Certain words and terms used in these Regulations shall have the meanings presented in this section. All words used in the present tense include the future tense. The word "used" shall be deemed also to include "designed, intended, or arranged to be used." Other words used in these Regulations shall have the meaning commonly attributed to them. Where questions arise, the Connecticut General Statutes and current dictionaries of American English language shall apply, as determined by the Commission.
Accessory Dwelling Unit: A residential dwelling unit subordinate in size and accessory to a one-unit dwelling, which may be located within, attached to or on the same lot as a one-unit dwelling.
Accessory Use or Building. A subordinate use or building or structure which is customarily incidental to and located on the same lot with the principal use or building or a contiguous lot under the same ownership.
Affordable Unit, Affordable Housing. A dwelling unit(s) conveyed by a deed containing covenants and restrictions which requires that it be sold or rented at, or below, prices which will preserve it as affordable housing, as defined in the General Statutes, Section 8-39a, for persons and families whose income is less than or equal to 80 percent of the area median income, for at least 20 years after the initial occupation of the unit.
Agriculture. Agriculture and farming shall follow the definition provided by Section 1-1(q) of the Connecticut General Statutes.
Amusement Game Arcade. Three (3) or more amusement game machines in the same place, location, or premises.
Amusement Game Machine. A coin-operated machine or device which, whether mechanical, electrical or electronic, shall be ready for play by the insertion of a coin, and may be operated by the public for use as a game, entertainment or amusement, the object of which is to achieve either a high or low score, which, by comparison to the score of other players whether playing concurrently or not, demonstrates relative skill or competence, or indicates in any other way competitive advantage of one player or team over another, regardless of skill or competence. It shall include devices such as pinball machines or any device which utilizes a video tube to reproduce symbolic figures and lines intended to be representative of real games or activities.
Antenna. A device used to receive or transmit electromagnetic waves. Examples include whip, panel, and dish antennas.
Bed and Breakfast Inn. An owner-occupied dwelling, having six or less guest rooms, without separate kitchen facilities, in which overnight accommodation and meals are provided to travelers, for a fee and for not more than fifteen consecutive days.
Beer & Brew Pub: An establishment selling beer brewed on the premises and may include a restaurant. See Section 8.18 for Regulations regarding Beer & Brew Pub.
Buildable Area: Land area on a parcel exclusive of the following: wetlands and watercourses; areas within the 100-year FEMA flood boundary; slopes in excess of 25%; rock or ledge outcrops; rights of ways or easements, and utility and drainage easements.
Building. A structure enclosed within exterior walls, built, erected, and framed of component structural parts, designed for the housing, shelter, enclosure and support of individuals, animals, or property of any kind.
Camper, Camp Trailer, Camper Coach. A wheeled conveyance for camping or recreational purposes, or clearly intended as an accessory vacation habitation, and not for permanent human habitation.
Campground. Any area devoted to or designated for the use of more than one temporary seasonal accommodation, such as more than one camp trailer, tent, or rental cottage.
Cemeteries. A place for the burial of the dead.
Churches and Other Places of Worship: A building, together with its accessory buildings and uses, where persons regularly assemble for religious purposes and related social events and which building, together with its accessory buildings and uses, is maintained and controlled by a religious body organized to sustain religious ceremonies and purposes. Includes accessory residential structures and associated buildings for religious personnel. Does not include any use defined in these regulations as Public/Private Schools or Day Care.
Co-location. Locating wireless communication facilities of more than one provider on a single site.
Commercial Recreation Facility. The use of a building or space for recreation activities, other than those otherwise specifically prescribed by these Regulations, which may or may not involve equipment or apparatus and where a fee is charged for participation in such activities.
Commission. The Planning and Zoning Commission of the Town of Voluntown.
Dwelling Unit. One room, or rooms connected, constituting a separate, independent housekeeping establishment for owner or renter occupancy, and containing independent cooking, sleeping facilities and sanitary facilities.
Dwelling, Single-Family. A detached residential dwelling unit, other than a mobile home, designed for occupancy by one (1) family only.
Dwelling, Two-Family. A detached residential building containing two (2) dwelling units, designed for occupancy by not more than two (2) families.
Dwellings, Multiple-Family. A residential building designed for or occupied by three (3) or more families in separate dwelling units.
Eating and Drinking Establishment: Retail establishment selling food or drink for consumption on the premises, including lunch counters and refreshment stands selling prepared foods for immediate on site consumption.
Elderly Housing. Dwelling units specially designed for the use and occupancy of married couples or single individuals who are 55 years of age or older or disabled.
