Abandonment:
Means to discontinue a use or activity for 6 months or after
destruction of 50% of total appraised value, excluding temporary or
short-term interruptions such as seasonal closures, or due to remodeling,
maintenance, or otherwise improving a facility.
Abutting:
When referring to lots, parcels, or property, is next to
and having some portion of a boundary that is conterminous with the
parcel proposed for development. Lots or parcels that are separated
only by an alley are abutting if their property lines would be shared
if they extended to the centerline of the alley.
Access Point:
Means a point of vehicular entry to or exit from a property
or lot. See also “Cross Access.”
Accessory Building or Structure:
A building or structure that is subordinate to the principal
building, which serves [a] purpose that is customarily associated
with the principal use. Examples of accessory buildings and structures
include pergolas, gazebos, storage sheds, and detached residential
garages. The phrase “accessory building or structure”
does not include a parking structure.
Accessory Dwelling Unit:
A separate dwelling unit located in a detached accessory
building or as an attached independent unit to the principal dwelling
unit. An accessory dwelling unit includes independent living quarters
with cooking facilities, sanitation, and sleeping spaces and is limited
in size by the standards of these regulations. An accessory dwelling
unit may be commonly referred to as “guest home,” “granny
flat,” “garage apartment,” or “mother-in-law
suite,” etc.
Attached ADU:
Means a unit that is created within an attached or a principal
building such as it appears to be an integrated part of it.
One-Story Detached ADU:
Means a detached accessory building that contains an accessory
dwelling unit. It may or may not also include a garage or storage
area.
Second-Story Detached ADU:
Means an accessory dwelling unit which is located on the
second floor of an accessory building. A typical example is a dwelling
unit located above a detached garage.
Accessory Structure/Uses:
An accessory structure is a structure which is on the same
parcel of property as a principal structure and the use of which is
incidental to the use of the principal structure. Accessory structures
may include a detached garage, storage shed, residential garage, guest
house, and other similar structures.
Accessory Use:
Means a use incidental to and customarily associated with
a specific principal use located on the same lot or parcel.
Activity Center:
centers of a public, nonprofit or charitable nature providing
fraternal, social, and/or recreational programs generally open to
the public and generally designed to accommodate and serve the retired
or elderly segment of the community. Accessory uses may include offices,
meeting areas, food preparation areas, and day care uses.
Adjacent:
Means “next to” or “closest to” but
shall not necessarily mean “touching.”
Administrative Approval:
Means an application process for permit or approval whereby
the decision is made by an administrative representative of the City.
Agriculture Sales:
An establishment engaged in sale from the premises of feed,
grain, fertilizers, pesticides, and similar goods.
Agriculture Uses:
Means a category of uses that create and preserve areas intended
primarily for the raising of animals and crops, and the secondary
industries associated with agricultural production and ranching.
Alley:
A minor public right-of-way not intended to provide the primary
means of access to abutting lots, which is used primarily for vehicular
service access to the back or sides of properties that derive primary
access from a street. The length of an alley segment is to be measured
from the right-of-way lines of the streets from which the alley is
provided access, or from the center-point of an intersection with
another alley which connects to a street. An alley is not the same
as a street for purposes of the setback or design requirements of
these regulations.
Amateur Radio Antennas:
An antenna for the private use and enjoyment of an individual
holding a valid amateur radio (HAM) license issued by the Federal
Communications Commission and not used for any commercial or industrial
use.
Amenity:
An improvement to be dedicated to the public or to the common
ownership of the lot owners of the subdivision that provides an aesthetic,
recreational or other benefit, other than those prescribed by these
regulations.
Animal Raising or Production:
The on-site raising and breeding of animals for the purpose
of food or production of food. The phrase “animal raising or
production” includes commonly used terms such as ranching, poultry
farm, fish farm, beekeeping, and dairy farm.
Animal Shelter:
A public, nonprofit or not-for-profit facility at which stray,
lost, homeless, abandoned, or unwanted dogs, cats, or other domesticated
animals are kept for purposes of distribution to the general public.
Annexation:
The process by which a City, by ordinance, annexes land into
the City limits pursuant to the various processes of Chapter 43, Municipal
Annexations, of the Tex. Local Gov’t Code and the Home Rule
Charter.
Annexation, Voluntary:
An annexation initiated by an annexation petition application
by the property owner(s) or their authorized representatives.
Antenna:
Any apparatus designed for the transmitting and/or receiving
of electromagnetic waves that includes but is not limited to telephonic,
radio, or television communications. Types of antennas include, but
are not limited to, omnidirectional (whip) antennas, sectorized (panel)
antennas, multi or single bay (AM/FM/TV/DTV), Yagi, or parabolic (dish)
antennas.
Antenna-supporting structure:
A vertical projection composed of metal or other substance
with or without a foundation that is for the express purpose of accommodating
antennas at a desired height above grade. Antenna-supporting structures
do not include any device used to attach antennas to an existing building,
unless the device extends above the highest point of the building
by more than ten (10) feet.
Apartment:
A building or group of buildings which contain multiple dwelling
units for rent to multiple families or individuals. Apartments may
be leased, rented, or owned in a condominium style of ownership. Such
facilities are not regulated as STRs and prohibited from receiving
STR permits.
Apartment, Loft:
Multifamily residential dwelling units which are housed on
the second floor and above of a building where the first floor contains
a nonresidential use.
Appeal:
The process of reviewing a decision of an application that
may be requested by a person aggrieved by such decisions.
Applicant:
A person or entity who submits to the city a request for
a development permit or agreement or application for approval as authorized
by this article and Texas Local Government Code, as may be amended.
To be qualified as an applicant under this article, the person or
entity must have sufficient legal authority or proprietary interests
in the land to commence and maintain proceedings under this article.
The term shall be restricted to include only the property owner(s),
or a duly authorized agent and representative of the property owner.
In other jurisdictions, the term is sometimes referred to as the “developer,”
“subdivider,” “builder,” or a similar title.
Application:
A written request and submission of materials for an approval
as required by these regulations.
Appurtenance:
A feature related to a parcel of land or to a building[,]
structure, object, site, or a related group thereof. The term includes,
but is not limited to, buildings, structures, objects, sites, landscaping
features, walls, fences, light fixtures, steps, paving, sidewalks,
shutters, awnings, and signs.
Architectural Control:
Regulations governing the appearance or architectural style
of buildings or structures. Architectural control is a form of aesthetic
zoning. (PAS Report No.322, p4)
As-Built Plans:
Plans and specifications prepared and certified by a registered
land surveyor, licensed landscape architect, or licensed engineer,
as appropriate to the type of plans, that clearly depict the completed
improvements as they were constructed or installed on a lot. Also
known as record drawing.
Asphalt or Concrete Batch Plant:
A permanent manufacturing facility engaged in the storing
and mixing of raw materials to produce concrete or asphalt, including
trucks that transport the product to job sites.
Athletic Facility, Indoor or Outdoor:
An area, field, building or combination thereof, which is
constructed and equipped for use in participatory and/or spectator-oriented
sports and athletics. This use includes, but is not limited to, facilities
intended for the instruction, practice, and competitive events associated
with basketball, volleyball, soccer, tennis, gymnastics, swimming,
baseball or football. Accessory uses may include offices, snack bars,
limited sales, locker rooms and incidental childcare. This term excludes
racetracks for dirt bikes or motorized vehicles, amusement parks,
sports arenas, and any other facility otherwise categorized as Major
Event Entertainment.
Authorized Representative:
Any person showing written verification that he or she is
acting for and with the knowledge and consent of a property owner.
Average Daily Trips (ADT):
The average number of vehicles or pedestrians passing a specific
point in a 24-hour period, normally measured through a year. ADT is
the standard measurement for vehicle traffic load on a section of
road and is the basis for most decisions regarding transportation
planning.
Automobile:
A self-propelled passenger vehicle that usually has four
wheels and an internal-combustion engine, used for land transport.
Also includes vehicle or motor vehicle.
Automobile Repair and Service, General:
General repair or replacement services for any vehicles,
including commercial. In addition to those services provided under
limited automobile repair and service, general automobile repair and
services includes rebuilding, reconditioning or replacement of engines,
transmissions or power trains; collision services such as body, frame,
or fender replacement, straightening or repair; steam cleaning, undercoating
and rust-proofing; major painting; or similar servicing, rebuilding
or repairs that normally require significant disassembly or overnight
on-site storage of vehicles, excluding dismantling, wrecking, or salvage.
Outdoor storage of materials such as tires, auto parts, etc. is allowed.
Automobile Sales, Rental or Leasing Facility:
The sale of automobiles, noncommercial trucks, or motorcycles,
including incidental storage, maintenance, and servicing. Typical
uses include new and used car dealerships or motorcycle dealerships.
Awning:
An architectural projection, which provides weather protection,
identity, or decoration, and is wholly supported by the building to
which it is attached. It is composed of a lightweight rigid or retractable
skeleton structure over which a covering of fabric or other materials
are attached.
Banking and Financial Service:
An establishment primarily engaged in the provision of financial
and banking services. Typical uses include banks, savings and loan
institutions, stock and bond brokers, loan and lending activities,
and similar services. This term does not include “check cashing”
or “payday loan” establishments.
Bar or Nightclub:
A commercial establishment where the primary purpose is to
sell alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption where more than
75 percent of the sales proceeds are for the sale of alcoholic beverages
and may include dancing and/or musical entertainment.
Base Flood:
A flood having a one (1) percent chance of being equaled
or exceeded in any given year.
Base Flood Elevation (BFE):
The elevation shown on the flood insurance rate map (FIRM)
and found in the accompanying flood insurance study (FIS) for Zones
A, AE, AH, A1-A30, AR, V1-V30, or VE that indicates the water surface
elevation resulting from the flood that has a one (1) percent chance
of equaling or exceeding that level in any given year (also called
the base flood).
Bed and Breakfast:
A private residential structure(s) used for the rental of
overnight accommodations and whose owner serves breakfast at no extra
cost to its lodgers. In all designated zoning districts, the primary
use of the property shall be residential with the Bed and Breakfast
use considered an accessory use. The events associated with a Bed
and Breakfast shall be subordinate to the Bed and Breakfast.
