[Amended eff. 6-4-1997 by Ord. No. 609]
The purpose and intent of this and the subsequent two articles
is to provide adequate lot size, frontage, privacy, daylight, sunlight
and air in the City; to secure safety; to prevent overcrowding of
land; to provide at least a minimum of useful outdoor space; to require
provisions for off-street parking and loading and sign requirements
in proportion to the need generated by the uses; and to establish
a minimum and a maximum relationship between lot and structure for
the purpose of retaining and preserving the amenities of the various
areas of the City of Methuen.
A.
Reduction of lot areas and separation of lots.
(1)
The lot or yard areas required for any new building or use may not
include any part of a lot that is required by any other building or
use to comply with any provisions of this ordinance, nor may these
areas include any property of which the ownership has been transferred
subsequent to the effective date of this ordinance if such property
was a part of the area required for compliance with the dimensional
regulations applicable to the lot from which such transfer was made.
(2)
No lot shall be made nonconforming under the requirements of this
ordinance and no lot shall be made more nonconforming than its status
at the time it became nonconforming.
B.
Residential building on the same lot with another principal building.
Any one lot shall not contain more than one single-family or two-family
dwelling.
C.
Exceptions to minimum lot size, frontage, open space, and side yard
requirements in RR and Residential (R) Districts for one-, two-, and
three-family structures:
(1)
Preexisting lots. See § 9.5 hereof.
(2)
Buildings in floodplains. Dimensional controls shall apply to buildings
located in floodplains. Additional regulations are contained in subsequent
sections of this ordinance.
(3)
Compliance with Community Development Board Subdivision Regulations.
Not more than one principal structure designed or available for use
for single-family dwelling purposes shall be erected or placed or
converted to use as such on any lot without receiving a special permit
from the Community Development Board.
D.
Lot and frontage requirements for all districts.
(1)
New subdivision lots. As a part of a definitive subdivision approval,
the Community Development Board may waive the required frontage for
a newly created but not irregularly shaped lot by up to 50% on curved
streets where the radius of the arc at its degree of greatest curve
is less than 100 feet and lots on turning circles, provided that the
required lot width is attained at the required minimum from setback
line.
(2)
Prohibition on creating nonconforming lot. No lot upon which any
building or structure stands in conformance with this ordinance shall
be changed for any reason in size or shape so as to violate the provisions
of this ordinance except through an exercise of the powers of eminent
domain.
(3)
Lot area calculation. When the distance between any two points on
lot lines is less than 20 feet measured in a straight line (the threshold
line), the smaller portion of the lot which is bounded by such a straight
line and such lots lines beyond the threshold line shall not be considered
in computing the minimum lot area unless the cumulative distance (perimeter)
along such lot line between such two points and including the threshold
line is less than 150 feet.
(4)
Frontage exception lots. The Community Development Board may grant
a special permit for reduced frontage in any residential district
except in the MA or the MB Districts and except for duplexes in the
RG District. See special permit § 11.15.
E.
Yard requirements for all districts.
(1)
Where a side yard is adjacent to a street, the side yard requirement
shall be the same as the distance specified for front yard setback.
(2)
Where a rear yard is adjacent to a street, the rear yard requirement
shall be the same as the distance specified for front yard setback.
(3)
No building or subsurface structure, or portion thereof, shall be
permitted within the required front setback or side yard areas or
less than 7.5 feet from the rear lot line.
(4)
No front yard shall be used for the open storage of boats, vehicles,
travel trailers or any other equipment. A fifteen-foot landscaped
strip shall be provided adjacent to the street right-of-way line when
a front yard is used for parking in Business and Industrial Districts.
(5)
Business structures or uses shall not display goods for sale purposes
or display coin-operated vending machines of any type in any location
which would infringe upon the required yard areas specified in this
ordinance.
(6)
Except as provided below, an accessory building attached to a principal
building shall comply in all respects with the yard requirements of
this ordinance for the principal building, shall be completely screened
from adjacent properties and shall not interfere in any way with access
to parking spaces in off-street parking areas. An unattached accessory
building serving a one- or two-family dwelling may be located in a
rear yard within 7.5 feet of a side or rear lot line.
(7)
No structure intended for agricultural use, such as a greenhouse,
or a building, structure or pen for poultry or other livestock, shall
be less than 50 feet from any lot line or 100 feet from any dwelling.
No commercial farming establishment shall be allowed unless the parcel
is over five acres, other than in a Rural Residential or Conservancy
District.
F.
(Reserved)
G.
Court requirements for all districts. A court shall be deemed to
exist between portions of a principal building or structure and between
a principal or accessory building or structure located upon the same
lot. The minimum width of an outer or inner court shall be the greater
of 40 feet or equal to the highest building or structure.
H.
Exemptions to maximum height regulations.
(1)
The height limitations as set forth in the Table of Dimensional Controls[1] shall not apply to chimneys, ventilators, skylights, water
tanks, bulkheads, penthouses and other accessory additions which are
required or are customarily carried above the roofs of buildings,
or to towers, spires, domes, cupolas and similar additions to buildings
if such additions do not exceed 45 feet in height, are not used for
living purposes, and if such structures are not equal to more than
20% of the space occupied by the ground floor of the building. Additionally,
all farm accessory structures are exempt from the height requirements
of this ordinance.
