Chapter 18.06
DEFINITIONS¹

Sections:

18.06.010    Generally.

18.06.020    Interpretation.

18.06.030    Definitions.

18.06.010 Generally.

For the purpose of this title, certain words and terms used are defined as follows: All words used in the present tense include the future tense; all words in the plural number include the singular number, and all words in the singular number include the plural number, unless the natural construction of the wording indicates otherwise. The word “lot” includes the word “plot”; the word “building” includes the word “structure”; and the word “shall” is mandatory and not discretionary. The word “used” shall be deemed also to include “designed, intended, or arranged to be used.” Unless otherwise specified, all distances shall be measured horizontally. The word “city” means the city of North Bend, in the county of King, state of Washington; the term “council” means the city council of said city; the term “planning commission” means the planning commission of the city; the term “director” means the administrative staff or their desig­nee assigned to implement the provisions of this title pursuant to NBMC Title 2; the term “building inspector” means the building offi­cial of the city. (Ord. 1262 § 1 (part), 2006: Ord. 1256 § 1 (part), 2006: Ord. 1020 (part), 1997; Ord. 336 § 2.01, 1970).

18.06.020 Interpretation.

Where specific definitions are provided in other sections of the city code, or subchapters of this title, those definitions shall apply to those sections of the code. In the event that definitions of the words or phrases in this chapter are not clear, or where definitions are lacking, the following shall apply in order of priority:

A. Definitions provided in the most recent city-adopted International Building Code (IBC); and

B. Definitions in Webster’s New World College Dictionary, Third Edition, copyright 1996. In the event that definitions of words or phrases remain unclear and/or are not addressed by the former documents, interpre­tation provisions of NBMC 18.04.030 shall apply. (Ord. 1262 § 1 (part), 2006: Ord. 1256 § 1 (part), 2006: Ord. 1020 (part), 1997).

18.06.030 Definitions.

“Abutting zones” means zoning districts sharing a common boundary. For purposes of landscaping and setback requirements, zones shall not be deemed abutting where the com­mon boundary is at or within a street, railroad, trail, or other designated right-of-way.

“Accessory building” means a subordinate building, with separate means of egress, the use of which is incidental to the use of the main building and which is located on the same lot or on a contiguous lot, adjoining the principle lot, on most of one side.

“Accessory dwelling unit (ADU)” means a year-round dwelling unit, no larger than 10 percent of the lot area or 800 square feet, whichever is smaller, with a maximum of one bedroom. Studios are allowed on lots less than 5,000 square feet with cooking facilities, sani­tary facilities, and an independent means of access, either attached or detached to a single-family residence, and located on the same lot as a single-family residence. ADUs may also be above a garage, provided the parking bays may not be converted to living space.

“Accessory use” means a use incidental and subordinate to the principal use and located on the same lot or in the same building as the principal use.

“Administrative adjustment to standards” refers to the authority of the director of com­munity services and/or his or her designee to change selected bulk and dimensional stan­dards as outlined in procedures and criteria in the table of bulk and dimensional standards. An administrative adjustment may have simi­lar or exact results, but is not the same mecha­nism as a variance, which may only be granted by the hearing examiner.

“Adult entertainment facilities” means enterprises predominantly involved, for com­mercial purposes, in the selling, renting, or presenting of books, magazines, motion pic­tures, films, video cassettes, cable television, live entertainment, performance, or activity distinguished or characterized by a predomi­nant emphasis on the depiction, simulation, or relation to “specified sexual activities” as defined in this chapter for observation by patrons therein. Examples of such facilities include, but are not limited to, adult book or video stores and establishments offering pan­oramas, peep shows, or topless or nude danc­ing.

“Adult family home” means a regular fam­ily abode in which a person or persons pro­vides personal care, special care, room and board to more than one but not more than six adults who are not related by blood or marriage to the person or persons providing the services as regulated by the Department of Social and Health Services in Chapter 70.128 RCW and Chapter 388-76 WAC. Secure community transition facilities are not considered adult family homes.

“Affordable housing” means owner-occu­pied or rental housing built on a site that was designated at the time of development approval, to accommodate a scale and finish of structure as stated in the development approval, that is intended to be affordable by households making no more than 80 percent of the median household income for the city of North Bend as calculated using the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Develop­ment (HUD) methodology, assuming standard Federal Housing Administration lending crite­ria and minimum down payments when appli­cable, at the time of development approval.

“Agricultural land” means land meeting any one or more of the following definitions:

1. Land primarily devoted to commer­cial production of horticultural, viticultural, floricultural, dairy, apiary, vegetable, or ani­mal products or of berries, grain, hay, straw, turf, seed, Christmas trees not subject to the excise tax imposed by RCW 84.33.130 through 84.33.140, finfish in upland hatcher­ies, or livestock, and that has long-term com­mercial significance for agricultural production; or

2. Land that is currently in use for agriculture as evidenced by its current enroll­ment in the open space taxation program pur­suant to Chapter 84.34 RCW.

