A.
Pursuant to the authority conferred by Article 16 of the Town Law
of the State of New York and for each of the purposes specified therein,
the Town Board of the Town of Elma, County of Erie and State of New
York, has ordained and does hereby enact the following chapter regulating
and restricting, by zones, the number of stories and size of buildings
and other structures, the percentage of lot that may be occupied,
the size of yards, courts and other open spaces, the density of population
and the location and use of buildings, structures and land for trade,
industry and residence and providing for setbacks and line clearances
or other purposes. Such regulations shall apply to the Town of Elma.
B.
These regulations are made in accordance with a Comprehensive Plan
and are designed to lessen congestion in the streets; to secure safety
from fire, panic and other dangers; to promote health and general
welfare; to provide adequate light and air; to prevent the overcrowding
of land; to avoid undue concentration of population; to facilitate
the adequate provision of transportation, water, sewage, schools,
parks and other public requirements.
A.
Words used in the present tense include the future; the singular
number includes the plural, and the plural the singular; the word
"lot" includes the word "plot"; the word "building" includes the word
"structure"; the word "occupied" includes the words "designed or intended
to be occupied"; the word "used" includes the words "arranged, designed
or intended to be used."
B.
ACCESSORY BUILDING
BASEMENT
BOARDINGHOUSE and/or ROOMING HOUSE
BUILDING AREA
CARPORT
CELLAR
COVERED PORCHES
DEPTH OF LOT
DWELLING UNIT
FAMILY
(1)
(2)
FARM
GARAGE
GARAGE, PRIVATE
GARAGE, PUBLIC
HABITABLE ROOM
HOTEL or INN
JUNK BUSINESS
JUNKYARD
KENNEL
LIVABLE FLOOR AREA OR SPACE
LOT
LOT WIDTH
MOTEL
MULTIPLE DWELLING
NONCONFORMING USE
OLD CAR STORAGE YARD
PARKING LOT
PLOT
RESIDENCE
RIDING AND/OR BOARDING STABLE
ROAD OR STREET LINE
SETBACK
SIGN
SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL
STREET
SUBDIVISION
TRAILER or MOBILE HOME
TWO-FAMILY DWELLING
USE
ZONING MAP
Unless otherwise expressly stated, the following terms, for the purpose
of this chapter, shall have the meanings herein indicated:
A building such as a stable, playhouse, barn or greenhouse,
which is subordinate or accessory to a main building on the same lot
and which is not available to the public.
That portion of a building that is partly below grade which
has more than half of its height, measured from floor to ceiling,
above the average finished grade of the ground adjoining the building.
A private residence wherein rooms are rented to lodgers and/or
boarders.
The maximum area of a building and its attached accessories
at ground level.
An open-sided auto shelter formed by extending the roof from
a side of a building.
That portion of a building that is partly or entirely below
grade, which has more than half of its height, measured from floor
to ceiling, below the average finished grade of the ground adjoining
the building.
Whether enclosed or not, shall be considered as part of the
main building and shall comply with all setback requirements.
In all cases, depth of lot required shall be measured from
the street line and not from the center of the street or road.
One or more rooms physically arranged so as to create an
independent housekeeping establishment for occupancy by one family
with separate toilets and facilities for cooking and sleeping.
[Added 8-2-1972; amended 2-4-2015 by L.L. No. 1-2015]
[Added 8-2-1972; amended 2-4-2015 by L.L. No. 1-2015]
One or more persons occupying a dwelling unit and living as
a single, nonprofit housekeeping unit, provided that a group of four
or more persons who are not within the second degree of kinship shall
not be deemed to constitute a family.
Notwithstanding the definition in the preceding subsection,
a family shall be deemed to include four or more persons not within
the second degree of kinship occupying a dwelling unit and living
as a single, nonprofit housekeeping unit, if said occupants are handicapped
persons as defined in Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968,
as amended by the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988. Such unrelated
individuals shall have the right to occupy a dwelling unit in the
same manner and to the same extent as any family unit as defined in
the first subsection of this definition.
Any parcel of land which is used primarily for the raising
of agricultural products, including fruits, vegetables, dairying,
livestock, poultry, eggs or meat, together with the necessary buildings
and equipment which houses such birds, animals or crops and necessary
buildings for the storage and housing, processing, packaging or other
processes necessary for the conduct of an individual farm business.
A building or that portion of a building used for housing
one or more motor vehicles.
A garage maintained primarily for the convenience of the
resident occupant of the premises and in which no business is carried
on and no service rendered to the public.
