[Amended 10-4-2004 by L.L. No. 3-2004; 3-20-2006 by L.L. No. 4-2006]
This chapter is intended to protect people's peaceful use of
their homes and yards, give our community an orderly means to develop
and provide business owners and employees with a fair livelihood and
to help ensure that no property loses reasonable use or value. Pursuant
to state law, this chapter promotes the health, safety, morals and
general welfare of the community by regulating and restricting the
height, number of stories and size of buildings and other structures,
the percentage of a lot that may be occupied, the size of yards, courts
and other open spaces, the density of population, and the location
and use of buildings, structures and land for trade, industry, residence
or other purposes.
B.
Zone boundaries. Zone boundaries are lot lines except where a portion
of a lot is zoned Land Conservation.
C.
Lots in more than one zone. Where part of a lot is zoned Land Conservation,
the Land Conservation requirements apply only to that portion of the
lot, and nothing herein shall be construed to permit the separate
use or development of that portion of the lot.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Any use conducted as an essential part of a primary use, as governed by § 340-6.
Any nonresidential use, except biological sanctuaries, public
parks, vacant land or water storage.
A single unit providing complete independent living facilities
for one or more persons, including permanent provisions for living,
sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation.
One or more people sharing the same dwelling unit, not more
than one of whom separately rents or subleases his portion of the
quarters from another member. Dependents contributing to the cost
of maintaining the household are not renters.
The average existing or proposed, as applicable within context,
elevation of the ground or fill along that face of the building most
nearly parallel to the street line, or, in the case of corner lots,
the line of the street which provides the principal access to the
lot.
The average existing or proposed, as applicable within context,
elevation of the ground or fill at the base of a structure or at a
site feature.
Any part of a lot covered by lawn, gardens, shrubbery, mulch
attendant to plantings, outdoor eating areas, natural or artificial
bodies of water, or similar uses, but specifically excludes any part
of the lot covered by a structure, driveway, parking area, loading
area or area paved with any aggregate, bonded (i.e. concrete or tarvia)
or not (i.e. crushed stone).
The story of any building whose floor is within two feet
of the finished front grade at any point, or, if no story meets this
description, the first story above the finished front grade.
Any parcel of land identified as a lot on the Tax Map, except
where subsequently joined or further subdivided by action of the Planning
Board.
Anyone currently residing at any residence or operating any
business.
Anyone listed as the property owner on the most recent tax
rolls, or whose ownership has subsequently been communicated to the
Village by notice of real estate tax stamps or other authoritative
notification.
Any lot or group of adjacent lots, owned or occupied by the
same person, with the same primary use or secondary uses in support
of the primary use.
The principal use conducted on the premises and must be a
legal use under this chapter.
Any residence, row house, apartment building, or boardinghouse.
Any which is licensed, registered, insured, inspected and
operable.
Any use which is not primary or accessory, and must separately
qualify as a legal use under this chapter.
Any physical construction covered by Article IV of this chapter.
Any activity regularly or frequently conducted on any lot.
The area between a lot line and the nearest part of any structure
(including projections) on the lot other than fences, and includes:
Front yards, of which there may be one or two on each lot, are
any yard running along a street or right-of-way on which a street
is likely to be built, and include the entire width of the lot along
the street.
Rear yards, of which there is only one on any lot, are the yards
opposite the front yard which provides principal street access to
the lot, and includes the entire width of the lot, except in the case
of triangular lots with an angle opposite the front yard, in which
case, the rear setback shall be measured from the vertex of that angle.
Side yards, of which there may be one or two on each lot, are
any yard between a front yard and back yard.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
The physical expansion of any structure, other than marginal
expansions such as the addition of a facade or a minor change in roof
height or shape in the course or repairs or replacement.
Work beyond repairs, but which does not rise to the level
of reconstruction, including the reconfiguration of any space, the
addition or elimination of any door or window, the reconfiguration
or extension of any system, or the installation of any additional
equipment, or, for compliance with energy efficiency, "alteration"
shall mean the replacement, modification or renovation of a subsystem.
The erection of any new structure.
The removal of any structure or a portion thereof for purposes
other than repairs.
The reconfiguration of a space that effects an exit, a renovation
and/or alteration when the work area is not permitted to be occupied
because existing means of egress and fire protection systems, or their
equivalent, are not in place or continuously maintained and/or there
are extensive alterations.
The physical decrease in size of any structure, excluding
marginal decreases such as the removal of a facade or a minor change
in roof height or shape in the course or repairs or replacement.
