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User's Guide: This article contains specific definitions
for words and phrases used in this chapter.
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A.
In this
chapter, certain terms and words shall be interpreted as follows:
(1)
The words "persons" and "applicant" include individuals, firms, associations,
corporations, organization, and similar entities;
(2)
Words used or defined in one tense or form shall include other tenses
or derivative forms;
(3)
Words in the singular number shall include the plural number, and
words in the plural shall include the singular number;
(4)
The word "shall" is mandatory;
(5)
The word "may" is permissive;
(6)
The word "used" or "occupied" includes the words "intended," "designed"
or "arranged" to be used or occupied;
(7)
The word "building" includes the word "structure" or "facility";
(8)
The word "dwelling" includes the word "residence";
(9)
The word "lot" includes the words "plot" or "parcel"; and
(10)
The word "Town" means Town of Islesboro, Maine.
B.
In case
of difference of meaning or implication between the text of this chapter
and any map, illustration, or table, the text shall control.
For the purpose of interpreting this chapter, the following
terms, phrases, words and their derivations shall have the meaning
given herein:
The owner of a property immediately adjacent to or across
any road from the property of the applicant or developer.
A use or structure which is incidental and subordinate to
the principal use or structure. Accessory uses, when aggregated, shall
not subordinate the principal use of the lot. A deck or similar extension
of the principal structure or a garage attached to the principal structure
by a roof or a common wall is considered part of the principal structure.
Those devices and procedures utilized in the cultivation
of land in order to further crop and livestock production and conservation
of related soil and water resources.
Structural changes, rearrangement, change of location, or
addition to a building or structure, other than repairs and modification
in building equipment, involving an increase in the overall floor
space or volume of the building or structure.
A lodging facility that is based in the permanent dwelling
of the person or family acting as proprietor that accommodates for
a fee transient guests, that has fewer than seven sleeping rooms offered
for rent; and that does not provide full-service dining, but may serve
meals to guests only.
A structure for the support, shelter or enclosure of persons,
animals, goods or property of any kind.
A group of buildings that is available for transient lodging
for a fee, each containing eating, sleeping, and bathing facilities;
that are designed for seasonal use by the lodgers; and that consist
of no more than two dwelling units per building.
A document issued by the Codes Enforcement Officer which
verifies that all conditions of approved permits have been met, to
the best of the Officer's knowledge.
[Amended 6-6-2012]
A subdivision or development in which the lot sizes are reduced
below those normally required in return for the provision of permanent
open space owned in common by lot and/or unit owners, the Town, or
a land conservation organization.
The use of lands, buildings, or structures, other than a
home occupation, defined below, the intent and result of which activity
is the production of income from the buying and selling of goods and/or
services, exclusive of rental of residential buildings and/or dwelling
units.
An application shall be considered complete upon submission
of the required fee and all information required by this chapter for
a final plan, or by a vote by the Board to waive the submission of
required information.
Any part or element of the overall plan or policy for development
of the Town as defined in 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4326.
A building designed to house persons not related to each
other (except spouses) who use that building as their primary residence;
that contains separate sleeping facilities and communal eating facilities
limited to the use of the residents and staff; and that is not a nursing
or convalescent home.
Lots in the same ownership which adjoin at any line or point,
except that lots on opposite sides of a public or private road shall
be each considered a separate tract or parcel unless such road was
established by the owner of land on both sides thereof.
An occupation or profession which is customarily conducted
on or in a residential structure or property and which is clearly
incidental to and compatible with the residential use of the property
and surrounding residential uses and which employs no more than two
persons other than family members residing in the home.
Any area on which a site improvement or change is made, including
buildings, landscaping, parking areas, roads, and other areas not
revegetated.
Any person contemplating a project or applying for approval
of a project or subdivision under the provisions of this chapter.
As used in this chapter, "developer" includes applicant, subdivider,
contractor, owner, agent, and representative.
Includes project, subdivision, or any activity regulated
by the provisions of this chapter.
Numerical standards relating to spatial relationships, including
but not limited to setback, lot area, shore frontage and height.
A specified portion of the municipality, delineated on the Protection Districts Map, within which certain regulations and requirements or various combinations thereof apply under the provisions of Chapter 125, Land Use.
A vehicular accessway, not a road, accessing no more than
four lots.
A fixed structure containing one or more dwelling units.
One or more buildings used for residential occupancy by more
than two families, each living independently of each other. This includes
apartments, condominiums, and cluster housing.
A building used for residential occupancy by two families,
each living independently of each other. This includes apartments,
two-family condominiums, and two-family dwellings in cluster housing.
A room or group of rooms designed and equipped or used as
living quarters for only one family. The term shall include guesthouses,
apartments, and mobile homes but not recreational vehicles.
Operations conducted for the public health, safety or general
welfare, such as protection of resources from immediate destruction
or loss, law enforcement, and operations to rescue human beings, property
and livestock from the threat of destruction or injury.
Vehicles such as fire-suppression vehicles, ambulances, power
company vehicles, and other vehicles used for emergency operations.
Those significant natural, scenic, historic, and archaeological
areas identified as environmentally sensitive areas on the Protection
Districts Map.
