CHAPTER 17.125: DEFINITIONS
Section
17.125.005 GENERAL PROVISIONS.
(A) The definitions listed in this section shall apply to the words and phrases used in MSB Title 17 unless otherwise described within the individual chapters.
(1) Words used in the present tense shall include the future.
(2) Words in the singular number shall include the plural number and the plural number shall include the singular.
(3) The word “shall” is mandatory.
(4) The words “include,” “including,” and “includes” shall be interpreted as being followed by the phrase “but not limited to.”
(5) The word “lot” includes the words “plot” and “parcel.”
(B) In instances where a word is not included in this section nor in the applicable section, reference will be made first to the most recent publication of “The Illustrated Book of Development Definitions” then to “The Zoning Dictionary” by Lehman and Associates, then to “Webster’s New Universal, Unabridged Dictionary.”
(Ord. 05-125(SUB)(AM), § 2 (part), 2005)
17.125.010 DEFINITIONS.
• “Access” means a legal way or means of approach to provide physical ingress or egress to a property.
• “Accessory building” means a building detached from a principal building located on the same lot and customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal building or use.
• “Accessory use” means a use or structure incidental and subordinate to the principal use or structure on a parcel of land, is on the same parcel as the principal use or structure, and is a use or structure commonly associated with the principal use or structure and integrally related to it. Some examples are: private garages or storage sheds on residential property or barns on agricultural property.
• “Administrative permit” means a written document issued administratively which may specify controls, restrictions and safeguards on the administratively permitted activity to ensure compatibility with permitted uses.
• “Adult bookstore” means a commercial establishment where at least 51 percent of its interior floor area or retail merchandise is devoted to the sale, rent, lease, inspection, or viewing of books, films, video cassettes, magazines, or other media or periodicals whose dominant theme is actual or simulated specified sexual activities, display or exhibition of specified anatomical areas, removal of articles of clothing, or total nudity.
• “Adult business” means any bookstore, adult cabaret, adult escort service, adult massage service, adult mini-theater, or adult motion picture theatre.
• “Adult cabaret” means a restaurant, coffee house, or cabaret which features topless dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators, or similar entertainers who provide live adult entertainment for commercial purposes at any time or any number of times.
• “Adult entertainment” means any motion picture, live performance, display, or dance of any type whose dominant theme is actual or simulated specified sexual activities, display or exhibition of specified anatomical areas, removal of articles of clothing, or total nudity, whether live or by shadow effects, offered for commercial purposes.
• “Adult escort” means a person who, for monetary consideration such as a fee or tip, or for other non-monetary consideration, agrees or offers to act as a companion, guide, or date that may provide services such as modeling lingerie, adult entertainment, adult massage service, or similar activities.
• “Adult escort service” means a person or business that, for monetary consideration such as a fee or tip, or for other non-monetary consideration, furnishes or offers adult escorts.
• “Adult massage service” means a person or business that, for monetary consideration such as a fee or tip, or for other non-monetary consideration, furnishes or offers massages or related services, for which the service providers do not have a license for the practice of that profession or vocation as regulated under Alaska Statute Title 8, or which also provides adult entertainment.
• “Adult mini-theater” means an enclosed building with a capacity of less than 50 persons used for the purpose of displaying adult entertainment through films, video, or other motion pictures for commercial purposes.
• “Adult motion picture theater” means an enclosed building with a capacity of 50 or more persons used for the purpose of displaying adult entertainment through films, video, or other motion pictures for commercial purposes.
• “Adverse impact” means a condition that creates, imposes, aggravates, or leads to inadequate, impractical, unsafe, or unhealthy conditions on a site proposed for development or on other properties and facilities.
• “Affordable housing” means housing renting for monthly rent of not more than 30 percent of the total monthly household income of low income households (defined to be household earnings less than 80 percent of the median annual income adjusted for household size, as determined by the United States Housing and Urban Development Department); or housing that may be purchased with monthly payments including: principal, interest, taxes, insurance, homeowner association fees, and assessments that do not add up to more than 30 percent of the total monthly household income of low income households.
