the land areas of the State into areas having high, medium, and low groundwater pollution potential.

Pre-Application Conference: An initial and informal stage of development review at which the developer may make known concept plan proposals and the Department may respond and/or advise the developer concerning the development regulations.

Preliminary Plat: A tentative plan of a proposed subdivision or development meeting the specified requirements of this Ordinance and showing the layout in sufficient detail to allow an evaluation of the proposed project.

Premises: A building lot with the required front, side, and rear yards for a dwelling or commercial establishment.

Principal Use: The principal purpose for which a lot or the principal building thereon is designed, arranged or intended, and for which it is or may be used, occupied or maintained.

Private Drive: A non-public, privately owned and maintained access way.

Professional: When used in connection with "use" and "occupancy" of a use or occupancy by persons generally engaged in rendering personal, executive, sales, or administrative services or activities, including accountants, architects, professional engineers and land surveyors, doctors, lawyers, insurance offices, real estate offices, religious organizations, stock brokers and administrative agencies considered professional in character. The term, however, does not include repairs or sales of tangible personal property stored or located within the structure nor any use that would create any loud noise or noxious odors within Walton County.

Property Interest: The ownership of real property, including any percentage of ownership less than total ownership.

Protected River: Any perennial river or watercourse with an average annual flow of four hundred (400) cubic feet per second as determined by appropriate U.S. Geological Survey documents. However, those segments of rivers covered by the Metropolitan River Protection Act or the Coastal Marshland Protection Act are specifically excluded from the definition of a protected river. In coastal areas, the seaward limit of any protected river shall be the inland limit of the jurisdiction of the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act.

Protective Covenants: Contracts made between private parties or conditions recorded with an approved plat and running with the title to the land, specifying the manner in which land may be used, developed, or improved with the intent of protecting and preserving the physical and economic integrity of any given area. Private covenants are not enforced by Walton County Government.

Public Facilities: A use conducted by, or a facility or structure owned or managed by a unit of government, and intended to provide for needs of the public.

Public Hearing: An official session of any elected or appointed board advertised according to law and called for purposes specified in the public notice.

Public Street: Right-of-way dedicated to or owned by the County for the purpose of providing principal access to abutting property.

Public Uses: Buildings, structures and uses of land by a unit of government, including but not restricted to government administration, water treatment facilities, streets, libraries, public schools, parks, playgrounds, recreation centers and fire stations.

Public Water: A system that is owned by a public governmental agency and properly designed, inspected and installed for withdrawing, treating and distributing potable drinking water through water mains, fire hydrants, and related appurtenances in accordance with applicable local, state and federal regulations.

Quadrangle Map: The most recently published USGS 7.5 minute topographic map prepared at a scale of 1:24,000.

Quarry: A mine where rock, ore, stone, and similar materials are excavated for sale or for off-site use. Quarry includes rock crushing, asphalt plants, the production of dimension stone, and similar activities.

Racetracks: Establishments primarily engaged in operating racetracks. These establishments may also present and /or promote the events, such as auto, dog, and horse races, held in these facilities.

Real Property: Any tract or parcel of land and, if developed, any buildings or structures located on the land.

Research Laboratory: A facility for scientific laboratory research in technology-intensive fields, including, but not limited to biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, genetics, plastics, polymers, resins, coatings, fibers, fabrics, films, heat transfer, and radiation research facilities, computer software, information systems communication systems, transportation, geographic information systems, and multi-media and video technology. Also included in this definition are facilities devoted to the analysis of natural resources, medical resources, and manufactured materials including: environmental laboratories for the analysis of air, water, and soil; medical or veterinary laboratories for the analysis of blood, tissue or other human medical or animal products; and forensic laboratories for analysis of evidence in support of law enforcement agencies.

Recovered Materials Processing Facility: Any facility utilized for the purpose of collecting, sorting, processing, and shipping materials to be recycled including, but not limited to, plastics, glass, paper and aluminum whenever such use is principal to the site.

Recreational Vehicle: A vehicle that is:

Built on a single chassis;

Four hundred (400) square feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projection;

Designed to be self-propelled or permanently towable by a light duty truck; and

Designed primarily not for use as a permanent dwelling but as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel, or seasonal use.

