Within any Office Industrial District, as indicated on the Zoning Map dated March 23, 1999, any of the following uses are allowed:
A. Medical offices. A business that provides physical or mental health care or medical services, including, but not limited to, general practitioner's offices, dentists, optometrists, and medical clinics. Veterinarian offices are also allowed as medical offices.
B. Medical laboratories and diagnostic facilities. Uses which provide an opportunity for experimentation, observation, testing, and analysis concerning the practice of medicine.
C. Hospitals; clinics. Uses specializing in, and licensed pursuant to state law with respect to, giving clinical and emergency services of a medical or surgical nature, whether to persons or animals.
D. Professional offices. A business that provides predominantly professional, administrative, or clerical services to a consumer, including, but not limited to, accounting, legal and real estate offices. Such services can be provided on or from the property.
E. Corporate offices. The business offices of local, national or international companies.
F. Financial institutions. A business related to banking or other financial uses.
G. Research and development laboratories and facilities. Uses which provide an opportunity for safe scientific experimentation, observation, testing and analysis, including, but not limited to, biotechnology uses.
H. Manufacture of medical and electronic products. A use which produces from raw materials or assembles from pre-made parts, medical or electronic products, where such production or assemblage requires the employment of skilled technicians. Any such manufacturing process is to take place within a building.
I. Manufacturing retail outlets. The retail sale of products substantially manufactured on the premises is allowed as long as no more than 10% of the total floor area of the building and up to a maximum of 2,500 square feet of floor area is devoted to retail sales. Such retails sales are permitted whether said manufacturing was allowed as of right pursuant to §
375-22.2H or was permitted pursuant to a Special Permit that was granted under §
375-22.3A.
J. Health clubs. A use that promotes fitness and health by the use of specialized health/exercise equipment or facilities.
K. Municipal uses. Any building, structure, facility, or use owned and operated by the Town of Dartmouth.
L. Fire district uses. Any building, structure, facility or use owned and operated by a Dartmouth Fire District and with the expressed purpose to promote public safety.
M. Agricultural uses. Are uses which include the use of land for agricultural purposes such as dairying, equine activities, pasturage, animal and poultry husbandry, crop production, truck farming, horticulture, floriculture, forestry, aquaculture, hydroponics or viticulture and uses ancillary to these activities.
(1) The purpose of defining and setting standards for agricultural uses is to encourage legitimate agricultural uses in the Town of Dartmouth by allowing these uses to function with minimal conflict. This agricultural use regulation applies to all agricultural uses, provided that these uses shall enjoy all the rights and privileges, and be subject to those liabilities, afforded to such uses under Massachusetts General Laws. Massachusetts Law shall apply in the event that it affords more protection to agricultural uses above five acres in area than does this By-law.
(2) The right to farm is hereby recognized to exist in the Town and is hereby declared a permitted use provided it is in conformance with all other federal, state and local law. The right to farm includes, but is not limited to:
(a) Production of crops, trees, foods, fibers, apiary and forest products, livestock, poultry, and other agricultural commodities.
(b) Housing of farm laborers located on the farm at which they are employed, subject to State building codes and Town zoning.
(c) Erection of agricultural buildings, including those dedicated to the processing and packaging of the output of the farm and ancillary to agricultural production.
(d) Grazing of animals and use of range for fowl.
(f) Operation and transportation of large, slow-moving equipment over roads within the Town.
(g) Control of pests, including, but not limited to, insects and weeds, predators and diseases of plants and animals, subject to Massachusetts Pesticide Board Regulations.
(h) Conducting agriculture-related educational and farm-based recreational activities, including agritourism, provided that the activities are related to marketing the agricultural output or services of the farm.
(i) Use of any and all equipment accessory to agriculture, including but not limited to: irrigation pumps and equipment, aerial and ground seeding and spraying, tractors, harvest aids, and bird control devices.
(j) Processing and packaging of the agricultural output of the farm.
(k) Operation of a farmer's market or farm stand with attendant signage, including the construction of building and parking areas in conformance with applicable Town and State standards.
(l) Operation of a pick-your-own operation with attendant signage.
(m) Replenishment of soil nutrients and improvement of soil tilth.
(n) Clearing of woodlands using open burning and other techniques, installation and maintenance of vegetative and terrain alterations and other physical facilities for water and soil conservation and surface water control in wetland areas, as stipulated in Farming in Wetlands Resource Area: A Guide to Agriculture and the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Departments of Environmental Management, Environmental Protection, and Food and Agriculture, Rev. January 1996 (Publication on file at the Dartmouth Town Hall at the offices of the Conservation Commission, the Town Clerk, and the Agricultural Commission), or the most recent applicable guidance.
(o) On-site composting of organic agricultural wastes which is subject to best management practices, prevents the unpermitted discharge of pollutants, is accessory to the primary agricultural use, is not to be sold to the general public, and does not cause a public nuisance [MGL, 310 CMR 16.05(4)(c) and MGL Chapter 21H, Section 7(b)].
(p) The application of manure, fertilizers and pesticides (see: current Massachusetts Pesticide Board Regulations 333 CMR 1.00).
(q) Installation of wells, ponds, and other water resources for agricultural purposes such as irrigation, sanitation, and marketing preparation.
(r) On-farm relocation of earth and the clearing of ground for farming operations, provided that the movement of soils that are rated as "prime" by the Natural Resources Conservation Service shall not adversely affect agriculture in the Commonwealth. Off-farm earth removal shall be conducted only by Special Permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals in accordance with Article
45 of the Zoning By-Laws.
(3) The minimum area of agricultural use shall be that necessary for the agricultural product being produced (See Board of Health regulations for lots less than five acres). Agricultural uses include as an accessory use those facilities for the sale of agricultural products, wine and dairy products.
(4) Consistent with Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 111, Section 125A, the odor from the normal maintenance of livestock or the spreading of manure upon agricultural and horticultural or farming lands, or noise from livestock or farm equipment used in normal, generally acceptable farming procedures or from plowing or cultivation operations upon agricultural and horticultural or farming lands shall not be deemed to constitute a nuisance.
N. Wireless communication sites. The following wireless communications sites are allowed by right:
(1) Towers under 100 feet in height erected for the exclusive use of a federally licensed amateur radio operator. The dual use of such towers for telecommunications purposes may be permitted by Special Permit as provided in §
375-22.3E.
(2) The placement of transmitting or receiving equipment within existing structures so that such equipment is not visible from the outside of the structure.
(3) The placement of transmitting or receiving equipment on the exterior face or roof of existing structures provided such equipment does not exceed the highest point of the structure by more than 20 feet.
(4) Any equipment, including towers, in existence as of October 19, 2010, can be altered, maintained or replaced by right so long as such alteration, maintenance or replacement does not represent an increase or intensification of the use or height of such equipment. This provision does not allow new commercial or non-accessory uses to be added to existing equipment or towers, except as otherwise provided by Special Permit pursuant to §
375-22.3E.
O. Accessory uses. A structure or use that:
(1) Is clearly incidental to and customarily found in connection with a principal building or principal use;
(2) Is subordinate in area, extent or purpose to the principal building or principal use served;
(3) Contributes to the comfort, convenience, or necessity of occupants in the principal building or principal use served; and
(4) Is located on the same lot as the principal building or principal use served.
P. Exempt uses. Any uses exempted from zoning by Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 40A, Section 3, except that the development standards of this Zoning Bylaw shall apply.
Q. Other uses prohibited. Any other uses, not listed above or in §
375-22.3 are prohibited.