Block:
A tract or parcel of land bounded on all sides by streets
or other transportation rights-of way, or by physical boundaries such
as waterbodies, water courses, open spaces etc., or any or by a combination
thereof. Blocks are typically divided into lots.
Block Length:
For a residential subdivision, means the distance measured
along the centerline of the street from the intersection center-point
of one (1) through street to the intersecting center-point of another
through street. The through street referred to above shall not be
a cul-de-sac, an alley, a dead-end street, or a looped street, but
shall be a street which clearly has two (2) points of ingress from
two (2) different directions. Also known as “street length.”
Board of Adjustment:
A citizens’ commission appointed by the city council
to perform the functions established by Texas Local Government Code
Chapter 211, and other duties assigned by ordinance. As the governing
body of a type A general-law municipality, the city council is statutorily
authorized to perform this function and serve in this capacity.
Bond:
Any form of a surety bond in an amount and form satisfactory
to the City.
Brewery/Distillery/Winery:
An establishment where beer, liquor, or wine is produced
on the premises and may include in-house consumption and sale. Food
sales or a restaurant may also be included, as well as associated
retail sales.
Buffer:
Physical spaces or improvements that physically and visually
separate one use or property from an abutting property in order to
mitigate the impacts of noise, light, or other nuisance as required
by these regulations. Buffers may include but are not limited to open
spaces, landscaped areas, fences, walls, berms, or any combination
thereof.
Build-to Line:
The line located a distance from a right-of-way that a portion
of a building must be built to.
Buildable Area:
Also known as “building envelope,” means the
area of a lot or parcel that is buildable, as determined by setback
requirements.
Building:
An improvement or change to the property which substantially
reduces the permeability of the natural ground underneath the building
or structure to absorb rainfall. A building such as a house, barn,
church, hotel, or similar construction that is created to shelter
any form of human activity. Building also may be used to refer to
a historically and functionally related unit, such as a courthouse
and jail or a house and barn. (National Register Bulletin 24, p.1)
Building Articulation:
A variation or change in the plane of a building wall. Horizontal
Articulation means a variation in the height of a wall surface of
a building or structure. Vertical Articulation means a variation in
the depth of a wall surface.
Building Height:
The vertical distance measured from “grade” to
the highest point of the coping of a flat roof or the deck line or
[of] a mansard roof or to the average height of the highest gable
on a pitched or hipped roof, or to the highest point of a structure.
Building Official:
means a representative of the City staff appointed by the
City Administrator to be the administrator of these regulations.
Building Setback Line:
means the line within a property defining the minimum horizontal
distance between a building or other structure and the adjacent street
right-of-way line, property line, a creek, or some other specific
feature. See “Setback.”
Bus Barn:
A facility where buses or other passenger transporting fleet
vehicles are housed, stored, maintained or repaired. Accessory uses
may include offices or maintenance, fueling, or washing facilities.
Business or Trade School:
A Facility or campus of facilities that provide educational
training in business, commerce, language, or other similar activity
or occupational pursuit. The term does not include educational activities
associated with home enterprises, college/university, or education
uses.
Caliper:
The diameter of a tree measured 12 inches above the ground
when planted.
Campground:
Land containing two or more campsites which are located,
established, or maintained for occupancy by people in temporary living
quarters, such as tents, recreation vehicles, or travel trailers which
are used for recreation or vacation purposes. The maximum length of
stay at a camping and recreational vehicle park shall be 30 days.
Canopy:
A roof-like structure, often attached to and supported by
a building, that provides architectural detail or weather protection
over a door, entrance, window, fuel pumps, or outdoor area.
Car Wash:
A facility for the washing, waxing, or cleaning of automobiles,
recreational vehicles or light duty trucks where the owner of the
vehicle causes the vehicle to become washed. This term includes a
wash facility providing automated self-service (drive-through/rollover)
wash bays and an apparatus in which the vehicle owner inserts money
or tokens into a machine, drives the vehicle into the wash bay, and
waits in the vehicle while it is being washed and a wash facility
providing wand-type self-service (open) wash bays in which the vehicle
owner drives the vehicle into the wash bay, gets out of the vehicle,
and hand washes the vehicle with a wand-type apparatus by depositing
coins or tokens into a machine.
Cemetery:
A place or ground used or intended to be used for the burial
or entombment of the dead, whether human or animal, including a mausoleum
or columbarium.
Certificate of Appropriateness:
A document evidencing the approval of the Historical Preservation
Commission, signed and dated by the Chairman of the Historical Preservation
Commission, for the installation, construction, alteration, change,
restoration, removal, or demolition of any Exterior Architectural
Feature Resource or other significant appurtenance of any Historic
Landmark or of any building or structure located within the Historic
District to be issued in cases further defined in this ordinance,
where approval for the same is required.
Certificate of Occupancy:
A process and permit required prior to the occupancy of a
building. Certificates of Occupancy are approved administratively.
Child-Care Facility, Day Care:
Commonly referred to as “day care,” means a facility
licensed, certified, or registered by the state to provide assessment,
care, training, education, custody, treatment, or supervision for
a child who is not related by blood, marriage, or adoption to the
owner or operator of the facility, for all or part of the 24-hour
day, whether or not the facility is operated for profit or charges
for the services it offers.
City Council:
means the duly elected governing body of the City of Blanco,
Texas.
City Engineer:
shall apply only to such licensed professional engineers,
or firm of licensed professional consulting engineers, that has been
specifically employed by the City to assist in engineering-related
matters. This term shall also apply if the City retains a person to
perform the functions of City Engineer as an official City employee.
City limits:
The incorporated municipal boundary of the city.
Code enforcement officer:
Means the person designated by the city administrator of
the City of Blanco as the City of Blanco's code enforcement officer
or such officer’s delegate, as approved by the city administrator.
Co-location:
The locating of wireless communications equipment (antenna)
from more than one provider on an existing single mount or antenna-supporting
structure. The term “co-location” shall not be applied
to a situation where two or more wireless communications service providers
independently place equipment on an existing building.
Commercial:
is a term that describes activities that are nonresidential
in nature and generally involve the exchange of goods or services.
Commercial Feed Lot:
A lot, yard, corral, building, or other area in which livestock
or other animals for food or fur are housed and confined, primarily
for the purposes of feeding and growth prior to slaughter and which
is specifically designed as a confinement area where the concentration
of animals is such that a vegetative cover cannot be maintained within
the enclosure and substantial amounts of manure or other related wastes
may originate by reason of such feeding of animals. The term does
not include areas which are used for raising crops or other vegetation
or upon which livestock are allowed to graze.
Commercial Recreation/Entertainment:
A privately established and operated facility that provides
indoor or outdoor entertainment, amusement, or recreation for a fee.
The phrase “commercial recreation/entertainment” includes,
but is not limited to, commonly used terms such as:
(1)
Bowling alley, an establishment providing facilities for the
sport of bowling.
(2)
Movie theater, an indoor facility that provides fixed seating
for customers to view motion pictures.
(3)
Performance venue, an indoor or outdoor facility that provides
fixed seating for customers to view dramatic, comedic, musical, lectures
or others live performances including concert halls and amphitheaters.
(4)
Dance hall, an establishment offering to the general public
facilities for dancing.
(5)
Billiards or Pool hall, an establishment providing facilities
for playing billiards or cue sports.
(6)
Gaming center, an establishment offering facilities for amusement
game devices, such as video arcades, pinball machines, LAN gaming
centers, laser tag, and similar mechanical and electronic amusement
devices.
(7)
Skating rink or skate park, an establishment providing facilities
for ice skating, roller skating or skate boarding.
(8)
Amusement park, an establishment providing various entertainment
activities including, but not limited to, miniature golf, go-kart
tracks, Ferris wheels, roller coasters, and/or rock-climbing walls.
(9)
Golf driving range, an establishment equipped with distance
markers, clubs, balls, and tees for practicing long distance golf
drives.
(10)
Shooting range (indoor only), an establishment that operates
an indoor area for the discharge or other use of firearms for recreational
shooting.
Commercial Stables:
A leasing facility intended for the sheltering and care of
domestic animals such as horses and mules.
Commercial Uses:
A category of uses that includes businesses that facilitate
the buying and selling of manufactured goods or provide consumer and
professional sales and services.
Community Center:
A building or complex of buildings typically consisting of
one or more meeting or multi-purpose rooms and kitchen and/or outdoor
barbecue facilities, owned and/or operated by a governmental agency
or private non-profit agency and used for and providing religious,
fraternal, social, cultural, educational, athletic, recreational,
or entertainment activities generally open to the public and designed
to accommodate and serve significant segments of the community. Community
centers may be available for use by various groups for such activities
as meetings, parties, receptions, dances, etc.
Comprehensive Historic Preservation Plan:
A document that integrates the various preservation activates
[activities] and gives them coherence and direction, as well as relates
the community’s preservation efforts to community development
planning as a whole.
Comprehensive Plan:
The Comprehensive Plan of the City and adjoining areas as
adopted by the City Council, including all its revisions and plan
elements (including, but not limited to, the Future Land Use Plan,
Thoroughfare Plan, Parks and Open Space Plan, etc.). This plan indicates
the general locations recommended for various land uses, transportation
routes, public and private buildings, streets, parks, water and wastewater
facilities, and other public and private developments and improvements.
Concept Plan:
means a general plan for the development of property which
demonstrates the nature of the parcel proposed for development to
evaluate the impacts of the development on abutting uses and compliance
with the City’s long-range plans.
Condominium:
A form of real property ownership that combines separate
ownership of individual dwelling units within common ownership of
other elements such as land or accessory buildings.
Construction Plans:
The maps or drawings accompanying a plat and showing the
specific location and design of public improvements to be installed
in the subdivision in accordance with the requirements of the City
as a condition of approval of the Preliminary Plat. May also be referred
to as “engineering plans.”
Contiguous:
Two lots where at least one boundary line or point of one
(1) lot touches a boundary line, or lines, or point of another lot.
Continuance:
A request to delay or “table” a decision on a
completed application.
