[Amended 6-13-2026]
Unless specifically defined in this section, words and phrases used in this chapter shall have the same meaning as they have at common law and to give this chapter its most reasonable application.
The owner of any property with at least one common boundary or point, or that lies across a road, driveway, or stream from the property in an application or appeal.
A self-contained dwelling unit located within, attached to, or detached from a single-family dwelling unit located on the same parcel of land.
A use or structure (detached) that is incidental and subordinate to the principal use or structure. Accessory uses, when aggregated, shall not subordinate the principal use of the lot. A deck or similar extension of the principal structure or a garage attached to the principal structure by a roof or a common wall is considered part of the principal structure.
An appeal in which it is alleged that there is an error in any order, requirement, decision, or determination made by, or a failure to act by, the Code Enforcement Officer or Planning Board in the administration of the Town ordinances. This definition does not allow for the appeal of a violation.
A person whose land is directly or indirectly affected by the granting or denial of a permit or variance under the Town ordinances.
A person whose land abuts land for which a permit or variance has been granted.
Any other person or group of persons who has suffered particularized injury as a result of the granting or denial of such permit or variance.
A person certified under 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4451 (including exceptions in § 4451, Paragraph 1) and employed by a municipality to enforce all applicable comprehensive planning and land use laws and ordinances.
A vehicle accessway serving three or fewer dwelling units.
Any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, including but not limited to buildings or other structures; mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation, drilling operations or storage of equipment or materials.
Numerical standards relating to spatial relationships, including but not limited to frontage, lot width, lot area, percentage of lot coverage, structure height, shore frontage, percentage of structure expansion, and setbacks.
A watercourse flowing into a culvert.
A watercourse flowing out of a culvert.
A vehicular accessway serving three lots or fewer. A driveway is not considered a structure.
The connection between a driveway and a Town-maintained road.
The construction, alteration, or maintenance of gas, electrical, or communication facilities; steam, fuel, electric power or water transmission or distribution lines, towers, and related equipment; telephone cables or lines, poles, and related equipment; gas, oil, water, slurry or other similar pipelines; municipal sewage lines, collection or supply systems, and associated storage tanks. Such systems may include towers, poles, wires, mains, drains, pipes, conduits, cables, fire alarms and police call boxes, traffic signals, hydrants and similar accessories, but shall not include service drops or buildings that are necessary for the furnishing of such services.
An increase in the floor area or volume of a nonconforming structure, including but not limited to dormers, additions, decks, garages, patios, porches, and greenhouses, that does not become more invasive into the setback area.
An increase in the floor area or volume of a structure, including but not limited to dormers, additions, bay windows, decks, garages, patios, porches, and greenhouses.
The sum of the horizontal area of the floor(s) of a structure enclosed by exterior walls, plus the horizontal area of any unenclosed portions of a structure such as porches and decks.
The length of a lot bordering on a public or private road measured in a straight line between the intersections of the side property lines with the right-of-way line of the public or private road.
A building or use devoted to some public, governmental, educational, charitable, medical, or similar purpose.
A parcel of land described on a deed, plan, or similar legal document.
The area of land enclosed within the property lines of a lot, minus the following: land beneath the normal high-water line of a water body, land beneath the upland edge of a wetland; land beneath roads serving more than two lots; and land encumbered by an easement or a right-of-way.
See "frontage, lot."
See "property line, rear," and "property line, side."
Land designated as a separate and distinct parcel in a legally recorded deed or plan filed in the Androscoggin County Registry of Deeds.
See "lot area."
The horizontal distance between the side property lines measured at the setback line.
A structural unit or units designated for occupancy and constructed in a manufacturing facility and transported, by the use of its own chassis or an independent chassis, to a building site. The term includes any type of building that is constructed at a manufacturing facility and is transported to a building site where it is used for housing and that may be purchased or sold by a dealer in the interim. For purposes of this section, two types of manufactured housing are included. Those two types are:
Those units constructed after June 15, 1976, commonly called "newer mobile homes," that the manufacturer certifies are constructed in compliance with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development standards, meaning structures transportable in one or more sections that in the traveling mode are 14 body feet or more in width and are 750 or more square feet and that are built on a permanent chassis and are designed to be used as dwellings, with or without permanent foundations, when connected to the required utilities, including the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, or electrical systems contained in the unit. This term also includes any structure that meets all the requirements of this subsection except the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification required by the Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and complies with the standards established under the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, 42 U.S.C. § 5401 et. seq.
