§ 2-3. Definitions.

Accessory Building or Structure. A detached subordinate building or structure, the use of which is incidental and secondary to that of the principal building or use on the same lot or tract of land as the principal building or use. Under no circumstances shall an accessory building or structure be used for residential occupancy.

Area of Environmental Concern (AEC). Areas of an environmentally sensitive nature designated by the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission as required under the Coastal Area Management Act of 1975.

Board of County Commissioners. The Board of County Commissioners of Carteret County, North Carolina.

Bona Fide Farm. Any tract of land containing at least three acres which is used for dairying or the raising of agricultural products, forest products, livestock (domestic) or poultry, and may include facilities for the sale of such products on the premises where produced, provided that a farm shall not be construed to include commercial poultry and swine production, cattle feed lots and production of fur-bearing animals. (Amended 10-02-06)

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. See section 6-8.

(Amended 11-19-07(6))

Building. Any structure that encloses a space used for sheltering any occupancy. Each portion of a building separated from other portions by a firewall shall be considered a separate building.

Building Footprint. The area of a lot or site included within the surrounding exterior walls of a building or portion of a building, exclusive of decks or courtyards. In the absence of surrounding exterior walls, the building footprint shall be the area under the horizontal projection of the roof.

(Amended 10-02-06)

Building Setback Line. A line establishing the minimum allowable distance between the principal building and the road right-of-way line or the property line.

Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA). A state law as defined in G.S. 113A-100 which claims jurisdiction adjacent to coastal waters and other areas of environmental concern. CAMA permits are required for any land-disturbing activities which take place within a prescribed distance from the mean high-water mark.

Commercial Use. The purchase, sale, or transaction involving the disposition of any article, substance, commodity, or service; the maintenance or conduct of offices, professions, or recreational or amusement enterprises conducted for profit and also including renting of rooms, business offices, and sales display and premises.

Compactor, trash. See Trash receptacle.

(Amended 11-19-07(6))

County. The County of Carteret, North Carolina.

Drainage Easement. An easement which grants the right of water drainage to pass on open channels or enclosed structures.

Drainage way. Any natural or man-made channel that carries surface runoff from precipitation.

Dumpster. See Trash receptacle.

(Amended 11-19-07(6))

Dwelling. Any building or structure or portion thereof, which is designed, arranged, or used for residential occupancy. The term "dwelling" shall not be deemed to include a motel, hotel or tourist home.

Dwelling, multifamily. A building arranged or designed for occupancy by two or more families, with separate housekeeping and cooking facilities for each.

Dwelling, single-family attached. Townhouses, row houses or group houses for single-family dwellings, having or sharing one or more common walls or other parts of the structure, and whose ownership may be divided into lots for individual sales.

Dwelling, single-family detached. An individual residential dwelling unit, other than a mobile home, designed for and occupied by one family only, and being completely detached from other dwellings.

Easement. A grant by the property owner for use by the public, corporation, or person(s), of a strip of land for specified purposes.

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.

(Amended 11-19-07(6))

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.

(Amended 11-19-07(6))

Flood prone areas. Areas indicated on the flood insurance rate maps of the National Flood Insurance Program to be susceptible to inundation during a 100-year flood. In the absence of 100-year flood data, other flood data may be used if approved by the National Flood Insurance Program.

Group housing. A series of one or more buildings designed for multi-family use.

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.

(Amended 11-19-07(6))

Lot. A portion of a subdivision or any other parcel of land intended as a unit for transfer of ownership, or for development or both. In determining the area and dimensions of a lot, no part of the right-of-way of a street or road may be included. The word "lot" includes "plot," "parcel," or "tract."

Lot area. The total area circumscribed by 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, 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.

Lot coverage. The portion of a lot covered by building(s) and/or structure(s).

Lot depth. The distance measured along the perpendicular bisector of the smallest possible rectangle enclosing the lot.

Lot frontage. The length of the front lot line measured at the street right-of-way line.

Lot of record. A lot, plot, parcel, or tract recorded in the Office of the Carteret County Register of Deeds in conformance with the Appendix(s) in effect at the time of recordation or a lot described by metes and bounds, the description of which has been recorded prior to the adoption of this Appendix.

Lot width. The horizontal distance between the side lines of a lot measured at right angles to its depth along a straight line parallel to the front lot line at the minimum required building setback line.

Major subdivisions. A subdivision involving six or more lots.

Major thoroughfare or 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. 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.

(Amended 11-19-07(6))

Market Value. The building value, excluding the land (as agreed to between a willing buyer and seller), as established by what the local real estate market will bear. Market value can be established by independent certified appraisal, replacement cost depreciated by age of building (actual cash value) or adjusted assessed values (per Chapter 7).

Mean Roof Height. Mean roof height is the average of the lowest eve roof height and the peak roof height. This is measured from the lowest adjacent grade and shall exclude chimneys, antennas and similar structures.

