For the purposes of this chapter, the following
definitions shall be used, unless a different definition is specifically
provided for in a section. Words used in the present tense include
the future; the singular number includes the plural number; and the
plural number includes the singular number. The word "shall" is mandatory
and not permissive.
Have a common property line or district line.
A use or detached structure subordinate to the principal
use of a structure, parcel of land or water and located on the same
lot or parcel serving a purpose incidental to the principal use or
the principal structure.
The actual land devoted to the land use, excluding public
streets, public lands or unusable lands, and school sites contained
within 43,560 square feet.
A public way not more than 15 feet wide which affords only
a secondary means of access to abutting property.
A suite of rooms or a room in a multiple dwelling, which
suite or room is arranged, intended or designed to be occupied as
a residence of a single family, individual or group of individuals,
with separate facilities and utilities which are used or intended
to be used for living, sleeping, cooking and eating.
A public street or highway used or intended to be used primarily
for large volume or heavy through traffic. Arterial streets shall
include freeways and expressways as well as arterial streets, highways
and parkways.
That portion of any structure located partly below the average
adjoining lot grade which is not designed or used primarily for year-around
living accommodations.
[Amended 3-20-2007 by Ord. No. 336; 4-20-2010 by Ord. No. 349; 6-6-2011 by Ord. No. 356; 5-14-2012 by Ord. No. 363]
Any place of lodging that satisfies all of the following:
Provides eight or fewer rooms for rent to no more than a total
of 20 tourists or transients;
Provides no meals other than breakfast and provides the breakfast
only to renters of the place;
Is the owner's personal and principal residence;
Is occupied by the owner at the time of rental;
Was originally built and occupied as a single-family residence,
or, prior to use as a place of lodging, was converted to use and occupied
as a single-family residence.
For purposes of this definition, "owner" means an individual
who owns at least an undivided one-half interest in the property comprising
the establishment, as evidenced by a recorded document establishing
such ownership, or at least 1/2 of the ownership interest of a limited
liability company, corporation, or other legal entity that owns all
of the property, as evidenced by a recorded document establishing
the entity's ownership of the property and records of the legal entity
establishing the individual's ownership interest in the entity. A
land contract purchaser's interest in the property shall not constitute
an ownership interest for purposes of this definition unless the land
contract evidences a bona fide transaction for the purchase of the
entire ownership of the property.
An excavated area that is back-filled with a prepared or
amended soil mixture, which may or may not be covered with a mulch
layer and planted with a diversity of woody or herbaceous vegetation,
to which stormwater is directed to promote infiltration or evapotranspiration.
[Added 5-19-2021 by Ord.
No. 401]
A tract of land bounded by streets or by a combination of
streets and public parks or other recognized lines of demarcation.[1]
The portion of a lot remaining after required yards have
been provided.
Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls
used or intended to be used for the shelter or enclosure of persons,
animals, equipment, machinery or materials. When a building is divided
into separate parts by unpierced walls extending from the ground up,
each part shall be deemed a separate building.
The vertical distance from the lowest elevation on the footprint of the building projected vertically on to the natural surface of the building site, as it existed prior to any filling, excavating, or grading and verified by a certified topographical survey, to the highest point of the roof [excluding architectural projections exempt from the height limits under § 500-12A(1)].
A line parallel to the lot line at a distance parallel to
it, regulated by the yard requirements set up in this Zoning Code.
A building surrounded by open space on the same lot.[2]
The building on a lot in which is conducted the principal
use as permitted on such lot by the regulations of the district in
which it is located.
An occupation, employment or enterprise which occupies time,
labor and materials, or wherein merchandise is exhibited or sold,
or where services are offered.
A rigid structure attached to and extending outward from
a building, designed to protect the building and/or people under the
canopy from the sun, rain or snow.
An automobile shelter having one or more sides open.
That portion of a building having more than half of the floor-to-ceiling
height below the average grade of the adjoining ground. This portion
is not a completed structure and serves as a substructure or foundation
for a building.
Those floodlands normally occupied by a stream of water under
average annual high-water flow conditions while confined within generally
well-established banks.
A collection system that detains rain water or stormwater
runoff in above-ground or underground storage tanks for later indoor
or outdoor use. A cistern of under 120 gallons in capacity typically
is known as a "rain barrel."
[Added 5-19-2021 by Ord.
No. 401]
A group of medical or dental offices organized as a unified
facility to provide medical or dental treatment as contrasted with
an unrelated group of such offices, but not including bed-patient
care.
