Chapter 18.14
ZONING CODE DEFINITIONS
Sections:
18.14.020 General interpretation.
18.14.010 Purpose and intent.
The purpose of this chapter is to ensure precision in interpretation of this title. The meaning and construction of words and phrases defined in this chapter apply throughout this title, except where the context of such words or phrases clearly indicates a different meaning or construction. (Ord. 723-2018 § 4 (Exh. H) (part), 2018: Ord. 714-2017 § 4 (Exh. L) (part), 2017: Ord. 698-2015 § 3 (Att. 1) (part), 2015)
18.14.020 General interpretation.
A. The word “shall” is mandatory and not discretionary. The word “may” is permissive and discretionary.
B. In the case of any difference of meaning or implication between the text of any provision and any caption or illustration, the text shall control.
C. References in the masculine and feminine genders are interchangeable.
D. Unless the context clearly indicates to the contrary, words in the present and the future tense are interchangeable, and words in the singular and plural are interchangeable.
E. Unless the context clearly indicates to the contrary, the following conjunctions shall be interpreted as follows:
1. “And” indicates that all connected items or provisions shall apply;
2. “Or” indicates that the connected items or provisions may apply singly or in any combination; and
3. “Either” . . . “or” indicates that the connected items or provisions shall apply singly but not in combination.
F. The word “used” shall include arranged, designed, constructed, altered, converted, rented, leased, occupied, or intended to be utilized.
G. All references to “day” or “days” in this title shall refer to calendar days, unless the context expressly states otherwise. If the last day of a specified period falls on a Saturday, Sunday, holiday or other day on which the city is closed for business, the time period shall be extended to the close of the next day on which the city is open for business. (Ord. 723-2018 § 4 (Exh. H) (part), 2018: Ord. 714-2017 § 4 (Exh. L) (part), 2017: Ord. 698-2015 § 3 (Att. 1) (part), 2015)
18.14.030 Definitions.
“‘A’ frame” means a sign designed to be double-sided and collapsible and to stand freely upon the surface on which it is placed while serving as a directional or advertising sign for an adjacent business.
“Accessory dwelling unit” means a detached or attached dwelling unit, not exceeding the size set forth in Section 18.09.180, that provides complete, independent living facilities for one or two persons. It shall include permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation on the same parcel or parcels as the one upon which the primary unit is situated.
“Accessory structure” means a structure that is physically detached from, secondary and incidental to, and associated with the primary structure. For the purposes of this title, accessory structures and uses include guest quarters, detached garages, carports, greenhouses, artists’ studios and workshops, hot tubs, Jacuzzis, spas and swimming pools, decks, together with any enclosures and any other open air enclosures, including gazebos and covered patios. An accessory structure that shares a common wall with a main building shall be considered a part of the main building.
“Accessory use” means a use of a building or site, or a portion of a building or site, which is incidental to the principal use conducted on or occupying a site.
“Active recreational uses” means facilities occurring on level or gently sloping land to a maximum slope of ten percent in a planned unit development or multiple-family project that are designed to provide individual or group activities of an active nature including, but not limited to, sports fields, court games, swimming pools, children’s play areas, picnic areas, golf courses, and recreational community gardening. Active recreational uses do not include natural open space, nature study areas, open space or buffer areas, slopes greater than ten percent, riding and hiking trails, scenic overlooks, water courses, drainage areas or water bodies.
“Activity generating uses” means uses that typically generate high pedestrian traffic, including, but not limited to, retail, restaurants, theaters, post offices, city offices with customer services, etc.
“Addition” means any construction that increases the size of a building or facility in terms of site coverage, height, length, width, or gross floor area.
Administrative Offices. See “Offices, administrative.”
“Adult entertainment establishments” means establishments based substantially or primarily on materials, services or performances that depict, describe, or relate to “specified sexual activities” or “specified anatomical areas” as defined elsewhere in this chapter. These include:
“Adult bookstores” means an establishment which has a substantial portion of its stock-in-trade and offers for sale, for any form of consideration, any one or more of the following:
a. Books, magazines, periodicals, or other printed matter, or photographs, films, motion pictures, video cassettes, slides or other visual representations which are characterized by an emphasis on “specified sexual activities” or “specified anatomical areas.”
b. Instruments, devices or paraphernalia that are designed for use in connection with “specified sexual activities.” This definition does not include such items customarily sold by a general purpose pharmacy, drug store, convenience store or grocery store.
“Adult motion picture theater” means an establishment where, for any form of consideration, films, motion pictures, video cassettes, slides or similar photographic reproductions are shown to an audience, and in which a substantial portion of the total presentation time is devoted to the showing of material which is characterized by an emphasis on the depiction or description of “specified sexual activities” or “specified anatomical areas.”
“Adult theater” means a theater, concert hall, auditorium or other similar establishment, which, for any form of consideration, regularly features live performances which are characterized by the exposure of “specified anatomical areas” or by an emphasis upon the depiction of “specified sexual activities.”
“Other adult entertainment establishments” means any other business or establishment which offers its patrons services or entertainment characterized by an emphasis on matters depicting, displaying, describing or relating to “specified sexual activities” or “specified anatomical areas.”
“Agriculture” means the use of land for agricultural purposes, including farming, dairying, pasturage, horticulture, floriculture, viticulture, apiaries, and animal farms, but not including stockyards or the commercial feeding of garbage or offal to swine or other animals.
“Air transportation facilities” means establishments engaged in transportation by air, including airports and flying fields, as well as terminal services.
“Alley” means a public or private way which affords only secondary access to abutting property.
“Alter” means a change in the internal arrangement of rooms or the supporting members of a structure, such as bearing walls, columns, beams, or girders that will prolong the life of the structure. In case of a sign, “alter” means any change in the weight, depth, height, area, thickness, location, materials or type of display of an existing sign including a change of all or a portion of the copy, message or sign legend or face, except on signs designed to advertise changing messages. However, normal or periodic maintenance, upkeep, or repair of a sign shall not be considered an alteration.
“Amendment” means a revision, change, addition, or deletion in the text of this title, or a change in a zone classification or zoning district of one or more properties upon the zoning map. An amendment shall include the placement of a zoning designation or a prezoning designation on property not previously classified by a city zoning designation.
“Animal, domestic” means a small animal of the type generally accepted as household pets, including dogs, cats, birds and the like, but not including bees, roosters, hens, ducks, geese, pea fowl, goats, sheep, swine and the like, or other animals determined by the planning commission to be inappropriate as a household pet, either generally or in a particular situation or setting.
“Animal, farm” means cattle, horses, sheep, rabbits, poultry, and the like.
“Animated sign” means a sign that uses movement or change of lighting to depict action or create a special effect or scene.
“Antenna” means any system of wires, poles, rods, towers, whips, reflecting discs, or similar devices used for transmission or reception of signals. Also see “Satellite dish antenna.”
“Antiques” means an item which is at least seventy-five years old and is collected or desirable due to rarity, condition, utility, or some other unique feature. Motor vehicles, power tools and other items subject to vigorous use may be considered antiques if older than fifty years, and some electronics of more recent vintage may also be considered antiques.
“Apartment” means a building containing more than two dwelling units, designed and used for occupancy by persons or families living independently of each other and which have not been subdivided for independent sale of individual units.
“Architectural features” means any portion of the outer surface of a structure, including, but not limited to: the type, color and texture of the building material; the type and style of all windows, doors, lights, signs, walls, fences, awnings and canopies; screens; sculptures; decoration; roof shape and materials; and other fixtures appurtenant to a structure.
