For the purpose of this Ordinance the following rules shall apply:

1.

Words and numbers used singularly shall include the plural. Words and numbers used plurally shall include the singular.

Words used in the present tense shall include the future.

2.

The word "persons" includes a corporation, members of a partnership or other business organization, a committee, board, trustee, receiver, agent or other representative.

3.

The word "shall" is mandatory.

4.

The words "use," "used," "occupy" 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.

For the purpose of this Ordinance, certain terms or words used herein shall be interpreted or defined as follows, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

1.

ACCESSORY BUILDING: A subordinate building or portion of the main building, the use of which customarily is incidental to that of the main building or to the main use of the premises.

2.

ADULT BOOKSTORE: An enclosed building having as a substantial or significant portion of its stock in trade, books, magazines, or other periodicals which are distinguished or characterized by their emphasis on matter depicting or describing specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas.

3.

ADULT CINEMA: An enclosed building used on a regular basis for presenting pictorial materials or other visual images by way of direct or indirect projection, which materials are distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on the depiction of specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas, for observation by patrons therein in return for the payment of consideration, irrespective of the number of patrons who may be able to view the presentation at one (1) time.

4.

ADULT ENTERTAINMENT CENTER: An adult bookstore or adult cinema, or both.

5.

ALLEY: A way which affords only a secondary means of access to abutting property.

6.

ALTERATION: Alteration, as applied to a building or structure, is a change or rearrangement in the structural parts of an existing building or structure. Enlargement, whether by extending a side, increasing in height, or the moving from one (1) location or position to another, shall be considered as an alteration.

7.

ANIMAL HOSPITAL OR CLINIC: An establishment where animals are admitted principally for examination, treatment, board or care, by a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. This does not include open kennels or runs.

8.

APARTMENT: A room or suite of rooms in a multiple dwelling used or designed for occupancy by a single family.

9.

BASEMENT: A story having part, but not less than one-half (½), of its height below ground.

10.

BED AND BREAKFAST INNS: An Owner-occupied house or a portion thereof, where short term lodging rooms with or without meals are provided for compensation. The operator of the inn shall live on the premises or on adjacent premises. The unit shall contain no more than seven (7) guest rooms for lodging.

11.

BUILDING: Any structure designed, or intended for the enclosure, shelter or protection of persons, animals or property. When a structure is divided into separate parts by unpierced wall from the ground up, each part is deemed a separate building.

12.

BUILDING HEIGHT: The vertical dimension measured from the average elevation of the finished lot grade at the front of the building to the highest point of a flat roof; to the deck line of a mansard roof: and to the average height between the plate and ridge of a gable, hip or gambrel roof.

12.1.

BUILDING LINE: The leading edge or foremost projection (typically the roof line) of the building structure.

13.

CARPORT: A carport is a roof projecting from the wall of a building or free-standing structure constructed to shelter a vehicle. A carport is not enclosed by walls, it must be structurally supported by columns. The setback rules apply to and must be abided by, just as in an accessory building.

14.

CELLAR: A story having more than one-half (½) of its height below ground.

15.

CONDITIONAL USE: Such uses as are allowed by special permit only. Said permit shall be granted according to provisions of this ordinance.

16.

DAY CARE: An establishment, other than a public or parochial school, which provides day care and education for children as defined within North Dakota Century Code Chapter 50-11.1 and its amendments pertaining to Early Childhood Services.

17.

DISTRICT: A section or sections of the City and/or County for which the regulations governing the use of buildings and premises, the height of buildings, the size of yards and the intensity of use are uniform.

18.

DWELLING: Any building or portion thereof which is designed and used exclusively for residential purposes.

19.

DWELLING, MULTIPLE-FAMILY: A single building designed for and occupied by more than two (2) families.

20.

DWELLING, SINGLE-FAMILY: A building having accommodations for and occupied exclusively by one (1) family.

21.

DWELLING TOWNHOUSE: A one-family dwelling in a row of at least three (3) such units in which each unit has its own front and rear access to the outside, no unit is located over another unit, and each unit is separated from any other unit by one (1) or more common fire-resistant walls.

22.

DWELLING, TWO-FAMILY: A structure on a single lot containing two (2) dwelling units, each of which is totally separated from the other by an unpierced wall extending from ground to roof or an unpierced ceiling and floor extending from exterior wall, except for a common stairwell exterior to both dwelling units.

23.

DWELLING UNIT: One (1) or more rooms in a dwelling designed for occupancy by one (1) family unit.

24.

EFFECTIVE DATE: The effective date of this ordinance as used for the exceptions and "grandfather clauses" shall be the effective date of the previous ordinance which was May 9, 1983.

25.

