Article 1302
DEFINITIONS
Sections:
1302.01 Interpretation.
For the purpose of this code, words used in the present tense shall include the future. The singular number shall include the plural and the plural shall include the singular. The masculine shall include the feminine and the neuter. The word “shall” is always mandatory. The phrase “used for” includes “arranged for;” “person” includes an individual, corporation, partnership, incorporated association, or any other legal entity. The word “includes” or “including” shall not limit the term to the specified example, but is intended to extend its meaning to all other instances of like kind and character. Except as defined within this code, all words and phrases shall have their normal meaning and usage. (Ord. 3384 § 2, 1994)
1302.02 Specific terms.
The following words and phrases shall have the meaning given in this section:
“Accessory building or structure” means a subordinate building or structure, incidental to and located on the same lot as the principal building to which it relates. By special exception, an accessory building or structure may be located on a lot that is within 35 feet and separated from the lot occupied by the principal use to which it relates by a right-of-way, subject to provisions in MMC 1306.01.
“Accessory use” means a use incidental to, and subordinate to, and located on the same lot occupied by the principal use to which it relates. By special exception, an accessory use may be located on a lot that is within 35 feet and separated from the lot occupied by the principal use to which it relates by a right-of-way, subject to provisions in MMC 1306.01.
“Adaptive reuse” means the development of a new use for a historic structure.
“Agricultural services” means businesses selling goods or services to a substantially agricultural clientele, including feed mills, seed sales, feed grinding services, and agricultural implement dealers.
“Alley” means a minor way, regardless of its public or private status, and is used primarily for vehicular service access to the rear or side of properties otherwise abutting on a street.
“Applicant” means any entity or person that applies for a wireless communications facility building permit, zoning approval and/or permission to use the public right-of-way, city-owned land, or other property.
“Automotive sales lot” means an open lot, used for the display or sale of new or used automobiles or trucks.
“Basement” means a floor level completely below grade or floor level in which more than two-thirds of the perimeter walls are below grade. A wall shall be considered below grade where the dimension from the first floor line to the finished grade is five feet or less, and the slope of the finished grade extending 10 feet from the building walls does not exceed 30 degrees.
“Bed and breakfast” means an owner-occupied residence offering, for pay, overnight or short-term lodging and breakfast for transient guests.
“Board” means, as referred to in this text, the City of Meadville zoning hearing board.
Boarding House. See the definition of “Rooming house.”
“Buildable area” means that portion of a lot remaining after the required yards have been provided.
“Building” means a roofed structure, whether or not enclosed by walls, to be used for the shelter, enclosure or protection of persons, goods, materials or animals.
“Building setback line” means the line within a property defining the required minimum distance between any structure (building) and the adjacent right-of-way, or neighboring lot lines, and beyond which a building may not exceed so as to provide the required yard.
“Car wash” means an area of land and/or a structure with machine- or hand-operated facilities used principally for the cleaning, washing, polishing or waxing of motor vehicles.
“Carport” means a covered space which is not fully enclosed by walls and is used for the storage of one or more vehicles.
“Cemetery” means land used, or intended to be used, for the burial of the dead and dedicated for cemetery purposes, including columbariums, crematories, mausoleums and mortuaries when operated in conjunction with and within the boundaries of such cemetery.
“Church” means a place of assembly used for congregate religious services and worship. Although accessory uses such as educational and recreational facilities for use of church members are permitted, other facilities and uses will be regarded as separate principal uses.
“Civic/cultural building” means any nonresidential building, structure, facility or complex used by the general public, whether occupied by any federal, state, county, or municipal agency, or private nonprofit association. Examples include municipal buildings, court facilities, museums, armories, social service agency offices, libraries and government offices.
“Clubs, lodges, and fraternal organizations” means any establishment operated for social, recreation or educational purposes but open only to members and their guests and not to the general public.
“Co-location” means the mounting of one or more communications antennas, on an existing communications tower, or on any structure that has been approved by the city to support at least one communications antenna.
“Commercial bakery” means a nonretail bakery where food is baked for businesses, institutions, or sold through similar wholesale means.
“Commercial laundry” means a laundry in which clothing is cleaned for business clientele or as a wholesale service, excluding retail cleaners and self-service laundries.
“Commercial recreation” means a facility which offers various indoor or outdoor recreational opportunities for the public, including such games as pool, billiards, bowling, video games, miniature golf and similar pursuits.