“Area (building)” means the sum in square feet of the areas of the horizontal projections of all buildings on a lot excluding open pergolas, steps, chimneys, eaves, buttresses, cornices, unenclosed and unroofed terraces, patios, unenclosed private balconies not used for access, and minor ornamental features projecting from the walls of the building, which features are not directly supported by the ground.
“Area, gross” means the entire area within the boundaries of a project site or lot measured to the centerline of adjoining street rights-of-way.
“Area, net” means all land within a given area, including lots, private interior streets, and other open space which directly serves the residents of the net area, but exclusive of all exterior and interior local public streets, environmentally sensitive lands (over twenty percent in slope, in required stream or creek setbacks, lands with federal or state listed endangered species and woodlands) and other easements which primarily serve the community at large.
Area of Sign. See “Sign area.”
Assisted Living Facility. See “Residential care facility.”
Auto Repair—Major and Minor.
“Major repair/body work” means facilities providing towing, collision repair, other body work, and painting services; tire recapping.
“Minor maintenance/repair” means minor facilities providing limited repair and maintenance services. Examples include attended and self-service car washes, detailing services, muffler and radiator shops, quick-lube services, tire and battery sales and installation (not including tire recapping).
“Automobile service station/gasoline service station” means a retail place of business engaged in supplying goods and services essential to the normal operation of automobiles, such as: dispensing of automotive fuel and motor oil; vehicle washing and lubricating services; sale and servicing of tires, batteries, replacement items and other automotive accessories; and minor automotive repair. This definition does not include body or fender work, painting or major automotive repairs and similar activities. Gasoline service stations may also provide a towing service limited to no more than two trucks and equipment rental, subject to use permit conditions of approval by the reviewing agency.
“Automobile wrecking” means the dismantling or wrecking of used motor vehicles or trailers, or the storage, sale or dumping of dismantled or wrecked vehicles or their parts.
“Awning sign” means a sign that is painted, printed, stamped, sewed, or otherwise attached to the exterior surface of an awning or canopy.
“Balloon” means an inflatable, airtight bag or vessel that can be used singly or strung together in multiple numbers to attract attention to a business location.
“Basement” means a portion of a building partly or wholly underground and having more than one-half of its height below the average level of the adjoining ground.
“Bed and breakfast inn” means residential structures with up to five bedrooms rented for overnight lodging, where breakfast may be provided subject to applicable health department regulations. No restaurant is permitted. Does not include long-term room rental, which is separately defined (see “Boarding or rooming house”). A bed and breakfast inn with more than five guest rooms is considered a hotel or motel. (See “Hotel” or “motel.”)
“Billboard” means an off-site sign advertising products or services not produced, sold, or stored on the property upon which the sign is located.
“Boarding or rooming house” means a dwelling or part of a dwelling where lodging for a period of more than thirty days is furnished for compensation to three or more persons living independently from each other. Meals may also be included.
“Building” means any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls, designed or used for the housing or enclosure of persons, animals, or property of any kind.
“Building envelope” means the area of a lot or parcel of real property within which structures must be contained, except fencing and driveways.
“Building frontage” means that side of a building which contains the main entrance for pedestrian ingress and egress. If more than one main entrance exists, the one that more nearly faces or is oriented to the street of highest classification as portrayed in the current circulation element of the general plan shall be considered the building frontage. If all streets are the same classification, the side of the building with the smallest lineal dimension containing a main entrance shall be considered the building frontage.
“Building height” means the vertical distance from the lowest finish grade ground level to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof or to the deck line of a mansard roof, or to the highest point of the highest gable of a pitch or hip roof, but exclusive of vents, air conditioners, chimneys or other such incidental appurtenances.
“Building, main” means the building in which is conducted the principal use of the lot or parcel on which it is situated.
“Building-mounted sign” means any sign mounted or erected on or against any building or facade, including all wall signs, awning and canopy signs and projecting signs.
“Building setback line” means a line designating the distance which building must be set back from an existing or proposed property line, an existing or proposed sidewalk, public utility easement line, or an adopted street plan line, whichever distance is greater.
“Building site” means a legally created parcel or contiguous parcels of land in single or joint ownership, which provides the area and the open spaces required by this title, exclusive of all vehicular and pedestrian rights-of-way and all other easements that prohibit the surface use of the property by the owner thereof, and which abuts a public or private street or alley or easement determined by the public works director to be adequate for purpose of access. See also “Area, net.”
“Bulletin board” means a sign which allows permanent or changeable messages.
Canopy Sign. See “Awning sign.”
“Caretaker residence” means a mobile home, modular unit or structure which is used as a residence by a security guard or caretaker and located on or adjacent to the premises occupied by a primary use and which is reasonably necessary to provide adequate security for the primary use.
“Carport” means an accessible and usable covered parking space of not less than ten by twenty feet (inside dimensions), and open on one or more sides.
“Cemeteries” means land used for the burial of human remains and dedicated for cemetery purposes.
“Changeable copy sign” means a sign whose informational content can be changed or altered either automatically or manually.
“Channel letters” means three-dimensional individual letters or figures, with an open back or front, illuminated or nonilluminated, that are affixed to a building or to a freestanding sign structure.
“City” means the city of Cloverdale.
“City council” means the city council of the city of Cloverdale.
“Club” means a nonprofit association of persons (whether or not incorporated) for a common purpose, but not including groups organized solely or primarily to render a service as a business.
“Clubs, lodges, and meeting halls” means meeting, recreational, or social facilities of a private or nonprofit organization primarily for use by members or guests.
“Cluster development” means a form of development for single-family and multiple-family residential subdivisions that permits a reduction in lot area, provided there is no increase in the number of lots permitted under a conventional subdivision and the resultant land area is devoted to open space.
“Combining district” means a district whose regulations supplement or supersede one or more of the regulations of the primary zoning districts.
Commercial Recreation Facilities.
“Indoor” means establishments providing indoor amusement and entertainment services for a fee or admission charge, including bowling alleys, ice skating and roller skating rinks, dance halls, and pool and billiard rooms as primary uses. This use does not include adult-oriented businesses, which are separately defined.
“Outdoor” means facilities for various outdoor recreational activities, where a fee is charged for use. Examples include amusement and theme parks, miniature golf courses, go-cart tracks, water slides, country clubs, tennis and swim clubs, golf courses and driving ranges including limited commercial uses which are commonly associated with and directly related to the primary use.
“Commercial sign” means a sign whose message concerns goods or service offered for consideration.
“Commission” means the city of Cloverdale planning commission.
“Community centers” means one or more buildings used for recreational, social, educational, or cultural activities, open to the public or a designated part of the public.
“Condominium” means an estate of real property consisting of an undivided interest in common areas, together with a separate right of ownership in space as defined in Section 1350 of the Civil Code.
“Condominium conversion” means the conversion and subdivision of a single-ownership parcel of existing improved real property into a form of ownership for residential, commercial, or industrial purposes involving the right of exclusive occupancy or separate ownership of individual units, including but not limited to condominiums, community apartments, stock cooperatives, or planned unit developments.
“Conservation districts” means geographical areas, with a defined boundary, where more than half of the structures are conservation structures or historic structures.
“Conservation structures” means structures shown on the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps dated 1939. For purposes of historic design review, the term “structure” also includes the property upon which the structure is located.
“Contiguous parcels” means adjacent parcels of land even if separated by roads, streets, utility easements or railroad rights-of-way.
“Convalescent home” means a facility licensed as a health facility by the State Department of Public Health, the State Department of Social Welfare, or the county, and subject to Health and Safety Code Section 1250 et seq., which provides bed and ambulatory care for patients with postoperative convalescent, chronically ill or dietary problems, and persons aged or infirm and unable to care for themselves. This does not include treatment of alcohol or other drug addiction, mental or contagious diseases or afflictions.