Engineered Post-Framed Buildings: A structure primarily supported by wood columns embedded in the earth.

26.

FAMILY: One (1) or more persons related by blood, marriage or adoption occupying a dwelling unit as members of a single housekeeping organization. A family may include not more than two (2) persons not related by blood, marriage or adoption.

27.

FARM: Any parcel of land containing at least ten (10) acres which is used for gain in the raising of agricultural products, livestock, poultry or dairy products. It includes necessary farm structures within the prescribed limits and the storage of equipment used. It excludes the raising of furbearing animals, riding academies, livery or boarding stables, dog kennels and commercial feed lots.

28.

FARM RESIDENCE: A dwelling whose occupant is a person who normally devotes a major portion of their time to the activities of producing products of the soil, poultry, livestock or dairy farming in such products' unmanufactured state.

29.

FLOOR AREA: Floor area shall mean the gross floor area of the building of the several floors in the building.

30.

FRONTAGE: All the property on one (1) side of a street between two (2) intersecting streets (crossing or terminating) measured along the line of the street. Where a street is dead ended, the frontage shall be considered as all that property abutting on one (1) side between an intersecting street and the dead end of the street.

31.

FUNERAL HOME: A facility used for pre-burial preparation of human cadavers including but not limiting to a mortuary, chapel, viewing area, vehicular storage, parking, but not including a crematorium or burial facilities.

32.

GARAGE, PRIVATE: An accessory building or portion of a main building on the same lot and used for the storage only of private passenger motor vehicles, not more than two (2) of which are owned by others than the occupants of the main building.

33.

GARAGE, PUBLIC: A building, or portion thereof, other than a private or storage garage, designed or used for equipping, repairing, hiring, servicing, selling or storing motor-driven vehicles.

34.

GARAGE, STORAGE: A building, or portion thereof, designed or used exclusively for housing four (4) or more motor-driven vehicles.

35.

GROUP DWELLING: In general, a building in which several unrelated individuals or families permanently reside, but in which individual cooking facilities are not provided for the individual persons or families. Specifically, "group dwelling" shall include rooming house, dormitory, half-way house, group home, and private club in which one (1) or more members have a permanent residence. "Group dwelling" shall not be deemed to include such as a hotel, motel, mobile home park, sanitarium, hospital or nursing home.

36.

HOME OCCUPATION: An occupation conducted in a dwelling unit, provided that:

(1)

The use of the dwelling unit for the home occupation shall be clearly incidental and subordinate to its use for residential purposes by its occupants, and not more than twenty-five (25) percent of the floor area of the dwelling unit shall be used in the conduct of the home occupation.

(2)

There shall be no change in the outside appearance of the building or premises, or other visible evidence of the conduct of such home occupation other than one (1) sign, not exceeding six (6) square-feet in area, non-illuminated, and mounted flat against the wall of the principal building.

(3)

No traffic shall be generated by such home occupation in greater volume than would normally be expected in a residential neighborhood, and any need for parking generated by the conduct of such home occupation shall be met off the street and other than in a required front yard.

(4)

No equipment of process shall be used in such home occupation which creates noise, vibration, glare, fumes, odors, or electrical interference detectable to the normal senses off the lot, if the occupation is conducted in a single-family residence, or outside the dwelling unit if conducted in other than a single-family residence. In the case of electrical interference, no equipment or process shall be used which creates visual or audible interference in any radio or television receivers off the premises, or causes fluctuations in line voltage off the premises.

37.

HOSPITAL: An establishment used primarily for in-patient care and [which] provides health, medical, and surgical care for the sick and injured.

38.

HOTEL: A building used as a transient abiding place for persons who are being lodged for compensation with or without meals.

39.

INDUSTRIAL, HEAVY: Industrial uses which generate large volumes of vehicular traffic or create obnoxious sounds, glare, vibrations, dust, odor or smoke.

40.

INDUSTRIAL, LIGHT: Industrial uses which do not generate large volumes of vehicular traffic and do not create obnoxious sounds, glare, dust, vibrations, odor or smoke.

41.

INSTITUTION: A building occupied by a nonprofit corporation or a nonprofit establishment for public use.

42.

IN-HOME APARTMENT: A self-contained dwelling unit with no more than two (2) bedrooms. Built within a residential structure, provided the apartment consists of less than fifty (50) percent of the total square footage of the structure, (including basement) and the apartment is located in the basement, and the apartment is incidental to the structure's use as a single family residence.

43.

JUNK YARD: An area of more than two hundred (200) square feet, or any area not more than fifty (50) feet from any street, used for the storage, keeping or abandonment of junk, including scrap metals or other scrap materials or goods, used for dismantling, demolition or abandonment of automobiles or other vehicles or machinery, or parts thereof.