“Agricultural land productivity” means:

1. Any parcel of land that is 20 or more acres or multiple parcels of land that are contiguous and total 20 or more acres:

a. Devoted primarily to the pro­duction of livestock or agricultural commodities for commercial purposes; or

b. Enrolled in the federal conser­vation reserve program or its successor administered by the United States Department of Agriculture; or

c. Other similar commercial activ­ities as may be established by rule; or

2. Any parcel of land that is five acres or more but less than 20 acres devoted prima­rily to agricultural uses, which has produced a gross income from agricultural uses equivalent to, as of January 1, 1993:

a. One hundred dollars or more per acre per year for three of the five calendar years preceding the date of application for classification under this chapter for all parcels of land that are classified under this subsection or all parcels of land for which an application for classification under this subsection is made with the granting authority prior to January 1, 1993; and

b. On or after January 1, 1993, $200.00 or more per acre per year for three of the five calendar years preceding the date of application for classification under this chapter.

“Alley” means an improved thoroughfare, right-of-way, or easement, narrower than a street, that provides vehicular and nonmotor­ized access to an interior boundary of one or more lots, and is not designed for general traf­fic circulation.

“Alterations” means a change or rear­rangement of the structural parts of existing facilities, or an enlargement by extending the sides or increasing the height or depth, or the moving from one location to another. In build­ings for business, commercial, industrial or similar uses, the installation or rearrangement of partitions affecting more than one-third of a single floor area shall be considered an alter­ation.

“Anchor store” means commercial estab­lishments including but not limited to antique shops, banks and financial institutions, book­stores, microbreweries, business offices, furni­ture/appliance stores, general stores (but not convenience stores), hardware stores, health clubs, pharmacies, and professional offices.

“Assisted living facility” means any facil­ity that provides either temporary or perma­nent residence for senior citizens and which provides opportunities for common dining areas, although some facilities may offer kitchen facilities in the individual units as well. Some assisted care facilities may offer minor health services on-site, such as a resident nurse.

“Attached, structure or building” means a structure or building joined or fastened to another structure or building by any means to become one continuous structure or building.

“Base elevation” means the average eleva­tion of a minimum of three and a maximum of eight points evenly distributed around the perimeter of a building where corners of the building intersect the original topography. Wing walls, decks, abutments, bay windows, and similar architectural features shall not be considered walls for the purpose of this calcu­lation.

“Basement” means that portion of a build­ing partly underground and having at least one-half of its height more than five feet below the adjoining finished grade.

“Bed and breakfast establishment” means a single-family dwelling unit and/or accessory building within which bedrooms are available for paying guests, subject to the provisions of this code.

“Board of adjustment” means a quasi-judi­cial body, created under Chapter 2.20 NBMC, empowered to hear appeals from orders or determinations made by an administrative offi­cial charged with the enforcement of this title and to vary or modify certain provisions of this title relating to the use, construction or alter­ation of buildings or structures or the use of land, so that the spirit of this title is observed, public safety and welfare secured, and sub­stantial justice done.

“Boarding house” means a residential dwelling or part thereof, in which lodging is provided by the owner to not more than two boarders.

“Buffer strip” means an open space used to physically separate and/or visually screen dif­ferent land uses or properties from one another for a variety of environmental management purposes. May include “buffer” areas as defined in NBMC 14.05.200 and 14.05.115. Buffer strips may be natural, or improved with landscaping or other amenities.

“Building” means any structure having a roof, but excluding all forms of vehicles even though immobilized. When a use is required to be within a building, or where special authority granted pursuant to this title requires that a use shall be within an entirely enclosed building, then the term “building” means one so designed and constructed that all exterior walls of the structure shall be solid from the ground to the roof line, and shall contain no openings except for windows and doors that are designed so that they may be closed.

“Building area” means the total ground coverage of a building or structure that pro­vides shelter measured from the outside of its external walls or supporting members or from a point four feet in from the outside edge of a cantilevered roof, whichever covers the great­est area.

“Building coverage” means area of a lot that is covered by the total horizontal surface area of the footprint or foundation of a build­ing.

Building Height. See “Height, building.”

“Building inspector” means a duly appointed officer of the city charged with the administration and enforcement of the provi­sions of this title.

“Building line” means the line of that face, corner, roof or part of a building nearest the property line.

“Carport” means a structure to house or protect motor vehicles owned or operated by the occupants of the main building and which has at least 40 percent of the total area of its sides open to the weather.

“Certificate of occupancy” means a permit to occupy a premises issued by the building inspector after inspection has verified compli­ance with the requirements and provisions of this title and applicable building codes.

“Child day care center” means an agency which regularly provides care for a group of children for periods of less than 24 hours in conformance with the requirements in Chapter 74.15 RCW.

“Clinic” means a building designed and used by a chiropractor, naturopathic physician, osteopathic physician, medical, dental or sur­gical diagnosis or treatment of patients under the care of doctors and/or nurses.

“Club” means an incorporated or unincor­porated association of persons organized for a social, fraternal, athletic, educational, literary or charitable purpose. Property occupied by a club shall be deemed to be semiprivate in char­acter and shall be subject to the regulations governing public buildings and places, exclud­ing groups organized primarily to render a ser­vice which is normally considered a business.

“Commercial, downtown scale” means any single commercial use building, excluding full-service supermarkets and hotels/motels, with a gross floor area of 5,000 square feet or less, or a shopping complex with a single building, excluding full-service supermarkets, 8,000 square feet or less and a cumulative square footage of less than 20,000 square feet gross floor area. Individual downtown com­mercial buildings may be up to 10,000 square feet if considered “anchors.”

