For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
shall be used, unless a different definition is specifically provided
for 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.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
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 50 feet wide which affords only
a secondary means of access to abutting property.[1]
A room or suite of rooms in a multiple-family structure which
is arranged, designed, used or intended to be used as a single housekeeping
unit. Complete kitchen facilities, permanently installed, must always
be included for each apartment.
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.[2]
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. Space partly below grade which is designed
and finished as habitable space is not defined as "basement space."
A tract of land bounded by streets or by a combination of
streets and public parks or other recognized lines of demarcation.
A building other than a hotel or restaurant where meals or
lodging is regularly furnished by prearrangement for compensation
for three or more persons not members of a family, but not exceeding
12 persons and not open to transient customers.
The portion of a lot remaining after required yards have
been provided.
Any structure 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.
A building surrounded by open space on the same lot.
The vertical distance from the average curb level in front
of the lot or the finished grade at the building line, whichever is
higher, to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof, to the
deckline of a mansard roof or to the average height of the highest
gable of a gambrel, hip or pitch roof.
A building in which the principal use of the lot on which
it is located is conducted.
A line parallel to the lot line at a distance parallel to
it regulated by the yard requirements set up in this code.
An occupation, employment or enterprise which occupies time,
labor and materials, or wherein merchandise is exhibited or sold,
or where services are offered.[3]
The following facilities licensed or operated or permitted
under the authority of the Wisconsin Statutes: child welfare agencies
under § 48.60, group foster homes for children under § 48.02(6)
and (7), and community-based residential facilities under § 50.01,
but does not include day-care centers, nursing homes, general hospitals,
special hospitals, prisons and jails. The establishment of a community
living arrangement shall be in conformance with applicable sections
of the Wisconsin Statutes, including §§ 46.03(22),
59.67(15), and 62.23(7)(i) and (7a), and amendments thereto, and also
the Wisconsin Administrative Code.
Uses of a special nature as to make impractical their predetermination
as a principal use in a district.
Guidelines and specifications for soil and water conservation
practices and management enumerated in the Technical Guide, prepared
by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service for Sheboygan 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 plans.[4]
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.
On corner lots, the setback shall be measured from the street
line on which the lot fronts. Said corner lots shall be consisting
of a parcel of property abutting on two or more streets at their intersection
providing that the interior angle of such intersection is less than
135°. Corner lots shall have front yard setbacks on the sides
that abut the streets.
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 Village 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 designed or used exclusively as a residence or
sleeping place, but does not include boardinghouses or lodging houses,
motels, hotels, tents, cabins or mobile homes.
A dwelling unit consisting of one principal room with no
separate sleeping rooms.
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.
A group of rooms constituting all or part of a dwelling,
which are arranged, designed, used or intended for use exclusively
as living quarters for one family.[5]
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.
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.[6]
A temporary rise in stream flow or stage in lake level that
results in water overtopping the banks and inundating the areas adjacent
to the stream channel or lake bed.[7]
A point two feet above the water surface elevation of the
one-hundred-year recurrence interval flood. This safety factor, also
called "freeboard," is intended to compensate for the many unknown
factors that contribute to flood heights greater than those computed.
Such unknown factors may include ice jams, debris accumulation, wave
action and obstructions of bridge openings.
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 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 has four or
fewer foster children and which is licensed under § 48.62,
Wis. Stats., and amendments thereto.
All the property abutting 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.
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.
Any use conducted entirely within a dwelling or an accessory
building which is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the
dwelling purposes and which does not change the character thereof,
and in connection with which there is no outside display or storage,
nor emission of dust, noise, fumes, vibration or smoke beyond the
lot line.[8]
A building in which lodging, with or without meals, is offered
to transient guests for compensation and in which there are more than
five sleeping rooms with no cooking facilities in any individual room
or apartment.
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.
A building where lodging only is provided for compensation
for not more than three persons not members of the family.
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.[9]
The area of a lot occupied by the principal building or buildings
and accessory building.
The area of a lot occupied by the principal building or buildings
and accessory buildings including any driveways, parking areas, loading
areas, storage areas and walkways.
A lot situated on a single street which is bounded by adjacent
lots along each of its other lines and is not a corner lot.
A property boundary line of any lot held in single or separate
ownership, except that, where any portion of the lot extends into
the abutting street or alley, the lot line shall be deemed to be the
abutting street or alley right-of-way line.
The peripheral boundaries of a parcel of land and the total
area lying within such boundaries.
A lot which has a pair of opposite lot lines along two substantially
parallel streets and which is not a corner lot. On a through lot,
both street lines shall be deemed front lot lines.
A parcel of land held in separate ownership having frontage
on a public street, or other approved means of access, occupied or
intended to be occupied by a principal building or structure, together
with accessory buildings and uses, having insufficient size to meet
the lot width, lot area, yard, off-street parking areas or other open
space provisions of this code as pertaining to the district wherein
located.
