Article III. DEFINITION OF TERMS USES IN THIS ORDINANCE  

Words Not Defined. Words not defined herein shall have the meanings as set forth in Webster's Eighth New Collegiate Dictionary, as revised.

Interpretation of Certain Words. Words used in the present tense include the future tense. Words used in the singular number include the plural, and words used in the plural include the singular. The word "person" includes a firm, copartnership, or corporation. The word "lot" includes the word "plot" or "parcel." The word "building" includes the word "structure."

For the purpose of this ordinance, certain words or terms used herein shall be defined as follows:

1.

Administrator, Zoning: The person, officer, or official and his authorized representative whom the governing authority has designated as its agent for the administration of these regulations.

2.

Advertising Signs: Any freestanding or partly or wholly attached structure displayed for the purpose of conveying some information, knowledge, or idea to the public.

3.

Advertising Signs, Incidental or Accessory:

A.

A nonilluminated professional or announcement sign not exceeding one (1) square foot in area and attached wholly to a building.

B.

A sign pertaining only to the rent, lease, or sale of the premises upon which displayed and which does not exceed eight (8) square feet in area.

C.

A sign or bulletin board not exceeding twenty-four (24) square feet in area upon the premises of a church or other institution for the purpose of displaying the name of the church or institution and the activities and services.

D.

Directional or information signs of a public or quasi-public nature not exceeding eight (8) square feet in area which state the name or location of a town, village, hospital, community center, private school, college, youth organization, church or other place of worship, or the name or place of meeting of an official or civic body such as a Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club, or Kiwanis Club.

4.

Advertising Signs, Principal Use: An attached, freestanding, or structural sign pertaining only to the advertising, announcing, or describing of the principal use or uses of the premises upon which displayed.

5.

Advertising Signs, Separate Use: Any sign, including a standard poster panel sign or fabricated sign, which directs attention to a business, commodity, service, entertainment, or other activity conducted, sold, or offered elsewhere than on the premises on which said sign is located.

6.

Alteration of Building: Any change in the supporting members of a building (such as bearing walls, columns, girders) except such change as may be required for its safety; and addition to a building; any change in the use of a building; or any change in the location of a building.

7.

Animal Boarding Place: One (1) or more buildings or a lot designed or arranged for the boarding, breeding, or care of dogs, cats, and other animals for other than agricultural purposes, but not including stables.

8.

Animal Enclosure: A structure consisting of wire or chain link, with wood or metal posts for the purpose of confining animals to a specific area.

9.

Auto Repair, Major: Auto repair and maintenance activities other than minor auto repair, but including painting.

10.

Auto Repair, Minor: Auto repair and maintenance activities which include the installation of tires, carburetors, ignition parts, and other minor accessory parts as shall be incidental to the normal upkeep of an automobile.

11.

Automobile Parking Lot: A tract of land or a building containing more than one thousand (1,000) square feet of area set aside for the day or night parking for motor vehicles of the parking lot patron (i.e., employee, proprietor, customer, visitor).

12.

Automobile Salvage Yard: Any commercial activity whose basic function is the collection and storage of automobiles, wrecked or in any physical condition, for the purpose of reclaiming parts therefrom for reuse.

13.

Automobile Service Station: A building or lot having pumps and storage tanks at which fuels, oils, or accessories for the use of motor vehicles are dispensed, sold, or offered for sale at retail and where repair service is incidental.

14.

Building: Any structure having a roof supported by columns or by walls and intended for shelter, housing, or enclosure of persons, animals, or property of any kind.

15.

Building, Accessory: A building subordinate to the main building on a lot and used for purposes customarily incidental to those of the main building.

16.

Building, Principal: A building in which is conducted the main or principal use of the lot on which said building is situated.

17.

Centerline of Street: That line surveyed and monumented by the governing body shall be the centerline of the street; or if such centerline has not been surveyed, it shall be that line running midway between the outside curbs or ditches of such street.

18.

Child Care Center: A building and an outdoor area designed or altered and used for the care and instruction of two (2) or more children (excluding members of the facility occupying the premises) for any part of any day and operated on a regular basis.

19.

Club or Lodge: A private incorporated or unincorporated association for civic, social, cultural, religious, literary, political, recreational, or like activities. The sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages on the premises is not permitted unless such activities are a permitted use or activity in the district within which the use is located. The term club or lodge shall not include nightclubs, or other institutions operated for profit.

20.

Commercial/Security Fence: Constructed of galvanized wire with metal posts or other appropriate material visually compatible with adjacent uses.

21.

Day Nursery and Kindergarten: A building designed or altered and intended to be used for the daytime care or instruction of two (2) or more preschool children and operated on a regular basis.

22.

Decorative or Ornamental Fence: Wood, rail, concrete, stone or a combination thereof or any other material as desired, provided such material is visually compatible with the surrounding area.

23.

Department Store: A business establishment which retails a wide range of dry good products.

24.