“Convenience food store” means a small-scale food store usually less than fifteen thousand square feet in size, generally located in small neighborhood convenience centers. Such stores may have on-site service of food or drink for immediate consumption and sell general food items as well as nonprescription medicines, cosmetics and limited beer and wine items. Convenience food stores may have extended hours of operation.
“Convenience kiosk” means a small open-fronted permanent structure, generally two hundred fifty square feet or smaller in size, that may be stand alone or part of a larger structure and is used as a point of purchase offering goods and services for sale to walk-up customers sold by an attendant. Examples of goods sold include small, inexpensive consumables such as newspapers, refreshments, magazines, street maps, confections, film, and coffee. See also Chapter 5.32, Outdoor Sales and Marketing, for temporary or mobile uses.
“County” means the county of Sonoma.
“Courtyard” means an open area partially or fully enclosed by buildings or other walls, adjacent to or within a house or other building.
“Covered parking” means a garage or carport having a permanent roof, and designed for the parking of motor vehicles.
“Day care facilities” means facilities that provide care, protection and supervision of children or adults for periods of less than twenty-four hours per day, while the parents or authorized representatives are away. These facilities include the following, subject to the appropriate licensing:
“Adult day care” means a day care facility providing nonmedical care and supervision for adult clients and regulated pursuant to the Community Care Facilities Act, Health and Safety Code Section 1500 et seq.
“Child day care center” means a commercial or nonprofit child day care facility that provides nonmedical care to children under eighteen years of age in need of personal services, supervision or assistance essential for sustaining the activities of daily living or for the protection of the individual on less than a twenty-four-hour basis. Child day care centers include infant centers, preschools, sick-child centers, extended day care facilities and school-age child care centers. These may be operated in conjunction with a school, church facility, employer or as an independent land use.
“Large family day care” means a family home that provides family child care for up to fourteen children, and meets requirements of the California Health and Safety Code regulating such day care homes.
“Small family day care” means a family home that provides family child care for up to eight children, and meets requirements of the California Health and Safety Code regulating such day care homes.
“Density” means the number of dwelling units on a lot in relation to the lot size expressed in units per net acre. When density calculations result in a fractional number, resulting density shall be the next lower whole number, and shall not be rounded up. Residential care facilities and accessory dwelling units are not subject to density limitations.
Design Review.
“Conceptual” means the review by the planning commission or planning staff for the purpose of providing the applicant with the authority’s tentative reaction to the general design concept of a proposed project. Such review shall not include a formal decision on the application by the decision-making authority.
“Major” means (a) commercial, industrial, office and residential projects (two or more residential units per site) which involve the development of vacant land with site and building improvements or substantial changes or additions to a previously developed site; (b) applications involving a change of use that requires substantial changes to the site and proposals for exterior building modifications; (c) projects subject to development approval by the planning commission, such as subdivisions, use permits and projects requiring the approval of variances; (d) projects subject to the California Environmental Quality Act.
“Minor” means minor changes to the exterior of existing buildings that require a building permit, including awnings, or a change of use in a building and site not involving substantial site changes (the latter determination will be made at the time of business license application).
“Directional sign” means an on-site sign designed to direct or guide pedestrian or vehicular traffic by providing directional information (e.g., handicapped parking, one-way, exit, and entrance) and that does not include advertising or other descriptive words or phrases.
“Director” or “planning director” means the director of the planning department of the city of Cloverdale, or other designee of the city manager authorized to perform functions of the planning director. “Director” or “planning director” shall include his or her designated representatives.
“Directory sign” means an on-site sign identifying the names and/or uses of various businesses or activities within a building or multi-tenant development and used solely for the purpose of direction and identification to guide pedestrians to individual businesses.
“Distance between buildings” means the shortest horizontal distance between the vertical walls of two structures, including main dwellings and accessory structures.
“District (zoning)” means the portion of the city within which the use of land and structures and the location, height and bulk of structures are governed by this title. See Section 18.01.060.
“Dormitory” means a building intended or used principally for sleeping accommodations, and related to an educational institution.
“Double-faced sign” means a sign designed to be viewed from two directions.
“Drive-in restaurant” means a restaurant which sells food products or beverages and which: (1) delivers such food products or beverages to customers outside of the building in which they are prepared by means of a service window, counter, or similar method or device, or (2) delivers such food products or beverages to customers for consumption either on the premises or in the immediate vicinity. A drive-in restaurant will not include a designated drive-through motor vehicle lane.
“Drive-through facility” means a facility, including a restaurant, which, by its design, allows people to drive through a designated motor vehicle lane or area to receive goods and/or services while remaining in their motor vehicle.
“Driveway” means a permanently surfaced area providing direct access for vehicles between a street and a permitted off-street parking or loading area.
“Duplex” means two dwelling units attached along a common structural wall.
“Dwelling, multifamily attached” means a building designed and used as a rental residence for two or more families or households living independently of each other. It includes apartments, duplexes and multiplexes that have not been subdivided for purposes of independent sales of individual units. It does not include a primary dwelling unit and an attached accessory dwelling unit.
“Dwelling, single-family attached” means a duplex, multiplex or condominium complex with individual units offered for sale.
“Dwelling, single-family detached” means a dwelling unit that is not attached to any other dwellings by any means and houses one family or household. This includes manufactured homes with a permanent foundation.
“Dwelling unit” means one or more habitable rooms which are occupied, or which are intended or designed to be occupied, as a residence by one family or household, with facilities for living, sleeping, cooking and dining.
“Easement” means a right, privilege or interest held by one or more parties in the land of another, created by grant, easement or adverse use for a specific purpose or purposes.
“Eave” means the projecting lower edges of a roof overhanging the wall of a building.
“Educational institutions” means public and other nonprofit institutions conducting regular academic instruction at kindergarten, elementary, secondary, or collegiate levels, and including graduate schools, universities, nonprofit research institutions and religious institutions. Such institutions must either (1) offer general academic instruction equivalent to the standards prescribed by the State Board of Education, or (2) confer degrees as a college or university of undergraduate or graduate standing, or (3) conduct research, or (4) give religious instruction. The definition does not include commercial or trade schools.
“Efficiency kitchen” means a removable kitchen that contains a sink with a maximum waste line diameter of one and one-half inches; cooking appliances that do not require natural gas, propane, or electrical service greater than one hundred twenty volts; a limited food preparation counter; and storage cabinets. The entire kitchen shall not exceed six lineal feet, except that if existing counter space is being converted to efficiency kitchen use then the counter space shall not exceed eight lineal feet.
“Elevation” means a vertical distance above or below a fixed reference level, or a flat scale drawing of the front, rear or side of a building or structure.
“Emergency shelter” means a lodging facility sponsored and/or administered by a governmental or nonprofit social services organization for the purpose of providing temporary housing for homeless families or individuals, battered women or children, or for similar social service or charitable purposes.
“Equipment rental yard” or “contractor yard” means a use providing for maintenance, servicing, or storage of motor vehicles, equipment or supplies; or for the dispatching of service vehicles; or distribution of supplies or construction materials required in connection with a business activity, public utility service, transportation service or similar activity. The term “contractor yard” shall include a construction materials yard, vehicular service center; or similar use.
“Family” means an individual or two or more persons, not including domestic employees, living as a single housekeeping unit or household and sharing common living, sleeping, cooking and eating facilities.
“Farm” means any premises on which a primary use is the breeding, raising, or maintaining of animals or raising of crops for sale or where the primary income from the premises is derived from such uses.
“Fixture” means a complete lighting unit including the lamp and parts designed to distribute the light, position and protect the lamp, and connect the lamp to a power source. Also referred to as a “luminaire.”