• “Agricultural” means the production and harvest or care of plants, animals, birds, fish, bees, and other organisms by humans for use in providing food, fuel, fiber, shelter, travel, clothing, energy, and aesthetics.
• “Allowed use” means a use of land or a structure, which is permissible by right or condition within a certain zoning district according to the regulations of this code.
• “Amateur radio tower” means any tower used for amateur radio transmissions consistent with the “Complete Federal Communications Commission U.S. Amateur Part 97 Rules and Regulations” for amateur radio facilities.
• “Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)” means a 1990 federal law designed to bring disabled Americans into the economic mainstream by providing them equal access to jobs, transportation, public facilities, and services.
• “Ancillary structure” means any form of development associated with a telecommunication facility, including but not limited to: foundations, concrete slabs on grade, guy wires, guy anchors, generators, and transmission cable supports; however, specifically excluding equipment cabinets.
• “Angle of repose” means the steepest angle material can be piled without slumping.
• “Antenna” means any apparatus designed for the transmitting or receiving of electromagnetic waves. Types of antenna include, but are not limited to: omni-directional antennas, directional antennas, multi or single bay, yagi, or parabolic antennas.
• “Applicant” means a person or authorized representative submitting an application for development.
• “Aquifer” means a formation, a group of formations, or part of a formation that contains sufficient saturated permeable material to yield economical quantities of water to wells and springs.
• “Batch plant” means a plant or equipment used for production of asphalt or concrete.
• “Bedroom” means a private room planned and intended for sleeping, separated from other rooms by a door, and accessible to a bathroom without crossing another bedroom.
• “Berm” means an earthen mound designed to provide visual interest, screen undesirable views, decrease noise, or control or manage surface drainage.
• “Bioswales” means open channels that usually possess a dense cover of grasses and other herbaceous plants through which runoff is directed during storm events. Bioswales allow runoff to infiltrate.
• “Breakpoint technology” means the engineering design of a tower wherein a specified point is designed to have stresses concentrated so that the stress point is at least 5 percent more susceptible to failure than any other point along the structure. In the event of a structural failure, the failure will occur at the breakpoint rather than at the base plate, anchor bolts, or any other point on the tower.
• “Broadcast facilities” means a tower, antennas, or antenna arrays for FM/TV/HDTV broadcasting transmission facilities, and tower(s) utilized as antennas for an AM broadcast station that are licensed by the Federal Communications Commission.
• “Buffer” means a method of protection against negative impacts, which provides a physical separation or barrier.
• “Building” means any structure, including mobile homes, intended for the shelter, housing, or enclosure of any person, animal, process, equipment, goods, use, materials, or services of any kind or nature.
• “Cabin” means any residential building no greater than 800 square feet in gross floor area.
• “Capture area” means the area on the surface of the ground where infiltrating water will travel to a drinking water well.
• “Caretaker” means a person(s) who takes care of land, dwellings, animals, or belongings when an owner is absent.
• “Certified site plan” means a site plan that is prepared and sealed by an architect, professional engineer or land surveyor, authorized to engage in that profession by the state of Alaska. The certified site plan shall be at a scale of one inch equals 50 feet (or less) showing dimensions and locations of all existing and proposed development on the site in relationship to all property lines.
• “Character” means those attributes, qualities, and features that make up and distinguish a development project and give such project a sense of purpose, function, definition, and uniqueness.
• “Circulation” means systems, buildings, and physical improvements for the movement of people, goods, water, air, sewage, or power by such means as streets, highways, railways, waterways, and airways.
• “Collocation” means the installation of antennas and associated equipment from more than one provider on a single structure.
• “Commencement of construction or placement” means the first placement of permanent construction of a building on a site, such as the pouring of a slab or footings, the installation of piles, the construction of columns, or any work beyond the stage of excavation; or the placement of a building upon a foundation.