“Commission” means, as referred to in this text, the City of Meadville planning and zoning commission.
“Communications antenna” means any antenna and related equipment attached to a wireless support structure. Communications antennas shall not include support structures for antennas or any related equipment that is mounted to the ground or at ground level.
“Communications tower” means any structure that is constructed for the primary purpose of supporting one or more communications antennas, including, but not limited to, self-supporting lattice towers, guy towers and monopoles. Distributed antenna system hub facilities are considered to be communications towers. A communications tower shall not include towers and supportive structures for amateur purposes, including but not limited to ham and citizens’ band radios maintained and/or utilized by federally licensed amateur radio operators.
“Conditional use” means a use to be allowed or denied by the city council pursuant to public notice and hearing and recommendations by the City of Meadville planning and zoning commission and pursuant to the express standards and criteria set forth in this code.
“Construction” means the construction, reconstruction, renovation, repair, extension, expansion, alteration or relocation of a building or structure.
“Continuing life care community” means an age-restricted residential development that provides a continuum of accommodations and care, from independent living to skilled nursing care.
“Convenience store” means a retail establishment of limited size (less than 5,000 square feet for the building), designed for the sale of sundries, groceries and gasoline (and sometimes diesel fuel, propane or kerosene). Convenience stores do not include repair services, tire sales or similar activities.
“Conversion apartment” means the conversion of an existing residential structure (built before 1994) to an apartment building when allowable under this code and other applicable city regulations.
Day Care Centers. See “Day care services (day care).”
“Day care services (day care)” provides out-of-home care for part of a 24-hour day to persons, excluding care provided by relatives and excluding day care furnished in places of worship during religious services. This code identifies three levels of day care services:
(A) “Family day care homes” means facilities in which day care is provided at any one time to four, five, or six persons who are not relatives of the caregiver, and where the care areas are used as a family residence.
(B) “Group day care homes” means facilities in which care is provided for more than six but less than 12 persons at any one time, where the care areas are being used as a family residence. (Care of more than six to 12 persons where the care areas are not used as a family residence will be considered a day care center.)
(C) “Day care centers” means facilities in which care is provided for seven or more persons at any one time, where the care areas are not used as a family residence.
Care for less than four persons will not be considered as day care services.
“Detention home/halfway house” means a facility for the housing, rehabilitation, and training of persons on probation, parole, or early release from correctional institutions, or other persons found guilty of criminal offenses.
“Developmentally disabled” means persons having mobility limitations, physical or mental handicap, mental retardation, disabilities as a consequence of abuse by another person, or similar conditions. Developmental disability does not include persons under supervision of the criminal justice system or persons recovering from substance abuse.
“District” means a portion of the territory of the City of Meadville within which certain uniform regulations and requirements or various combinations thereof are applicable under this code.
“Dog kennel” means an outdoor enclosure, accessory structure (including portable structures) or any combination thereof for the purpose of the keeping and housing of four or more dogs that are more than six months old, owned or unowned, for any period of time, or any facilities identified as a kennel by the laws or regulations of Pennsylvania.
“Dormitory” means a building which is accessory to an educational or public institution intended or used principally for housing of persons attending and residing at the institution.
“Drug store” means a store where the primary business is the filling of medical prescriptions and the sale of drugs, medical devices and supplies, and nonprescription medicines but where nonmedical products may be sold as well.
“Dwelling” means any building or portion thereof designed or used exclusively as the residence or sleeping place of one or more persons. The term “dwelling” shall not be deemed to include rooming house, tourist home, hotel, motel, hospital, convalescent home or dormitory.
(A) “Dwelling, single-family detached” means a building accommodating one family, and having no party wall or walls in common with an adjacent house or houses, but not a trailer, mobile home, or other transient or vehicular dwelling.
(B) “Dwelling, two-family” means a building accommodating two families living independently of each other and of a one- or two-story design.
(C) “Dwelling, multiple-family” means a building or portion thereof containing, or designed to contain, three or more separate dwelling units with or without common access facilities. Multiple-family dwellings shall include group homes. (See also “Conversion apartment”.)
(D) “Dwelling, mobile home” means a transportable single-family dwelling intended for permanent occupancy, contained in one unit, or in two units designed to be joined into one integral unit capable of again being separated for repeated towing, built upon or having a frame or chassis to which wheels may be attached, by which it may be moved upon a highway, which arrives at a site complete and ready for occupancy except for minor and incidental unpacking and assembly operations and constructed so that it may be used without permanent foundation.