A building or portion thereof or premises owned by a corporation,
association, person or persons for a social, educational or recreational
purpose, but not primarily for profit or to render a service which
is customarily carried on as business.
As defined in § 46.03(22), Wis. Stats. The establishment
of a community living arrangement shall be in conformance with applicable
sections of the Wisconsin state statutes, including §§ 46.03(22),
69.97(15), and 62.23(7)(i) and (7a), Wis. Stats., and amendments thereto,
and also the Wisconsin Administrative Code.
[Amended 10-18-2006 by Ord. No. 335]
The occupations, vocations, skills, arts, businesses, professions
or uses specifically designated in each zoning district, which for
their respective conduct, exercise or performance in such designated
districts may require reasonable, but special, peculiar, unusual or
extraordinary limitations, facilities, plans, structures, thoroughfares,
condition modification, or regulations in such district for the promotion
or preservation of the general public welfare, health, convenience
or safety therein and in the City and, therefore, may be permitted
in such district only by a conditional use permit.
Guidelines and specifications for soil and water conservation
practices and management enumerated in the Technical Guide, prepared
by the USDA Soil Conservation Service for Bayfield County, adopted
by the County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisors, and
containing suitable alternatives for the use and treatment of land
based upon its capabilities from which the landowner selects that
alternative which best meets his needs in developing his soil and
water conservation.
The condition in which the right of owners or occupants of
abutting land or other persons to access, light, air or view in connection
with an arterial street is fully or partially controlled by public
authority.
[3]Any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate,
including but not limited to construction of or additions or substantial
improvements to buildings, other structures, or accessory uses, mining,
dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation or drilling operations
or disposition of materials.
A part or parts of the City for which the regulations of
this chapter governing the use and location of land and building are
uniform.
Overlay districts, also referred to herein as regulatory
areas, provide for the possibility of superimposing certain additional
requirements upon a basic zoning district without disturbing the requirements
of the basic district. In the instance of conflicting requirements,
the more strict of the conflicting requirements shall apply.
A building or part thereof designed or used exclusively as
a residence or sleeping place, but not used at all for transient occupancy.
[Amended 1-25-2006 by Ord. No. 332]
One or more rooms constituting all or part of a dwelling,
which are arranged, designed, used or intended for use exclusively
as living quarters for one family.[4]
[Amended 1-25-2006 by Ord. No. 332]
A residential building designed for or occupied by three
or more families, with the number of families in residence not to
exceed the number of dwelling units provided.
A detached building designed for or occupied by one family.
A detached building containing two separate dwelling (or
living) units, designed for occupancy by not more than two families.
Services provided by public and private utilities, necessary
for the exercise of the principal use or service of the principal
structure. These services include underground, surface or overhead
gas, electrical, steam, water, sanitary sewerage, stormwater drainage,
and communication systems and accessories thereto, such as poles,
towers, wires, mains, drains, vaults, culverts, laterals, sewers,
pipes, catch basins, water storage tanks, conduits, cables, fire alarm
boxes, police call boxes, traffic signals, pumps, lift stations and
hydrants, but not including buildings.
A person or persons living alone or together in one dwelling
unit as a single housekeeping entity.
[Amended 1-25-2006 by Ord. No. 332]
General farming shall include floriculture, forest and game
management, orchards, raising of grain, grass, mint and seed crops,
raising of fruits, nuts and berries, sod farming and vegetable farming.
General farming includes the operating of such an area for one or
more of the above uses with the necessary accessory uses for treating
or storing the produce; provided, however, that the operation of any
such accessory uses shall be secondary to that of the normal farming
activities.
A single-family residential structure located on a parcel
of land, which primary land use is associated with agriculture.
For the purpose of determining off-street parking and off-street
loading requirements, the sum of the gross horizontal areas of the
floors of the building, or portion thereof, devoted to a use requiring
off-street parking or loading. This area shall include elevators and
stairways, accessory storage areas located within selling or working
space occupied by counters, racks or closets and any basement floor
area devoted to retailing activities, to the production or processing
of goods, or to business or professional offices. However, floor area,
for the purposes of determining off-street parking spaces, shall not
include floor area devoted primarily to storage purposes except as
otherwise noted herein.
The primary domicile of a foster parent which is four or
fewer foster children and which is licensed under § 48.62,
Wis. Stats., and amendments thereto.
All the property butting on one side of a street between
two intersecting streets or all of the property abutting on one side
of a street between an intersecting street and the dead end of a street.
A detached accessory building or portion of the principal
building, designed, arranged, used or intended to be used for storage
of automobiles of the occupant of the premises.
