City of Flatonia, TX IN GENERAL

For the purpose hereof, certain words and terms in this ordinance are defined as follows:

Accessory Building or Accessory Structure:

A subordinate building or structure on the lot occupied by the main building having an incidental use in connection with the main building. Accessory buildings or accessory structures to be used as dwellings are only allowed if they conform to the definition of a guest house contained in this section.

Administrative Office:

An office which is not an accessory to another use and which is devoted primarily to the management of the affairs of a business or other organization, as distinguished from the actual production of goods or services by that business or organization.

Adult Bookstore:

A business which has a substantial or significant portion of its stock in trade in, or which has as its main purpose the offering for sale or rent of books, magazines, pamphlets, pictures, drawings, photographs, motion picture films, video or sound recordings, or printed, visual or audio material of any kind, which are characterized by their emphasis on the description or depiction of specified anatomical areas or specified sexual activities; or a business which offers for sale books, magazines, pamphlets, pictures, drawings, photographs, motion picture films, or sound recordings, or printed, visual or audio material of any kind, which entire business establishment, because of the depiction or descriptions of specified anatomical areas or specified sexual activities in the materials offered for sale or rent, is restricted to adults, or is advertised or promoted as being restricted to adults.

Adult Entertainment Establishment:

A business where live entertainment is provided for patrons, or a portion of a business set aside for providing live entertainment to patrons, in which a significant portion of the entertainment is characterized by an emphasis on the exhibition, depiction, or description of specified anatomical areas or specified sexual activities; or a place where entertainment is provided to patrons wherein, because of the exhibition of specified anatomical areas or specified sexual activities, admittance is limited to adults, or admittance is advertised or promoted as being restricted to adults.

Adult Motion Picture Theater:

A business where motion pictures are shown to paying customers when such place is used for presenting material having as its dominant theme, or distinguished or characterized by, an emphasis on the depiction or description of specified anatomical areas or specified sexual activities for observation by patrons, and where admittance to such showings is totally limited to adults.

Adult or Sexually Oriented Business:

An adult bookstore, adult entertainment establishment, or adult motion picture theater.

Agriculture:

The use of land for agricultural purposes, including farming, dairying, pasturage, horticulture, floriculture, viticulture, animal and poultry husbandry, and the necessary accessory uses for the packing, crating, or storing of produce; provided, however, the operation of any such accessory use must be secondary to that of the normal agricultural activities. The operation of commercial feedlots, sale yards and auction yards for cattle, hogs, or sheep is deemed an industrial and not an agricultural land use.

Alley:

A minor way running east-west which is used primarily for vehicular service access to the back or the side of properties otherwise abutting on a street.

Alteration:

See “Structural Alteration.”

Apartment:

A dwelling, single-family attached (DSFA) that occupies a single floor or level. The congregation of apartments may form a dwelling, multifamily and may involve multiple floors. Typical apartment complexes are owned by a single owner or corporation with the dwelling unit(s) leased to individual occupants. (U.S. Census Bureau)

Automobile Parts, Sales:

A business selling parts and accessories for automobiles or other motor vehicles, provided that no installation of the parts and accessories and no servicing of vehicles is conducted on the premises.

Automobile Rental, Sales and Service:

A business renting, leasing, repairing, servicing or selling automobiles, motorcycles or light trucks, or selling, installing and servicing their parts and accessories, but excluding gas stations and large vehicle and machinery rental, sales and service establishments.

Automotive Handwashing and Detailing:

The thorough handwashing of an automobile, this may include an extremely thorough cleaning, polishing, and waxing of the exterior or interior or both the exterior and interior of the automobile.

Bar:

Bar means an establishment that is permitted by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for the serving of alcoholic beverages for consumption by guests on the premises and does not possess a food and beverage certificate issued by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

Barndominium:

A dwelling unit attached or contained inside a barn forming a combination structure.

Bed and Breakfast:

Providing tourist lodging services within rooms of a residence or within a separate accessory structure on the same lot and served by the same water meter and electric meter as the principal structure.

Building:

A structure designed, built, or occupied as a shelter or roofed enclosure for persons, animals, or property, except such structures as may be otherwise specifically defined herein. See also “Accessory Building” and “Office Building.”