(Amended 10-02-06)

Minor Subdivision. A subdivision involving five lots or less.

Minor thoroughfare street. Minor thoroughfares collect traffic from collector, subcollector, and local streets or roads and carry it to the major thoroughfare system. Minor thoroughfares may be used to supplement the major thoroughfare system by facilitating movement of moderate volumes of traffic within and through urban areas and may also serve abutting property.

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

(Amended 11-19-07(6))

Nonconforming Structure. Building or structure that lawfully existed prior to the initial adoption of the Down East Conservation Appendix or any subsequent amendments that is not in compliance with this Appendix.

(Amended 10-02-06)

Open Space. An area (land and/or water) generally lacking in man-made structures and reserved for enjoyment.

Owner. A holder of any legal or equitable estate in the premises, whether alone or jointly with others, and whether in possession or not.

Package Treatment Plant. Privately or publicly owned and operated sewage treatment facility that collects, treats and disposes of sewage and uses a combination of physical, chemical and/or biological processes and requires approval by the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources wastewater engineering sections.

Person. An individual, trustee, executor, other fiduciary, corporation, firm, partnership, association, organization, or other entity acting as a unit.

Planning Commission. The County of Carteret Planning Commission.

Planning Department. The Carteret County Department of Planning and Development.

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

Plat. A surveyed map or plan of a parcel of land which is to be, or which has been, subdivided.

Principal building. A building in which is conducted the principal use of the buildable lot on which it is located or, in a group housing development, of the building site on which it is located.

Setback. The minimum required horizontal distance between a structure or activity and the property line or the street or road right-of-way line.

Setback, Front. Any setback from a street or road.

Setback, Interior. A setback from any property line not alongside a street or road.

Setback, Rear. A setback from an interior property line lying on the opposite side of the lot from the front street or road setback.

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

Setback, Side Corner. A street or road setback on a corner lot other than a front setback. For purposes of this Appendix, the administrator shall determine which setback is the front setback.

Storm Drainage Facilities. The system of inlets, conduits, channels, ditches and appurtenances which serve to collect and convey stormwater through and from a given drainage area.

Stormwater Runoff. The direct runoff of water resulting from precipitation in any form.

Street or Road Right-of-Way. A strip of land occupied or intended to be occupied by a travel way 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.

Structure. A walled and roofed building that is principally above ground, a manufactured home, a gas or liquid storage tank or other manmade facilities or infrastructures.

(Amended 10-02-06)

Substantial Damage. Damage of any origin sustained by a structure during any one year period whereby the cost of restoring the structure to its before damaged condition would equal or exceed 50 percent of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred (per County Flood Damage Prevention Appendix).

Substantial Improvement. Any combination of repairs, reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition, or other improvement of a structure, taking place during any one year period whereby the cost of which equals or exceeds 50 percent of the market value of the structure before the start of construction of the improvement. This term includes structures which have incurred substantial damage, regardless of the actual repair work performed. The term does not, however, include either:

(a)

Any correction of existing violations of state or community health, sanitary, or safety code specifications which have been identified by the community code enforcement official and which are the minimum necessary to assure safe living conditions; or

(b)

Any alteration of a historic structure provided that the alteration will not preclude the structure's continued designation as a historic structure (per Chapter 7).

Telecommunication Tower. Any tower or structure, natural or man-made, existing or erected, used to support one or more antennas, including self supporting lattice towers, guyed towers, or monopoles. This term includes radio and television transmission towers, microwave towers, common carrier towers, wireless telephone towers, alternative tower structures and the like.

(Amended 10-02-06)

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. 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.

(Amended 11-19-07(6))

Townhouses. A group of single-family attached dwellings, each dwelling situated on its own individual lot, generally within a development containing drives, walks, and open space in common areas. Ownership is passed in fee-simple subject only to party wall rights by agreements set forth in the restrictive covenants.

Townhouse Lot. A parcel of land intended as a unit for transfer of ownership, and lying underneath, or underneath and around, a townhouse, patio home, or unit in a nonresidential group development.

Tract. All continuous land and bodies of water in one ownership, or contiguous land and bodies of water in diverse ownership, being developed as a unit, although not necessarily all at one time.

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.

(Amended 11-19-07(6))

Variance. A relaxation of the literal terms of this Appendix where such relaxation will not be contrary to the public interest and, where, owing to conditions peculiar to the property and not the result of actions or the situation of the applicant, a literal enforcement of the Appendix would result in unnecessary and undue hardship. A variance is authorized only for the dimensional controls of this Appendix. Establishment or expansion of a use otherwise prohibited shall not be permitted by a variance.

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.

(Amended 11-19-07(6))

Wind Tower. The structure on which a wind driven machine that converts wind energy into electrical power is mounted.

(Amended 10-02-06)