Those units, commonly called "modular homes," that the manufacturer certifies are constructed in compliance with 10 M.R.S.A. Ch. 951 and rules adopted under that chapter, meaning structures, transportable in one or more sections, that are not constructed on a permanent chassis and are designed to be used as dwellings on foundation when connected to required utilities, including the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, or electrical systems contained in the unit.
A single lot of record that, at the effective date of adoption or amendment to the Town of Wales adopted ordinances, does not meet the area, frontage, or width requirements stated in the ordinances.
A structure that does not meet any one or more of the dimensional requirements of setback, height, or lot coverage but that is allowed solely because it was in lawful existence at the time this chapter or subsequent amendments took effect.
See "open space subdivision" in Chapter 185, Subdivision.
All contiguous lands in the same ownership, whether or not the tract is separated at any point by an intermittent or nonnavigable stream; tidal waters where there is no flow at low tide; or a private road established by the abutting landowners, provided that lands located on opposite sides of a public or private road are each considered a separate parcel, unless the road was established by the owner of the land on both sides of the road.
An individual, a corporation, a governmental agency, a municipality, a trust, an estate, a partnership, an association, two or more individuals having a joint or common interest, or any other legal entity.
A structure in which the primary use of the lot is conducted.
A line dividing a parcel of land from another.
The line opposite the line that forms the lot frontage or the shore frontage.
Any property line other than a front or rear property line.
See "property line, rear."
An easement for vehicular and pedestrian access.
The outer limits of the traveled way of a driveway or road or the limits of the easement of a driveway or road, where defined.
Any public ways and private ways, including collector streets, minor streets, private streets, areas on activity plans designated as rights-of-way, and common driveways for vehicular access, designed and constructed in accordance with Chapter 153, Roads and Driveways, of the Code of the Town of Wales.
The nearest horizontal distance from a property line or the normal high-water line of a water body or tributary stream, or upland edge of a wetland, to the nearest part of a structure, road, parking space, or other regulated object or area.
The length of a lot bordering on a water body or wetland measured in a straight line between the intersections of the lot lines with the shoreline.
The land area located within 250 feet, horizontal distance, of the normal high-water line of any great pond.
The land area located within 250 feet, horizontal distance, of the upland edge of a freshwater wetland.
The land area located within 75 feet, horizontal distance, of the normal high-water line of a stream.
See "property line, side."
The distance required to see an object from a driveway entrance with the eye and the object both at 3.5 feet above the ground and from a point at the driveway entrance 15 feet from the center line of the traveled way of the Town-maintained road.
See "floor area."
Anything built, either temporarily or permanently, for the support, shelter, or enclosure of people, animals, goods, or property of any kind, together with anything constructed or erected, either temporarily or permanently, with a fixed location on or in the ground, exclusive of fences, and poles, wiring and other aerial equipment normally associated with service drops as well as guying and guy anchors and wells. The term includes structures temporarily or permanently located, such as mobile homes, modular homes, decks, patios, and satellite dishes.
As defined in 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4401.
See "parcel, or tract, of land."
The actual portion of a driveway or road that is used for vehicular or pedestrian access.
A room or group of rooms designed or equipped exclusively for a permanent, pedestrian access.
A room or group of rooms designated or equipped exclusively for only one type of permanent, seasonal, or temporary commercial use. The term includes motor vehicles on which motor vehicle taxes are not current.
A room or group of rooms designated or equipped exclusively for use as permanent, seasonal, or temporary living quarters for only one family. The term includes mobile homes and includes recreational vehicles on which excise taxes are not current.
A lot on which no structure exists.
An appeal for relief from dimensional requirements of this chapter.
The volume of all portions of a structure enclosed by a roof and fixed exterior walls, as measured from the exterior faces of these walls and roof.
Any great pond or stream.
A line separating the shoreland zone from other land in the Town.