For the purpose of this title certain words and terms are defined as follows in this chapter: Words used in the present tense include the future; the singular number includes the plural and the plural the singular. Also, the term "planning commission" is synonymous with the term "planning and zoning commission," and the term "building inspector" is synonymous with the terms "zoning administrator" and "planning and zoning administrator."

(Prior code § 17.08.010)

"Accessory building or use" means a structure or use, on the same parcel, and of a nature customarily incidental and subordinate in size, impact, and purpose to the principal structure or use. Accessory buildings include private garages for the storage of vehicles owned by persons residing on the premises, greenhouses for private use only, private swimming pools, storage sheds, gazebos, pergolas, and arbors.

(Ord. No. NS341 , § 9(Exh. A), 2021)

Editor's note(s)-Ord. No. NS341 , § 9(Exh. A), adopted June 3, 2021, enacted provisions designated as § 17.08.020. Inasmuch as section so numbered already exists and for purposes of alphabetization, said provisions have been redesignated as § 17.08.015 at the discretion of the editor.

"Accessory dwelling unit" means an attached or detached housing unit with a separate entrance, kitchen, and full bathroom facilities that is incidental and subordinate in size, impact, and purpose to a principal dwelling on the same parcel where the primary single-family dwelling is situated.

(Ord. No. NS341 , § 9(Exh. A), 2021)

Editor's note(s)-Ord. No. NS341 , § 9(Exh. A), adopted June 3, 2021, enacted provisions designated as § 17.08.030. Inasmuch as section so numbered already exists and for purposes of alphabetization, said provisions have been redesignated as § 17.08.016 at the discretion of the editor.

"Agriculture" means the growing of soil crops in the customary manner in the open. It shall not include livestock raising activities; nor shall it include retailing of products on the premises.

(Prior code § 17.08.020)

"Apartment house (multiple dwelling)" means any building or portion thereof which is designed, built, rented, or leased, let, or hired out to be occupied or which is occupied as the home or residence of three or more families living independently of each other and doing their own cooking on the premises.

(Prior code § 17.08.030)

"Boardinghouse" or "lodging house" means a building containing not more than one kitchen, where for compensation, meals are provided pursuant to previous arrangements on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis as distinguished from a hotel, cafe, or rooming house.

(Prior code § 17.08.040)

   A.   "Building" means any structure built for the support, shelter, or enclosure of persons, animals, chattels, or property of any kind.

   B.   "Accessory building" means a subordinate building, the use of which is incidental to that of the main building.

   C.   "Main building" means one or more of the principal buildings upon a lot.

   D.   "Building line" means a line designating the minimum distance which buildings must be set back from a street or lot line.

(Prior code § 17.08.050)

"Carport" means a structure not completely enclosed by walls which is for the shelter of automobiles.

(Prior code § 17.08.060)

"Clinic" means a building used for the diagnosis and treatment of ill, infirm or injured persons, but which building does not provide board, room or regular hospital care and services.

(Prior code § 17.08.070)

"Club" means a building used, occupied, and operated by an organized association of persons for social, fraternal, religious, or patriotic purposes, whose activities are confined to the members and their guests, but shall not include any organization, group or association, the principal activity of which is to render a service usually and ordinarily carried on as a business.

(Prior code § 17.08.080)

"Common area" means an area designated to serve two or more dwelling units or separate uses with convenient access to the area.

(Prior code § 17.08.090)

"Comprehensive plan" or "master plan" means a coordinated plan which has been prepared and adopted for the purpose of guiding development, including but not limited to a plan or plans of land use, resources, circulation, housing, and public facilities and grounds.

(Prior code § 17.08.100)

"Conditional use" means a use which requires approval of the board of adjustment, planning commission, or city council before the zoning administrator may issue a permit therefor. Generally, it includes uses which require individual consideration of surrounding conditions and circumstances to carry out the intent and purpose of the land use plan.

(Prior code § 17.08.110)

For "convalescent home," see "rest home" (section 17.08.510).

