In this chapter the following terms, unless
a contrary meaning is required by the context or is specifically prescribed,
shall have the following meanings. Words used in the present tense
include the future, and the plural includes the singular; the word
“lot” includes the word “plot”; the word “building”
includes the word “structure”; the word “shall”
is intended to be mandatory; and “occupied” or “used”
shall be considered as though followed by the words “or intended,
arranged or designed to be used or occupied.” The word “person”
includes a corporation as well as an individual.
A building or use customarily incidental to and located on
the same lot with the principal building or use, except that if more
than 30% of the floor area or 50% of the lot area is occupied by such
use, it shall no longer be considered accessory.
General retail or concession, such as a newsstand, gift shop,
lunch counter, drugstore, etc., constructed in conjunction with some
other use, such as office or industrial, which is principally for
the use or convenience of the employees, clients, customers, or other
visitors to the principal use but is open to the general public and
does not exceed 5% of the total floor area of the principal use.
Capacity is considered to be adequate if the grade of service
is p.05 or better for a worst-case day in a preceding month, based
on the Erlang B Tables, prior to the date of application, or as measured
using direct traffic measurement of the personal wireless service
facility in question for existing facilities requesting major modification,
and where the call blocking is due to frequency contention at the
antenna(s).
Coverage is considered to be adequate within that area surrounding
a base station where the predicted (by radial plot) or measured (by
actual field measurements) median field strength of the transmitted
signal for at least 75% of the covered area is greater than —95
dbm. It is acceptable if there are holes within the area of adequate
coverage where the signal is less than —95 dbm, as long as the
signal regains its strength to greater than —95 dbm farther
away from the base station. For the limited purpose of determining
whether the use of a repeater is necessary or desirable, there shall
be deemed not to be adequate coverage within said holes. The outer
boundary of the area of adequate coverage, however, is that location
past which the signal does not regain a strength of greater than —95
dbm.
A structure or parcel of land used for the harboring and/or
care of more than three dogs that are more than six months old, whether
commercially operated or not.
Dwelling in a multifamily structure accommodating three or
more dwelling units.
The primary sending and receiving site in a wireless telecommunications
network.
A dwelling in which the person resident therein provides
eating and/or sleeping accommodations in not more than four guest
rooms which are not provided with separate cooking facilities and
whose guests use the cooking facility ordinarily used by the resident
family. There shall be one bathroom for every two guest rooms.
A building used for lodging, with or without meals, for compensation,
for between five and 20 individuals.
A structure enclosing useful space.
The vertical distance from the mean finished grade of the
ground adjoining the building to the highest point of the roof or
parapet for flat or shed roofs, to the deckline for mansard roofs,
and to the mean height between eaves and ridge for gable, hip, and
gambrel roofs. Not included are spires, cupolas, television antennas,
or other parts of structures which do not enclose potentially habitable
floor space.
A line parallel to the street line, between which and the
street line no part of any structure is located.
Unit of measure of the power level of an electromagnetic
signal expressed in decibels referenced to one milliwatt.
A building containing two dwelling units.
A single unit providing complete, independent living facilities
for one or more persons, including permanent provisions for living
and sleeping, cooking and sanitation.
Electromagnetic frequency radiation.
Any number of individuals related by blood or marriage or
not more than four persons not so related living and cooking together
in a single housekeeping unit.
Federal Communications Commission, the federal government
agency responsible for regulating telecommunications in the United
States.
The sum of the gross horizontal area of the several floors
of a building and its accessory buildings on the same lot, including
the area of basements not more than 50% below grade, roofed porches
and roofed terraces, excluding areas with less than six feet floor-to-ceiling
height. All dimensions shall be measured between exterior faces of
walls.
Includes but is not limited to gymnasiums (except public),
private clubs (athletic, health, or recreational), reducing salons,
and weight control establishments.
A contiguous row of shrubs or trees serving the purpose of
a fence.
A business or profession engaged in within a dwelling or
permitted accessory structure by a resident thereof as a use accessory
thereto.
A structure providing accommodations for compensation for
20 or more persons, exclusive of employees domiciled on the premises,
and in some cases including rooms for public assembly and dining.
A parcel of 10 acres or more oriented towards corporate business and/or light industrial uses with quality facilities and landscaping developed in conformance with the Use Regulation Schedule and § 125-16E.