Recreational Vehicle Parks and Campgrounds: Any area that is occupied or intended for occupancy by transients using recreational vehicles, mobile trailers or tents as temporary living quarters for recreation, education or vacation purposes and is open to the public.

Recycling Center: Any facility utilized for the purpose of collecting, sorting, processing, and shipping materials to be recycled including, but not limited to, plastics, glass, paper and aluminum whenever such use is principal to the site.

Regional Stormwater Management: shall mean the design, construction and operation of a facility necessary to control storm water runoff from one or more developments.

Rehabilitation Center: A facility operated for the purpose of assisting in the rehabilitation of disabled persons which provides one or more of the following types of services:

Testing, fitting, or training in the use of prosthetic devices;

Prevocational or conditioning therapy;

Physical, corrective, or occupational therapy; or

Adjustment training or evaluation or control of special disabilities; or a facility in which a coordinated approach is made to the physical, mental, and vocational evaluation of disabled persons and an integrated program of physical restoration and prevocational training is provided under competent professional supervision and direction.

Religious Organization or Place of Worship: A lot or building wherein persons assemble for religious worship and which is maintained and controlled by a religious body organized to sustain public worship. The term shall also include any of the following accessory uses and buildings: schools, religious education, social gathering rooms, shelter for homeless persons, transitional housing facilities, food service facilities, indoor and outdoor planned development recreation facilities, child day care center, adult day care center, kindergarten and other similar uses.

Research and Development: A business that engages in research, or research and development, of innovative ideas in technology-intensive fields. Development and construction of prototypes may be associated with this use.

Reserve/Spite Strip: A strip or parcel of land along, around or between properties, the purpose of which is to restrict access.

Reservoir: A governmentally owned impoundment of water for the primary purpose of providing water to one or more governmentally owned public drinking water systems. This excludes the multipurpose reservoirs owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Reservoir Boundary: The edge of a water supply reservoir defined by its normal pool level.

Residential Care Facility, Other: A type of Residential Care Facility primarily engaged in providing residential care, supervision, and personal care services to children under the age of eighteen (18), however, age is not a limiting factor, unless expressly so provided by the facility. Such Other Residential Care Facilities may include, but not be limited to, orphanages, homes for the visually or hearing impaired, endangered youth, delinquent youth, and unwed teen mothers.

Restaurant: An establishment where food and drink are prepared, served, and consumed primarily within the principal building.

Restaurant, Fast-Food: An establishment that offers quick food service, which is accomplished through a limited menu of items. Orders are not generally taken at the customer's table, and food is generally served in disposable wrapping or containers.

Retaining Wall: A structure constructed and erected between lands of different elevations to protect structures and/or to prevent erosion.

Retention Facility: A permanent facility that provides for the storage of runoff and is designed to maintain a permanent pool of water referred to as the normal pool.

Rezoning Action: An action by the Board of Commissioners adopting an amendment to the zoning ordinance that has the effect of rezoning real property from one zoning classification to another.

Right-of-Way: A strip of land dedicated to, designated, reserved, or purchased by Walton County for the purpose of pedestrian or vehicular access or utility line installation.

Right-of-Way Line: The dividing line between a lot, tract or parcel of land and a contiguous right-of-way.

River Bank: The rising ground, bordering a river, which serves to confine the water to the natural channel during the normal course of flow.

River Corridor: All land, inclusive of islands, not regulated under the Metropolitan River Protection Act (O.C.G.A. §§ 12-5-440 through 12-5-457), or the Coastal Marshland Protection Act (O.C.G.A. §§ 12-5-280 through 12-5-293), in areas of a protected river and being within one hundred (100) feet horizontally on both sides of the river as measured from the river banks. The 100-foot buffer shall be measured horizontally from the uppermost part of the riverbank, usually marked by a break in slope. Although not within the measured 100-foot wide buffer, the area between the top of the bank and the edge of the river shall be treated by local governments in the same manner as the river corridor and shall be included within the River Corridor Protection Plan. Because stream channels move due to natural processes such as meandering, riverbank erosion, and jumping of channels, the river corridor may shift with time. For the purposes of these standards, the river corridor shall be considered to be fixed at its position at the beginning of each review period for local comprehensive plans. Any shift in the location of the protected river after the start of the review period will require a revision of the boundaries of the river corridor at the time of the next review by the Department of Community Affairs.