(E) “Dwelling, townhouse” means a single-family dwelling in a row of at least three such units in which each unit has its own front and rear access to the outside, no unit is located above another unit, and each unit is separated from any other unit by one or more vertical common, fire-resistant walls.
“Dwelling unit” means a building or portion thereof containing one or more rooms for living purposes together with separate and exclusive cooking and sanitary facilities, accessible from the outdoors either directly or through an entrance hall shared with other dwelling units intended for the separate and exclusive use of the persons occupying the unit.
“Dwelling unit, student” means any dwelling unit occupied exclusively or primarily by persons unrelated by blood or marriage who are attending undergraduate or graduate programs offered by colleges or universities or who are on semester break or summer break from studies at colleges or universities, or any combination of such persons. Student dwelling units shall not include dormitories or fraternity/sorority houses as defined by this title. The occupants of student dwelling units differ from other households in that they may or may not act as a single housekeeping unit, and are generally transient. No student dwelling unit shall be occupied by more than four unrelated persons.
“Emergency” means a condition that (1) constitutes a clear and immediate danger to the health, welfare, or safety of the public, or (2) has caused or is likely to cause facilities in the rights-of-way to be unusable and result in loss of the services provided.
“Essential services” means services and utilities needed for the health, safety and general welfare of the community, such as underground, surface or overhead electrical, gas, telephone, steam, water, sewerage and other utilities and the equipment and appurtenances necessary for such systems to furnish an adequate level of service for the area in which it is located.
“Events center/guest house” means a building owned by an institution providing small-scale events space and rooms for the temporary lodging of persons present for business directly related to the owning institution. The building shall be considered accessory to the owning institution and shall be located on the same parcel or an abutting parcel containing one of the institution’s primary buildings or uses.
“Family” means:
(A) A single person occupying a dwelling unit and maintaining a household; or
(B) Any number of persons related by blood, marriage or adoption (including minor foster children) occupying a dwelling unit, living together and maintaining a common household; or
(C) A supervised family-like community living arrangement, of a permanent/nontransient character, for a group of disabled or handicapped persons, as defined by the Fair Housing Act, where the number of supervisors, administrators, caregivers or other staff on the premises at one time sufficient for the proper and safe care of the residents is no more than three; or
(D) Four or fewer persons, not related by blood, marriage or adoption, residing together in a dwelling unit and functioning as a single housekeeping unit.
Family Day Care Homes. See “Day care services (day care).”
“FCC” means Federal Communications Commission.
“Fence” means an artificially constructed barrier of any material or combination of materials erected to enclose, screen or separate areas. It shall not include a retaining wall constructed to stabilize an earthen embankment.
“Floor area” means the sum of the gross horizontal areas of the several floors of a building or structure from the exterior face of exterior walls, or from the centerline of a wall separating two buildings, but excluding any space where the floor-to-ceiling height is less than six feet. Also known as “gross floor area” or “habitable floor area.”
“Fraternity/sorority” means, for the purpose of this code, men’s or women’s social organizations comprised of the students of a university or college and officially recognized as a fraternity or a sorority by such university or college.
“Fraternity/sorority house” means a building used for social or residential purposes by a fraternity or sorority.
“Funeral parlor” means a building used for the preparation of the deceased for burial and the display of the deceased in conjunction with services before burial or cremation.
“Garage, residential” means a fully enclosed building, accessory to a dwelling used for the housing of motor vehicles. This does not include garages offering commercial automotive services to the public.
“Gasoline service station” means an area of land, together with any structure thereon, used for the retail sale of motor fuel and lubricants and incidental services, such as lubrication and washing of motor vehicles, and the sale, installation or minor repairs of tires, batteries or other automobile accessories.
Group Day Care Homes. See “Day care services (day care).”
“Group home” means a supervised community living arrangement for disabled or handicapped persons as defined by the Fair Housing Act, together with supervisors and caregivers.
“Gymnasium” means a health club, gym or exercise facility which provides facilities for aerobic exercises, running and jogging, exercise equipment, game courts, swimming facilities, saunas, showers and lockers.
“Health services” means health care establishments providing support to the medical profession and patients, such as medical and dental laboratories, blood banks, oxygen, ambulance services and related services. Health services do not include retail pharmacies and similar retail businesses.
“Height of a communications tower” means the vertical distance measured from the ground level, including any base pad, to the highest point on a communications tower, including communications antennas mounted on the tower and any other appurtenances.