Any building or portion thereof, not accessory to a residential
building or structure, used for equipping, servicing, repairing, leasing
or public parking of motor vehicles.
When used as a reference point in measuring the height of
a building, the grade shall be the average elevation of the finished
ground at the exterior walls of the main building.
An engineered roofing system that includes vegetation planted
into a growing medium above an underlying waterproof membrane material,
which is designed to reduce the volume or peak flow of stormwater
runoff from a building roof.
[Added 5-19-2021 by Ord.
No. 401]
The use of a supporting structure or wall panel installed
to enable plants to grow vertically along the facade of a building
or structure in order to provide air and water quality improvement
as well as aesthetic enhancement.
[Added 5-19-2021 by Ord.
No. 401]
Any facility operated by a person required to be licensed
by the State of Wisconsin under § 48.62, Wis. Stats., for
the care and maintenance of five to eight foster children.
An accessory use of a dwelling unit for gainful employment
involving the manufacture, provision or sale of goods and/or services
that is clearly secondary to the residential use and does not change
the character of the structure as a residence and meets all the applicable
limitations of this chapter.
An institution intended primarily for the medical diagnosis,
treatment and care of patients being given medical treatment. A hospital
shall be distinguished from a clinic by virtue of providing for bed-patient
care.
A building in which lodging, with or without meals, is offered
to transient guests for compensation, in which there are five or more
transient occupancy units with no cooking facilities and each not
exceeding 400 square feet in floor area.
[Amended 1-25-2006 by Ord. No. 332]
A building occupied by a nonprofit corporation or a nonprofit
establishment for public use.
Any scrap, waste, reclaimable material or debris, whether
or not stored or used in conjunction with dismantling, processing,
salvage, storage, baling, disposal or other use or disposition. Junk
includes, but is not limited to, vehicles, tires, vehicle parts, equipment,
paper, rags, metal, glass, building materials, household appliances,
brush, wood and lumber.
Any place at which personal property is or may be salvaged
for reuse, resale or reduction or similar disposition and is owned,
possessed, collected, accumulated, dismantled or assorted, including
but not limited to used or salvaged or new scrapped base metal or
metals, their compounds or combinations, used for salvaged rope, bags,
paper, rags, glass, rubber, lumber, millwork, brick and similar property,
except animal matter; and used motor vehicles, machinery or equipment
which are used, owned or possessed for the purpose of wrecking or
salvaging parts therefrom.
A completely off-street space or berth on the same lot for
the loading or unloading of freight carriers, having adequate ingress
and egress to a public street or alley.[5]
A parcel of land having frontage on a public street, or other
officially approved means of access, occupied or intended to be occupied
by a principal structure or use and sufficient in size to meet the
lot width, lot frontage, lot area and other open space provisions
of this Code as pertaining to the district wherein located.
The area of contiguous land bounded by lot lines, exclusive
of land designated for public thoroughfares.
The shortest horizontal distance between the front lot line
and the rear lot line measured at a ninety-degree-angle from the road
right-of-way.
Legally established lines dividing one lot, plot of land
or parcel of land from an adjoining lot or plot of land or parcel
of land as defined herein.
A line separating the lot from the street or approved private
road.
A lot line which is opposite and most distant from the front
lot line and, in the case of an irregular or triangular-shaped lot,
a line 10 feet in the length within the lot, parallel to and at the
maximum distance from the front lot line.
Any lot boundary line not a front line or a rear lot line.
A lot which has been recorded in the office of the Register
of Deeds prior to the effective date of this chapter.
The horizontal distance between the side lot lines at the
building setback line.
A lot situated at the intersection of two streets.
A lot with frontage on only one street.
A lot other than a corner lot with frontage on two streets.
Any small, movable accessory erection or construction such
as birdhouses, tool houses, pet houses, play equipment, arbors and
walls and fences under four feet in height.
[6]A prefabricated, detached single- or double-family dwelling
unit designed for long-term occupancy and containing sleeping accommodations,
a flush toilet, a tub or shower bath and kitchen facilities with plumbing
and electrical connections provided for attachment to outside systems,
which is or was designed to be transported and mounted on a permanent
foundation.
A lot of record existing on the date of passage of this chapter
which does not have the minimum width or contain the minimum area
for the zone in which it is located.
Any structure, use of land, use of land and structure in
combination or characteristic of use (such as yard requirement or
lot size) which was existing at the time of the effective date of
this Zoning Code or amendments thereto and which is not in conformance
with this Zoning Code. Any such structure conforming in respect to
use but not in respect to frontage, width, height, area, yard, parking,
loading or distance requirements shall not be considered a nonconforming
use, but shall be considered nonconforming with respect to those characteristics.
