This chapter shall be known and may be cited
as the "City of Middletown, New York, Zoning Ordinance."
This chapter is deemed necessary to achieve
the following purposes:
A.
Promote orderly development. To protect the character
and maintain the stability of residential, commercial and industrial
areas within the City, and to promote the orderly and beneficial development
of such areas so as to enhance the quality of life of all residents
of the City.
B.
Regulate intensity of use. To regulate the intensity
of use of lots, and to determine the area of open spaces surrounding
buildings necessary to provide adequate light and air, privacy and
convenience of access to property, and to protect the public health
and to regulate solar access and the accommodation of solar energy
systems and equipment.
C.
Regulate location of buildings. To establish building
lines and the location of buildings designed for residential, commercial,
industrial or other uses within such lines.
D.
Establish standards of development. To fix reasonable
standards to which buildings or structures shall conform.
E.
Prohibit incompatible uses. To prohibit uses, buildings
or structures that are incompatible with the character of development
or the permitted uses within specified zoning districts.
F.
Regulate alterations of existing buildings. To prevent
such additions to and alterations or remodeling of existing buildings
or structures as would not comply with the restrictions and limitations
imposed hereunder.
G.
Limit congestion in streets. To limit congestion in
the public streets and so protect the public health, safety, convenience
and the general welfare by providing for off-street parking of motor
vehicles and for the regulation of the loading and unloading of commercial
vehicles within 200 feet of a property.
H.
Protect against hazards. To provide protection against
fire, explosion, noxious fumes and other hazards in the interest of
the public health, safety, comfort and the general welfare and maintain
health by providing suitable environment.
I.
Conserve taxable value of land. To conserve the taxable
value of land and buildings throughout the City.
J.
Issue special use permits and site plan approvals.
To issue special use permits and site plan approvals when in the best
interest of the City.
K.
Protect residential areas. To provide for the protection
of residential areas and the provision of privacy for families.
L.
Eliminate nonconforming uses. To provide for the gradual
elimination of nonconforming uses.
M.
Accommodate new development. To provide for the accommodation
of new development in such a way as to maintain and enhance the desirable
aesthetic qualities of the City.
N.
Encourage flexibility in design. To provide for the
encouragement of flexibility in the design and development of land
in such a way as to produce the most appropriate use of lands and
to improve the quality of life in the City of Middletown, in accordance
with the Master Plan of the City of Middletown.
Except where specifically defined herein, all
words used in this chapter shall carry their customary 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."
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
A use incidental to the principal use of a building. In buildings
restricted to residential use, a one-, two- or three-car garage, the
office of a professional, customary family and home occupations, and
workshops not conducted for compensation shall be deemed accessory
uses.
A family home for adults, a shelter for adults, a residence
for adults, an enriched housing program or an adult home which provides
temporary or long-term residential care and services to adults who
though not requiring continual medical or nursing care are, by reason
of physical or other limitations associated with age, physical or
mental disabilities or other factors, unable or substantially unable
to live independently.
A public thoroughfare not over 20 feet wide which affords
only a secondary means of access to abutting property.
Any change which would tend to prolong or affect the life
of the supporting members of a building or structure, such as bearing
walls, columns, beams or girders.
A device used to transmit and/or receive radio or electromagnetic
waves, including but not limited to directional antennas, such as
panels and microwave dishes and omnidirectional antennas, such as
whip antennas.
Accessory buildings and structures, including base stations
designed and used to shelter equipment and/or to support personal
wireless services (as defined herein). The term "antenna accessory
structures" does not include offices, long-term storage of vehicles
or other equipment storage, or broadcast studios.
Same as "dwelling unit."
A building arranged, intended or designed to be occupied
by three or more families living independently of each other. See
also "dwelling, multiple."
An open area, other than a street, used for the display or
sale of new or used automobiles or trailers, and where no repair work
is done except minor incidental repair of the automobiles or trailers
displayed and sold on the premises.
The dismantling or wrecking of motor vehicles of all kinds
or trailers, or the storage, sale or dumping of dismantled, partially
dismantled, obsolete or wrecked vehicles or their parts.
