West Haven City Zoning Code

M-1 ZONE

MANUFACTURING

§ 157.330 PURPOSE AND INTENT.

The purpose of the Light Manufacturing Zone is to provide suitable areas that will accommodate the need for light intensity-type manufacturing and its associated accessory uses, some of which may have an environmental impact requiring public review and regulation.

(Prior Code, § 24.02) (Ord. 2-92, passed - -1992; Ord. 08-2016, passed 5-4-2016)

§ 157.331 PERMITTED USES.

(A) Accessory uses and buildings customarily incidental to a permitted use;

(B) Any permitted use in a C-3 Zone except dwelling units;

(D) Animal hospitals;

(E) Animals and fowl for family food production;

(F) Boat building;

(G) Bookbinding;

(H) Body and fender work, if conducted within an enclosed building;

(I) Bottling works, soft drinks;

(J) Carpenter shops, cabinet shop;

(K) Carpet and rug cleaning and dyeing;

(L) Coal, fuel, and wood yards, enclosed within a building or by a solid fence of not less than six feet in height;

(M) Construction of buildings to be sold and moved off the premises;

(N) Dairy;

(O) Dry cleaning plants;

(P) Dwelling units for night watch person or guard and family;

(Q) Egg handling, processing, and sales;

(R) Electric appliances and/or electronic instruments assembling;

(S) Express offices;

(T) Garages, public;

(U) Honey extraction;

(V) Ice manufacturing and storage;

(W) Kennels;

(X) Knitting mill;

(Y) Laboratories;

(Z) Laundries;

(AA) Lithographing, including engraving and photo engraving;

(BB) Machine shop;

(CC) Manufacturing, compounding, processing, packing, and treatment of the following products:

(1) Bakery goods;

(2) Candy;

(3) Dairy products; and

(4) Pharmaceuticals.

(DD) Manufacturing, compounding, assembling, and treatment of articles of merchandise from the following previously-prepared materials:

(1) Cellophane;

(2) Canvas;

(3) Cloth;

(4) Cork;

(5) Felt;

(6) Shell;

(7) Straw;

(8) Textile;

(9) Wood; and

(10) Yarn.

(EE) Manufacturing and maintenance of the following:

(1) Business machines;

(2) Cameras and photographic equipment;

(3) Electric and neon signs, billboards, and/or commercial advertising structures;

(4) Light sheet metal products, including heating and ventilating ducts and equipment;

(5) Musical instruments;

(6) Novelties;

(7) Rubber and metal stamps; and

(8) Toys.

(FF) Monument works;

(GG) Motion picture studios;

(HH) Motor vehicles, trailers, bicycles and machinery repairing, rentals, sales, and reconditioning;

(II) Parking lots;

(JJ) Planning mill;

(KK) Printing, including engraving and photo engraving, blueprinting, photo stating, and duplication;

(LL) Public transit yards;

(MM) Public and quasi-public uses;

(NN) Radio and television transmitting towers;

(OO) Retail sales of products produced by, or developed in conjunction with, or normally required and used in the performance of, a commercial or manufacturing operation permitted in this Zone; and provided the retail sale is clearly an accessory use to the main permitted use and is conducted within the same building, or if the main use is not a building, then on the same property; provided, however, no retail sales of products may be made in conjunction with a warehousing or wholesale business;

(PP) Rubber welding;

(QQ) Sign painting shop;

(RR) Self-storage facilities in accordance with § 157.619.

(SS) Service station;

(TT) Single-family dwelling;

(UU) Temporary buildings for uses incidental to construction work, including living quarters for a guard or night watch person, which buildings must be removed upon completion or abandonment of the construction work;

(VV) Tire retreading and/or vulcanizing;

(WW) Transfer companies;

(XX) Truck service stations;

(YY) Trucking terminals;

(ZZ) Upholstering, including mattress manufacturing, rebuilding, and renovating;

(AAA) Used car lots;

(BBB) Veterinaries, and hotel and beauty parlors for cats and dogs;

(CCC) Warehouses;

(DDD) Weaving;

(EEE) Welding shops; and

(FFF) Wholesale businesses.

(Prior Code, § 24.04) (Ord. 2-92, passed - -1992; Ord. 08-2016, passed 5-4-2016; Ord. 03-2026, passed 2-4-2026)

§ 157.332 CONDITIONAL USES.

The following uses shall be permitted only when authorized by a conditional use permit as provided in §§ 157.515 through 157.529:

(A) Airports;

(B) Any conditional use allowed in a C-3 Zone, except dwelling units;

(D) Blacksmith shops;

(E) Building materials sale yard, including the sale of rock, sand, gravel, and the like, as an incidental part of the main business, but excluding concrete mixing, except as such concrete mixing is necessary in the preparation and manufacture of any of the products specified in this section.

