§ 3. Definitions.

A.

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, operation, 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.

B.

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 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.

Adjustment, Board of: The Board of Adjustment is comprised of the members of the Zoning Board of Adjustment that is established by the Zoning Ordinance.

Adult bookstore: A bookstore:

1.

That receives a majority of its gross income during any calendar month from the sale of publications (including books, magazines, and other periodicals) that are distinguished or characterized by their emphasis on matter depicting, describing, or relating to specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas, as defined in the North Carolina General [Statutes].

2.

Having as a preponderance of its publications books, magazines and other periodicals that are distinguished or characterized by their emphasis on matter depicting, describing, or relating to specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas, as defined in the North Carolina General Statutes.

Adult establishment: An adult bookstore, adult motion picture theatre, adult mini-motion picture theatre, adult live entertainment business, or massage business.

Adult live entertainment business: Any establishment or business wherein adult live entertainment is shown for observation by patrons.

Adult live entertainment: Any performance of or involving the actual presence of real people which exhibits specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas, as defined in the North Carolina General Statutes.

Adult mini-motion picture theatre: An enclosed building with viewing booths designed to hold patrons which is used for presenting motion pictures, a preponderance of which are distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on matter depicting, describing or relating to specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas as defined in the North Carolina General Statutes, for observation by patrons therein.

Adult motion picture theatre: An enclosed building or premises used for presenting motion pictures, a preponderance of which are distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on matter depicting, describing, or relating to specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas, as defined in the North Carolina General Statutes, for observation by patrons therein. "Adult motion picture theatre" does not include any adult mini-motion picture theatre as defined in this section.

Adult uses: An establishment which has a majority of its business which excludes minors by reason of age because of the sexually explicit nature of the material. Such establishments include, but are not limited to, adult bookstores, adult theatres (drive-in, picture, and mini-picture), massage parlors, adult cabaret, etc.

Advertising display area: The advertising display surface area encompassed within any polygon that would enclose all parts of the sign by one continuous line, connecting the extreme points or edges of a sign, and using the largest sign area or silhouette visible at any one time from any one point. The structural supports for a sign, whether they be columns, pylons, or a building, or a part thereof, shall not be included in the advertising area but all other ornamental attachments, inner connecting links, etc., that are not a part of the main supports of the sign are to be included in determining sign area.

Appeal: A request for a review of an interpretation of any provision of this Ordinance or a request for a review of a decision by the Planning Director (or designee), Planning Commission, Board of County Commissioners, or Zoning Board of Adjustment.

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.

Business enterprise: An operation, facility, and/or area where items are sold and/or services are rendered, whether for profit or not.

Business unit: An operation, facility, and/or area where business activities take place under one ownership. A structure might contain multiple business units, if each is under separate ownership.

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.

Church: A structure in which persons regularly assemble for religious worship and which is maintained and controlled by a religious body organized to sustain public worship.

Day care: Includes any child care arrangement except seasonal recreational programs operated for less than four consecutive months in a year, wherein three or more children less than 13 years of age receives care away from their own home by persons other than their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, first cousins, guardians or full-time custodians, or in the child's own home where other unrelated children are in care.

Day care center, adult: An agency, organization, or individual providing daytime care to adults not related by blood or marriage, or not the legal wards of the attendant adult at any place other than an occupied dwelling.

Day care center, adult-family: A private residence where care, protection, and supervision are provided, for a fee, at least twice a week to no more than six adults at one time who are not related by blood or marriage.

Day care facility: Any day care center or child care arrangement that provides day care for more than five children, not including the operator's own school-aged children, under the age of 13, on a regular basis of at least once per week for more than four hours but less than 24 hours per day, regardless of the time of day and regardless of whether the same or different children attend. The following are not included: public schools; non-public schools whether or not accredited by the State Department of Public Instruction, that regularly and exclusively provide a course of grade school instruction to children who are of public school age; summer camps having children in full time residence; bible schools conducted during vacation periods; facilities under Article 2 of Chapter 122C of the General Statutes; and cooperative arrangements among parents to provide care for their own children as a convenience, rather than for employment.

Electronic gaming operation: A business enterprise, whether principal or accessory, where persons utilize electronic machines or devices, including, but not limited to, computers and gaming terminals, to conduct games of odds or chance, including sweepstakes, and where cash, merchandise, or other items of value are redeemed or otherwise distributed, whether or not the value of such distribution is determined by electronic games played or by predetermined odds. Specifically excluded from this definition is any lottery approved by the State of North Carolina.