Building Code:

See Section 3.200 [Article 3.02] of the Flatonia City Code.

Building Line:

A line, established by law, beyond which a building shall not extend, except as specifically provided by law.

Business Park:

A mixed-use development which includes a number of separate office, commercial, wholesaling, and compatible laboratory, industrial and other uses, and which is designed and developed as an integrated unit. Each of the individual establishments or uses contained within the business park must be a permitted use in the district in which the business park is located, and all on-site functions or operations of these uses must be conducted entirely inside a building.

Church:

A building designed for public worship, including a separate parsonage or rectory and/or a community meeting hall, but excluding a school, a community athletic field, or a developed athletic field or stadium, all of which are considered distinct uses.

Clinic:

See “Health Clinic” and “Veterinary Clinic.”

Club or Lodge:

A building housing an association of persons for the promotion of some nonprofit common object, as literature, science, politics, good fellowship, etc., meeting periodically, limited to members, with residential occupancy accounting for not more than one-third of the gross floor area occupied by the use.

Commercial Agriculture, Manufacturing or Production:

A business where agricultural products (feed, fertilizer, farm implements, etc.) are produced, manufactured, and/or sold.

Commercial Agriculture, Retail:

A retail or wholesale business where sales (but not production or manufacturing) of agricultural products (feed, fertilizer, farm implements, etc.) take place.

Commercial Communications System:

Any installation such as a radio, microwave or cellular telephone tower, antenna or related switching equipment in which the principal use is the transmission of information as a business, as distinguished from an antenna which is incidental to the remote monitoring or operation of a utility plant, industrial site or governmental facility.

Commercial Office:

A retail service business in which the service is produced or delivered in an office setting rather than a store or shop setting, such as a real estate office, travel agency, insurance agency, or property management business.

Community Athletic Field:

A noncommercial facility for active outdoor recreation and organized sports, including a facility which is an accessory use to a school, but excluding any facility with lighted fields or permanent buildings for refreshment stands, locker rooms or shower facilities.

Condominium:

A dwelling, single-family attached (DSFA) that is owned individually, with the common areas of the complex owned equally among all condominium owners under the umbrella of an association. (U.S. Census Bureau)

Contractor:

A business which involves the outdoor storage of materials for use at another location, or the outdoor storage of equipment which is intended for use by the business at another location or for rent, as distinguished from any trade in which all activity on the site is conducted inside a building.

Convenience Restaurant:

A restaurant such as a soda fountain, ice cream parlor, sandwich shop, cafe, or coffee shop, excluding any restaurant offering live entertainment or alcoholic beverages for on-premise consumption.

Convenience Store:

A retail store of no more than 3,600 square feet specializing in a limited selection of food and personal and home care items, or a combination of such items and the sale of automotive fuels, but excluding any business selling alcoholic beverages for on-site consumption.

Corner Lot:

A lot at the point of intersection of and abutting on two or more intersecting streets, the angle of intersection being not more than 135 degrees. It is the land occupied or to be occupied by the corner building and its accessory buildings. A corner lot, the rear of which abuts upon the side of another lot, whether or not across an alley, is a “reversed corner lot.”

Day Care Nursery:

A business or institution where organized care or instruction is imparted to children under the age of seven years.

Depth:

As applied to the dimensions of a lot, the average horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines; as applied to a front, side or rear yard, the average horizontal distance between the front, side or rear wall of a building, other than an accessory building, and the front, side or rear lot line, as appropriate.

Detached:

As applied to a building or structure, one having no party or common wall with another building or structure except an accessory building or structure.

Developed Athletic Field or Stadium:

A facility for active outdoor recreation and organized sports which is operated as a business or which includes lighted fields, permanent grandstands, or permanent buildings for refreshment stands, locker rooms or shower facilities.

Discontinuance of Use:

May be, but not required to be, evidenced by termination of utility service, the failure to maintain regular hours of operation, the utilization of the premises for other purposes, abandonment or by other reasonable means.

District, Historic:

See “Historic District.”

District or Zoning District:

A section of the City for which regulations governing the area, height, design or use of buildings and structures and the uses of land are established by this ordinance.

Duplex:

A two-family dwelling.

