For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
shall be used, unless a different definition is specifically provided
for a section. Words used in the present tense include the future,
the singular number includes the plural number, and the plural number
includes the singular number. The word "shall" is mandatory and not
permissive.
Having a common property line or district line.
A use or detached structure subordinate to the principal
use of a structure, parcel of land or water and located on the same
lot or parcel, serving a purpose incidental to the principal use or
the principal structure.
The actual land devoted to the land use excluding public
streets, public lands or unusable lands, and school sites contained
within 43,560 square feet.
A public way which affords only a secondary means of access
to abutting property.[1]
A suite of rooms or a room in a multiple dwelling, which
suite or room is arranged, intended or designed to be occupied as
a residence of a single family, individual or group of individuals,
with separate facilities and utilities which are used or intended
to be used for living, sleeping, cooking and eating.
A public street or highway used or intended to be used primarily
for large volume or heavy through traffic. Arterial streets shall
include freeways and expressways as well as arterial streets, highways
and parkways.
That portion of any structure located partly below the average
adjoining lot grade which is not designed or used primarily for year-round
living accommodations.[2]
A tract of land bounded by streets or by a combination of
streets and public parks or other recognized lines of demarcation.
A building other than a hotel or restaurant where meals or
lodging is regularly furnished by prearrangement for compensation
for three or more persons not members of a family, but not exceeding
10 persons and not open to transient customers.
The portion of a lot remaining after required yards have
been provided.
Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls
used or intended to be used for the shelter or enclosure of persons,
animals, equipment, machinery or materials. When a building is divided
into separate parts by unpierced walls extending from the ground up,
each part shall be deemed a separate building.
A building surrounded by open space on the same lot.
The vertical distance from the average curb level in front
of the lot or the finished grade at the building line, whichever is
higher, to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof, to the
deckline of a mansard roof or to the average height of the highest
gable of a gambrel, hip or pitch roof.
A building in which the principal use of the lot on which
it is located is conducted.[3]
A line parallel to the lot line at a distance parallel to
it regulated by the yard requirements set up in this code.
An occupation, employment or enterprise which occupies time,
labor and materials, or wherein merchandise is exhibited or sold,
or where services are offered.
A rigid structure attached to and extending outward from
a building, designed to protect the building and/or people under the
canopy from the sun, rain or snow.
An automobile shelter having one or more sides open.
That portion of a building having more than half of the floor-to-ceiling
height below the average grade of the adjoining ground. This portion
is not a completed structure and serves as a substructure or foundation
for a building.[4]
A group of medical or dental offices reorganized as a unified
facility to provide medical or dental treatment as contrasted with
an unrelated group of such offices, but not including bed-patient
care.
A building or portion thereof or premises owned by a corporation,
association, person or persons for a social, educational or recreational
purpose, but not primarily for profit or to render a service which
is customarily carried on as business.
The following facilities licensed or operated or permitted
under the authority of the Wisconsin Statutes: child welfare agencies
under § 48.60, group foster homes for children under § 48.02(7)
and community-based residential facilities under § 50.01,
but does not include day-care centers, nursing homes, general hospitals,
special hospitals, prisons and jails. The establishment of a community
living arrangement shall be in conformance with applicable sections
of the Wisconsin Statutes, including §§ 46.03(22) and
62.23(7)(i) and (7a), and amendments thereto, and also the Wisconsin
Administrative Code.
The occupations, vocations, skills, arts, businesses, professions
or uses specifically designated in each zoning district, which for
their respective conduct, exercise or performance in such designated
districts may require reasonable, but special, peculiar, unusual or
extraordinary limitations, facilities, plans, structures, thoroughfares,
condition modification, or regulations in such district for the promotion
or preservation of the general public welfare, health, convenience
or safety therein and in the City and, therefore, may be permitted
in such district only by a conditional use permit.
Guidelines and specifications for soil and water conservation
practices and management enumerated in the Technical Guide, prepared
by the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation
Service, and containing suitable alternatives for the use and treatment
of land based upon its capabilities from which the landowner selects
that alternative which best meets his needs in developing his soil
and water conservation plans.[5]
The condition in which the right of owners or occupants of
abutting land or other persons to access, light, air or view in connection
with an arterial street is fully or partially controlled by public
authority.