Roadway Drainage Structure: A device such as a bridge, culvert, or ditch, composed of a virtually non-erodible material such as concrete, steel, plastic, or other such material that conveys water under a road-way by intercepting the flow on one side of a traveled way consisting of one or more defined lanes, with or without shoulder areas, and carrying water to a release point on the other side.

Rooming House: A building other than a hotel where lodging for one or more but not more than twenty (20) persons and with no meals served.

Root Collar: The point of attachment of major woody roots to the tree trunk, usually at or near the ground line and associated with a marked swelling of the tree trunk.

Root Respiration: An active process occurring throughout the feeder root system of trees, and involving the consumption of oxygen and sugars with the release of energy and carbon-dioxide. Root respiration facilitates the uptake and transport of minerals and nutrients essential for tree survival.

Rope Roots: An extensive network of woody second order roots arising from major woody roots, occurring within the surface twelve (12) to eighteen (18) inches of local soils, and with an average size ranging from one-quarter (.25) to one (1) inch diameter. The primary function of rope roots is the transport of water and nutrients, and the storage of food reserves.

Salvage Operation, Junk Yard or Recyclable Material Wholesaler: Any lot or lot and building(s) in combination which is utilized for the parking, storage or disassembling of junked vehicles, or wrecked or inoperable automobiles, trucks or other vehicles; storage, bailing or otherwise dealing in bones, animal hides, scrap iron and other metals, used paper, used cloth, used plumbing fixtures, old refrigerators and other old household appliances, and used brick, wood or other building materials. These uses shall be considered junkyards whether or not all or part of these operations are conducted inside a building or in conjunction with, in addition to or accessory to other uses of the premises.

Sand Pit: A surface mine or excavation used for the removal of sand, gravel, or fill dirt for sale or for use off-site.

Sawmill: Establishments primarily engaged in sawing and planing dimension lumber, boards, beams, timbers, poles, ties, shingles, shakes, siding, and wood chips from logs or bolts.

School: A public or private facility that provides a curriculum of elementary and secondary academic instruction.

School, Private: Any building or group of buildings the use of which meets state requirements for elementary, secondary, or higher education and which does not secure the major part of its funding from any governmental agency.

School, Private Residential: A private school or similar institution that may include residential facilities and accessory kitchen, dining, and recreational facilities for program participants.

Screening: A method of shielding, obscuring or buffering one use or building from another use or building by fencing, walls, densely planted vegetation, natural vegetation, including a transitional buffer or other means; a visual and acoustical barrier which is of such nature and density that provides year-round maximum capacity from the ground to a height of at least six (6) feet.

Sediment: Solid material, both organic and inorganic, that is in suspension, is being transported, or has been moved from its site of origin by air, water, ice or gravity as a product of erosion.

Sedimentation: The process by which eroded material is transported and deposited by the action of water, wind, ice or gravity.

Setback: The shortest distance between the right-of-way of a street or an adjacent property line and the nearest wall of the building or structure on a lot. Buildings may not be placed within a required setback.

Shelter, Homeless: A building or buildings in which is provided overnight housing and sleeping accommodations for one or more persons who have no permanent residence and are in need of temporary, short-term housing assistance, and in which may also be provided meals and social services including counseling services. (See also definition of Transitional Housing Facility.)

Shopping Center: A group of commercial establishments, planned, and developed as a unit, with common off-street parking provided on the property.

Site Built Home: A dwelling unit constructed on the building site from basic materials delivered to the site, and which is constructed in accordance with the IRC Building Code.

Slaughterhouses: Establishments primarily engaged in slaughtering animals and may include the preparation of meats.

Soil and Water Conservation District Approved Plan: An erosion and sedimentation control plan approved in writing by the Soil and Water Conservation District in which the proposed land disturbing activity will take place.

Soil Compaction: A change in soil physical properties which includes an increase in soil weight per unit volume, and a decrease in soil pore space. Soil compaction is caused by repeated vibrations, frequent traffic and weight.

Solar Collection System: A panel or other solar energy device, the primary purpose of which is to provide the collection, inversion, storage, and distribution of solar energy for electricity generation, space heating, space cooling or water heating.

