The Zoning Officer may, upon adoption of this chapter or amendment thereof, identify and register all nonconforming uses, lots and structures. Upon identifying the nonconformity, the Zoning Officer shall mail registration forms to the owner of record.
The lawful use of any lot, building or structure which is existing and lawful at the time of the enactment of this chapter, or, in the case of an amendment to this chapter, at the time of such an amendment, may be continued except as hereinafter provided, although such use does not conform to the provisions of this chapter or subsequent amendments.
A.
A structure that does not conform with the dimensional standards or any other requirements of the district in which it is located may only be expanded by special exception, provided that:
(1)
A nonconforming building or structure shall not be enlarged, increased, repaired, maintained, or modified in any manner which will further violate any applicable area, yard, and height regulation imposed by this chapter, except that a primary building, which existed at the effective date of this chapter which is nonconforming as to a yard requirement may have repairs, improvements, modifications and/or additions made to those portions of the building located within the required yard, provided that no repair, improvement, modification and/or addition shall be made which will cause any part of the building to project into the yard farther than the building did at the effective date of this chapter.
B.
A use that does not conform to the use regulations of this district in which it is located may be enlarged by special exception, provided that:
(1)
The proposed enlargement shall take place only upon the lot or contiguous lots held in the same ownership as that existing at the time the use became nonconforming. Permission to enlarge the nonconforming use, as described in this section, shall not be construed to mean that the new use or uses may be established. A nonconforming use shall be prohibited from encroaching on another parcel of land subsequently added to the original parcel.
(2)
The proposed enlargement shall conform to the dimensional standards as well as any and all other requirements of the district in which the said enlargement is located.
(3)
Any increase in building or floor area shall not exceed an aggregate of more than 25% of the building or the floor area, whichever is less, which was existing at the time that the use became nonconforming under this or any previous ordinance, and, in any event, shall be permitted only special exception under the provisions of this chapter. Structures or land uses that have reached their maximum expansion allowance under previous ordinances are not eligible for any increase in building or floor area under this chapter. A structure which is nonconforming in terms of height shall not be enlarged to increase the height.
A nonconforming building, or any building containing a nonconforming use, which is destroyed, whether wholly or partially, by fire, explosion, flood or other phenomenon, or which is legally condemned, may be reconstructed and used for the same nonconforming use, provided that the reconstruction of the building shall commence within one year from the date the building was destroyed or condemned, and shall be carried on without interruption.
If a nonconforming use of a building or land is abandoned for a continuous period of one year or more, subsequent use of such a building or land shall be in conformity with the provisions of this chapter. For the purpose of this chapter, abandonment shall commence when the nonconforming use ceases.
Once changed to a conforming use, no building, structure or land shall be permitted to revert to a nonconforming use. A nonconforming use may be changed to another nonconforming use only under all of the following conditions:
A.
Such change shall be permitted only as a special exception.
B.
The applicant shall show that the nonconforming use cannot reasonably be changed to a permitted use.
C.
The applicant shall show that the proposed change will be less objectionable in external effects than the existing nonconforming use, with respect to: