Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following words
and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them
by this section:
ABANDONMENT
The cessation of a nonconforming use or structure as indicated
by the visible or otherwise indicated intention to discontinue a nonconforming
use of a structure or a lot, or the cessation of a nonconforming use
or structure by its replacement with a conforming use or structure.
ACCESSORY BUILDING
A subordinate building, located on the same lot as the main,
or principal building or principal use, the use of which is customarily
incidental to the main or principal use permitted in the district.
ACCESSORY USE
A use customarily incidental to that of the main or principal
building or use of the land.
ADEQUATE CAPACITY
Capacity is considered to be adequate if the grade of service
is p. 05 or better for a worst-case day in a preceding month, based
on the Erllang B Tables, prior to the date of application; or as measured
using direct traffic measurement of the personal wireless service
facility in question for existing facilities requesting major modification
and where the call blocking is due to frequency contention at the
antenna(s).
ADEQUATE COVERAGE
Coverage is considered to be adequate within that area surrounding
a base station where the predicted or measured median field strength
of the transmitted signal for at least 75% of the covered area is
greater than -95 dbm. It is acceptable for there to be holes within
the area of adequate coverage where the signal is less than -95 dbm,
as long as the signal regains its strength to greater than -95 dbm
further away from the base station. For the limited purpose of determining
whether the use of a repeater is necessary or desirable, there shall
be deemed not to be adequate coverage within said holes. The outer
boundary of the area of adequate coverage, however, is that location
past which the signal does not regain a strength of greater than -95
dbm.
ADULT DAY-CARE FACILITY
A building or structure where care, protection, and supervision
are provided, on a regular schedule, to adults over the age of 18.
AGRICULTURE
The production, keeping or maintenance, for sale or lease,
of plants and animals useful to man, including but not limited to:
forages and sod crops; grains and seed crops; dairy animals and dairy
products; poultry and poultry products; livestock, including beef
cattle, swine, horses, mules, ponies, or goats or any mutations of
hybrids thereof, including the breeding and grazing of any or all
such animals, bees, and apiary products, for animals, trees and forest
products; fruits of all kinds, including grapes, nuts and berries,
vegetables, floral, nursery, ornamental and greenhouse products; or
lands devoted to a soil conservation or forestry management program.
ALTERATION
Any construction, reconstruction or other action resulting
in a change in the structural parts, height, number of stories, exits,
size, use or location of a building or other structure.
AMUSEMENT PARK
A commercially operated park with a predominance of outdoor
games and activities for entertainment, including shows or riding
devices, games of skill or chance, or any combination of shows, riding
devices, water slides, miniature golf, batting cages or any combination
of several enterprises, such as revolving wheels, merry-go-rounds,
giant swings, panoramas, musical and theatrical entertainments, or
riding devices, whether carried on, engaged in or conducted as one
enterprise or by several concessionaries, and whether an admission
fee is charged for admission to all such shows for entertainment,
or a separate fee for admission is charged for each amusement.
ANIMAL CLINIC OR HOSPITAL
A place where animals or pets are given medical or surgical
treatment, and the boarding of animals is limited to short-term care
incidental to the clinic or hospital use.
ANTENNA
A device which is attached to a tower or other structure
for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves.
APARTMENT HOUSE
A building or structure arranged, intended and designed to
be occupied by two to eight families, living independently of each
other, and each including its own separate kitchen and bathroom accommodations.
Garden-type apartments shall be considered as an apartment house.
ATTIC
The unfinished space between the ceiling of the top story
of a building and its roof which is not used for living, sleeping
or eating quarters.
BASE STATION
The primary sending and receiving site in a wireless telecommunications
network.
BUILDING
A structure enclosed within exterior walls or firewalls,
built, erected and framed of a combination of any materials, whether
portable or fixed, having a roof, to form a structure for the shelter
of persons, animals or property. For the purpose of this definition,
"roof" shall include an awning or any similar covering, whether or
not permanent in nature. The word "building" shall be construed, where
the context requires, as though followed by words "or part or parts
thereof." A porch or an attached garage, greenhouse or similar structure
is to be considered as part of a building when considering the requirements
of setback, side or rear yards.
BUSINESS
The transacting or carrying on of a trade or commercial enterprise
with a view to profit or for livelihood.