“Commercial, interchange scale” means any single commercial use building with a gross floor area over 10,000 or a shopping complex with any single building over 8,000 square feet gross floor area, and a cumulative square footage of 20,000 square feet gross floor area or greater. For permitted land uses interchange-commercial may include build­ings and/or shopping complexes less than 10,000 square foot gross floor area and 20,000 square foot gross floor area, respectively.

“Commercial, neighborhood scale” means any single commercial use building with a gross floor area of 5,000 square feet or less, or a shopping complex with any single building 5,000 square feet gross floor area or less, and a cumulative square footage of less than 12,500 square foot feet floor area.

“Commercial, planned neighborhood dis­trict scale” means any single commercial use building within a PND overlay with a gross floor area of 2,500 square feet or less, or a cumulative square footage of commercial buildings in a single PND overlay less than 12,500 square feet gross floor area.

“Commercial use” means an activity with goods, merchandise or services for sale or involving a rental fee.

“Commercial vehicle” means a motor vehicle used for purposes other than a family car, such as a taxi, delivery, or service vehicle.

“Comprehensive plan” means a general­ized coordinated land use policy statement of the governing body of a county or city that is adopted pursuant to the Growth Management Act, Chapter 36.70A RCW. When used in this title the term shall refer to the city of North Bend comprehensive plan.

“Conditional use” means a use permitted in one or more zones as defined by this title, but which, because of characteristics peculiar to such use, or because of size, technological processes or equipment, or because of the exact location with reference to surroundings, streets, and existing improvements or demands upon public facilities, requires a special degree of control to make such uses consistent with and compatible to other existing or permissible uses in the same zone or zones. A “conditional use” is a form of special exception.

“Conditional use permit” means the docu­mental evidence of authority granted by the board of adjustment to locate a conditional use at a particular location.

“Cottage” means a smaller, detached sin­gle-family dwelling unit designed to look like larger single-family dwelling units.

“Cottage housing development” means detached single-family cottage housing that has the following characteristics:

1. Each unit is of a size and function suitable for a single person or very small fam­ily;

2. Each unit has the construction design characteristics of a single-family house, including an attached porch not less than 80 square feet minimum, a contiguous adjoining private yard area not less than 10 feet on the front and rear yard and a minimum of 10-foot combined side yards;

3. Units may be located on platted lots or as units in a condominium and may share use of common facilities such as a party room, tool shed, garden orchard, workshop, or park­ing areas;

4. The site is designed with a coherent concept in mind, including: shared functional open space, off-street parking, access within the site and from the site, and consistent land­scaping.

“Court” means an open, unoccupied space, other than a yard, on the same lot with a build­ing or buildings and which is bounded on two or more sides by such building or buildings including the open space in a house, court or apartment, providing access to the units thereof.

“Design guidelines” means standards and principles relating to a variety of land use and community elements, including but not limited to site design, building design, landscaping, parking, signage, and pedestrian amenities, as found in North Bend’s design review regula­tions, Chapter 18.34 NBMC.

“Detached building” means a building that is not attached to any other building.

“Development” means the division of land into two or more parcels, or ownerships in the case of a condominium; the construction, reconstruction, conversion, structural alter­ation, relocation or enlargement of any struc­ture; and mining, excavation, landfill, or land disturbance; and any use or extension of the use of land.

“Development agreement” means an agreement that sets forth the development standards and other provisions that shall apply to and govern and vest the development, use, and mitigation of the development of the real property for the duration specified in the agreement. A development agreement shall be consistent with applicable development regu­lations adopted by a local government plan­ning under Chapter 36.70A RCW. A development agreement may be with a person having ownership or control of real property within the city’s jurisdiction or for real prop­erty outside its boundaries as part of a pro­posed annexation or a service agreement.

“Dock” means a basin for moorage of boats, including a basin formed between the extension of two piers or the area between a bank or quay and a pier. Docking facilities may include wharves, moorage or docks or any place or structure connected with the shore or upon shorelands provided for the securing of a boat or vessel.

“Dwelling, duplex” means a building con­taining two dwelling units totally separated from each other by an unpierced wall extend­ing from ground to roof. Duplex units may have separate legal lots.

“Dwelling, multifamily” means a building containing two or more dwelling units, includ­ing units that are located one over the other. Multifamily dwellings typically occupy one common legal lot, however, as with duplexes, they may have separate legal lots.

“Dwelling, single-family” means a detached building designed for and occupied exclusively by one family and the household employees of that family.

“Educational institution” means a junior college, college, university, technical institute, or other learning institution, either public or private, providing instruction to students, but excluding childcare/day care centers, pre­school/kindergartens, and elementary, junior high, and high schools.

“Electrical distribution substation” means an assembly of equipment designed to receive energy from a high voltage distribution supply system, to convert it to a form suitable for local distribution and to distribute the energy to feeders through switching equipment designed to protect the service from the effects of faults.

“Essential use” means that use for the pres­ervation or promotion of which the use district was created, and to which all other permitted uses are subordinate.

“Family” means one or more persons liv­ing together, or one or more disabled persons protected by the Fair Housing Amendments Act (42 U.S.C. Section 3601 et seq.) living together. Except for disabled persons as described above, in no case shall a family include more than six persons who are not related by genetics, adoption or marriage and none of whom are wards of the court.

“Family day care provider” means a child day care provider who regularly provides child day care for not more than 12 children in the provider’s home in the family living quarters as defined in RCW 74.15.020.