• “Commercial use” means a land use, business enterprise, or vehicle maintained for the purpose of buying or selling goods or services.
• “Commission” means the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Planning Commission.
• “Compatible design” means the visual relationship between adjacent and nearby buildings and the immediate streetscape, in terms of a consistency of materials, colors, building height, building elements, building mass, and other constructed elements of the urban environment, such that abrupt or severe differences are avoided.
• “Conditional use” means a use of a structure or land, which may be allowed by the planning commission after a public hearing and review and subject to certain prescribed or imposed conditions.
• “Conditional use permit (CUP)” means a written document which may specify controls, restrictions and safeguards on the conditional permitted activity to ensure compatibility with permitted uses.
• “Conditions of approval” means requirements established by the borough before preliminary or final approval of an application becomes effective.
• “Confined aquifer” means an aquifer which is bounded above and below by formations of impermeable or relatively impermeable material. An aquifer in which ground water is under significantly greater pressure than atmospheric pressure and its upper limit is the bottom of a bed of distinctly lower hydraulic conductivity than that of the aquifer itself. Confined aquifer is synonymous with artesian aquifer.
• “Confining layer” means a geologic bed or layer that retards but does not necessarily prevent the flow of water. A confining layer does not readily yield water to wells or springs. Confining layer is synonymous with aquitard.
• “Contiguous acres” includes acreage that may be separated by a highway or railroad.
• “Deciduous” means plants that drop their foliage annually before becoming dormant.
• “Density” means the number of dwelling units allowed per area of a development site or parcel.
• “Design standards” means a set of regulations defining parameters to be followed in site and building design and development.
• “Designee” means the director or his/her duly authorized representative.
• “Developer” means the legal or beneficial owner or owners of a lot or of any land included in a proposed development, including the holder of an option or contract to purchase or other persons having enforceable proprietary interests in such lands.
• “Development” means the construction, reconstruction, conversion, structural alteration, relocation, placement, or enlargement of any building.
• “Director” means the director of planning and land use.
• “Dog mushing” means a transport method powered by one or more dogs for sport or paid service.
• “Drainage plan” means a plan that is prepared and stamped by a civil engineer authorized to operate in the state of Alaska, which contains the following:
(a) background information:
(i) project description;
(ii) existing (predevelopment) conditions; and
(iii) proposed future (development) conditions.
• “Duplex” means a structure containing two dwelling units, each of which has direct access to the outside.
• “Dwelling unit” means one or more rooms, providing complete, independent living facilities for one or more persons, including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking, and sanitation.
• “Earth materials” includes those natural resources such as sand, rock, gravel, soil, peat moss, sphagnum, stone, pumice, cinders and clay; also called “materials.”
• “Earth materials processing” means any crushing, loading, screening, sorting, storing, washing, or production of asphalt.
• “Efficiency” means a one-room unit that serves as the occupant’s total living, sleeping, and eating space, usually containing a separate bathroom.
• “Egress” means an exit.
• “Equipment compound” means the area occupied by a tower including areas inside or under the following: an antenna-support structure’s framework, equipment cabinets, and ancillary structures.
• “Evergreen” means vegetation that has foliage that persists and remains green throughout the year.
• “Extraction” means to take and remove earth materials from the subject site to an off-site location.
• “Fair Housing Act of 1968” means that Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Fair Housing Act), as amended, which prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, and in other housing-related transactions, based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and handicap (disability).
• “Feed lines” means cables used as the interconnecting media between the transmission or receiving equipment and the antenna.
• “Fence” means a manmade barrier of any material or combination of materials erected to enclose, screen, or separate areas.
• “Fence, solid” means a fence, including any gates, constructed of solid material, wood, or masonry, through which no visual images may be seen.
• “Fire service area” means a geographic region or area established by the borough to provide fire stations and related facilities or services that are needed to protect the health, safety, or welfare of persons and property within that area.
