§ 3. Definitions.

3.1.

General: For the purpose of interpreting this ordinance, certain words and terms used are defined in this section. Except as defined in this section, all other words used in this ordinance shall have their standard dictionary definition. For general interpretation, the following shall apply in all uses and cases in this ordinance:

1.

The present tense includes the future tense, and the future tense includes the present tense.

2.

The singular number includes the plural number, and the plural number includes the singular number.

3.

The word "may" is permissive, and the word "shall" is mandatory.

4.

The word "person" includes a firm, association, organization, partnership, trust, company or corporation, as well as an individual.

5.

The words "used" or "occupied" include the words "intended, designed, or arranged to be used or occupied."

6.

Words imparting the masculine gender include the feminine and neuter.

3.2.

Word and term definitions:

Accessory building: A building that is located on the same parcel of property or manufactured home or recreational vehicle park space as the principal structure or use and the use of which is incidental to the use of the principal use or structure, except for accessory parking facilities located elsewhere plus pole barns, hay sheds, and the like qualify as accessory structures on farms and may or may not be located on the same parcel as the farm dwelling or shop building. Garages and carports are common accessory buildings. If a building is used for any residential, principal, or permitted use, it is not an accessory building. An accessory building can be attached to or detached from the principal structure.

Accessory structure (appurtenant structure): A structure that is located on the same parcel of property or on the same manufactured home or recreational vehicle park space as the principal structure or use and the use of which is incidental to the use of the principal structure or use, except for accessory parking facilities located elsewhere plus pole barns, hay sheds, and the like qualify as accessory structures on farms and may or may not be located on the same parcel as the farm dwelling or shop building. Garages, carports, and storage sheds are common urban accessory structures. If a structure is used for any residential, principal, or permitted use, it is not an accessory structure. An accessory structure can be attached to or detached from the principal structure.

Accessory use: A subordinate use, clearly incidental and related to the principal structure or use of land, and located on the same parcel of property or manufactured home or recreational vehicle park space as that of the principal structure or use, except for accessory parking facilities located elsewhere. If a parcel is used for any residential, principal, or permitted use, it is not an accessory use.

Board of adjustment: The board of adjustment is comprised of the members of the zoning board of adjustment that is established by the Zoning Ordinance.

Board of county commissioners: The Board of County Commissioners of Carteret County, North Carolina.

Buffer: A screening device used to moderate the adverse impacts of one land use upon another. Buffers may include walls, privacy fences, hedges, landscaped areas, berms, mounds, or combinations of the above.

Certificate of Codes Compliance: A certificate issued by the planning director or designee that certifies that plans for a proposed structure, building, use, or lot conform to the provisions of all non-Building Code ordinances.

Certificate of occupancy: A certificate issued by the planning director or designee that declares that a building, structure, or lot may lawfully be employed for specific uses. Such structure(s) and use(s) shall conform fully to the provisions of all ordinances, including all Building Codes.

Community water system: An approved water system serving 15 or more connections or serving a minimum of 25 people daily at least 60 days out of the year, including county, municipal, and private water systems. Also known as a public water system.

Compactor, trash: Any container, structure, or building (including dumpsters and trash receptacles) designed to hold, crush or otherwise compact, and/or receive the trash of one or more businesses, one or more public or semi-public institutions, and/or two or more residences.

Dumpster: A container, structure, or building (including dumpsters and trash receptacles) designed to hold, crush or otherwise compact, and/or receive the trash of one or more businesses, one or more public or semi-public institutions, and/or two or more residences.

Fence: A structure, other than a building, that is a barrier and is used as a boundary, screening, or means of protection or confinement. This definition includes chain-link, split rail, and other types of open fences, unless otherwise specified. A fence functions like a wall but is usually six inches or thinner.

Fence, privacy: A fence with no gaps in the structure that are wider than one-quarter inch, except at the edges of the gate. A privacy fence is usually made from solid materials including, but not limited to, brick, masonry products, and wood.