“Height of building” means the vertical distance measured from the average level of finished grade along all the exterior walls of the building to the highest point of the roof and to the highest point on any structure which rises wholly or partly above the roof.
“Historic structure” means any building or structure that is recognized as historical or architecturally significant through formal listing as a National Historic Landmark, formal listing on the National Register of Historic Places, or eligibility for listing, as determined by the State Historic Preservation Office, or a building or structure identified on any official city register of historic places.
“Home-based business” or “no-impact home-based business” means a business or commercial activity administered or conducted as an accessory use which is clearly secondary to the use as a residential dwelling and which involves no customer, client or patient traffic, whether vehicular or pedestrian, pickup, delivery, or removal functions to or from the premises, in excess of those normally associated with residential use. The business or commercial activity must satisfy the following requirements:
(A) The business activity shall be compatible with the residential use of the property and surrounding residential uses.
(B) The business shall employ no employees other than family members residing in the dwelling.
(C) There shall be no display or sale of retail goods and no stockpiling or inventory of a substantial nature.
(D) There shall be no outside appearance of a business use, including, but not limited to, parking signs or lights.
(E) The business activity may not use any equipment or process which creates noise, vibration, glare, fumes, odors, or electrical interference, including interference with radio or television reception which is detectable in the neighborhood.
(F) The business activity may not generate any solid waste or sewage discharge, in volume or type, which is not normally associated with residential use in the neighborhood.
(G) The business activity shall be conducted only within the dwelling and may not occupy more than 25 percent of the habitable floor area.
(H) The business may not involve any illegal activity.
“Home business” means a use carried on entirely within a single-family dwelling unit, but which has a greater impact than a home-based business. Home businesses are typically professional offices or personal services characterized by outside employees, an on-site sign and on-site sales or rendering of services directly to visiting customers. Examples of home businesses include, but are not limited to, barber or beauty shops, art studios, legal offices, accountants or engineering firms.
“Horticulture” means the act of cultivating gardens for pleasure, visual screening, home use or similar avocational or aesthetic reasons.
“Hospital” means a place for the diagnosis, treatment or other care of human ailments and having facilities for in-patient care.
“Hospital, veterinary” means a structure designed or converted for the care of sick or wounded domestic animals.
“Hotel” means a building providing rooming units for the temporary lodging of persons for a fee, with or without meals, in which there are 10 or more sleeping rooms and an outside entrance in common.
“Inn” means a commercial facility for the lodging and feeding of transients. An inn is distinguished from most motels or hotels by its smaller size and resident owner/proprietor. It is distinguished from a bed and breakfast by its full-service restaurant.
“Junk” means any discarded material or article, and shall include, but not be limited to, scrap metal, scrapped or abandoned motor vehicles, machinery, equipment, paper, glass, containers and structures. It shall not include, however, refuse or garbage kept in a proper container for the purpose of prompt disposal. For the purpose of this code, a proper container shall mean a solid plastic or metal container, with a sealable lid, specifically designed for the storage of waste matter.
“Junk yard” means any place where any junk is stored, disposed of, or accumulated. This definition shall include recycling centers, recycling yards, and salvage businesses. Junk yards shall also include a collection of more than one unlicensed motor vehicle. However, it does not include municipal recycling centers where no materials are stored in an exterior environment.
“Lawful service driveway” or “driveway” means a vehicular access lane built for access to a residential or nonresidential use or to provide access to off-street parking.
“Limited retail business” means small-scale retail enterprises intended to benefit neighborhood residents or tourists. Limited retail businesses are distinguished from other retail businesses by their smaller size (less than 2,000-square-foot building), confining all commercial activities to indoors, and pedestrian orientation of signage.
“Lot” means a designated parcel, tract or area of land established by a plat or otherwise as permitted by law and to be used, developed or built upon as a unit.
“Lot area” means the area of a horizontal plane measured at grade and bounded by the front, side and rear lot lines.
Lot Frontage. The front of a lot shall be construed to be the portion nearest the street. For the purposes of determining yard requirements on corner lots and through lots, all sides of a lot adjacent to street shall be considered frontage, and yards shall be provided as indicated under “Yard” in this section.
“Lot line” means a line, generally established by metes and bounds, which, when combined with other lot lines, delineates a lot or parcel of land.
(A) “Lot line, front” means any lot line separating the lot from a right-of way boundary of a street.
