City of Justin - Definitions

Accessory building or use

Means a subordinate building having a use customarily incident to and located on the lot occupied by the main building; or a use customarily incident to the main use of the property. A building housing an accessory use is considered and integral part of the main building when it has any part of a wall in common with the main building, or is under an extension of the main roof and designed as an integral part of the main building.

Alley

Means a minor way which is used primarily for vehicular service access to the back or side of properties otherwise abutting on a street.

Apartment

Means a room or suite or rooms in an apartment house arranged, designed, or occupied as the residence by a single family, individual, or group of individuals.

Apartment hotel

Means any building larger than an apartment house designed or built to be occupied as a series of separate apartments by persons living independently of each other.

Apartment house

Means any building, or portion thereof, which is designed, built, rented, leased, let or hired out to be occupied as three or more apartments or which is occupied as the home or residence of three or more families living independently of each other maintaining separate cooking facilities.

Area of the lot

Means the net area of the lot and shall not include portions of streets or alleys.

Automobile sales area

Means an open area or lot used for the display or sale of automobiles, where no repair work's done except minor reconditioning of the cars to be displayed and sold on the premises, and no dismantling of cars or sale or keeping of used car parts or junk on the premises.

Basement

Means a story below the first story is defined under story counted as a story for height regulations if subdivided and used for dwelling purposes other than by a janitor or watchman employed on the premises.

Bed and breakfast

Means a residence where one or more rooms are leased on an overnight basis for accommodations for profit. A bed and breakfast is an accessory use to a residence and the owner of the property must also be the operator of the bed and breakfast establishment.

Block

Means a method for locating and identifying a parcel of land.

Boardinghouse

Means a house where you can pay to stay and receive meals.

Breezeway

Means a covered passage one story in height and six feet or more in width connecting a main structure and an accessory building. A breezeway shall be considered and accessory building.

Buffer yard

Means a buffer yard is a unit of land, together with a specified amount of planting thereon, and any structures, which may be required between, land uses to eliminate or minimize conflicts between them.

Building

Means any structure with a roof and walls.

Building line

Means a line that establishes, beyond which no building may extend.

Building site

Means a piece of land on which a house or other building is being built.

Business

Means and includes local retail, commercial, industrial, and manufacturing uses and districts as herein defined.

Caliper

Means the diameter of the trunk measured one foot above ground level.

Canopy trees

Means a perennial woody plant, single or multiple trunk, contributing to the uppermost spreading branch layer of a forest and may be commonly referred to as shade trees.

Cellar

Means that portion of a building between floor and ceiling which is partly below and partly above grade but so located that the vertical distance from grade to the floor below is greater than the vertical distance from grade to ceiling.

Clinic

Means offices for one or more physicians, surgeons, or dentists engaged in treating the sick or injured, but not including rooms of the abiding of patients.

Community center

Means a building dedicated to social or recreational activities serving the city or a neighborhood and owned and operated by the city, or by a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the health, safety, morals or general welfare of the city.

Comprehensive plan

Means policies in graphic and text form adopted by the city council to govern the general location recommended for land uses, transportation routes, public and private buildings, streets, alleys, squares, parks, and other public and private development and improvements. One plan may cover the entire city and all of its functions and services, or the comprehensive plan may consist of a combination of plans governing specific geographic areas which together cover the entire city and all of its functions and services. The term "comprehensive plan" includes, but is not limited to, the city zoning regulations, the land use plan, thoroughfare plan, and floodplain map. The city's comprehensive plan is on file in the office of the city secretary.

Convalescent home

Means any structure used for or occupied by persons recovering from illness or suffering from the infirmities of old age.

Court

Means an open unoccupied space other than a yard, on the same lot with a building and which is bounded on three or more sides by the building.

Day nursery

Means a place where children are left for care a part of the 24 hours of the day.

Depth of lot

Means the mean horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines. (See App. Figure 2.)

Depth of rear yard

Means the mean horizontal distance between the front and rear line of a building other than an accessory building and the rear lot line except as modified in the text of any section in this chapter.