The horizontal distance between the side lot lines measured
at the building setback line.
Area made from the outside face of exterior wall construction
and including all walls. Window, fireplace and room projections are
included only when the floor joists are extended under those areas.
Areas not included are decks, porches, garages, carports, attics,
space labeled "optional" or "bonus", breezeways, sunrooms or similar
additions. No floor area below finished yard grade shall be considered
living area. Exposed level living areas in the basement of a dwelling
and private garages shall not be considered in determining minimum
area square footage.
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.
A manufactured home that is HUD certified and labeled under
the National Mobile Home Construction and Safety Standards Act of
1974. A mobile home is a transportable structure, being eight feet
or more in width (not including the overhang of the roof), built on
a chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without permanent
foundation when connected to the required utilities.
A parcel of land for the placement of a single mobile home
and the exclusive use of its occupants.
A parcel of land which has been developed for the placement
of mobile homes and is owned by an individual, a firm, trust, partnership,
public or private association, or corporation. Individual lots within
a mobile home park are rented to individual mobile home users.
A land subdivision, as defined by Chapter 236 of the Wisconsin Statutes and Chapter 408, Subdivision of Land, of this Code, with lots intended for the placement of individual mobile home units. Individual homesites are in separate ownership as opposed to the rental arrangements in mobile home parks.
A factory-fabricated transportable building unit designed
to be used by itself or to be incorporated with similar units at a
building site into a modular structure to be used for residential,
commercial, educational or industrial purposes.
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 code or amendments thereto and which is not in conformance with
this 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.[10]
A structure or premises containing five or more parking spaces
open to the public.
A graded and surfaced area of not less than 180 square feet
in area, either enclosed or open, for the parking of a motor vehicle,
having adequate ingress and egress to a public street or alley.
Includes all abutting property owners, all property owners
within 100 feet, and all property owners of opposite frontages.
The office of a doctor, practitioner, dentist, minister,
architect, landscape architect, engineer, lawyer, author, musician
or other recognized trade. When established in a residential district,
a professional office shall be incidental to the residential occupation,
not more than 25% of the floor area of one story of a dwelling unit
shall be occupied by such office and only one unlighted nameplate,
not exceeding one square foot in area, containing the name and profession
of the occupant of the premises shall be exhibited.
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.
A yard extending across the full width of the lot, the depth
of which shall be the minimum horizontal distance between the rear
lot line and a line parallel thereto through the nearest point of
the principal structure. This yard shall be opposite the street yard
or one of the street yards on a corner lot.[11]
The sale of goods or merchandise in small quantities to the
consumer.
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.
A yard extending from the street yard to the rear yard of
the lot, the width of which shall be the minimum horizontal distance
between the side lot line and a line parallel thereto through the
nearest point of the principal structure.
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 half
story in a sloping roof shall not be counted as a story for the purposes
of this 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.
A yard extending across the full width of the lot, the depth
of which shall be the minimum horizontal distance between the existing
street or highway right-of-way line and a line parallel thereto through
the nearest point of the principal structure. Corner lots shall have
two street yards.
Any change in the supporting members of a structure, such
as foundations, bearing walls, columns, beams or girders.
Anything constructed, manufactured, fabricated, or erected,
the use of which requires a permanent location on the ground or attachment
to something having a permanent location on the ground, or which is
in fact used for the shelter or enclosure of persons, animals, equipment,
machinery or materials, regardless of whether it was designed for
some other use, including but not limited to the transportation of
persons or property.
A movable structure not designed for human occupancy nor
for the protection of goods or property and not forming an enclosure,
such as billboards.
The purpose or activity for which the land or building thereon
is designed, arranged or intended, or for which it is occupied or
maintained.[13]
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.
An unoccupied triangular space at the street corner of a
corner lot which is bounded by the street lines and a setback line
connecting points specified by measurement from the corner on each
street line.
An open space on the same lot with a structure, unoccupied
and unobstructed from the ground upward except the vegetation. The
street and rear yards extend the full width of the lot.
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
lands, structures, air and waters subject to this chapter are or shall
be used in accordance with the provisions of said chapter.[14]
[7]
Editor's Note: The following definitions of original Sec. 13-1-200 of the 1993 Code of Ordinances, and which followed this definition, were repealed at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II): "Flood Insurance Study"; "flood profile"; "flood proofing"; "flood stage"; "floodlands"; "floodplain fringe"; and "floodway." "See now Ch. 395, Floodplain Zoning, § 395-39.
[10]
Editor's Note: The definition of "official letter of map amendment" of original Sec. 13-1-200 of the 1993 Code of Ordinances, and which immediately followed this definition, was repealed at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II). See now Ch. 395, Floodplain Zoning, § 395-39.