An establishment used as a dwelling place by the aged, infirm,
chronically ill or incurably afflicted, in which not less than three
persons live or are kept or provided for on the premises for compensation,
excluding clinics and hospitals and similar institutions devoted to
the diagnosis, treatment or the care of the sick or injured.
A structure or premises containing five or more parking spaces
open to the public.
Includes all abutting property owners, all property owners
within 100 feet, and all property owners of opposite frontages.
A material or materials and accompanying subsurface treatments
designed and installed specifically to allow stormwater to penetrate
into the material, thereby reducing the volume of stormwater runoff
from the surfaced area. Permeable surfacing may include without limitation
paver blocks, 'grasscrete' or similar structural support
materials, and permeable concrete or asphalt.
[Added 5-19-2021 by Ord.
No. 401]
A large lot or tract of land containing two or more principal
buildings of uses developed as a unit where such buildings or uses
may be located in relation to each other rather than to a lot line
or zoning district boundaries.
A structure with vertical walls and an open or closed bottom,
which may be attached to a building or structure, that is planted
with a soil medium and vegetation intended to collect, absorb, and
filter runoff from impervious surfaces.
[Added 5-19-2021 by Ord.
No. 401]
Residences of doctors of medicine, practitioners, dentists,
clergymen, architects, landscape architects, professional engineers,
registered land surveyors, lawyers, artists, teachers, tradesmen,
authors, musicians or other recognized professions used to conduct
their professions where the office does not exceed 1/2 the area of
only one floor of the residence and only one nonresident person is
employed. Tradesmen shall be defined as a person or persons who hold
themselves out with a particular skill including, but not limited
to, carpenters, masons, plumbers, electricians, roofers and others
involved in the building trade.
Any airport which complies with the definition contained
in § 114.002(7), Wis. Stats., or any airport which serves
or offers to serve common carriers engaged in air transport.
[7]A business establishment consisting of a kitchen and dining
room, whose primary purpose is to prepare and serve food to be eaten
by customers seated in the dining room.
A business establishment consisting of a kitchen, with or
without a dining room, where food is prepared and packaged to be eaten
either off the premises or within automobiles parked on the premises.
The sale of goods or merchandise in small quantities to the
consumer.
A building providing lodging, or meals and lodging, for compensation
for three or more persons not members of the same family, but not
exceeding ten persons, not for transient occupancy, and not including
multiple-family dwellings, nursing homes, foster family homes, or
group foster homes.[8]
[Added 4-20-2010 by Ord. No. 349]
The minimum horizontal distance between the front lot line
and the nearest point of the foundation of that portion of the building
to be enclosed. The overhang cornices shall not exceed 24 inches.
Any overhang of the cornice in excess of 24 inches shall be compensated
by increasing the setback by an amount equal to the excess of cornice
over 24 inches. Uncovered steps shall not be included in measuring
the setback.
[9]As defined in § 500-61 of this chapter.
[Amended 10-18-2006 by Ord. No. 335]
That portion of a building included between the surface of
any floor and the surface of the next floor above it, or if there
is no floor above it, then the space between the floor and the ceiling
next above it. Any portion of a story exceeding 14 feet in height
shall be considered as an additional story for each 14 feet or fraction
thereof. A basement having 1/2 or more of its height above grade shall
be deemed a story for purposes of height regulation.
That portion of a building under a gable, hip or mansard
roof, the wall plates of which, on at least two opposite exterior
walls, are not more than 4 1/2 feet above the finished floor
of such story. In the case of one family dwellings, two-family dwellings
and multifamily dwellings less than three stories in height, a 1/2
story in a sloping roof shall not be counted as a story for the purposes
of this Zoning Code.
Property other than an alley or private thoroughfare or travelway
which is subject to public easement or right-of-way for use as a thoroughfare
and which is 21 feet or more in width.
[10]Any change in the supporting members of a structure, such
as foundations, bearing walls, columns, beams or girders.
Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires
a permanent location on the ground or attached to something having
a permanent location on the ground, or which, though movable, provides
shelter for persons or property, but not including a temporary shelter.
[Amended 3-11-2013 by Ord. No. 368]
A tent, canopy, or similar erected covering that provides
shelter to persons or property and can be easily erected or dismantled
at different locations.
[Added 3-11-2013 by Ord. No. 368]
A movable structure not designed for human occupancy nor
for the protection of goods or chattels and not forming an enclosure,
such as billboards.