CEMETERY
Land used or intended to be used for the burial of the dead
and dedicated for cemetery purposes, including columbariums, crematoriums,
mausoleums, and funeral establishments, when operated in conjunction
with and within the boundary of such cemetery under the care and supervision
of the Town or other public authority.
CHANNEL
The segment of the radiation spectrum from an antenna which
carries one signal. An antenna may radiate on many channels simultaneously.
CHILD-CARE FACILITY
Facilities that serve children under seven years of age,
or 16 years if the children have special needs, or school-age children
(under 14 years of age or 16 years if they have special needs), in
programs that are held before or after school hours or during vacations.
A child-care facility defined in MGL c. 28A, § 9.
CLUB OR LODGE, PRIVATE
Buildings, structures and premises used by a nonprofit social
or civic organization or by a nonprofit organization, catering exclusively
to members and their guests for social, civic, recreation, or athletic
purposes which are not conducted primarily for gain and provided there
are no vending stands, merchandising, or commercial activities except
as may be required generally for the membership and purposes of such
organization.
COMMERCIAL RECREATION, INDOORS
A structure for recreational, social or amusement purposes,
which may include as an accessory use the consumption of food and
drink, including all connected rooms or space with a common means
of egress and entrance. Places of assembly shall include theaters,
concert halls, dance halls, skating rinks, bowling alleys, health
clubs, dance studios, or other commercial recreational centers conducted
for or not for profit.
COMMERCIAL RECREATION, OUTDOORS
Driving range, bathing beach, sports club, horseback-riding
stable, boathouse, marina or other commercial recreation carried on,
in whole or in part, outdoors, except those activities more specifically
designated in this chapter.
COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT SHELTER
A structure located at a base station designed principally
to enclose equipment used in connection with personal wireless service
transmissions.
CONVENIENCE STORE
A retail store that sells groceries and may also sell gasoline;
does not include automotive service stations or vehicle repair shops.
CREMATORY
A building containing a furnace designed and intended to
be used for cremating the dead and owned and controlled by a cemetery
corporation or crematory corporation duly organized under the laws
of the state.
DBM
Unit of measure of the power level of an electromagnetic
signal expressed in decibels referenced to one milliwatt.
DWELLING
A building designed and occupied as the living quarters of
one or more families. Single- and two-family dwellings shall be designed
for and occupied by not more than one or two families, respectively.
A multifamily dwelling shall be one designed for and occupied by two
or more families. Hotels, lodging houses, hospitals, membership clubs,
or dormitories shall not be considered dwellings.
EARTH REMOVAL
Extraction of sand, gravel, topsoil, or other earth for sale
or for use at a site removed from the place of extraction, exclusive
of the grading of a lot preparatory to the construction of a building
for which a building permit has been issued or the grading of streets
in accordance with an approved definitive plan, and exclusive of granite
operations.
EDUCATIONAL USE
Use of land or structures for education purposes on land
owned or leased by the commonwealth or any of its agencies, subdivisions
or bodies politic or by a religious sect or denomination or by a nonprofit
education corporation. Educational facilities not exempted from regulation
by MGL c. 40A, § 3.
EMF
Electromagnetic frequency radiation.
ERECT
To build, construct, reconstruct, move upon, or conduct any
physical development of the premises required for a building; to excavate,
fill, drain, and the like preparation for building shall also be considered
to erect.
ESSENTIAL SERVICES
Services provided by a public service corporation or by governmental
agencies through erection, construction, alteration, or maintenance
of gas, electrical, steam, or water transmission or distribution systems
and collection, communication, supply, or disposal systems, whether
underground or overhead, but not including wireless communications
facilities. Facilities necessary for the provision of essential services
include poles, wires, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits, cables, fire
alarm boxes, police call boxes, traffic signals, hydrants and other
similar equipment in connection therewith.
FACILITY SITE
The location within a Wireless Telecommunications Overlay
District leased by one or more personal wireless service providers
and upon which one or more personal wireless service facility(ies)
and required landscaping are located.
FAMILY
A number of individuals related by blood, marriage and/or
adoption or a group of unrelated individuals, not to exceed four,
who are occupying a dwelling unit and living as a single nonprofit
housekeeping unit. This definition, however, does not apply to nonrelated
disabled persons as defined by any applicable federal and/or state
law and/or regulations.