“Flag” means a noncommercial sign attached to a pole or a structure that has characters, letters, illustrations, or ornamentations applied to cloth, paper, fabric, or other lightweight material, with only such material for a backing.
Flag Lot. See “Lot, flag.”
“Flashing” means sudden or intermittent bursts of light or message on a sign.
“Floor area, gross” means the sum of the gross horizontal area of the several floors of a building and its accessory buildings on the same site excluding those areas which are deemed unusable for occupant, customer or employee use such as basement and attic areas used only for storage; and exterior balconies and patios, if not enclosed.
“Floor area, net” means the total building floor area excluding garages, stairwells, hallways, lobbies, elevators and other common spaces.
“Floor area ratio (FAR)” means the mathematical number derived by dividing the gross floor area of all buildings on a site or lot by the total area of a site. Lot area used to calculate floor area ratio shall be “net” after deleting “environmentally sensitive lands,” defined as lands over twenty percent slope, lands in required stream or creek setbacks, woodlands, or lands with federal or state listed endangered species. Private roads and shared driveways shall not be used as “lot area” in calculating FAR. A composite FAR will consist of the total floor area of all detached dwelling units in the project divided by the sum of (1) total net lot area of all those units as defined in the previous paragraph plus (2) public parks, usable open space, and/or trails open to the general public without cost but excluding environmentally sensitive lands.
“Footcandle” means a unit of measurement for the total amount of light cast on a surface (illuminance). One footcandle is equivalent to the illuminance produced by a source of one candle at a distance of one foot.
Frontage. See “Building frontage.”
“Full cut-off fixture” means a lighting fixture designed such that no light, either directly from the bulb or indirectly from the fixture, is emitted at or above a horizontal plane running through the lowest point on the fixture.
“Garage” means a permanently roofed structure with three enclosed sides and a garage door which is used for automobile shelter and storage. An inside dimension of ten feet by twenty feet is required for each vehicle.
“Garage, private” means a building, or a portion thereof, in which motor vehicles used by the tenants of the buildings on the premises are stored or kept.
“Garage, public” means a structure, or portion thereof, other than a private garage, used for the parking and storage of motor vehicles.
General Office Use. See “Offices, general use.”
“General plan” means the city of Cloverdale general plan, as amended.
“General retail” means retail sale of goods that are generally purchased by vehicle, typically larger stores serving local or regional residents. Examples include grocery markets, hardware stores, variety superstores, computer sales and service, furniture and home goods, appliance stores, and office supplies and support services. General retail does not include lumber or building material sales and dealers, which are classified as “manufacturing/processing, heavy.”
“Glare” means direct and unshielded light striking the eye to result in visual discomfort and reduced visual performance.
“Government services” means facilities used by a government agency to provide a public service, including offices and post offices.
“Grade, existing” means the surface of the ground or pavement at a stated location as it exists prior to disturbance in preparation for a project regulated by this title.
“Gravel mining” means gravel mining operations within or adjoining the Russian River, with subsequent review and approval from the county of Sonoma, pursuant to their aggregate resource management (ARM) plan.
“Guest quarters” means detached living quarters of permanent construction, without kitchen or cooking facilities, clearly subordinate and incidental to the main building on the same lot, and intended for use by occasional guests of the occupants of the main building and not offered for rent.
“Hillside site” means any properties with slopes greater than twenty percent on all or part of the site.
“Historic structures” means structures listed on or eligible for listing on national and state historic registries. The common registries are the National Register of Historic Places and the California Register of Historic Resources. If the city develops a designation process, structures designated in that process will also be considered “historic resources.” For purposes of historic design review, the term “structure” also includes the property upon which the structure is located.
“Home occupations” means an occupation conducted entirely within the dwelling unit by the occupants thereof, which occupation is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for residential purposes and does not change the residential character of the dwelling.
“Hotel” or “motel” means a facility with guest rooms or suites, with or without kitchen facilities, rented to the general public for transient lodging. Hotels typically include a variety of services in addition to lodging, for example, restaurants, meeting facilities, personal services, etc. Also includes accessory guest facilities such as swimming pools, tennis courts, indoor athletic facilities, accessory retail uses, etc. (See also “Bed and breakfast inn.”)
“Identification sign” means a permanent sign used to identify a building or group of buildings, residential area, shopping district, industrial district, or any area that fulfills the definition of an identifiable area.
“Illuminated sign” means a sign with an artificial source of light incorporated internally or externally for the purpose of illuminating the sign.
Illumination.
“Direct” means illumination by means of light that travels directly from its source to the object to be lighted.
“Indirect” means illumination by means only of light cast upon an opaque surface from a concealed source.
“Junior accessory dwelling unit” means a living space not exceeding five hundred square feet in size and contained entirely within a legally established bedroom within the walls of an existing, fully permitted single-family dwelling. A “junior accessory dwelling unit” (JADU) shall include an efficiency kitchen and may include separate sanitation facilities or share sanitation facilities with the existing structure.
“Kennel, commercial” means any lot, building, structure, enclosure or premises whereupon five or more dogs over the age of four months are kept, whether or not in special buildings or runways, other than those dogs used in herding of farm animals incidental to agricultural purposes on the premises. Kennel operations include doggy day care and grooming services.
“Kitchen” means a room or area within a room used for cooking and/or preparation of foods.
“Lamp” means the generic term for an artificial light source installed in the socket portion of the fixture, to be distinguished from the whole assembly. Commonly referred to as a “bulb.”
“Landscaping” means an area devoted to or developed and maintained predominantly with plant materials, including lawn, ground cover, trees, shrubs, and other plant materials; and also including accessory decorative outdoor landscape elements such as pools, fountains, paved or decorated surfaces (excluding driveways, parking, loading or storage areas) and sculptural elements.
“Light pollution” means any artificial light which causes a detrimental effect on the environment, astronomical research, enjoyment of the night sky or causes undesirable glare or light trespass.
“Light trespass” means light falling where it is not wanted or needed, generally light from one property that shines onto another property or the public right-of-way.
“Live-work unit” or “live-work space” means a building or spaces within a building used jointly for commercial and residential purposes where the residential use of the space is secondary or accessory to the primary use as a place of work.
“Live-work unit” means a structure or portion of a structure:
1. That combines a commercial or manufacturing activity allowed in the zone with a residential living space for the owner of the commercial or manufacturing business, or the owner’s employee, and that person’s household;
2. Where the resident owner or employee of the business is responsible for the commercial or manufacturing activity performed; and
3. Where the commercial or manufacturing activity conducted takes place subject to a valid business license and applicable zoning permit(s) associated with the premises.
“Loading space” means an off-street space or berth on the same lot with a building or contiguous to a group of buildings, for the temporary parking of commercial vehicles while loading or unloading merchandise or materials.
“Logo” means a graphic symbol of a business establishment, company, institution, organization, or any other legal private or public entity.
“Lot” (see figure below) means a recorded lot or parcel of real property lawfully created in accordance with Subdivision Map Act and city ordinance requirements, including this title. Types of lots include the following:
“Corner lot” means a lot located at the intersection of two or more streets, which intersect at an interior angle of not more than one hundred thirty-five degrees.
“Double frontage lot” means an interior lot with frontage on two generally parallel streets.
“Flag lot” means a lot having only its access strip fronting on a private or public street.
“Interior lot” means a lot abutting only one street.
“Key lot” means a lot with a side property line that abuts the rear property line of any one or more adjoining lots.
“Reverse corner lot” means a corner lot the side line of which is substantially a continuation of the front property line of the first lot to its rear.
Lot Area.
“Gross lot area” means the total area included within the lot lines of a lot, exclusive of adjacent dedicated street rights-of-way.