District

Means a section of the city for which the regulations governing the area, height, or use of buildings are uniform for each type and class of structure.

Dwelling, manufactured, or mobile home

Means a manufactured home or mobile home, as defined in this section used as a dwelling, with or without a permanent foundation.

Dwelling, multiple,

Means a building or portion thereof, arranged, intended, or designed for occupancy by three or more families, including apartment houses, row houses, tenements and apartment hotels.

Dwelling, one-family,

Means a detached building arranged, intended, or designed for occupancy by one family.

Dwelling, two-family,

Means a detached building arranged, intended, or designed for occupancy by two families.

Efficiency apartment

Means an apartment having a combination living and bedroom (no separate bedroom).

Enhanced pavement

Means any permeable or impermeable decorative pavement material intended for pedestrian or vehicular use. Enhanced pavement includes brick or stone pavers, grass pavers and stamped or stained concrete.

Family

Means one or more persons who are related by blood or marriage, living together and occupying a single housekeeping unit with single kitchen facilities, or a group of not more than five (excluding servants) living together by joint agreement and occupying a single housekeeping unit with single kitchen facilities, on a non-profit cost-sharing basis.

Farm or ranch

Means a tract of land consisting of a minimum of ten acres used for agriculture.

Field offices (temporary)

Means and includes structures conforming to the uniform code used in conjunction with construction work accessory and incidental to the construction work accessory and incidental to the construction of a permanent structure which the permanent structure this Code and state and federal law. The temporary structure may be permitted by the building official at the time the permit is granted for the permanent structure and the temporary structure shall be completely removed at the time of occupancy of the permanent structure.

Floor area ratio

Means a numerical value obtained by dividing the sum of the gross horizontal area of all floors of a building, including interior balconies and mezzanines, measured to the exterior faces of walls, by the total area of the lot, excluding streets, alleys, and dedicated drainage ways.

Floor space per dwelling unit

Means the total number of square feet of habitable floor space contained within a dwelling unit exclusive of porches, breezeways, carports, garages, and storage areas not directly accessible from within the dwelling unit.

Front yard

Means an open, unoccupied space on a lot facing a street between a building and a street line. If no building exists, a front yard is an open unoccupied space facing a street and adjacent thereto.

Garage, auto repair,

Means an auto repair garage is a building or portion thereof whose principal use is for the repair, servicing, equipping, or maintenance of motor vehicles or motor vehicle components, including engines, radiators, starters, transmissions, brakes, tires and wheels, seats and similar components.

Garage, private,

When attached to a house, the garage typically has an entry door into the house.

Garage, public,

Means a building or portion thereof, designed or used for the storage, sale, hiring, care or repair of motor vehicles, which is operated for commercial purposes.

Garage, storage,

Means a building or portion thereof, other than a private garage, used exclusively for parking or storage of self-propelled vehicles, but with no other services provided except facilities for washing and normal maintenance.

Grade

Means:

(1) For buildings having walls adjoining one street only, the elevation of the sidewalk at the center of the wall adjoining the street;
(2) For buildings having walls adjoining more than one street, the average of the elevation of the sidewalk at the center of all walls adjoining the street;
(3) For buildings having no wall adjoining the street, the average level of the finished surface of the ground adjacent to the exterior wall of the building.
Any wall approximately parallel to and not more than five feet from a street line is to be considered as adjoining the street. Where no sidewalk has been constructed, the city engineer shall establish the street level or its equivalent for the purpose of these regulations.

Gross floor area.

The gross floor space of an apartment house shall be measured by taking the outside dimension of the apartment building at each floor level, excluding, however, the floor area of basements or attics not used for residential purposes.

Ground cover

Means low growing, dense spreading plants typically planted from containers.

Group housing project

Means a building project consisting of three or more buildings, to be constructed on a plot of ground which is not subdivided into customary streets or lots.

Height of buildings

Means the vertical distance measured from the highest of the following three levels:

(1) From the street curb level;
(2) From the established or mean street grade incase the curb has not been constructed;
(3) From the average finished ground level adjoining the building if it sets back from the street line;
to the level of the highest point of the roof beams of flat roofs or roof inclining not more than one inch to the foot, or to the mean height level of the top of the main plates and highest ridge for other roofs.