Any garage other than a private garage, available to the
public, operated for gain and which is used for storage, repair, rental,
greasing, washing, servicing, adjusting or equipping of automobiles
or other motor vehicles.
That space within four walls used or designed to be used
in whole or in part for human habitation or part of the residence
of one or more human beings.
A building for the lodging, dining and entertaining of travelers.
The maintenance of an area not in a completely enclosed building,
where junk, waste, discarded or salvaged materials are bought, sold,
exchanged, sorted, stored, baled, packed, disassembled, handled or
abandoned.
The maintenance of an area not in a completely enclosed building,
where junk, waste, discarded or salvaged materials are bought, sold,
exchanged, sorted, stored, baled, packed, disassembled or abandoned.
The keeping of more than three dogs, cats or other household
animals that are more than six months old.
The area of the floors of a dwelling, excluding basements
not designed for human occupancy, cellars, garages, breezeways, unenclosed
or unheated porches or attics. It shall include only such floor area
immediately under a roof for which the headroom is five or more feet,
provided that at least 65% of such floor area has a ceiling height
of at least seven feet; if such floor area is above another story,
it has access to the floor below by a permanent, built-in stairway;
and it meets the requirements of the Building Code for light and ventilation.[1] Measurements for "livable floor area" shall be made from
exterior faces of exterior walls or from center lines of party walls
except for areas under a sloping roof.
Any parcel of land occupied or intended to be occupied by
one building or one unit group of buildings and its accessory buildings
and uses and including such open spaces as are provided or as are
required by this chapter. For any new or added construction, the "lot"
shall be defined on the plan filed with the Building Inspector.
The least horizontal distance across the lot between side
lot lines, measured at the front setback of a main building erected
or to be erected on such lot or at a distance from the front lot line
equal to the required depth of the front yard.
A building or group of buildings, whether detached or in
connected units, used as individual sleeping or dwelling units designed
primarily for transient automobile travelers and providing accessory
off-street parking facilities. The term "motel" includes buildings
designed as motor lodges, auto courts and similar appellations.
A dwelling which is either rented, leased, let or hired out
to be occupied or is occupied as the temporary or permanent residence
or home of three or more families living independently of each other,
including, but not limited to, the following: a tenement, flat house,
maisonette apartment, apartment house, apartment hotel, tourist house,
bachelor apartment, studio apartment, kitchenette apartment, lodging
house, rooming house, boardinghouse, furnished room house, club, sorority
house, fraternity house, college and school dormitory, convalescent,
old age or nursing homes or residences. It shall also include a dwelling,
two or more stories in height and with five or more boarders, roomers
or lodgers residing with any one family.
[Added 8-2-1972; amended 2-4-2015 by L.L. No. 1-2015]
A building, structure or use of land existing at the time
of enactment of this chapter and which does not conform to the regulations
of the district or zone in which it is situated.
A lot containing one or more unserviceable automobiles.
Any open space other than highways used for the temporary parking of motor vehicles. (See Article IV.)
A parcel of land larger than a lot and as it existed on the
Town of Elma Official Zoning Use Map issued May 26, 1950, and adopted
July 18, 1950.
A dwelling or building for occupancy in the whole by one
or more families.
An establishment where horses are for hire or space and services
are rented to a nonresident of the premises for keeping and maintaining
horses.
The road or street line is the side or outer limit line of
the highway right-of-way.
A distance determined from the highway right-of-way line
and side and rear lot lines.
Any device for visual communication that is used for the
purpose of bringing the subject thereof to the attention of the public
and to include billboards.
A single-family residential building, to be used as a residence,
to any one lot, for housekeeping of no more than one family.
[Added 2-4-2015 by L.L.
No. 1-2015]
Any road, avenue, street, lane, alley or other way set aside
and used as a public thoroughfare or which has been dedicated to and
accepted by the Town, county and/or state for that purpose.
A parcel of land divided into several lots which front on one or more streets, the layout of which has been approved by the Town or the Planning Board as authorized to do so. (Refer to § 144-131.)
A trailer vehicle or similar structure used for living and/or
sleeping purposes and standing on wheels or on rigid supports.
A building containing two dwelling units and designed or
used exclusively for occupancy by two families living independently
of each other, or two one-family dwellings having a party wall in
common.
[Added 2-4-2015 by L.L.
No. 1-2015]
The purpose for which a building, structure or premises or
any part thereof is or are occupied and, if occupied, the purpose
for which it may be occupied hereunder.
Indicates the boundaries of the zones adopted by the Town
Board.