All lodging places and tourist cabins and cottages, other
than hotels and motels, in which sleeping accommodations are offered
for pay to tourists or transients. It does not include private boarding
or rooming houses not accommodating tourists or transients, or bed-and-breakfast
establishments.
Occupancy for less than 30 consecutive days.
The purpose or activity for which the land or building thereof
is designed, arranged or intended, or for which it is occupied or
maintained.
[11]The main use of land or building as distinguished from subordinate
or accessory use.
Public and private facilities, such as water wells, water
and sewage pumping stations, water storage tanks, electrical power
substations, static transformer stations, telephone and telegraph
exchanges, microwave radio relays and gas regulation stations, inclusive
of associated transmission facilities, but not including sewage disposal
plants, municipal incinerators, warehouses, shops, storage yards and
power plants.
A relaxation of the terms of this chapter by the Zoning Board
of Appeals where the literal enforcement of this chapter would deny
to the property owner a use of his property enjoyed as a right by
other property owners within the same zoning district.
A vegetated area designed, constructed, and planted, as an
integral and intentional component of a stormwater management or landscape
plan, in a manner specifically intended to collect and slow stormwater
runoff and promote uptake by plants and soils.
[Added 5-19-2021 by Ord.
No. 401]
An unoccupied triangular space at the intersection of highways
or streets with other highways or streets or at the intersection of
highways or streets with railroads. Such vision clearance triangle
shall be bounded by the intersecting highway, street or railroad right-of-way
lines and a setback line connecting points located on such right-of-way
lines by measurement from this intersection as specified in this chapter.
An open space on the same lot with a building, unobstructed
by structures except as otherwise provided herein.
A yard extending the full width of the lot between the front
lot line and the nearest part of the principal building excluding
uncovered steps. On corner lots, the front yard shall be considered
as parallel to the street upon which the lot has its least dimensions.
A yard extending the full width of the lot between the rear
lot line to the nearest part of the principal building.
A yard on each side of the principal building extending from
the building to the lot line and from the front yard line to the rear
yard line.
The concept whereby two respective dwelling units within
a building shall be on separate and abutting lots and shall meet on
the common property line between them, thereby having zero space between
said units.
A permit issued by the Zoning Administrator to certify that
the lands, structures, air and waters subject to this chapter are
or shall be used in accordance with the provisions of said chapter.
[12][1]
Editor's Note: The former definition of "boardinghouse," which
immediately followed this definition, was repealed 4-20-2010 by Ord.
No. 349.
[2]
Editor's Note: The definition of "building,
principal," which immediately followed this definition, was deleted
10-18-2006 by Ord. No. 335.
[3]
Editor's Note: The definition of "corner lot,"
which immediately followed this term, was deleted 10-18-2006 by Ord.
No. 335. See the definition of "lot, corner" in this section.
[4]
Editor's Note: The definition of “dwelling,
efficiency,” which immediately followed this definition, was
deleted 1-25-2006 by Ord. No. 332.
[5]
Editor's Note: The former definition of "lodging house," which
immediately followed this definition, was repealed 4-20-2010 by Ord.
No. 349.
[6]
Editor's Note: The following definitions, which followed this term, were deleted 10-18-2006 by Ord. No. 335: "mobile home," "mobile home lot," "mobile home park" and "mobile home subdivision." See now § 500-78.
[7]
Editor's Note: The definition of "rear yard,"
which immediately followed this term, was deleted 10-18-2006 by Ord.
No. 335. See the definition of "yard, rear" in this section.
[8]
Editor's Note: The former definition of “semipermanent
merchant,” which immediately followed this definition, was repealed
9-13-2016 by Ord. No. 382.
[9]
Editor's Note: The definition of "side yard,"
which immediately followed this term, was deleted 10-18-2006 by Ord.
No. 335. See the definition of "yard, side" in this section.
[10]
Editor's Note: The definition of "street yard,"
which immediately followed this term, was deleted 10-18-2006 by Ord.
No. 335. See the definition of "yard, front" in this section. Throughout
this chapter, references to "street yard" were amended to read "front
yard" 10-18-2006 by Ord. No. 335.
[11]
Editor's Note: The definition of "use, accessory,"
which immediately followed this term, was deleted 10-18-2006 by Ord.
No. 335. See the definition of "accessory use or structure" in this
section.
[12]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II). Throughout this chapter, references to "zoning and occupancy permit" and "occupancy and zoning use permit" were amended to read "zoning permit" at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II).
