MONROE COUNTY ZONING RESOLUTION

Transcription

1 MONROE COUNTY ZONING RESOLUTION Art. I. Purpose and Enactment Art. II. Short Title Art. III. Definitions of Terms Used in This Appendix, 31, 32 Art. IV. Establishment of Districts, Art. V. Application of Regulations, Art. VI. General Provisions, Art. VII. Use and Dimensional Requirements by District, Art. VIII. Special Provisions, Art. IX. Zoning Administration, Art. X. Procedure for Amendment of the Zoning Appendix for the Unincorporated Area of Monroe County, Georgia, Art. XI. Enforcement and Remedies, 111, 112 Art. XII. Legal Status Provisions,

2 ARTICLE I. PURPOSE AND ENACTMENT The board of commissioners of Monroe County, Georgia under the authority of Article IX, Section 2, Paragraph 4 of the Constitution of the State of Georgia does hereby ordain and enact into law the Official Zoning Resolution for the unincorporated area of Monroe County, Georgia for the following purposes: To promote and protect the health, safety, morals, convenience, order, economic prosperity, and general welfare of the present and future inhabitants of Monroe County; To achieve such density and distribution of land development as will prevent traffic congestion and traffic hazards on streets and roads within the unincorporated area of Monroe County; To encourage such pattern of development as will secure safety from fire, panic, and other dangers; To achieve such timing, density, and distribution of land development and use as will prevent the overburdening and facilitate the efficient and adequate provision of public services and facilities; To achieve such density and distribution of housing and other uses as will protect and enhance residential property values; and To preserve the natural resources, assets, and beauty of the unincorporated area of Monroe County and encourage architecturally pleasing development. ARTICLE II. SHORT TITLE This resolution shall be known and may be cited as "The Zoning Resolution for the Unincorporated Area of Monroe County, Georgia." Section 31. General. ARTICLE III. DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED IN THIS APPENDIX Except as otherwise provided herein, all words shall have their customary dictionary meaning. The present tense includes the future tense and the future tense includes the present tense. The singular number includes the plural and the plural includes the singular. Words or terms importing the masculine gender include the feminine and neuter. The word "person" includes a firm, corporation, association, organization, trust, or partnership. The word "lot" includes "plot" or "parcel." The word "building" includes all other structures of every kind. The word "shall" is always mandatory. The word "may" is permissive. The words "used" 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." The word "map" means the "Official Zoning District Maps for the Unincorporated Area of Monroe County, Georgia." The words "zone," "zoning district," and "district" have the same meaning. When connecting two (2) or more permissible uses or activities, the word "or" shall be construed to include the word "and." Section 32. Specific definitions. When used in this resolution, the following words and phrases shall have the meaning given in this section: 2

3 Accessory buildings: A building subordinate to the main building on a lot or space and used for purposes customarily incidental to those of the main building or use, which is located behind or on the side of the main building Accessory use or structure: A use or structure customarily incidental or subordinate to, but related to the principal structure, building, or use of land and located on the same lot with such principal use or structure. Accessory dwelling unit: A second dwelling unit, either attached to an existing structure or freestanding, for use as a complete, independent living facility for a single household, with provision within for cooking, sanitation, and sleeping. Active recreational facilities: Equipment and areas prepared for active use for recreational and leisure purposes, including but not limited to: playground equipment (swing sets and climbing structures); courts for basketball, volleyball, and tennis; leveled, striped fields for football, soccer, or multiple purposes; community picnic pavilions (including covered facilities with grills and/or fire rings); community buildings for recreational events, and golf courses, excluding clubhouses, developed areas and accessory uses. Agriculture or Agricultural: A Parcel used primarily for soil-dependent cultivation of agricultural crop production, the raising of livestock or forestry. Airport: An area of land designed and set aside for landing and take-off of aircraft, including all necessary facilities for the housing and maintenance of aircraft. Alley: A public right-of-way dedicated to and accepted by a governing body, whose primary function is to provide vehicular service access to the rear or side of properties otherwise abutting on a street. Apartment: See Dwelling, Multi-Family. A suite of two (2) or more rooms and a bath which is designed to according to Standard Building Code and designed or intended for occupancy by one (1) family or one (1) person doing its cooking therein. An apartment is regarded as a dwelling unit. A structure containing two (2) apartments is a duplex. A structure containing 3 or more apartments is a multi-family dwelling. Applicant: Any person who applies for a rezoning action, variance, conditional use permit, sign permit, certificate of zoning compliance or building permit, and any attorney or other person representing or acting on behalf of a person who applies for a rezoning action. Arterial streets and highways: Those that are primarily designed to accommodate fast or heavy traffic. Automobile Sales Lot: A premises designed or used for storage and display fore sale of automobiles, motorcycles, recreational vehicles, or other motorized vehicles. Motorized vehicles for sale will typically be stored outside. All other activities must be in an enclosed building. Automobile repair garage: Any area of land, including any building or structures thereon, that is used for the storage, servicing, repairing, equipping, or hiring of motor vehicles. Automobile service station: Any area of land, including any buildings or structures thereon, that is used to dispense motor vehicle fuels, oils, and accessories at retail, and where repair service is incidental and no storage or parking space is offered for rent. Those services offered by a convenience store, as defined in this 3