Dwelling:

Any building that contains one or more dwelling units used, intended, or designed to be built, used, rented, leased, let or hired out to be occupied, or that are occupied for living purposes.

Dwelling, Multifamily (DMF):

A building, other than a dwelling single-family attached (DSFA), containing more than four dwelling units on one lot either in a row, single floor or multi-floor arrangement (Census Bureau). A DMF may have joint services or facilities on the premises, but dwelling units must be distinguishable from each other and comply with the minimum requirements for a “Dwelling.” Examples include:

Townhomes/townhouses, row or multi-level

Condominiums, row, multi-level, or more than four unattached dwelling units in a complex

Apartment complex, row or multi-level

Loft apartments, more than four attached to, and above, a nondwelling structure

Apartments, more than four attached to a nondwelling structure

Hotels/Motels or equivalent do not constitute DMF

Dwelling, Single-Family Attached (DSFA):

A dwelling composed of up to four adjoining dwelling units, and each of which is separated from the others by one or more unpierced walls extending from ground to roof, or floor to roof if the dwellings begin above a nondwelling use structure. DSFA also includes a single dwelling unit attached to a nondwelling structure, either on the same floor or on separate floors. Examples include:

Apartment attached to a commercial building

Apartments (single floor attached, not stacked in multi-floors)

Bardominium

Condominiums (single floor attached, not stacked in multi-floors)

Guest house (must meet the definition of a dwelling unit to apply as a guest house)

Loft apartments (attached to a nondwelling structure, or attached to another single dwelling unit from above)

Townhomes/townhouses

Dwelling, Single-Family Detached (DSFD):

A dwelling containing only one dwelling unit, situated on a separate subdivision lot or being a separate condominium unit capable of individual sale (guest house excluded) and completely surrounded by open space. DSFD is a typical single-family home (U. S. Census Bureau).

Dwelling, Two-Family (DTF):

A dwelling, other than a Dwelling, Single-Family Attached, containing only two dwelling units, each of which is totally separated from the other by an unpierced wall extending from ground to roof. Example is a Duplex.

Dwelling Unit:

A single unit providing complete independent living facilities for one or more persons, including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation. (International Residential Code). A dwelling unit shall meet all requirements of the adopted International Codes (I-Codes) published by the International Code Council (ICC), and the adopted National Electrical Code. In general, a dwelling unit must have:

Habitable rooms of not less than 70 square feet (excluding kitchens), and any habitable room must have horizontal dimensions not less than 7 feet (excluding kitchens);

Toilet facilities, to include a toilet, sink and a shower or bathtub;

Kitchen area with a sink;

Sewage disposal, where the dwelling unit plumbing must be connected to a sanitary sewer system approved by the city;

Water supply to fixtures, where plumbing fixtures must be connected to the city water utilities. Kitchen sinks, lavatories, bathtubs, showers, bidets, laundry tubs and washing machine outlets shall be provided with hot and cold water;

Meet all construction, fire, and emergency egress requirements.

Easement:

An acquired right to use land owned by another for a limited purpose, or an interest or privilege short of ownership in land owned by another, such as easement of light, of building support or maintenance, or right-of-way.

Enclosed Retail Store or Shop:

Any individual business, store, or shop (1) which is not either defined separately in this ordinance or enumerated as a distinct use in a Table of Permitted Uses, and (2) in which (a) services are performed or goods are rented or sold exclusively at retail, (b) no wholesaling, manufacturing or processing is carried on, other than repair services or incidental packaging, (c) no goods, materials, equipment or supplies are stored or displayed outside a building, other than incidental sidewalk displays of a nonpermanent nature, or displays for safety (LP gas tank sales, ice machines, and the like), and (d) all operations on the site are conducted inside a building. Examples of uses which are intended to be encompassed by this definition are antique stores, art galleries, bookstores, dance studios, drugstores, flower shops, gift shops, interior decorating studios, retail laundries and dry cleaners, opticians, physical fitness studios, reducing salons, tailor shops, radio and television studios, and studios for artists, musicians and photographers.