• “Flag lot” means a lot with a long, narrow strip protruding from one side (pole) which fronts on a borough standard width legal right-of-way and provides access to the lot.
• “Garage” means an accessory building or portion of a main building primarily used for storage of motor vehicles. A “garage” is distinguished from a “carport” in that a garage is enclosed on more than three sides, so that the stored or parked car is contained entirely inside the building.
• “Ground cover” means grasses or other low-growing plants and landscaping.
• “Groundwater” means that part of the subsurface where water occurs in the saturated zone.
• “Habitable” means a residence that is safe and can be occupied in reasonable comfort; the premises should be closed in against the weather, provide running water, access to decent toilets and bathing facilities, heating, and electricity. Particularly in multifamily developments, freedom from noxious smells, noise, and garbage are expected.
• “Heavy industrial” means the use of land, buildings, or structures for the manufacturing, processing, fabricating, or assembly of raw materials, warehousing or bulk storage of goods, and related accessory uses.
• “Height, building” means the height of a building, the vertical distance as measured from the base of the building at finished grade to the highest point of the building including appurtenances. The average between the highest and lowest grades within 20 feet of the building shall be considered finished grade and be used in calculating the height.
• “Height, tall structure” means the vertical distance measured from finished grade to the highest point of the tall structure, not including appurtenances, antennas, or equipment affixed thereto. In the case of wind energy conversion systems, the blade is considered part of the overall height of the structure.
• “Historical uses” means lands with sites, structures, landmarks, or objects with local, regional, statewide, or national historical significance that have been used by past populations for historic or traditional uses (such as subsistence activities, trail use, etc.) and that are often currently enjoyed by users.
• “Impermeable” means a surface or material that provides a functional barrier to significant liquid flow or infiltration.
• “Impervious area/surface” means the area of the subject site covered by impenetrable materials. This surface has been compacted or covered with a layer of material so that it is highly resistant to infiltration by water.
• “Incentive points” means numerical points that are provided to applicants that exceed the required minimum design standards.
• “Industrial use” means any activity which includes manufacturing, processing, warehousing, storage, distribution, shipping, or other related uses.
• “Ingress” means access or entry.
• “Isochron” means a line drawn on a map through all points having the same numerical value of time.
• “Junkyard/refuse area” means a location which is commercially used for the purpose of the outdoor storage, handling, dismantling, wrecking, keeping or sale of used, discarded, wrecked or abandoned airplanes, appliances, vehicles, boats, building and building materials, machinery, equipment, or parts thereof, including, but not limited to, scrap metals, wood, lumber, plastic, fiber, or other tangible materials.
• “Landfill” means an area in which solid waste is disposed of on or into the land, or that portion of a facility where landfilling is taking or has taken place. “Landfill” does not include a landspreading facility or a containment structure used for the disposal of drilling wastes.
• “Landscape plan” means a plan, drawn to scale, showing proposed location and type of existing vegetation to be retained, and proposed new vegetation. The landscape plan may be a component of the certified site plan. Landscape plans shall also include:
(a) proposed grade changes;
(b) proposed buffers; and
(c) proposed screening devices.
• “Landscaping” means any of the following or combination of material such as, but not limited to, grass, natural ground cover, shrubs, flowers, vines, hedges, trees, indigenous plant materials, planters, brick, stone or natural forms, water forms, but not including the use of smooth concrete or asphalt.
• “Large-scale commercial” means a commercial building whose total gross building area, including outdoor display and sales area, is equal to or exceeds 25,000 square feet. Large-scale commercial does not include agricultural uses or activities.
• “Legal trail” means a trail that has been legally dedicated for public use either in fee simple or as a public use easement as a trail. The trail has an existing right-of-way or formal, written and recorded landowner permission allowing public access along its entire length.
• “Livable space” means the square footage of habitable or living areas in a building intended for occupancy by one or more persons for living or sleeping quarters.