Solar Energy Equipment: Any device associated with a solar energy system, such as an outdoor electrical unit/control box, that transfers the energy from the solar energy system to the intended on-site structure.

Solar Energy Farm: An energy conversion system, including appurtenances, which converts solar energy to a usable form of energy to be used on-site or to transfer to the public electric grid in order to sell electricity to a public utility entity. Property used in solar energy development, shall be termed a "solar farm" if the acreage of land utilized in its construction and installation exceeds five (5) acres.

Solid Waste: Any garbage or refuse; sludge from a wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility; and other discarded material including solid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations and community activities, but does not include recovered materials; solid or dissolved materials in domestic sewage; solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges that are point sources subject to permit under 33 U.S.C. Section 1342; or source, special nuclear, or byproduct material as defined by the federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (68 State. 923).

Solid Waste Handling: The storage, collection, transportation, treatment, utilization, processing, or disposal of solid waste or any combination of such activities.

Solid Waste Handling Facility: Any facility the primary purpose of which is the storage, collection, transportation, treatment, utilization, processing, or disposal, or any combination thereof, of solid waste as approved by Department of Natural Resources.

Special Administrative Permit: A written authorization granted by the Director for a use of land as specified within a zoning district pursuant to the procedures and criteria contained in this Ordinance.

Specimen Tree: Any deciduous tree that has been determined to be of high value because of its species, size, age or other distinctive criteria. General criteria for the determination of specimen trees or stands are provided in Article 12.

Spillway: The feature of a storage or detention dam which is designed to release surplus water which cannot be contained in the allotted storage space, and at diversion dams is a means to bypass flows exceeding those which are turned into the diversion system.

SSWCC: The State Soil and Water Conservation Commission.

Stabilization: The process of establishing an enduring soil cover of vegetation by the installation of temporary or permanent structures for the purpose of reducing to a minimum the erosion process and the resultant transport of sediment by wind, water, ice or gravity.

State Waters: Any and all rivers, streams, creeks, branches, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, drainage systems, springs, wells, and other bodies of surface or subsurface water, natural or artificial, lying within or forming a part of the boundaries of the State which are not entirely confined and retained completely upon the property of a single individual, partnership, or corporation, except as may be defined in O.C.G.A. § 12-7-17(7).

Storage Tank, Bulk: An above ground container used for the storage of large volumes of liquids, which may or may not include such flammable materials as petroleum.

Storm Shelter: A structure or portion of a structure intended to provide protection to human life during periods of danger from storms or other emergencies.

Stormwater Management: The collection, conveyance, storage, treatment, and disposal of storm water runoff in a manner to prevent accelerated channel erosion, increased flood frequency, and/or degradation of water quality, and in a manner to enhance and ensure the public health, safety and general welfare.

Stormwater Management, On-Site: The design and construction of a facility or facilities necessary to control stormwater runoff within and for a single development.

Stormwater Management, Regional: The design and construction of a facility necessary to control storm water runoff; whether within or outside of a development, and serving one or more developments.

Stormwater Management Facility, Off-Site: Any facility outside the project boundary that is or will be used for transporting and managing of storm water runoff, including, but not limited to, culverts, detention ponds, storm drains, flumes, and headwater pools. Easements for the purpose of transporting and managing of storm water runoff shall be obtained for any off-site facility with prior approval obtained from the County Engineer.

Stormwater Management Facility, On-Site: Any facility within the project boundary used for the purpose of transporting or managing storm water runoff, including, but not limited to, culverts, detention ponds, storm drains, flumes, and headwater pools.

Story: That portion of a building having a height greater than six (6) feet between the surface of the floor occupied and the ceiling above it, not including cellars, basements, parking or mechanical rooms.

Stream Bank: The confining cut of a stream channel and is usually identified as the point where the flow has wrested the vegetation.

Street: A public or private thoroughfare that affords the principal means of access to abutting property.

Street Classifications: The roadway network in Walton County includes interstates and expressways, principal and minor arterials, collectors, and minor streets. These roadways are designed to fulfill different purposes—from facilitating regional mobility down to providing neighborhood-level access. Functional classifications are used to group roadway facilities by purpose and characteristics. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) groups roadways into the following functional classes:

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Interstates are the highest classification of arterials. They are limited-access facilities designed and constructed with mobility and long-distance travel in mind.