A story partly or wholly underground. For purposes of height
measurement, a basement shall be counted as a story where more than
1/2 of its height is above the average level of the adjoining ground.
A person who is housed with or without meals in a dwelling
or dwelling unit and is not the owner or lessee of the dwelling or
dwelling unit.
Any dwelling in which more than three persons, either individually
or as families, are housed or lodged for hire, and used for single
room occupancy, or any dwelling that provides sleeping accommodations
in three or more individual rooms on either a transient or permanent
basis, without cooking and toilet facilities, as defined below, for
each individual occupant of family; however, excepting those locations
as defined in the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building
Code as an adult residential care facility.
Any structure having a roof supported by columns or by walls
and intended for the shelter, housing or enclosure of persons, animals
or property of any kind.
A supplemental building, the use of which is incidental to
that of a main or principal building and located on the same lot therewith.
A building surrounded by open space on the same lot.
The line of that face of the building nearest the front line
of the lot. This face includes sun parlors and covered porches, whether
enclosed or unenclosed, but does not include steps.
The vertical distance measured from the average elevation
of the proposed finished grade at the front of the building to the
highest point of the roof for flat roofs, to the deckline of mansard
roofs, and to the mean height between eaves and ridge for gable, hip
and gambrel roofs.
A building in which is conducted the principal use of the
lot on which it is located.
A story partly underground and having more than 1/2 of its
clear height below the average level of the adjoining ground. A cellar
shall not be considered in determining the permissible number of stories
and is not a habitable space.
An organization catering exclusively to members and their
guests, or premises and buildings for recreational or athletic purposes
which are not conducted primarily for gain, providing there are not
conducted any vending stands, merchandising or commercial activities
except as required generally for the membership and purposes of such
club. A membership club does not include an adult use, as hereinafter
defined,[1] or a theater, as hereinafter defined.
Any mobile service that is provided for profit and makes
interconnected service available to the public or to such classes
of eligible users as to be effectively available to a substantial
portion of the public, as specified by regulation by the FCC. Personal
communications services, cellular services and paging services are
examples of commercial mobile services.
Services that intend to compete with providers of traditional
wireline local telephone service.
A building, or buildings, the dwelling units of which are
individually owned, each owner receiving a deed enabling him to sell,
mortgage or exchange his unit independent of the owners of the other
units in the building or buildings.
A retail place of business which sells sundries (such as
dry goods, sandwiches, and limited groceries) and other products to
the general public and which may or may not also sell gasoline and
other motor fuels to the general public for automobile use.
A kitchen sink, stove/oven combination and refrigerator.
A court extending to a street line or opening upon any front,
side or rear yard.
That percentage of the plot or lot area covered by the building
area.
The officially established grade of the curb in front of
the midpoint of the lot.
A structure used for the harboring of more than four dogs
that are more than six months old.
A building having two side yards and accommodating only two
families, with one family living independently on the side of the
other.
A building designed or used as the living quarters for one
or more families.
A dwelling or building or group of dwellings or buildings
on one plot used or designed as a residence and containing separate
living units for three or more families living independently of each
other and doing their own cooking therein, but which may have joint
services or facilities, or both. "Multiple dwelling" does not include
condominium complexes but it includes boardinghouses.
A detached building designed for or occupied exclusively
by one family.
A dwelling, the walls on two sides of which are in common
with the walls of adjoining dwellings and are party or lot line walls,
except for the end dwelling which would have a party wall/wall in
common on one side.
A detached building designed for or occupied exclusively
by two families living independently of each other.
A dwelling or portion thereof providing complete living facilities
for one family. A motel, hotel, adult residential care facility (as
defined by New York law), family day-care home (as defined by New
York law), nursing home or other similar structures shall not be deemed
to constitute a dwelling unit.
One person occupying a dwelling unit, or two
or three persons occupying a dwelling unit who pay a single shared
amount for rental or mortgage purposes, or four or more persons occupying
a dwelling unit and living together as a traditional family or the
functional equivalent of a traditional family.