• “Livestock” means outdoor animals (i.e., cows, goats, horses, pigs, sled dogs, barnyard fowl, etc.) kept for the purpose of providing food, clothing, work or recreation.
• “Living area” means an area or room(s) in a building designed for occupancy by one or more persons for living or sleeping quarters.
• “Lot” means the least fractional part of subdivided lands having limited fixed boundaries and having an assigned number, or other name through which it may be identified.
• “Lot area” means the total horizontal area within the lot lines of a lot, but does not include the pole area of a flag lot and excludes any street rights-of-way.
• “Maintenance” means the servicing, repairing, or altering of any premises, appliance, apparatus, or equipment to perpetuate the use or purpose for which such premises, appliance, apparatus, or equipment was originally intended.
• “Mixed use development” means the development of a neighborhood, tract of land, building with a variety of complementary and integrated uses, such as, but not limited to, residential, office, neighborhood commercial, retail, public, recreation, in a compact urban form.
• “Monitoring well” means any cased excavation or opening into the ground made by digging, boring, drilling, driving, jetting or other methods for the purpose of determining the physical, chemical, biological, or radiological properties of groundwater.
• “Multifamily” means any development that exceeds the density thresholds within MSB 17.73.040(A).
• “Natural features” means, but is not limited to, floodplains and surface drainage channels, stream corridors, wetlands and riparian habitat, wildlife and scenic corridors, and other bodies of water, steep slopes, prominent ridges, bluffs, or valleys, and existing trees and vegetation.
• “Natural grade” means the elevation of the ground level in its natural state, before construction, filling, or excavation.
• “Neighborhood” means an area of a community with characteristics that distinguish it from other areas and that may include distinct social or economic characteristics, housing types, schools, or boundaries defined by physical barriers such as major highways, and railroads, or natural features such as water bodies or topography.
• “Neighborhood commercial use(s)” means mixed use establishments primarily engaged in the provision of frequently or recurrently needed goods for household consumption, such as prepackaged food and beverages and limited household supplies and hardware. Typical commercial uses include neighborhood convenience stores, laundromats, dry cleaners, small neighborhood offices, postal services, and gas stations.
• “Occupied” means the presence of an individual or individuals in a structure or on a parcel of land or contiguous parcels.
• “Operator or manager” means any natural person responsible for the actual operation and management of an adult business.
• “Ownership interest” in any unincorporated business, means any interest in real or personal property used in connection with the business, coupled with any degree of exercise of management, supervision, direction, or control of the business. In any incorporated business, the term “ownership interest” means ownership of any stock of the corporation.
• “Parcel” means a lot or contiguous group of lots in single ownership or under single control, usually considered a unit for purposes of development.
• “Parking area/lot” means any public or private area, under or outside a building, designed and used for parking motor vehicles, including parking lots, garages, private driveways, and legally designated areas of public streets.
• “Path/pathway” means a cleared way for pedestrians or bicycles that may or may not be improved.
• “Pedestrian walkway” means a walkway or tunnel located at, above, or below grade level that is used as a means of travel by persons.
• “Permit” means written governmental permission issued by an authorized official, empowering the holder thereof to do some act not forbidden by law but not allowed without such authorization.
• “Pervious hard surface” means any material that permits full or partial absorption of storm water into a previously unimproved land.
• “Phase” means a portion of an operation undertaken in a logical time and geographical sequence.
• “Pollution” means the contamination or other degradation of the physical, chemical or biological properties of water or air, including change in temperature, taste, color, turbidity or odor, or such discharge of any liquid, gaseous, solid, radioactive or other substance into water or air as will or is likely to create a nuisance or render such water or air harmful, detrimental or injurious to public health, safety or welfare, or to domestic, commercial, industrial, agricultural, recreational or other beneficial uses, or to livestock, wild animals, birds, fish or other aquatic life.