(Prior code § 17.08.120)

"Convenience centers" means establishments which are designed and intended to serve the daily or frequent trade or service needs of surrounding population. Such establishments include grocery stores, variety stores, drug stores, coin-operated laundry and drycleaning establishments, beauty shops, barber shops, or combination thereof, but do not include repair garages, automobile sales yards, clothing stores, or drive-ins where customers consume food on the premises outside of buildings.

(Prior code § 17.08.130)

"Court apartment" or "dwelling group" means one or more dwellings (other than mobile home parks and farm labor camps), arranged around two or three sides of a court which opens onto a street. "Court apartment" or "dwelling group" may include single-family, two-family, or multiple-family dwellings.

(Prior code § 17.08.140)

"Density" means the number of dwelling units per acre of land.

(Prior code § 17.08.150)

"Retail drive-in" means any form of merchandising, serving or dispensing of goods in which customers are served while in their automobiles.

(Prior code § 17.08.160)

   A.   "Dwelling unit" means one or more rooms in a building designed for living purposes (bathing, eating, and sleeping) and occupied by one family, when:

      1.   The occupants do not live and eat with any other persons in the structure;

      2.   There is either:

         a.   Direct access from the outside or through a common hall; or

         b.   There is a kitchen or cooking equipment for the exclusive use of the occupants.

   B.   "One-family dwelling" means a detached residence designed for or occupied by one family.

   C.   "Two-family dwelling" means a building containing two dwelling units.

   D.   "Multiple-family dwelling" means a building containing three or more dwelling units.

   E.   "Caretaker's dwelling" means a dwelling which is occupied by an individual or family whose function it is to watch or take care of a business or industry which is located on the same premises as the dwelling.

   F.   "Farm labor dwelling" means a dwelling which is occupied by an individual, a group of individuals or a family whose primary source of income is from working directly with agriculture or with livestock.

   G.   For "dwelling group," see "court apartment" (section 17.08.140).

(Prior code § 17.08.170)

"Family" means an individual or two or more persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption living together in a single dwelling unit and maintaining a common household. A family may include two, but not more than two nonrelated persons living with the residing family. "Family" shall not mean a group of nonrelated individuals, a fraternity, club or institutional group.

(Prior code § 17.08.180)

   A.   "Fence" means a barrier to define boundaries, or to decorate, or to confine or exclude people or animals. Materials permitted may consist of timber, earth, stone, living plants, such as hedges, and metal. Interior fences shall not be subject to the provisions of this ordinance, with the exception of height restrictions and materials permitted for use.

   B.   "Sight obscuring fence" means a fence which permits vision through not more than ten percent of each square foot more than eight inches above ground. Fences or planting shall be arranged in such a way as to effectively prevent vision of objects which are screened by it.

(Prior code § 17.08.190; Ord. NS243, 2003)

Editor's note(s)-Ord. NS243, adopted Feb. 3, 2003, changed the title of § 17.08.190 from "Fence, sight obscuring" to "Fence, sight obscuring fence."

"Floor area" means the sum of the areas of the several floors of the building, including basements, mezzanines, and penthouses, of headroom height (six feet), measured from the exterior walls or from the centerline of walls separating buildings. The "floor area" does not include unoccupied features such as pipe trenches, exterior terraces or steps, chimneys, roof overhangs, etc.

(Prior code § 17.08.200)

In determining the requirements of this title, whenever a fraction of a number or unit is one-half or more, and whenever a fraction of a number or unit resulting from a computation is one-half or more, said fraction shall be considered as a whole number or a unit. Where the fraction is less than one-half, said fraction shall not be considered in determining the number.

(Prior code § 17.08.210)

"Private garage" means a building or part thereof designed for the parking or temporary storage of automobiles of the occupants of the premises.

(Prior code § 17.08.220)

"Grade" means the average of the finished ground level at the center of all walls of a building.

(Prior code § 17.08.230)

"Guest" means a person staying or receiving services for compensation at a hotel, motel, boardinghouse, rooming house or rest home, or similar use.