Dwelling: A building or portion thereof arranged or designed to provide living facilities for one or more persons living as a single housekeeping unit or family.

25.

Dwelling Unit: One (1) or more rooms designed as a unit, including a kitchen, bathroom, and sleeping area, to provide complete housekeeping facilities for one (1) or more persons living as a single housekeeping unit or family.

26.

Eleemosynary or Philanthropic Institution: A not-for-profit organization that provides a variety of services to its members or the community but does not provide sleeping accommodations or daily meals. Such institutions include, but are not limited to, Young Men's Christian Association, Jewish Educational Alliance, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and the American Red Cross.

27.

Family: One (1) person or two (2) or more persons related by blood or marriage, with any number of natural children, foster children, stepchildren, or adopted children; or a group of not more than six (6) persons, including any live-in house manager or supervisory persons, not necessarily related by blood or marriage, living together as a single housekeeping unit in a dwelling unit.

28.

Fortune-Telling: Fortune-telling shall include all forms of fortune-telling, including, but not limited to, palm reading, casting of horoscopes, and tea leaf reading.

29.

Group Development Project: Two (2) or more principal buildings devoted to a common or similar use, constructed on a single plat of ground, which are made a part of a unified industrial, commercial, or apartment project.

30.

Home Occupation: An occupation for gain or support which is customarily conducted in a dwelling unit, which is conducted only by members of a family residing in the dwelling unit, which is conducted entirely within a dwelling unit, which sells only those goods or services produced in the dwelling unit, and which only uses equipment customarily used in the home for household purposes.

31.

Hospital: Any institution receiving inpatients or a public institution receiving outpatients and authorized under state law to render medical, surgical, or obstetrical care.

32.

Hotel: A building containing individual guest rooms or suites of rooms, in which lodging, with or without meals, is provided and offered to the public for compensation, and which is open primarily to transient guests.

33.

Lot: A developed or undeveloped tract of land which is legally transferable as a single unit of land.

34.

Lot, Through: A lot which has frontage on two (2) streets which do not intersect and which are parallel or are approximately parallel.

35.

Lot Width: The distance between the side lot lines of a lot measured at the building line.

36.

Mini-Warehouse: A building or a group of buildings in a controlled-access and fenced compound that contains varying sizes of individual, compartmentalized, and controlled-access stalls, or lockers, for the dead storage of customer's goods or wares.

37.

Mobile Home: A detached single-family dwelling unit designed for long-term occupancy; designed to be transported after fabrication on wheels, arriving at the site where it is to be occupied as a dwelling unit.

38.

Mobile Home Park: Any lot, parcel, or tract of land, together with open spaces required by these regulations, used, designed, maintained, or held to accommodate two (2) or more mobile homes, including all buildings. A mobile home park does not include mobile home sales lots on which mobile homes are parked for inspection or sale.

39.

Mobile Home Parking Space: The space required to park one (1) residential mobile home with facilities provided for water and sewer attachments, electrical attachments, and other appropriate facilities.

40.

Mobile Home, Residential: A detached single-family dwelling unit designed for long term occupancy; designed to be transported after fabrication on wheels, arriving at the site where it is to be occupied as a dwelling unit.

41.

Mobile Home Stand: That part of an individual lot which has been reserved for the placement of one (1) mobile home unit.

42.

Modular Home: A factory-fabricated transportable building designed to be used by itself or to be incorporated with similar units at a building site into a modular structure and placed on a permanent foundation. The term "modular" applies to major assemblies and may or may not include prefabricated panels, trusses, plumbing trees, and other prefabricated subelements which are to be incorporated into a structure at the site.

43.

Moped: A motor-driven cycle equipped with two (2) or three (3) wheels, foot pedals to permit muscular propulsion and an independent power source providing a maximum of two (2) brake horsepower. If a combustion engine is used, the maximum piston or rotor displacement shall be three and five-hundredths (3.05) cubic inches (fifty (50) cubic centimeters) regardless of the number of chambers in such power source. The power source shall be capable of propelling the vehicle, unassisted, at a speed not to exceed thirty (30) mph (48.28 kmh) on level road surface and is equipped with a power drive system that functions directly or automatically only, not requiring clutching or shifting by the operator after the drive system is engaged.

44.

Motel: One (1) or more buildings containing sleeping units which have individual access to the outside in which accommodations are provided and offered to transient guests for compensation. The term "motel" shall include tourist cabins and tourist courts.

45.

Nonconforming Use: A structure or land lawfully occupied by a use at the time of the adoption or subsequent amendment of this ordinance which is not permitted in the district in which such structure or land is located.

46.

Parking Space: The area required for parking one (1) automobile which shall be a minimum of nine (9) feet wide and twenty (20) feet long, not including passageways.

47.

Pharmacy: A building or part of a building used or intended to be used for the specific purpose of preparing, compounding, and dispensing medicines or medications, and personal hygienic needs.

48.

Planning Commission: The Port Wentworth Planning Commission.

49.

