(a)

There is hereby created a department in the city to be designated as the zoning department.

(b)

The head of said department of zoning shall be the zoning administrator, who shall be appointed by the mayor and approved by the board in accordance with law, and who will serve at the pleasure of the mayor and board.

(c)

The zoning administrator so appointed by the mayor and approved by the board shall have had at least five (5) years' experience in a responsible administrative field.

(d)

The zoning department shall be under the supervision and administration of the zoning administrator, whose duties and responsibilities it shall be to coordinate and administer the affairs and duties of the zoning administrator, the planning commission, the board of adjustment and to maintain all official records necessary and incidental and pertaining to the administration of the zoning ordinance and its related bodies.

(e)

The zoning administrator shall be responsible to require that no building or other permit, license or other document necessary to be approved by the zoning commission, any of which may be subject to the provisions of the zoning code, shall be issued by any department, agency or board of this city until he has certified that the use to be made of the permit, license or other document is in full compliance with the provisions of the zoning ordinance.

(Code 1976, § 12-5001)

Cross reference— Government and administration, Part 2.

This chapter is adopted under authority of sections 4721 through 4732, Title 33, Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, as amended. The requirements set forth therein as prerequisite to the adoption of a zoning ordinance have been fulfilled. It is the intent of this chapter, with the [map accompanying the original ordinance], to provide for the harmonious development of the City of West Monroe in accordance with the master plan heretofore made and adopted by the West Monroe Planning Commission to lessen congestion in the public streets, secure safety from fire, provide adequate light and air, avoid undue concentration of population, promote health and the general welfare and conserve the value of buildings by encouraging the most appropriate use of the land by districting according to the peculiar suitability of the land for particular purposes, all to create conditions favorable to health, safety, convenience and prosperity.

(Ord. No. 1501, § I, 7-24-73)

This chapter shall apply to all land within the corporate limits of the City of West Monroe as such corporate limits exist or may exist in the future.

(Ord. No. 1501, § I, 7-24-73)

Territory hereafter annexed to the City of West Monroe shall be in the O-L District until and unless changed in accordance with the amendment procedure set forth herein.

(Ord. No. 1501, § I, 7-24-73)

Except as hereinafter provided:

(1)

No land shall be used or occupied, no structure shall be erected, altered, used or occupied, and no use shall be operated unless in conformity with the regulations herein prescribed for the district in which such structure or land is located.

(2)

No structure shall be erected, altered, used, or occupied to exceed the height limits herein established, to have less building site area, or to have narrower or smaller front, side and rear yards than therein prescribed for the district in which the structure is located.

(3)

No part of a yard or other open space required about any structure for the purpose of complying with the provisions of this chapter shall be included as a part of the yard or other open space similarly required for another structure.

(4)

No building site shall be so reduced or diminished that the building site area, yards, or other open spaces shall be smaller than prescribed by this chapter.

(5)

Every structure, other than an accessory structure, hereafter erected, altered, used, or occupied shall have provided and continuously maintained for it a separate building site as herein defined.

(6)

Every use, unless expressly exempted by this chapter, shall be operated entirely within a completely enclosed structure.

(Ord. No. 1501, § I, 7-24-73)

For the purpose of this chapter certain words and phrases used herein are defined as follows:

Accessory structure: A detached subordinate building located on the same building site with the main building, the use of which is incidental to that of the main building. Detached garage, outdoor advertising system, storage building, etc.

Accessory use: A use customarily incidental to the principal use of a building site or to a building and located upon the same building site with the principal use. Parking lots, open storage activity, etc.

Alley: Any public space or thoroughfare twenty (20) feet or less in width which has been dedicated or deeded for public use.

Alteration: Any structural change in the supporting or loadbearing members of a building, such as bearing walls, columns, beams or girders.

Barber shop or beauty shop: All establishments (including those customarily referred to as a salon or spa) whose primary activity includes the rendering of personal services by those licensed by the Louisiana Board of Barber Examiners, by the Louisiana Board of Cosmetology, or by those who apply permanent cosmetics (permanent eyeliner, eye shadow, lip color or similar enhancements).

Bed and breakfast home: A use in which overnight accommodations are provided for no more than five (5) guest rooms for compensation for periods of seven (7) days in the same dwelling as that occupied by the owner, lessee, operator, or proprietor of the dwelling, all according to the standards as established in section 12-5021 of this Code.

Board: The board of adjustment established by this chapter.

Boardinghouse: A building where, for compensation and by prearrangement, five (5) or more persons other than occasional or transient customers are provided with meals.