Extended Retail Store or Shop:

Any individual business, store, or shop (1) which is not either defined separately in this ordinance or enumerated as a distinct use in a Table of Permitted Uses, and (2) in which (a) services are performed or goods are rented or sold exclusively at retail, (b) no wholesaling, manufacturing or processing is carried on, other than repair services or incidental packaging, (c) sales and service operations on the site are conducted inside a building (d) merchandise for rent or sale is stored or displayed either inside or outside a building, but (e) no other materials, equipment or supplies are stored or displayed outside a building. Examples of uses that are intended to be encompassed by this definition are boat and marine sales, lawn and garden supply stores, residential accessory portable building sales, and retail building material supply and lumberyards.

Family:

A single individual, living upon the premises as a separate housekeeping unit, or a collective body of persons living together upon the premises as a separate housekeeping unit, whether or not they are living in a domestic relationship based upon birth, marriage, or other domestic bond. A family is distinguished from a group occupying a rooming or boarding club or lodge, or living in a hotel or motel or other arrangement by the fact that they function together as a single housekeeping unit.

Fence:

A partition, wall, hedge, row(s) of continuous plantings, or gate erected as a dividing marker, visual or physical barrier, or enclosure.

Fence Height:

The distance from the adjacent finished grade to the highest projection of a fence structure, not including support posts, provided that the support posts are no more than four (4) inches above the fence structure.

Front Yard:

A yard between the front building line and the street line of the lot.

Garage:

See “Private Garage” and “Parking Lot or Parking Garage.”

Gas Station:

A retail business which is principally devoted to the sale of motor vehicle fuels, and which may include as accessory uses the sale of automotive lubricants, tires, batteries and accessories, automotive service, short-term rental of light trucks and trailers, and the sale of a limited range of food and consumer items for the convenience of travelers, but excluding any sale of alcoholic beverages for on-site consumption.

General Restaurant:

A restaurant which offers live entertainment with amplified sound or sells alcoholic beverages as an accompaniment to meals, provided that such beverages produce less than 50 percent of the gross revenue of the business. A business in which the sale of alcoholic beverages produces 50 percent or more of gross revenue is a bar or nightclub.

Gross Floor Area:

The sum of the gross horizontal area of the several floors of a building, including interior balconies and mezzanines. All horizontal dimensions are to be measured between the exterior faces of walls, including the walls of roofed porches having more than one wall. The floor area of a building shall include the floor area of accessory buildings, on the same lot, measured in the same manner.

Guest House:

A guest house may be occupied only by family members within the first degree of affinity or consanguinity of the permanent residents or occasional, nonpaying guests of the permanent residents. A guest house is only allowed on lots where the principal use is a single-family residential use.

Health Clinic:

An establishment in which one or more physicians, dentists, or other health care professionals and their allied professional assistants are associated for the purpose of carrying on their professions. A health clinic may include a dental or medical laboratory, but it may not include inpatient care or operating rooms for major surgery.

Height:

As applied to a building, the vertical dimension measured from the average elevation of the finished lot grade at the front of the building to the highest point of the ceiling of the top story in the case of a flat roof, to the deck line of a mansard roof, and to the average height between the plate and ridge of a gable, hip or gambrel roof.

Historic District:

A district designated by City Council under this ordinance as an area containing significant concentrations, linkage or continuity of buildings, structures, sites, areas or lands which are united by architectural, historical, archaeological or cultural importance or significance such that the area requires protection and preservation.

Historic Landmark:

Any buildings[,] structure, site, area or land of architectural, historical, archeological or cultural importance or value, which the City Council has determined to have sufficient significance, balancing public and private interests, to require that it be protected and preserved.

Home Garden:

An area used to grow vegetables and fruit for the consumption primarily of the property owner. Vegetables and fruit can be gathered by the property owner and his/her immediate family and sold off-site.

Home Occupation:

A business, profession, occupation or trade conducted for gain which is secondary to the use of the dwelling unit for living purposes, conducted entirely within the main structure of the dwelling unit, and does not alter the residential character or exterior appearance of the dwelling unit. Exterior advertising of a Home Occupation on the dwelling unit is prohibited.

Hospital:

An institution providing health services, primarily for inpatients, and medical or surgical care of the sick or injured, including as an integral part of the institution, such related facilities as laboratories, outpatient departments, training facilities, central service facilities and staff offices.