FAMILY DAY-CARE FACILITY
Any private residence which on a regular basis receives for
temporary custody and care, during part or all of the day, children
under seven years of age or children under 16 years of age if such
children have special needs; provided, however, in either case, that
the total number of children shall not exceed more than six, excluding
participating children living in the residence.
FARMSTAND
A facility for the sale of produce, and wine and dairy products,
provided that during the months of June, July, August, and September
of every year, or during the harvest season of the primary crop raised
on land of the owner or lessee, the majority of such products for
sale, based on either gross sales dollars or volume, have been produced
by the owner or lessee of land containing more than five acres on
which the facility is located, used primarily for agriculture in conformance
with MGL c. 40A, § 3.
FCC
Federal Communications Commission. The government agency
responsible for regulating telecommunications in the United States.
FCC 96-326
A report and order which sets new national standards for
emissions of radio frequency emissions from FCC-regulated transmitters.
FENCE
An artificially constructed barrier of wood, decorative metal,
chain link, vinyl or composite, or other things such as a natural
barrier which the Building Inspector considers equivalent thereto,
erected to enclose or screen areas of land.
[Amended 2-16-2020 by Ord. No. TOR-2020-9]
FLOOD or FLOODING
A general and temporary condition of partial or complete
inundation of normally dry land areas from:
(1)
The overflow of inland or tidal waters;
(2)
The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters
from any source.
FLOODWAY
The channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent
land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood
without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than
one foot.
FLOODWAY FRINGE
The land in the floodplain within a community subject to
a one-percent-or-greater chance of flooding in a given year that is
located outside of the floodway.
GARAGE, PRIVATE
A building or space used as an accessory to or a part of
a main building permitted in any residential district, and providing
for the storage of one or more motor vehicles and in which no business,
occupation or service for profit is in any way conducted.
GARAGE, PUBLIC
A garage, other than a private or storage garage, which is
used for the short-term parking of vehicles.
GARAGE, REPAIR
A building or portion thereof, other than a private or storage
garage, designed or used for equipping, servicing, repairing, hiring,
selling, and/or storing of motor vehicles. The term "repairing" shall
not include an automobile body repair shop nor the rebuilding, dismantling,
or storage of wrecked or junked vehicles.
GASOLINE SERVICE STATION
A gasoline service station shall include any business selling
or offering for sale any motor fuel, such as gasoline or diesel fuel,
to the public, whether or not the public is permitted or expected
to operate the pump to put the fuel into a motor vehicle's fuel tank
or a container, and shall include gasoline filling stations and gasoline
self-service stations. For the purposes of this chapter, "gasoline
service station" shall also include any site used or operated as a
retail refueling site, including the fuels of gasoline, propane, electricity
and hydrogen.
GHZ
Gigahertz: one billion hertz.
GRADE OF SERVICE
A measure of the percentage of calls which are able to connect
to the base station during the busiest hour of the day. Grade of service
is expressed as a number, such as p. 05, which means that 95% of callers
will connect on their first try. A lower number (p. 04) indicates
a better grade of service.
HALF STORY
The space between the ceiling of the top story of a building
and the roof where the area and height are sufficient for sleeping
and living quarters.
HAZARDOUS MATERIAL
Any substance which is listed in, but not limited to, the
EPA priority pollutants as described in Section 307(a) of the Clean
Water Act, as amended.
HEIGHT
The vertical distance from the average finished grade of
the adjacent ground to the top of the structure of the highest roof
beams of a flat roof, or the mean level of the highest gable or slope
of a hip roof.
HERTZ
One hertz is the frequency of an electric or magnetic field
which reverses polarity once each second or one cycle per second.
HOME OCCUPATION
An occupation, business, trade, service or profession which
is incidental to and conducted in a dwelling unit or in a building
or other accessory structure thereto, by a resident thereof.
HOSPITAL
An institution providing primary health services and medical
or surgical care to persons, primarily inpatients, suffering from
illness, disease, injury, deformity and other abnormal physical or
mental conditions, and including, as an integral part of the institution
related facilities such as laboratories, outpatient facilities or
training facilities, a sanitarium, and clinic. The term "hospital"
does not include a rest home, nursing home and/or convalescent home.
