This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Zoning
Regulations of the Village of Dering Harbor."
A.Â
The Board of Trustees of the Village of Dering Harbor has appropriately
availed itself of the powers conferred by the Village Law of the State
of New York to enact building zone regulations by duly appointing
a Zoning Commission pursuant to the provisions of § 7-710
of such law, and such commission has filed a preliminary report, held
a public hearing thereon, and thereafter filed a final report. The
report and proposals of the Zoning Commission appointed to consider
the advisability of enacting regulations affecting the use of land,
the erection of structures thereon and other matters is, in large
measure, factually correct and in general contains sound judgments,
conclusions and recommendations. The Village Clerk is, therefore,
directed to maintain a permanent file of such report and similar relevant
material for background and reference.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
B.Â
Accordingly, the Board of Trustees finds and determines as a basis
for establishing a general policy on development and zoning and the
regulation thereof:
[Amended 11-4-2000 by L.L. No. 2-2000]
(1)Â
The Village of Dering Harbor is peculiarly unique not only in that
it is the smallest Village in the state, but that it is situated on
Shelter Island, which comprises an entire town with its own zoning
ordinance providing for adequate nearby community shopping and other
facilities as well as a wide variety of housing types permitted and
existing. Moreover, the land in the entire Village is subject to covenants
running with the land which precludes any commercial or industrial
uses or activities. This chapter recognizes these facts and the relationship
between the Village and the town of which it is a part.
(2)Â
The natural beauty of the Village, with its rare undisturbed wooded
area, its tidal marshes too important to ecology, its scenic outlooks
over Dering Harbor, Greenport Harbor and Peconic Bay, its limited
existing public facilities consisting primarily of a public water
supply system and public thoroughfares not designed for any considerable
traffic carrying capacity are also recognized in these regulations
which are designed among other things to preserve to the maximum extent
possible the unspoiled character of the land and the limited existing
development and residential environment.
(3)Â
Regulations should be and are hereby made which will conserve the
natural beauty of the terrain and maintain the existing pattern of
development along residential lines, relying upon nearby areas in
the town and the inter-community composite of which it is a part for
the other than residential services and opportunities necessary to
the inhabitants of the Village. The Board of Trustees therefore directs
that no commercial activity is allowed to take place within the boundaries
of the Village of Dering Harbor.
(4)Â
Appropriate levels of the intensity of land occupancy must be and
hereby are established to preserve and protect existing community
values by preventing inharmonious or deleterious uses, particularly
those uses which can be more appropriately and economically provided
elsewhere in the larger intercommunity area, such as any commercial
activity, and to obviate the construction of public highways, sanitation
and other facilities and the furnishing of municipal services.
(5)Â
The water supply system of the Village should be protected from pollution
and demands on its capacity beyond its ability to cope.
(6)Â
The character, stability, integrity, and the value of the land of
the community should be preserved and protected.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
This chapter establishing and adopting zoning regulations pursuant
to Article 7 of the Village Law of the State of New York and, for
the purposes set forth therein, is enacted in accordance with a Comprehensive
Plan for the development of the Village and designed to protect and
promote the public health, safety and welfare, which plan is derived
from the foregoing basic findings and related development policies
and has the following purposes:
A.Â
To guide the future growth and development of the Village in accordance
with a Comprehensive Plan that represents the most beneficial and
convenient relationships among the areas within the Village, considering
the suitability of and potential for the uses and regulations applicable,
having regard for existing conditions and trends both within the Village
and in adjoining areas.
B.Â
To provide adequate light, air and privacy; to secure safety from
fire and other danger and to prevent overcrowding of the land and
undue congestion of population.
C.Â
To protect the established character and the social and economic
stability of the Village, ensure that all development shall be orderly
and beneficial, balance public and private interests, conserve land
value, facilitate the adequate provision of transportation, water,
sewerage and other public requirement and services by limiting development
to a degree commensurate with the availability and capacity of such
public facilities and services, prevent the pollution of the land,
water and environment, safeguard water resources and encourage the
wise use and sound management of natural resources throughout the
Village to preserve the beauty of the community and the value of the
land.
A.Â
Word usage generally. For the purpose of this chapter, words in the
singular include the plural and those in the present tense shall also
imply the future tense. The word "person" includes a corporation as
well as an individual; the words "shall" and "must" are always mandatory,
and the words "used" or "occupied," as applied to any land or building,
shall be construed to include the words "intended, arranged, or designed
to be used or occupied." As a general rule of construction, words
shall be accorded their common meaning unless otherwise defined or
the context requires a different interpretation, bearing in mind the
central purpose of this chapter. The word "Village" means the Incorporated
Village of Dering Harbor; "Board of Trustees" means the duly elected
Board of Trustees of said Village; "Board of Appeals" means the duly
appointed Board of Appeals of the said Village; "town" means the Town
of Shelter Island.