“Floor area” means the sum of the gross horizontal areas of the floors of a building or buildings, measured from the exterior faces of exterior walls and from the centerline of divi­sion walls. Floor area shall include basement space, elevator shafts and stairwells at each floor, mechanical equipment rooms or attic spaces with headroom of seven feet six inches or more, penthouse floors, interior balconies and mezzanines, and enclosed porches. Floor area shall not include accessory water tanks and cooling towers, mechanical equipment or attic spaces with headroom of less than seven feet six inches, exterior steps or stairs, terraces, breezeways and open spaces.

“Floor area ratio” means a measure of development intensity equal to the gross floor area (FA), divided by net on-site land area (LA) (FAR = FA/LA x 100). Net on-site land area includes the area of an easement but does not include steep slopes and buffers, streams and buffers, rivers and buffers, floodways, wetlands and buffers, and public right-of-way.

“Forest land” means land primarily devoted to growing trees for long-term com­mercial timber production on land that can be economically and practically managed for such production, including Christmas trees subject to the excise tax imposed under RCW 84.33.100 through 84.33.140, and that has long-term commercial significance.

In determining whether forest land is pri­marily devoted to growing trees for long-term commercial timber production on land that can be economically and practically managed for such production, the following factors shall be considered:

1. The proximity of the land to urban, suburban, and rural settlements;

2. Surrounding parcel size and the compatibility and intensity of adjacent and nearby land uses;

3. Long-term local economic condi­tions that affect the ability to manage for tim­ber production; and

4. The availability of public facilities and services conducive to conversion of forest land to other uses.

“Garage, commercial” means a building or portion thereof designed and used for the stor­age, repair or servicing of motor vehicles or boats as a business.

“Gasoline sales/service station” means premises used for the sale of gasoline or other motor fuels, oils, lubricants, and auto accesso­ries which may or may not include washing and minor automobile repair, but not auto body work or painting.

“Greenbelt/greenway” means an open space area, typically linear in configuration, that may follow a geographic feature, is designed to buffer land uses from one another, and sometimes to link destination points.

“Height, building” means the vertical dimension of a structure measured from the base elevation to the top of the highest parapet wall, cornice, or coping of a flat roof. For slop­ing roofs, the height shall be measured to the midpoint of the highest gable or sloped plane. Where a building with multiple occupancies is located on a site which exceeds a slope of five percent, the calculation of height may be deter­mined independently for each separately occu­pied space.

“Home occupation” means any use permit­ted by the terms of this code conducted entirely within a dwelling and carried on by the perma­nent resident(s) thereof, which use is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for dwelling purposes and does not change the character thereof.

“Home, retirement” means a place of resi­dence for several families or individuals in apartment-like quarters, rented, cooperative, or condominium, which may feature services to retired persons, such as limited nursing facilities, minimum maintenance living accommodations, and recreation programs and facilities.

“Homes for the elderly and related” includes but is not limited to assisted living facilities, nursing homes, and retirement homes, subsidized through government pro­grams or not, as defined in this chapter.

“Hospital” means an establishment which provides accommodations, facilities and ser­vices over a continuous period of 24 hours or more, for observation, diagnosis and care of two or more individuals, not related by blood or marriage to the operator, who are suffering from illness, injury, deformity or abnormality, or from any condition requiring obstetrical, medical or surgical services.

“Hotel” means any building or portion thereof containing five or more rooms that are rented, or hired out to be occupied for sleeping purposes for compensation, whether the com­pensation is paid directly or indirectly. A cen­tral kitchen and dining room and accessory shops and services catering to the general pub­lic can be provided. Not included are institu­tions housing persons under legal restraint or requiring medical attention or care.

“Impervious surfaces” means hard surface areas which prevent or retard the entry of water into the soil mantle, and/or which cause water to run off in greater quantities or at an increased rate of flow from that present prior to development. Impervious surfaces include, but are not limited to, roof tops, walkways, patios, decks (covered and open are both considered impervious), pools, driveways, parking lots or storage areas, concrete or asphalt paving, gravel roads (not gravel driveways or trails), packed earthen materials, rockeries and oiled macadam or other surfaces which impede the natural infiltration of surface and stormwater runoff. Open retention and detention facilities shall not be considered as impervious surfaces.

“Innovative housing” includes cottage dwellings built separately or in combination with a traditional single-family housing devel­opment to provide small housing unit alterna­tives with potential for greater affordability relative to the traditional single-family homes.

“Interim housing facilities” are those facil­ities that provide temporary housing for home­less persons.

“Junk” means any scrap, waste, reclaim­able material, or debris, whether or not stored, for sale or in the process of being dismantled, destroyed, processed, salvaged, stored, baled, disposed, or other use or disposition. Does not include motor vehicles.

“Junkyard” means any area, lot, land, par­cel, building, or structure, or part thereof, used for the storage, collection, processing, pur­chase, sale, salvage, or disposal of junk. Does not include motor vehicle wrecking and sal­vage yards.

“Land development proposal” shall include, but not be limited to:

1. All administrative and quasi-judi­cial land development permits and/or approv­als outlined in Table 20.01.004.

2. Annexations, rezones, developer extension agreements, extension of city utility service, business licenses involving the change of use of a building.

The term “land development proposals” is intended to be construed broadly and to include all city permits and/or city approvals which may be associated with a development project; provided, it shall not include recom­mendations or requests for amendments to North Bend’s land use codes.