On corner lots, the setback shall be measured from the street
line on which the lot fronts. The setback from the side street shall
be equal to 75% of the setback required for residences fronting on
the side street, but the side yard setback shall in no case restrict
the buildable width to less than 30 feet. Said corner lots shall be
consisting of a parcel of property abutting on two or more streets
at their intersection, provided that the interior angle of such intersection
is less than 135°.
Any made-made change to improved or unimproved real estate,
including but not limited to construction of or additions or substantial
improvements to buildings, other structures, or accessory uses, mining,
dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation or drilling operations
or disposition of materials.
A part or parts of the City for which the regulations of
this chapter governing the use and location of land and building are
uniform.
Overlay districts, also referred to herein as regulatory
areas, provide for the possibility of superimposing certain additional
requirements upon a basic district. In the instance of conflicting
requirements, the more strict of the conflicting requirements shall
apply.
A building designed or used exclusively as a residence or
sleeping place, but does not include boardinghouses or lodging houses,
motels, hotels, tents, cabins or mobile homes.
A dwelling unit consisting of one principal room with no
separate sleeping rooms.
A residential building designed for or occupied by three
or more families, with the number of families in residence not to
exceed the number of dwelling units provided.
A detached building designed for or occupied by one family.
A detached building containing two separate dwelling (or
living) units, designed for occupancy by not more than two families.
A group of rooms constituting all or part of a dwelling,
which are arranged, designed, used or intended for use exclusively
as living quarters for one family.
Services provided by public and private utilities, necessary
for the exercise of the principal use or service of the principal
structure. These services include underground, surface or overhead
gas, electrical, steam, water, sanitary sewerage, stormwater drainage,
and communication systems and accessories thereto, such as poles,
towers, wires, mains, drains, vaults, culverts, laterals, sewers,
pipes, catch basins, water storage tanks, conduits, cables, fire alarm
boxes, police call boxes, traffic signals, pumps, lift stations and
hydrants, but not including buildings.
The body of persons who live together in one dwelling unit
as a single housekeeping entity.
Includes floriculture, forest and game management, orchards,
raising of grain, grass, mint and seed crops, raising of fruits, nuts
and berries, sod farming and vegetable farming. General farming includes
the operating of such an area for one or more of the above uses with
the necessary accessory uses for treating or storing the produce;
provided, however that the operation of any such accessory uses shall
be secondary to that of the normal farming activities.
A single-family residential structure located on a parcel
of land, which primary land use is associated with agriculture.
For the purpose of determining off-street parking and off-street
loading requirements, the sum of the gross horizontal areas of the
floors of the building, or portion thereof, devoted to a use requiring
off-street parking or loading. This area shall include elevators and
stairways, accessory storage areas located within selling or working
space occupied by counters, racks or closets and any basement floor
area devoted to retailing activities, to the production or processing
of goods, or to business or professional offices. However, floor area,
for the purposes of determining off-street parking spaces, shall not
include floor area devoted primarily to storage purposes except as
otherwise noted herein.
The primary domicile of a foster parent which is for four
or fewer foster children and which is licensed under § 48.62,
Wis. Stats., and amendments thereto.
All the property abutting on one side of a street between
two intersecting streets or all of the property abutting on one side
of a street between an intersecting street and the dead end of a street.
A detached accessory building or portion of the principal
building designed, arranged, used or intended to be used for storage
of automobiles of the occupant of the premises.
Any building or portion thereof, not accessory to a residential
building or structure, used for equipping, servicing, repairing, leasing
or public parking of motor vehicles.
When used as a reference point in measuring the height of
a building, the grade shall be the average elevation of the finished
ground at the exterior walls of the main building.
Any facility operated by a person required to be licensed
by the State of Wisconsin under § 48.62, Wis. Stats., for
the care and maintenance of five to eight foster children.[6]
An institution intended primarily for the medical diagnosis,
treatment and care of patients being given medical treatment. A hospital
shall be distinguished from a clinic by virtue of providing for bed-patient
care.
A building in which lodging, with or without meals, is offered
to transient guests for compensation and in which there are more than
five sleeping rooms with no cooking facilities in any individual room
or apartment.
A building occupied by a nonprofit corporation or a nonprofit
establishment for public use.
Any scrap, waste, reclaimable material or debris, whether
or not stored or used in conjunction with dismantling, processing,
salvage, storage, baling, disposal or other use or disposition. "Junk"
includes, but is not limited to, vehicles, tires, vehicle parts, equipment,
paper, rags, metal, glass, building materials, household appliances,
brush, wood and lumber.