Any article or material or collection thereof which is worn
out, cast off, or discarded and which is ready for destruction or
has been collected or stored for salvage or conversion. 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.
Premises, whether licensed or not, where waste or scrap articles
or materials are abandoned, stored, sorted, packed, bought or sold,
except where such activities are carried on entirely within an enclosed
building or within an open area of less than 200 square feet.
Research or testing laboratory, printing plant, manufacturing
establishment, or other assembly, packaging, finishing or processing
use, provided that all operations shall be such as to confine disturbing
smoke, fumes, dust, odors, vibrations and noise to the premises.
Any number of fur-bearing animals, hogs, animals for hire,
horses, cows, goats, sheep, or poultry other than customary household
pets and as further qualified in the Use Regulation Schedule; private
stable and dog kennel.
An area of land in one ownership with definite boundaries
ascertainable by recorded deed or plan and used or set aside and available
for use as the site of one or more buildings or for any other definite
purpose.
The horizontal area of a lot exclusive of any area in a street
or way open to public use. Not more than 10% of the lot area required
for zoning compliance shall be area under water nine months or more
in a normal year.
A lot which has an interior angle of less than 135° at
the intersection of two street lines. A lot abutting a curved street
shall be considered a corner lot if the tangents to the curve at the
point of intersection of the side lot lines intersect with an interior
angle of less than 105°.
Percentage of total lot area covered by structures or roofed.
That portion of a lot fronting upon and having access to
a street or public way, to be measured continuously along one street
line between its side lot lines and their intersection with the street
line or, in the case of a corner lot, to the point of intersection
of street side lines extended.
The horizontal distance between side lot lines, measured
parallel to the lot frontage at the proposed building line.
A movable or portable dwelling built on a chassis, designed
for connection to utilities when in use, and designed without necessity
of a permanent foundation for year-round living.
Premises which have been planned and improved for the placement
of mobile homes for nontransient use.
The measurement by the use of instruments in the field of
the radiation from a facility site as a whole or from individual personal
wireless service devices, towers, antennas, or repeaters.
The testing protocol, initially the Cobbs Protocol, which
is to be used to monitor emissions from existing and new personal
wireless service facilities and repeaters. The Planning Board may,
as the technology changes, require by written regulation the use of
other testing protocols. A copy of the Monitoring Protocol shall be
on file with the Board of Selectmen.
A lawfully existing use or building which does not conform
to the regulations for the district in which such use or building
exists.
School licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Education
for daytime care and instruction of preschool children.
Any institution licensed by the Department of Public Health
as a nursing, convalescent or rest home, charitable home for the aged,
hospital or sanitarium pursuant to MGL c. 111, §§ 51
and 71.
Lot area not covered by any structure, drives, parking or
storage, but including swimming pools, decks, patios, balconies and
any roof area developed for recreation.
Space adequate to park an automobile, not less than 8 1/2
x 20 feet, plus means of access. Where spaces are not marked, each
space shall be assumed to require 350 square feet.
Any antenna, appurtenance, wiring, or equipment used in connection
with the reception or transmission of electromagnetic radiation that
is attached to a structure.
A general term to include wireless communication building,
personal wireless service device, and personal wireless service structure.
An entity, licensed by the FCC, to provide personal wireless
services to individuals or institutions.
Commercial mobile devices, unlicensed wireless services,
and common carrier wireless exchange access services. These services
include cellular services, personal communications services (PCS),
specialized mobile radio services, and paging services.
Any structure or tower intended to support equipment used
for the transmission and reception of electromagnetic radiation, including
the antennas, wiring or other devices attached to or mounted on a
structure.
An endowed or charitably supported nonprofit religious or
nonsectarian activity maintained for a public or semipublic use.
Entrance to a building or structure observable and accessible
from a public way, public parking or accessory parking area.
Electrical, gas, steam, water, communication or transportation
systems and their appurtenances.
ESSENTIAL FACILITY -- Underground or overhead gas, electric,
steam or water transmission or distribution systems, including poles,
wires, mains, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits, cables, traffic signals,
hydrants and other similar equipment and accessories in connection
therewith reasonably necessary for the furnishing of adequate service
by such public utility.
The extraction and processing of rock.