Height of yard or court

Means the vertical distance from the lowest level of such yard or court to the highest point of any boundary wall.

Hobby shop

Means an accessory use housed in a dwelling or in an accessory building in which the residents of the premises engage in recreational activities, none of which shall disturb the neighbors on either side or in the rear thereof, and from which no revenue may be derived, and in which no goods may be publicly displayed, offered for sale, or advertised for sale, nor may any sign be used in connection therewith.

Home occupations

Means, in connection with the operation of a dwelling, any use permitted as a home occupation may be operated subject to compliance with the following conditions:

(1) The use is operated in its entirety within the dwelling unit or other accessory structures and only by the person or persons maintaining a dwelling therein.
(2) The home occupation does not have a separate entrance from outside the building to an isolated area of the house that is exclusively used for the home occupation.
(3) The use does not display or create outside the building any external evidence of the operation of the home occupation.
(4) The home occupation does not have any employee or regular assistant not residing in the dwelling unit in which the home occupation is operated or maintained, unless the employee does not perform services on the property.
(5) No traffic or parking shall be generated by such home occupation that would unreasonably impact a residential neighborhood, and any need for parking generated by the conduct of such home occupation shall be met off the street and other than in a required front yard.
(6) Commercial delivery service required by the home occupation shall not deliver goods or products to the home more than four times per month. Commercial delivery service shall be limited to vehicles with two axles.
(7) No home occupation shall constitute a nuisance.
(8) No outdoor storage of any type shall be permitted with any home occupation.

Hospital

Means an institution or place where sick or injured in-patients are given medical or surgical care either at public (charity) or private expenses.

Hotel

Means a building containing rooms intended or designed to be used or which are used, rented or hired out to be occupied by guests and where only a general kitchen and dining room are provided within the building or in an accessory building.

Housing project

Means an unplatted area of three or more acres arranged according to a site plan to be submitted to and to be approved by the city planning and zoning commission and the city council on which is indicated the amount of land to be devoted to housing facilities, their arrangement thereon, together with the arrangement of access streets and alleys, and the entire area is to be zoned as multifamily upon the recommendations of the city planning and zoning commission and the action of the city council, and in which it shall not be necessary to subdivide the area into lots and blocks. The site plan shall indicate that all access streets, alleys, sidewalks, storm sewers, storm sewer inlets, shall be provided as required by the city and built in accordance with city specifications.

Junk

Means and includes scrap iron, scrap brass, scrap copper, scrap lead or scrap zinc and all other scrap metals and their alloys, and bones, rags, used cloth, used rubber, used rope, used tinfoil, used bottles, old cotton or used machinery, used tools, used appliances, used fixtures, used utensils, used boxes or crates, used pipe or pipe fittings, used vehicular or airplane tires, and other manufactured goods that are so worn, deteriorated, or obsolete as to make them unusable in their existing condition; subject to being dismantled for junk.

Kennel

Means any lot or premises on which four or more dogs, cats, or other domestic animals at least four months of age, are housed or accepted for boarding, trimming, grooming or bathing for which remuneration is received.

Kindergarten

Means a school for little children of pre-public school age in which constructive endeavors, object lessons, and helpful games are prominent features of the curriculum.

Landscape architect

Means a person registered as a landscape architect in this state pursuant to state law.

Landscape area

Means an area that is covered by natural grass, ground cover, or other natural plant materials.

Lawn grasses

Means thin bladed surface growing plants typically planted from seed, sprigs or plugs.

Legal nonconforming use, building or yard

Means a use, building or yard existing legally at the time of the passage of the ordinance from which this chapter is derived which does not by reason of design, use, or dimensions conform to the regulations of the district in which it is situated. A use, building or yard established after the passage of the ordinance from which this chapter is derived that does not conform to regulations of the district in which it is situated shall be considered an illegal nonconforming use.

Licensed irrigator

Means a person duly licensed by the state to design and install irrigation systems.