Junkyard or salvage yard: An establishment operated or maintained for the purpose of storing, dismantling, salvaging, recycling, buying or selling scrap or used materials, such as paper, metals, rubber, rags, glass, wrecked, used or dismantled products and articles, such as machinery, vehicles, appliances, and the like. Other examples include: property where waste, discarded or salvaged materials are bought, sold, exchanged, baled, packed, disassembled or handled, including auto wrecking yards, wrecked or damaged motor vehicle insurance storage yards, house wrecking yards, used lumber yards and places or yards for storage of salvage house wrecking and structural steel materials and equipment; but not including such places where such uses are conducted entirely within a completely enclosed building, and not including pawn shops and establishments for sale, purchase or storage of used furniture and household equipment, used cars in operative condition, or salvage materials incidental to manufacturing operations.

Improvements: The addition of any structure, accessory structure, parking area, loading area, fence, wall, hedge, lawn, or mass planting (except to prevent soil erosion) to a parcel.

Lot: Land area of defined boundaries in single ownership, set aside for separate use or occupancy, and recorded as such in the office of the Carteret County Register of Deeds. The word "lot" includes "parcel", "plot", or "tract".

1.

Corner lot: A lot abutting upon two or more streets at their intersection. A corner lot is not a double-frontage lot.

2.

Double-frontage lot: A lot having frontage on two parallel or approximately parallel streets. A double-frontage lot has a required front yard along both street frontages and has no required rear yard. A corner lot is not a double-frontage lot. Also known as a through lot.

3.

Flag lot: A lot that is composed of a narrow "flagpole" strip extending from the street and much wider "flag" section lying immediately behind a lot or lots having the required street frontage for a conventional lot. In the case of a flag lot, the lot line at the end of the flag pole lying generally parallel to the street to which the flagpole connects shall be considered to be the front lot line for setback purposes. Also known as a panhandle lot.

4.

Interior lot: A lot other than a corner lot or a through lot.

5.

Key lot: A lot at the rear of a corner lot, the front of which is substantially a continuation of the side property line of the corner lot, or a "reverse" flag lot that is paired with a flag lot.

6.

Reversed frontage lot: A lot that has frontage on two or more streets, with access restricted to a subordinate street.

7.

Single-tiered lot: A lot that backs up to a limited access highway, a railroad, a physical barrier, or another type of land use and to which access from the rear is usually prohibited.

8.

Through lot: A non-corner lot having frontage on two or more streets. A through lot has a required front yard along all street frontages and has no required rear yard. A double-frontage lot is a type of through lot.

Lot Types

Lot area: The total area circumscribed by the boundaries of a lot, except that, when the legal instrument creating a lot shows the boundary of the lot extending into a public street or private right-of-way or waterway, then the lot boundary for purposes of computing the lot area shall be the street right-of-way line or, if the right-of-way line cannot be determined, a line running parallel to and 30 feet from the center of the traveled portion of the street, or the normal high water mark, as appropriate.

Lot coverage: The portion or percentage of a lot covered by structures.

Lot depth: The mean horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines.

Lot frontage: The length of the front lot line measured from side lot line to side lot line. Also known as "frontage".

Lot line: Any boundary of a parcel.

1.

Front lot line: The line dividing a street , access easement, or right-of-way from a lot. All lot lines that are parallel or approximately parallel to the street, access easement, or right-of-way are front lot lines. For a flag lot, the interior lot line most parallel to and nearest the street from which access is obtained is the front lot line.

2.

Rear lot line: The lot line not intersecting a front lot line that is most distance from, and most closely parallel to, the front lot line.

3.

Side lot line: Any lot line that is not a front or rear lot line.

Lot Terms

Lot, non-conforming: A lot of record existing at the time the current regulations were passed requiring greater minimum lot width and/or lot area than provided on such lot, or establishing other limitations that such lot does not meet. Such lots may be considered substandard lots of record.