B.Â
ACCESSORY BUILDING
ACCESSORY USE
ACRE
BUILDING
BUILDING AREA
BUILDING INSPECTOR
DRIVEWAY
DWELLING
FAMILY
(1)Â
(2)Â
(3)Â
(4)Â
(5)Â
FLOOR AREA
FLOOR AREA, GROUND
FRONTAGE
HEIGHT OF A BUILDING
HOME OCCUPATION
LOT
LOT, AREA OF
LOT, CORNER
LOT COVERAGE
LOT DEPTH
LOT, FLAGPOLE
LOT, INTERIOR
LOT LINE, FRONT
LOT LINE, REAR
LOT LINE, SIDE
LOT, THROUGH
LOT, WIDTH OF
NONCONFORMING BUILDING OR STRUCTURE
NONCONFORMING LOT
NONCONFORMING USE
PROHIBITED USE
SETBACK
SIGN
STREET
STREET LINE
STREET, MINOR
STRUCTURAL ALTERATION
STRUCTURE
SWIMMING POOL
USE
WATERFRONT FACILITY
YARD, FRONT
(1)Â
(2)Â
YARD, REAR
YARD, SIDE
Word usage specifically. The following words and phrases shall, for
the purpose of this chapter, unless otherwise expressly stated, have
the meaning herein indicated:
A building or structure which is subordinate to the principal building on the same lot, such as a barn, boathouse, garage, greenhouse, playhouse, stable, swimming pool, or dish antenna, whether attached or detached to or from the principal building or any other building on the lot. An accessory building may not contain kitchen facilities. Sleeping and sanitary facilities are permitted only as authorized under § 230-23. An accessory building must meet these requirements whether it is attached or separate from a principal building or any other building or structure, or accessory building.
[Amended 4-5-1986 by L.L.
No. 1-1986; 11-4-2000 by L.L. No. 2-2000; at time of adoption of Code
(see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
A use customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal
use or building and located on the same lot with such principal use
or building.
The standard measure of area equal to 43,560 square feet.
[Amended 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
A structure with a roof supported by columns or walls and
having a horizontal area of more than 50 square feet and intended
for the shelter, housing or enclosure of persons, animals or chattels.
[Amended 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
The total of areas taken on a horizontal plane at the main
grade level of the principal building and all accessory buildings.
The person duly appointed to serve in such capacity by the
Village Board.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
The area of a lot, whether improved or in a natural condition,
by which vehicles take access to said parcel.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
A building, or part thereof, including any appurtenances,
used and occupied, or intended to be so used, for human habitation.
One or more persons living together in a single dwelling
unit as a traditional family or the functional equivalent of a traditional
family. It shall be a rebuttable presumption that four or more persons
living together in a single dwelling unit, who are not related by
blood, adoption, or marriage, do not constitute the functional equivalent
of a traditional family. In determining the functional equivalent
of a traditional family, the following criteria shall be present:
[Amended 4-5-1986 by L.L.
No. 1-1986; 6-14-1986 by L.L. No. 3-1986; 11-4-2000 by L.L. No. 2-2000; at time of adoption
of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
The group shares the entire dwelling unit.
The group lives and cooks together as a single housekeeping
unit.
The group shares expenses for food, rent, utilities or other
household expenses.
The group is permanent and stable, and not transient or temporary
in nature.
Any other factor reasonably related to whether the group is
the functional equivalent of a family.
The sum of the horizontal areas of the floors of a main building
and accessory buildings on a lot, excluding unfinished attics, basement
or cellar floor areas not devoted to habitable space, but including
the area of all roofed porches, terraces, breezeways and similar features.
All dimensions shall be measured between interior faces of walls.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
The area of a building and other impermeable surfaces and
structures in square feet as measured in a horizontal plane at the
ground level. Ground floor area shall be measured to the outside of
the exterior walls.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
The portion of a lot measured along the lot line that abuts
a street.
[Amended 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
The vertical distance measured in the case of a building
with a flat roof, from the finished grade level to the level of the
highest point of the roof beams, and in the case of a building with
a pitched roof, from the finished grade level to a point halfway between
the top of the plate and the ridge.
Any use customarily conducted within a dwelling, provided
it is carried on solely by the residents of the dwelling, is clearly
incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for dwelling purposes,
does not change the character of the dwelling and there is no external
evidence of such use.
A parcel of land, whether or not shown as a single lot on
a duly recorded plat, occupied or designed to be occupied by one dwelling
and the accessory buildings or uses customarily incident to it, including
such open spaces as are arranged and designed to be used in connection
with such buildings and as are required under the provisions of this
chapter, having not less than the minimum area and width required
in the district in which such land is situated and having frontage
on a street or on such other means of access as may be determined
in accordance with the provisions of the law to be adequate as a condition
of the issuance of a building permit for a building on such land.