4 section, may also be conducted as part of everyday business. Bed and breakfast (B&B): A private residence that offers sleeping accommodations to lodgers in fourteen (14) or fewer rooms for rent, in the innkeeper's (owner or operator) principal residence while renting rooms to lodgers; and serves breakfasts at no extra cost to its lodgers. For the purpose of this definition, a lodger means a person who rents a room in a bed-and-breakfast establishment for fewer than fifteen (15) consecutive days. A dwelling unit, other than a hotel, motel or boarding house or portion thereof, where short-term lodging rooms and meals are provided to registered guests for compensation. The operator of the Bed and Breakfast must live on the premises. Board of commissioners: The Monroe County Board of Commissioners. Boarding House: A building other than a hotel where lodging and meals are provided for compensation or by pre-arrangement for at least 3 and not more than 20 persons at any one time. A Building other than a hotel is not considered a boarding house by reason of a contribution to or an expense sharing arrangement with the owner or tenant occupying the dwelling by a person related by blood or marriage. Borrow Pit: An extracted area where naturally occurring earthen materials are to be removed for use as ordinary fill at another location. Buffer Area: A landscaped or naturalized area used to separate and partially obstruct the view of a development or property from adjacent or contiguous development or property. This area shall be in addition to any required area, yard, and/or height requirements. Building: Any temporary or permanent structure having a roof impervious to weather and used or designated for the shelter or enclosure of persons, animals, chattels, or property of any kind, including tents, cabanas, and vehicles situated on private property and serving in any way the function of a building. Building, accessory: See "accessory use or structure." Building, alterations of: Any change in the supporting members of a building or structure, such as bearing walls, beams, columns, and girders, except such change as may be required for its safety, or any addition to a building, or any change in use resulting from moving a building from one (1) location to another. Building Inspector: The Monroe County Building Inspector. Building, principal: The primary building on a lot or a building that houses a principal use. Business Entity: Any corporation, partnership, limited partnership, firm, enterprise, franchise, association or trust. Business, retail: Business establishments that generally sell commodities or services in varying quantities to the general public. These commodities or services are mainly for the use of the purchaser. Business, wholesale: Business establishments that generally sell commodities or services in large quantities or by the piece to retailers, jobbers, other wholesale businesses, or manufacturing establishments. These commodities or services are mainly for resale, for use in the fabrication of a product, or for use by a business service. 4

5 Camp or Campground: A plot of ground upon which two or more campsites are located, established, or maintained for occupancy by camping units (including, but not limited to: cabins, tents, recreational vehicles or travel trailers) as temporary living quarters. In this instance, temporary refers to occupancy for not more than thirty (30) continuous days with exception of the owner and/or campground host. Carport: A roofed, accessory building or structure, not necessarily fully enclosed on the sides and usually open on two or more sides, made of canvas, aluminum, wood, or any combination thereof, including such materials on movable frames, for the shade and shelter of private passenger vehicles or other motorized or non-motorized equipment such as tractors and boats. Cemetery, Religious Institution: A plot of ground, building, mausoleum, or other enclosure owned by a religious institution and used for the burial of deceased persons who are generally members of that religious institution. Cemetery, Private: Any plot of ground, building, mausoleum, or other enclosure used for the burial of deceased persons of one collateral line of descent. Cemetery, Public: A plot of ground, building, mausoleum, or other enclosure located on public property and used for the burial of deceased persons. Change of occupancy: A discontinuance of an existing use and substitution of a use of a different kind or class. Change of occupancy does not include a change of tenants or proprietors unless accompanied by a change in type of use. Church: A building or structure, or groups of buildings or structures that by design and construction are primarily intended for conducting organized religious services. Associated accessory uses include but are not limited to: residence for pastor, minister, priest, or rabbi, schools, meeting halls, recreational facilities, day care, and kitchens. This term includes synagogues, temples, and other places of worship. Clinic: A building where human patients, who are not lodged overnight, are admitted for examination and treatment. Club: Buildings and facilities owned or operated by a corporation, association, person, or persons for social, educational, or recreational purposes, but not primarily for profit or to render a service to the general public. Collector streets: Streets whose primary purpose is to carry traffic from minor streets to the major system of freeways, expressways, and arterial streets and highways. Commercial recreational facility, outdoor: A recreational land use conducted outside of a building, characterized by potentially substantial impacts on traffic, the natural environment, and the surrounding neighborhood, including but not limited to the following: amusement parks, stadiums, amphitheaters, fairgrounds, drive-in theaters, golf driving ranges, miniature golf courses, batting cages, race tracks for animals or motor-driven vehicles, unenclosed firearms shooting ranges and turkey shoots, fishing ponds, equestrian centers and horse and pony riding rinks, botanical and zoological gardens, zoos for exotic animals or wildlife, recreational vehicle parks, and ultra-light flight parks. This term does not cover those uses listed under the recreation, active or recreation, passive definitions. Community Center: A place, structure, area, or other facility used for and providing religious, fraternal, social, and/or recreational programs generally open to the public and designed to accommodate and serve significant segments of the community. 5