Building: Any covered structure intended for the shelter, housing or enclosure of persons, animals or chattels. The term "building" shall be construed to include the term "structure."

Building site: The land occupied or to be occupied by a building and its accessory buildings and including such open spaces, yards, minimum area, off-street parking facilities, and off-street truck-loading facilities as are required by this chapter; except as approved by the board of aldermen according to the procedures established in section 12-2008(b), every building site shall abut upon a street.

Building site boundary: Any line separating a building site from a street, an alley, another building site, or any land not part of the building site.

Church: A building, together with its accessory building and uses, where persons regularly assemble for religious worship, and which building, together with its accessory buildings and uses, is maintained and controlled by a religious body organized to sustain public worship.

Clinic, dental or medical: A building in which a group of physicians, dentists, and allied professional assistants are associated for the purpose of carrying on their profession; the clinic may include a dental or medical laboratory but it shall not include in-patient care or operating rooms for major surgery.

Dwelling, cluster: A one-family detached dwelling, excluding mobile homes, built in a cluster subdivision according to design specifications in section 12-2005.

Dwelling, condominium: A group of two (2) or more dwellings, similar to an apartment complex or townhouse subdivision providing for joint ownership of the underlying land and physical facilities and for individual ownership of the living spaces within.

Dwelling, multiple-family: A detached building containing three (3) or more dwelling units and used by three (3) or more families living independently of each other; the term includes apartment house.

Dwelling, one-family: A detached building containing one dwelling unit and used exclusively by one family.

Dwelling, townhouse: One of series of two (2) or more individually owned, single-family dwellings, excluding mobile homes, attached in a row, distinguished from condominium units by the ownership of the underlying land resting with the dwelling's owner rather than in common ownership.

Dwelling, two-family: A detached building containing two (2) dwelling units and used by two (2) families living independently of each other.

Dwelling unit: One or more rooms in the same structure, connected together and constituting a separate, independent housekeeping unit for permanent residential occupancy and with facilities for sleeping and cooking.

Family: One or more persons living together as a single housekeeping unit, which may include not more than four (4) lodgers or boarders.

Gross floor area: The sum of the gross horizontal areas of the several floors of a building, including interior balconies and mezzanines; all horizontal dimensions shall be measured between the exterior faces of walls, including the walls of roofed porches having more than one wall. The gross floor area of a building shall include the floor area of accessory buildings on the same building site, measured the same way.

Home occupations: An accessory use of a dwelling unit for gainful employment involving the manufacture, provision, or sale of goods and/or services within the limits imposed on such uses according to section 12-5021(g).

Hospital: An institution providing health services, primarily for in-patients, and medical and surgical care of the sick or injured, including, as an integral part of the institution, such related facilities as laboratories, outpatient departments, training facilities, central service facilities, staff offices and emergency evacuation heliports.

Hotel: A building containing guest rooms in which lodging is provided, with or without meals, for compensation, and which is open to transient or permanent guests, or both, and where there is either no provision made for cooking in any guest room or provision made for cooking in not more than twenty-five (25) percent of the guest rooms; the term includes "motel."

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 court of Ouachita Parish, or a lot described by metes and bounds, the description of which has been recorded in the office of the clerk of court of Ouachita Parish.

Livestock keeping, raising, or breeding: The keeping, raising, or breeding of any animals, including fowl, of any type or nature whatsoever. However (1) other than horses, cows, pigs, goats, mules, sheep or predators, keeping less than three (3) of any type of animal for personal comfort and not as a commercial activity or with any expectation of realizing any proceeds or otherwise profiting therefrom; or (2) keeping larger numbers of common household pets such as dogs, cats, hamsters, or caged birds; or (3) the occasional sale of pet offspring; or (4) small animal clinics and kennels shall not be considered livestock keeping, raising, or breeding.

Mobile home: Mobile homes, for purposes of this chapter shall be categorized into the following:

(1)

Class A: New mobile homes certified as meeting the Mobile Home Construction and Safety Standards of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and approved as meeting "acceptable similarity" appearance standards in accordance with section 12-5021(f).

(2)

Class B: New mobile homes certified as meeting the Mobile Home Construction and Safety Standards of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, but not approved as meeting appearance standards.

(3)

Class C: All mobile homes not meeting appearance standards specified above, but found by the building inspector to be in good condition.

(4)

Class D: Mobile homes found by the building inspector to be in poor condition and unsafe for occupancy.

Mobile home parks: A parcel of land under single ownership, whether public or private, which has been planned and improved for the placement of mobile homes for nontransient use.

