HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Repealing Section 38-1002 of Zoning Ordinance; Defining Terms in Zoning Ord. ORDINANCE NO. 2264
AN ORDINANCE REPEALING SECTION 38-1002 OF THE ZONING ORDINANCE
OF THE MUNICIPAL CODE OF THE CITY OF AMES, IOWA, AND ESTABLISHING
A NEW SECTION TO BE NUMBERED 38-1002, SETTING FORTH DEFINITIONS
AND RULES OF CONSTRUCTION FOR THE INTERPRETATION OF THE ZONING
ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF AMES, IOWA; THE SPECIFIC SUBJECT OF
THIS ORDINANCE IS THE DEFINITION OF THE WORD "FAMILY" AS USED
IN THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF AMES, IOWA; AND LIMITA-
TIONS UPON -SUCH DEFINITION AS IT IS APPLIED TO DISTRICTS ZONED
"R-1 " AND 11R-2 " ; REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT HEREWITH;
AND ESTABLISHING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
IT IS ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AMES,
IOWA:
Section 1. Section 38-1002 of the Municipal Code of the
City of Ames , Iowa, is hereby repealed.
Section 2 . Section 38-1002 is added to the Municipal
Code of the City of Ames , Iowa, and is as follows :
Sec. 38-1002 . Definitions and rules of construction.
For the purpose of interpreting this chapter, certain
words , terms and expressions are herein defined. Words
used in the present tense include the future; the singular
number includes the plural, the plural includes the
singular; the word "shall" is always mandatory.
(1) Accessory building : A subordinate building,
the use of wnich is incidental to that of the
principal building or to the principal use of the
premises . An accessory use is one which is
incidental to the main use of the premises .
(2) Alley : For tht- purpose of this chapter, a
public thoroughfare not more than twenty-four (24)
feet in width, for the use of vehicles which affords
only a secondary means of access to abutting propert .
(3) Alteration, structural: Any change in the load
bearing members of a building, such as bearing walls
partitions , columns , beams or girders . The
enlargement of the size or height of a building
shall be construed to be a structural alteration.
(4) Apartment: A room or suite of rooms , with
toilet and culinary accommodations used or designed
for use as a residence by a family, located in a
building containing two (2) or more such rooms
or suites or located in a building devoted
primarily to nonresidential use.
(5) Apothecary shop: A shop operated as a retail
use which sells only drugs , prescription medicines ,
medical supplies and appliances and pharmaceutical
products .
(6) Attic: A space under a gable, hip or gambrel,
or other roof, the finished floorof which is , or
would be, at or entirely above the level of the
wall plates of at least two (2) exterior walls ,
and the height of which from the floor level to
the highest point of the roof, does not exceed
ten (10) feet.
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(7) Basement: A basement is a story partly
underground but having at least one-half of the
height of one or more walls above the highest level
of the adjoining ground. A basement shall be
counted as a story under the provisions of this
chapter .
(8) Billboard: Any flat surface twenty (20)
square feet or more in area, erected on a framework,
or attached to posts , buildings or other structures ,
and used for the display of bills , posters or other
advertising matter, pasted, tacked or fastened
thereto.
(9) Block frontage : The frontage of lots facing
the street under consideration which are comprised.
between two (2) adjacent streets or between a
street and a railway right-of-way, a natural barrier
or the adjacent corporation line.
(10) Board: Board of adjustment.
(11) Boardinghouse: A building other than a hotel,
fraternity house or sorority house, where meals
are regularly served for compensation to more than
three (3) persons not members of the family there
residing.
(12) Building: A structure having a roof supported
by columns or walls for shelter , support, or
enclosure of persons , animals or chattels , When
separated by division walls from the ground up
without openings , each portion of such structure
shall be deemed a separate building.
(13) Building, height of: The perpendicular distance
measured in a straight line from the curb level to
the highest point of the roof beams in the case of
flat roofs , and to the average of the height of the
roof in the case of pitched roofs , the measurement
in all cases to be taken through the center of the
front of the building. Where a dwelling is situated
on ground above the curb level, such height shall be
measured from thelevel of the adjoining ground,
at the front building wall, provided the distance
from the building to the street line is not less
than the height of the adjoining ground above the
curb level. Where a dwelling is on a corner lot
and there is more than one grade or level, the
measurement shall be taken from the main entrance
elevation.
(14) Building line : A building set-back line
shall be a line as established under the provisions
of Section 368 . 10, Code of Iowa, 1966.
(15) Building wall : The wall of the principal
building forming a part of the main structure. The
foundation walls of unenclosed porches or piazzas ,
steps and retaining wall or similar structure shall
not be considered as building walls under the provi-
sions of this chapter.
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(16) Business : The word business or commercial
when used herein refers to the engaging in the
purchases , sale or exchange of goods or services ,
or the operation for profit of offices or recreational
or amusement enterprises .