Contractor Services:
An establishment primarily engaged in construction or related
activities off-premises. This use includes offices associated with
the business and the maintenance and indoor or outdoor storage of
supplies, equipment, machinery, and vehicles.
Correctional Facility:
A facility providing judicially required detention or incarceration
of individuals convicted of crimes where these individuals are housed
until such time as they have completed their sentences. Such facilities
include minimum- and maximum-security prisons for adults as well as
juvenile detention centers for minors.
Crop Production and Sales:
The cultivation, harvesting, production, and sales of produce
such as vegetables, fruits, trees, and grain or similar crops and
the cultivation of plants and trees for commercial distribution.
Cross Access:
An access point between abutting lots. Also known as inter-parcel
cross access.
Cul-de-sac:
A street having only one (1) outlet to another street and
terminated on the opposite end by a vehicular turnaround or “bulb.”
The length of a cul-de-sac is to be measured from the intersection
center-point of the adjoining through street to the midpoint of the
cul-de-sac bulb.
Data Center:
A facility housing a collection of computer servers and associated
components, such as telecommunication, storage and backup systems,
that supply information to single or multiple end users off-site.
Data Centers will typically require large amounts of electricity,
strict temperature control and high security and will generally have
few employees on-site at any given time. May also be referred to as
a server farm.
Day Care, Commercial:
A day care facility that provides less than 24-hour care
and supervision for 12 or more individuals at any one time, including
those under the supervision or custody of the day care provider and
those under the supervision or custody of employees. This term shall
include commercial daycare for children, adults or handicapped persons.
This use is subject to registration with the Texas Department of Protective
and Regulatory Services.
Dedication:
The commitment of property interest from a private entity
to a public entity for a public purpose.
Demolition:
An act or process which destroys a site or structure in its
entirety, or which destroys a part of a site or structure and permanently
impairs its structural, historic or architectural integrity.
Design Review:
The decision-making process conducted by an established review
committee of a local government that is guided by the terms set in
the historic preservation ordinance.
Design Review Guidelines:
These are a set of guidelines adopted by the commission that
details acceptable alterations of designated properties. They are
usually generously illustrated and written in a manner that would
be understood by most property owners.
Developed Area:
The portion of a lot or parcel upon which a building, structure,
pavement, or other improvements have been placed.
Developer:
A person seeking to construct buildings or structures, or
otherwise improve a parcel proposed for development as defined in
these regulations.
Development:
Any manmade change to improved and unimproved real estate,
including but not limited to buildings or other structures (including,
but not limited to, parking, fencing, pools, and signs), land disturbing
activity (including mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation
or drilling operations), or storage of equipment or materials.
District:
A district possesses a significant concentration, linkage,
or continuity of sites, buildings, structures, or objects united historically
or aesthetically by plan or physical development. (National Register
Bulletin 24, p.1)
Dormant Projects:
Shall have the same meaning as set forth in Texas Local Government
Code section 245.005, as that section may be amended, revised or re-codifies,
and in that context, a dormant project is considered to be expired
for the purposes of Texas Local Government Code chapter 245 vested
rights.
Drive-Through:
A commercial facility where transactions of services, goods,
food, or beverages are conducted from a vehicle either parked or in
a drive-through lane. May also be referred to as “drive-in”
or “drive-up.”
Driveway:
A surfaced area providing vehicular access from a public
street and within a property.
Due Process (of law):
A requirement that legal proceedings be carried out in accordance
with established rules and principles. (PAS, Report No. 322, p14)
Duplex:
A residential structure containing two attached dwelling
units which share common walls and are designed exclusively for the
use and occupancy of two families living independently of each other.
The land underneath the structure is not divided into separate lots.
Duplex, Residential:
The use of a site for two dwelling units, within a single
building, other than a manufactured home. These facilities are not
regulated as STRs and prohibited from receiving STR permits unless
they are owner-occupied.
Dwelling Unit:
Any permanent structure or part thereof designed and used
for habitation by one or more individuals.
Easement:
An area for restricted use on private property upon which
the City or a public utility shall have the right to remove and keep
removed all or part of any buildings, fences, trees, shrubs and other
improvements or growths which in any way endanger or interfere with
the construction, maintenance or efficiency of its respective systems
within said easements. The City and public utilities shall, at all
times, have the right of ingress and egress to and from and upon easements
for the purpose of constructing, reconstructing, inspecting, patrolling,
maintaining and adding to or removing all or part of their respective
systems without the necessity at any time of procuring the permission
of anyone.
Effective Date:
The date that these regulations became effective and when
individual Articles, Divisions, or Sections were amended.
Emergency Services Station:
Facilities for the conduct of public safety and emergency
services, including police and fire protection services and emergency
medical and ambulance services.
Encroachment:
Generally, building or structure or portion thereof that
crosses a lot line, building line, or setback line into a setback
area, right-of-way, abutting property under separate ownership, or
any other area which does not allow for the building or structure.
Engineer:
A person duly authorized and licensed under the provisions
of the Texas Engineering Practice Act to practice the profession of
engineering.
Equipment Sales and Repair, Heavy:
A facility providing retail sales, leasing, and repair of
heavy or commercial vehicles or equipment such as those used in construction,
farming, or manufacturing.
Escrow:
A deposit of cash with the City in accordance with these
regulations.
Extraterritorial Jurisdiction:
The area of land adjacent to the City Limits which through
the authorities provided by state law allows the City to extend some
regulatory provisions into the unincorporated area as a means to protect
the general health, safety, and welfare of persons residing in and
adjacent to the City, and to provide the City with some control over
its growth area. Sometimes referred to as “ETJ.”
Event Facility:
A building, structure, or site available for rental by the
public for the primary intended purpose of hosting parties, wedding
receptions, banquets, corporate meetings or similar group events.
Event Facility does not include an event room available for rental
in a structure housing another primary use where the event room rental
is an accessory use to the primary use (i.e., General Restaurant)
or a Community Center as it is defined in this Code.
Extension:
A request to extend an application for permit or approval
that is subject to expire.
Exterior Architectural Feature:
The architectural style, design, general arrangement and
components of all of the outer surfaces of a building or structure,
as distinguished from the interior surfaces enclosed by such outer
surfaces. Exterior Architectural Features shall include, by way of
example but not limitation, the kind, color, texture of the building
material and the type and/or style of all windows, doors, lights,
signs and other fixtures appurtenant to such building or structure.
Façade:
Any face of a building, including front, side, or rear faces.
Farm Stand:
An accessory building or structure erected for the seasonal
display and retail sale of fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, herbs
or plants produced on the property or neighboring property where the
stand is erected. No commercially packed handicrafts or commercially
processed or packaged foodstuffs shall be sold at a farm stand.
Farmer’s Market:
A permanent indoor or outdoor market where individual vendors
offer produce and related items for retail sale directly to the consumer.
The products are typically locally and regionally grown and may include
items such as fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, edible seeds,
nuts, live plants, flowers, and processed food products such as jams,
honey, pickled foods, and sauces. Baked goods, handmade crafts, art,
clothing, jewelry, and produce items not native to this region may
also be sold but may not constitute a majority of total sales. Sale
of new and used household goods, personal effects, tools, small household
appliances, and similar merchandise are not included in this definition.
Fall Zone:
The area around a wireless transmission facility or communication
facility that has the potential for being damaged in the event that
such facility should fall or collapse, including the scattering of
equipment debris.
FEMA:
The Federal Emergency Management Agency of the U.S. government.
Fill:
To deposit or stockpile dirt, stone, construction debris
or other material in order to modify land or alter current drainage
patterns.
Fitness Center:
An establishment providing exercise equipment, facilities
and instruction designed to maintain or improve the physical fitness
of participants. Facilities may include childcare centers, swimming
pools, sports courts and similar amenities and may also include incidental
food sales, retail sales, and personal care services. May also be
referred to as a gym or a health club.
Floodplain Administrator:
A representative of the City staff appointed by the City
Administrator to administer and implement all floodplain management
provisions of these regulations and other appropriate sections of
44 CFR (Emergency Management and Assistance-National Flood Insurance
Program Regulations) pertaining to floodplain management. See also
Section 11.1.12, Floodplain Administrator, Section 11.3.8, Floodplain
Development Variance, and Section 11.5.2, Floodplain Development Permit.
[sic]
Food and Drink Establishment:
A place where food and beverages are prepared and served
to patrons for consumption on-site or off-site and may include live
indoor or outdoor entertainment subject to the development standards
set out in these regulations. Typical uses include restaurants, both
full service and fast food, coffee shops, dinner houses, and similar
establishments.
Frontage:
The portion of a lot, parcel, or tract that abuts a street
right-of-way.
Fuel Sales:
The on-site retail sales of motor vehicle fuel, including
gasoline, diesel fuel, and alternative fuels.
Funeral Home:
An establishment engaged in undertaking services such as
preparing the human dead for burial and arranging and managing funerals.
Typical uses also include mortuaries.
Garage:
The building or structure or part thereof designed, used,
or intended for the parking and storage of automobiles.
Golf Course, Country Club:
A tract of land laid out with at least nine holes for playing
a game of golf and improved with tees, greens, fairways, and hazards.
A golf course may include a clubhouse, a driving range, putting greens,
and shelters as accessory uses. This term excludes standalone driving
ranges or miniature golf facilities.
Government:
Federal, state, county or City governing entities. The term
“government” could mean an individual entity or a grouping
of entities.
Government or Postal Office:
Federal, State, County, or City offices containing administrative,
clerical, or public contact services and may include incidental storage
and maintenance of necessary vehicles.
Grade:
The highest pre-development elevation of the surface of the
ground within each proposed or existing building footprint on a lot.
Each building shall have separate and individual grade applicable
to each building. If permitted site development grading is (was) done
in conjunction with subdivision of five acres or more, then the resulting
finished ground surface shall be allotted as the surface of the ground
for grade determination.
Greenhouse, Wholesale:
A large-scale commercial greenhouse used to grow flowers,
shrubs, trees, or other plants for the wholesale trade to restaurants,
farmer’s markets, grocery stores. and other off-site markets.