Hotel or Motel:

A business other than a bed and breakfast or a rooming or boarding house in which rooms are rented, generally for short-term occupancy by transient guests, together with incidental meeting rooms, restaurants and recreation facilities for the primary benefit of the guests.

Household Care Facility:

A facility which provides residence and care to not more than nine persons, regardless of legal relationship, who are either elderly, or disabled, or orphaned, abandoned, abused or neglected children, or victims of domestic violence, or temporarily homeless due to fire, natural disaster or financial setbacks, living together with not more than two supervisory personnel as a single housekeeping unit.

HUD-Code Manufactured Home:

A structure constructed after June 15, 1976, meeting the National Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards Act as administered by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, transportable in one or more sections, which in the traveling mode is eight body feet or more in width of [or] forty body feet or more in length, or when erected on-site is 320 or more square feet, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and electrical systems.

Included Structure:

Any building or structure which is located in whole or in part in any historic district, whether or not the building or structure itself is designated as an historic landmark.

Industrial Park:

A development which is intended to be the site for a number of manufacturing, industrial, warehousing and related uses, and which is designed and developed as an integrated unit. Each of the individual establishments or uses contained within the industrial park must be a permitted use in the district in which the industrial park is located.

Industry or Industrial:

A land use involving processing, manufacturing, or warehousing, or the outdoor storage of goods or materials intended for processing or manufacturing, or the outdoor storage of machinery or equipment to be used by the business at another location rather than being offered for sale or rent, all as distinguished from wholesale or retail trade and services. A laboratory that is not incidental or accessory to another use, such as a health clinic or a hospital, is also an industrial use.

International Codes (I-Codes):

The International Codes (I-Codes) published by the International Code Council (ICC) includes the International Building Code, ICC Electrical Code, International Energy Conservation Code, International Existing Building Code, International Fire Code, International Fuel Gas Code, International Mechanical Code, ICC Performance Code, International Plumbing Code, International Private Sewage Disposal Code, International Property Maintenance Code, International Wildland-Urban Interface Code and International Zoning Code.

Junk:

Any worn-out, cast-off, or discarded article or material which is ready for destruction or has been collected or stored for salvage, recycling or conversion to some use. Any article or material which, unaltered or unchanged and without further reconditioning, can be used for its original purpose as readily as when new shall not be considered junk.

Junkyard:

The use of any lot for the storage, keeping or abandonment of junk, whether inside or outside a building.

Kennel:

Any lot or premises, other than a veterinary clinic, on which four or more domestic animals more than four months of age are housed, groomed, bred, boarded, trained or sold.

Laboratory:

Any business or freestanding establishment in which the principal activity involves testing or analysis of any material, and which is not an accessory to another use, such as an accessory to a manufacturing or processing plant or a hospital or health clinic. No manufacturing is conducted on the premises except for experimental or testing purposes.

Landmark:

See “Historic Landmark.”

Large Vehicle and Machinery Rental, Sales and Service:

A business renting, leasing, repairing, servicing or selling buses, motor homes, trucks larger than standard pickup trucks, or off-road machinery or equipment of any character, or selling, installing or servicing parts and accessories for such vehicles, machinery or equipment.

Limited Restaurant:

A restaurant which offers live entertainment without amplified sound or which sells beer or wine but not other alcoholic beverages as an accompaniment to meals, provided that at least 75% of the gross floor area of the business including preparation and serving area is dedicated to the retail sale of food.

Lodge:

See “Club or Lodge.”

Loft:

A room or space directly beneath a roof of a house or other building, which may be used for an accommodation or storage, but not meeting the full definition of a dwelling unit.

Loft Apartment:

A large, open space, usually without any internal walls (except for the bathroom), that typically resides in the upper floor(s) of a commercial or industrial use building. Loft Apartment must meet all minimum requirements of a Dwelling Unit.

Long-Term Care Facility:

An institution such as a hospice, nursing home, sanitarium or rehabilitation center, in which patients are attended for a relatively extended period, as distinguished from a hospital or other institution for acute care and short-term therapy.

Lot:

An undivided tract or parcel of land having frontage on a public street and which is, or in the future may be, offered for sale, conveyance, transfer or improvement, which is designated as a distinct and separate tract; and/or which is identified by a tract or lot number or symbol in a duly approved subdivision plat which has been properly filed on record. See also “Corner Lot” and “Reversed Corner Lot.”