New mobile home: A mobile home is considered to be a "new mobile home" when the model year, as reflected on its HUD data plate, statement of origin or other official title documents, or other verifiable manner of determining its official model year is within three (3) years prior to the date of application with the department of building and development for the installation of the mobile home at a specific location, but only if approval of the actual installation is granted within three (3) months from the date of application (unless expressly extended by the department of building and development or by the planning commission), and only if installation thereafter occurs within three (3) months of final issuance of all required approvals from the city.

Nonconforming structure: A building or part thereof lawfully existing on the effective date of this chapter and which does not conform to all of the regulations of the district in which it is located.

Nonconforming use: A use which lawfully occupied a building or land on the effective date of this chapter and which does not conform to the regulations of the district in which it is located.

Off-premises sign: A permanently placed sign, other than an outdoor general advertising structure, not on the same premises with the establishment it advertises, identifies, or enhances. A sign identifying a planned residential or commercial development according to sections 12-2005 or 12-5031 is considered to be an on-premises sign.

On-premises sign: A sign serving to identify or enhance commercial or other establishments which is on the premises of the establishment being served. An on-premises sign is considered part and parcel of the use to which it is associated.

Outdoor general advertising structure: A billboard or other off-premises sign larger than thirty-five (35) square feet of sign-face area.

Permitted structure: A structure meeting all the requirements established by this chapter for the district in which the structure is located.

Permitted use: A use meeting all the requirements established by this chapter for the district in which the use is located.

Recreational vehicle: A structure which is:

(1)

Built on a single chassis;

(2)

Contains four hundred (400) square feet or less of gross area measured at its largest horizontal projection;

(3)

Designed to be self-propelled or permanently towable by a motorized vehicle; and

(4)

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

Recreational vehicle park: A parcel (or contiguous parcels) of land divided into two (2) or more lots for the temporary placement of recreational vehicles. For purposes of this definition, temporary shall mean placement not to exceed one hundred eighty (180) consecutive days.

Rehabilitative or recovery care center: A structure regularly utilized as a residence or otherwise used as a meeting place for time periods in excess of four (4) hours per day for two (2) or more days per week primarily for persons who are on criminal probation and/or parole, or who are recently released from prison, delinquent youth facilities or similar correctional or detention facilities, or who are recovering from alcohol or drug abuse problems, or have otherwise demonstrated a tendency toward alcoholism, drug abuse, and social or criminal conduct, and which structure is not the permanent residence of such persons.

Rooming house: A building, other than a hotel, where for compensation and by prearrangement, five (5) or more persons other than occasional or transient customers are provided with lodging.

Street: A public right-of-way which provides vehicular and pedestrian access to adjacent properties.

Street line: A line or boundary separating the public right-of-way from the land or property adjoining.

Structure: Anything constructed or erected which requires location on the ground or attached to something having a location on the ground including, but not limited to, in-ground swimming pools, satellite reception antennae, etc., provided, however, that utility poles, fences, and free-standing walls shall not be considered to be structures.

Yard, front: An open, unoccupied space on the same building site with a main building, extending the full width of the building site and situated between the street line and the front line of the building projected to the side lines of the building site. The depth of the front yard shall be measured between the front line of the building and the street line.

Yard, rear: An open, unoccupied space on the same building site with a main building, extending the full width of the building site and situated between the rear line of the building site and the rear line of the building projected to the side lines of the building site. The depth of the rear yard shall be measured between the rear line of the building site and the rear line of the building.

Yard, side: An open, unoccupied space on the same building site with a main building, situated between the side line of the building and the adjacent side line of the building site and extending from the rear line of the front yard to the front line of the rear yard; if no front yard is provided, the front boundary of the side yard shall be the front line of the building site and, if no rear yard is provided, the rear boundary of the side yard shall be the rear line of the building site.

(Ord. No. 1501, § II, 7-24-73; Ord. No. 2125, 1-14-86; Ord. No. 2157, 8-12-86; Ord. No. 2257, 8-9-88; Ord. No. 2335, §§ 1, 2, 2-13-90; Ord. No. 2369, § 2, 9-11-90; Ord. No. 2372, § 1, 9-11-90; Ord. No. 2466, § 2, 6-9-92; Ord. No. 2481, § 1, 8-11-92; Ord. No. 2643, § 1, 3-14-95; Ord. No. 3176, § 1, 7-10-01; Ord. No. 4075, § 1, 7-9-12; Ord. No. 4785, § 1, 2-11-20)