A small receiver/relay transmitter of not more than 20 watts'
output designed to provide service to areas that are not able to receive
adequate coverage directly from a base station.
Establishment for the sale of prepared food, more than half
of which is consumed on the site.
Establishment for the sale of prepared food, some of which
but less than half of which is consumed on the site.
Establishment for the sale of prepared food, none of which
is consumed on the site.
Any device to inform or attract the attention of persons
not on the premises on which the sign is located, including window
signs and any building surfaces which are internally illuminated or
decorated with gaseous tube or other lights; provided, however, that
the following shall not be included in the application of the regulations
of this chapter:
Signs not exceeding one square foot in area
and bearing only property numbers, post box numbers, names of occupants
of premises, or other identification of premises not having commercial
connotations.
Flags and insignia of any government except
when displayed in connection with commercial promotion.
Legal notices; identification, informational
or directional signs erected or required by governmental bodies.
Integral decorative or architectural features
of buildings, except letters, trademarks, moving parts, or moving
lights.
Signs directing and guiding traffic and parking
on private property but bearing no advertising matter.
Signs on or in the rolling stock, stations,
or structures of or used by common carriers except on bridges or viaducts
or abutments thereof.
Standard gasoline pumps bearing thereon in usual
size and form the name, type, and price of gasoline.
The entire area within a regular geometric form or combinations
of regular geometric forms comprising all of the display area of the
sign and including all of the elements of the matter displayed. One
side only of signs with faces at 180° to each other shall be counted.
Frames and structural members not bearing advertising matter shall
not be included in computation of sign area unless those elements
are internally or decoratively lighted.
A sign erected or affixed to the land and not attached to
a building.
Any billboard or sign not an accessory sign.
A sign which, by its inherent nature, can be expected to
remain in place for less than a year, such as real estate signs or
signs inside display windows.
A highway owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or one
designated as a state numbered highway by the Massachusetts Department
of Public Works.
Any retail establishment open longer than normal business
hours, 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., or with a third shift of employees.
That portion of a building between the top of any floor and
the top of the floor or roof next above, counting as a half story
such portion if more than half its exterior wall area is below grade
or if directly under a sloping roof in which more than half the exterior
wall perimeter has less than three feet floor-rafters interior dimension,
and excluding cellar or attic spaces used solely for utilities and
storage.
A way providing legally sufficient frontage for subdivision
of land under the requirements of MGL c. 41, § 81L.
The right-of-way line of a street, assumed to be 20 feet
from the center of the traveled roadway where no such right-of-way
line has been established or can be readily determined.
Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires
fixed location on the ground or attachment to something located on
the ground, including all buildings with floor area exceeding 75 square
feet, mobile homes, billboards, certain swimming pools (see below),
tanks, or the like, or part thereof, but not including smaller buildings,
paving, usual lawn accessories, or retaining walls or fences.
Any constructed pool, located above or below the ground,
whether portable or fixed, used or capable of being used for swimming,
wading, or bathing purposes. Pools having a depth of two feet or more
and having a capacity of 200 cubic feet or more in volume shall be
considered structures.
Tent, construction shanty, or trailer, or similarly portable
or demountable structure intended for continuous use for not longer
than one year.
Use, occupation or occupancy of a parcel of land, building
or structure for a period not to exceed one calendar year.
An area of land which may be subdivided or otherwise allocated
to accommodate a use or uses on finished lots which may be sold separately
or retained in one or common ownership.
Any motor vehicle required to be registered by law of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts for operation on public ways, not so
registered.
A bus or truck having capacity in excess of the limits for
a light commercial vehicle, or motorized construction equipment other
than trucks.
A taxi; a bus with capacity not exceeding 10 passengers;
or a truck with gross vehicle weight (GVW) rating not exceeding 14,000
pounds and enclosed cargo area not exceeding 400 cubic feet.
Either edge of a driveway or curb cut used for the exit of
motor vehicles, whichever is more restrictive.
A required open space, unobstructed with buildings and structures,
other than permitted signs, fences, or other customary yard accessories.
A yard extending between lot side lines across the front
of a lot adjacent to each street it adjoins.
A yard extending from the rear line of the required front
yard to the rear lot line.
A yard extending across the rear of the lot between inner
side yard lines.