It shall be presumptive evidence that four or
more persons living in a single dwelling unit who are not related
by blood, marriage or legal adoption do not constitute the functional
equivalent of a traditional family. Relation by blood or marriage
is limited to the following relationships upon appropriate documentary
proof: spouse, parent, child, brother, sister, grandparent, grandchild,
great-grandparent, great-grandchild, stepparent and stepchild.
[Amended 4-16-2013; 6-4-2013]
In determining whether individuals are living
together as the functional equivalent of a traditional family, the
following criteria must be present:
The group is one which in theory, size, appearance,
structure and function resembles a traditional family unit.
The occupants must share the entire dwelling
unit and live and cook together as a single housekeeping unit. A unit
in which the various occupants act as separate roomers may not be
deemed to be occupied by the functional equivalent of a traditional
family.
The group shares expenses for food, rent or
ownership costs, utilities and other household expenses.
The group is permanent and stable. Evidence
of such permanency and stability may include:
The presence of minor dependent children regularly
residing in the household who are enrolled in local schools;
Members of the household have the same address
for purposes of voter registration, driver's license, motor vehicle
registration and filing of taxes;
Members of the household are employed in the
area;
The household has been living together as a
unit for a year or more whether in the current dwelling unit or other
dwelling units;
Common ownership of furniture and appliances
among the members of the household; and
The group is not transitory or temporary in
nature.
Any other factor reasonably related to whether
or not the group is the functional equivalent of a family.
All space within the exterior walls of a dwelling unit exclusive
of garages, breezeways, unheated porches, cellars, heater rooms and
basements having a window area less than 10% of the square foot area
of the room. Usable floor area shall include all spaces not otherwise
excluded above, such as principal rooms, utility rooms, bathrooms,
all closets and hallways opening directly into any rooms within the
dwelling unit and all attic space having a clear height of six feet
from finished floor level to the pitch of the roof rafter, with a
clear height of seven feet six inches from finished floor level to
ceiling level over 50% of the area of such attic space.
The sum of the gross horizontal area of the several floors
of a building and its accessory buildings on the same lot, excluding
cellar and basement floor areas not devoted to residential use, but
including the area of roofed porches and roofed terraces. All dimensions
shall be measured between exterior faces of walls.
The quotient of the floor area of a building divided by its
lot area.
The street length of a parcel of property fronting on one
side of a street between the two nearest intersecting streets or other
natural barriers.
A garage used for storage purposes only and having a capacity
of not more than three automobiles, housed in a building separate
from the building to which such garage is accessory. Space therein
may be used for not more than one commercial vehicle, and space may
be rented for not more than two vehicles of others who are not occupants
of the building to which such garage is accessory.
Any building or garage, other than a private garage, available
to the public, operated for gain, and which is used for storage, repair,
rental, greasing, washing, servicing, adjusting or equipping of automobiles
or other motor vehicles.
A retail place of business engaged in the sale of motor fuels
(including gasoline) but also in supplying goods and services generally
required in the operation and maintenance of automotive vehicles and
the fulfilling of motorist needs. These may include sale of petroleum
products; sale and servicing of tires, batteries, automotive accessories
and replacement items; washing and lubrication services; the performance
of minor automotive maintenance and repair, and the supplying of other
incidental customer services and products. A public garage can include
a gasoline station. Major automotive repairs, such as painting and
body and fender work, are excluded except where such uses are otherwise
permitted.
An occupation or profession which:
Is customarily carried on in a dwelling unit;
and
Is carried on by a member of the family residing
in the dwelling unit; and
Is clearly incidental and secondary to the use
of the dwelling unit for residential purposes; and
Conforms to the following additional conditions:
The occupation or profession shall be carried
on wholly within or from the principal building, except that the occupation
or profession may be carried on in an existing accessory building
with the permission of the Planning Board and with such stipulations
as the Planning Board may set.
Not more than one person outside the family
shall be employed in the home occupation.