Lot

Means a parcel of land occupied or to be occupied by one building, or unit group of buildings, and the accessory buildings or uses customarily incident thereto, including such open spaces as are required under this chapter, and having its principal frontage upon a public street or a place.

Lot depth.

See Depth of lot.

Lot line, front,

Means the boundary between a lot and the street on which it fronts.

Lot line, rear,

Means the boundary line which is opposite and most distant from the front street line; except that in the case of uncertainty the building inspector shall determine the rear line.

Lot line, side,

Means any lot boundary line not a front or rear line thereof. A sideline may be a party lot line, a line bordering on an alley or place or side street line.

Lot of record

Means a lot which is part of a subdivision, a map of which has been recorded in the office of the county clerk.

Lot width

Means the horizontal distance between sidelines, measured at the front building line, as established by the minimum front yard requirement of this chapter.

Lot, corner,

Means a lot abutting upon two or more streets at their intersection. A corner lot shall be deemed to front on that street on which it has its least dimension, unless otherwise specified by the city engineer.

Lot, interior,

Means a lot whose side lines do not abut upon any street.

Lot, lines

Means the lines bounding a lot as defined herein.

Lot, through,

Means an interior lot having frontage on two streets.

Manufactured and mobile home park

Means any premises complying with city manufactured and mobile home park regulations.

Manufactured home

Means a structure constructed on or after June 15, 1976, according to the rules of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, built on a permanent chassis, designed for use as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when the structure is connected to the required utilities, transportable in one or more sections, and at least eight body feet in width or at least 40 body feet in length in traveling mode or at least 320 square feet when erected on site, and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and electrical systems of the home. The term "manufactured home" does not include a recreational vehicle as defined by 24 CFR 3282.8(g).

Mobile home

Means a structure constructed before June 15, 1976, and built on a permanent chassis, designed for use as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when the structure is connected to the required utilities, transportable in one or more sections, and at least eight body feet in width or at least 40 body feet in length in the traveling mode or at least 320 square feet when erected on site and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and electrical systems of the home.

Modular home.

See Dwelling, mobile home.

Motel, motor hotel or tourist court

Means a motel, motor hotel or tourist court is any establishment offering to the transient public the use of guest rooms or sleeping accommodations for compensation. Such and establishment consists of a group of attached or detached guest rooms or sleeping accommodations the majority of which have private and direct access from parking areas not through common entrance and lobby. The establishment furnishes customarily hotel services and may contain a restaurant, club, lounge, banquet hall, or meeting rooms. A motel is a nonresidential use.

Office warehouse

Means the primary function of an office warehouse facility is the storage of goods and merchandise. Although a limited amount of retail or wholesale, and cash-and-carry sales will occur in an office warehouse facility, the majority of sales will be phone or mail orders to be delivered or shipped to the purchaser. The office portion of an office warehouse use would typically consist of management, accounting, order desk personnel.

Off-street loading space

Means a space located outside of a public street or alley for the discharge of passengers or a space directly accessible to the building it serves for bulk pick-up and deliveries of delivery vehicles.

Off-street parking place

Means a concrete or asphalt surface located outside of the right-of-way of a public street or alley adequate for parking an automobile with room for opening doors both sides, together with properly related access to a public street or alley and maneuvering room without backing into a public street.

Open space

Means area included in any side, rear, or front yard or any unoccupied space on the lot that is open and unobstructed to the sky except for the ordinary projection of cornices, eaves, or porches.

Paved

Means an all-weather, dust-free surface intended for vehicular traffic or parking, which is concrete, asphalt, or other surface.

Place

Means an open, unoccupied space other than a street or alley permanently established or dedicated as the principal means of access to property abutting thereon.

Recreational vehicle storage facility

Means a commercial facility in a controlled access and screened compound that leases spaces for the long term storage of private boats, trailers, campers and recreational vehicles.

Residence

Means a building occupied as the abiding place of one or more persons in which the use and management of sleeping quarters, all appliances for cooking, ventilating, heating or lighting are under one control and which shall include single-family dwellings, which shall be the principal building on any lot in residential districts.