“Landscape buffer to agricultural/forest lands” means buffers that include the follow­ing criteria:

1. Minimum of 150 feet wide;

2. Include rights-of-way;

3. Create a visual screen by landscap­ing; and

4. Permit several uses within the buffer to include: screens, berms, parking and access routers, fences, utilities, storm ponds, nonoccupied accessory structures. Occupied structures (residential, commercial, and indus­trial) are a nonconforming use. NBMC 18.30.040 applies for repairs or restoration of nonconforming use if damaged.

“Lot” means a legally established single parcel of land.

“Lot area, gross” means the total horizon­tal area within the boundary lines of a lot. Gross density is the number of total residential units divided by total development land area including all infrastructures (streets, alleys, stormwater) open spaces and parks.

“Lot area, net” means the gross lot area including the area of an easement but does not include steep slopes (greater than 40 percent with a vertical elevation change greater than 10 feet) and buffers, streams and buffers, riv­ers and buffers, floodways, wetlands and buff­ers, and public right-of-way.

“Lot, corner” means a lot at the junction of and fronting on two or more intersecting streets.

“Lot depth” means the average dimension of a lot from the front lot line to the rear lot line.

“Lot, interior” means a lot fronting on one street.

“Lot line, front” means the lot line separat­ing a lot from a street right-of-way. The front lot line on a corner lot that fronts on two streets shall be the line abutting the street on which the building’s address is assigned, or, if no building address, the line having the narrower frontage.

“Lot line, rear” means the lot line opposite and most distant from the front lot line. In the case of triangular or otherwise irregularly shaped lots, a line 10 feet in length entirely within the lot, parallel to and a maximum dis­tance from the front lot line.

“Lot line, side” means any lot line other than a front or rear lot line.

“Lot, through” means a lot fronting on two streets that do not intersect on the parcel’s lot lines.

“Lot width” means the dimension of the lot line at the street, or in an irregular-shaped lot the dimension across the lot at the building line, or in a corner lot, the narrow dimension of the lot at a street or building line.

“Main building facade” means the front elevation of a structure with the highest cumu­lative horizontal width, except porch wall enclosures shall not be counted in determining cumulative horizontal width.

“Major utility facilities” include facilities which potentially have a significant impact on adjacent properties, including but not limited to water towers and reservoirs; overhead trans­mission lines greater than 55 kV; electric sub­stations; underground gas, oil, or other petroleum transmission pipelines; wastewater treatment facilities; television and radio trans­mission towers and appurtenances; cable tele­vision receiver and transmission facilities, cellular communications towers; telecommu­nication facilities requiring multiple sites and/or exceeding height limits of respective zoning districts; facilities typically providing or associated with regional service and other facilities determined to be similar in nature by the director of community services.

“Manufactured home” means a single-family residence constructed after June 15, 1976, and in accordance with the U.S. Depart­ment of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements for manufactured hous­ing and bearing the appropriate insignia indi­cating such compliance and which has a permanent foundation, as specified by the manufacturer, and whose space from the bot­tom of the home to the ground is enclosed by concrete or an approved concrete product that can be either load-bearing or decorative, and which has approved connections to appropri­ate electric, sewer, water, natural gas, tele­phone, and other necessary utilities, and which is “new,” meaning it has not been previously titled to a retail purchaser, and is not a “used mobile home” as defined in RCW 82.45.032(2). The city of North Bend may also regulate the placement or use of manufactured homes as described in RCW 35.21.684.

“Manufactured home, designated” (see RCW 35A.63.145) means a manufactured home which:

1. Is comprised of at least two fully enclosed parallel sections each of not less than 12 feet wide by 36 feet long;

2. Was originally constructed with and now has a composition, wood shake or shingle, coated metal, or similar roof of not less than 3:12 pitch; and

3. Has exterior siding similar in appearance to siding materials commonly used on conventional site-built Uniform Building Code single-family residences.

“Manufactured home park/mobile home park” means a parcel of land under single own­ership or management on which two or more manufactured homes or mobile homes, respec­tively, are designed to be located or are located.

“Manufacturing” means establishments engaged in the mechanical or chemical trans­formation of materials or substances into new products.

“Mean depth” of a lot is the depth of such lot measured on a line approximately perpen­dicular to the fronting street and midway between the side lines of such lot.

“Mean ground level” means the average of the finished ground level at the center of all exposed walls of a building. Where walls are parallel to and within five feet of a sidewalk, the sidewalk shall be considered the mean ground level.

“Minor utility facilities” include facilities which do not potentially have a significant impact on adjacent properties and are neces­sary to provide essential services, including but not limited to pump stations; public wells; sewer/water outfalls; telephone switching sta­tions; catch basins; retention ponds; overhead distribution lines and poles (typically 12.5 kV but up to 55 kV); cable television lines; under­ground water, sewer, and natural gas distribu­tion lines; transformers and regulator stations; private on-site facilities such as septic tanks, wells; cellular telephone antennas less than 12 feet in height; satellite dishes less than 48 inches in diameter; bus shelters; facilities typ­ically providing or associated with local ser­vice and other facilities determined to be similar in nature by the director of community services.

“Mobile home” means a single-family res­idence transportable in one or more sections that are eight feet or more in width and 32 feet or more in length, built on a permanent chassis, designed to be used as a permanent dwelling and constructed before June 15, 1976.