Lot, non-legal for zoning purposes: A lot that does not meet the requirements of a non-conforming lot and is substandard (e.g., a lot that is illegally subdivided and does not meet the minimum lot size requirement for the district in which it is located).

Lot of record: A lot that was legally created prior to the adoption of this ordinance.

Lot width: The distance between the side lot lines, measured along the front yard setback line.

Manufactured home: A dwelling unit that is composed of one or more components, each of which was substantially assembled in a manufacturing plant and designed for installation or assembly and installation on the building site. This definition also includes a structure built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling that is transportable in one or more sections and is eight body feet or more wide or 40 body feet or more long in the traveling mode or, when erected on site, is 320 or more square feet, whether or not it is placed on a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, including the plumbing, heating, and electrical systems contained therein. "Manufactured home" also includes any structure that otherwise meets all of the requirements of this definition, except the size requirements, but the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification required by the Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and complies with the standards established under the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, 42 U.S.C. § 5401, et seq. The term "manufactured home" does not include a "recreational vehicle or any structure that must be inspected on-site to determine compliance with the N.C. Building Code. Also known as a mobile home.

NOTE: For manufactured homes built prior to June 15, 1976, "manufactured home" means a portable manufactured housing unit designed for transportation on its own chassis and placement on a temporary or semi-permanent foundation having a measurement of over 32 feet in length and over eight feet in width. "Manufactured home" also means a double-wide manufactured home, which is two or more portable manufactured housing units designed for transportation on their own chassis that connect on-site for placement on a temporary or semi-permanent foundation having a measurement of over 32 feet in length and over eight feet in width.

Manufactured home park: A parcel upon which three or more manufactured homes are located, other than a sales lot for manufactured homes, regardless of whether or not a charge is made for such accommodations. Also known as "MH park(s)".

Manufactured home subdivision: A residential subdivision containing manufactured homes situated on their individual lot. A MH park is not a MH subdivision.

MH/RV space: A plot of land within a MH/RV park designed for the accommodation of a single manufactured home/recreational vehicle.

MH/RV stand: That portion of the manufactured home/recreational vehicle space designed for, and used as, the area occupied by the MH/RV proper.

Modular home: A dwelling unit constructed in accordance with the standards set forth in the North Carolina Building Code and composed of components substantially assembled in a manufacturing plant and transported to the building site for final assembly on a permanent foundation. A modular home may consist of two or more sections, or a series of panels or room sections erected or joined together on the site. A modular home is not a manufactured home/mobile home, which is inspected and approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and is not constructed in accordance with the standards set forth in the North Carolina Building Code.

Mound: A rounded hill, natural formation, or man-made bank or hill of earth and/or stones.

Non-conforming building or development: A legally existing building or development that fails to comply with the provisions of this ordinance.

Non-conforming lot: A lot of record that existed at the time the current regulations were passed requiring greater minimum lot width and/or lot area than provided on such lot, or establishing other limitations that such lot does not meet. Such lots may be considered substandard lots of record.

Non-conforming sign: A sign that was lawfully-erected which does not comply with the provisions of this article or which later fails to comply with this article due to changed conditions. Illegally-erected or -maintained signs are not non-conforming signs.

Non-conforming structure: A building or structure that lawfully existed prior to the initial adoption of this ordinance or any subsequent amendments that is not in compliance with this ordinance.

Non-conforming use: The use of a building, structure, or lot for a purpose that does not conform to the regulations of this ordinance, either at the effective date of this ordinance or as a result of subsequent amendments which may be incorporated in this ordinance.

"Park model" recreational vehicle: A manufactured home typically built in accordance with the construction requirements of HUD National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, 42 U.S.C. § 5401, et seq., but because of their limited size they are not required to be labeled by the HUD manufacturing housing program. Since these park model type units are not under the jurisdiction of the HUD program, they are labeled and sold as recreational vehicles.