Lot Line:

A property boundary line separating one lot from another or from a street or alley. Any lot line that is not a street line or a rear lot line is a side lot line.

Manufactured Home:

A HUD-Code Manufactured Home.

Manufactured Home Ordinance:

See Section 3.900 [Article 3.06] of the Flatonia City Code.

Manufactured Home Park:

Any premises where one or more manufactured homes are parked for living and sleeping purposes, or where they are connected to any utility, or any premises used or set apart for the purpose of supplying to the public parking space for one or more manufactured homes for living and sleeping purposes, including any buildings, structures, vehicles, or enclosures used or intended for use as a part of the equipment of such manufactured home park.

Manufacturing:

All operations of fabrication, such as assembling, stamping, cutting or otherwise shaping processed materials into useful objects, as opposed to the refining or other initial processing of basic raw materials such as metal ores, lumber or rubber.

Mini-Warehouse:

A business in which separate storage units are rented to individuals who are entitled to exclusive and independent access to their respective units.

Mobile Home:

A structure that was constructed before June 15, 1976, transportable in one or more sections, which in the traveling mode is eight body feet or more in width of [or] forty body feet or more in length, or when erected on-site is 320 or more square feet, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and electrical systems.

Modular Home:

A dwelling that:

Is manufactured in two or more modules at a location other than the home site;

Is designed to be used as a residence when the modules are transported to the home site, joined together and installed on a permanent foundation in accordance with the Building Code Requirements of the City of Flatonia;

Meets all the requirements of the Texas Manufactured Housing Standards Act, and;

Contains the plumbing; heating/air conditioning and electrical systems within the structure.

The term “modular home” does not apply to a manufactured home as defined in this ordinance and the Texas Manufactured Housing Standards Act, nor does it include building modules incorporating concrete or masonry as a primary component.

Modular homes are considered as single-family dwellings throughout this ordinance.

Museum:

A nonprofit, noncommercial establishment operated as a repository for a collection of natural, scientific or literary curiosities or objects of interest or works of art, not including the regular sale or distribution of the objects collected.

Nameplate:

A sign indicating the name and/or address of a building, or the name of an occupant thereof, and/or the practice of a permitted home occupation therein.

Nonconforming Structure:

A structure or part thereof, lawfully existing on the effective date of this ordinance, which does not conform to all the regulations of the district in which it is located.

Nonconforming Use:

A use of a building, structure or land, lawfully existing on the effective date of this ordinance, which does not conform to all the regulations of the district in which it is located.

Nursery:

See “Day Care Nursery” and “Plant Nursery.”

Office:

See “Administrative Office,” “Commercial Office” and “Professional Office.”

Office Building:

A building which is used or designed to be occupied by multiple tenants who lease space for any combination of administrative, commercial and professional offices, and including customary accessory uses for the benefit of the office workers such as a coffee shop or newsstand. Each of the individual establishments or uses contained within the office building must be a permitted use in the district in which the office building is located.

Office Park:

A development containing a number of separate office buildings, supporting accessory uses and open space, which is designed and operated as an integrated unit. Each of the individual establishments or uses contained within the office park must be a permitted use in the district in which the office park is located.

Open Space:

An area included in any side, rear or front yard or any unoccupied space on the lot that is open and unobstructed to the sky, except for the ordinary projection of cornices, eaves or porches.

Overlay Districts:

Overlay Districts are special zones that lie on top of or over existing zoning districts or categories. Overlay districts provide a means for incorporating various development regulations across a specified area or applicable to certain properties based on uses of the structures situated thereon. The regulations adopted for Overlay Districts supplement or supersede regulations existing on such area or property by virtue of the underlying zoning district in which the area or property is situated. These regulations usually provide a higher level of regulation than that required by the existing underlying zoning district or classification, but they can also permit exceptions or require less-restrictive guidelines or regulations. In cases where regulations approved for the overlay district conflict with the regulations of the underlying zoning district or category, the regulations of the overlay district take priority. The boundaries of an overlay district may or may not coincide with the boundaries of the underlying district, and an overlay district may contain parts of more than one existing district in order mean districts [sic].

Owner:

The person or entity who has legal title to property, or who has effective custody and control of property.