• “Primary vehicle access” means, in the context of multifamily development, a vehicle access to the development that is, at a minimum, characterized by the following elements: (1) full-turn vehicle access (i.e., turns allowed in all directions); (2) entryway signage with name of development and address; and (3) principal entry for prospective owners or renters. All public and private roads must meet design standards as outlined in the borough’s subdivision construction manual and addressing/street naming requirements as designated by the borough’s geographic information systems department.
• “Principal use” means the primary or predominant use of any lot, building, or structure.
• “Property” means a lot, parcel, or tract of land together with the building located thereon.
• “Public land” means land owned, maintained, or managed by a public agency.
• “Qualified professional” means a professional hydrologist, geologist, or registered engineer that has specific education and experience with groundwater hydrology.
• “Recreational uses” means the pursuit of leisure-time activities such as, but not limited to, boating, dog mushing, fishing, hunting, trapping, swimming, motorized and nonmotorized activities, sports, games of skill, hiking, skiing, etc., and may include the enjoyment of natural beauty, historic landmarks, or wildlife.
• “Reserved trail” means a trail that has been legally dedicated for public use either in fee simple or as a public use easement as a trail. The trail has an existing right-of-way or formal, written and recorded landowner permission allowing public access along its entire length.
• “Responsible party” means the landowner or the land owner’s designated agent.
• “Residential use” means the use of land, buildings or structures for human habitation.
• “Right-of-way” means a strip of land reserved or dedicated, used or to be used for a street, alley, walkway, trail, airport, or circulation related purpose.
• “Road” means a public or private way that provides access to property for vehicles or pedestrians.
• “Runoff” means the portion of rainfall, melted snow, irrigation water, and any other liquids that flows across the ground surface.
• “Scenic views” means scenic, natural views that may be of significant natural beauty, farmlands, mountains, or other scenes. The goal of development should be to preserve unique vistas and scenic corridors to the greatest extent possible.
• “Screening” means a method of visually shielding or buffering one abutting or nearby building or use from another by fencing, walls, berms, or densely planted vegetation.
• “Seasonal high water table” means the highest level to which the groundwater rises in most years. Estimates are based on observations of the water table at selected sites and on the evidence of a saturated zone, the upper limit often consisting of a mixture of grayish and reddish mottles in the soil.
• “Setback” means the distance between a structure or activity and any lot line, right-of-way, or easement and also the minimum distance required to be maintained between two structures or between a structure and property line, right-of-way, water well, or water body. The distance shall be calculated in a straight line, without regard to intervening structures or objects to the closest exterior point of the structure, property line, or shore line, or center of the well.
• “Short-term transient accommodation” means accommodations for compensation in a building or portions of a building consisting of a residency of any period less than 60 days. If residency exceeds 59 consecutive days, it cannot be considered a short-term transient accommodation for the purposes of this title.
• “Sidewalk” means a paved, surfaced, or leveled area, paralleling and usually separated from the traveled way, used as a pedestrian walk.
• “Single-family dwelling” means a building containing one dwelling unit.
• “Site” means any plot or parcel of land or combination of contiguous lots or parcels of land.
• “Slope” means the rate of vertical change of ground surface expressed as a percentage figure and determined by dividing the vertical distance by the horizontal distance.
• “Solid waste” means drilling wastes, garbage, refuse, sludge, building material, or other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, or agricultural operations, or from community activities. For purposes of this chapter, “solid waste” does not include:
(a) spoil and overburden from road construction, land clearing, or mining operations;
(b) mining waste regulated by federal and state regulations;
(c) domestic sewage and other wastes that are discharged into and pass through a sewer system to a publicly owned treatment works;
(d) industrial or mining wastes that are being collected, stored, or treated in:
(i) a wastewater treatment plant before discharge or removal; or
(ii) an industrial processing facility for continual re-use;
(e) industrial discharges that are point sources subject to federal or state permits;
(f) nuclear or nuclear byproduct material.