Privacy Fence: Wood or other material as appropriate to maintain esthetic decor that is visually compatible with adjoining properties not to exceed six (6) feet in height.

50.

Public Approved Access: A street, road, drive, or vehicular access easement constructed to City design standards or otherwise approved by the Port Wentworth City Council.

51.

Public Utility: Pipelines, power transmission lines, telephone and telegraph lines, railroad tracks, but not a railroad yard, and such related public utility structure or station necessary for the installation and maintenance of utility services.

52.

Recreational Vehicle: Travel trailers, self-propelled motor homes, truck campers, and camping trailers.

53.

Restaurant, Drive-in: A restaurant where service may also be obtained while remaining in one's automobile.

54.

Restaurant, Fast Food: An establishment whose principal business is the sale of food and/or beverages in a ready-to-consume state for consumption; (1) within the restaurant building, (2) within a motor vehicle parked on the premises, or (3) off the premises as carry-out orders, and whose principal method of operation includes the following characteristics: food and/or beverages are usually served in edible containers or in paper, plastic, or other disposal containers.

55.

Restaurant, Standard: An establishment whose principal business is the sale of food and/or beverages to customers in a ready-to-consume state, and whose principal method or operation includes one (1) or both of the following characteristics:

(1)

Customers, normally provided with an individual menu, are served their foods and beverages by a restaurant employee at the same table or counter at which food and beverages are consumed;

(2)

A cafeteria-type operation where food and beverages generally are consumed within the restaurant building.

56.

Road, Connecting Route: Those roads which carry traffic from minor streets to arteries and which are so identified on the Road Classification Map of Port Wentworth.

57.

Road, Major Artery: Those roads which are designed and intended to be major highway thoroughfares and which are so identified on the Road Classification Map of Port Wentworth.

58.

Salvage Yard: Any commercial activity, other than an automobile salvage yard, whose basic function is the collection and storage of metals or other materials, from any source or in any form, for the purpose of reclaiming for reprocessing as bulk material.

59.

Shipping Container: A receptacle designed for transport of cargo aboard ship and also by truck trailer or rail car, and which exhibits features designed to facilitate the movement of containerized cargo, including but not limited to corner fittings for pins, design for stacking, size dimensions of eight (8) feet wide by eight (8) or ten (10) feet high by twenty (20), thirty-five (35), or forty (40) feet in length, and which is otherwise designed and constructed in conformance with standards for shipping containers as set forth by the International Standards Organization.

60.

Specialty Shops: Specialized retail sale shops which are normally associated with and restricted to general gift items, or special interest boutique items. Such shops shall include gift, candy, florist, jewelry, craft, hobby, book, video, clothing shops, interior decorating sales, bicycle rental (excluding bicycle sales and repair) and stores of a similar nature not to include adult bookstores, adult video stores, or the sale or distribution of any obscene materials as set forth in O.C.G.A. § 16-12-80.

61.

Storage Yards: An outdoor area which is connected to a principal use and which is used to store items commonly associated with said principal use.

62.

Street: A public or private street, open to general public use and having a pavement or roadbed width of not less than twenty (20) feet, which affords the principal means of access to abutting property. Streets are divided into three (3) classes: Arterial, Collector, and Minor Streets, and are defined as shown on the "Street Classification Map of Port Wentworth, Georgia" and such street designations are made a part of said map and this ordinance.

63.

Structure: Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires more or less permanent location on the ground or which is attached to something having more or less permanent location on the ground.

64.

Truck Stop: A combination of uses involving the maintenance, servicing, storage, or minor repair of commercial vehicles, including the dispensing of motor fuel or other petroleum products directly into motor vehicles, and the sale of accessories or equipment for trucks and similar commercial vehicles. Such use may also include overnight accommodations solely for the use of truck crews, and restaurant facilities.

65.

Truck Terminal: A facility from which trucks are dispatched to various destinations on a regular basis and which may include the storage and loading and unloading of freight scheduled to be forwarded to a given destination.

66.

Use, Temporary Accessory: A temporary use of a building in connection with a construction project or real estate development.

67.

Utility Fence: Chain link construction with treated wood or metal posts not to exceed four (4) feet enclosing a lot or portion of a lot.

68.

Yard: An open space on a lot situated between the principal building on such lot and the lot line of such lot or situated between the principal building on such lot and the centerline of an abutting street right-of-way. In measuring a yard for determining the width of a side yard, the depth of a front yard, or the depth of a rear yard, the minimum horizontal distance between the lot line or the street right-of-way centerline and the principal building on the lot shall be used.

69.

Yard, Front: A yard extending across the front of a lot from side lot line to side lot line and lying between the centerline of the abutting street right-of-way and the principal building on the lot.

70.

Yard, Rear: A yard extending across the rear of a lot from side lot line to side lot line and lying between the rear property line and the principal building on a lot.

71.

Yard, Side: A yard extending along either side of a lot between the front and rear yard and lying between the side lot line and the principal building on a lot.