“Modular home” means a structure con­structed in a factory in accordance with the International Building Code and bearing the appropriate insignia indicating such compli­ance.

“Motel” means a building or buildings, detached or in connected units, or designed as a single structure, the units of which are used as individual sleeping or dwelling units, hav­ing their own private toilet facilities and may or may not have their own kitchen facilities, and are designed primarily for the accommo­dation of transient travelers. Accommodations for trailers are not included. This term includes tourist court, motor lodge, auto court, cabin court, motor inn and similar names.

“Museum/interpretive center” means an institution for the acquisition, preservation, study, and exhibition of works of artistic, his­toric, cultural, or scientific value.

“Neighborhood center” means a key park, open space, or other public facility and/or a neighborhood-scaled commercial center.

“Nonconforming building or structure” means a building or structure that was legally established when this title or any amendment thereto became effective or amended, but due to a subsequent amendment of this title, the building or structure does not conform to the bulk and/or dimensional regulations of the zoning district in which the building or struc­ture exists.

“Nonconforming land use” means any use of land that was legally established when this title or any amendment thereto became effec­tive or amended, but due to a subsequent amendment of this title the use does not con­form to the permitted land use regulations of the zoning district in which the use exists.

“Nonconforming lot” means a lot within any zoning district that was legally created when this title or any subsequent amendment thereto became effective or amended, but due to subsequent passage or amendment of this title does not meet minimum lot area or mini­mum lot width requirements for the respective zoning district in which the lot is located. Where applicable, lots exceeding maximum size shall not be considered nonconforming.

“Nonconforming use” means a build­ing/structure or land use that was legally estab­lished when this title or any subsequent amendment thereto became effective or amended, but due to subsequent passage or amendment of this title does not conform to:

1. Permitted land uses; and/or

2. Bulk and dimensional regulations of the zoning district in which it is located; and/or

3. Performance standards for the land use or zoning district.

“Nursing home” means a building occu­pied or intended to be occupied by convales­cents, invalids, and aged persons and wherein nursing, dietary, and other personal services are rendered. Mentally challenged patients and patients with contagious or communicable dis­eases, who are customarily treated in sanitari­ums and hospitals, are not included in this definition.

“Off-street parking” means parking facili­ties for motor vehicles on other than a public street or alley.

“Official zoning map” means the city’s adopted and official map showing boundary delineations for zoning districts as established in Chapter 18.08 NBMC.

“Open space, active” includes open space areas accessible to humans for a variety of rec­reation uses, including but not limited to parks, trails, picnic areas, and other usable sites. Open space recreational uses may contain impervious surfaces. Critical areas and their buffers are not considered active open space unless they have been improved with active recreation facilities including but not limited to trails.

“Open space, common” means active or passive open space within or related to a devel­opment that is designed and intended for the common use of the residents of the develop­ment. In some cases, common open space may be dedicated to the city and/or made available for the use of all city residents if part of a greenbelt network.

“Open space, passive” means that portion of a site left in its natural state or specifically designated to be used for resource protection, agriculture, greenbelt, or visual amenity and which is not covered with structures, roads, road rights-of-way, or parking areas. Open space, passive does not include the minimum required yards or lots of residential units.

“Owner occupancy” is defined as the prop­erty owner as reflected in title records, who makes his or her legal residence at the site, as evidenced by voter registration, vehicle regis­tration, or similar means, and actually resides at the site more than six months out of any given year.

“Park” means a site designed or developed for recreational use by the public including but not limited to major categories of:

1. Indoor park facilities (activity cen­ters, swimming pools);

2. Outdoor park facilities for active recreation (sportfields, playfields, and related);

3. Outdoor areas for passive recreation (conservation areas, typically with nonmotor­ized trails).

“Parking space” means a space within or without a building, exclusive of driveways, at least 10 feet by 20 feet, used to temporarily park a motor vehicle and having access to a public street or alley.

“Performance standards” means guide­lines, standards, and/or criteria that govern permitted and/or conditionally permitted land uses.

“Permitted use” means any use authorized or permitted alone or in conjunction with another use in a specified district and subject to the limitations of the regulations of such use district.

“Pervious surface” means a surface which does not prevent or retard the entry of water into the soil mantle as under natural conditions prior to development.

“Place” means an open, unoccupied, named space, other than a street or alley, at least 25 feet in width, permanently reserved and so recorded in the county records as the principal means of access to abutting or adja­cent property.

“Planned neighborhood district (PND)” means a residential housing project or mixed residential and commercial project that has been approved pursuant to the PND overlay zoning process in Chapter 18.12 NBMC.

“Primary use” means the principal or pre­dominant use to which the property is or may be devoted, and to which all other uses on the premises are accessory.

“Professional offices” means offices main­tained and used as a place of business con­ducted by persons such as doctors, dentists, osteopathic physicians, naturopathic physi­cians, chiropractors, optometrists (but wherein no overnight care for patients is given), and by engineers, attorneys, architects, accountants and other persons or firms providing services in a manner that creates land use impacts sim­ilar to the specific uses listed above.

“Prohibited uses” means land use activi­ties, including associated buildings and/or structures, that are specifically prohibited by this zoning code, as listed in endnotes to Table 18.10.030.

“Public utility” means a public service cor­poration performing some public service and subject to special governmental regulations, or a governmental agency performing similar public services, the services by either of which are paid for directly by the recipients thereof. Such services shall include, but are not limited to, water supply, electric power, gas and trans­portation for persons and freight.