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Freeways and Expressways, like interstates, are controlled access facilities that do not directly serve abutting land uses, and they are intended to maximize mobility.

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Principal arterials or Major arterials serve major centers of metropolitan areas, provide a high degree of mobility, and offer direct access to abutting land uses. There are usually multiple arterial routes serving an urban area, which radiate out from the urban center to serve the surrounding region.

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Minor arterials facilitate trips of moderate length, serve smaller geographic areas than their higher arterial counterparts, and offer connectivity to the higher arterial system. In an urban context, they interconnect and augment the higher arterial system, provide intra-community connectivity, and may carry local bus routes.

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Major or Minor Collectors serve a critical role in the roadway network by gathering traffic from local roads and funneling them to the arterial network.

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Local roads generally account for the largest percentage of all roadways in terms of mileage. They are not intended for use in long distance travel, except at the origin or destination end of the trip, and they provide direct access to abutting land uses. Bus routes generally do not run on local roads, and these facilities are often designed to discourage through traffic.

Street, Half: A street or road adjacent to a subdivision tract boundary where only half the required right-of-way and road improvements are provided within the proposed subdivision and the responsibility for the other half is undecided or is left to the adjacent property owner.

Street Jog: The incidence where two (2) streets or two (2) portions of a single street are separated by a relatively short distance, usually at their intersection with another street.

Street, Private: An access way similar to and having the same function as a public street, providing access to more than one (1) property but privately owned and maintained.

Street, Stub: An extension of the right-of-way of a street in a subdivision extending to the property boundary of the tract being developed and intended to provide continuity of the street pattern between subdivisions or between the individual phases of the same subdivision.

Structural Erosion and Sedimentation Control Practices: Practices for the stabilization of erodible or sediment-producing areas by utilizing the mechanical properties of matter for the purpose of either changing the surface of the land or storing, regulating or disposing of runoff to prevent excessive sediment loss. Examples of structural erosion and sediment control practices are riprap, sediment basins, dikes, level spreaders, waterways or outlets, diversions, grade stabilization structures, sediment traps and land grading, etc. Such practices can be found in the publication Manual for Erosion and Sediment Control in Georgia.

Structure: Anything constructed or erected on the ground or attached to something on the ground, including, but not limited to, walled or roofed buildings.

Structure, Flood-Prone: A walled and roofed building that is principally above ground, a manufactured home, a gas or liquid storage tank. See Article 11, Part 11-4.

Subdivider: Any individual, firm, association, syndicate, co-partnership, corporation, trust or other legal entity having sufficient proprietary interest in the land sought to be subdivided to commence and maintain proceedings to subdivide the same under this Ordinance.

Subdivision: The division of a lot of record at the time of enactment of this Ordinance into two (2) or more lots, building sites, or other divisions for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of sale, legacy, or building development, and includes all division of land involving a new street or a change in existing streets, and includes re-subdivision, and where appropriate to the context, relates to the process of subdividing or to the land or area subdivided.

Subdivision, Private Drive: A subdivision in which a street providing access to lots in the development is not dedicated to the public but is held in common ownership by the owners of the lots and is not maintained by Walton County. (removed 6-6-23)

Subdivision, Private Drive Agricultural: A private drive subdivision that is composed of a small number of large acreage lots. (removed 6-6-23)

Subdivision, Private Drive Gated: A private drive subdivision that has controlled access.

Substantial Damage: Damage of any origin sustained by a structure whereby the cost of restoring the structure to its before damaged condition would equal or exceed fifty percent (50%) of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.

Substantial Improvement: Any combination of repairs, reconstruction, alteration or improvements to a structure, taking place during the life of a structure, in which the cumulative cost equals or exceeds fifty percent (50%) of the market value of the structure. The market value of the structure should be the appraised value of the structure prior to the start of the initial repair or improvement or, in case of damage, the value of the structure prior to the damage occurring. For the purpose of this definition, substantial improvement is considered to occur when the first alteration of any wall, ceiling, floor, or other structural part of the building commences, whether or not that alteration affects the external dimensions of the structure. The term does not, however, include either: any project for improvement of a structure required to comply with existing health, sanitary or safety code specifications which are solely necessary to ensure safe living conditions or any alterations of a structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places or a State Inventory of Historic Places.