Park office/store: A central structure or structures that may contain a retail sales counter and/or coin operated machines for park residents' use primarily, provided they are completely enclosed within the building and there is no exterior advertising. Vending machines are exempt. If a single-family dwelling is proposed for use as the park owner, manager, or operator residence, the park office/store may be located within a portion of the residence. A park office/store shall not be located within a manufactured home.

Permitted use: A principal use, other than a special use, that is approved administratively when it complies with the standards and requirements set forth for the zoning district in which it is located. Also known as a use permitted by right.

Permitted structural use: A structure/use meeting all of the requirements of this ordinance.

Planning and development department: Department consisting of the planning staff and building inspection staff for Carteret County. Also known as the planning department.

Planning commission: The Carteret County Planning Commission. Sometimes incorrectly called the planning board.

Planning director: The Director of the Carteret County Department of Planning and Development.

Public water system: An approved water system serving 15 or more connections or serving a minimum of 25 people daily at least 60 days out of the year, including county, municipal, and private water systems. Also known as a community water system.

Recreational vehicle (RV): A vehicle that is:

1.

Built on a single chassis;

2.

Four hundred square feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projection;

3.

Designed to be self-propelled or permanently towable by a light duty truck; and

4.

Designed primarily not for use as a permanent dwelling, but as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel, or seasonal use.

Recreational vehicle park: A parcel upon which two or more recreational vehicles, occupied for sleeping purposes, are located regardless of whether or not a charge is made for such purposes. A recreational vehicle park is also known as an "RV park".

Salvage yard or junkyard: An establishment operated or maintained for the purpose of storing, dismantling, salvaging, recycling, buying or selling scrap or used materials, such as paper, metals, rubber, rags, glass, wrecked, used or dismantled products and articles, such as machinery, vehicles, appliances, and the like. Other examples include: property where waste, discarded or salvaged materials are bought, sold, exchanged, baled, packed, disassembled or handled, including auto wrecking yards, wrecked or damaged motor vehicle insurance storage yards, house wrecking yards, used lumber yards and places or yards for storage of salvage house wrecking and structural steel materials and equipment; but not including such places where such uses are conducted entirely within a completely enclosed building, and not including pawn shops and establishments for sale, purchase or storage of used furniture and household equipment, used cars in operative condition, or salvage materials incidental to manufacturing operations.

Setback: The minimum required horizontal distance between a structure or activity and the property line or the street right-of-way line (in the case of a property that lies on both sides of a street). (Note diagram below)

1.

Front setback: Any setback from the front property line or a street or road right-of-way line.

2.

Interior setback: A setback from any property line not alongside a street.

3.

Rear setback: A setback from an interior property line lying on the opposite side of the lot from the front property line or a street right-of-way line.

4.

Side setback: Any interior property line setback, other than a rear setback.

5.

Side on corner setback: A setback on a street for a corner lot, other than a front setback.

Lot Terms

Setback line, building: A line establishing the minimum allowable distance between the principal building and the road right-of-way line or the property line. The fact that a building is constructed behind the building setback line does not alter its location.

Sign: Any device, letter, numeral, figure, character, mark, plane, point, marquee sign, design, poster, pictorial, picture, stroke, stripe, line, trademark, reading matter or illuminated surface, that is so constructed, placed, attached, painted, erected, fastened, or manufactured in any manner, whatsoever, so that the same is used for the attraction of the public to any place, subject, person, firm, corporation, public performance, article, machine, or merchandise, whatsoever, that are displayed in any manner whatsoever, including out-of-doors, and are visible from any public way. Also included are any card, cloth, glass, metal, painted, paper, plastic, wooden, or other configuration of any character placed in or on the ground or any tree, wall, bush, rock, fence, pavement, building, structure, or thing, for the purpose of advertising, announcing, declaring, demonstrating or displaying information about a specific business, occupant use, activity, or building, including clocks, barber poles and similar devices. This shall exclude official notices issued by a court or public officer.