6 Comprehensive Plan: The Comprehensive plan for Forsyth-Monroe County adopted and as may be amended from time to time. Conditional Use: A use which is not permitted inherently but which may be permitted within a zoning district subject to approval by the Board of Commissioners. Condominium: An estate in real property consisting of an undivided interest with other purchasers in the common grounds together with a separate interest in a dwelling unit location on the common grounds. Construction, actual: The commencement and continuous, uninterrupted prosecution of construction for the purpose of permanent placement and fastening of materials to the land or structure, for which a permit required pursuant to this resolution or a commercial development permit, if required, has been issued for the same purposes. Construction includes filling, grading, the installation of drainage facilities, and substantial demolition, clearing, excavation, or removal of an existing structure preparatory to new construction, provided that work shall be reasonably continuous until the completion of the new construction. Convenience store: A retail store, usually with a floor area less than 6,000 square feet, that sells convenience goods, such as prepackaged food items and a limited line of groceries. Convenience stores may or may not sell gasoline, diesel, and kerosene but do not include automotive repair or maintenance services. A convenience store is an enclosed retail trade establishment. County: Monroe County, Georgia. Day care center: Any place operated by a person, society, agency, corporation, institution or group, and licensed or registered by the State of Georgia as a group day care home or day care center, wherein are received for pay for group supervision and care, for fewer than twenty-four (24) hours per day, seven (7) or more children under eighteen (18) years of age for more than four (4) hours and less than twenty-four (24) hours per day. This definition also includes nurseries, pre-kindergarten facilities, and playschools. Day care home: Any place operated by any person, who receives for pay three (3) to six (6) children under seventeen (18) years of age for group care, without transfer of custody, for more than four (4) hours and less than twenty-four (24) hours per day. Density: This term refers to the intensity of land use for a total project. When referring to residential area, density is defined as the number of housing units per acre as allowed by the district in which the property is located or as authorized in development standards of this ordinance. Unless otherwise stated, density figures are to be in terms of net acres, or the land devoted to residential use exclusive of streets or unbuildable acreage that includes but is not limited to wetlands, floodplains or steep slopes. Development plan: A to-scale drawing of a single-family residential, multi-family residential, institutional, office, commercial, or industrial development, or some combination thereof, showing the general layout of a proposed development including among other features the location of buildings, parking areas, buffers and landscaping, and open spaces. The development plan and related information form the basis of approval or disapproval of a development in the PD district. District: A section of Monroe County, Georgia where the zoning is uniform. Dry Cleaners: A Business that provides laundry cleaning, excluding self-service, and contains on the premises equipment necessary for laundry processing and/or cleaning. 6

7 Dwelling: Any permanently sited building or portion thereof, which is used or is designed to be used for residential purposes. Dwelling, multi-family: A building designed, constructed, altered or used for three (3) or more adjoining dwelling units, where the occupants of each individual unit are living independently of each other, with each dwelling unit having a party wall and/or party floor connecting it to at least one other dwelling unit in the same building. This includes apartments. Dwelling, single-family: A permanently sited building occupied or designed to be occupied exclusively by one (1) family, not including dwellings defined herein as manufactured homes or an accessory dwelling unit. Dwelling, two-family (duplex): A residence building designed for, or used as, the separate homes or residence of two (2) separate and distinct families, having the exterior appearance of a single-family dwelling house. Each individual unit in the duplex shall have a separate and direct access to the outside and each individual unit is to be occupied exclusively by one (1) family or no more than three (3) unrelated individuals. Dwelling unit: A dwelling or portion thereof providing complete living facilities for one (1) family. Easement: A grant of one (1) or more property rights by the owner to, or for the use by, the public, a corporation, a business entity, or another person or entity. Expressways: Those highways or streets which are used primarily for fast or heavy through traffic and which are divided with full or partial control of access and with no crossings at grade and generally with grade separation at intersections. Family: One (1) or more persons living together as a single housekeeping unit. Firearm repair business: Any establishment where the sole function lies in the repair of firearms. Flea market: The use of land, structures or buildings for the sale of produce or goods, usually second-hand or cut-rate. A flea market is an open air business that shall have a place for storage of all goods and produce after the market closes. Frontage, lot: The distance for which the front boundary line of the lot and the street right-of-way line are coincident. Garage: A building, or part thereof, used or designed to be used for the parking and storage of vehicles. A garage is distinguished from a carport in that it is fully enclosed. It may be attached to a single-family dwelling or may be an accessory building. Gross floor area: The total area of a building measured by taking the outside dimensions of the building at each floor level intended for occupancy or storage. Group Home: A residence under the ownership and supervision of a public, educational, or governmental institution occupied or intended for occupancy by several unrelated persons or families but where separate cooking facilities are not provided for such resident persons or families. Home business: An occupation for gain or support conducted only by members of a family residing on the premises and entirely within the main dwelling or accessory buildings with a portion of the activities including 7