Substantially Improved Existing Manufactured Home Parks Or Subdivisions: Where the repair, reconstruction, rehabilitation or improvement of the streets, utilities and pads equals or exceeds fifty percent (50%) of the value of the streets, utilities and pads before the repair, reconstruction or improvement commenced.

Substantially Improved Manufactured Home Parks or Subdivisions: Repair, reconstruction, rehabilitation or improvement of the streets, utilities and pads equaling or exceeding fifty percent (50%) of the value of the streets, utilities and pads before repair, reconstruction or improvement commenced.

Surface Water: Waters of the state located on the ground surface such as lakes, reservoirs, rivers, streams and creeks.

Swimming Pool: A facility designed and intended for water contact activities that serves the public, a club or other membership-based organization.

Swimming Pool, Home: A facility designed and intended for water contact activities that serves a single-family dwelling.

SWCC: The Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission.

Telecommunications Tower: Any structure that is designed and constructed primarily for the purpose of supporting one or more antennas, including self-supporting lattice towers, guy towers and monopole towers. The term includes radio and television transmission towers, microwave towers, common carrier towers, cellular communications towers, and other similar structures. See Article 6, Part 6-7, Telecommunications, Antennas and Towers.

Temporary Building: A structure that is removed when the designated time period, activity, or use for which the temporary structure was erected has ceased.

Temporary Use: Land uses established for a limited duration with the intent to discontinue such use within a designated time period.

Temporary Use, Commercial: Commercial uses established for a limited duration with the intent to discontinue such use within a designated time period.

Townhouse: A single-family dwelling unit that is erected in a row as part of a single building, on adjoining lots, each being separated from the adjoining unit or units by an approved fire resistant party wall or walls extending from the basement or cellar floor to the roof along the dividing lot line.

Transitional Housing Facility: A building or buildings in which is provided long-term but not permanent living accommodations for one or more persons who have no permanent residence and are in need of long-term housing assistance, and in which may also be provided meals and social services including counseling and substance abuse recovery assistance.

Transport Roots: System or framework of tree roots comprised of major woody roots and rope roots.

Tree: Any self-supporting, woody perennial plant usually having a single trunk diameter of one and one-half (1½) inches or more which normally attains a mature height of a minimum of ten (10) feet.

Tree Canopy: The area directly beneath the crown and within the outermost edges of the branches and leaves of a tree.

Tree Density Factor: A unit of measure used to prescribe and calculate required tree coverage on a site. Unit measurements are based upon tree size.

Tree Harvesting: The felling, loading, and transporting of timber products for gain. The term "tree harvesting" includes forestry, silviculture, selective tree harvesting, and thinning of trees as prescribed by Best Management Practices of the Georgia Forestry Commission.

Tree Replacement: The replacement of trees and landscape plant materials into the minimum required landscape areas, as determined by the Development Regulations of Walton County.

Trout Streams: All streams or portions of streams within the watershed as designated by the Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources under the provisions of the Georgia Water Quality Control Act, O.C.G.A. § 12-5-20 et seq. Streams designated as primary trout waters are defined as water supporting a self-sustaining population of rainbow, brown or brook trout. Streams designated as secondary trout waters are those in which there is no evidence of natural trout reproduction, but are capable of supporting trout throughout the year. First order trout waters are streams into which no other streams flow except springs.

Truck Stop: Any building, premises, or land in which or upon which a business, service, or industry involving the maintenance, servicing, storage, or repair of commercial vehicles is conducted or rendered, including the dispensing of motor fuel or other petroleum products primarily for such commercial vehicles and the sale of accessories or equipment for trucks and similar commercial vehicles. A truck stop may also include overnight accommodations and restaurant facilities.

Use: The purpose or activity for which land or buildings are designed, arranged, or intended or for which land or buildings are occupied or maintained.

Used Merchandise Store: Establishments primarily engaged in retailing used merchandise, antiques, and secondhand goods (except motor vehicles, such as automobiles, RVs, motorcycles, and boats; motor vehicle parts; tires; and mobile homes); flea markets; swap meets.

USGS: United States Geological Survey.