Parking Lot or Parking Garage:

A facility, whether outdoors or in a building or structure, in which the parking of motor vehicles is the principal use rather than an accessory to another use.

Plant Nursery:

A use of land to grow plants of any kind for transplanting to another location or for sale as live plants rather than as crops, including the sale of related gardening equipment and supplies.

Portable Building Sales:

A business selling either mobile homes or other portable buildings or structures larger than residential accessory storage sheds, whether in finished or kit form.

Private Garage:

A building or part thereof, accessory to a main building, for the storage of automobiles as an accessory use, and in which no occupation or business for profit is carried on.

Processing:

Any operation changing the nature of material or materials, such as their chemical composition or physical qualities, as distinguished from the fabrication operations defined as manufacturing.

Professional Office:

An office which is not an accessory to another use and which is primarily used by professional practitioners and their assistants to perform or deliver professional services, but excluding a health clinic or a veterinary clinic.

Property Line:

See definition for Lot Line.

Rear Yard:

A yard, unoccupied except by an accessory building, extending for the full width of the lot between the main building and the rear lot line.

Recreational and Entertainment Facility:

Any business or establishment (1) which is not defined separately in this ordinance or enumerated as a distinct use in a Table of Permitted Uses, and (2) in which the primary use is the provision of recreational opportunities or the production of entertainment for paying customers.

Restaurant:

Any business engaged in the preparation and retail sale of food and beverages. See “Convenience Restaurant,” “General Restaurant” and “Limited Restaurant.”

Retail:

Sale of goods or services to the ultimate consumer for direct consumption and not for resale.

Retail Store or Shop:

See “Enclosed Retail Store or Shop” and “Extended Retail Store or Shop.”

Retirement Community:

A residential development which includes separate dwelling units specifically designed to meet the needs of the elderly, together with incidental recreation and support facilities for the benefit of the residents.

Reversed Corner Lot:

A corner lot, the rear of which abuts upon the side of another lot, whether or not across an alley.

Rooming House or Boarding House:

A business in which three or more persons who are not members of the family residing in a dwelling are provided lodging or furnished rooms for hire within the dwelling, with or without meals. This use is distinguished from a Bed and Breakfast by its clientele of short-term or permanent residents of the community, rather than tourists.

School:

An institution of learning which offers and maintains a course of instruction leading to degrees or certificates of graduation recognized by the Texas Education Agency, including a community athletic field as an accessory use, but excluding a developed athletic field or stadium, which is considered a distinct use. See also “Trade School.”

Season:

A period of the year characterized by or associated with a particular activity or phenomenon.

Setback:

The amount of open space required between the lot line and the building line or the amount of land required surrounding improvements.

Shop:

A place or building devoted primarily to the retail sale of a service or product, in which the service is performed, or the product to be sold is prepared, in its finished form, on the premises.

Shopping Center:

A development containing a combination of retail business establishments, restaurants, recreational and entertainment facilities, offices and related uses, which is designed and operated as a single unit. Each of the individual establishments or uses contained within the shopping center must be a permitted use in the district in which the shopping center is located.

Side Yard:

A yard between a building and a side lot line, extending through from the street line to the rear lot line of the lot, including overlapping portions of the front yard and rear yard.

Sign:

Any words, lettering, parts of letters, figures, numerals, phrases, sentences, emblems, devices, designs, pictures, trade names or trademarks by which anything is made known, such as are used to designate an individual commodity or product, which are visible from any public street or right-of-way and designed and displayed to attract attention. The term “sign” shall not include the flag, pennant or insignia of any nation, state, city or other political unit, or of any political, educational, charitable, philanthropic, civic, professional, religious or like campaign, drive, monument or event.

Spot Zoning:

The rezoning of a small parcel of land for a use classification incompatible with that of the surrounding area, for the benefit of the owner of such property and to the detriment of other owners or the community, or without any substantial public purpose.

Stable:

Any business or institution in which horses or other livestock are housed, groomed, bred, boarded, trained or sold.

Store:

A use devoted exclusively to the retail sale of a commodity or commodities.

Story:

That portion of a building included between the surface of any floor and the ceiling above.

