No land, building or premises, or part thereof, shall hereafter be used and no building, or part thereof, or other structure shall be constructed, extended, enlarged, moved or altered except in conformity with these regulations. No lot shall have an area, width, or a front, side or rear yard less than that set forth in the applicable section hereof, except as otherwise specifically provided in these regulations. No building, buildings or structures shall occupy in the aggregate a greater percentage of lot area, nor be greater in height, than as set forth in the applicable section hereof, except as otherwise specifically provided in these regulations. Except as otherwise specifically provided by these regulations, any permitted building or permitted use may be located in that portion of the lot not contained in any required front, side or rear yard.
[Amended 9-12-2022]
No building or other structure shall be constructed, reconstructed, enlarged, extended, moved or structurally altered in such a manner as to exceed a height of 35 feet. Appliances, towers, tanks, and other similar structural features, including wireless telecommunication facilities, that occupy no more than 10% of the building area and are not designed for human occupancy may be constructed, enlarged, extended, moved or structurally altered to a reasonable and necessary height upon the granting of a special permit by the Lyme Planning and Zoning Commission.
[Amended 9-12-2022]
A. 
Detached accessory buildings or structures, not more than 15 feet in height and not used for human habitation or for the housing of animals, may be located in the required rear yard, and in that portion of the required side yard that lies not less than 75 feet from any street line, provided that they are not less than 20 feet from any side or rear line and provided further that they occupy in the aggregate not more than 20% of the area of the required rear yard.
B. 
Fuel tanks, generators, including generator enclosures, all less than six feet high or deep may be located in the side or rear yard 10 feet from that portion of the property line that is 60 feet or greater from a neighboring dwelling. The structure must be reasonably screened from view. The ZEO may reduce those distances for undersized lots.
No lot shall be diminished in lot area or frontage, nor shall any required front, side or rear yard be reduced, unless the resulting lot or lots conform to the provisions of these regulations.
No building shall be built on any lot unless such lot has the minimum lot width at the building setback line required for the district in which it has been located and has a frontage of at least 50 feet on an approved Town road or state highway. If frontage is on a state highway, the highway must lie within the boundaries of the Town of Lyme. Frontage on abandoned, impassable, private or any other roads, paths, etc., is not acceptable. For the list of approved Town roads and state highways, see appendix map titled "Town Roads," Lyme, Connecticut, Department of Transportation,[1] with the exclusion of the road designated S1, which serves as an access road from Grassy Hill Road to Stone Ranch Military Reservation, which map is a part of these regulations. Minor structures, including those required for solar energy use, not meeting the definition of "building" in Article 2 may be constructed on lots that do not meet the requirements of this regulation upon the granting of a special permit pursuant to Article 12.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Appendix C, Lyme Road Map, included as an attachment to this chapter.
Nothing in these regulations shall prohibit the projection of not more than one foot into required front, side or rear yards of bay windows, pilasters, columns, belt courses, sills, cornices, or other similar architectural features, nor the planting or landscaping of such required yards, except as provided in § 315-7.7.
No fence, wall, hedge, shrubbery or other obstruction to vision may be placed or allowed to grow at street intersections within the area formed by a line joining points on each front lot line 20 feet from the intersection of the tangents of such streets, nor shall landscaping or other obstruction to vision be placed to interfere with sight lines of the street at driveway entrances.
In the case of lots fronting on streets less than 50 feet in width, the required front yard shall be increased by 1/2 the difference between 50 feet and the actual width of the street.
If the right-of-way of a street has not been surveyed and is not otherwise established by walls, fences, or other ancient monumentation, the right-of-way shall be deemed to be 60 feet wide, extending 30 feet on each side from the center of the traveled way.
The use of land for access to or for parking in connection with a use shall be accessory to and part of such use.
No more than two family dwelling units may be built on one lot.