44.

LODGING HOUSE: A building or place where lodging or boarding and lodging is provided (or equipped to provide lodging regularly) by prearrangement for definite periods of time, for compensation, for three (3) or more persons in contra-distinction to hotels open to transients.

45.

LOT OR PLOT: A parcel of land occupied or intended for occupancy by one (1) main building, together with its accessory buildings, including the open spaces required by this ordinance. A lot or plot may include more than one (1) platted lot.

46.

LOT, CORNER: A lot, as defined above, abutting upon two (2) or more streets at their intersection.

47.

LOT, DEPTH OF: The mean horizontal distance between the front and the rear lot lines.

48.

LOT, DOUBLE FRONTAGE: A lot having a frontage on two (2) nonintersecting streets as distinguished from a corner lot.

49.

LOT OF RECORD: A lot which is a part of a subdivision, the map of which has been recorded in the office of the Register of Deeds, or a lot described by metes and bounds, the description of which has been recorded in the office of the Register of Deeds.

50.

MEDICAL, DENTAL OR HEALTH CLINIC: Any building designed for use by one (1) or more persons lawfully engaged in the diagnosis, care and treatment of physical or mental diseases or ailments of human beings; including, but not limited to, doctors of medicine, dentists, chiropractors, osteopaths, optometrists and podiatrists; and in which no patients are lodged overnight.

51.

MOBILE HOME: A mobile home shall include any complete structure used for living, sleeping, business or storage purposes; having no foundation other than wheels, blocks, skids, jacks, horses, or skirting; and which has been or reasonably may be equipped with wheels or other devices for transporting the structure from place to place, whether by motive power or other means. The term "mobile home" shall include trailer home, camp car and house car.

52.

MOBILE HOME PARK: Any park, court, camp, lot, area, piece, parcel, tract or plot of ground upon which mobile homes are used, whether for compensation or not, including all accessory use thereof.

53.

NONCONFORMING BUILDING: The use of a building or portion thereof lawfully existing at the time of the passage of this zoning ordinance and amendments thereto, which does not conform with the provisions of this ordinance or amendments thereto.

54.

NONCONFORMING USE: Any land lawfully occupied by a use, at the time of the passage of this ordinance or amendments hereto, which does not conform with the provisions of this ordinance or amendments hereto.

55.

NURSING HOME: An extended or intermediate care facility licensed or approved to provide full-time convalescent or chronic care to individuals who by reason of advanced age, chronic illness or infirmity, are unable to care for themselves.

56.

PARKING SPACE: An area nine and one-half (9.5) feet × twenty (20) feet, or greater which is sufficient in size to store one (1) automobile, together with a driveway connecting the parking space with a street or alley and permitting ingress and egress of an automobile. Required off-street parking shall be provided in a manner that vehicles do not encroach on a public right-of-way.

56.1.

PERMANENT FOUNDATION: The Permanent Foundation Installation Standards of the Idaho Manufactured Home Installation Standards are adopted by the City of Watford City and are required to be adhered to any place in this Ordinance where a permanent Foundation is required for manufactured homes. There shall be on file at the City Auditor's Office a minimum of two (2) copies of the Permanent Foundation Installation Standards.

The North Dakota State Building Code standards are adopted by the City of Watford City and are required to be adhered to any place in this Ordinance where a Permanent Foundation is required for site-built or modular homes. There shall be on file at the City Auditor's Office a minimum of two (2) copies of the North Dakota State Building Code.

57.

PERMITTED USE: Any use which complies with the requirements of a zoning district and is unconditionally allowed.

58.

PLANNING COMMISSION: The Planning and Zoning Commission of Watford City, North Dakota.

59.

RESIDENCE: The act or fact of living or regularly staying at or in some place for the discharge of a duty or the enjoyment of a benefit.

60.

RESTAURANT: A public eating establishment at which the primary function is the preparation and serving of food.

61.

ROOMING HOUSE: Any dwelling in which more than three (3) persons, either individually or as families, are housed or lodged for hire, with or without meals.

62.

SERVICE STATION: An establishment consisting of a building or group of buildings and surfaced area where automotive vehicles may be refueled and serviced; such service shall not include tire recapping, body repairs or major overhaul.

63.

SET BACK: The distance between the lot line and building line.

64.

SIGN: A sign shall include any sign or other device which shall display or include any letter, word, model, banner, flag, pennant, insignia, device or representation used as, or which is in the nature of, an advertisement or announcement which directs attention to an object, product, place, activity, person, institution, organization or business, but shall not include any display of official notice or official flag.

(1)

Sign, Advertising: A sign which directs the attention of the public to any goods, merchandise, property, business service, entertainment, or amusement conducted or produced which is bought or sold, furnished, offered or dealt in elsewhere than on the premises where such sign is located, or to which it is affixed.