Street:

A public way for vehicular traffic, other than an alley, whether designated as a street, highway, thoroughfare, parkway, throughway, road, avenue, boulevard, lane, place or however otherwise designated.

For the purposes of this ordinance, a street extends from lot line to lot line, and includes all of the parkways, sidewalks, driveways and other areas within the public right-of-way.

Street Line:

A lot line dividing a lot from a street.

Structural Alteration:

Any change or rearrangement in the structural parts or supporting members of a building or structure, such as bearing walls, columns, beams or girders, or any enlargement of a building or structure, whether by extending on a side or by increasing in height, or the moving of a building or structure from one location or position to another, excluding replacement of an existing Mobile or Manufactured Home with a Manufactured Home of equal or greater value.

Structure:

Anything which is built or constructed and which requires permanent location on the ground or which is permanently attached to something having a location on the ground; a building of any kind. See also “Accessory Building or Structure,” “Included Structure” and “Nonconforming Structure.”

Subdivision:

A division of a tract of land into two or more parts for the purpose of laying out a subdivision of the tract or an addition to the City, or to lay out suburban, building or other lots, or to lay out streets, alleys, squares, parks or other parts of the tract intended to be dedicated to public use or for the use of purchasers or owners of lots fronting thereon or adjacent thereto.

Subdivision Ordinance:

Currently adopted City of Flatonia Subdivision Ordinance.

Townhome/Townhouse:

A form of dwelling, single-family attached (DSFA) of one to three stories per dwelling unit, in a side-by-side or row arrangement utilizing common wall construction from ground to roofline with other townhome/townhouse units.

Townhomes/Townhouses are not stacked dwelling units upon each other.

Trade School:

A business or institution that offers instruction in any occupation, skill or trade, as distinguished from an institution of academic learning.

Trailer Court:

Any premises designated for the purpose of parking travel trailers and recreational vehicles overnight or on a short-term basis and providing public restrooms, temporary water and electrical hookups, and similar services.

Travel Trailer:

A recreational vehicle or other mobile vehicle designed for travel and short-term living and sleeping of a recreational nature.

Use:

As a noun, the purpose for which land, and/or the buildings or structures thereon, is designed, arranged, or intended to be occupied or used, or for which it is occupied, maintained, rented or leased. See also “Nonconforming Use.”

Veterinary Clinic:

A business or institution devoted to the health care of animals, as distinguished from the boarding, breeding, or raising of animals. A veterinary clinic is distinguished from a kennel or stable by having no outdoor pens or enclosures in which animals are kept, except for short periods as incidentally necessary to their medical care.

Warehousing:

The depositing or securing of goods, wares and merchandise in a warehouse.

Width:

As applied to a lot, the horizontal dimension of the street line along the frontage street. For a pie-shaped lot or a lot on a cul-de-sac, the width of the lot means that dimension measured at the building setback line.

Wholesale:

Sale for resale, not for direct consumption.

Yard:

An open space on the same lot with a building, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward except as otherwise provided in this ordinance, between the building and a lot line. See “Front Yard,” “Rear Yard” and “Side Yard.”

(Ordinance 304 adopted 12/21/00; Ordinance 340 adopted 12/21/00; Ordinance 371 adopted 9/14/04; Ordinance 382 adopted 8/9/05; Ordinance 2010.9.1 adopted 9/14/10; Ordinance 2014.10.1 adopted 10/14/14; Ordinance 2016.1.1, sec. 1, adopted 1/12/16; Ordinance 2016.11.1, sec. 1, adopted 11/8/16; Ordinance 2016.11.1, sec. 2, adopted 11/8/16; Ordinance 2017.3.2, sec. 1, adopted 3/14/17)

•	lessen congestion in the streets,
•	secure safety from fire, panic, and other dangers,
•	provide adequate light and air,
•	prevent the overcrowding of land,
•	avoid undue concentration of population,
•	facilitate the adequate provision of transportation, water, sewerage, schools, parks, and other public requirements.

•	for the character of the district and its peculiar suitability for particular uses,
•	for the protection and preservation of historic buildings and landmarks,
•	and with a view to conserving the value of buildings and other improvements,
•	and encouraging the most appropriate use of the land throughout the City, based on floodplain location, contiguous uses, and consistency with comprehensive planning.