(17) Convalescent home: A building or premises in
or on which care is provided for two (2) or more
invalid, infirm, aged, covalescent, or physically
disabled or injured persons , not including insane
or other mental cases , inebriate, or contagious
cases . Nursing homes are convalescent homes .
(18) Carport: Space for the storage or housing
of motor vehicles and enclosed on not more than two
(2) sides by walls , and is attached to the principal
building.
(19) Court: An open, unoccupied space on the same
lot and fully enclosed on at least three (3)
adjacent sides by walls of the buildings . An
outer court is any court facing for its full
required width on a street, or on any other
required open space not a court.
(20) Cellar : A story having more than one-half (z)
of the height of all walls below the highest level
of the adjoining ground.. A cellar shall not be
considered as a story for the purpose of this
chapter.
(21) Clinic, dental or medical : A building in whic
a group of physicians , dentists or physicians and
dentists and allied professional assistants are
associated for the purpose of carrying on their
profession. The clinic may include a dental
or medical laboratory. It does not include in-
patient care or operating rooms for major surgery.
(22) Club or lodge (private) : An association of
persons for the promotion of some nonprofit object,
who are bona fide members paying annual dues ,
which owns , hires or leases a building, or portion
thereof, except a fraternity or sorority, the use
of such premises being restricted to members and
their quests . It is permissable to serve food
and meals to members and their guests on such
premises provided adequate dining room space
and kitchen facilities are a7ailable and are operated
in compliance with state and local municipal laws .
(23) Curb level : The mean level of the curb or
established curb grade in front of a lot.
(24) District: A section or sections of the area
of the City of Ames for which regulations governing
the use of buildings and premises or the height
and area of buildings are uniform.
(25) Dwelling, detached: A detached dwelling
is one which is entirely surrounded by open space
on the same lot.
(26) Dwelling: A building or portion thereof
designed or used exclusively for residential
occupancy, but not including house trailers,
mobile homes, hotels, motels, boarding and lodging
houses, tourist courts or tourist homes.
(27) Dwelling - single family: A building designed
for or occupied exclusively by one family.
(28) Dwelling - two family: A building designed
for and occupied exclusively by two (2) families.
(29) Dwelling - Multiple family: A building
designed for or occupied exclusively by more than
two (2) families.
(30) Enforcing officer: The City Manager of the
City of Ames, Iowa.
(31) Family: An individual, or two or more persons
related to one another by blood, marriage, or legal
adoption, including foster children, and not
more than two roomers; or in the alternative, not
more than three unrelated persons.
(32) Farm: An area which is used for the growing
of the usual farm products such as vegetables, fruit
trees and grain, and their storage, as well as for
raising thereon of the usual farm poultry and farm
animals such as horses, cattle, sheep and swine.
The term farming includes the operating of such an
area for one or more of the above uses, including
dairy farms with the necessary accessory uses for
treating or storing the produce; provided however,
that the operation of any such accessory uses shall
be secondary to that of the normal farming activitie ,
and provided further that farming does not include
the feeding of garbage or offal to swine or other
animals.
(33) Fraternity and sorority: A building, other
than a hotel that is arranged, intended or designed
to be occupied as a residence for a group of more
than five (5) members that reside and have a
charter granted by the State of Iowa. Yard require-
ments for a dwelling shall apply.
(34) Garage, private: An accessory building or
portion of a building used only for the shelter
and/or storage of vehicles by the occupants of
the dwelling, or the leasing of space as provided
herein, including covered space or carport.
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(35) Garage, public: A building or portion of a
building in which motor vehicles equipped for
operation, repaired, stored or kept for remuneration
hire or sale.
(36) Gasoline service station: A building or a
portion of a building used chiefly in connection
with tanks , pumps and other appliances , for supplying
motor vehicles with gasoline, oil, compressed air,
water and similar supplies , but not for the purposes
of marking repairs . When the dispensing, sale or
offering for sale of motor vehicle fuel at retail
is incidental to the conduct of a public garage, the
premises is classified as a public garage.
(37) Gross Floor area: The sum of the gross
horizontal area of floors of a building, including
interior balconies and mezzanines . All horizontal
dimensions are to be between the exterior faces
of walls .
(38) Home occupations : Any occupation or professio
carried on by a member of the immediate family,
residing on the premises , in connection with which
there is used no sign other than a name plate not
more than one square foot in area or not display
that will indicate from the exterior that the
building is being utilized for any purpose other
than that of a dwelling; there is no commodity sold
upon the premises ; no person is employed other than
a member of the immediate family residing on the
premises ; and no merchanical equipment is used
except such as is customary for purely domestic,
household purposes .
(39) Hospital : An institution providing health
services , primarily for in-patients , and medical
and surgical care of the sick and injured, including
as an integral part of the institution such related
facilities as laboratories , central service
facilities and staff offices .