(Prior code § 17.08.240)

"Height of building" means the vertical distance from the grade to top of the building walls. Where building walls vary in height along a side, the height of the building shall be determined by mutliplying the length of each section of said wall by its height and dividing the sum derived therefrom by the total length of said wall.

(Prior code § 17.08.250)

"Home occupation" means any occupation conducted within a dwelling and carried on by persons residing in the dwelling.

(Prior code § 17.08.260)

"Hospital" means a building in which ten or more ill or injured human beings are offered board and room while being treated for such illness or injury in accordance with instructions and procedures prescribed by persons registered to practice the healing arts in the state.

(Prior code § 17.08.270)

"Hotel" means any building used, rented, or hired out to be occupied on a daily or weekly basis for sleeping purposes by guests.

(Prior code § 17.08.280)

"Junkyard" means a place where scrap, waste, discarded or salvaged materials such as glass and paper are bought, sold, exchanged, baled, packed, disassembled, or handled or stored, including auto wrecking yards, house wrecking yards, used lumber yards and places or yards for storage of salvaged house wrecking and structural steel materials and equipment. This definition does not include places where such uses are conducted entirely within a completely enclosed building or where salvaged materials are kept incidental to manufacturing operations conducted on the premises.

(Prior code § 17.08.290)

"Kennel" means land or buildings used in the keeping of four or more dogs over four months old.

(Prior code § 17.08.300)

"Landscaping" means the application or use of some combination of planted trees, shrubs, vines, ground cover, flowers, or lawns. In addition, the combination or design may include rocks and such structural features as fountains, pools, art works, screens, walls, fences, or benches, but such objects alone shall not meet the requirements of this title. The selected combination of objects for landscaping purposes shall be arranged in a harmonious manner as determined by the zoning administrator.

(Prior code § 17.08.310)

"Land use plan" means a plan adopted and maintained by the city council which shows how the land should be used-an element of the comprehensive plan.

(Prior code § 17.08.320)

"Livestock corral" means a place or pen where livestock are kept as part of an agricultural enterprise or operation as distinguished from a livestock feed yard.

(Prior code § 17.08.330)

"Livestock feed yard" means a feeding operation on a parcel of land where livestock are kept or exchanged in corrals or yards on a sustained basis and where the feed is brought to the yard, as contrasted to feed obtained through grazing the animals on the premises.

(Prior code § 17.08.340)

"Living open space" means that portion of the yards on a zoning lot which is not used by automotive vehicles, but which is reserved for outdoor living space, recreational space and landscaping.

(Prior code § 17.08.350)

For "lodging house," see "boardinghouse" (section 17.08.040).

(Prior code § 17.08.360)

   A.   "Lot" means a single parcel or tract of land.

   B.   "Corner lot" means a lot situated at a junction of two or more public streets, or situated on a curved street or way whose radius is 35 feet or less, and where the angle formed by the intersection of the tangent is 105 degrees or less.

   C.   "Interior lot" means a lot other than a corner lot.

   D.   "Lot of record" means a lot designed on a subdivision plat or shown by deed, duly recorded pursuant to statute in the county recorder's office. A lot of record may or may not coincide with a zoning lot.

   E.   "Zoning lot" means a parcel of land, composed of one or more recorded lots, occupied or to be occupied by a principal building or buildings or principal use or uses along with permitted accessory buildings or uses, meeting all of the requirements for area, buildable area, frontage, width, yards, setbacks, and any other requirements set forth in this title.

(Prior code § 17.08.370)

"Lot coverage" means the total percentage of the lot covered with buildings/structures and impervious surfaces other than landscaping, gravel, walls, and fences.

(Ord. No. NS341 , § 9(Exh. A), 2021)

Editor's note(s)-Ord. No. NS341 , § 9(Exh. A), adopted June 3, 2021, enacted provisions designated as § 17.08.390. Inasmuch as section so numbered already exists and for purposes of alphabetization, said provisions have been redesignated as § 17.08.375 at the discretion of the editor.

For "master plan," see "comprehensive plan" (section 17.08.100).