Any place at which personal property is or may be salvaged
for reuse, resale or reduction or similar disposition and is owned,
possessed, collected, accumulated, dismantled or sorted, including
but not limited to used or salvaged or new scrapped base metal or
metals, their compounds or combinations, used or salvaged rope, bags,
paper, rags, glass, rubber, lumber, millwork, brick and similar property,
except animal matter, and used motor vehicles, machinery or equipment
which is used, owned or possessed for the purpose of wrecking or salvaging
parts therefrom.[7]
A completely off-street space or berth on the same lot for
the loading or unloading of freight carriers, having adequate ingress
and egress to a public street or alley.
A building where lodging only is provided for compensation
for not more than three persons not members of the family.
A parcel of land having frontage on a public street, or other
officially approved means of access, occupied or intended to be occupied
by a principal structure or use and sufficient in size to meet the
lot width, lot frontage, lot area and other open space provisions
of this code as pertaining to the district wherein located.
The area of contiguous land bounded by lot lines, exclusive
of land designated for public thoroughfares.[8]
The shortest horizontal distance between the front lot line
and the rear lot line measured at a ninety-degree angle from the road
right-of-way.
A lot with frontage on only one street.
Legally established lines dividing one lot, plot of land
or parcel of land from an adjoining lot or plot of land or parcel
of land as defined herein.
A line separating the lot from the street or approved private
road.
A lot line which is opposite and most distant from the front
lot line and, in the case of an irregular or triangular-shaped lot,
a line 10 feet in the length within the lot, parallel to and at the
maximum distance from the front lot line.
Any lot boundary line not a front lot line or a rear lot
line.
A lot which has been recorded in the office of the Register
of Deeds prior to the effective date of this chapter.
A lot other than a corner lot with frontage on two streets.
The horizontal distance between the side lot lines at the
building setback line.
Any small, movable accessory erection or construction, such
as birdhouses, tool houses, pet houses, play equipment, arbors and
walls and fences under four feet in height.
A prefabricated, detached single- or double-family dwelling
unit designed for long-term occupancy and containing sleeping accommodations,
a flush toilet, a tub or shower bath and kitchen facilities with plumbing
and electrical connections provided for attachment to outside systems,
which is or was designed to be transported and mounted on a permanent
foundation.
A lot of record existing on the date of passage or amendment
of this chapter which does not have the minimum width or contain the
minimum area for the zone in which it is located.[10]
Any structure, use of land, use of land and structure in
combination or characteristic of use (such as yard requirement or
lot size) which was existing at the time of the effective date of
this code or amendments thereto and which is not in conformance with
this code. Any such structure conforming in respect to use but not
in respect to frontage, width, height, area, yard, parking, loading
or distance requirements shall not be considered a nonconforming use
but shall be considered nonconforming with respect to those characteristics.
An establishment used as a dwelling place by the aged, infirm,
chronically ill or incurably afflicted, in which not fewer than three
persons live or are kept or provided for on the premises for compensation,
excluding clinics and hospitals and similar institutions devoted to
the diagnosis, treatment or the care of the sick or injured.
A structure or premises containing five or more parking spaces
open to the public.
Includes all abutting property owners, all property owners
within 100 feet, and all property owners of opposite frontages.
A large lot or tract of land containing two or more principal
buildings or uses developed as a unit where such buildings or uses
may be located in relation to each other rather than to a lot line
or zoning district boundaries.
Residences of doctors of medicine, practitioners, dentists,
clergymen, architects, landscape architects, professional engineers,
professional land surveyors, lawyers, artists, teachers, tradesmen,
authors, musicians or other recognized professions used to conduct
their professions where the office does not exceed 1/2 the area of
only one floor of the residence and only one nonresident person is
employed. "Tradesmen" shall be defined as a person or persons who
hold themselves out with a particular skill, including but not limited
to carpenters, masons, plumbers, electricians, roofers and others
involved in the building trade.[11]
Any airport which complies with the definition contained
in § 114.002, Wis. Stats., or any airport which serves or
offers to serve common carriers engaged in air transport.
A yard extending across the full width of the lot, the depth
of which shall be the minimum horizontal distance between the rear
lot line and a line parallel thereto through the nearest point of
the principal structure. This yard shall be opposite the street yard
or one of the street yards on a corner lot.