The business may have incidental retail sales in conjunction with
the wholesale sales.
Group Home:
A facility or home licensed by the State to provide shared
residential living arrangements for the 24-hour protective care of
the mentally and/or physically impaired, developmentally disabled,
or victims of abuse or neglect. This term includes foster homes, congregate
living facilities for persons 62 years of age or older, and maternity
homes. This term does not include post-incarceration facilities or
facilities for those who are a danger to themselves or others.
Guest:
The overnight occupants, who are eighteen (18) years or older,
renting temporary transient lodging for a specified period and the
daytime visitors of the overnight occupants.
Historic District:
An area of the City designated by the City Council under Section 6 [Chapter
2] of this ordinance, as having definable geographic boundaries, a significant concentration, linkage, or continuity of sites, buildings, or structures united historically or aesthetically by plan, appearance, or physical development[;] historic buildings, structures, accessory buildings, fences, or other appurtenances of the district are of basic and vital importance for the preservation of culture and neighborhoods and economic development and promotion of tourism.
Historic Landmark:
An individual property designated by the City Council under Section 5 [Chapter
2] of this ordinance, as having outstanding historical and cultural significance in the nation, region, or community. The designation “Historic Landmark” recognizes that the historic place, or the building(s), structures(s), accessory building(s), fences, or other appurtenances at the site are of basic and vital importance for the preservation of culture and neighborhoods and economic development and promotion of tourism.
Historic resource survey (Blanco):
A comprehensive architectural survey of all properties with
[within] the City’s Historic District and adjoining area. Future
amendments to the same shall be automatically included herein.
Home Health Care Services:
A facility primarily engaged in providing skilled nursing
services in the home along with a range of additional services to
help patients live independently by taking care of activities that
are essential to daily living. In addition to traditional nursing
(such as changing wound dressings, checking vital signs, and providing
tube feedings), these care-giving services may include personal care
(such as bathing, dressing, eating, and walking), homemaker and companion
services (such as shopping and paying bills), physical therapy, medical
social services, medications, medical equipment and supplies, 24-hour
home care, counseling, dietary and nutritional services, speech therapy
and audiology.
Horticulture:
The growing of fruits, vegetables, or ornamental plants such
as flowers, shrubs, or trees. This use excludes on-site retail sales.
Hospice Facility:
A facility licensed through the State of Texas to provide
24-hour palliative care to terminally ill persons.
Hospital:
An institution providing primary health services and medical
or surgical care, primarily on an in-patient basis, to persons suffering
from illness, disease, injury, and/or other abnormal physical conditions.
Services may include out-patient and emergency treatment, diagnostic
services, laboratories, rehabilitation services, training or teaching
facilities, medical offices, hospital administration, meeting areas,
maintenance facilities, staff dormitories, and supportive services
for patients, employees, and visitors such as cafeterias and ancillary
retail sales.
Hotel/Lodging:
A building(s) providing transient overnight lodging including
four or more guest rooms to the general public for an established
rate or fee.
Impervious Cover:
Any material that prevents absorption of stormwater into
the ground.
Improvement:
Any constructed physical feature which is not a natural feature
such as but not limited to, a structure, building, fence, gate, landscaping,
tree, wall, parking area, etc.
Industrialized Housing or modular housing:
A residential building that:
(1)
Includes the structure’s plumbing, heating, air conditioning,
and electrical systems and is:
(a)
Designed for the occupancy of one or more families;
(b)
Constructed in one or more modules or constructed using one
or more modular components built at a location other than the permanent
site; and
(c)
Designed to be used as a permanent residential structure when
the module or the modular component is transported to the permanent
site and erected or installed on a permanent foundation system.
(2)
Industrial housing does not include:
(a)
A residential structure that exceeds three stories or 49 feet
in height;
(b)
Housing constructed of a sectional or panelized system that
does not use a modular component; or
(c)
A ready-built home constructed in a manner in which the entire
living area is contained in a single unit or section at a temporary
location for the purpose of selling and moving the home to another
location. See Tex. Occ. Code [Chapter] 1202, Industrialized Housing
and Buildings.
Industrial Uses:
A category of uses that range from light manufacturing and
assembly, equipment servicing, storage/freight management to waste
related services.
Infrastructure:
Any street, alley, roadway, sidewalk, storm drainage, water
and wastewater facilities, utilities, lighting[,] transportation,
or any other facility or portion thereof as required by the City.
Irrigation Plan:
A plan that graphically depicts a proposed mechanical water
system that illustrates the method and means of conveying appropriate
water levels to the selected landscape plantings.
Integrity:
The authenticity of a property’s historic identity,
evidenced by survival of physical characteristics that existed during
the property’s historic or prehistoric period.
Inventory:
A list of historic properties that have been identified and
evaluated as meeting specified criteria of significance.
Kennel:
A commercial establishment in which two or more dogs, cats,
or other domesticated (pet) animals not owned by the owner or occupant
of the premises are temporarily housed for boarding, training or breeding
purposes. Typical uses include boarding kennels, pet motels, and dog
training centers.
Landmark:
This refers to any individual building, structure, or object
that is significant for historical, architectural, or archeological
reasons.
Landscape Plan:
A graphic and written representation of criteria, specifications,
and detailed plans to arrange and modify the effects of natural features
such as plantings (existing and new), ground and water forms, circulation,
walks, irrigation, landscape lighting, erosion control, on-site drainage,
and other features.
Landscaped:
An area devoted to or developed predominately with plant
material or natural landscape features, including lawn, ground cover,
gardens, trees, shrubs and other plant materials; and also including
accessory decorative outdoor landscape elements such as pools, fountains,
water features, paved or decorated surfaces or rock, stone, brick,
block, or similar material (excluding driveways, parking, loading,
or storage areas), and sculptural elements, provided that the use
of brick, stone, aggregate, or other inorganic materials shall not
predominate over the use of plant material.
Landscaped Area:
means any area of ground that can support vegetative groundcover
and other landscaping plant materials that has been set aside for
the preservation or installation and maintenance of plant materials.
Sidewalks and other impervious surfaces are not considered landscaped
areas. For the purposes of these regulations, the landscaped edge
and landscaped areas within parking lots are contained within this
definition.
Landscape Supply, Sales/Garden Center:
An establishment primarily engaged in the retail sale of
trees, shrubs, seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, plants, pots, and other
indoor or outdoor planting or gardening materials to the general public.
Such establishments typically sell products purchased from others
but may sell some material which they grow themselves. Typical uses
include plant nurseries, greenhouses, plant stores, and lawn and garden
centers. Landscaping means the improvement of a section of ground
by contouring the land and planting live shrubs, trees, groundcover,
and/or flowers.
Lateral Lines:
means those electric or telephone lines used to distribute
services from a feeder line to a single subdivision. These electric
lines are normally connected to a feeder line through a sectionalizing
device such as a fuse.
Legal Nonconformity:
means any structure, lot, site, sign, or use that does not
meet the requirements of the current regulations or amendment hereto
but was legally established on the effective date of these regulations
or any effective date of any amendment hereto and has been in regular
and continuous use.
Laundromat:
A facility where patrons wash and/or dry clothing, linens,
and other fabric items in machines operated by the patron.
Library or Museum:
A public facility or other place containing books for reading,
study, and research.
Live Music or Entertainment:
A designated area suitable for the conduction of a live concert
of vocal or musical instrument performance, which can often be heard
beyond the property line of the premises.
Local Contact Person:
The Owner, Operator, or person designated by the Owner or
the Operator, who shall be available 24 hours per day for the purpose
of responding to concerns or requests for assistance related to the
Owner's Short-term Rental.
Lot:
A divided or undivided tract or parcel of land having frontage
on a public street, and which is, or which may in the future be, offered
for sale, conveyance, transfer, or improvement; which is designated
as a distinct and separate tract; and which is identified by a tract
or lot number or symbol in a duly approved subdivision plat which
has been properly filed of record at the County.
Lot Area:
The area of a lot contained within its boundaries, exclusive
of any portion within a public or private street or street right-of-way.
Lot Corner
means a lot located at the junction of two or more streets.
Lot Coverage:
means the ratio of gross floor area of all buildings, structures,
and all areas associated with driveways and parking lots on a lot
to the total lot area, expressed as a percentage.
Lot Depth:
means the distance between the front lot line and rear lot
line, measured at the mid-points of the front and rear lines.
Lot Frontage:
means the distance between the side lot lines, measured at
the point where the side lot lines intersect the street right-of-way.
All sides of a lot that abuts a street shall be considered frontage.
Lot Line:
means a line or series of lines bounding a lot as defined
herein.
Lot Line, Front:
means a lot line abutting a public or private street, or
access easement. On a corner lot, the shorter lot line abutting public
or private street or access easement shall be considered the front
lot line. On a through lot, the lot line abutting the public or private
street providing the primary access to the lot shall be considered
the front lot line. On a flag lot, subdivision plat or parcel map
shall designate an interior lot line as a front lot line or left to
the discretion of City Staff or their designee.
Lot Line, Rear:
means a lot line defined as other than a front or side lot
line. In the case of an irregularly shaped lot or a lot bounded by
only three (3) lot lines, a line within the lot having a length of
ten (10) feet, parallel to and most distant from the front lot line,
shall be interpreted as the rear lot line for the purpose of determining
required yards, setbacks, and other provisions of these regulations.
Lot Line, Side:
means any lot line that is not a front lot line or a rear
lot line.
Lot Line, Street:
means any lot line abutting an existing or dedicated street
right-of-way.
Lot of Record:
means a lot that is part of a subdivision, the plat of which
has been recorded in the office of the Blanco County Clerk, or a parcel
of land the deed (including metes and bounds description) for which
was recorded in the office of the Blanco County Clerk.
Lot Width:
The distance between the side lot lines, measured at the
front setback line.
Lumber Yard:
An area and structures used for the storage, distribution,
and sale of finished or rough-cut lumber and lumber products.
Major Event Entertainment:
A public or privately-owned structure or area with a capacity
of greater than one thousand (1,000) persons for the purposes of public
performances, sporting events, or similar attractions that may generate
heavy traffic. Major event entertainment facilities include concert
halls, stadiums, sports arenas, commercial water parks, racetracks,
rodeo arenas, zoos, coliseums, amusement parks, and convention centers.