Utility: Public or private water or sewer piping systems, water or sewer pumping stations, electric power lines, fuel pipelines, telephone lines, roads, driveways, bridges, river/lake access facilities, storm water systems, railroads, similar services and all equipment and structures necessary to provide such services for utilities licensed or authorized to serve Walton County.

Variance: A relaxation of the terms of this Ordinance that will not be contrary to the public interest and where, owing to conditions peculiar to the property (and not the applicant), a literal enforcement of the regulations would result in unnecessary and undue hardship.

Vegetative Erosion and Sedimentation Control Measures: Measures for the stabilization of erodible or sediment-producing areas by covering the soil with:

Permanent seeding, sprigging or planting, producing long-term vegetative cover; or

Temporary seeding, producing short-term vegetative cover; or

Sodding, covering areas with a turf of perennial sod-forming grass.

Such measures can be found in the publication Manual for Erosion and Sediment Control in Georgia.

Vehicle: A mechanical device with wheels or treads for transporting people and/or loads. Vehicles include automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, cranes, earth moving equipment, trailers, and other similar conveyances.

Vehicle, Commercial: A vehicle greater than twenty-two (22) feet in length with six (6) or more wheels, including the cab portion of a tractor-trailer with or without the trailer, but not including light duty business vehicle or school buses.

(11-4-2008)

Veterinary Services: Establishments where animals or pets are given medical treatment and are cared for during the time of such treatment. Use as a kennel shall be limited to short-time boarding and shall be only incidental to such hospital use.

Waiver: The relinquishment or modification of any specific provision of this Ordinance by the Board of Commissioners or the Director for a specific development subject to Article 14 of this Ordinance.

Water Supply Reservoir: A governmentally owned impoundment of water for the primary purpose of providing water to one or more governmentally owned public drinking water systems. This excludes the multipurpose reservoirs owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Water Supply Watershed: The area of land upstream of a governmentally owned public drinking water intake.

Water System, Public: A water supply or distribution system owned or operated by a unit of government.

Watercourse: Any natural or artificial stream, river, creek, channel, ditch, canal, conduit, culvert, drain, waterway, gully, ravine, or wash in which water flows either continuously or intermittently and which has a definite channel, bed and banks, and including any area adjacent thereto subject to inundation by reason of overflow or floodwater.

Watershed: That area contributing runoff to a single surface watercourse or water body.

WCSWCD: The Walton County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Wetlands: Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions as determined by the US Army Corp of Engineers.

Window, Drive-Through: An opening in the wall of a building or structure designed and intended to be used to provide for sales to and/or service to patrons who remain in their vehicles.

Yard: A space between the property line and a required setback line on the same lot with a principal building, such space being open, unoccupied and unobstructed by buildings or structures from ground to sky except for authorized landscaping, driveways, parking, sidewalks, signs, lighting standards, encroachments and accessory buildings that are expressly permitted.

Yard, Front: An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with the principal building or use, extending the full width of the lot and situated between the right-of-way line and the front line of building projected to the side lines of that lot. The depth of the front yard shall be measured between the front line of the building projected to the sidelines of the lot and the right-of-way line. Covered porches, whether enclosed or unenclosed, shall be considered as part of the principal building and shall not project into a required front yard.

Yard, Rear: An open space on the same lot with the principal building or use, such space being unoccupied except possibly for an accessory building and extending the full width of the lot and situated between the rear line of the lot and the rear line of the principal building projected to the side lines of the lot. On all corner lots the rear yard shall be at the opposite side of the lot from the front yard.

Yard, Side: An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a principal building, situated between the side line of the building and the adjacent side line of the lot extending from the rear line of the front yard to the front line of the rear yard. If no front yard is required, the rear boundary of the side yard shall be the rear line of the lot.

Yard Sale: Yard sales, garage sales, bake sales shall mean events that occur not as a part of any business enterprise or profession, but instead are sponsored and operated by a private individual or group, normally for purposes of financially supporting special events or endeavors for nonprofit or charitable groups.

Zero-Lot-Line Development: The location of a building on a lot in such a manner that one or more of the building's sides rests directly on a lot line.

(8-4-2009; 6-2-2015; Ord. No. OA24060019-6, 11-5-2024; Ord. No. OA24060019-8, 11-5-2024; Ord. No. OA24060019-19, 11-5-2024)