An increase in the floor area or volume of a structure, including
all extensions, such as but not limited to attached decks, garages,
porches and greenhouses.
The addition of weeks or months to a use's operating season;
additional hours of operation; or the use of more floor area or ground
area devoted to a particular use.
That which is designed, built, or installed to serve a specific
function affording a convenience or service. Facilities may include,
but are not limited to, buildings, structures, and fences.
One or more persons, related by blood, adoption or marriage,
living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit, or a number
of persons living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit
though not related by blood, adoption or marriage.
[Amended 6-6-2012]
The final drawings on which the applicant's plan of
subdivision or development is presented to the Board for approval
and which, if approved, may be recorded at the Registry of Deeds.
Timber cruising and other forest resource evaluation activities,
pesticide or fertilizer application, management planning activities,
timber stand improvement, pruning, regeneration of forest stands,
and other similar or associated activities, exclusive of timber harvesting
and the construction, creation or maintenance of land management roads.
The length of the boundary of a lot or parcel which abuts
a road.[1]
The vertical distance between the mean original grade at
the downhill side of the structure and the highest point of the structure,
excluding chimneys, steeples, antennas, and similar appurtenances
which have no floor area.
A soil survey conducted by a certified soil scientist, meeting
the standards of the National Cooperative Soil Survey, which identifies
soil types down to 1/10 acre or less at a scale equivalent to subdivision
plan submitted. The mapping units shall be the soil series. Single
soil test pits and their evaluation shall not be considered to constitute
high-intensity soil surveys.
The assembling, fabrication, finishing, manufacturing, packaging
or processing of goods or the extraction of minerals.
That which is devoted to some public, governmental, education,
charitable, medical or similar purpose.
All contiguous land in the same ownership, provided that
lands located on opposite sides of a state, Town, or approved subdivision
road shall be considered each a separate lot unless such road was
established by the owner of land on both sides thereof.
The area of land enclosed within the boundary lines of a
lot, minus land below the normal high-water line of a water body or
upland edge of a wetland and areas beneath roads serving more than
two lots.
The estimated price a property will bring in the open market
and under prevailing market conditions in a sale between a willing
seller and a willing buyer, both conversant with the property and
with prevailing general price levels.
A commercial building or group of buildings catering for
a fee to transient guests that has sleeping rooms that do not contain
and shall not contain cooking facilities; that may or may not serve
meals to guests and to the general public; and that may or may not
have accessory public function rooms or recreational facilities.
See "dwelling, multiple-family."
The total acreage available for the subdivision or development
and shown on the proposed subdivision or development plan, minus the
area for roads or access and the areas which are unsuitable for development.
The average number of dwelling units per net residential
acre.
National Geodetic Vertical Datum.
That line which is apparent from visible markings, changes
in the character of soils due to prolonged action of the water or
changes in vegetation, and which distinguishes between predominantly
aquatic and predominantly terrestrial land. In the case of wetlands
adjacent to great ponds, the normal high-water line is the upland
edge of the wetlands and not the edge of the open water.
A building or buildings used to house persons requiring nursing
care or supervision and licensed by the State of Maine as a nursing
home, assisted living facility, or other state-licensed facility similar
in nature or purpose.
The date upon which the Board issues a receipt indicating
that a complete application has been submitted.
The highest level of flood that, on the average, is likely
to occur once every 100 years (that has a one-percent chance of occurring
in any year).
An individual, corporation, governmental agency, municipality,
trust, estate, partnership, association, two or more individuals having
a joint or common interest, or other legal entity.
The Planning Board of the Town of Islesboro, Maine, as created
by an ordinance dated March 14, 1985.
A man-made facility created for the collection of water covering
more than 2,000 square feet.
The Preliminary drawings indicating the proposed layout of
the subdivision to be submitted to the Board for its consideration.
A building other than one which is used for purposes wholly
incidental or accessory to the use of another building or use on the
same premises.
A use other than one which is wholly incidental or accessory
to another use on the same premises.
A way that the general public has no right to pass over by
foot or by vehicle and for which the Town has no maintenance responsibility.
Any facility, including, but not limited to, buildings, property,
recreation areas, and roads, which is owned, leased, or otherwise
operated or funded by a governmental body or public entity.
An easement held by the Town for purposes of public access
to land or water not otherwise connected to a public way, for which
the Town has a maintenance responsibility.
A company, corporation, or association which supplies utilities
such as water, sewage disposal, electricity, telephone, and cable
television to the public or to a specific group of users.
A copy of the final plan which is recorded at the Registry
of Deeds.
A place designed and equipped for the conduct of sports,
leisure time activities, and other customary and usual recreational
activities, excluding boat launching facilities.
A vehicle or an attachment to a vehicle designed to be towed,
and designed for temporary sleeping or living quarters for one or
more persons, and which may include a pickup camper, travel trailer,
tent trailer, camp trailer, and motor home. In order to be considered
as a vehicle and not as a structure, the unit must remain with its
tires on the ground and must be registered with the Bureau of Motor
Vehicles.