Restaurant or cafe

Means a building or portion of a building, not operated as a dining room in connection with a hotel or boarding house, where food is served for pay and for consumption in the building, and where provisions may be made for serving food on the premises outside the building.

Screening device

Means a screening device shall consist of a barrier of stone, brick, pierced brick or block, uniformly colored wood, or other permanent material of equal character, density, and acceptable design, at least six feet in height, where the solid area equals at least 65 percent of the wall surface, including an entrance gate or gates; or foliage of an acceptable combination of these materials.

Seasonal color

Means landscape areas used for annual and perennial flowers intended to maintain year-round color accents.

Self-storage facilities (mini-warehouse)

Means a building or 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 a customer's goods or wares. The rented space shall be for private use only.

Setback

Means the minimum horizontal distance between the front wall of any projection of the building, excluding steps and unenclosed porch and the street line.

Sexually-oriented business or adult business

Means an adult arcade, adult bookstore, adult video store, adult cabaret, adult motel, adult motion picture theater, adult theater or nude model studio as regulated by chapter 4, article II of this Code.

Shopping village

Means an area consisting of three acres or more arranged according to a site plan to be submitted to and to be approved by the city plan commission and the city council, on which is indicated the amount of the various buildings, parking area, streets, and type of zoning desired. The city plan commission shall require installation of all utilities, drainage structures, the paving of streets, parking areas, alleys, and the installation of sidewalks in accordance with the city specifications for each type of improvement.

Shrubs

Means plants that grow vertically in a multi-branched growth pattern.

Story

Means that part of a building included between the surface of one floor and the surface of the floor next above, or if there be no floor above, that part of the building which is above the surface of the highest floor thereof. A top story attic is a half story when the main line of the eaves is not above the middle of the interior height of such story. The first story is the highest story having its interior floor surface, not more than four feet above the curb level, established or mean street grade, or average ground level, as mentioned in height of buildings in this section.

Street

Means a thoroughfare which affords principal means of access to property abutting thereon.

Street line

Means the dividing line between the street and the abutting property.

Structure

Means anything constructed or erected, which required location on the ground, or attached to something having a location on the ground, including, but not limited to, advertising signs, billboards, and poster panels, but exclusive of customary fences or boundary or retaining walls.

Subdivision developer sales office

Means and includes structures conforming to the uniform building code used for the purpose of selling residential structures within the immediate proximity of the sales office.

Terminal, motor freight,

Means the use of property of buildings for the temporary parking motor freight vehicles or trucks of common carriers during loading and unloading and between trips, including necessary warehouse space for storage of transitory freight.

Tourist cabin or trailer camps or recreational vehicle parks

Means a tract or parcel of land upon which two or more tourist cabins are located, or where temporary accommodations are provided for two or more automobile trailers, tents or house cars, open to the public either free or for a fee.

Understory/accent trees

Means small evergreen or deciduous perennial woody plants which would grow below the top layer of the forest and typically has unique branching, textural or seasonal color characteristics.

Used car lot

Means a lot or portion thereof to be used only for the display and sale of automobiles that are in condition to be driven on or off the lot. A used car lot shall not be used for the storage of wrecked automobiles, or the storage of automobile parts.

Variance

Means a modification or variation of the provisions of this chapter, as applied to a specific piece of property, as distinct from rezoning.

Yard

Means an open space at grade between a building and the adjoining lot lines, unoccupied and unobstructed by any portion of a structure from the ground upward, except as otherwise provided. In measuring a yard for the purpose of determining the width of a side yard, the depth of a front yard or the depth of a rear, the least horizontal distance between the lot line and the main building shall be used.

Yard, front,

Means a yard across the full width of the lot extending from the from line of the main building to the front line of the lot.

Yard, rear,

Means a yard between the rear lot line and the rear line of the main building and the side lot lines.

Yard, side,

Means a yard between the building and the sideline of the lot and extending from the front yard to the required minimum rear yard.

Yard, size,

Means a yard between the main building and the adjacent sideline of the lot, and extending entirely from the front yard to the rear yard thereof.

City of Justin, TX

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