It is the activity that defines an electronic gaming operation, not the name; so an internet café, cybercafé, cyber sweepstakes, video arcade, game room, etc., might or might not be an electronic gaming operation. That is, there could be two businesses with the same kind of name (say, two video arcades or two internet cafés), and one might qualify as an electronic gaming operation and the other might not, based upon the actual activity within the business itself.

Electronic machine or device: A mechanically-, electrically-, or electronically-operated machine or device, that is owned, leased, or otherwise possessed by a sweepstakes sponsor or promoter, or any of the sweepstakes sponsor's or promoter's partners, affiliates, subsidiaries or contractors, that is intended to be used by a sweepstakes entrant, that uses energy, and that is capable of displaying information on a screen or other mechanism. This section is applicable to an electronic machine or device whether or not:

1.

It is server-based.

2.

It uses a simulated game terminal as a representation of the prizes associated with the results of the sweepstakes entries.

3.

It utilizes software such that the simulated game influences or determines the winning or value of the prize.

4.

It selects prizes from a predetermined finite pool of entries.

5.

It utilizes a mechanism that reveals the content of a predetermined sweepstakes entry.

6.

It predetermines the prize results and stores those results for delivery at the time the sweepstakes entry results are revealed.

7.

It utilizes software to create a game result.

8.

It requires deposit of any money, coin, or token, or the use of any credit card, debit card, prepaid card, or any other method of payment to activate the electronic machine or device.

9.

It requires direct payment into the electronic machine or device, or remote activation of the electronic machine or device.

10.

It requires purchase of a related product.

11.

The related product, if any, has legitimate value.

12.

It reveals the prize incrementally, even though it may not influence if a prize is awarded or the value of any prize awarded.

13.

It determines and associates the prize with an entry or entries at the time the sweepstakes is entered.

14.

It is a slot machine or other form of electrical, mechanical, or computer game.

Enforcement officer: The Planning Director or designee.

Enter or entry: The act or process by which a person becomes eligible to receive any prize offered in a sweepstakes.

Entertaining display: Visual information, capable of being seen by a sweepstakes entrant, that takes the form of actual game play, or simulated game play, such as, by way of illustration and not exclusion:

1.

A video poker game or any other kind of video playing card game.

2.

A video bingo game.

3.

A video craps game.

4.

A video keno game.

5.

A video lotto game.

6.

Eight liner.

7.

Pot-of-gold.

8.

A video game based on or involving the random or chance matching of different pictures, words, numbers, or symbols not dependent on the skill or dexterity of the player.

9.

Any other video game not dependent on skill or dexterity that is played while revealing a prize as the result of an entry into a sweepstakes.

Library: A library can be in a room, set of rooms, or a building. A library contains books, periodicals, and other material for reading, viewing, listening, study, reference, and/or borrowing but not including a book store, newsstand, and the like where the primary activity is the selling, rather than the lending, of the items.

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".

Lot line: Any boundary of a parcel of land.

Nonconforming 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.

Nonconforming 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.

Off-street parking space: A marked or otherwise identified parking space that is located outside the public right-of-way or private road easement and is suitable to accommodate one automobile plus the necessary access space.

Park: Any public or private land or combination of land and water resources available for recreational, educational, cultural, or aesthetic use. A park is predominantly comprised of open space areas that are used for passive recreation activities and/or educational, cultural, or aesthetic uses. A park may contain a mix of passive and active areas but must be primarily passive to be a park. Ball fields are often a part of a park but a ball field by itself is not a park.

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.

Place of worship: A structure or other indoor or outdoor facility used for public worship. The term "place of worship" includes the words "church", "chapel", "synagogue", "mosque", and "temple" and their uses and activities that are customarily related.

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

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

Prize: Any gift, award, gratuity, good, service, credit, or anything else of value, which may be transferred to a person, whether possession of the prize is actually transferred, or placed on an account or other record as evidence of the intent to transfer the prize.

Public or private school: A facility that provides instruction and training, often in a wide variety of subjects. Some are establishments that are highly specialized, offering instruction in a very limited subject matter, such as ski lessons, real estate license course, or one specific computer software package. This instruction and training is most often provided by specialized establishments, such as schools, colleges, universities, and training centers. These might be establishments that are privately owned and operated for profit or not for profit, or they may be publicly owned and operated.

Public park: A park owned and/or operated by a governmental agency.

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.

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.

Sweepstakes: Any game, advertising scheme or plan, or other promotion, which, with or without payment of any consideration, a person may enter to win or become eligible to receive any prize, the determination of which is based upon chance.

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.

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.

Use, accessory: 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.

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

Use, nonconforming: 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.

Use, permitted: 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.

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.

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.

Yard, side on street r-o-w: A side yard between the structure and a street or street right-of-way.