A business establishment consisting of a kitchen and dining
room, whose primary purpose is to prepare and serve food to be eaten
by customers seated in the dining room.
A business establishment consisting of a kitchen, with or
without a dining room, where food is prepared and packaged to be eaten
either off the premises or within automobiles on the premises.
The sale of goods or merchandise in small quantities to the
consumer.
The minimum horizontal distance between the front lot line
and the nearest point of the foundation of that portion of the building
to be enclosed. The overhang cornices shall not exceed 24 inches.
Any overhang of the cornice in excess of 24 inches shall be compensated
by increasing the setback by an amount equal to the excess of the
cornice over 24 inches. Uncovered steps shall not be included in measuring
the setback.[12]
A yard extending from the street yard to the rear yard of
the lot, the width of which shall be the minimum horizontal distance
between the side lot line and a line parallel thereto through the
nearest point of the principal structure.
Any medium, including its structure, words, letters, figures,
numerals, phrases, sentences, emblems, devices, designs, trade names
or trademarks by which anything is made known and which are used to
advertise or promote an individual, firm, association, corporation,
profession, business, commodity or product and which are visible from
any public street or highway.
That portion of a building included between the surface of
any floor and the surface of the next floor above it, or if there
is no floor above it, then the space between the floor and the ceiling
next above it. Any portion of a story exceeding 14 feet in height
shall be considered as an additional story for each 14 feet or fraction
thereof. A basement having 1/2 or more of its height above grade shall
be deemed a story for purposes of height regulation.
That portion of a building under a gable, hip or mansard
roof, the wall plates of which, on at least two opposite exterior
walls, are not more than 4Â 1/2 feet above the finished floor
of such story. In the case of one-family dwellings, two-family dwellings
and multifamily dwellings less than three stories in height, a half
story in a sloping roof shall not be counted as a story for the purposes
of this code.
Property other than an alley or private thoroughfare or travelway
which is subject to public easement or right-of-way for use as a thoroughfare
and which is 21 feet or more in width.
A yard extending across the full width of the lot, the depth
of which shall be the minimum horizontal distance between the existing
street or highway right-of-way line and a line parallel thereto through
the nearest point of the principal structure. Corner lots shall have
two street yards.
Any change in the supporting members of a structure, such
as foundations, bearing walls, columns, beams or girders.
Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires
a permanent location on the ground or attached to something having
a permanent location on the ground.
A movable structure not designed for human occupancy nor
for the protection of goods or chattels and not forming an enclosure,
such as billboards.
The purpose or activity for which the land or building thereon
is designed, arranged or intended, or for which it is occupied or
maintained.[13]
The main use of land or building as distinguished from subordinate
or accessory use.
Public and private facilities, such as water wells, water
and sewage pumping stations, water storage tanks, electrical power
substations, static transformer stations, telephone and telegraph
exchanges, microwave radio relays and gas regulation stations, inclusive
of associated transmission facilities, but not including sewage disposal
plants, municipal incinerators, warehouses, shops, storage yards and
power plants.
A relaxation of the terms of this chapter by the Zoning Board
of Appeals where the literal enforcement of this chapter would deny
to the property owner a use of his property enjoyed as a right by
other property owners within the same zoning district.
An unoccupied triangular space at the intersection of highways
or streets with other highways or streets or at the intersection of
highways or streets with railroads. Such vision clearance triangle
shall be bounded by the intersecting highway, street or railroad right-of-way
lines by measurement from this intersection as specified in this chapter.
An open space on the same lot with a building, unobstructed
by structures except as otherwise provided herein.
A yard extending the full width of the lot between the front
lot line and the nearest part of the principal building excluding
uncovered steps. On corner lots, the front yard shall be considered
as parallel to the street upon which the lot has its least dimensions.[14]
The concept whereby two respective dwelling units within
a building shall be on separate and abutting lots and shall meet on
the common property line between them, thereby having zero space between
said units.
A permit issued by the Zoning Administrator to certify that
the lands, structures, air and water subject to this chapter are or
shall be used in accordance with the provisions of said chapter.[15]
[6]
Editor's Note: The definition of "home occupation" which immediately followed this definition was repealed 8-17-2015 by Ord. No. 2015-02. See § 450-41, Home occupations.
[9]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II). The definitions of "mobile home lot," "mobile home park" and "mobile home subdivision" which immediately followed this definition were repealed at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II).