(2)

Sign, Sandwich: An advertising or business ground sign which is constructed in such a manner to form an "A" or a tent like shape, hinged or not hinged at the top and each angular face held at an appropriate distance by a supporting member.

(3)

Sign, Business: A sign which directs attention to a business or profession conducted or to products, services, or entertainment sold or offered upon the premises where such sign is located, or to which it is affixed. A "For Sale" sign or "For Rent" sign relating to the property on which it is displayed shall be deemed a business sign.

(4)

Sign, Flashing: Any illuminated sign on which the artificial light is not constant in intensity and color at all times. For the purpose of this ordinance, any revolving illuminated sign shall be considered a flashing sign.

(5)

Sign, Illuminated: A sign designed to give forth artificial light, or designed to reflect light derived from any source.

65.

SPECIFIED ANATOMICAL AREAS:

(1)

Less than completely and opaquely covered:

(a)

Human genitals, pubic region;

(b)

Buttocks;

(c)

Female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola; and

(2)

Human male genitals in a discernible turgid state, even if completely and opaquely covered.

66.

SPECIFIED SEXUAL ACTIVITIES:

(1)

Human genitals in a state of sexual stimulations or arousal;

(2)

Acts of human masturbation, sexual intercourse, or sodomy;

(3)

Fondling of human genitals, pubic region, buttocks, or female breast.

67.

USE: The purpose for which land or a building or structure thereon is designed, arranged, intended or maintained or for which it is or may be used or occupied.

68.

STREET: A right-of-way, other than an alley, dedicated to the public use, which provides principal access to adjacent properties.

69.

STREET LINE: A dividing line between a lot, tract of parcel of land and the contiguous street.

70.

STRUCTURE: Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires permanent location on the ground or attachment to something having a permanent location on the ground. This includes placing concrete and building fences.

71.

STRUCTURAL ALTERATIONS: Any change in the supporting members of a building, such as bearing walls or partitions, columns, beams, or girder, or any complete rebuilding of the roof or exterior walls.

72.

(A)

SUBDIVISION: The division of a tract or parcel of land within the city or its extra-territorial jurisdiction into two (2) or more lots, tracts, or parcels of land; except that:

(1)

The sale or exchange of parcels of land to or between adjoining property owners where such sale or exchange does not create additional lots shall not be deemed a subdivision.

(2)

The allocation of property by court decree in settling the estate of a decedent or in partitioning land among owners shall not be deemed a subdivision.

(3)

The unwilling sale of land as the result of legal condemnation procedures, or the acquisition of street rights-of-way by a public agency in conformance with the comprehensive plan shall not be deemed a subdivision.

(B)

SUBDIVISION PLAT: A plan or map prepared in accordance with the provisions of the duly adopted Subdivision Regulations and recorded with the Register of Deeds.

73.

TAVERN: An establishment in which the primary function is the public sale and serving of malt beverages.

74.

TRANSMISSION FACILITY: Includes any of the following:

(1)

An electrical, telephone, or cable TV transmission line and associated facilities.

(2)

A gas and liquid transmission line and associated facilities designed for or capable of transporting coal, gas or liquid hydrocarbon products for public commerce.

(3)

A liquid transmission line and associated facilities designed for or capable of transporting water.

75.

VARIANCE: The relaxation of the terms of the Zoning Regulations in relations to height, area, size and open spaces where specific physical conditions, unique to the site, would create an unreasonable hardship in the development of the site for permitted uses.

76.

YARD, FRONT: A yard extending across the full width of the lot, the depth of which is the least distance between the street right-of-way and the front building line.

77.

YARD, REAR: A yard extending across the full width of the lot between the rear of the main building and the rear lot line, the depth of which is the least distance between the rear lot line and the rear of such main building. Where an alley is platted at the rear of the lots, one-half (½) the width of the alley may be included in the rear yard requirements.

78.

YARD, SIDE: A yard between the main building and the side lot line, extending from the front yard, or front lot line where no front yard is required, to the rear yard. The width of the required side yard shall be measured horizontally, at ninety (90) degrees with the side lot line, from the nearest point of the side lot line toward the nearest part of the main building.

79.

ZONE OR DISTRICT: A portion, area or section of the City for which uniform regulations governing the use, height, area, size and intensity of use of buildings, land, and open spaces surrounding buildings as herein established.

(Ord. No. 224, 12-13-2010; Ord. No. 471, 1-2-2018; Ord. No. 498, 10-1-2018; Ord. No. 501, 10-1-2018; Ord. No. 507, 1-7-2019; Ord. No. 549, 12-10-2019)