There shall be no exterior display, no exterior sign (except as permitted under § 475-37), no exterior storage of materials, no exterior parking of trucks or other commercial vehicles used in such occupation, and no other exterior indication of the home occupation or variation from the residential character of the principal building.
No offensive noise, vibration, smoke, dust,
odors, heat or glare shall be produced or allowed on the premises.
In particular, "home occupation" includes, but
is not limited to, the following: dressmaking, professional office
of an author, clergy, lawyer, engineer, accountant, architect, or
real estate broker, and teaching, with musical instruction limited
to a single pupil at a time. However, "home occupation" shall not
be interpreted to include any of the following: professional office
of a physician, dentist, osteopath, chiropractor, optometrist, acupuncturist,
medical or healing arts practitioner or insurance broker or adjuster,
clinics, hospitals, barbershops and beauty parlors, commercial stables
and commercial kennels, retail business sales, restaurants, tearooms,
day nurseries, tourist homes, animal hospitals, or any similar uses.
[Amended 2-16-2021]
Unless otherwise specified, shall be deemed to include sanitarium,
sanatorium, preventorium, clinic, outpatient clinic, offices for group
therapy or counseling, rest home, nursing home, convalescent home
and any other place for the diagnosis, treatment or other care of
ailments, including but not limited to individual and/or group treatment
and/or therapy, and shall be deemed to be limited to places for the
diagnosis, treatment or other care of human ailments, both mental
and/or physical.
A building containing rooms intended or designed to be used
or which are occupied for sleeping purposes by guests and where meals
and other services are provided within the building or in an accessory
building. Ingress and egress to and from all rooms are made through
an inside lobby or office, supervised by a person in charge at all
hours.
A lot, land or structure or part thereof used primarily for
the collecting, storage and/or sale of wastepaper, rags, scrap metal
or discarded material, or for the collecting, dismantling, storage
and salvaging of machinery or vehicles not in running condition, which
may include the sale of parts thereof.
A business premises equipped with individual clothes washing
or dry-cleaning machines for the use of retail customers, exclusive
of laundry facilities provided as an accessory use in an apartment
house or a hotel.
See "boardinghouse."
A parcel of land occupied or capable of being occupied by
one building and the accessory buildings or uses customarily incident
to it, including such open spaces as are required by this chapter.
The term "lot" also means "plot."
A parcel of land at the junction of and fronting on two or
more intersecting streets.
That percentage of the plot or lot area covered by the building
area.
A mean linear distance between the front and rear lot lines,
measured in the general direction of its side lot lines.
The perpendicular distance between the two lot side lines,
measured no further back than the front yard setback line. If the
lot side lines are not parallel to each other, then the lot width
shall be measured perpendicular to a line which bisects the angle
formed by the two lot side lines, and no further back than the front
yard setback line and its intersection point to the said bisecting
line. The lot side lines shall intersect the street lines as close
to 90° as possible, but in no event less than 75°. In no event,
however, shall this definition be utilized to result in a lot whose
frontage is less than 50 feet.
[Added 7-10-2006; amended 5-14-2007]
A lot other than a corner lot.
Any line dividing one lot from another.
An interior lot having frontage on two parallel or approximately
parallel streets.
The mean width measured at right angles to its depth.
A transportable one-family dwelling equipped for year-round
occupancy and containing the same type of water supply, waste disposal,
heating and electrical conveniences as immobile housing. The term
"mobile home" shall include vehicles mounted on temporary or permanent
foundations with or without wheels, collars or skids in place.
A building containing rooms intended or designed to be used
or which are occupied for sleeping purposes by guests or transients
and where meals may be served and which caters to the motoring public
and which is not over two stories in height and in which the exit
from each dwelling unit or sleeping room is directly to the exterior.
A building or portion of a building arranged, intended or
designed to be used for making repairs to motor vehicles. See also
"garage, public" and "gasoline station."
A building, structure, sign or use of land legally existing
just prior to the time of enactment of this chapter and which does
not conform under this chapter to the regulations contained in this
chapter for the district or zone in which it is situated.