• “Specified anatomical areas” means:
(a) less than completely and opaquely covered human genitals, pubic region, buttocks, and female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola; and
(b) human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state, even if opaquely covered.
• “Specified sexual activities” means simulated or actual:
(a) display of human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal;
(b) acts of masturbation, sexual inter-course, sodomy, bestiality, necrophilia, sado-masochistic abuse, fellatio, or cunnilingus; and
(c) fondling or erotic touching of human genitals, pubic region, buttocks, or female breasts.
• “Standards” means mandatory regulations, which are indicated by use of the terms “will,” “shall” and “must.”
• “Steep slopes” means any portion of a development site where the natural grade of the land has a slope of 40 percent or greater.
• “Stream” means a body of flowing water, where the water flows in a natural channel as opposed to a canal.
• “Stream corridor” means the corridor defined by the top of the stream’s channel bank, plus the adjacent land areas that contain vegetation, habitats, and ecosystems associated with bodies of water or dependent on the flow of water in the stream. Biologists often refer to the adjacent land area, which will vary in width depending on the particular stream, as a “riparian ecosystem.” In braided channels, the stream corridor shall include the entire stream feature.
• “Street” means any vehicular way that is (1) an existing state, municipal, or borough roadway; (2) shown upon a plat approved pursuant to law; (3) approved by other official action; (4) shown on a plat duly filed and recorded in the office of the recording clerk; (5) shown on the official map or adopted master plan. It includes the land between the street lines, whether improved or unimproved.
• “Structure” means anything that is constructed or created and located on or under the ground, or attached to something fixed to the ground. For purposes of minimum setbacks and building separation requirements, the following are not considered structures unless specifically addressed by code: fences; retaining walls; parking areas; roads, driveways, or walkways; window awnings; a temporary building when used for 30 days or less; utility poles and lines; guy wires; clotheslines; flagpoles; planters; incidental yard furnishings; water wells; monitoring wells; and/or tubes, patios, decks, or steps less than 18 inches above average grade.
• “Structure, rail dependent” means a structure with a primary function requiring close proximity to railroad tracks.
• “Subdivider” means any person having an ownership interest in the land that is the subject of an application for development.
• “Subdivision” means the division of a tract or parcel of land into two or more lots, sites, or other divisions, or the combining of two or more lots, tracts, or parcels into one lot, tract, or parcel for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of sale or lease for more than ten years, including any resubdivision.
• “Subject site” means the property subject to the interim materials district; conditional use permit; or administrative permit for earth materials extraction activities.
• “Swale” means a low-lying or depressed land area commonly wet or moist, which can function as an intermittent drainageway.
• “Tall structure” means a structure that is over 85 feet above grade. The term includes, but is not limited to, tethered balloons, flag poles, sculpture, buildings, elevators, storage or processing facilities, water tanks, derricks, cranes, signs, chimneys, area illumination poles, towers, broadcast facilities, and supports for communication.
• “Telecommunication facility” means any unmanned facility established for the purpose of providing wireless transmission of voice, data, images, or other information including, but not limited to, cellular telephone service, personal communications service, paging service, and television or radio communications. Telecommunication facilities may include one or more towers, antennas, equipment cabinets, feed lines, ancillary structures, and fencing.
• “Telecommunication tower” means a tower built for the sole or primary purpose of supporting any FCC licensed or authorized antennas and their associated facilities, including structures that are constructed for wireless communications services including, but not limited to, private, broadcast, and public safety services, as well as unlicensed wireless services and fixed wireless services such as microwave backhaul.
• “Topographic features” means the physical land surface relief including terrain elevation and slope.
• “Tower” means a vertical projection composed of metal or other material designed for the purpose of accommodating antennas, wind turbine equipment, or other equipment at a desired height or utilization as a broadcast facility. Examples of tower types include guyed, lattice, monopole, concealed, and other similar type facilities. Towers do not include any device used to attach antennas to an existing building, unless the device extends above the highest point of the building by more than 20 feet.