Excavation. The excavation, grading, depositing, or removal of earth material, including, but not limited to, topsoil, sand, gravel, clay or stone, which involves more than 100 cubic yards of material in a single calendar year, except in connection with (a) a bona fide construction project for which a zoning permit has been issued; (b) a subdivision approved by the Commission; or (c) farming conducted on the same property or adjacent property, provided no such material is sold to another and no more than 400 cubic yards of material is removed in any one (1) calendar year.
Family Day Care Home, which is a private family home caring for not more than six (6) children, including the provider's own children not in school full time, where the children are cared for not less than three (3) nor more than twelve (12) hours during a twenty-four (24) hour period and where care is given on a regular basis, per Section 17-31 of the Connecticut General Statutes.
Family. One or more persons occupying a dwelling unit and living as a single housekeeping unit, as distinguished from a group occupying a hotel, boardinghouse, club, fraternity, or sorority house.
Floor Area. The sum of the gross horizontal interior areas of all floors contained within a structure, measured from the exterior face of outside walls or from the centerline of a common wall separating two structures. It shall not include areas below grade when devoted to the following uses: mechanical spaces, parking, or storage (when related to the principal use of the building) but shall include all other below grade areas. Stairwells, open porches, balconies, garages, or utility rooms shall not be included in determining a floor area.
Group Day Care Home, which is a facility which provides a program of supplementary care to not less than seven (7) nor more than twelve (12) related or unrelated children on a regular basis for part of the twenty-four (24) hours in one or more days a week, and meets the requirements of the State of Connecticut Department of Health Services "Public Health Code Regulations for Child Day Care Centers and Group day Care Homes", Section 19a-79-1 through 19a-79-8 inclusive, and Connecticut General statutes Sections 19a-77 through 19a-87 inclusive, as amended, and all other applicable federal, state, and local requirements.
Hazardous Material. Materials, including waste products, as defined in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's publication 49 CFR, Table 172.101, "Hazardous Materials Table".
Height, Building. The vertical distance above the average existing grade of each side of a structure measured to the highest point of the structure.
Home Business. An activity conducted for financial gain in a dwelling unit or in another building on the same lot as the dwelling unit, and complying with Section 10.6 of these Regulations.
Hotel/Motel: A building or buildings providing transient lodging to the general public for compensation, with daily cleaning service, and with or without meals or kitchen facilities.
Household: A household is considered the living together in a single dwelling unit of: (a) Any number of individuals related by blood, marriage or adoption, or (b) up to four (4) adult persons all of whom are not necessarily related to each other by blood, marriage or adoption, and their minor children.
Junk Yard. Any property or portion thereof used for the outside storage, keeping or abandonment of worked out, cast-off, or discarded articles or material ready for destruction or collected or stored for salvage or conversion to some use. Motor vehicles which are on the tax rolls are not considered junk.
Kennel, Commercial: A commercial establishment that provides boarding, medical care, breeding, grooming, exercise, whelping, raising, and/or training of puppies, dogs, and other household pets.
Kennel, Hobby: The boarding, breeding, raising, grooming, or training of two or more dogs, cats, or other household pets that are owned by the owner or occupant of the premises and are not regularly intended for sale.
Laboratory, Medical, Scientific, or Technical: A facility for scientific, technical, or medical research, investigation, testing, analysis, or experimentation, but not for manufacture or sale of products.
Lot: One or more contiguous parcels of land under single ownership or control, to be used, developed, or built upon as a unit.
Mixed Use Development: The development of a neighborhood, tract of land, building or structure with a variety of complementary and integrated uses, such as, but not limited to residential, office, manufacturing, retail, eating and drinking establishments, public and recreation, in a compact village design.
Mobile Home. A building mass-produced in a factory as an individual unit designed for long-term residential use when connected to required utilities and designed and constructed on a chassis for transportation to a site for use. A mobile home shall be construed to remain a mobile home, subject to all regulations applying thereto, whether or not wheels, axles, hitch or other appurtenances of mobility are removed and regardless of the nature of the foundation provided. A mobile home shall not be construed to be a camping vehicle. Other factory-manufactured buildings, such as modular homes, not meeting the above criteria, shall not be construed to be mobile homes.
Non-Conforming Building or Structure. A building or structure of which the dimensions or location do not conform to all the applicable provisions of these Regulations, but which was legally existing at the effective date of the adoption of these Regulations or of any pertinent amendment thereto.
Non-Conforming Use. The use of land or structure does not conform to the applicable use provisions of these Regulations but was legally existing at the effective date of these Regulations or of any pertinent amendment thereto.
Office, General. A room, group of rooms or a building used primarily for conducting the affairs of a business, profession, service, industry, or government but excluding any medical services and facilities related to the practice of medicine.