(40) Hotel: A building occupied as the more or
less temporary abiding place of individuals who
are lodged with or without meals and in which
there are more than twenty-five (25) sleeping rooms
usually occupied independently.
(41) Junkyard or salvage yard: An open area on
any lot or parcel of land which is used for storage,
abandonment or keeping of junk, including scrap
metals or scrap materials , or for the abandonment
or dismantling of machinery, motor vehicles , or
other vehicles or parts thereof.
(42) Laboratories , medical or dental : A laboratory
which provides bacteriological, biological, medical,
X-ray, or pathological service to doctors , dentists ,
or which provides custom or prescription appliances
directly connected with the treatment or care of
human ailments .
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(43) Lawful use: The use of a building or land
which existed on June 1, 1925 , or for which a
zoning permit has been issued thereafter.
(44) Lodging House : A building or portion thereof,
other than a hotel or motel where lodging only is
provided for compensation to three (3) or more
persons including rooming houses .
(45) Lot: A lot is a parcel of land under one
ownership on which a principal building and its
accessories are or may be placed, together with
the required open spaces , having its frontage
upon one or more streets or public place.
(46) Lot area: The area of a horizontal plane,
bounded by the front, side and rear lot lines .
(47) Lot, corner : Lots conforming to the require-
ments of the following specified conditions shall
be considered as corner lots under the provisions
of this chapter :
(a) A lot fronting on two (2) intersecting
streets which form an interior angle of
one hundred and thirty-five degrees (1350)
or less and which lot has a frontage of not
less than-twenty-five (25) feet on each
of such streets .
(b) A lot located at the angle in a street
where the interior angle formed by the inter-
section of the street lines is one hundred
and thirty-five degrees (1350) or less and
which lot has a frontage of not less than
twenty-five (25) feet on each leg of such
angle.
(48) Lot depth: The distance from the front line
to the rear lot line. In the case of a lot of
irregular shape, the mean depth shall be the lot
depth.
(49) Lot, interior : An interior lot is any other
lot than a corner lot.
(50) Lot Width : The distance between the side
lot lines . In the case of a lot of irregular
shape, the mean width shall be the lot width.
(51) Lot line, front: In the case of an interior
lot abutting on only one street, the front lot
line is the street line of such street. In the
case of any other lot, it may be such street
line as is elected by the owner to be the front
line for the purpose of this chapter.
(52) Lot line, rear : That boundary line which is
opposite and most distant from the front line.
(53 ) Lot line, side : Any boundary line not a
front lot line, or a rear lot line.
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(54) Lot of record: A lot which is a part of
a subdivision, the plat of which has been recorded
in the office of the County Recorder of Story County,
Iowa; or a parcel of land, the deed of which was
recorded in the office of the c"unty recorder
prior to the adoption of this chapter (December 21,
1965)
(55) Lot, through: A lot running through the
block from street to street.
(56) Mobile home : Any occupied. vehicle used or
so constructed as to permit it being used as a
conveyance upon the public streets and highways
and duly licensed as such and shall include
self-propelled vehicles so designed, constructed,
reconstructed or added to by means of an enclosed
addition or room in such a manner as will permit
the occupancy thereof as a dwelling or sleeping
place for one or more persons , having no permanent
foundation and supported by wheels , jacks or
similar supports .
(57) Mobile home park: A mobile home park shall
mean any site, lot, field. or tract of land upon
which two (2) or more occupied mobile homes are
harbored, either free of charge or for revenue
purposes , and shall include any building, structure,
tent, vehicle, or enclosure used or intended for
use as a part of such mobile home park.
(58) Motel : A permanent building or group of
buildings so arranged or designed primarily for
temporary occupancy, so laid out as to provide
space for parking vehicles used by the traveling
public. Such building or group of buildings may
include living quarters for the use of operating
personnel.
(59) Nonconforming use : The lawful use of a
building or land on the effective date of this
chapter or amendment thereto, which use does not
conform to the provisions of this chapter for the
district in which it is located.
(60) Nonconforming building or structure : A
building or structure which met all yard, area
and building height regulations existing at the
time of construction, reconstruction or extension
but, because of changes in this chapter, does not
meet all current regulations .
(61) Office : A place where business or services
for others is transacted and not a place where
chattels or goods , wares or merchandise are commonly
created, exchanged or sold.
(62) Parking lot : An area of land, a yard or
other open space on a lot used for or designed
for use by standing motor vehicles , together with
a driveway connecting the parking lot with a
public place.
(63) Parking space : A surfaced area, enclosed or
unenclosed, on a lot sufficient in size to store
one standard automobile, together with a driveway
connecting the parking space with a public
place, street or alley.