• “Traditional uses” means an inherited, established, or customary pattern of land uses that may involve a cultural, historical practice, or a social custom.
• “Trail” means a traveled way which may have recreational, aesthetic, alternative transportation, or educational opportunities.
• “Transmission equipment” means equipment that facilitates transmission for any FCC licensed or authorized wireless communication service, including, but not limited to, radio transceivers, antennas, coaxial or fiber-optic cable, and regular backup power supply.
• “Unbuildable” means an area or land that cannot be used practically or is not feasible for a habitable building because of natural conditions, such as a slope exceeding 40 percent, wetlands, floodplains, streams, ponds, or other impeding conditions.
• “Unconfined aquifer” means an aquifer whose upper surface is a water table free to fluctuate.
• “Undeveloped land” means land in its natural state before commencement of construction or placement of any building.
• “Use” means the purpose for which land, a building, or structure is arranged, designated, or intended, is occupied or maintained.
• “Useable open space” means land within or related to a development that is designed and intended for the common use or enjoyment of the residents of the development and may include complementary buildings and improvements as are necessary and appropriate.
• “Variance” means specific grant of relief from one or more of the requirements of this title as provided in MSB 17.65.
• “Water bodies” means permanent or temporary areas of standing or flowing water. Water depth is such that water, and not air, is the principal medium in which organisms live. Water bodies include, but are not limited to: lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, sloughs, and all salt water bodies.
• “Water table” means the upper surface of a zone of saturated soil, including natural seasonal fluctuations, but excluding fluctuations caused by heavy rains or rapid snowmelt; the water table is indicated by the level at which water stands in a well that is open along its length and penetrates the surficial deposits just deeply enough to encounter standing water in the bottom.
• “Wetlands” means those areas that are inundated and saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, including swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.
• “Width of a structure” means the horizontal distance measured from the outermost points of the structure including attachments and structural supports but excluding guy wires and transmission lines strung between towers as in the case of electrical power lines.
• “Wind energy conversion system (WECS)” means any device such as a wind charger, windmill, turbine, energy ball, wind tower, or another similar device, which is typically mounted to a tower or pole, and its associated mechanical and electrical equipment, which is designed to convert wind energy to a form of usable energy.
• “Yard” means an open space that lies between the principal building or buildings and the nearest lot line.
• “Yard, front” means a space extending across the full width of the lot between the principal building and the front lot line and measured perpendicular to the building to the closest point of the front lot line.
• “Yard, rear” means a space extending across the full width of the lot between the principal building and the rear lot line and measured perpendicular to the building to the closest point of the rear lot line.
• “Yard, required” means the minimum open space between a lot line and the yard line within which no building is permitted to be located except as provided by the design standards.
• “Yard, side” means a space extending from the front yard to the rear yard between the principal building and the side lot line and measured perpendicular from the side lot line to the closest point of the principal building.
(Ord. 18-030, § 8, 2018; Ord. 18-013, § 6, 2018; Ord. 17-096, § 5, 2017; Ord. 15-016, § 3, 2015; Ord. 12-169, § 4, 2013; Ord. 12-064, § 3, 2012; Ord. 11-159, § 3, 2011; Ord. 11-153, § 18, 2011; Ord. 11-146, § 8, 2011; Ord. 11-074, § 5, 2011; Ord. 11-019, § 3, 2011; Ord. 09-014, § 3, 2009; Ord. 08-161(AM), § 3, 2008; Ord. 08-136, § 3, 2008; Ord. 08-018(SUB), § 18, 2008; Ord. 08-017(AM), § 3, 2008; Ord. 07-058, § 12, 2007; Ord. 06-192(AM), § 3, 2007; Ord. 06-188(SUB), § 3, 2007; Ord. 05-182(AM), § 9, 2005; Ord. 05-125(SUB)(AM), § 2 (part), 2005)