JUNK VEHICLE
A wrecked, damaged, destroyed, nonoperational, abandoned
or disassembled trailer, house trailer, boat, tractor, automobile,
aircraft, or other motor vehicle, or any parts thereof. A junk vehicle
includes apparently inoperable, immobile, disassembled or extensively
damaged vehicles. Evidence of nonoperation and damage includes, but
is not limited to, a buildup of debris that obstructs use, a broken
window or windshield, a missing wheel, a flat tire, a nonfunctional
motor or transmission, missing bumpers, or missing plates and the
like.
KENNEL, COMMERCIAL
An establishment licensed to operate a facility housing dogs,
cats, or other household pets and where grooming, breeding, boarding,
training or selling of animals is conducted as a business.
KENNEL, PRIVATE
Any building or land designated or arranged for the care
of dogs, cats or other household pets belonging to the owner of the
residential, principal use, kept for purposes of show, hunting, or
as pets.
LODGING HOUSE
A building containing more than five lodging units for semipermanent
residence (longer than one week) for compensation and which meals
may also be supplied as part of the fee. This shall not include bed-and-breakfast
home uses, congregate housing, motels, hotels, multifamily dwellings,
or nursing homes.
LOADING SPACE, OFF-STREET
Space located on the same lot with a principal building,
or contiguous to a group of buildings, for bulk pickups and deliveries,
scaled to delivery vehicles expected to be used, and accessible to
such vehicles when required off-street parking spaces are filled.
It shall abut a street, alley, or other appropriate means of ingress
or egress.
LOT
A continuous parcel of land with legally definable boundaries.
LOT, AREA
The horizontal area of the lot exclusive of any area in a
street or recorded way open to public use.
LOT, CORNER
A lot located at the intersection of two or more streets.
LOT, DEPTH OF
The mean distance from the street line of the lot to its
opposite rear line measured in the general direction of the side lines
of the lot.
LOT, FRONTAGE OF
A lot line coinciding with the sideline of a street which
provides legal rights of vehicular access and actual physical vehicular
access to the lot. Frontage shall be measured continuously along a
street and shall be the horizontal distance between the side lot lines
measured at the point where the side lot lines intersect with the
front setback line. Lots adjacent to paper streets may not use any
portion of the paper street in calculating frontage or lot area.
LOT LINE
A line dividing one lot from another, or from a street or
any public place.
LOT LINE, REAR
The lot line opposite the street line, except that, in the
case of a corner lot, the rear lot line shall be the line opposite
the street line on which the building is numbered or would be numbered.
MAJOR MODIFICATION OF AN EXISTING FACILITY
A major modification is defined as a modification that substantially
changes the physical dimensions of a tower or station by including
one of the following conditions:
[Amended 10-7-2019 by Ord. No. TOR-2019-6]
(1)
An increase in the height of the tower by more than 10% or by
the height of one additional antenna;
(2)
A protrusion from the edge of the tower more than 20 feet, or
more than the width of the tower structure at the level of the appurtenance,
whichever is greater;
(3)
An installation of more than the standard number of new equipment
cabinets but not to exceed four cabinets;
(4)
Any excavation or deployment outside the current site of the
tower or wireless service facility;
(5)
The change would defeat the existing concealment elements of
the tower or wireless service facility; or
(6)
The change does not comply with conditions associated with the
prior approval of construction or modification of the tower or wireless
service facility unless the noncompliance is due to an increase in
height, increase in width, addition of cabinets, or new excavation
that does not exceed the corresponding "substantial change" thresholds
identified.
MEDICAL CENTER OR CLINIC
A building designed and used for the diagnosis and treatment
of human patients that does not include overnight care facilities.
MHZ
Megahertz: one million hertz.
MILE
A mile (5,280 feet) is to be measured from a point on an
imaginary line which is perpendicular to the vertical line at that
point.
MONITORING
The measurement, by the use of instruments in the field,
of the radiation from a site as a whole or from individual personal
wireless service facilities, towers or antennas.
MONITORING PROTOCOL
The testing protocol, initially the Cobbs Protocol, which
is to be used to monitor the emissions from existing and new personal
wireless service facilities and towers upon adoption of this chapter.
The SPGA may, as the technology changes, require, by written regulation,
the use of other testing protocols. A copy of the monitoring protocol
shall be on file with the Town Clerk.
MONOPOLE
A single self-supporting vertical pole with below-grade foundations.
MOUNT
The structure or surface upon which antennas are mounted,
including the following four types of mounts:
(1)
Roof-mounted: mounted on the roof of a building.