8 on-premises retail sales. Home occupation: Any use, occupation or activity conducted entirely within or on the same lot as a dwelling by a resident or residents thereof, which is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for residence purposes and does not change the character thereof. Home Office: An office use conducted entirely within a dwelling unit or accessory building, which is carried on solely by the unit s occupant and is incidental and secondary to the principal use of the dwelling. The office may be for the purpose of service or trade workers who customarily work at various locations, such as electricians, plumbers, appraisers, real estate salesperson, or individuals who work at home, such as writers or computer programmers. Home offices shall not on site retail sales. Hotel: A commercial lodging service with one or more buildings devoted to the temporary shelter (15 days or less in one room) for the traveling public, and where entry to individual guest rooms is via a central lobby. A hotel may include as accessory uses the following: full dining, public bar, retail uses, and special event or conference center facilities. Industrial Park: A tract of land subdivided and developed according to a comprehensive development plan in a manner that provides a park setting for industrial establishments. Industrialized building: A factory fabricated transportable building consisting of unites designed for incorporation into a permanent structure at a building site on a permanent foundation to be used for residential purposes. A modular home shall be certified by the manufacturer to meet the approval of the State Building Administration Board (SAAB) to meet the same requirements as a site built home within Monroe County. Institution: A non-profit corporation or a non-profit establishment. Junk: Old or scrap copper, brass, rope, rags, batteries, paper, trash, rubber debris or waste, junked, dismantled or wrecked automobiles or parts thereof, or iron, steel, and old scrap ferrous or nonferrous metal. Junk Yard: A lot, land or building, or part thereof, used primarily for the collection, storage, and sale of waste paper, rags, scrap metal, or discarded material, or for the collection, dismantling, storage, and salvaging of machinery or vehicles not in running condition, or for the sale or parts thereof. Junk Yards must be fully screened on all sides. Junk Vehicle: Any wrecked, dismantled, or non-operating motorized vehicle that does not bear a current license plate. Also includes non-operational farm equipment and farm implements. Kennel: Any facility used for the purpose of commercial boarding or sale of domestic animals or pets such as but not limited to dogs and cats, and any other customarily incidental treatment of the animals such as grooming, cleaning, selling of pet supplies, or otherwise. Kindergarten: A school for pre-elementary school children ranging in age from 4 through 6 years, which operates for less than 4 hours per day. Landfill: A disposal facility where any amount of solid waste, whether or not mixed with or including commercial waste, industrial waste, nonhazardous sludges, or small quantity generator hazardous waste, is disposed of by means of placing an approved cover thereon. Landfills are further divided into three categories below: 8

9 Construction and demolition: A disposal facility accepting waste building materials and rubble resulting from construction, remodeling, repair and demolition operations on pavements, houses, commercial buildings, and other structures. Such wastes include, but are not limited to, wood, bricks, metal, concrete, wall board, paper, cardboard, inert waste landfill material and other inert wastes which have a low potential for groundwater contamination. Inert waste: A disposal facility accepting only wastes that will not or are not likely to cause production of leachate of environmental concern. Such wastes are limited to earth and earth-like products, concrete, cured asphalt, rock, bricks, yard trimmings, stumps, limbs, and leaves, and specifically excluding construction and demolition waste. Sanitary: The burial of non-hazardous waste where such waste is covered on a daily basis, as distinguished from a construction and demolition or inert landfill. Laundromat: A business that provides home-type washing, drying, ironing machines or coin operated dry cleaning machines for hire and use by customers on the premises. Laundry and Dry Cleaning Pick-Up: A business that provides only for the convenience of taking and picking up laundry and which does not have any onsite equipment for processing laundry. Light Manufacturing Structure or Use: An establishment or use for production, processing, assembly, manufacturing, compounding, preparation, cleaning, servicing, testing or repair of materials, goods or products that does not produce or emit offensive or environmentally unsafe noise, odor, fumes, or smoke and does not require flammable materials for resale or storage. Examples of light manufacturing include but are not limited to warehouses, distribution centers, manufacturing and assembly of clothing, electric appliances, etc. Local commercial and industrial streets: Those streets whose primary function is to provide access to the abutting commercial and industrial properties. Local residential streets: Including cul-de-sacs, those streets whose primary function is to provide access to the abutting properties. Lodging House: See Boarding House. Lot: A parcel of land occupied or to be occupied by one (1) or more main buildings and accessory buildings with such open and parking spaces as are required by the provisions of this resolution and having its frontage upon a public street or streets. Lot of record: A lot or parcel of land whose existence, location, and dimensions have been recorded in the office of the Clerk of the superior court of the county. Lot width: The distance between lot sidelines measured at the building site. Lunch Counter: A retail establishment where the preparation and serving of food is not the principal business of the retail establishment, defined as not generating the largest percentage of gross sales or occupying the largest percentage of the retail floor area. Food served in the establishment shall be unpackaged, in individual servings, and in a ready-to-consume state. Customers shall be served while seated at tables or counters located within the building. 9