The division of an existing subdivision or development which
affects the lot lines, including land transactions by the subdivider
or developer not indicated on the approved plan.
The sale of goods to the ultimate consumer for direct use
and consumption and not for trade.
A route or track consisting of a bed of exposed mineral soil,
gravel, asphalt, or other surfacing material constructed for or created
by the repeated passage of motorized vehicles; includes all ways maintained
by the state or Town, commonly referred to as state roads or Town
roads; a way built to Town specifications, whether or not approved
by the Planning Board. "Road" does not include other rights-of-way,
driveways, or abandoned public or private ways not in use on the effective
date of this chapter.
A building of residential character in which three or more
rooms are rented to guests usually staying more than two weeks for
the purpose of lodging and/or taking meals. The renting of one or
two bedrooms in a dwelling otherwise used as living quarters for one
family shall not be considered a rooming house.
The nearest horizontal distance from the normal high-water
line and/or lot line to the nearest part of a structure, road, parking
space or other regulated object or area.
The length of a lot bordering on a water body measured in
a straight line between the intersections of the lot lines with the
shoreline at normal high-water elevation.
Any structure, display, logo, device, or representation which
is designed or used to advertise or call attention to any thing, person,
business, activity, or place and is visible from any public way. It
does not include the flag, pennant, or other insignia of any nation,
state, or Town. Whichever dimensions of a sign are specified, they
shall include frames.
A plan showing the proposed layout of lots, buildings, roads,
parking, landscaping, and other site improvements.
A device, or combination of devices, structure, or part of
a device or structure that transforms direct solar energy into thermal,
chemical or electrical energy and that contributes to a building's
energy supply.
A complete design or assembly consisting of a solar energy
collector, an energy storage facility (when one is used), and components
for the distribution of transformed energy.
A free-flowing body of water from the outlet of a great pond
or any perennial stream as depicted on the most recent edition of
a United States Geological Survey 7.5-minute series topographic map
or, if not available, a fifteen-minute series topographic map to the
point where the body of water flows to another water body or wetland
within the Protection Sector.
A channel between defined banks created by the action of
surface water, which is characterized by the lack of terrestrial vegetation
or by the presence of a bed devoid of topsoil, containing waterborne
deposits or exposed soil, parent material or bedrock; and which is
connected hydrologically with other water bodies. “Tributary
stream” does not include rills or gullies forming because of
accelerated erosion in disturbed soils where the natural vegetation
cover has been removed by human activity.
[Added 6-6-2012]
Anything built for the support, shelter or enclosure of persons,
animals, goods or property of any kind, together with anything constructed
or erected with a fixed location on or in the ground, exclusive of
fences. The term includes structures temporarily or permanently located,
such as decks and satellite dishes.
The person or persons proposing a subdivision as defined
in this chapter.
As defined in 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4401, but generally
is the division of a tract or parcel of land into three or more lots,
each less than 40 acres, within any five-year period, whether accomplished
by sale, lease, development, building, or otherwise, except when the
division is accomplished by inheritance, or order of the court, or
a gift to a relative, unless the intent of such gift is to avoid the
objectives of this chapter.
Any subdivision containing more than four lots or dwelling
units.
Any subdivision containing not more than four lots or dwelling
units.
An expansion of the land area of the development site by
more than 20% at any one time or in total since the effective date
of this chapter.
Completion of 30% of a permitted structure or use measured
as a percentage of estimated total cost.
A collection of treatment tank(s), disposal area(s), holding
tank(s) and pond(s), surface spray system(s), cesspools, well(s),
surface ditch(es), alternative toilet(s), or other devices and associated
piping designed to function as a unit for the purpose of disposing
of wastes or wastewater on or beneath the surface of the earth. The
term shall not include any wastewater discharge system licensed under
38 M.R.S.A. § 414, any surface wastewater disposal system
licensed under 38 M.R.S.A. § 413, Subsection 1-A, or any
public sewer. The term shall not include a wastewater disposal system
designed to treat wastewater which is in whole or in part hazardous
waste as defined in 38 M.R.S.A. Chapter 13, Subchapter 1.
Includes the following individuals acting in their official
capacities: Town Manager; Road Commissioner; Codes Enforcement Officer;
Plumbing Inspector; Electrical Inspector; Fire Chief; Emergency Services
Director; Sewage Treatment Plant Operator; School Superintendent.
[Amended 6-6-2012]
Area or strip of land designated and held by the Town for
the passage and use of the general public by motor vehicle.
All contiguous land in the same ownership, whether or not
the tract is separated at any point by an intermittent or nonnavigable
stream, tidal waters where there is no flow at low tide, or a private
road established by the abutting landowners.
Permission granted to an applicant by the Board of Appeals
to depart from the literal requirements of this chapter by virtue
of unique and undue hardship as defined in 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4353.
All live trees, shrubs, ground cover, and other plants.
The volume of all portions of a structure enclosed by roof
and fixed exterior walls as measured from the exterior faces of these
walls and roof.
Any great pond, stream or tidal area.
[1]
Editor's Note: The definition of "frontage, shore," which
immediately followed this section, was deleted 6-6-2012. See definition
of "shore frontage."