Single-family dwelling: A building, or portion thereof, designed and constructed for use as one dwelling unit built according to the provisions of the N.C. Residential Building Code (Volume 1B). A single-family dwelling may contain an efficiency unit and still be classified as single-family. A single-family dwelling can be attached to or detached from another single-family dwelling.

Stabilizing system: A combination of the anchoring system and the support system, when properly installed.

Storage: A depository for commodities or items for the purpose of future use or safekeeping.

Street or road: The all-weather travelway within a public or private right-of-way or easement that is set aside for public or private travel and provides access to abutting properties, and has been accepted for maintenance by the State of North Carolina, has been established as a public or private street prior to the date of adoption of this ordinance, has been dedicated to the State of North Carolina for public travel by the recording of a plat of an approved subdivision, or has been approved as a private street by Carteret County. Also known as a thoroughfare, parkway, avenue, boulevard, drive, lane, court, loop, way, and similar, which are all types of streets or roads that fit into the following street or road functional classifications:

1.

Alley: A local street used primarily for vehicular service access to the back or side of properties abutting on another street. An alley parallels only rear and side lot lines.

2.

Arterial street: A major street used primarily for through-traffic, carrying heavy loads and large volumes of traffic, usually on a continuous route. Also known as a thoroughfare.

A.

Major arterial: A rural link in a network of continuous routes serving corridor movements having trip length and travel density characteristics indicative of substantial statewide or interstate travel and existing solely to serve traffic. This network would consist of interstate and U.S. routes and other routes designated as major arterials.

B.

Minor arterial: A rural link in a network joining cities and larger towns and providing intrastate and inter-county service at relatively high overall travel speeds (55 mph and up) with minimum interference to through movement.

3.

Collector street: A street that primarily carries traffic from local streets to other collector streets or to arterial streets.

A.

Major collector: A road that serves major intra-county travel corridors and traffic generators and provides access to the arterial system.

B.

Minor collector: A road that provides service to small local communities and links the locally-important traffic generators

4.

Cul-de-sac: A local street of relatively short length with one end terminating in a vehicular turnaround.

5.

Dead-end street: A street temporarily stubbed at one or both ends and intended to be extended or continued in the future.

6.

Freeway or limited access highway: A high-volume arterial street having limited access and grade-separated intersections.

7.

Interior street: A street that is located wholly within the boundaries of a development, such as a shopping center, group housing project, or RV park.

8.

Local street: A street that serves individual lots by carrying traffic to collector roads, arterial streets, or other local roads.

9.

Service street: A local or collector street that runs generally parallel and adjacent to an arterial or collector street, providing access to abutting properties and protection from arterial or collector streets. Also known as a frontage or marginal road.

Street or road, private: A vehicular travelway, not dedicated or offered for dedication as a public street, but resembling a cul-de-sac or a local street by carrying traffic from a series of driveways to the public street system.

Street or road, public: A dedicated public right-of-way for vehicular traffic that:

1.

Has been accepted by the NCDOT for maintenance; or

2.

Is not yet accepted but in which the roadway design and construction have been approved under public standards for vehicular traffic.

Street or road right-of-way: A strip of land occupied or intended to be occupied by a travelway for vehicles and also available, with the consent of the appropriate governmental agency, for installation and maintenance of sidewalks, traffic control devices, traffic signs, street name signs, historical marker signs, water lines, sanitary sewer lines, storm sewer lines, gas lines, power lines, and communication lines.

Temporary recreational vehicle (RV) space: An area in an approved RV park that contains at least some elements of a fully-developed RV space; is used no more than two times per year; and is used no more than seven consecutive days either of those two times per year.

Temporary residential manufactured home: A manufactured home that is used for temporary residential space during the installation of a replacement manufactured home or the construction of a residential unit on the same lot and for 30 days after the issuance of certificate of occupancy for the permanent unit; or for a manufactured home used for temporary residential occupancy when a residence has been damaged by fire, flood, hurricane, tornado, or the like. This definition is not to be used for occupancy when a home is in disrepair.