10 Major Utility Facility: All utility facilities other than minor utilities. Including public utilities serving regional areas and public utility service ad storage yards. Examples include, but are not limited to, uses such as electrical substations, water and sewer treatment facilities, and water towers. This definition excludes public utility transmission lines. Manufactured home: A structure, transportable in one (1) or more sections which, in the traveling mode, is eight (8) body feet or more in width or forty (40) body feet or more in length; when erected on site, is three hundred twenty (320) or more square feet in floor area, and which is built on permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein; or a structure that otherwise comes within the definition of a "manufactured home" under the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, as amended (42 U.S.C ). Manufactured home class A: A class A manufactured home will meet the following standards: (1) Contain more than seven hundred fifty (750) square feet of occupied space in a single, double, expanded, or multi-section unit (including those with add-a-room units). (2) Be placed on a permanent foundation. (3) Wheels, axles, and hitch mechanisms will be removed. (4) Utilities will be connected in accordance with manufacturer's specifications and state requirements. (5) Bear an insignia of compliance with the Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Code as of June 15, 1976, and at the time of placement meets applicable building codes. Manufactured home class C: A class "C" manufactured home (built before 1976) will meet the following standards: (1) Contain more than three hundred twenty (320) square feet of occupied space in a single, double, expanded, or multi-section unit (including those with add-a-room units). (2) Be placed on a support system in accordance with approved installation standards. (3) Be enclosed with foundation siding/skirting in accordance with approved installation standards. (4) Utilities will be connected in accordance with a manufacturer's specifications and state requirements. (5) Bear an insignia of compliance with the Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Code as of June 15, 1976, and at the time of placement meets applicable building codes. Manufactured home park: Any property on which three (3) or more manufactured homes, recreational vehicles, or combination thereof are located or intended to be located for purposes of residential or recreational occupancy. Manufactured home space: A parcel of land within a manufactured home park which is reserved or leased for the placement of an individual manufactured home and accessory structures for the exclusive use of its occupants. 10

11 Manufacturing, Processing and Assembling: The mechanical or chemical transformation of materials or substances into new products. The land uses engaged in these activities are usually described as plants, factories or mills and characteristically used power driven machines and materials handling equipment. Establishments engaged in assembling components parts of manufactured products are also considered under this definition if the new product is neither a fixed structure nor other fixed improvement. Also included is the blending of materials such as lubricating oils, plastic resins or liquors. Marina: a facility for storing, servicing, fueling, berthing and securing and launching of private pleasure craft that may include the sale of fuel and incidental supplies for the boat owners crews and guests. Marginal access streets or frontage roads: Minor streets that are parallel and adjacent to freeways, expressways, or arterial streets and highways and whose primary function is to provide access to abutting properties and protection from through traffic. Medical clinic: An establishment where human patients who are not lodged overnight are admitted for examination and treatment by a group of physicians, dentists, other health care professionals, or similar professions. Mine Development: The preparation of a surface or subsurface area for commercial mining including noncommercial extraction of ore bearing or non-ore bearing rock, excavation for open pit, declines, adit, drifts, shaft construction, or any surface construction or excavation. Mining: the removal from the earth of materials, minerals and other solid matter that will be further processed, refined, cleaned or altered in any way and then incorporated into manufactured products either in the County or other commercial markets. Water acquired for personal or commercial uses and earthwork necessary for normal grading operations are exempted from this definition. Mini-Warehouses or Storage: A building or portion thereof used for storage, mainly of excess personal property of an individual or family and also for small amounts of goods or merchandise for businesses. Miniwarehouses or storage units shall not include retail sale on the premises, commercial repair or other services, manufacturing or any other commercial use other than the storage of articles as defined herein. Minor Utility Facility: Any structures or facility (other than buildings, unless such building are used as storage incidental to the operation of such structures or facilities) owned by a governmental entity, a nonprofit organization, a corporation, or any entity defined as a public utility for any purpose by the Georgia Public Service Commission and used in connection with the production, generation, transmission, delivery, collection, or storage of water, sewage, electricity, gas, oil, or electronic signals. Examples include, but are not limited to, pump stations, community well houses and above ground utility cabinets. Minor utilities are exempt from minimum lot size and setback requirements. Excepted from this definition are Major Utilities. Mobile home: See Manufactured Home. Motel: A commercial lodging service with one or more buildings devoted to the temporary shelter (15 days or less in one room) for the traveling public, and where entry to individual guest rooms is via the exterior of the building rather than through a central lobby. Nightclub: An establishment operated as a place of entertainment, characterized by any or all of the following as a principal use: (1) Live, recorded, or televised entertainment, including but not limited to performances by musicians or 11