(Prior code § 17.08.380)

"Mobile home" means a dwelling unit which rests on wheels. The term "mobile home" shall not include a house which is manufactured elsewhere and moved onto a building site, for use as a permanent house.

(Prior code § 17.08.390)

"Mobile home park" means an area or tract of land used to accommodate two or more mobile homes.

(Prior code § 17.08.400)

"Motel," "tourist home" or "motor hotel" means one or more buildings containing individual sleeping rooms or living units designed for use by automobile tourists or transients, with garage attached or parking space conveniently located to each unit.

(Prior code § 17.08.410)

"Nonconforming building" means a building, structure, or portion thereof, which does not conform to the regulations of this title applicable to the zone or district in which such building is situated, but which legally existed prior to the effective date of the ordinance codified herein.

(Prior code § 17.08.420)

"Nonconforming use" means a use of premises which does not conform to the regulations of this title, but which existed at the effective date of the ordinance codified in this title.

(Prior code § 17.08.430)

"Plant nursery" means buildings, land and facilities for the cultivation of plans for subsequent replanting. It also includes the cultivation of watergrown agricultural products.

(Prior code § 17.08.440)

"Outdoor storage" means the keeping, in an unroofed area, of any goods, material, scrap, merchandise, or vehicles in the same place for more than 30 days. Fleet/company vehicles, equipment attached to fleet/company vehicles, short-term customer and staff parking, and approved trash enclosures shall not be considered outdoor storage.

(Ord. No. NS344 , § 7(Exh. A), 2021)

Editor's note(s)-Ord. No. NS344 , § 7(Exh. A), adopted July 29, 2021, enacted provisions designated as § 17.08.450. Inasmuch as section so numbered already exists and for purposes of alphabetization, said provisions have been redesignated as § 17.08.445 at the discretion of the editor.

"Parking space" means a space, not less than 20 feet in length and not less than eight and five-tenths-feet in width for the parking of a mobile vehicle, exclusive of driveways and ramps.

(Prior code § 17.08.450)

"Planned unit development" means a tract of land which is planned and developed as a single entity wherein the zoning requirements applying to buildings and improvements are modified to conform to the approved plan.

(Prior code § 17.08.460)

"Planting plan" means a plan showing the location and dimensions of planting beds, irrigation equipment, curbs and other protective features around the edge of the planting beds and the location and species of plants to be planted in the beds.

(Prior code § 17.08.470)

"Premises" means a zoning lot together with buildings and structures located thereon.

(Prior code § 17.08.480)

"Premises occupation" means an occupation conducted on the premises outside of a dwelling, by persons residing on the premises.

(Prior code § 17.08.490)

"Public parks and playgrounds" means a tract of land which is owned by a public agency and which has been partially or totally developed or designated for recreational purposes.

(Prior code § 17.08.500)

Definitions. "Recreational vehicle (RV)" is a large enclosed piece of equipment with wheels, which may or may not be self-propelled, designed to be temporary lodging. RV's may be further described as one of the following:

   A.   Truck Camper. A unit affixed to the bed or chassis of a pickup truck.

   B.   Folding Camping Trailer (Pop-up Trailer). A light-weight unit with sides that collapse for towing and storage.

   C.   Travel Trailer. A unit with rigid sides designed to be towed on a bumper or frame hitch.

   D.   Fifth-Wheel Travel Trailer. Designed to be towed by a vehicle equipped with a special fifth-wheel hitch.

   E.   Motorhome.

      *   Class A Motorcoach. Constructed on a specially designed motor vehicle chassis, typically resembling a bus.

      *   Class B Campervan. Built using a conventional van, to which a raised roof has been added.

      *   Class C Mini-motorhome. Built on an automotive manufactured chassis with an attached van cab section.

   F.   Toterhome. A motor home built around a semi truck chassis and is an enlarged sleeper quarters affixed to the semi tractor.

(Ord. NS271, § 1(Exh. A), 2006; Ord. NS272, § 1(Exh. A), 2006; Ord. NS274, § 1, 2006

"Nursing rest home" means a building for the care and keeping of elderly or infirm people afflicted with infirmities or chronic illness.