“Recreational area/recreational facility” means a place designed and equipped for the conduct of sports, leisure-time activities, and other customary and usual recreational activi­ties.

“Recreational vehicle (RV)” means a vehi­cle designed primarily for recreational camp­ing, travel, or seasonal use which has its own mode of power or is mounted on or towed by another vehicle, including but not limited to travel trailers, folding camping trailer, truck camper, motor home, motorized boats, and multi-use vehicles.

“Recreational vehicle park” means the use of land upon which two or more recreational vehicle sites, including hook-up facilities, are located for occupancy by the general public for recreational vehicles as temporary living quar­ters for recreation or vacation purposes.

“Recycling center” means a lot or parcel of land, with or without buildings, upon which used materials are separated and processed for shipment to recycling plants.

“Recycling collection point” means an accessory, incidental collection point for the drop-off and temporary storage of recyclable materials.

“Recycling plant” means a facility in which recyclables, such as newspapers, maga­zines, books, other paper products, glass, metal and/or other products are recycled, reprocessed, and treated to return such prod­ucts to a condition in which they may again be used in new products.

“Repair and service shop” means premises designed and used for the storage, mainte­nance, and repair of motor vehicles, but not including the sale of gasoline or other motor fuels and auto body work or painting.

“Rezone” means a change in boundaries of the official zoning map. Rezones are either:

1. Initiated by a private party, which typically relate to a specific parcel or limited area; or

2. Initiated by the city, which typically relate to multiple parcels or city-wide applica­tions.

“Right to farm/right to forest” means an ordinance that protects farmers and farm oper­ations or foresters and forest operations from private or public nuisance lawsuits.

“School, elementary, junior or senior high, including public, private and parochial” means an institution of learning which offers instruc­tion in the several branches of learning and study required to be taught in the public schools by the Washington State Board of Education.

“Secondary use (incidental or accessory)” means a minor or second use for which a lot, structure or building is designed or employed in conjunction with but subordinate to its pri­mary use.

“Secure community transition facilities” means a residential facility for persons civilly committed and conditionally released to a less restrictive alternative under Chapter 71.09 RCW. A secure community transition facility has supervision and security, and either pro­vides or ensures the provision of sex offender treatment services. Secure community transi­tion facilities include but are not limited to the facilities established pursuant to RCW 71.09.250 and any other community-based facilities established under Chapter 71.09 RCW and operated by the secretary or under contract with the secretary.

“Semiprivate facility” means any facility to which a class or a group of the public is per­mitted to attend or use subject to the regula­tions of a club or other organization owning or regulating such facility.

“Senior citizen” means a person aged 62 or older.

“Senior citizen housing” means:

1. Housing which is exclusively devoted to housing for, and restricted to use by, senior citizens, as this term is defined in this section, either under the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 2.02 Pro­gram and contracts and guidelines pertinent thereto or, after the expiration of such con­tracts and direct applicability of such guide­lines, under the provisions of those contracts and guidelines which were in effect at the expi­ration of the applicability of Section 2.02 financing to any particular senior citizen project which has been established under such a Section 2.02 program.

2. Any change of use from that of senior citizen housing will immediately cause all provisions of the zoning code to apply with­out regard to the bulk and dimensional stan­dards of Table 18.10.040 or the reduced-parking requirement of NBMC 18.16.090, which otherwise may apply to senior citizen housing, and should housing be so changed from senior citizen housing, alternatives will immediately be required in order to gain code compliance, such as vacating units which cause excess density and conversion of such vacated units to facilities for use in common by the remaining project residents; and further, such as by immediately securing additional parking so as to meet parking requirements, or by converting additional dwelling units so as to meet parking requirements. Any delay that may be allowed by the city in implementing any application of municipal code require­ments will not constitute a waiver of the full applicability of requirements of this zoning code, and developers of senior citizen housing will be deemed to be fully on notice that any bonus or requirement reduction relating to senior citizen housing applies only so long as the project is used for senior citizen housing.

3. Any developer of senior citizen housing is obligated to give six months’ prior notice to the city of intent to abandon senior citizen housing status, and if the new use does not comply with requirements of this title, including but not limited to those pertaining to bulk and parking requirements, the occupancy permit for the building shall be revoked.

“Setback” means the distance that build­ings and structures must be placed from respective front, side, and rear lot lines, subject to the provisions outlined in Table 18.10.040, Bulk and Dimensional Standards.

“Shelter station” means a shelter for the protection from the elements of the waiting customers of a public transportation system.

“Shopping complex” means individual commercial uses, typically divided in units, that are attached in a common building.

“Sign” means any device for visual com­munication that is used for the purpose of bringing the subject thereof to the attention of the public.

“Solid planting” means a planting of ever­green trees and shrubs which will prevent a through and unobscured penetration of sight or light.

“Specified sexual activities” means human genitalia in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal; acts of human masturbation, sexual intercourse, sodomy, or erotic fondling; touch­ing or display of human genitalia, pubic region, buttocks, or female breasts.

“Story” means that part of a building lying between two floors or between the floor and ceiling of the highest usable level in the build­ing.

“Street” means a public thoroughfare which affords the principal means of access to abutting properties.

“Structural alterations” means any change in load or stress of the loaded or stressed mem­bers of a building or structure.