Office, Medical or Health Care: A facility where human patients, who are typically not lodged overnight, are treated by physicians, dentists, therapists, other health care professionals or similar professions. Such facilities may include ancillary laboratory, rehabilitation, and pharmacy services.
Open Space: Land or water areas which include but are not limited to: areas left in their existing or natural state; areas and facilities for non-commercial, non-profit passive and active recreation; or areas for wildlife habitat, groundwater recharge, and scenic protection.
Principal Building. A building containing the principal use of a property. In the case of a farm, the residence, if any, shall be the principal building.
Principal Use. The main use of land or structures as distinguished from a secondary or accessory use.
Restaurant, Fast-Food. Any establishment whose business involves the sale of pre-prepared or rapidly prepared foods or beverages to the customer in a ready-to-consume state, and whose method of operation is such that customers normally order and obtain the product at a central location separate from the tables or counters used for consumption on site.
Restaurant, Standard. Any establishment whose principal business is the sale of foods prepared from scratch ingredients on the premises and beverages to the customer in a ready-to-consume state, and whose method of operation is such that an employee takes the seated customer's order and serves the food and beverages at the same table or counter at which said items are consumed. It also means a cafeteria-type operation, provided foods and beverages are consumed on the premises and are not typically served in paper, plastic, or other disposable containers.
Restaurant, Take-Out. Any establishment whose principal business is the sale of food that has been prepared from scratch ingredients on the premises to the customer in a ready-to-consume state and whose method of operation is such that customers order the product off site or at a counter on the premises and take the product off the site for consumption elsewhere.
Short-term rental. The provision of a room or space that is suitable or intended for occupancy for dwelling, sleeping, or lodging purposes, for a period of fewer than 30 consecutive days, in exchange for a charge for the occupancy.
Special Exception (Special Permit). A permit process authorized by the Connecticut General Statutes which allows land use only under special conditions due to the potential negative impacts from such uses. The special conditions must be included in the regulations.
Specialized Agricultural Buildings. The use of a building for intensive farming and farming-related activities that involves one or more of the following:
a. | Processing or packaging of farm products, by-products, or animal or poultry wastes |
b. | Shelter for more than 100 animals or 20,000 fowl; |
c. | Workplace for more than five (5) non-family, full-time employees; |
d. | Retail sales of products raised, or processed on the premises, other than in a seasonal roadside farm produce stand. |
Street. An improved right-of-way accepted for public use by lawful procedure and suitable for two-way vehicular travel; or a proposed street shown on a subdivision plan approved by the Commission.
Structure. Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires location on the ground or water or attachment to something having location on the ground or water. A structure shall be deemed to include, but not be limited to: buildings, swimming pools, tennis courts, towers, paddle or platform tennis courts, docks, balconies, open entries, porches, decks, handicap ramps, signs, permanent awnings, ground-mounted antennas, ground-mounted solar panels and satellite dishes, and fences or walls more than seven feet in height, other than retaining walls.
Temporary Events: A temporary festival or other such group or aggregation of rides, shows, games, exhibits, demonstrations or concessions or any combination thereof. Also, any special events such as weddings, large parties, and other such gatherings where the property is rented for a fee and not held within or on the grounds of a private residence in a residential district.
Tower. A structure intended to support equipment used to receive or transmit electromagnetic waves. Examples of towers include self-supporting lattice, guyed, and monopole.
Use. The purpose for which property is arranged, designed, or intended, or for which either land or building is or may be occupied or maintained.
Wetlands: Lands, including submerged lands, not regulated pursuant to Sections 22a-28 through 22a-35, inclusive, of the Connecticut General Statutes, which consist of any of the soil types designated as poorly drained, very poorly drained, alluvial, and floodplain by the National Cooperative Soil Survey, as it may be amended from time to time, of the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Such areas may include filled, graded or excavated sites which possess an aquic (saturated) soil moisture regime as defined by the USDA National Cooperative Soil Survey.
Wireless telecommunication facility. The equipment and structures involved in receiving or transmitting electromagnetic waves are associated with wireless telecommunication services.
Wireless telecommunication services. Services associated with the transmission and/or reception of wireless telecommunications. These services may include, but are not limited to cellular, personal communication services, specialized mobilized radio, and paging.
Yard. An unoccupied space on a lot, extended along the entire length of the lot lines.
Yard, Front. An open, unoccupied space, extending across the full width of the lot between the minimum required building setback line and the front lot line.
Yard, Side. An open, unoccupied space between the minimum required building setback line and the side lot line, extending from the front yard, or front lot line, to the rear lot line. A corner lot shall be considered to have two (2) front yards.
Yard, Rear. An open, unoccupied space, extending across the full width of the lot between the minimum required setback line and the rear lot line.