“Net lot area” means the gross area of the lot, exclusive of (a) easements for streets or driveways that are not for the exclusive use of the lot on which the easement is located; (b) the access strip required to serve a flag lot.
“Lot coverage” means the total area of a building site covered by main and accessory buildings and structures, including garages, carports, and covered patios divided by the net acres of the building site. Open recreational facilities such as swimming pools and spas, courts, decks and similar facilities (under thirty inches in height above finished grade) shall not be included in the calculation of building coverage. Projecting eaves shall also be excluded from building coverage calculations.
“Lot depth” means the average linear (or mean horizontal) distance between the front and rear lot line lines or between the front lot line and the intersection of the two side lot lines if there is no rear lot line.
“Lot frontage” means that portion of a lot or parcel of land that borders a public street. Lot frontage shall be measured along the common lot line separating said lot or parcel of land from the public street. If the lot borders more than one public street, the lot frontage shall be determined in the same manner as building frontage is determined. (Also see “Yard, front” and “Yard, corner front.”)
“Lot width” means the horizontal distance between the side lot lines, measured at right angles to the lot depth at a point midway between the front and the rear lot lines. Width measurements for cul-de-sac or otherwise odd-shaped lots shall be determined on the basis of the average horizontal distance between the side lot lines, measured at right angles to the lot depth at a point midway between the front and rear lot lines. 
“Lumen” means the unit used to quantify the amount of light energy produced by a lamp. For example, a forty-watt incandescent lamp produces approximately four hundred lumens, while a thirty-five-watt high pressure sodium lamp produces about two thousand three hundred lumens.
“Maintenance/service facilities” means facilities providing maintenance and repair services for publicly owned vehicles and equipment, and materials storage areas. This classification includes corporation yards, equipment service centers, and similar facilities.
“Manufactured home” means a complete single-family home that is either wholly or in substantial part manufactured after June 15, 1976, at an off-site location in accordance with the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A manufactured home mounted on a permanent foundation consistent with Chapter 15.24 and connected to all utilities required for a dwelling unit built on site is considered a dwelling unit conditionally permitted on single-family lots in the city, subject to the requirements of said chapter. A manufactured home is also commonly referred to as a modular home. “Manufactured home” does not include a mobile home as defined in Health and Safety Code Section 18008, a recreational vehicle as defined in Health and Safety Code Section 18010.5, or a commercial coach as defined in Health and Safety Code Section 18012.5. For purposes of this title and Chapter 15.24, “manufactured home” does not include “mobile home trailer” as defined herein.
“Manufacturing/processing, heavy” means cement products manufacturing, millwork, planing mills, sawmills, wood products, packing houses, petroleum distribution plants where all tanks are completely underground, tire retreading or recapping, lumber and building materials sales yards and dealers.
“Manufacturing/processing, light” means a facility accommodating manufacturing processes and establishments engaged in the assembly, fabrication or repair of already processed raw materials into products, where the operational characteristics of the manufacturing processes and the materials used are unlikely to cause significant impacts on surrounding land uses or the community. Examples of light manufacturing uses include the following and similar uses:
Manufacturing, compounding, assembly, or treatment of articles or merchandise from previously prepared materials such as: canvas, paper, cellophane, cloth, cork, felt, fiber, fur, glass, leather, paper, precious or semi-precious stones, or metals, plaster, plastics, shells, textiles, tobacco, wood, and yarns.
Manufacturing, repair, or assembly of electronics and appliances, food and beverages (except wineries, distilleries, brewery), electronic instruments, photo and film processing, heating and ventilating ducts, light metal fabrication, printing and publishing, bookbinding, pottery with no more than one kiln, plumbing parts and supplies, furniture and reupholstering, signs, and other small-scale manufacturing. Laboratories and testing facilities, such as chemical, dental, electrical, optical, medical laboratories.
“Manufacturing/processing, medium” means a facility accommodating manufacturing processes that involve and/or produce building materials, fabricated metal products, machinery, and/or transportation equipment, where the intensity and/or scale of operations is greater than those classified under “manufacturing/processing, light” but where impacts on surrounding land uses or the community can typically be mitigated to acceptable levels. Examples of medium intensity manufacturing uses include the following:
Carpentry and cabinet shops, machine shops, large-scale pottery manufacturing and kilns, wineries, distilleries, and breweries.
“Marquee” means a roof-like structure of a permanent nature, which projects from the wall of a building and overhangs the public way.
“Marquee sign” means a sign advertising an event, performance, service, seminar, conference, or show, and displayed on a permanent structure or canopy made of rigid materials supported by and extending from the facade of a building.
Medical Service.
“Major” means hospitals and similar facilities engaged primarily in providing diagnostic services, and extensive medical treatment, including surgical and other hospital services. These establishments have an organized medical staff, inpatient beds, and equipment and facilities to provide complete health care. May include on-site accessory uses such as clinics and laboratories, retail uses and emergency heliports.
“Minor” means a facility other than a hospital where medical, dental, mental health, surgical, and/or other personal health care services are provided on an outpatient basis. Includes medical offices (for example, offices for chiropractors, dentists, medical doctors, optometrists, prescription opticians, psychologists, etc.), outpatient facilities which may include surgery, urgent care facilities, dental laboratories, and medical laboratories.
Mini-Storage Warehouse. See “Self-storage warehouse.”
“Mobile home park” means any area or tract of land where one or more spaces are rented or leased or held out for rent or lease to accommodate mobile homes, manufactured homes or travel trailers used for human habitation for thirty days or longer.
“Mobile home trailer” means a structure that was constructed prior to June 15, 1976, is transportable in one or more sections, is eight body feet or more in width, or forty body feet or more in length, in the traveling mode, or, when erected on site, is three hundred twenty or more square feet, is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a single-family dwelling with or without a foundation system when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein. “Mobile home” includes any structure that meets all the requirements of this definition and complies with the state standards for mobile homes in effect at the time of construction. “Mobile home” does not include a commercial modular, as defined in Health and Safety Code Section 18001.8, factory-built housing, as defined in Section 19971, a manufactured home, as defined in Section 18007, a multifamily manufactured home, as defined in Section 18008.7, or a recreational vehicle, as defined in Section 18010.
“Monument sign” means a low-profile, freestanding sign erected upon or supported solely by a planter, pedestal base, or similar ground structure that is designed to incorporate the architectural theme and building material of the building on the premises.
“Museum” means nonprofit institutions displaying or preserving objects of interest in one or more of the arts or sciences.
“Natural waterway” means any natural stream of water flowing in a definite course or channel and possessing a bed and bank. It is not necessary that the flow of the water be continuous throughout the year. Natural waterways do not include artificially created channels for storm waters, such as street gutters or drainage facilities installed in connection with the development of a property.
“Net acres” are “net” after deleting “environmentally sensitive lands,” defined as lands over twenty percent slope, lands in required stream or creek setbacks, woodlands, or lands with federal or state listed endangered species.
“Nonconforming lot” means a lot which, when lawfully created or established, complied with the size and dimensional regulations of the district where located, but that does not conform to the current size or dimensional regulations of the district where located, or that does not conform to the current requirements of the Subdivision Map Act and/or the city’s subdivision ordinance governing lot standards. The lot shall be shown on a duly approved and recorded tract or parcel map or have been issued or be eligible for a certificate of compliance or conditional certificate of compliance.
“Nonconforming structure” means a structure or building which was lawfully erected, but which does not conform with current standards of lot coverage, setbacks, height of structures, or distances between structures prescribed in the regulations for the district in which the structure is located, by reason of adoption of this title (or a prior zoning ordinance of the city) or amendment thereto, or by reason of annexation of territory to the city.