(64) Porch, open: A roofed structure, open on
two (2) or more sides , projecting not more than
e jtht (8) feet within the front yard, not more
than three (3) feet within a side yard, and not
more than eight (8) feet within a rear yead. An
open porch may be enclosed by removable storm
windows for periods not exceeding seven (7) months
in a twelve (12) month period.
(65) Pre-school nursery : The facilities of any
dwelling, institution or organization which, for
profit or nonprofit, are used in the temporary
care of six (6) children or more any one time.
(66) Principal building : A principal building is
a non-accessory building in which the principal
use of this lot on which it is low ated is conducted.
(67) Public notice : The publication of the time
and place of any public hearing not less than
fifteen (15) days prior to the date of said hearing
in one newspaper of general circulation within
the municipality.
(68) Public place : An open or unoccupied public
space more than twenty (20) feet in width which
is permanently reserved for the purpose of
primary access to abutting property.
(69) Sign, advertising or poster board: Structures ,
regardless of the material used in the construction
of the same that are erected, maintained or used
to advertise a business or attraction.
(70) Sign, announcement or bulletin board: A
sign or bulletin board, erected on the premises
of a charitable, religious or public institution
for its own uz�e.
(71) Retail store : Goods for sale to the ultimate
consumer for direct consumption and not for resale.
(72) Shop: A use devoted primarily to the sale
of a service or products , but the service is
performed or the product to be sold is prepared
in its finished form on the premises . Packaging
is not considered to be preparation.
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(73 ) Story : A story is that part of a building
comprised between any floor and the floor or attic
next above; the first story of a building is the
lowest story having at least one-half (2) of its
height of one or more walls above the highest
level of adjoining ground.
(74) Setback: The required distance between a
lot line and the closest wall of a conforming
structure on the lot.
(75) Street, public. A public thoroughfare more
than twenty-four (24) feet in width.
(76) Street, front: The street or public place
upon which a lot abuts . If a plot abuts upon
more than one street or public place, it shall
mean the street designated as the front street in
the owner 's application for a building permit.
(77) Street line : The dividing line between a
lot and a public street, alley or place.
(78) Street wall: The wall of the principal
building nearest the street under consideration.
(79) Structure : Anything constructed or erected,
the - use of which requires location on the ground
or attached to something having location on the
ground, but not including fences up to forty-two
(42) inches in height, or poles and appurtenances
thereto used for the provision of public utilities .
(80) Variance: A modification or variation of
the provisions of this chapter as applied to a
specific piece of property, as distinguished
from rezoning.
(81) Yard, front: The space, unobstructed to
the sky, open for the whole width of the lot
extending from the nearest part of any building
on the lot to the front lot line excluding
cornices , eaves , gutters or chimneys projecting
not more than thirty (30) inches , steps , projecting
bay windows or similar features not extending
through more than one story and which do not
aggregate more than one-third (1/3) of the width
of the frontage of the building, and vestibules not
more than one store in height and extending more
than three (3) feet beyond the front wall of the
principal building, one story open porches
extending eight (8) or less feet into the front yard.
(82) Yard, rear : The required open space, un-
obstructed to the sky, extending along the rear
lot lke (not a street line) throughout the whole
width of the lot to the rear of the principal
building, excluding cornices , eaves , gutters and
chimneys projecting not more than thirty (30)
inches , uncovered steps , open porches , not more
than one story in height, and extending not more
than eight (8) feet into the rear year, and
accessory buildings . yAr,-
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(83) Yard, side : The required open space,
unobstructed to the sky, extending along the
side lot line from the front yard to the rear
yard, measured from the nearest point on the
vuilding to the side yard line, excluding cornices ,
eaves , gutters , chimneys , bay windows , and open
porches not exceeding three (3) feet in width,
or similar features extending not more than one
story, in height which project into the side yard
but are three (3) feet or less from the adjacent
lot line.
(84) Zoning permits : The permits issued by the
enforcing officer authorizing the use of the land
for the purpose specified in the document.
Section 3 . All ordinances and parts of ordinances in
conflict herewith are repealed.
Section 4. This ordinance is in full force and effect
from and after its date of publication as provided by law.
Passed this 29th day of July 1968.
Lo ise Whitcome, City Clerk Stuart N. Smith, Mayor
7/16/68 Moved by Judge-Fisher the ordinance pass on lst reading.
Aye: Thurston, Judge, Fellinger, Fisher
Nay: Newell Absent: LeBaron.
Ordinance declared passed on lst reading.
7/23/68 Moved by Fisher-Thurston the ordinance pass on 2nd reading.
Aye : Thurston, Judge, Fellinger, LeBaron, Fisher
Nay: Newell
Ordinance declared passed on 2nd reading.
7/29/68 Moved by Judge-Fisher the ordinance be adopted.
Aye : Thurston, Judge, Fellinger, LeBaron,Fisher
Nay: Newell
Ordinance declared adopted.