Accessory uses may include food preparation facilities, concessions,
offices, museums, parks, athletic training or practice facilities,
stores, restaurants, heliports, structured parking facilities, and
patron transportation facilities.
Manufactured Home:
Manufactured Home, also known as a “HUD-code manufactured
home” means: 1. A structure that is:
(1)
Constructed on or after June 15, 1976, according to the rules
of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development;
(2)
Built on a permanent chassis;
(3)
Designed for use as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation
when the structure is connected to the required utilities;
(4)
Transportable in one or more sections; and
(5)
In the traveling mode, at least eight body feet (8) in width
or at least forty body feet (40') in length or, when erected on site,
at least three hundred and twenty (320) square feet; includes the
plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and electrical systems of the
home; does not include a recreational vehicle as defined by Chapter
24 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 3282.8(g). See Tex.
Occ. Code [Chapter] 1201, Manufactured Housing.
Manufactured housing community:
A subdivision, lot, or parcel of land containing spaces with
improvements and utilities that are sold or leased for short- or long-term
occupancy and placement of HUD-code manufactured homes, and that includes
services and facilities for the residents.
Manufactured Housing Park:
A parcel of land under single entity ownership which has
been planned and improved for the placement of two or more manufactured
homes and their accessory uses.
Manufacturing, Processing and Assembly:
The general mass producing, processing, or manufacturing
of goods, materials, or products, predominately from extracted or
raw materials, using mechanical power and machinery, and usually for
sale to wholesalers or other industrial or manufacturing uses. This
use includes procedures such as milling of grain; manufacturing, processing
or assembly of wood products including cabinet and furniture production;
processing of animals and animal products including slaughtering,
meat packing and hide tanning; production of animal food; production
of large durable goods such as motorcycles, cars, manufactured homes,
or airplanes; canning or bottling of food or beverage for human consumption
including brewery and distillery plants; manufacturing of paint, oils,
pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, solvents, and other chemical products;
production or fabrication of metals or metal products including enameling,
plating, galvanizing, and use of a foundry, welding or machining;
processing of recyclable materials, production of chemical, rubber,
leather, clay, bone, plastic, stone, or glass materials; clothing
or textile manufacturing; tire recapping or retreading; and the production
of items by means of the chemical processing of materials.
Master Planned Community:
A land development process permitted by these regulations
which promotes the mixture of multiple housing types with neighborhood
oriented nonresidential uses.
Meat Market:
An establishment that offers to the general public the sale
of meat, poultry, or fish and the service of processing and packaging
such meats, provided the facility complies with all state, federal,
and local health regulations. All processing is conducted indoors
with no emission of noxious odors or noise. This definition does not
include the slaughtering or boarding of live animals.
Mechanical Equipment:
All equipment or devices installed for a primary or accessory
use or structure, including, but not limited to, heating and air conditioning
equipment, antennas, utility huts, power generating devices, condensers,
air ducts, meters, etc., that are located on the site or attached
to the exterior (walls or roof) of the building.
Mixed Use:
The horizontal or vertical mix of residential and nonresidential
uses or a mix of nonresidential uses located on the same property.
Mobile home:
A prefabricated housing unit built prior to July 15, 1976,
that is primarily constructed at an assembly facility and transported
to its location for permanent installation. The housing code enacted
by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1976 renamed
mobile homes to manufactured homes. See also “Manufactured Home”
Model Homes/Model Apartments and Sales:
Permanent structures built initially for the intent to showcase
exterior and interior features of new homes or apartment structures
for sale or lease. Models are designed and built for the eventual
conversion to a residential dwelling unit and are located within the
subdivision or construction area of the products for sale or lease.
Monopole:
A freestanding pole that requires no additional structural
support from guyed wires or other appurtenance that may exist between
the ground surface and the pole for structural support.
Motel:
A building, or group or cluster of buildings, containing
three (3) or more transient guest rooms or separate dwelling units
or small structures, where access to individual units is made directly
from exterior walkways or courts and which are used, rented, or hired
for lodging or sleeping purposes by transient guests. The term motel
may also sometimes refer to a tourist court, auto court or motor lodge.
These facilities are not regulated as STRs and prohibited from receiving
STR permits.
Multifamily:
A building(s) that contains three or more dwelling units
that are accessed by from [sic] interior hallways or from individual
exterior entrances (e.g., an apartment complex), including apartments,
triplexes, and fourplexes intended for rental, lease, or condominium
ownership. The term multifamily does not include bed and breakfast
lodging, manufactured housing, single-family detached or attached
residential uses, or hotels/lodging.
Multi-Lot Unified Development:
A development that is designed and approved as a cohesive,
planned project located on multiple abutting properties established
under a single development application such as a Site Development
Plan or subdivision plat.
Multiple Family Residential:
The use of a site for three or more dwelling units, within
one or more buildings, including apartments, triplexes, and fourplexes
intended for rental, lease, or condominium ownership. The term multiple
family does not include bed and breakfast lodging, manufactured housing,
single-family detached or attached residential uses. These facilities
are prohibited from obtaining STR permits.
Natural Area:
An area of naturally grown landscape that is left primarily
undisturbed, except for the removal of poison ivy, invasive species,
diseased or dead trees, and similar vegetation, and allowing for maintenance
of the trees to encourage vigorous growth.
Nonconformity:
Any structure, lot, site, sign, or use that does not meet
the requirements of these regulations or other local, state, or federal
ordinances or technical manuals. In order to be considered a legally
nonconforming status, the nonconforming structure, lot, site, sign,
or use must have been legally established on the effective date of
these regulations or any effective date of any amendment hereto and
has been in regular and continuous use. See also “Legal Nonconformity.”
Nonconforming Use:
A use that is not permitted within the zoning district of
the subject property upon which the use is located, including a use
that contains restrictions or requires a Special Use Permit, but lacks
such permit or is operating outside the restrictions of such use.
Nonconforming Structure:
Any structure that does not meet the requirements of these
regulations, such as building placement, setback requirements, height
limitations, material requirements or articulation, or does not meet
any other local ordinances or technical manuals. The term structure
applies to anything constructed or erected on the ground or which
is attached to something located on the ground, except signs. This
includes, but is not limited to, buildings, telecommunications towers,
utility improvements, and sheds, and is applicable to all structures
regardless of whether they are deemed principal or accessory.
Nonconforming Lot:
A lot of record that does not meet the minimum area or dimensional
requirements of the zoning district in which the lot is located.
Nonconforming Site:
A property with existing site improvements that do not conform
to one or more of the regulations of these regulations applicable
to the property. Site improvements may include, but not limited to,
parking areas, storm drainage facilities, sidewalks, landscaping,
screening, and buffers.
Nonresidential:
Any use, building, or structure (or portion of a building
or structure) occupied or intended to be occupied, in whole or in
part, for a use other than a residential dwelling unit.
Nursing Home:
A facility housing and providing care for persons who are
aged, chronically ill, or incurable who are unable to care for themselves,
but who do not need medical, surgical or other specialized treatment
normally provided by a hospital. Services typically include custodial
or attendant care and meals but may or may not provide for routine
and regular medical and nursing services. Nursing home includes homes
for the aged, convalescent, and rest homes, but does not include assisted
living or senior apartments or hospitals or similar medical facilities.
Office, General:
The provision of executive, management or administrative
services; including real estate, insurance, property management, investment,
personnel, travel, secretarial services, telephone answering, and
business offices. This term excludes medical offices and the sale
or storage of merchandise on the premises.
Medical or Dental Office:
A facility housing the offices of no more than three medical
practitioners, including physicians, dentists, optometrists, chiropractors,
podiatrists, psychologists, osteopaths, acupuncturists, physical therapists,
respiratory therapists, or similar practitioners of medical and healing
arts for humans, licensed for such practice by the state, who provide
examination, diagnosis, consultation, treatment, therapy, or other
preventative or correctional services on an outpatient basis. Facilities
may include patient waiting rooms, treatment areas, and laboratory
space. Overnight stays of patients at such facilities shall not be
allowed.
Office Warehouse:
A business office with an associated small-scale warehouse
located at the rear of the space for the purposes of storing materials
needed to supply service off-site. This use can accommodate trades
such as plumbers or electricians, as long as there is no processing,
manufacturing, fabrication, or outside storage of materials on site.
Official Zoning Map:
The map showing the location and boundaries of the zoning
districts established by these regulations.
Off-Street Parking:
An area reserved exclusively for the parking of motor vehicles
that is located outside of the public right-of-way.
Open Space:
The areas of a lot or parcel proposed for development that
are set aside to be used for the common use or enjoyment of the residents,
patrons, or users of the development.
Operator:
The Owner or the Owner's authorized representative who is
responsible for advertising and/or operating a Short-term Rental.
Outdoor Display:
The display of merchandise, goods, or materials that are
actively for sale.
Outdoor Storage:
The storage of merchandise, goods, or materials that are
not actively for sale.
Ordinary Maintenance:
This generally refers to activities relating to a property
that would be considered ordinary or common for maintaining the property,
such as the replacement of a porch floor with identical or in-kind
materials. It also may include other activates [activities] such as
painting.
Ordinary Repairs and Maintenance:
Work done to prevent deterioration of a resource or any part
thereof by returning the resource as nearly as practical to its condition
prior to such deterioration, decay, or damage and by using where possible
like materials.
Overlength Street or Alley:
A street segment, or a cul-de-sac or alley segment, which
exceeds the maximum length allowed by these regulations, as measured
along the centerline of the street from the intersection center-point
of one through street, which shall not be a cul-de-sac or dead-end
or looped street, to the intersecting center-point of another through
street or, in the case of a cul-de-sac, to the midpoint of the cul-de-sac.
For an alley segment, the measurement shall be to the right-of-way
lines of the streets from which the alley is provided access, including
any alley turnouts, or from the center-point of an intersection with
another alley which connects to a street.
Owner:
The person or entity that holds legal or equitable title
to a property.
Parcel:
A legally described area of land.