“Nonconforming use” means a use of a structure or land which was lawfully established and maintained, but which does not conform with the use regulations or required standards for the district in which it is located, by reason of adoption of this title (or a prior zoning ordinance of the city) or amendment thereto, or by reason of annexation of territory to the city.
“Occupancy” means the purpose for which a building is used or intended to be used.
“Off-site sign” means any sign that is not appurtenant to the use of the property, a product sold, or the sale or lease of the property on which it is displayed or contains a message chosen by a person other than the person in control of the property or structure where the sign is located, erected, or maintained.
“Off-street parking facilities” means the site or portion of a site devoted to the off-street parking of motor vehicles, including parking spaces, aisles, access drives and landscaped areas.
“Offices, administrative” means offices which are used primarily by employees and typically have limited walk-in customer or third-party use. Examples include accounting and tax offices, appraisers, legal and financial services, engineers and similar uses.
“Offices, general use” means offices which typically have frequent walk-in customers. Examples include pharmacies, sole practice physicians, travel agencies, real estate offices, photographic studios, counselors and similar uses.
“On-site commercial information signs” means information signs including wall or window signs that provide information to patrons of an enterprise such as credit cards accepted, menus, redemption stamps or directories and signs incorporated into displays, machinery or equipment by a manufacturer, distributor or vendor and identifying or advertising only the product or service dispensed by the machine or equipment, such as signs customarily fixed to automated teller machines (ATMs), gasoline pumps, and vending machines.
“On-site sign” means a sign whose message and design relates to a business, event, occupant, goods, profession or service being located, conducted, sold or offered on the same property.
“Open space” means an area suitable for passive recreational use or which provides visual relief to developed areas. Typical trapezoidal type flood control channel rights-of-way, areas devoted to parking, vehicular traffic or private use are not considered open space.
“Open space, usable” means outdoor or unenclosed areas on the ground, or on a roof, balcony, deck, porch, or terrace designed and accessible for outdoor living, recreation, pedestrian access, or landscaping, but excluding parking facilities, driveways, and utility or service areas.
“Outdoor lighting fixture” means any temporary or permanent lighting fixture that is installed, located, or used in such a manner to provide illumination of objects or activities outside. Outdoor lighting fixtures include all fixtures mounted to the exterior of a structure, poles, bollards, or other freestanding structure, or placed so as to provide direct illumination on any exterior area or activity.
“Outdoor seating” means an area that is accessory to a legally established street-level business or use, generally a restaurant or other eating and drinking establishment, located in the sidewalk area of the public right-of-way or on private property and generally used for dining, drinking, and pedestrian circulation.
“Overhang” means the part of a roof or wall that extends beyond the facade of a lower wall; or the portion of a vehicle extending beyond the wheel stops or curb.
“Parking space, off-street” means a permanently surfaced area for vehicle parking either within a structure or in the open and connected to a public street, alley or other public way by a permanently surfaced driveway or access drive.
“Pedestrian-oriented design” means buildings with design qualities and elements that contribute to an active, inviting and pleasant environment that makes walking between destinations enjoyable, thereby encouraging pedestrian use. Typical characteristics are building faces flush with back of sidewalk, multiple shop fronts, large display windows that provide an interesting change of view to people walking at pedestrian speeds, frequent entrances with doors oriented to public sidewalks or pedestrian ways, recessed entryways, and signs for pedestrian information on the first floor. A building with parking between a building and the sidewalk or parking which requires a curb cut across a pedestrian sidewalk is not a pedestrian-oriented design.
“Pedestrian-oriented retail” means a shopping experience that offers a variety of goods for residents and visitors, where goods acquired are easily carried while walking. Examples of such uses include banks and financial institutions, convenience and specialty grocery markets and food stores, gift shops, clothing stores, candy stores, bakeries, seasonal, unique and antique collections, book shops, stationery stores, camera and gadget shops, toy and game stores, bicycle shops, jewelry stores, arts and crafts stores, secondhand or resale stores, flower shops, cosmetics stores, photocopy shops, mail centers, etc. See also “General retail” and “Personal/household services.”
“Pennant” means a commercial sign, with or without characters, letters, illustrations, or ornamentations, applied to cloth, paper, fabric, or other lightweight material, with only such material for a backing, attached to a pole or structure or hung by cord, and used to draw attention to a site.
Permitted Use or Uses. The only uses permitted within a zoning district are those that are listed as principal permitted uses, accessory uses, and conditional uses for that district. Principal permitted uses are allowed without a use permit. Accessory uses are allowed without a use permit, but must be incidental and customarily appurtenant to a principal permitted use existing on the same parcel and as provided in the regulations for each district. Conditional uses may be commenced only after a conditional use permit has been obtained for such uses and the use must be carried on in compliance with all terms and conditions of the conditional use permit.
“Personal/household services” means a business providing personal or household services typically by appointment or on a walk-in basis during normal business hours with some limited weekend hours. Examples include barber and beauty shops, nail salons, spas, shoe repair, tailors, massage therapists, dry cleaning and laundry pickup and drop-off locations without on-site processing equipment and other personal or household services accomplished on or off site.
“Plan line” means an officially adopted line designating the limits of a future street right-of-way, and from which building setback lines shall be measured.
“Planned sign program” means a coordinated set of signs required for properties with more than two separate permitted uses and a total aggregate sign area of more than one hundred square feet.
“Pole sign” means a sign supported wholly by a pole or poles placed in, or upon, the ground and that are not part of a building.
“Porch” means a structure attached to a building to shelter an entrance or to serve as a semi-enclosed space; usually roofed and generally open sided.
“Portable sign” means any sign not permanently attached to the ground or other permanent structure or a sign designed to be transported including, but not limited to, signs designed to be transported by means of wheels; signs made as A-frames or sandwich board signs; and signs attached to or painted on vehicles parked and visible from the public right-of-way, unless said vehicle is used in the normal day-to-day operations of the business identified on the sign.
Processing Facility. See “Recycling Facilities.”
“Projecting sign” means a sign suspended beneath a marquee, covered walkway, or canopy perpendicular to the sidewalk and visible to pedestrians.
“Public/quasi-public use” means in all zoning districts: churches, clubs, lodges, fraternities, and sororities, public schools, private schools, vocational schools, school dormitories, fire and police stations, public utilities, public buildings. Additional public and quasi-public uses allowed in some commercial and industrial zoning districts are commercial parking lots for shared use, mortuaries and cemeteries, public libraries and museums, and post offices.
“Public safety facilities” means facilities for public safety or emergency services, including police and fire protection.
“Real estate sign” means any sign advertising the sale, rental or lease of a premises or part of a premises.
“Recreational facilities, public” means publicly owned and operated parks, playgrounds, playing fields, gymnasiums, and other facilities for active and passive recreation.
“Recreational vehicle” means a vehicle designed for human habitation or use for recreational, emergency or other occupancy and not used as a commercial vehicle, including, but not limited to, the following:
1. “Camper trailer” means a folding or collapsible vehicle without its own motive power, designed as temporary living quarters for travel, camping, recreation, or vacation use.
2. “Motorized home” means a vehicular unit on a self-propelled motor vehicle chassis, primarily designed as temporary living quarters for travel, camping, recreation, or vacation use.
3. “Boats” means a vessel for travel on water.
4. “Off-the-road-vehicle” means a vehicle intended primarily for recreational use off of roads where state vehicle licenses are required, such as a dune buggy, go-cart or snowmobile.
5. “Racing car or cycle” means a vehicle intended to be used in racing competition, such as a race car, stock car, or racing cycle.
6. “Travel trailer” means a vehicle without its own motive power, designed to be used as a temporary dwelling for travel, camping, recreational or vacation use.