12 comedians; (2) Dancing. Non-Conforming Building or Structure: Any lawfully existing building or structure which does not conform to these ordinances governing the type, bulk, location, height or size of buildings or structures permitted in the district prior to the adoption of this ordinance but which is in full compliance with all applicable federal, state and local laws, rules and ordinances, and for which all required federal, state and local permits have been issued. Nonconforming building, structure, or use: A building, structure, or land use existing at the time of enactment or amendment of this resolution, which, by virtue of that enactment or amendment, does not conform with regulations of the district in which it is located. Non-Conforming Lot: A lot, the area, width, or other characteristics of which fails to comply with applicable ordinances and which was of record and in full compliance with all applicable federal, state and local laws, rules and ordinances prior to the enactment of these or other ordinances, but which does not comply with the requirements of this ordinance. Non-Conforming Use: A lawful use of land that does not comply with the use ordinance for its zoning district but which complied with applicable ordinances at the time the use was established. Nursing home: A facility maintained for the purpose of providing skilled nursing care and medical supervision at a lower level than that available in a hospital to more than three (3) persons. Opponent: Any person who opposes a rezoning action or any attorney or other person representing or acting on behalf of a person who opposes a rezoning action. Oppose: to appear before, discuss with, or contact, either orally or in writing, a Greene County official and argue against a rezoning action. Outdoor display area: The area where goods for sale or for advertisement are placed outside of a building or structure, including but not limited to vehicles, garden supplies, gas, tires, motor oil, food and beverages, boats and farm equipment, motor homes, and clothes. Outdoor storage: The storage of any material or object for a period greater than twenty-four (24) hours, including items for sale, lease, processing, and repair (including vehicles) not in an enclosed building. Overburden: Means all of the earth and other materials which lie above natural deposits of ores or minerals, and includes all earth and other materials disturbed from their natural state in the process of surface mining. Permitted Use: Any use by right that is specifically authorized ina particular zoning district. Person: An individual, partnership, committee, association, corporation, labor organization, or any other organization or group of persons. Personal care home: A building, or group of buildings, facility, or place operated by a person, firm, corporation, association, organization, trust, or partnership not legally related to the individuals served and licensed by the state to provide community alternatives in a residential environment to institutional care for individuals in need of such care and providing a residence for such persons. Such facilities provide room, 12

13 board, personal and physical care, and supervision in a family environment. The term "Personal Care Home" shall include, but shall not be limited to, homes as established under the Georgia "Community Services Act for the Mentally Retarded" (Ga. Laws 1972, page 200), and facilities of similar intention and purpose, but shall not include facilities housing persons convicted of crimes but not housed in penal institutions. This definition shall also exclude any nursing homes or similar facilities which offer nursing care or medical supervision. Personal care home, congregate: A personal care home which offers care to sixteen (16) or more persons. Personal care home, family: A personal care home in a family-type residence, non-institutional in character, which offers care to two (2) to six (6) persons. Personal care home, group: A personal care home in a residence or other type of building or buildings, noninstitutional in character, which offers care to seven (7) to fifteen (15) persons. Planned development: A form of development characterized by a unified site design for a number of housing units, clustered buildings, common open space, and/or a mix of building types and land uses, which may be in a slightly denser setting than allowable on separate lots. Planning Commission: Monroe County Planning Commission. Plat: A sketch, map or survey of a lot, tract or parcel of land including lot lines, street rights-of-way and easements, with the dimensions of these features inscribed thereon. Play School: A school for pre-kindergarten children ranging in age from 3 to 4 years of age. Professional: When used in connection with "use," "office," and "occupancy," a use or occupancy by persons generally engaged in rendering personal, executive, sales, or administrative services or activities, including but not limited to, accountants, architects, engineers, land surveyors, doctors, lawyers, insurance offices, real estate offices, religious organizations, stock brokers, and administrative agencies considered professional in character. This term does not include repairs or sales of tangible personal property stored or located on the premises or any use that would create any loud noise or noxious odors. Public utility structure or building: A structure or building containing equipment or workers involved directly in the operation, as opposed to the administration, of public utility services. Public health hazard: Any building or structure, substance, site or activity which creates a danger to public health or safety because of damage, decay, exposure, or other condition. Recreation, active: Leisure activities usually performed with others, often requiring equipment and taking place at prescribed places, sites, or fields. The term active recreation includes, but is not limited to, swimming, tennis and other court games, baseball and other field sports, golf, and playground activities. Recreation, passive: Recreational activities that generally do not require a developed site. This generally includes such activities as hiking, horseback riding, and picnicking. Recreational vehicle (RV): A vehicular type unit primarily designed as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping or travel use, which either has its own motive power or is mounted or drawn by another vehicle. This term includes motorized homes, motorized campers, pick-up campers, travel trailers, camping trailers, and tent trailers, among others. 13