(B) “Lot line, rear” means the lot line opposite and most distant from the front lot line.
(C) “Lot line, side” means any lot line other than a front or rear lot line; a side lot line separating a lot from a street is called a side street lot line. For the purposes of this code, corner lots shall be required to maintain front yard setbacks on all streets which they front.
Lot Measurements.
(A) Depth of a lot shall be considered to be the distance between the midpoint of straight lines connecting the foremost points of the side lot lines in front and the rearmost points of the side lot lines in the rear.
(B) Width of a lot shall be considered to be the distance between straight lines connecting front and rear lot lines of each side of the lot, measured across the rear of the required front yard.
Lot Types.
(A) “Corner lot” means a lot abutting upon two or more streets at the intersection of those streets. A lot abutting on a curved street or streets shall be considered a corner lot if straight lines drawn from the foremost points of the side lot lines to the foremost point of the lot meet at an interior angle of less than 135 degrees.
(B) “Interior lot” means a lot other than a corner lot, the sides of which do not abut a street.
(C) “Through lot” means an interior lot having frontage on two streets.
“Lots of record” means any lot which, individually or as a part of subdivision, has been separately designated by plat or deed, by recorded instrument and recorded in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds, Crawford County, before the date of adoption of this code.
“Manufacturing, heavy” means those manufacturing processes which do not meet the standards outlined for light manufacturing.
“Manufacturing, light” means the assembly, fabrication, manufacture, production, processing, storage and/or wholesale distribution of goods or products where no process involved will produce noise, light, vibration, air pollution, fire hazard, or emissions, noxious or dangerous to neighboring properties within 400 feet, including production of the following goods: home appliances; electrical instruments; office machines; precision instruments; electronic devices; time pieces; jewelry; optical goods; musical instruments; novelties; wood products; printed material; lithographic plates; type composition, machine tools; dies and gauges; ceramics; apparel; light weight nonferrous metal castings; light sheet metal products; plastic goods; pharmaceutical goods; food products (but not including animal slaughtering, curing nor rendering of fats).
“Medical or dental clinic” means any professional medical building or establishment where people are examined or treated by doctors, dentists, chiropractors, psychiatrists, opticians, ophthalmologists, optometrists and psychologists, but are not hospitalized overnight.
“Mixed occupancy” means occupancy of a building or of a lot for more than one use.
“Mobile home” means a transportable, single-family dwelling intended for permanent occupancy, contained in one or more units designed to be joined into one integral unit capable of again being separated for repeated towing, which arrives at a site complete and ready for occupancy, except for minor and incidental unpacking and assembly operations, and constructed so that it may be used without a permanent foundation.
“Mobile home lot” means a parcel of land in a mobile home park, improved with the necessary utility connections and other appurtenances necessary for the erection thereon of a single mobile home.
“Mobile home park” means a parcel of land under single ownership, which has been planned and improved for the placement of mobile homes for nontransient use, consisting of two or more mobile home lots.
“Motel” means a building or group of detached or connected buildings designed or used primarily for providing sleeping accommodations for automobile travelers and having a parking space adjacent to a sleeping room. An automobile court or a tourist court with more than one unit or a motor lodge shall be deemed a motel.
“New construction” means the construction, reconstruction, renovation, repair, extension, expansion, alteration, or relocation of a building, structure, and/or other improvements. Also, for the purposes of this code, all proposed subdivision and/or land development shall be considered to be new construction.
“Nonconforming lot” means a lot the area or dimension of which was lawful prior to the adoption or amendment of this zoning code, but which fails to conform to the requirements of the zoning district in which it is located by reasons of such adoption or amendment.
“Nonconforming structure” means a structure or part of a structure manifestly not designed to comply with the applicable use or extent of use provisions of this code or an amendment hereafter enacted, where such structure lawfully existed prior to the enactment of this code or amendment or prior to the application of this code or amendment to its location by reason of annexation. Such nonconforming structures include, but are not limited to, nonconforming signs.
“Nonconforming use” means a use, whether of land or structure, which does not comply with the applicable use provisions of this code or amendment hereafter enacted, where such use was lawfully in existence prior to the enactment of this code or amendment or prior to the application of this code or amendment to its location by reason of annexation.
“Nursing home” means a building with sleeping rooms where persons are housed or lodged and furnished with meals, nursing care for hire and which is approved for such operations and licensed as a nursing home by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare.
“Overlay zone” means a zoning district that encompasses one or more underlying zones and that imposes additional requirements different from that required by the underlying zones.