No trailer camp or recreational vehicle park may be established, maintained, conducted or operated in any district. No trailer coach or recreational vehicle shall be occupied for human habitation in any district, except as provided in this section. The Zoning Enforcement Officer may grant a permit, except in flood hazard areas as depicted on the Flood Insurance Rate Map, for the temporary occupancy, not to exceed a period of one year, of a trailer coach on a lot by the owner thereof during the construction of his dwelling under a valid permit. The Zoning Enforcement Officer may renew the permit for such temporary occupancy for an additional period not to exceed one year. Except in a flood hazard area, the owner of any lot may permit a nonpaying guest to occupy one trailer coach or recreational vehicle belonging to such guest on such lot for a period not to exceed 30 cumulative days in a calendar year.
Except as provided for in § 315-7.14, Conversion of existing dwelling to two-family dwelling, and § 315-8.2, Accessory apartments, if more than one family dwelling unit shall be located on any one lot, all units shall be located so that each such dwelling and any buildings accessory to it could be set off as a separate lot conforming to all of the applicable provisions of these regulations.
Except as provided in § 315-8.2, a dwelling, the construction of which shall have been completed for a period of not less than 20 years, may be converted to contain two one-family dwelling units, provided that the lot area is equivalent to twice the minimum lot area required for a one-family dwelling in the district in which it is located.
A. 
No dumping or storing of refuse shall be permitted other than the temporary dumping or storage within a building or screened from view from off the premises of small amounts of such material for brief periods pending final lawful disposition.
B. 
No inoperable motor vehicle or motor vehicle which is incapable of being registered may be stored on any lot except within a building.
C. 
No refuse not originating on the premises may be disposed of on any lot except at a facility for that purpose operated by the Town of Lyme.
No land, building, structure or part thereof in any district shall be used in any manner injurious or offensive to a neighborhood because of the emission of odor, fumes, dust, smoke, vibration, noise, unsightliness, light pollution or other cause, or in any manner which will result in the discharge of waste or refuse into any stream or river.
(Reserved)
No commercial cutting of timber shall occur without a permit issued by the Lyme Zoning Enforcement Officer. After submission of a commercial cutting plan to said Zoning Enforcement Officer, a permit shall be granted if it is found to be consistent with the minimum standards set forth in Article 17.
Fences commonly referred to as "deer fences" of up to eight feet in height shall be permitted within property line setbacks provided that the fence is dark in color and of an open mesh design and that a zoning permit is issued by the Zoning Enforcement Officer.
For applications that include activities involving stream crossings, the applicant shall incorporate, to the maximum feasible extent, standards and practices recommended in the Connecticut Stream Crossing Guidelines as published by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. Copies are available for review in the Lyme Town Hall or can be found on the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection websites.
A. 
The Commission, or its duly authorized agent, may require that the applicant design a stormwater management plan which conforms, to the maximum feasible extent, to the Connecticut Stormwater Quality Manual, as amended, and published by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. All stormwater management plans shall include measures to capture and treat stormwater runoff and to incorporate low-impact development design elements to the extent that is practical. Such design plan shall detail how the stormwater runoff and associated water quality impacts resulting from the development will be controlled and managed during and after construction, including long-term maintenance. The plan must be prepared by an appropriate design professional. Further, the Commission may restrict the use of and/or require substitution of certain best management practices based on maintenance requirements.
B. 
The following documents provide further guidance on the purpose, specifications and design elements for stormwater management and low-impact development. These documents are located in Appendix I.[1]
(1) 
Office of Long Island Sound Programs, Fact Sheet for Stormwater Management.
(2) 
Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, Inland Water Resources Division Fact Sheet, Considering Low Impact Development Principles in Site Design.
(3) 
Rainfall as a Resource, A Resident's Guide to Low Impact Development in Connecticut.
(4) 
Stormwater/LID Review Checklist.
[1]
Editor's Note: Appendix I is included as an attachment to this chapter.
For uses on properties that either contain conservation restrictions or are adjacent to properties that have conservation restrictions an A-2 survey may be required for the purposes of confirming setback requirements in accordance with these regulations.
[Added 11-14-2022]
The commercial cultivation, propagation, processing, distribution, and wholesale or retail sale of cannabis in the Town of Lyme is prohibited.