The change, strengthening or addition of load-bearing elements
and/or the refinishing, replacement, bracing, strengthening, upgrading
or extensive repair of existing materials, elements, components, equipment
and/or fixtures. Renovation involves no reconfiguration of spaces.
Interior and exterior painting are not considered refinishing.
The replacement of any component, other than one requiring
structural modification, in a structure with an essentially equivalent
one.
Any work performed on a lot, but not on a structure, which
physically changes the lot, including but not limited to paving, filling,
grading, excavating, piping, landscaping, seeding and clearing.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Theaters, bookstores, clubs or any facility with live entertainment
featuring public nudity, or which sells or provides any material or
form of entertainment which includes explicit and clearly visible
sex acts, other than where wholly incidental to a primary use, such
as pay-per-view movies in motel rooms, or strictly for educational
purposes, such as public libraries, or as part of a treatment regimen
administered by a professional licensed by the State Education Department.
The growing of any plant or animal primarily for sale or
commercial processing.
Any facility for the playing of indoor games, other than
athletic sports, for competition or entertainment, or for wagering
on any game or contest, including but not limited to midways and video
arcades with three or more games, bowling alleys, miniature vehicle
racing, bingo parlors, betting parlors and casinos.
Any building wholly occupied by more than two dwelling units.
Any facility that sells alcoholic beverages for immediate
consumption.
A type of boardinghouse which is owner-occupied, has no more
than eight rooms for rent, and may prepare and serve on-site meals
to boarders and occasional guests of those boarders.
Billboards advertise a business or product not offered on
the lot on which the billboard is located or an adjacent lot with
the same owner or occupant.
Any facility operated by a government or nonprofit organization
for the preservation or study of plants and animals in a wild or simulated
wild state.
Facilities to treat or process human or animal remains or
human or infectious wastes.
Buildings wholly occupied by two or more living quarters,
with communal kitchens and/or lavatories.
Any facility for the interment of human or animal remains.
Any facility used for religious congregation or instruction
and social activities incidental thereto.
Any facility for the congregation of people for any social
or fraternal purposes, other than religious services, except those
in which alcoholic beverages are sold or served.
Any facilities for the boarding and care of the infirm, including
senior and handicapped living facilities featuring daily medical care.
Any facility for the storage and maintenance of heavy equipment,
materials and supplies used for construction work.
Any library, museum or other facility for the viewing, reading
or hearing of educational, cultural or scientific materials, or the
lending of such materials for use elsewhere, excluding schools and
theaters.
Any facility used principally for the nonresidential care
of adults, preschool children, or school-age children outside of school
hours.
Any facility for the preparation and/or sale of food, without
dining facilities on the premises.
Any outlets for any combustible fuel.
Any facility for the preparation and/or showing of the deceased,
excluding facilities for conducting autopsies and cremations.
Any facility used for indoor athletic pursuits, excluding
those contained within a school, including but not limited to weight
and physical fitness training, basketball courts, tennis courts, swimming
pools, volleyball courts, racquetball courts, handball courts, hockey
arenas, roller- and ice-skating rinks, driving ranges and miniature
golf courses.
Any in-home business carried on in a residence or accessory
structure, including but not limited to day care, food shops, offices
and service providers, provided that it:
Does not violate any other provision of this chapter.
Does not materially alter the character of the residence, the
premises or neighborhood or unduly expand or hinder traffic flow.
Is clearly secondary to the residence, is conducted in an existing
building, and occupies not more than 30% of the total floor space.
Is conducted principally by a person(s) living in the home and
employs not more than one person on site who does not live in the
home.
Provides parking equal to the number of nonresident employees
and foreseeable maximum patrons, in addition to the parking required
for the residence, and has no more than three vehicles on site at
any time, excluding personal autos driven by residents of the home.
Is not serviced by and does not include overnight outside parking
of vehicles over the weight load for the street on which located.
Does not operate between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.
in residential zones and between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00
a.m. in all other zones.
Does not include exterior storage of equipment or materials.
Does not involve any hazardous materials or operations.
Any facilities offering medical or physiological treatment
of humans.
Buildings wholly occupied by three or more living quarters
leased on a less than monthly basis.
A one-bedroom dwelling unit attached to an otherwise single-family
dwelling, used by or let only to a relative of someone in the primary
dwelling unit, which does not alter the character of the existing
structure and has no more than one access/egress which does not pass
through the living space of the main dwelling unit.