7. “Truck camper” means a structure designed primarily to be mounted on a pickup or truck chassis and designed to be used as a temporary dwelling for travel, camping, recreational or vacation use. When mounted on a truck, such a structure and the truck shall together be considered one vehicle.
Recycling Facilities. This land use type includes a variety of facilities involved with the collection, sorting and processing of recyclable materials. Types of recycling facilities include:
“Collection facility” means a center where the public may donate, redeem or sell recyclable materials, which may include the following, where allowed by the applicable zoning district:
a. Reverse vending machines(s). Reverse vending equipment automates beverage container recycling by accepting containers directly from the consumer, accounting for each container processed, and refunding the deposit to the consumer.
b. Small collection facilities which occupy an area of three hundred fifty square feet or less and may include:
i. A mobile unit;
ii. Bulk reverse vending machines or a grouping of reverse vending machines occupying more than fifty square feet; and
iii. Kiosk-type units which may include permanent structures.
c. Large collection facilities which occupy an area of more than three hundred fifty square feet and/or include permanent structures.
“Mobile recycling unit” means an automobile truck, trailer, or van used for the collection of recyclable materials, carrying bins, boxes, or other containers.
“Processing facility” means a structure or enclosed space used for the collection and processing of recyclable materials for shipment, or to an end user’s specifications, by such means as baling, briquetting, cleaning, compacting, crushing, flattening, grinding, mechanical sorting, remanufacturing and shredding. Processing activities include the following types:
a. Light processing facilities that occupy an area of under forty-five thousand square feet of collection, processing and storage area, and that average two outbound truck shipments each day. Light processing facilities are limited to baling, briquetting, compacting, crushing, grinding, shredding and sorting of source separated recyclable materials sufficient to qualify as a certified processing facility. A light processing facility shall not shred, compact, or bale ferrous metals other than food and beverage containers.
b. A heavy processing facility is any processing facility other than a light processing facility.
“Transfer facility” means a facility where rubbish is sorted for recycling or relocation to a landfill site.
“Religious facilities” means facilities for religious worship and incidental religious education.
“Research and development” means a use engaged in study, testing, design, analysis and experimental development of products, processes, or services, including incidental manufacturing of products or provision of services to others.
“Residential care facility” means any family home, group care facility, or similar facility for twenty-four-hour nonmedical care of persons in need of personal services, supervision, or assistance essential for sustaining the activities of daily living or for other protection of the individual, as defined in Health and Safety Code Section 1502(a)(1) and subject to licensing pursuant to Health and Safety Code Section 1500 et seq.
“Residential care facility for the elderly” means a facility as defined in Health and Safety Code Section 1569.2(k) or (l), or successor statutes.
“Restaurant” means a use providing preparation and retail sale of food and beverages including cafes, coffee shops, sandwich shops, ice cream parlors, and similar uses (such as catering accessory to a restaurant use), and including licensed “on-sale” provision of wine and beer for consumption on the premises when accessory to such food service.
Reverse Vending Machine. Reverse vending equipment automates beverage container recycling by accepting containers directly from the consumer, accounting for each container processed, and refunding the deposit to the consumer. See “Recycling Facilities.”
“Roof sign” means any sign of any nature, together with all its parts and supports, which is erected, constructed or maintained on or above the roof or parapet of any building.
Sandwich Board Signs. See “‘A’ frame.”
“Satellite dish antenna” means a round parabolic antenna intended to receive signals from orbiting satellites and other sources.
“Schools” means buildings or parts thereof which are designed, constructed, or used for education or instruction in any branch of knowledge.
“Secondhand store” means a shop that sells previously owned or used goods at reduced prices.
“Self-storage warehouse” means a building consisting of individual, small, self-contained units that are leased or owned by the public for the storage of business and household goods or contractors’ supplies and may include residential quarters for a manager or caretaker.
“Senior independent living uses” means a housing development which is planned, designed and managed to include facilities and common space that allow for direct services and support services that maximize the residents’ potential for independent living and which is occupied by persons above the age of sixty years. Direct services and support services which are provided or made available shall relate to the nutritional, social, recreational, housekeeping, and personal needs of the residents and be provided or made available upon request at a level necessary to assist the residents to function independently.
Service Station. See “Automobile service station.”
Setback. See “Building setback line.”
“Shared parking” means a situation where the same parking spaces can be utilized by two or more different uses due to the differing peak hours of operation of uses involved.
“Shielding” means a barrier around a fixture that helps conceal the lamp and control light distribution. A fixture that is fully shielded incorporates a solid barrier, emits no light rays above the horizontal plane and effectively obscures visibility of the lamp. A fixture that is partially shielded may allow some light to pass through a semi-translucent barrier, and/or may allow visibility of the lamp from certain perspectives.
“Shopping center” or “business park” means three or more stores or tenants with a minimum building area of twenty-five thousand square feet, three hundred feet of frontage onto a public right-of-way and common off-street parking.
“Sign” means any metal, wood, paper, cloth, plastic, paint, material, structure, or part thereof, device, or other thing whatsoever that is located in or upon, placed, erected, constructed, posted, painted, tacked, nailed, glued, stuck, carved, fastened, or affixed to any building or structure, on the outside or inside of a window or on any awning, canopy, marquee, or similar appendage, or on the ground or on any tree, wall, bush, rock, post, fence, or other thing whatsoever in such manner as to be visible out-of-doors and that displays or includes any numeral, letter, word, model, banner, air inflated balloon, emblem, insignia, symbol, logo, device, light, illuminated device, searchlight, trademark, or other representation used as, or in the nature of, an announcement, advertisement, attention arrester, direction, warning, or designation of any person, firm, group, organization, place, commodity, product, service, business, profession, enterprise, or industry. “Sign” shall include any portable sign.
Sign Area. The surface area of a sign shall be calculated by enclosing the extreme limits of all writing, logos, representations, emblems, or other displays within a single continuous perimeter composed of squares and rectangles, not including the supporting structure. Individual letters attached to a building shall be measured by the area enclosed by a continuous line outlining the perimeter of the words, emblems, and logos. For double-faced signs, only one side shall be counted as the total area. Where the faces are not equal in size, the larger sign face shall be used as the basis for calculating sign area. See example below.
Sign Clearance. Sign clearance shall be measured as the smallest vertical distance between finished grade and the lowest point of the sign, including any framework or other embellishments.
“Sign copy” means the portion of a sign that consists of the actual writing, pictorial representation, decoration, emblem, or flag, or any other device, figure, logo, or similar character, as distinguished from that portion of the sign that forms the background of any such writing or other said elements.
“Sign face” means that portion of a sign containing sign copy, which constitutes a single plane that is intended to be visible from a single vantage point.
Sign Height. The height of a sign is the vertical distance from the uppermost point used to measure sign area to the existing grade immediately below the sign or to the top of the nearest curb of the street on which the sign fronts, whichever measurement is the greatest.
“Single-room occupancy (SRO) living unit” means a commercial residential unit of a smaller size than normally found in multiple dwellings, usually one room, which is rented to a one- or two-person household. SRO living units are provided for a weekly or monthly period of time, in exchange for an agreed payment of a fixed amount of money or other compensation.
Small Collection Facility. See “Recycling Facilities.”
“Small wind energy system” means a wind energy conversion system consisting of a wind turbine, a tower and associated control or conversion electronics, which has a rated capacity that does not exceed the allowable rated capacity under the Emerging Renewables Fund of the Renewables Investment Plan administered by the California Energy Commission and which will be used primarily to reduce on-site consumption of utility power.