(2)
Side-mounted: mounted on the side of a building.
(3)
Ground-mounted: mounted on the ground.
(4)
Structure-mounted: mounted on a structure other than a building.
MOTEL
A building or buildings intended and designed for transient
overnight or extended occupancy, divided into separate units within
the same building, with or without a public dining facility.
MOTOR VEHICLE COMMERCIAL
Any vehicle used or designed to be used for business or commercial
purposes that infringes on the residential character of residential
districts and includes, but is not necessarily limited to, a bus,
cement truck, commercial tree-trimming equipment, construction equipment,
dump truck, garbage truck, panel truck, semitractor, semitrailer,
stake bed truck, step van, tank truck, tar truck, fire truck, or the
like, or other commercial-type vehicle licensed by the state as a
commercial vehicle or truck.
MOTOR VEHICLE GENERAL OR BODY REPAIR
An establishment, garage or work area enclosed within a building
where repairs are made or caused to be made to motor vehicles and
their bodies, including fenders, bumpers and similar components of
motor vehicle bodies, but does not include the storage of vehicles
for the cannibalization of parts or fuel sales.
NONCONFORMING BUILDING OR STRUCTURE
A building or structure, existing at the effective date of
this chapter, or any subsequent amendment thereto, which does not
conform to one or more provisions of this chapter.
NONCONFORMING LOT
A lot lawfully existing at the effective date of this chapter,
or any subsequent amendment thereto, which is not in accordance with
all the provisions of this chapter.
NONCONFORMING USE
A use lawfully existing at the time of adoption of this chapter,
or any subsequent amendment thereto, which does not conform to one
or more provisions of this chapter.
NURSING, REST HOME OR CONVALESCENT HOME
An extended or intermediate care facility licensed or approved
to provide full-time convalescent or chronic care to individuals who,
by reason of advanced age, chronic illness or infirmity, are unable
to care for themselves.
OFF-SITE MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY (OMMD)
A registered marijuana dispensary that is located off site
from the cultivation/processing facility (and controlled and operated
by the same registered and approved not-for-profit entity which operates
an affiliated RMD) but which serves only to dispense the processed
marijuana, related supplies and educational materials to registered
qualifying patients or their personal caregivers in accordance with
the provisions of 105 CMR 725.00.
[Added 5-5-2014 by TOR-2014-1]
OFF-STREET PARKING SPACE
A space of 200 square feet or more plus access and maneuvering
space, whether inside or outside a structure, for exclusive use as
a parking stall for one motor vehicle, and further being surfaced
with durable pavement.
OPEN SPACE
The space on a lot unoccupied by buildings, structures, driveways,
off-street parking or loading spaces or other impervious surfaces.
ORDINARY HIGH-WATER MARK
The highest point on the bank of a floodway or floodplain
at which the water level has been for a sufficient period of time
to leave a definite mark.
PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICES
Commercial mobile services, unlicensed wireless services
and common carrier wireless exchange access services. These services
include cellular services, personal communications services (PCS),
specialized mobile radio services and paging services.
PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE FACILITY
All equipment (excluding any repeaters) with which a personal
wireless service provider broadcasts and receives the radio frequency
waves which carry their services and all locations of said equipment
or any part thereof. This facility may be sited on one or more towers
or structures(s) owned and permitted by another owner or entity.
PRINCIPAL BUILDING
A building in which is conducted the principal use of the
lot on which it is located.
PRINCIPAL USE
The main or primary purpose for which a structure or lot
is designed, arranged or intended, or for which it may be used, occupied
or maintained under this chapter. Any other use within the main structure
or the use of any other structure or land on the same lot and incidental
or supplementary to the principal use and permitted under this chapter
shall be considered an accessory use.
RADIATION PROPAGATION STUDIES OR RADIAL PLOTS
Computer-generated estimates of the radiation emanating from
antennas or repeaters sited on a specific tower or structure. The
height above mean sea level, power input and output, frequency output,
type of antenna, antenna gain, topography of the site and its surroundings
are all taken into account to create these simulations. They are the
primary tool for determining whether a site will provide adequate
coverage for the personal wireless service facility proposed for that
site.
REAR YARD
The required unoccupied space or area within the rear lot
line and the part of the principal building nearest such rear lot
line.