Any facilities for the outdoor storage of garbage, trash,
refuse or waste.
Any production or processing of any material other than food
for sale, shipment or internal use, including:
Light manufacturing, which is any that does not emit measurable
quantities of smoke, vapor or dust beyond the lot boundaries or produce
noise levels above 85 decibels more than 60 aggregate minutes per
day measured at any lot boundary.
Heavy manufacturing, which is any other type of manufacturing.
The extraction of any material from the ground, excluding
water or materials removed in the course of construction or pollution
remediation.
Traditional clerical or professional places of work or the
on-premises sale or provision of any service not specifically defined
elsewhere in this section, without any heavy manufacturing or outdoor
storage of materials and equipment, including:
Advisory, clerical, consulting, data processing, financial,
insurance, Internet, legal, planning, promotional, scientific study
and evaluation, and telemarketing businesses.
Medical doctors, other health care providers, and psychological
and spiritual counselors and evaluators.
Real property agents and offices involved in the measurement
or evaluation thereof, or the planning and execution of, improvements
or abatements thereto.
Personal appearance enhancers and advisors.
Public and private instruction, except those defined as schools.
Public service and family agencies.
Artist studios, publishers, illustrators and similar offices.
Evaluators and restorers of physical possessions.
Entertainment and travel agents and ticket sellers.
Any commercial lot or garage for the parking or detention
of passenger vehicles, other than those used solely for patrons of
a business on the lot.
Any facility for the medical treatment or boarding of animals.
Any lot of at least 1/2 acre, owned by other than a governmental
entity, used principally for outdoor congregation or recreation, including
but not limited to baseball and football fields, basketball and tennis
courts, golf courses, driving ranges, miniature golf courses, swimming
facilities or picnic areas.
Any lot, owned by a government or subsidiary thereof, used
for congregation, recreation or commemoration, such as monuments,
war memorials, concert facilities, baseball and football fields, basketball
and tennis courts, golf courses, driving ranges, miniature golf courses,
swimming facilities, picnic areas or gardens.
Any facility for public service or protection not specifically
defined by another definition in this section, including but not limited
to firehouses, police stations, reservoirs, transmission lines, utility
substations and utility subways.
Includes railroad tracks, shipping facilities, terminals
and other customary appurtenances.
Any facility for the outdoor storage of any material for
dismantling and/or recycling.
Any lot within a residential zone or any lot in any other
zone which is legally in use as a home, including any specially permitted
in-law apartment or home occupation, further subdivided as:
Any facility that prepares and serves food, excluding alcoholic
beverages, with included dining facilities on the premises.
Any outlet not specifically defined by another definition
in this section for the on-premises sale or servicing of goods at
retail or non-gross wholesale, including the gross storage of goods
solely for sale or use on the premises.
Any single-family dwelling unit with no more than one or
two exterior walls in common with one or two other dwelling units.
Any facilities, other than churches or cultural institutions,
for the education or instruction of 10 or more people at any one time,
and athletic or recreational purposes incidental thereto.
Businesses, not specifically defined by another definition
in this section, for the principally off-premises retail sale of goods
and their installation and servicing. Such businesses may include
offices, dispatch of vehicles and technicians, warehousing, sale of
parts and fabrication and modification of materials for installation,
and include, but are not limited to, air conditioning, appliances,
builders, cabinet makers, carpenters, data processing, doors and windows,
electronics, heating, plumbing, roofers, siders and ventilation.
Any facility with seating for more than 50 persons for the
paid viewing of live or reproduced performances, excluding adult entertainment.
Any facility which receives or dispenses shipments more than
10 times per day by trucks with a gross vehicle weight of five tons
or more.
Has no structures and is not being put to any other use defined
by this chapter.
Any outlets, other than parking lots, for the sale, repair,
servicing, cleaning or storage of heavy equipment or any conveyance
which is motorized or longer than five feet, including but not limited
to autos, backhoes, boats, bulldozers, cranes, jet-skis, motorcycles,
snowmobiles and trucks.
Facilities for the storage and reshipment of goods.
Land specifically set aside to hold excess surface runoff
for flood prevention.
Any facility for the storage and gross wholesaling of goods.
Any exhibition of live animals for which a fee is charged
or a donation accepted.
Note: Section 340-3 defines "accessory use" as any use conducted as an essential part of a primary use, as governed by § 340-6.
A.