Parking Lot, Offsite:
An off-street facility for the parking of automobiles on
a temporary basis that may be operated as a business enterprise by
charging the public a fee and is not reserved or required to accommodate
occupants, clients, customers, or employees of an establishment or
premises.
Passive Outdoor Recreation:
Open space areas or parks with limited manipulation of the
natural landscape that provide opportunities for passive enjoyment
of the natural environment, which may include walking/jogging trails,
picnic areas, benches, playgrounds, and similar features generating
limited traffic demand and lighting.
Pavement Width:
The portion of a street that is available for vehicular traffic.
Where curbs are used, it is the portion from the back of one curb
to the back of the opposite curb.
Pawn Shop:
An establishment that is engaged in the business of: lending
money on the security of pledged goods or purchasing goods on the
condition that they may be repurchased by the seller at a fixed price
within a fixed period of time. See Texas Finance Code Section 371.003
Permanent Mobile or Outdoor Food Vendor:
A vehicle-mounted food service establishment that is designed
to be readily movable, including push carts, mobile kitchens, hot
dog carts, pretzel wagons, concession trailer, etc. Foods are limited
to prepackaged or commissary prepared food unless the unit is equipped
and approved by the Blanco County Environmental Services to handle
food preparation. Any unit that requires direct hand contact with
the food shall have a hand-washing sink.
Permit:
A license, certificate, approval, registration, consent,
permit, contract, or other agreement for construction related to,
or provision of, service from a water or wastewater utility owned,
operated, or controlled by a regulatory agency, or other form of authorization
required by law, rule, regulation, order, or ordinance that a person
must obtain to perform an action or initiate, continue, or complete
a project for which the permit is sought. Shall have the same meaning
as set forth in Texas Local Government Code section 245.002, as that
section may be amended, revised, or re-codified.
Permit Application or Application:
Shall mean the method prescribed in the City of Blanco’s
Code of Ordinances for an applicant to seek a permit that the City
is authorized to issue.
Person:
Any individual, association, firm, corporation, governmental
agency, political subdivision, or legal entity of any kind.
Personal Services:
An establishment providing frequently or recurrently needed
non-medical services of a personal nature to individuals as a primary
use. This term includes barber and beauty shops, tanning salons, nail
salons, day spas (including incidental massage), weight reduction
centers, seamstresses, tailors, shoe repair shops, photography studios,
pet grooming (no overnight stay), and services of an informational
or instructional nature including driving schools, dance studios,
and handicraft or hobby instruction. These uses may also include accessory
retail sales of products related to the services provided.
Planned Development District:
A zoning district which may be created anywhere in the city
for the purpose of permitting property to be developed with a) one
or more uses not otherwise permitted or conditional in the zoning
district in which the property is located, subject to certain development
regulations and one or more development site plans; b) subject to
development regulations not otherwise permitted in the zoning district
in which the property is located; and c) to provide flexibility for
complex projects utilizing creative land use and preservation techniques.
Plat:
A document, prepared by a registered land surveyor or professional
engineer, that depicts the subdivision of land into lots and blocks
(and sometimes the combination of land) for the purpose of identifying
property. All plats submitted for review and approval must include
a current deed to include: ownership, liens, restrictions, easements,
and effective date. For the purposes of these regulations, the following
definitions are included:
Amending Plat: A subdivision
plat which includes a plat revision to correct errors or make minor
changes to a recorded plat.
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Final Plat: The official
and authentic map of any given subdivision of land prepared from actual
field measurement and staking of all identifiable points by a surveyor
or engineer, with the subdivision location referenced to a survey
corner, and with all boundaries, corners and curves of the land division
sufficiently described so that they can be reproduced without additional
references. The Final Plat of any lot, tract or parcel of land shall
be recorded in the land records of Blanco County, Texas.
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Minor Plat: A subdivision
resulting in four or fewer lots, provided that the plat does not require
the creation of new streets or the extension of any municipal facilities
to serve any lot within the subdivision. Any property to be subdivided
using a Minor Plat shall already be served or be able to be served
by all required City utilities and services, and all lots will have
access from a public street that has already been improved to City
standards. Also known as Minor Subdivision.
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Major Plat: All plats
not classified as Minor Plats, including, but not limited to, subdivisions
of more than four lots, or any plat that requires the construction
of a new street (or portion thereof) or the extension of a municipal
facility as required by these regulations or any other City ordinance.
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Preliminary Plat: A
subdivision plat which is the graphic expression of the proposed overall
plan for subdividing, improving and developing a parcel proposed for
development, showing the proposed street and lot layout, easements,
dedications and other pertinent features, with such notations as are
sufficient to substantially identify the general scope and detail
of the parcel proposed for development.
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Replat: means a subdivision
plat which involves the re-subdivision of any part or all of a block
or blocks of a previously platted subdivision, addition, lot or tract.
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Plat Vacation: An instrument
declaring that a plat and its dedication be vacated or cancelled and
that the land be converted to acreage. An applicant of a Plat Vacation
may remove, in whole or partially, subdivisions, dedicated easements,
notes, covenants, or restrictions from a plat.
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Preliminary Plat: See
“Plat, Preliminary Plat”
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Preservation:
The actor [act] or process of applying measures to sustain
the existing form, integrity, and material of a building or structure,
and the existing form and vegetative cover of a site. It may include
initial stabilization work, where necessary, as well as ongoing maintenance
of the historic building materials.
Primary:
The basic, fundamental, or most important use, activity,
or development of a building or site. For the purposes of these regulations,
“primary” is equal to, identical to, and often used interchangeably
with “principal.”
Printing, mailing, and reproduction services:
A commercial establishment open to the general public that
is primarily involved in the electronic duplication of graphic and
printed materials for personal or business use, and which also provides
other products and services including, but not limited to, photocopying,
electrostatic printing, laser printing, blueprint[s], word processing
services, computer generated graphics, computer aided design services
and video imaging, and reproduction services. Off-set printing or
similar printing processes shall not be permitted. These facilities
may also be referred to as copy shops.
Principal Building:
A building in which a principal use of the parcel or property
is conducted.
Principal Structure:
A structure in which a principal use of the parcel or property
can be associated.
Principal Use:
The use which is conducted as the primary activity on the
parcel of property.
Private Street:
A private vehicular access way, including an alley, that
is shared by and that serves two (2) or more lots, which is not dedicated
to the public, and which is not publicly maintained.
Prohibited Use:
A use that is not allowed in the specified zoning district
and in some cases the entire City.
Project:
means an endeavor over which a regulatory agency exerts its
jurisdiction and for which one or more permits are required to initiate,
continue, or complete the endeavor. Shall have the same meaning as
in Texas Local Government Code section 245.001 as that section may
be amended, revised, or re-codified.
Project Progress:
“Progress towards completion of a project” shall
have the same meaning as set forth in Texas Local Government Code
section 245.005(c), as that section may be amended, revised, or recodified.
Property Owner:
means any person or firm, association, syndicate, general
or limited partnership, corporation, trust or other legal entity,
or any agent thereof, that has sufficient proprietary interest in
the land subject to these regulations. In any event, the term “property
owner” shall be restricted to include only the owner(s) or authorized
agent(s) of such owner(s), such as a developer. Can also be known
as “Applicant,” “Subdivider,” or “Developer.”
Public Improvement:
Any improvement, facility, or service together with its associated
public site, right-of-way, or easement necessary to provide transportation,
drainage, public or private utilities, parks, energy, or similar essential
public services and facilities, for which a governmental entity may
ultimately assume ownership and the responsibility for operation and
maintenance.
Quadplex:
A parcel developed with four dwelling units in a single structure.
Quadplexes are designed exclusively for the use and occupancy of four
families living independently of each other. The land underneath the
structure is not divided into separate lots.
Recreational Vehicle:
Any motor home, mobile trailer, camper, recreational unit
or any similar vehicle principally designated for temporary habitation,
regardless of size, that does not qualify as a HUD-code manufactured
home.
Recycling Collection Center:
A facility engaged in the collection, sorting, bundling,
temporary storage, and/or transfer of recyclable materials. For purposes
of this Code, recyclable materials include glass, paper, plastic,
aluminum, clothing, or other source-separated, non-putrescible materials
and do not include motor oil, chemicals, household appliances, tires,
automobiles, or automobile parts. This use generally does not include
incidental collection boxes or containers located at establishments
with an unrelated primary use.
Rehabilitation:
The act or process of returning a property to a state of
utility through repair or alteration which makes possible an efficient
contemporary use while preserving those portions or features of the
property which are significant to its historical, architectural, and
cultural values.
Remodel:
To construct an addition or alter the design or layout of
a building or make substantial repairs or alterations so that a change
or modification of the entrance facilities, toilet facilities, or
vertical access facilities is achieved.
Repair:
The maintenance of or the return to a state of utility of
a building, object, site or structure.
Residential:
Any use, building or structure (or portion of a building
or structure) that contain[s] habitable rooms for non-transient occupancy.
Residential uses are typically contained within detached and attached
residential structures, duplex, and multifamily dwelling units. The
term “residential” is separate and distinct from “hotel/lodging”
and other overnight accommodations.
Resource:
A landmark, landmark site, and all land or water within a
preservation district, together with the appurtenances and improvements,
if any. The term resource includes, but is not limited to, separate
districts, buildings, structures, sites, objects, landscape features,
and related groups thereof.
Restaurant, Drive-Through:
An establishment engaged in the preparation and retail sale
of food and beverages in a ready-to-consume state, through a pass-through
window accessed by a vehicle via a drive-through lane. This term also
includes drive-in restaurants. For restaurants licensed to serve alcoholic
beverages the gross receipts for alcoholic beverages shall not exceed
50 percent (50%) of the total gross receipts.
Restaurant, General:
An establishment engaged in the preparation and retail sale
of food and beverages for on-premise consumption. This term includes
facilities typically referred to as diners, cafes, cafeterias, dinner-houses,
coffee shops, bakeries, and ice cream parlors, but does not include
fast food restaurants or drive-through services. For restaurants licensed
to serve alcoholic beverages, the gross receipts for alcoholic beverages
shall not exceed 50 percent (50%) of the total gross receipts.