REGISTERED MARIJUANA DISPENSARY (RMD)
A use operated by a not-for-profit entity registered and
approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in accordance
with 105 CMR 725.000, and pursuant to all other applicable state laws
and regulations, also to be known as a "medical marijuana treatment
center," that acquires, cultivates, possesses, processes (including
development of related products such as food, tinctures, aerosols,
oils, or ointments), transfers, transports, sells, distributes, dispenses,
or administers marijuana, products containing marijuana, related supplies,
or educational materials to registered qualifying patients or their
personal caregivers. An RMD shall explicitly include facilities which
cultivate and process medical marijuana and which may also dispense
and deliver medical marijuana and related products. The cultivation
and processing of medical marijuana in accordance with these regulations
is considered to be a manufacturing use and is not agriculturally
exempt from zoning.
[Added 5-5-2014 by TOR-2014-1]
RESTAURANT
A building, or portion thereof, which is designed, intended
and used for the indoor sales and consumption of food prepared on
the premises, except that food may be consumed outdoors in landscaped
terraces, designed for dining purposes, which are adjuncts to the
main indoor restaurant facility. The term "restaurant" shall not include
"fast-food establishments."
RESTAURANT, FAST-FOOD
An establishment engaged primarily in the business of preparing
food and purveying it on a self-service or semi-self-service basis.
Customer orders and/or service may be by means of a walk-up counter
or window designed to accommodate automobile traffic. Consumption
is either on or off the premises.
SANITARIUM
A hospital used for treating chronic and usually long-term
illness.
SEMIDETACHED DWELLING
A single-family residential unit that is joined on one side
to another single-family residential unit having a party wall between
the units.
SERVICES, PROFESSIONAL
Establishments primarily engaged in rendering services by
professional persons on a fee or contract basis, including, but not
limited to, the following: accounting, auditing, and bookkeeping;
medical, dental or health; planning, engineering and architectural;
education and science; attorneys and notary publics; etc.
SETBACK
The minimum required unoccupied space or area between the
street line of which the building is numbered or would be numbered
and the part of the building nearest such street line, such unoccupied
space or area extending the entire width or distance across the lot.
SIDE YARD
The required unoccupied space and area within the lot between
the side lot line and parts of the building nearest such side lot
line. In the case of a corner lot, one of the side yards shall be
the unoccupied space or area between the street line of the side street
and the parts of the building nearest to such street line.
SIGN
Any device, surface or framework on which words, symbols
or other designs are inscribed or displayed and designed to call attention
thereto, including flags, banners and the like.
SIGN, ACCESSORY
Any sign that advertises or indicates the person occupying
the premises on which the sign is erected or maintained or the business
transacted thereon or the products sold thereon.
SIGN, AREA OF
(1)
Area of the face. The area of the face of a sign shall be considered
to include all lettering, working and accompanying designs and symbols,
together with the background on which they are displayed and any cutouts
or extensions.
(2)
The area of a sign consisting of individual letters or symbols
attached to or painted on a surface, building, wall or window shall
be considered to be that of the smallest quadrangle or triangle which
encompasses all the letters and symbols.
(3)
The area of a sign consisting of a three-dimensional object
shall be considered to be the area of the largest vertical cross section
of that object.
(4)
In computing the area of the signs, both sides of V-shaped signs,
but only one side of the back-to-back signs, shall be counted.
SIGN, BILLBOARD
Any nonaccessory sign greater in face area than 40 square
feet.
SIGN, COLOR
The color concept of the sign shall be such that it does
not violate the purpose of this chapter.
SIGN, INSTRUCTIONAL
Signs indicating "entrance," "exit" or the like, erected
on premises for the direction of persons or vehicles.
SIGN, OUTDOOR ADVERTISING BOARD
The Outdoor Advertising Board of the Commonwealth or any
board or official which may hereafter succeed to its powers or functions.
SIGN, OVERHANGING
A sign or other advertising device which hangs or extends
over a sidewalk or a way in which the public has a right of access.
Wall signs and standing signs shall not be included in this definition.
SIGN, REAL ESTATE
A sign advertising the sale, rental or lease of the premises
on which it is maintained.
SIGN, STANDING
A sign standing or hanging free on its own support; such
support may be attached to a building or fixed in or to the ground.
Standing signs may have two faces or sides showing in opposite directions.
SIGN, STRUCTURE
The supports, uprights, bracing and framework of a sign.