(Prior code § 17.08.510)

"Rooming house" means a building where, for compensation, sleeping accommodations are provided pursuant to previous arrangements on a daily or weekly basis as distinguished from a boardinghouse or hotel.

(Prior code § 17.08.520)

For "salvage yard," see "junkyard" (section 17.08.290).

(Prior code § 17.08.530)

"Setback" means the shortest distance between the property line and the foundation, wall, or main frame of the building.

(Prior code § 17.08.540)

   A.   "Sign" means any device for visual communication that is used for the purpose of bringing the subject shown thereon to the attention of the public, but not including a flagpole. Neither should a "welcome-type" greeting, facing in a northerly direction on the city's water tank be considered as a "sign" in this definition.

   B.   "Accessory sign" means a sign which directs attention to a business or profession conducted on the premises.

   C.   Reserved.

   D.   "Nonaccessory sign" or "billboard" means a sign, typically located on the interstate or major arterial roads, which directs attention to a business, commodity, service or entertainment, conducted, sold, or offered elsewhere than on the premises, and only incidentally on the premises, if at all.

   E.   "Freestanding sign" means a sign which is not attached to or part of a building.

   F.   "Projecting sign" means a building-mounted, double-sided sign with the two faces generally perpendicular to the building wall, not to include signs located on a canopy, awning, or marquee.

   G.   "Temporary sign" means any sign that is not permanent.

   H.   "Wall sign" means a sign painted on the outside of a building or a sign attached flat to or pinned away from the wall with a face horizontally parallel to the building. For the purposes of these regulations gas station canopy signs shall be considered wall signs.

(Ord. NS-31, 1975; prior code § 17.08.550; Ord. No. NS343 , § 7(Exh. A), 2021)

"Special exception-Conditional use" means a use which is not specifically permitted in a zone, e.g., an electric substation in a residential zone, but which may be permitted as a special exception, subject to compliance with conditions prescribed by the board of adjustment.

(Prior code § 17.08.560)

"Story" means that portion of a building included between the surface of a floor and the ceiling next above it.

(Prior code § 17.08.570)

"Major street" means any road as shown or designated on the major street plan as an arterial or collector street.

(Prior code § 17.08.580)

"Minor street" means any dedicated street serving as the principal means of access to property, which street is not shown on the major street plan as an arterial or collector street.

(Prior code § 17.08.590)

"Travel trailer," "camper" or "motor home" means any trailer house or camper, used or maintained primarily as a temporary dwelling for travel, vacation or recreation purposes.

(Prior code § 17.08.600)

"Travel trailer court" means an area or tract of land used to accommodate two or more travel trailers for a short period of time (less than 30 days).

(Prior code § 17.08.610)

"Variance" means a waiver or reduction in required area of lot or yard dimension, below the requirements set forth in this title.

(Prior code § 17.08.620)

"Waste disposal site" means a tract of land devoted to the disposal of solid wastes including garbage, rubbish, trash, and other refuse material but not including earth or other totally inert material.

(Prior code § 17.08.630)

   A.   "Yard" means an open space on the same lot with a building, unoccupied or unobstructed from the ground upward, except as otherwise provided in this title.

   B.   "Front yard" means the minimum horizontal distance between the street line and the front line of the building, excluding nonenclosed steps. On a corner lot, the front yard may be applied to either street.

   C.   "Rear yard" means an open, unoccupied space on the same lot as a building, measured from the rear line of the building (exclusive of steps) and the rear lot line, and extending for the entire distance of the required lot. In case of a corner lot where the building facade faces on the side street, the rear yard may be established from the side of the house to the side property line.

   D.   "Required yard" means the open space around buildings which is required by the terms of this title.

   E.   "Side yard" means a yard between the building and the side line of the lot and extending from the front yard to the rear yard.

(Prior code § 17.08.640)

"Large scale development" means a planned unit development, mobile home park, mobile home subdivision, travel trailer court, group dwelling or farm labor camp which has been approved by the city council.

(Prior code § 17.08.650)