Restoration:
The act or process of accurately recovering the form and
details of a property and its setting as it appeared at particular
period of time by means of the removal of later work or by the replacement
of missing earlier work.
Retail Sales, General:
The sale of goods directly to a consumer, typically in small
quantities and not for wholesale. Accessory uses may include drive-in
or drive-through facilities, which may be further limited in certain
zoning districts. The phrase “retail sales” includes,
but is not limited to, such uses as:
(1)
Agricultural sales and services, establishments or places of
business engaged in sale (from the premises) of feed, grain, fertilizers,
pesticides and similar goods or in the provision of agricultural related
services with incidental storage on lots other than where the service
is rendered.
(2)
Alcohol sales, the retail sale of beer, wine, and/or other alcoholic
beverages for off-premises consumption.
(3)
Clothing, clothing accessory, and jewelry stores, the retail
sales of clothing, clothing accessories, or jewelry merchandise.
(4)
Convenience store, a retail establishment that sells consumable
and non-consumable convenience products for off-premise use or consumption
and fuel sales.
(5)
Electronics and appliance stores, the retail sales of appliance[s]
and other consumer electronics.
(6)
Florist, card, and gift shops, the retail sale of gift-related
merchandise.
(7)
Food sales, establishments or places of business primarily engaged
in the retail sale of food or household products for home consumption.
Typical uses include groceries, delicatessens, meat markets, retail
bakeries, and candy shops.
(8)
Furniture and home furnishings stores, retail sales of furniture
or home furnishings.
(9)
General merchandise stores, retail sale of multiple lines of
merchandise.
(10)
Hardware stores, plumbing supplies, electrical supplies, lighting
stores, retail sales of household goods or services.
(11)
Sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores, retail sales
of personal recreational goods, such as books, sporting goods, hobby
and crafts, instruments, and similar merchandise.
Review:
“To read, analyze, assess and, as appropriate, act
upon” a development application.
Review Body or Authority:
The entity that is authorized to either recommend approval
or denial or be the decision-making authority of an application for
permit or approval required by these regulations.
Right-of-Way:
A parcel of land occupied, or intended to be occupied, by
a street or alley. Where appropriate, “right-of-way” may
include other facilities and utilities such as sidewalks; railroad
crossings; electrical, communication, oil and gas facilities, water
and sanitary and storm sewer facilities; and any other special use.
The use of right-of-way shall also include parkways and medians outside
of the paved portion of the street. The usage of the term “right-of-way”
for land platting purposes shall mean that every right-of-way hereafter
established and shown on a final plat is to be separate and distinct
from the lots or parcels adjoining such right-of-way, and shall not
be included within the dimensions or areas of such lots or parcels.
The term “Street Right-of-Way” means the width of the
right-of-way for any roadway is the shortest perpendicular distance
between the lines which delineate the rights-of-way of the street.
School:
A facility where persons regularly assemble for the purpose
of instruction or education. Accessory uses may include playgrounds,
cafeterias, stadiums, and other structures or grounds used in conjunction
therewith.
Scrap and Salvage Yard:
An establishment where junk, waste, discarded, or salvaged
materials are bought, sold, exchanged, stored, baled, packed, disassembled,
or handled, including inoperable vehicles, house materials, appliances,
and structural steel equipment. The use does not include the purchase,
sale, or storage of used furniture and household equipment.
Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation:
A set of ten basic philosophical principles created by the
U.S. Secretary of Interior and administered by the National Park Service,
to help preserve the distinctive character of a historic building
and its site, while allowing for reasonable chance to meet new needs.
The Standards for Rehabilitation are codified at 36 CFR 37 of the
Code of Federal Regulations, as the same may be amended from time
to time.
Secondary:
For the purposes of these regulations, equal to, identical
to, and often used interchangeably with “accessory.”
Service Lines:
Those lines used to connect between the utility’s system
or lateral lines and the end user’s meter box.
Setback:
The distance between a lot line and a building line.
Setback Area
means the open area between building setback lines and lot
lines.
Setback, Front:
A yard that extends across the full width of the lot between
the front lot line and the required front setback line.
Setback, Interior Side:
A yard between the principal building and the sideline of
the lot, extending from the front yard to the rear yard.
Setback, Rear:
A yard extending the full width of the lot between the rear
lot line and the rear setback line. For a corner lot, the rear yard
does not extend beyond the street side setback line.
Setback, Street Side:
A yard extending from the front setback line to the rear
lot line, located between the side street lot line and the street
side setback line.
Setback Line:
A line within a lot parallel to and measured from a corresponding
lot line, forming the boundary of a required yard and governing the
placement of structures and uses on the lot. Also known as “Building
Setback Line.”
Sexually Oriented Businesses:
Any building, structure, or facility including, but not limited
to, an arcade, bar, bookstore, cabaret, overnight accommodation, theater
(including movie), bath house, massage parlor, nude modeling studio,
video store, love parlor, or similar facility used entirely or partially
for commercial entertainment, exchange of merchandise, or offer of
a service of a sexually-explicit nature. These activities are predominantly
distinguished or characterized by their principal emphasis on matters
depicting, describing or relating to sexual activities and include
the sales, rental, exhibition, or presentation of a device or other
item intended to provide sexual stimulation or sexual gratification
to the customer.
Short-Term Rental (STR):
Any structure used for transient or guest lodging accommodations,
rented for compensation of a dwelling unit, that is not owner-occupied
(other than a duplex), which includes but is not limited to a single-family
residence, townhouses, owner-occupied duplex, accessory structure,
short-term rental dwelling unit, bed and breakfast, and other residential
real estate improvements, in which the public may obtain sleeping
accommodations for a period less than thirty (30) consecutive days.
The term applies regardless of whether the dwelling was originally
constructed or zoned as a residential dwelling. This term does not
apply to duplexes (unless they are owner-occupied), multifamily projects,
apartment complexes, hotels, motels, or recreational vehicle parks.
This term is a general definition of STRs and is inclusive of the
distinct types of STRs.
Short-Term Rental, Dwelling Unit:
A short-term rental dwelling unit is defined as a structure,
including an individual room within a larger structure, which is rented
separately from other rental units on the property, for the purpose
of transient or guest lodging. Each individual short-term rental dwelling
unit shall be required to obtain a separate short-term rental permit,
unless it is a part of a bed and breakfast.
Sight Triangle:
The triangular area formed by an invisible diagonal line
at the corner of either two intersecting street right-of-way lines,
the edge of street lines, the edge of a driveway or combination of
two thereof. The sight triangle exists to prevent sight obstruction
for motor vehicles, pedestrians, etc. May also be referred to as “street
visibility triangle” or “sight distance triangle.”
Single-Family Attached:
A single-family dwelling unit located on its own lot that
shares one or more common walls with one other single-family dwelling
unit on a separate lot.
Single-Family Detached:
A single-family dwelling unit, located on its own lot that
is not attached to any other dwelling unit.
Site:
A site is the location of a significant event, a prehistoric
or historic occupation or activity, or a building or structure, whether
standing, ruined, or vanished, where the location itself possesses
historical, cultural, or archeological value regardless of the value
of any existing structure. (National Register Bulletin 24 p.1)
Site Development Plan:
A detailed, scaled plan, or set of plans, showing accurately
and with complete dimensioning, all of the buildings, structures and
uses, and the principal site development features including parking,
access, and landscaping and screening, proposed for a specific parcel
of land. The Site Development Plan is the basis for site development
and is intended to demonstrate compliance with the development standards
and other requirements, as applicable, of these regulations.
Special Exception:
An exception to certain provisions of these regulations,
granted by the Board of Adjustment (BOA), for specifically defined
situations and standards. Such exceptions do not constitute a Variance,
as those terms are defined.
Storage, Self:
A controlled-access building or group of buildings housing
individual storage spaces that are used to house personal property
or records. There is no conduct of sales, business or any other activity
allowed within the individual storage units. Does not include storage
of any hazardous materials. The phrase may also be referred to as
convenience storage, mini-storage, or mini-warehouse.
Stormwater Management:
The mitigation of the hydrologic impacts of lost natural
runoff storage by the use of conventional stormwater conveyance systems
or Low Impact Development.
Stormwater Runoff:
Surplus surface water generated by rainfall that does not
seep into the earth but flows into storm drains or overland to flowing
or stagnant bodies of water[.]
Street:
A right-of-way, whether public or private and however designated,
which provides vehicular access to adjacent land. Streets may be of
the following categories:
(1)
Major thoroughfares, also known as arterial streets or primary
thoroughfares, which provide vehicular movement from one neighborhood
to another or to distant points within the City, and including freeways
or highways leading to other communities.
(2)
Collector streets, also known as feeder streets or secondary
thoroughfares, which provide vehicular circulation within neighborhoods,
and from local streets to major thoroughfares.
(3)
Local residential streets, also known as minor thoroughfares
or streets, which primarily provide direct vehicular access to abutting
residential property.
(4)
Private streets are streets which are owned and maintained by
a homeowners’ association or property owners’ association,
and which are not dedicated to the public.
Street Improvements:
Any street or thoroughfare, together with all appurtenances
required by City regulations to be provided with such street or thoroughfare,
and including but not limited to curbs and gutters, walkways (sidewalks),
drainage facilities to be situated in the right-of-way for such street
or thoroughfare, traffic-control devices, street lights and street
signs, for which facilities the City will ultimately assume the responsibility
for maintenance and operation.
Street Right-of-Way:
The shortest perpendicular distance of a roadway between
the lines which delineate the rights-of-way of the street.
Street Yard:
That area between the building façade and any lot
line along a public street. Structure means anything constructed or
erected which requires a permanent location on, above, or below the
ground; or attached to something that has a permanent location on,
above, or below the ground (e.g., fences, waste enclosures, signs,
kiosks, etc.). A “structure” may sometimes also be a building.
For floodplain management purposes, a structure may also include a
gas or liquid storage tank that is principally above ground, as well
as a manufactured home.