Any color applied to the "structure" shall meet the purposes of this
chapter.
SIGN, TEMPORARY
Any sign, including its supporting structure, intended to
be maintained for a period less than 180 days for agricultural purposes
and 60 days for any other purposes.
SIGN, WALL
A sign fastened or affixed parallel to and within 12 inches
of the wall of a building.
SIGN, WINDOW
A sign painted or placed on the inside or outside of a window.
SITE PLAN
A plan, to scale, showing uses and structures proposed for
a parcel of land as required by the zoning regulations, including
lot lines, streets, building sites, buildings, landscape features,
traffic circulation, parking, drainage, utilities, signs, topography
and lighting within the parcel.
STORAGE CAPACITY OF A FLOODPLAIN
The volume of space above an area of floodplain that can
be occupied by floodwater of a given stage at a given time, regardless
of whether the water is moving.
STORY
The horizontal portion through a building between floor and
ceiling. The word "story" shall not include the portion of the basement
or cellar of a building above grade or an attic as defined in this
section.
STREET
An accepted Town way, or a way established by or maintained
under county, state, or federal authority, or a way established by
a subdivision plan approved in accordance with the Subdivision Control
Law, actually constructed to specifications or for which adequate
security exists to construct such a way.
STREET LINE
The dividing line between a street and a lot and, in the
case of a public way, the street line established by the public authority
laying out such way upon which the lot abuts.
STREET, PAPER
A street shown on a recorded plan but never built on the
ground.
STREET RIGHT-OF-WAY
A general term denoting land, property or interest therein,
usually a strip acquired for or devoted to a planned roadway. A street
right-of-way should be sufficient to accommodate the ultimate roadway,
including, but not limited to, the street pavement, shoulder, grass
strip, sidewalk, public utility facilities, street trees, and snow
storage.
STRUCTURE
A combination of materials assembled at a fixed location
to give support or shelter, such as a building, framework, retaining
wall, tent, reviewing stand, platform, bin fence, sign, flagpole,
recreational tramway, and mast for radio antenna or the like. The
word "structure" shall be construed, where the context allows, as
though followed by the words "or part or parts thereof."
SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT IN THE FLOODPLAIN
Any repair, reconstruction or improvement of a structure,
the cost of which equals or exceeds 50% of the assessed value of the
structure either before the improvement is started or, if the structure
has been damaged and is being restored, before the damage occurred.
Substantial improvement is started when the first alteration of any
structural part of the building commences.
TOWER
A monopole that is designed to support personal wireless
service transmission, receiving and/or relaying antennas and/or equipment.
TRAILER
Any so-called automobile trailer, mobile home or trailer
coach, including any portable structure, means of conveyance or vehicle
so designed or constructed, altered or converted in any manner as
to permit occupancy thereof for dwelling or sleeping purposes.
TRUCKING TERMINAL
Terminal facilities for handling freight, with or without
maintenance facilities.
UNREGISTERED MOTOR VEHICLES
Any motor vehicle or trailer not registered in accordance
with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 90, or any motor vehicle which
fails to carry or display its license plate as provided in § 6
of said Chapter 90; or any motor vehicle or trailer owned by a nonresident
who has failed to comply with the registration laws of the nonresident
state or country.
USE, SUBSTANTIALLY DIFFERENT
A use which by reason of its normal operation would cause
readily observable differences in patronage, service, sight, noise,
employment or similar characteristics from the use to which it is
being compared.
WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS OVERLAY DISTRICT (WTOD)
Specific area(s), determined by engineering analysis to contain
sites where adequate service may be provided to the Town of Agawam,
which, at the same time, have the potential of reducing or mitigating
negative impacts in accordance with the overlay district as defined
in this chapter.
YARD
A space open to the sky, located between a building or structure
and a lot line, unoccupied except by fences, walls, poles, paving,
and other customary yard accessories.
YARD, FRONT
A yard extending the full width of the lot and situated between
the street line and nearest point of the building.
YARD, REAR
The required unoccupied space or area within the rear lot
line and the part of the principal building nearest such rear lot
line.
YARD, SIDE
The required unoccupied space or area within the lot between
the side lot line and parts of the building nearest such side lot
line. In the case of a corner lot, one of the side yards shall be
the unoccupied space or area between the street line of the side street
and the parts of the building nearest to such street line.