“Structure” means a combination of mate­rials constructed and erected permanently on the ground or attached to something having a permanent location on the ground. Not included are residential fences less than six feet in width, retaining walls, rockeries and similar improvements of a minor character less than three feet in height.

“Substandard lots” means where an exist­ing, recorded lot is substandard in width or area, and where the owner of the substandard lot does not own abutting lots which taken together would satisfy current lot width and area requirements, one single-family house may be constructed on a substandard lot, pro­vided any new structure or substantial alter­ation to an existing structure must satisfy the current setback and lot coverage requirements of the zoning district in which it is located.

“Temporary building, structure or vehicle” means the building, structure or vehicle does not have or require permanent attachment to the ground, and is not permanently located in one place or on one site.

“Temporary use” means a land use occur­ring for a limited time; not permanent.

“Timber land” means any parcel of land that is five or more acres or multiple parcels of land that are contiguous and total five or more acres which is or are devoted primarily to the growth and harvest of forest crops for com­mercial purposes. A timber management plan shall be filed with the county legislative authority at the time (1) an application is made for classification as timber land pursuant to this chapter, or (2) when a sale or transfer of timber land occurs and a notice of classifica­tion continuance is signed. “Timber land” means the land only.

“Townhouse” means a building containing one dwelling unit that occupies space from the ground to the roof, and is attached to one or more other townhouse dwellings by common walls. Townhouse units may be owned in fee simple, or as part of a condominium or cooper­ative.

“Traditional neighborhood development pattern” means a pedestrian-oriented, predom­inantly residential area, with a grid to modified grid street pattern, variable lot sizes and widths, a mix of dwelling types, streetscape amenities, and typically with a focal point or “neighborhood center.” See also “Neighbor­hood center.”

“Transfer of development rights (TDR)” means the removal of some or all of the right to develop or build, expressed in dwelling units per acre or floor area, from land desig­nated as a “sending site” to other land desig­nated as a “receiving site.”

“Transitional area overlay district” is an area located between residential (LDR, HDR) and commercial (IC, IMU, DC, NB) and/or industrial (EP-1, EP-2) zoning where addi­tional development standards apply. The tran­sitional area extends 150 feet from the boundary of parcels located between incom­patible zoning districts or extends 150 feet from the edge of the right-of-way located between incompatible zoning districts. Where adjoining parcels that are less than 150 feet dimensionally and satisfy all of the perfor­mance standards for incompatibilities, there is no need for other parcels within the 150-foot area and not adjoining the incompatible boundary to meet the same performance stan­dard. The transitional area overlay district (TAOD) performance standards shall not be required on commercial- or industrial-zoned property where the use of the property is also defined as a permitted use on the adjacent res­idential-zoned property.

“Triplex, fourplex, fiveplex, sixplex” refers to the number of residential units (respectively three, four, five and six) in a mul­tifamily building.

“Unlisted use” means a land use that is not generally or specifically listed in Table 18.10.030. In some cases, unlisted uses may be permitted, subject to procedures and criteria outlined in the endnotes to Table 18.10.030.

“Upper floor dwelling units” means resi­dential dwelling units, each with fully con­tained kitchen and sanitary facilities, on a second or third story, above commercial or other uses.

“Use” means the purpose land or buildings or structures now serve or for which they are occupied, maintained, arranged, designed or intended.

“Use district” means a portion of North Bend designated on official zoning maps as one or more of the categories listed and described in this title.

“Used car lot” means any place outside a building where two or more automobiles are offered for sale or are displayed.

“Variance” is the means by which an adjustment is made in the application of the specific regulations of this title to a particular piece of property, which property because of special circumstances applicable to it is deprived of privileges commonly enjoyed by other properties in the same zone or vicinity and which adjustment remedies disparity in privileges. A variance is a form of special exception.

“Veterinary clinic” means a clinic for the medical or surgical treatment of small animals or pets, including but not limited to dogs and cats. The boarding of animals for surgical, post-surgical, or general boarding purposes, subject to the terms of this code, shall be ancil­lary to the clinic use.

“Vision plan” means an element of the North Bend comprehensive plan which depicts preferred land use patterns and design princi­ples for North Bend.

“Wrecking/salvage yard” means any area, lot, land, parcel, building, or structure, or part thereof, used for the storage, collection, pro­cessing, purchase, sale, salvage, or disposal of motor vehicles not in operating condition.

“Yard” means an open space in front, rear or side on the same lot with a building or pro­posed building.

“Yard, front” means a space extending the full width of a lot between any building and the front lot line, as measured perpendicular to the building at the closest point to the front lot line.

“Yard, rear” means a space extending across the full width of a lot between the prin­cipal building and the rear lot line, as measured perpendicular to the building at the closest point to the rear lot line.

“Yard, service” means an open area, usu­ally paved, with access to a street or alley, to allow vehicular access to a building or use for purposes of loading or unloading equipment, freight, livestock or people.

“Yard, side” means a space extending from the front yard to the rear yard between the prin­cipal building and the side lot line, as mea­sured perpendicular from the side lot line to the closest point of the principal building. (Ord. 1262 § 1 (part), 2006: Ord. 1256 § 1 (part), 2006: Ord. 1183 § 1, 2003; Ord. 1167 § 1, 2002; Ord. 1165 § 2, 2002; Ord. 1153 § 1, 2002; Ord. 1020 (part), 1997).

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Prior legislation: Ords. 724, 718, 569, 336.