“Smoke shop” means a retail establishment that devotes fifteen percent or more of its total floor space to products intended or designed for use in ingesting, inhaling or otherwise introducing tobacco or controlled substances into the human body, including but not limited to tobacco products, smoking oils and extracts, electronic cigarettes which contain nicotine and emit smoke or vapor, smoking accessories, including but not limited to rolling papers, rolling machines, herb grinders, scales, glass pipes, hookah pipes, bongs, bubbler or other paraphernalia. Herbal and nicotine-containing products which do not generate smoke and incense used solely for olfactory purposes and not containing tobacco or nicotine are not included in this definition.
“Smoking lounge” means a business establishment that is dedicated, in whole or in part, to the smoking of tobacco or other substances, including but not limited to establishments known variously as cigar lounges, hookah cafes, tobacco clubs, tobacco bars, etc. (Collectively referred to as “smoking lounge(s).”)
“Specified anatomical areas” shall include the following:
1. Less than completely and opaquely covered:
a. Human genitals, pubic region;
b. Buttocks;
c. Female breasts below a point immediately above the top of the areola; and
2. Human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state, even if completely and opaquely covered.
“Specified sexual activities” shall include the following:
1. Human male genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal;
2. Acts of human masturbation, sexual intercourse, oral copulation or sodomy, actual or simulated; and
3. Fondling or other erotic touching, actual or simulated, of human genitals, pubic region, buttock or female breast.
“Story” means the portion of a building between the upper surface of any floor and the upper surface of the floor above. If there is no floor above, then the space between such floor and the ceiling next above it shall be considered a story. The basement or cellar shall not be considered a story unless the upper surface of the floor is more than six feet above the average level of the highest and lowest point of the ground surface immediately adjacent to the exterior walls of the building.
“Street, private” means a way for providing vehicular access to lots or units over a common parcel, primarily by the owners or occupants of the common parcel and necessary service and emergency vehicles, but from which the public may be excluded and which is not maintained by the public agency.
“Street, public” means a right-of-way which provides a means of public agency maintained vehicular access to abutting property. The term “street” shall include avenue, drive, circle, road, parkway, boulevard, highway, thoroughfare, or any other similar term, but not alley. The term shall include the total width of the dedicated right-of-way.
“Structure” means anything constructed or erected that requires a location on the ground, including a building, swimming pool or gas/liquid storage tank that is principally above ground but not including access drives, walkways or a fence or wall used as a fence if the height does not exceed six feet.
“Supportive housing” means housing with no limit on length of stay, that is occupied by the target population, and that is linked to an on-site or off-site service that assists the supportive housing resident in retaining the housing, improving his or her health status, and maximizing his or her ability to live and, when possible, work in the community.
“Tandem parking” means parking space configuration where two or more parking spaces are lined up one behind the other.
“Target population” means persons with low incomes who have one or more disabilities, including mental illness, HIV or AIDS, substance abuse, or other chronic health condition, or individuals eligible for services provided pursuant to the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act (Division 4.5 (commencing with Section 4500) of the Welfare and Institutions Code) and may include, among other populations, adults, emancipated minors, families with children, elderly persons, young adults aging out of the foster care system, individuals existing from institutional settings, veterans, and homeless people.
“Temporary sign” means a sign that is designed or intended to be temporarily mounted or displayed and that is not intended for permanent or long-term use.
Temporary Use. See “Use, temporary.”
“Tenant” means a person who rents, leases, or subleases real property from another through either a written or oral agreement.
“Transitional housing” means buildings configured as rental housing developments, but operated under program requirements that require the termination of assistance and recirculating of the assisted units to another eligible program recipient at a predetermined future point in time that shall be no less than six months from the beginning of the assistance.
“Transportation terminals” means facilities for loading, unloading, and transferring passengers, baggage, and incidental freight between modes of transportation. This classification includes bus terminals, railroad stations, and public transit stations.
“Use” means the purpose for which land or premises, or a building thereon, is designed, arranged, intended, occupied or maintained.
“Use, temporary” means a use of land that is designed, operated and occupies a site for a limited period of time, typically less than twelve consecutive months.
“Utilities, major” means electrical substations, refuse collection and disposal facilities, water reservoirs, water wells, water tanks, detention basins, water and wastewater treatment plants, and similar facilities of public agencies and public utilities.
“Vacation rental, hosted” means short-term rental of residential units (dwelling units, bedrooms or guest quarters) where the property owner resides and sleeps on the same property that the residential unit is located on while it is being rented. Hosted vacation rentals are distinguished from a bed and breakfast inn because the number of rooms which may be rented are restricted and the number of days within a calendar year that the residential unit may be rented are limited for hosted vacation rentals.
“Vacation rental, nonhosted” means a residence that is rented in its entirety as a tourist accommodation. No operator is required to reside on the premises.
“Variance” means a procedure whereby the strict application of the provision of this code relating to height, area, yard requirements and the like may be modified in a particular instance. The term “variance” shall not apply to a use modification.
“Vehicle display sign” means a sign mounted, attached, affixed or painted upon any surface of a motor vehicle, trailer or similar conveyance parked on public or private property for the purpose of advertising a business or a business location within the city or outside the city.
“Vehicle for sale sign” means a sign painted or affixed onto a vehicle for sale that is kept in vehicle display areas of new and used motor vehicle dealership lots or any other location where the sale of vehicles is permitted.
“Veterinary/animal care office” means an establishment for the care of animals including boarding, grooming, day care and the treatment and prevention of diseases and injuries. Does not include experimental or testing laboratories.
“Vision triangle” means a triangular area on corner lots within which certain height limitations on walls, fences, hedges, and the like are imposed under the provisions of this code. Also called “traffic safety visibility area.”
“Wall sign” means any sign attached to, painted on, or erected against, and in a plane parallel to, the exterior front, rear, or side wall of any building or other structure; wall signs include painted wall signs and individual letter signs.
“Warehousing” means the use of a building or buildings for the storage of goods of any type, when such building or buildings contain more than five hundred square feet of storage space and no retail operation is conducted.
Watercourse. See “Natural waterway.”
“Window sign” means a sign painted or installed on a glass window or door or located within twelve inches from inside the window in a manner that it can be viewed from the exterior of a structure.
“Woodland” means land covered with trees or woods; forest.
“Yard” or “court” means an open space on the same site as a structure, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward.
“Yard, corner front” means a dimension extending across the full width of the narrowest portion of a site, the depth of which is the distance between the front property line and a line parallel thereto to a depth required by the districts enumerated in this title.
“Yard, front” means a yard extending across the full width of a site between the side lot lines whose depth is measured from the front property line to a line parallel thereto at a distance equal to the required front yard setback. On private streets where the front property line is coterminous with the centerline of the street, the front yard setback shall be measured from the back of sidewalk. If there is no sidewalk, the front yard setback is measured from back of curb or pavement.
“Yard, rear” means the required open space area extending along the full width of the lot between the rear lot line and the nearest line or point of the main building.
“Yard, side” means the required open space area between the side or street side line of the lot and the nearest line of the building and extending from the front line of the lot to the rear yard.
“Zero lot line” means the location of a building on a lot in such a manner that one or more of the building’s sides rest directly on a lot line. (Ord. 735-2020 § 5 (Exh. G), 2020; Ord. 723-20181 § 4 (Exh. H) (part), 2018: Ord. 714-2017 § 4 (Exh. L) (part), 2017: Ord. 710-2016 § 3 (Exh. 2) (part), 2016; Ord. 698-2015 § 3 (Att. 1) (part), 2015)
Code reviser’s note: Ord. 723-2018 inadvertently omits the definitions for “Live-work unit” or “live-work space” and “live-work unit” added by Ord. 710-2016. They have been retained per the city’s direction.