14 Recycling Center: A facility designed and operated to receive, store, or process recyclable materials that has been separated from residual solid waste. Materials may include, but are not limited to: newspaper, corrugated cardboard, aluminum, glass, metal, plastic, motor oil and batteries. Religious Institution: A religious institution that has been granted 501-C tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service and whose property is deemed tax exempt by the Monroe County Tax Assessor. Residential child care facility: An institution, society, agency, or facility providing full-time care for children less than seventeen (17) years of age outside of their own homes, including temporary shelters or other facilities for children and their families or portions thereof. This term shall include "child-caring institutions," as defined in the Georgia Children and Youth Act (O.C.G.A ), but shall not include foster family homes. Restaurant: The use of land and structures for on-premises sale and consumption of food and beverages, including alcohol, when properly licensed. Restaurant, Drive-In: An eating or drinking establishment that caters to motor-driven vehicle business where the person being served consumes his food or drink while sitting in a motor driven vehicle, as opposed to a restaurant serving exclusively inside an enclosed building. Restaurant, Family: Establishment, privately owned and operated where food and beverage are sold primarily for consumption on the premises and is not part of a chain restaurant or franchise. Restaurant, Fast-Food: An establishment that offers quick food service, which is accomplished through a limited menu of items already prepared and held for service, or prepared, fried, or griddled quickly or heated in a device such as a microwave oven. Orders are not generally taken at the customer s table and food is generally served in disposable wrapping or containers. Rezoning Action: An action by the Board of Commissioners adopting an amendment to the zoning map that has the effect of rezoning real property from one zoning district to another. Road: All property dedicated or intended for public or private road, street, alley, highway, freeway, or roadway purposes or to public easements therefore. Rooming house: A building other than a hotel or motel where for compensation lodging is provided for terms exceeding one (1) week for more than two (2) but not more than twenty (20) persons in more than two (2) rooms that, individually or collectively, do not constitute separate dwelling units. Rooming House: a building other than a hotel where lodging for 3 but not more than 20 persons is provided for compensation or by pre-arrangement but no meals are served. Sale, garage or yard: Any outdoor display of merchandise for sale, not to exceed more than three (3) continuous days out of three (3) continuous months. Salvage yard: A lot, land, or structure, or part thereof, used primarily for the collection, storage, and sale of wastepaper, rags, scrap metal, or discarded material; or for the collecting, dismantling, storage, and salvaging of machinery or vehicles not in running condition; or for the sale of parts thereof. This term also includes junk yards. Must be blocked from view from any roadway. School: A public or private facility that provides a curriculum of elementary and secondary academic 14

15 instruction including kindergartens and pre-kindergartens. Setback: The minimum horizontal distance between the lot or property right of-way line and the nearest front, side or rear line of the building, including terraces or any covered projections but excluding steps. Shopping Center: A group of retail business and service uses on a single site planned and developed as a unit, with common off-street parking facilities. Sign: A structure or device designed or intended to convey information to the public in written or pictorial form. Sign Area: The area within a continuous perimeter enclosing the limits of writing, representation, emblem or any figure or similar character, together with any frame of other material or color forming an integral part of the display or used to differentiate this sign from the background against which it is placed, excluding the necessary supports or uprights on which this sign is placed, provided, however, that any open space contained within the outer limits of the display face of a sign or between any component, panel, strip or fixture of any kind composing the display face shall be included in the computation of the area of the sign whether this open space is enclosed or not by frame or border. Sign Face: The surface of the sign upon, against or through which the messages of the sign is exhibited. Sign Height: The Vertical measurement from the highest part of a sign, including all support structures, to the average ground level. Any earth berm or elevated foundation that supports a sign, sig post, or sign support is included in the height of the sign. Sign, outdoor advertising: A structural poster panel or painted sign, either free-standing or attached to a building, for the purpose of conveying information, knowledge, or ideas to the public about a subject unrelated to the premises upon which it is located. See the county sign ordinance for specific regulations. Sign Structure: Any construction used or designed to support a sign. Site Built: A building constructed on-site with approved building materials, inspected periodically during construction, and constructed according to locally adopted building codes. Slaughter house: A facility for the slaughtering and processing of animals and the refining of their byproducts. Solar Farm: An energy facility or area of land used to convert solar energy to electricity, which includes, but is not limited to, the use of one or more solar panels or similar solar energy systems for the purpose of generating electricity to be used off site. Special events facility: A building and/or premises used as a customary meeting or gathering place for personal social engagements or activities, where people assemble for parties, weddings, wedding receptions, reunions, birthday celebrations, other business purposes, or similar such uses for profit, in which food and beverages may be served to guests. This definition shall not include places of worship. Stadium: A large open or enclosed space used for games, sporting events, or other major public gathering purposes, and partly or completely surrounded by tiers of seats for spectators. 15