Thoroughfare or major thoroughfare: Major thoroughfares consist of interstate, other freeway, expressway, or parkway links, and major streets or roads that provide for the expeditious movement of high volumes of traffic within and through urban and rural areas. In addition, for the purposes of this ordinance, the terms thoroughfare or major thoroughfare shall mean the rights-of-way of Highways 70, 24, 58, 101 and 12.

Trash receptacle: Any container, structure, or building (including dumpsters and compactors) designed to hold, crush or otherwise compact, and/or receive the trash of one or more businesses, one or more public or semi-public institutions, and/or two or more residences.

Travel trailer: A portable, temporary dwelling to be used for travel, recreation, and vacation, constructed as an integral part of a self-propelled vehicle. Also known as a motor home or a recreational vehicle.

Use: The purpose for which land or a structure is designed, arranged, and/or intended to be occupied or utilized or for which the land or structure is occupied, maintained, rented, or leased.

1.

Accessory use: A subordinate use, clearly incidental and related to the principal structure or use of land, and located on the same parcel of property or manufactured home or recreational vehicle park space as that of the principal structure or use, except for accessory parking facilities located elsewhere. If a parcel is used for any residential, principal, or permitted use, it is not an accessory use.

2.

Conditional use: A use that, owing to some special characteristics attendant to its operation or installation, is permitted in a district subject to approval by the Carteret County Board of Commissioners and may be subject to special requirements different from those usual requirements for the district in which the conditional use may be located.

3.

Non-conforming use: The use of a building, structure, or lot for a purpose that does not conform to the regulations of this ordinance, either at the effective date of this ordinance or as a result of subsequent amendments that may be incorporated in this ordinance.

4.

Non-farm use: Any use of property that is not included in the definition of a bona fide farm.

5.

Permitted use: A principal use, other than a special use, that is approved administratively when it complies with the standards and requirements set forth for the zoning district in which it is located. Also known as a use permitted by right.

6.

Principal use: The use that constitutes the primary activity, function, or purpose to which a parcel or building is put.

7.

Special use: A use that would not be appropriate generally throughout the zoning district or without special study but which, if controlled as to number, area, location, or relation to neighborhood, would be.

8.

Temporary use: A short-term use that is established for a fixed period of time, usually less than 30 days, with the intent to discontinue such use upon the expiration of such time. A temporary use does not involve the construction or alteration of any permanent structure.

9.

Use-by-right: A use which is listed as an unconditionally permitted activity in this ordinance.

Variance: A grant of relief from the requirements of this ordinance.

Wall: A structure, other than a building, that is a barrier and is used as a boundary, screening, or means of protection or confinement. A wall functions like a fence but is usually thicker than six inches.

Wall, breakaway: A wall that is not part of the structural support of the building and is intended, through its design and construction, to collapse under specific lateral loading forces without causing damage to the elevated portion of the building or the supporting foundation system.

Yard: A required open space, other than a court, unoccupied and unobstructed by any structure or portion of a structure but not including fences; walls; poles; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment; posts and other customary yard accessories; ornaments; furniture; and customary accessory buildings. For lots of record that front on access easements, yard and lot depth measurements shall be made from the edge of the easement rather than from the lot line.

A.

Front yard: The space required between a front lot line and the front setback line of a principal building or structure. For any given parcel, the required front yard can be smaller than the actual front yard.

B.

Rear yard: The space required between the rear lot line and the rear building line of a principal structure, which may contain permitted accessory structures, or uses. For any given parcel, the required rear yard can be smaller than the actual rear yard.

C.

Side yard: The space required between a side lot line and the side building line of a principal building or structure, which may contain permitted accessory structures or uses. For any given parcel, the required side yard can be smaller than the actual side yard.

Yards