(F) Carnivals or other amusement enterprises, transient in nature;

(G) Concrete mini-mix plants with a one-yard capacity;

(H) Contractor’s equipment storage yards or rental of equipment used by contractors;

(I) Draying, freighting, or trucking yards or terminals;

(J) Fertilizer and soil conditioner manufacture, processing, and/or sales; provided only non-animal products and by-products are used;

(K) Foundries, casting light-weight, non-ferrous metal without causing noxious odors or fumes;

(L) Glass manufacturing;

(M) Manufacture of brick and all clay, ceramic, cinder, concrete, synthetic, cast stone, plastic, and pumice stone products, including the manufacture of fabrication of building blocks, tile, or pipe from raw material for use in building construction or for sewer or drainage purposes, and including rock or gravel crushings, or raw materials, which are incidental to the manufacture or fabrication of the above-described products; and provided that such crushing facilities shall be located not closer than 200 feet to any property line;

(N) Manufacturing, compounding, processing, packing, and treatment of the products:

(1) Cosmetics;

(2) Food products, excluding the following: fish, sauerkraut, pickles, vinegar yeast, and the rendering for fat; and

(3) Toiletries.

(O) Manufacturing, compounding, and treatment of articles or merchandise from the following previously-prepared material:

(1) Bone;

(2) Feathers;

(3) Fiber;

(4) Fish;

(5) Glass;

(6) Hair;

(7) Horn;

(8) Leather;

(9) Paint;

(10) Paper;

(11) Plastic;

(12) Rubber; and

(13) Tobacco.

(P) The manufacturing, fabrication, assembly, compounding, processing, treatment, and storage of products made from the family of metals and carbons including, but not limited to, the following:

(1) Brass;

(2) Iron;

(3) Copper;

(4) Steel; and

(5) Graphite and their substitutes.

(Q) Meat products smoking, curing, and packing; provided that no objectionable fumes are emitted.

The raising and grazing of horses, cattle, sheep, or goats as part of a farming operation, including the supplementary or full feeding of such animals;

(R) Manufactured housing to serve as quarters for a guard or night watch person and family, so long as it is permanently affixed on approved concrete or concrete block foundation;

(S) Motorcycle and off-road vehicle trails and tracks, including accessory concession stands, picnic, park, and playground facilities; and

(T) Sand blasting; provided all work is done in a completely closed building.

(Prior Code, § 24.06) (Ord. 2-92, passed - -1992; Ord. 08-2016, passed 5-4-2016)

§ 157.333 SITE DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS.

Site Development	Requirements
Building height
Maximum	None
Minimum	1 story
Lot coverage	Not over 80% of lot area by buildings
Minimum lot area	20,000 sq. ft. for single-family dwellings which require 5 acres
Minimum lot width	100 ft.
Minimum yard setbacks
Front	30 ft. on streets of less than 80 ft. in width; 50 ft. on streets and highways of 80 ft. or more in width
Rear	None, except 20 ft. where building rears on a Residential Zone and 30 ft. for single-family dwellings
Side	None, except 20 ft. where adjacent to a Residential Zone boundary and a side yard facing a street on a corner lot and for single-family dwellings

(Prior Code, § 24.08) (Ord. 2-92, passed - -1992; Ord. 08-2016, passed 5-4-2016)

§ 157.334 SIGN REGULATIONS.

The height, size, and location of the following permitted signs shall be in accordance with §§ 157.590 through 157.618 as follows (see §§ 157.755 through 157.761 for possible changes in the list below):

(A) Advertising signs and billboards; provided the following conditions are met:

(1) Size. The maximum size of a billboard at any one location shall not be larger than 1,000 square feet;

(2) Spacing. The minimum distance between any two billboards adjacent to, and facing, a freeway or highway shall be 500 feet; and

(3) Freeway access. The minimum distance between any advertising sign or billboard and the beginning of the pavement widening for an entrance or exit ramp on a freeway shall be not less than 500 feet; in addition, billboards adjacent to freeways shall comply with the state outdoor advertising regulations.

(B) Animated signs;

(C) Business signs not exceeding in area five square feet for each foot of street frontage with a maximum of 650 square feet for each sign; provided that business signs adjacent to, and within, 660 feet of an interstate freeway or a federal aid primary highway may have a maximum size of 1,000 square feet for each sign;

(D) Flat signs;

(E) Ground signs;

(F) Identification signs; illuminated signs;

(G) Name plates;

(H) Property signs, projecting signs; public necessity signs;

(I) Roof signs;

(J) Service signs; and

(K) Temporary signs.

(Prior Code, § 24.10) (Ord. 2-92, passed - -1992; Ord. 08-2016, passed 5-4-2016)

§ 157.336 REGULATIONS FOR TEMPORARY STORAGE UNITS, CONTAINERS, AND STRUCTURES.

(A) Temporary storage units, containers, or structures are allowed in these Zones for the loading and off-loading of supplies or inventory. They may be stored on-site for up to 30 days; provided, they are not able to be seen from any major corridor in the city, do not take up required customer parking, are not on landscaping, and are placed behind buildings or fences that are not see through. Any exception to this shall require a conditional use permit from the Planning Commission.

(B) (1) Permanent use of temporary storage units, containers, or structures may be allowed with a conditional use permit, which shall include a site plan and any required building permits. (Note: they shall not be allowed in any Commercial or Manufacturing Zone(s) on lots of less than one acre.)

(2) A temporary storage unit, container, or structure must be placed on a hard surface such as gravel, road base, concrete, or asphalt, and made to look like the main structure on the property, including the use of similar building materials and colors.

(3) Any exceptions, as well as the number of units, containers, or structures, and the location shall be subject to approval from the Planning Commission.

(Prior Code, § 24.14) (Ord. 23-2020, passed 6-17-2020; Ord. 29-2021, passed 7-21-2021)