Permissibility of accessory use. Accessory uses are part of the primary
use and need not be permitted, conditionally permitted or specially
permitted themselves; however, attributes of the accessory use can
disqualify it as detrimental to the intentions of any section of this
Municipal Code during site plan permit review.
B.
On adjacent lots. Accessory uses conducted on adjacent lots, any
lots within a group of adjacent lots owned by the same entity, or
on lots at some point opposite each other on a street right-of-way,
may be authorized as part of the site plan permit.
C.
On non-adjacent lots. Accessory uses on any other lots other than those specified in Subsection B shall require a special permit.
D.
Limits on accessory use. Any accessory use which would require a
special permit or variance if it were the primary use must be specifically
authorized as part of the site plan permit. Such specification should
include, where practicable, the portion of the site occupied by the
accessory use and any limitations on noise, light or other potentially
objectionable emissions emanating from the site.
E.
Alteration of accessory use. Where any change in operations will
place the accessory use beyond any of the limits specified in the
site plan permit, the owner shall file an amended site plan permit,
which shall be reviewed and approved by the Planning Board. The Planning
Board Chair shall require such material and information with the submission
as he or she deems necessary to adequately consider the proposed changes.
A.
Nonconformance defined. A nonconformance is a legally preexisting
use or condition which now is prohibited by, or requires a special
permit or compliance with conditional requirements under, this chapter.
B.
Expanding nonconformances. Note: This subsection operates with the clear understanding that only primary and secondary uses can be nonconforming. Accessory uses which would be specially permitted or prohibited as primary or secondary uses, and changes thereto, are governed by § 340-6.
(1)
Expansion defined. Expanding a legal nonconformance includes:
(a)
Increasing the footprint or number of stories of any structure
in which the nonconforming use is conducted.
(b)
Extending the nonconforming use into portions of the lot not
previously so used or to additional lots.
(c)
Increasing the scope of the nonconforming use, such as adding
nonconforming offices or warehousing to a nonconforming retail business,
or increasing the height of a fence which is nonconforming due to
its existing height.
(d)
Adding equipment in support of the nonconforming use, such as
increasing the number of fuel-dispensing pumps.
(e)
Increasing the degree of any area nonconformance, such as increasing
the percentage of the lot occupied by structures where these already
exceed the limits or decreasing an already nonconforming setback.
(f)
Changing any other area requirement which is already nonconforming,
such as reducing the number of parking spaces, the width of a driveway
or the dimensions of a loading area.
(g)
Changing the nonconformance to a different business within the
same use definition where doing so will increase the level of nuisance
to nearby lots.
(2)
Permissible expansion. No expansion of any nonconformance shall be
allowed except where the Planning Board, in the process of reviewing
a site plan permit application for that purpose, finds that such expansion:
C.
Duration of nonconformances. The following applies to all nonconformances,
whether preexisting or permitted by resolution of the Zoning Board
of Appeals:
(1)
Use variances. Any use variance granted shall attach to the lot for
which granted and only for the specific use for which granted and
shall continue indefinitely unless an expiration date is set by the
Zoning Board of Appeals in the resolution granting the variance. However,
any use abandoned for 180 consecutive days, except where caused by
damage or destruction beyond the owner's control, shall expire on
the 180th day and shall not be reestablished without the granting
of a new use variance subject to such conditions and limitations as
the Zoning Board of Appeals deems appropriate.
(2)
Other variances. Any area, erosion remediation or flood control variance
granted shall attach to the lot on which located and shall continue
until such time as any structure or feature attendant to such variance
is removed or rebuilt, at which time the lot shall require a new site
plan permit and shall be brought into compliance with this chapter
to the maximum extent possible. The Planning Board shall have sole
authority to determine the degree of compliance possible, and the
property owner must apply for and secure a variance for any noncompliance
with the Planning Board's determination.
(3)
Special permits. Any deviation from this chapter granted by a special
permit shall attach to the owner to which granted and shall expire
effective with the first transfer of ownership, unless the Zoning
Board of Appeals sets an earlier expiration date as part of the resolution
granting the special permit. Such specially permitted use or other
feature shall not be reestablished without the granting of a new special
permit subject to such conditions and limitations as the Zoning Board
of Appeals deems appropriate.
(4)
Remediation of specific features. Where a variance or special permit
expires, and some specific feature of the lot or structures thereon
is functional only for a use authorized by the variance or special
permit, the property owner shall have 60 days in which to apply for
a new variance or special permit, or for a building permit and site
plan permit, where appropriate, to perform the work necessary to remove
such feature.