[1]
Editor's Note: See the Table of Dimensional Regulations, included
as an attachment to this chapter.
(2)
Accessory buildings or structures used for accessory structures are
exempt from the height requirements of this ordinance.
(3)
Accessory buildings or structures used for accessory purposes in
all RR and Residential (R) Districts shall not exceed a height of
25 feet.
I.
Traffic visibility across corners. Between the property lines of
intersecting streets and a line joining points on such lines 20 feet
distant from their point of intersection or, in the case of a rounded
corner, the point of intersection of their tangents, no building or
structure in any residence district may be erected and no vegetation
other than shade trees may be maintained between a height of three
feet and seven feet above the plane through their curb grades.
J.
Traffic visibility for driveways. A fence, hedge, wall, sign or other
structure or vegetation may be maintained on any lot, provided that
in the front yard area, no such structure or vegetation shall be over
2 1/2 feet in height above the adjacent ground within five feet
of the front lot line unless it can be shown that such vegetation
or structure will not restrict visibility in such a way as to hinder
the safe entry or exit of a vehicle from any driveway to the street.
K.
Fire lanes. Fire lanes shall be provided in accordance with the regulations
of the Massachusetts State Building Code and Board of Fire Prevention,
and Methuen City Resolutions No. 145 and 275 and all subsequent amendments
thereto.
L.
Screening and space buffers in Industrial and Business Districts.
(1)
Screening and space buffers shall be required in any Industrial or
Business District which abuts residential districts. The minimum width
of this strip shall be 30 feet in addition to the minimum yard setback
requirements specified in the Table of Dimensional Regulations for
that zone.[2]
[2]
Editor's Note: the Table of Dimensional Regulations is included
as an attachment to this chapter.
(2)
The buffered strip shall contain a vertical screen of plantings not
less than four feet in width and five feet in height at the time of
planting and shall be evenly spaced, planted no less than 10 feet
on center. The owner or occupants shall maintained said buffered strip
so as to maintain a dense screen year-round.
(3)
At least 50% of the plantings shall consist of evergreens.
(4)
A solid wall or fence, five feet to six feet in height, complemented
by suitable plantings, may be substituted for such buffered strip
at the discretion of the permitting agent. The construction, height
and maintenance of fences shall conform to all other applicable ordinances
and shall not exceed six feet in height. Shrubbery and other growth
planted on property shall not be subject to six-foot limits.
(5)
The buffered strip shall not be closer than five feet to a public
or private street right-of-way line.
(6)
The buffered strip as described above must be planted at the time
of occupancy of such lot. If the weather conditions are not suitable
for planting at the time of occupancy, a cash bond shall be posted
with the City equivalent to the cost to the City installing the required
plantings.
(7)
The buffered strip may be reduced in size up to 50% by the Community
Development Board through the site plan review or special permit process.
The Board may reduce the buffer if the size and location of the lot
are such that the size buffer may be reduced without negatively impacting
abutting parcels. If the size of the buffered strip is reduced, additional
landscaping, fencing or berms may be required.
M.
Subdivision exemption. See MGL c. 40A, § 6, addressing
lots approved under previous zoning regulations.
Any structure hereafter altered, constructed, erected, placed
or converted for any use in any district shall be located on a lot
only in conformance with the minimum requirements of the Table of
Dimensional Regulations as found in Appendix B[1] or the General Intensity Regulations in § 6.2.
[1]
Editor's Note: The Table of Dimensional Regulations is included
as an attachment to this chapter.
A.
All buildings shall conform to the requirements of the Table of Dimensional
Regulations as found in Appendix B[1] unless exempted by the exceptions to minimum lot size, frontage, open space and side yard requirements for one-, two- and three-family structures as specified in Article VI and Article XI, Special Permits.
[1]
Editor's Note: The Table of Dimensional Regulations is included
as an attachment to this chapter.
B.
Notwithstanding the Table of Dimensional Regulations, where low-impact
development (LID) techniques are employed in the design of a subdivision
and in accordance with the LID requirements of the Subdivision Rules
and Regulations, the minimum dimensional requirements on a lot shall
be 50 feet of frontage and 5,000 square feet of area with not less
than a twenty-foot setback from other structures on the same or adjacent
lots and a front and rear setback of no less than 20 feet.
[Added eff. 11-6-2002 by Ord. No. 748]
In any residentially zoned area where a new residential structure
is to be constructed there shall be a requirement that curbing, underground
utilities and sidewalk, if existing on or in front of a lot within
500 feet and on the same way to the lot to be built upon, shall be
constructed on or in front of that lot as applicable. Such construction
shall be performed under standards equivalent to those under the then-existing
subdivision rules and regulations, or which currently exist if no
regulations were in place at the time of construction. Additionally,
if the lots adjacent to the lot to be built upon have located thereon
leaf-bearing shade trees bordering on the way, said lot to be built
upon shall have planted a leaf-bearing shade tree with a minimum breast
height diameter of four or more inches.