An unoccupied space open to the sky on the same lot with
the building
An unenclosed portion of the ground of a lot which is not
devoted to driveways or parking spaces, which is free of structures
of any kind, of which not more than 25% is roofed for shelter purposes
only, the minimum dimension of which is 40 feet, and which is available
and accessible to all occupants of the building or buildings on said
lot for purposes of active or passive outdoor recreation. This area
of the site would not include any ponds or lakes on the parcel.
An off-street space available for the parking of one motor
vehicle and having an area of not less than 162 square feet, exclusive
of passageways and driveways appurtenant thereto and giving access
thereto, and having direct access to a street or alley.
[Amended 9-28-2009]
Commercial mobile services, unlicensed wireless services,
cellular or digital telephone services and other common carrier wireless
exchange access services as defined by the Federal Telecommunications
Act.
See "boardinghouse."
Those structures, whether enclosed or open, in which individuals
or entities have access and control over separate storage units.
[Added 6-13-2005]
Any structure or part thereof attached thereto or painted
or represented thereon which shall display or include any letter,
word, model, banner, flag, pennant, insignia, device or representation
used as or which is in the nature of an announcement, direction or
advertisement. The word "sign" includes the word "billboard" but does
not include the flag, pennant or insignia of any nation, state, city
or other political unit, or of any political, educational, charitable,
philanthropic, civic, professional, religious or like campaign, drive,
movement or event.
A sign which directs attention to a business, commodity,
service or entertainment conducted, sold or offered elsewhere than
on the premises and only incidentally on the premises if at all.
That portion of a building included between the surface of
any floor and the surface of the floor next above it, or if there
is no floor above it, then the space between any floor and the ceiling
next above it.
A story under a gable, hip or gambrel roof, the wall plates
of which, on at least two opposite exterior walls, are not more than
two feet above the floor of such story.
The vertical distance from the top surface of the floor to
the top surface of the floor next above. The height of the topmost
story is the distance from the top surface of the floor to the top
surface of the ceiling joists.
A public or private way which affords the principal means
of access to abutting properties.
The officially established grade of the street upon which
a lot fronts. If there is no officially established grade, the existing
grade of the street shall be taken as the street grade.
Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires
location on or into the ground or attachment to something having location
on or into the ground.
A man-made body of water at least two feet deep and having
a total area of more than 200 square feet, to be used for swimming
and bathing, in or above the ground outside any building.
A building or a part of building devoted to the showing of
motion pictures and/or plays and/or live performances of any type,
and/or which provides for poetry or dramatic readings, and/or which
provides or showcases other types of entertainment on a paid or nonpaid
admission basis, or where patrons must pay or make some financial
donation or payment to observe the entertainment.
A lavatory, water closet and tub and/or shower.
Any ground- or roof-mounted pole, spire, structure or combination
thereof taller than 15 feet, including supporting lines, cables, wires,
braces and masts, built for the purpose of mounting an antenna, meteorological
device, or similar apparatus anywhere above grade.
A vehicle:
A tract of land where two or more trailers are parked and
attached
The offering of telecommunications services using duly authorized
devices which do not require individual licenses, but does not mean
the provision of direct-to-home satellite services.
The specific purpose for which land or a building is designed,
arranged, or intended or for which it is or may be occupied or maintained.
The term "permitted use" or its equivalent shall not be deemed to
include any nonconforming use
See "accessory use."
A street or alley or other thoroughfare or easement permanently
established for passage of persons or vehicles.
An unoccupied space open to the sky on the same lot with
a building or structure.
An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a main building,
extending the full width of the lot and situated between the street
line and the front line of the building projected to the side lines
of the lot. The depth of the front yard shall be measured between
the front line of the building (see "building, front line of") and
the street line. Covered porches, whether enclosed or unenclosed,
shall be considered as part of the main building and shall not project
into a required front yard.
An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with the building,
between the rear line of the building and the rear line of the lot
and extending the full width of the lot.
An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with the building,
situated between the building and the side line of the lot and extending
from the front building line to the rear building line. Any lot line
not a rear line or a front line shall be deemed a side line.