Subdivider:
Any person or any agent thereof, dividing or proposing to
divide land so as to constitute a subdivision as that term is defined
herein. In any event, the term “subdivider” shall be restricted
to include only the owner, equitable owner or authorized agent of
such owner or equitable owner of land sought to be subdivided.
Subdivision:
A division or re-division of any tract of land situated within
the City’s corporate limits or its extraterritorial jurisdiction
into two (2) or more parts, lots or sites, for the purpose, whether
immediate or future, of sale, division of ownership, or building development.
“Subdivision” includes re-subdivisions of land or lots
which are part of a previously recorded subdivision.
Supermajority:
A vote of three-fourths (3/4) of the full City Council.
Surveyor:
A licensed land surveyor or a registered public land surveyor,
as authorized by state statutes to practice the profession of surveying.
Swale Block:
Installed build ups at intervals along a vegetated swale
to allow stormwater to build up in a series of pools, slowing water
flow and providing opportunities for vegetated filtration and infiltration.
SWPPP:
A Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan.
TCEQ:
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
TCSS:
The City of Blanco’s Technical Construction Standards
and Specifications for the construction of subdivision improvements.
The TCSS shall be comprised of the provisions for trenching and backfilling,
concrete, water system, sewer system, streets, sidewalks, and driveways,
storm drainage, trench safety and the standard details (and as hereby
amended) that are in effect at the time of submission of the plat
application. The TCSS shall also include any additional provisions
or policies the City of Blanco implements that pertain to the construction
of site improvements such as street, parking lot, driveway and sidewalk
paving, storm drainage structures, utility lines and facilities, screening
walls/fences, retaining walls, landscaping and irrigation improvements,
street lighting or signage, restricted access (gated) entrances to
any type of development, and other similar improvements. The City
Engineer shall have the authority to determine whether or not the
engineering plans for any type of site improvement are in conformance
with the City’s TCSS.
Telecommunications:
The transmission, between or among points as specified by
the user, of information of the user’s choosing, without change
in the form or content of the information as sent and received.
Text Amendment:
A change of the text of these regulations and does not include
change or modification to the boundaries of any zoning district.
Theater:
An indoor facility that provides fixed seating for customers
to view motion pictures, including accessory snack and/or food and
beverage services.
Towing Services and Impound Lots:
A facility in which tow trucks are utilized in the hauling
of motorized vehicles and for the temporary storage or impoundment
of primarily operable or repairable motor vehicles that have been
towed, repossessed, or otherwise in the care and custody of the operator
of the lot, but not disassembled or junked.
Townhome:
A dwelling unit on an individual lot that is part of a series
of three or more dwelling units having common side walls with one
or more adjoining dwelling units in a townhouse row.
Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA):
An analysis of the effect of traffic generated by a development
on the capacity, operations, and safety of the public street and highway
system.
Transportation Facilities:
Facilities intended for the loading, unloading, and/or interchange
of passengers, baggage and incidental freight or package express between
modes of transportation, including bus terminals, rail or freight
loading and/or unloading areas, and other public forms of transportation.
Tree Survey:
A plan that graphically identifies the location, size, and
species of all existing protected and heritage trees on a parcel proposed
for development.
Triplex:
A parcel developed with three dwelling units in a single
structure. It is designed exclusively for the use and occupancy of
three families living independently of each other. The land underneath
the structure is not divided into separate lots.
Unreasonable Economic Hardship:
The inability of an owner to obtain a reasonable return or
a reasonable beneficial use from a resource as required by the United
States Supreme Court in Penn Central Transportation Company vs. New
York City, 438 U.S. 104 (1978), and subsequent decisions.
Urgent Care Facility:
A medical facility where ambulatory patients can be treated
on a walk-in basis, without an appointment, and receive immediate
non-emergent [non-emergency] care.
Use:
The purpose or activity for which land or any structure thereon
is designed, arranged, or intended, or for which it is occupied or
maintained.
Utility Easement:
An interest in land granted to the City to the public generally
and/or to a private utility corporation for installing or maintaining
utilities across, over or under private land, together with the right
to enter thereon with machinery and vehicles necessary for the maintenance
of said utilities.
Utility Services:
Facilities of any person, firm or corporation providing electric,
natural gas, telephone, cable television, or any other such item or
service for public use approved but not provided by the City of Blanco.
Utility Services, Major:
Publicly or privately-owned facilities or systems including
generation, production, or treatment facilities such as power plants,
water treatment plants, wastewater treatment plants (including package
treatment plants), or similar utilities, and radio and television
transmission towers.
Utility Services, Minor:
Publicly or privately-owned facilities or systems that are
necessary to support principal development. Minor utilities include
transmission lines (whether, subterranean or overhead) including electrical,
natural gas, and water distribution lines; sewer gravity lines and
pressure mains; underground septic tanks and drain fields; cable television
and telephone transmission lines or similar utility lines; pumping
stations; lift stations; and telephone switching facilities (up to
100 square feet gross floor area).
Vegetated Filter Strip:
means a band of vegetation surrounding a waterway that acts
as a buffer between the body of water and impervious surface. Vegetated
filter strips provide stormwater management and quality benefits through
reducing velocity of runoff, promoting infiltration, and removing
pollutants by sedimentation and horizontal filtration through vegetation.
Vegetated Swale:
means a shallow, open grass channels designed to convey runoff
while reducing velocity of runoff, promoting infiltration, and removing
pollutants by sedimentation and horizontal filtration through vegetation.
Vehicle Sales and Rentals:
A place that sells or leases new and used automobiles, trucks,
boats, construction equipment, all-terrain vehicles, and motorcycles,
and where such inventory is stored and/or displayed on-site for any
length of time. The phrase “vehicle sales and rentals”
may also include accessory uses such as vehicle fueling or charging
stations, inventory vehicle washing stations, and general vehicle
services. Does not include body shops (e.g., collision repair), paint
booths, or reupholstering unless they are approved as principal uses
on the same site.
Vehicle Services:
A place designed, used or intended to be used for the purpose
of providing general repair and servicing of all types of motor vehicles,
including commercial. Such repair or servicing may include reconditioning
of engines, air conditioning systems and transmissions; wrecker service;
collision services, including body, frame or fender straightening
or repair; painting, undercoating and rust proofing; replacement or
repair of brakes, shock absorbers, tires, batteries, mufflers, or
upholstery; and other similar services that may require overnight
on-site storage of vehicles, excluding dismantling, wrecking, or salvage.
Vested Rights:
A request for relief from the standards or requirements of
the current land development regulations based on the premise that
the applicant has acquired a vested right under previous regulations.
Veterinary Clinic:
A facility, operated under the supervision of a licensed
veterinarian, where domestic animals and pets are admitted for examination,
observation, diagnosis, and medical treatment. This term includes
those facilities with and without outdoor pens as permitted in the
Use Table.
Vineyard:
An agricultural establishment that cultivates and processes
grapes or other berries on premises for the purpose of producing wine
or similar spirits containing not more than 24 percent (24%) alcohol
by volume. Processing includes crushing, fermenting, blending, bottling,
aging, labeling, packaging, storing, and/or warehousing. A winery
may include wholesale sales of the wine product, administrative offices
for the wine operations, tasting rooms, retail sales of wine and wine
paraphernalia, meeting or banquet facilities, and incidental food
sales.
Warehouse:
A facility storing goods, materials, and equipment either
within an enclosed building or structure or in containers or terminals
for subsequent distribution to off-site wholesalers, retailers, or
consumers. The term “warehouse” includes the storage of
general freight storage, food, parcels, furniture and appliances but
does not include self-storage, wholesale, or warehousing that is accessory
to an industrial facility, nor parcel service drop-off locations that
are not accessory to a parcel service processing facility.
Waste Related Services:
A use involving the collection, transportation, recycling,
or disposal of waste, either on-site or at a transfer station.
Wholesale Trade:
An establishment engaged in selling merchandise primarily
to retailers, contractors, industrial, commercial, or institutional
professional business users, or to other wholesalers or acting as
agents or brokers in buying merchandise for or selling merchandise
to such persons or companies. Examples of these establishments include
agents, merchandise, or commodity brokers; commission merchants, assemblers,
buyers and associations engaged in the cooperative marketing of farm
products; merchant wholesalers; and stores primarily selling electrical,
plumbing, heating and air conditioning supplies, and equipment. The
facility may also include storage, processing, packaging, and shipping
facilities for mail order and electronic-commerce retail establishments.
Wholesale clubs and similar membership warehouses, where membership
is easily available to the consuming public, and similar businesses
shall not be deemed wholesale showroom[s] but rather shall be considered
a retail sales operation.
Wireless:
A method of transmitting and receiving data without direct
connection through wires and cables.
Wireless transmission facility (WTF):
An unstaffed facility for the transmission and reception
of radio, microwave, or electromagnetic signals used for commercial
communication by a wireless communication service provider. Wireless
Transmission Facilities are composed of one or more of the following
components: antenna, equipment enclosure, security barrier, and/or
communication tower.
Zoning:
A police power measure by a municipality, including the City,
in which the community is divided into zoning districts that establishes
permitted and special uses and regulations governing lot size, building
bulk, placement, and other development standards.
Zoning District:
An area of the City identified with an abbreviated symbol
and delineated on the official zoning map. The districts establish
the permitted uses and development standards in these defined areas
of the City. Zoning districts are established in the following ways:
Base Zoning:
District is the series of general districts that apply across
the whole incorporated City.
Overlay District:
is defined set of regulations established for specific areas
of the City that are applied in addition to the base zoning district
standards.
Zoning Map Amendment:
A change or modification of the boundaries of any zoning
district within the City’s Zoning Map. Annexations require a
public hearing, notification, and approval by City Council. Also known
as a rezoning.
Zoning Variance:
A request for relief from the terms of the zoning requirements
of these regulations due to a special circumstance applicable to the
property, granted by the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Such procedures
are in accordance with Chapter 211, Municipal Zoning, and Chapter
213, Municipal Comprehensive Plans, of the Tex. Local Gov’t
Code.
(Ordinance adopted 11/10/20; Enacted by action of the city council on 3/8/22; Ordinance 2022-O-005 adopted 7/12/2022; Ordinance 2022-O-012 adopted 12/13/2022)