16 Structure: Anything constructed or erected. Telecommunications equipment: Any equipment used to provide wireless telecommunication service, but which is not affixed to or contained within a wireless telecommunication facility, but is instead affixed to or mounted on an existing building or structure that is used for some other purpose. Wireless telecommunication equipment also includes a ground mounted base station used as an accessory structure that is connected to an antenna mounted on or affixed to an existing building. Telecommunications tower: A structure designed and constructed to support one (1) or more antennas used by commercial wireless telecommunication facilities and including all appurtenant devices attached to it. A tower can be freestanding (solely self-supported by attachment to the ground) or supported (attached directly to the ground and with guy wires), of either lattice or monopole construction. Temporary: In absence of any more specific regulations, any land use or structure that will not be in use any longer than ninety (90) consecutive days. Temporary Residence: A manufactured home used as a temporary residence during reconstruction of a permanent home that has been destroyed by fire, natural disaster, or condemnation. A temporary residence must be removed immediately upon completion of construction or no later than 30 days after the issuance of a certificate of occupancy. Temporary Structure: Any structure used in conjunction with construction work which may not be used as a residence, and must be removed immediately upon completion of construction. Theater: an indoor commercial facility used for the sole purpose of showing commercially produced movies to a paying audience. Generally theaters contain a concession facility. Truck stop: An establishment engaged primarily in the fueling, servicing, repair, or parking of tractor trucks or similar heavy commercial vehicles, and which may include the sale of accessories and equipment for such vehicles. A truck stop may also include overnight accommodations, showers, or restaurant facilities primarily for the use of truck drivers. Truck terminal: A facility or premise for the receipt, transfer, short-term storage, and dispatching of goods transported by truck. The terminal facility may include storage areas for trucks and buildings or areas for the repair of trucks associated with the terminal. Use: The activity or function that takes place or is intended to take place on a lot. Use, accessory: A use of land subordinate to the principal building or use on a lot for purposes incidental and related to the principal building or use and located on the same lot therewith. Use, conditional: A use that would not be appropriate generally or without restriction throughout the particular zoning district and is not automatically permitted by right within a zoning district, but which, if controlled as to number, area, location or relation to the neighborhood, may be found to be compatible and approved by the Governing Body within a particular zoning district as provided in certain instances by this Ordinance. An approved conditional use runs with the property. Use, permitted: A use by right which is specifically authorized in a particular zoning district, or permitted by right in a particular overlay district if established. 16

17 Zoning enforcement officer: The person designated by the county board of commissioners to enforce and administer the provisions of this resolution. Section 41. Statement of intent. ARTICLE IV. ESTABLISHMENT OF DISTRICTS In order to protect the character of existing neighborhoods; to prevent excessive density or population in areas not adequately served with water, sewerage facilities, and fire protection; to ensure that adequate and suitable areas will be available to the county to provide a variety of housing for a growing population; to protect residential areas from adverse effects of traffic, noise, odors, and dust generated by commercial and industrial activity; to provide for and accommodate the orderly growth and expansion of commercial and industrial activities; to promote orderly growth and development by grouping similar compatible, and related uses together and by separating dissimilar, conflicting, and unrelated uses; and in order that the other purposes of this resolution may be accomplished, there are hereby established within the unincorporated area of the county zoning districts, as identified in section 42 of this resolution. Section 42. Division of the unincorporated area of the county into districts. For the purposes of this regulation, the unincorporated area of the county is hereby divided into the following use districts, the locations and boundaries of which are shown on the "Official Zoning District Maps for Monroe County, Georgia." A - Agricultural/Rural District R - Residential District C Commercial District I - Industrial District C-1 Highway-Oriented Commercial District R-M Manufactured Home District PUD- Planned Unit Development District RMF Multi- Family Residential District Section 43. Incorporation of zoning maps. The following maps are hereby made a part of this resolution Official zoning maps. The set of maps for the county, entitled "Official Zoning District Maps for the Unincorporated Area of Monroe County, Georgia," hereinafter called official zoning maps, with all notations, references, and other information shown thereon are hereby made a part of this resolution. Said maps shall be made a public record and shall be kept permanently in the office of the zoning enforcement officer, where said maps shall be accessible to the general public. Section 44. Map amendment. If, in accordance with the provisions of this resolution, changes are made in the district boundaries or other information portrayed in the official zoning maps, such changes shall be made in the official zoning maps promptly after the amendment has been approved by the board of commissioners, together with a numerical 17