The total horizontal area of a lot exclusive of land in the
bed of any street or navigable waterway.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
A lot at the junction of and fronting on two or more intersecting
streets. A lot abutting upon a curved street shall also be considered
a corner lot. In the case of a corner lot, there shall be only one
rear lot line. The rear lot line shall be the lot line opposite the
shorter front lot line (exclusive of the corner arc). If the front
lot lines are the same length, the owner shall designate one of the
opposite lines as the rear lot line.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
That percentage of lot area covered by the ground floor area
of all buildings and other impermeable surfaces and structures, excluding
fences, walls, bulkheads, docks, exterior walkways and stairs, parking
areas and driveways. Lot coverage is computed by dividing the lot
area into the ground floor area.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
The length of the line which can be drawn from the center
of the front lot line to the center of the rear lot line.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
A lot shaped like a pole with a fully extended flag at the
upper portion thereof, the bottom of the pole being at the street
line, the pole portion of the lot having a minimum width of 15 feet
for its entire length being designed for use as access to the flag
portion of the lot where the principal structure is or will be constructed
(sometimes called a "dog-leg" lot).
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
A lot other than a corner lot.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
The street line at the front of a lot, except that in the
case of a flagpole lot, the front lot line used for the determination
of width of lot and the required front yard, which front lot line
shall be one of the internal lot lines designated by the owner.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
The lot line opposite the front lot line.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
Any lot line other than a rear lot line or a front lot line.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
A lot extending from one street frontage through to another
street frontage.[1]
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
The dimension of a lot measured from side lot line to side
lot line along a line perpendicular to the lot depth line at the required
minimum front yard setback.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
A building or structure lawfully existing at the time of
the effective date of this chapter or an amendment hereto which does
not conform to the dimensional regulations pertaining to the district
in which it is located.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
A parcel of land lawfully existing at the time of the effective
date of the adoption of the Zoning Law on August 22, 1970, or an amendment
hereto, which does not conform to the dimensional regulations pertaining
to the district in which it is located.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
A use of land lawfully existing at the time of the effective
date of this chapter or an amendment hereto which does not conform
to the use regulations pertaining to the district in which it is located.
[Amended 10-10-2020 by L.L. No. 6-2020; 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
A use of a building or other structure, lot or part thereof
which is not a permitted, special exception or accessory use pursuant
to the use regulations of the district in which it is located.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
The horizontal distance from a lot line to the part of a
building or structure nearest thereto.
[Amended 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
Every kind of billboard, signboard and other shape, device
or display arranged, intended, designed, used or having the effect
of an advertisement, announcement, or direction, including any text,
symbols, marks, letters or figures painted on or incorporated in the
composition of the exterior surface of a building, structure or vehicle
except a vehicle moving along a street or owned by a public utility
and being necessarily parked on a street, and except a poster or announcement
required or permitted by law to be displayed on any premises or structure.
Any federal, state, county or municipal highway or road,
or any street shown upon a subdivision map filed in the County Clerk's
office, and any private road providing access to subdivided parcels
approved by the Planning Board or existing prior to the adoption of
the Zoning Law on August 22, 1970. An easement providing access to
an individual lot shall not be considered to be a street.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
The dividing line between a lot and a street right-of-way.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
Streets including private roads or rights-of-way that are
deemed minor by the Board of Trustees, including but not limited to
Gardiner Way, Dering Lane, Havens Road, Nicoll Road, Yoco Road and
South Street.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
Any change in the supporting members of a building or structure,
such as bearing walls or partitions, columns, beams or girders, or
any substantial change in the roof.
[Amended 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
Anything constructed or erected on, under or over the ground
or upon a building or other structure or building, excluding underground
sanitary septic systems and drainage pools, and exterior walkways,
provided that anything constructed thereunder or thereover shall not
be excluded.
[Amended 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
Any body of water, other than tidal or a natural pond, or
receptacle for water having a depth at any point greater than two
feet, used or intended to be used for swimming or bathing, and constructed,
installed or maintained in or above the ground outside, in whole or
in part, any building.
The specific purpose for which land or a building is designed,
arranged, intended, or for which it is or may be occupied, improved
or maintained.
A bulkhead, pier, wharf, revetment, dock, piling, or similar
structure to which a vessel or watercraft may be secured, such building
on such structures or contiguous to them used for the storage of equipment
and changing of clothes, including a boathouse or bathhouse, and other
structures necessary for access to the water from the upland area,
including walkways, paths, boardwalk, stairs and steps.[2]
[Added 6-8-2019 by L.L.
No. 4-2019]
An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a building
situated between the nearest roofed portion of the principal building
and the front lot line of the lot and extending from side lot line
to side lot line in the case of interior lots.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
A corner lot shall have two such front yards situated between
the nearest roofed portion of the principal building and the front
lot line along each street on which the lot fronts, except in the
case of a corner lot where one of the streets is designated a minor
street there shall be one front yard and a side yard along the minor
street.
A through lot shall have two such front yards situated between
the nearest roofed portion of the principal building and the front
lot line along each street on which the lot fronts, except in the
case of a through lot where one of the streets is designated a minor
street there shall be one front yard and a rear yard along the minor
street.
A space on the same lot with a building situated between
the nearest roofed portion of the principal building and the rear
lot line of the lot and extending from side lot line to side lot line.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
A space on the same lot with a building situated between
the nearest roofed portion of the principal building and the side
lot line of the lot and extending through from the front yard or from
the front lot line, where no front yard exists, to the rear yard or
to the rear lot line where no rear yard exists.
[Added 4-10-2021 by L.L. No. 1-2021]