“Parking garage” means an enclosed facility, deck or ramp, other than a private customer and employee garage, or private residential garage, used primarily for the parking and storage of vehicles and available to the general public.
“Parking lot” means an open space other than a public or private street or way exclusively for the parking of automobiles.
“Parking space” means an open space with a dustless all-weather surface, or space in a private garage or other structure with an effective length of at least 18 feet and a uniform width of at least nine feet for the storage of one automobile and accessible from a public way.
“Personal care home” means a facility in which food, shelter and personal assistance is provided to four or more persons who are not relatives of the operator for a period of more than 24 consecutive hours. These residents do not require hospitalization or long-term nursing care. Personal care homes are also defined by their licensing as such by the Department of Public Welfare.
“Personal services” means establishments primarily engaged in providing services involving the nonmedical care of a person or his or her personal goods or apparel. Examples include barber and beauty shops, shoe repair, and tailoring or clothing alteration.
“Planning Code” means the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247 of 1968, as reenacted and amended by Act 170 of 1988, and as further reenacted and amended from time to time.
Porch.
(A) “Porch, open” means a roofed-over structure open on a least three sides projecting from the front, side or rear wall of a building. This shall include porches that are unheated and that have screens or combination screens and storm windows.
(B) “Porch, closed” means any porch that is closed in by any means, manner or material above a point four feet from floor level.
“Principal frontage” means the side of a building which faces a street, road, footway or off-street parking area more than 40 feet wide.
“Professional office” means the office or studio of a lawyer, architect, artist, engineer, certified public accountant, real estate broker or salesman, appraiser, insurance broker or agent, teacher, or similar occupation. Professional office does not include the veterinary, dental, chiropractic, or medical professions. Professional offices may also include corporate offices, or similar offices where clerical, sales, or related administrative functions are performed for a business in which the primary service or goods production is located elsewhere.
“Public or accredited private school” means any place offering instruction in any branch of knowledge under the supervision of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania or a lawfully constituted ecclesiastical governing body, person, partnership or corporation meeting the requirements of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
“Public parks and playgrounds” means parks and playgrounds which are owned and operated by the City of Meadville or by an authority created for such purposes by the City of Meadville.
“Public utility building” means buildings, structures, and facilities relating to the furnishing of utility services to the public.
“Related equipment” means any piece of equipment related to, incidental to, or necessary for, the operation of a communications tower or communications antenna. By way of illustration, not limitation, related equipment includes generators and base stations.
“Repair garage” means a building used for mechanical and/or body repairs, storage, rental, servicing or supplying of gasoline or oil to automobiles, trucks, or similar motor vehicles, but not including automotive wrecking. It may include similar heavy repair businesses, such as welding services.
“Repair services, light” means businesses engaged in non-automotive repair, rehabilitation, or reconstruction in which the item repaired is conducted wholly within an enclosed structure or the repair service is rendered off-site. Examples may include heating or air conditioning contractors, business machine services, or electrical supply/contractors. This definition does not include shoe repair or garment alteration, which is considered a personal service by this code.
“Room” means any enclosed area within a dwelling unit, meeting this code for sleeping, living, cooking, or dining purposes, excluding such enclosed spaces as closets, pantries, bath or toilet rooms, hallways, laundries, storage spaces, utility rooms, and similar spaces.
“Rooming house” means any place which provides rooms for transient or transitional sleeping or lodging, with or without a place for common dining, to persons on a commercial or institutional basis, subject to the direct control of the landowner or his agent. This shall not include dormitories or apartments. Rooming houses shall include a boarding house.
“Screen planting” means, for this code, an evergreen hedge at least six feet high, planted in such a way that it will block a line of sight. The screening may consist of either one or multiple rows of bushes or trees and shall be at least four feet wide.
“Screening” means a fence, screen planting or wall, provided in such a way that it will block a line of sight between two or more uses or structures. Screening shall be at least six feet in height unless the position of the screening would block a line of sight for a public street intersection or intersection of a lawful service drive and public street intersection. Fences or walls used as screening are subject to all fence height restrictions.
“Sexually oriented business or establishment” means any business, activity, club, establishment or premises operated for profit, whether direct or indirect, where the exhibition, showing, rental, or sale of materials distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on material depicting, describing, or exhibiting specified anatomical areas or relating to specified sexual activities is regularly permitted and is a principal part of the activity of the business or establishment. Said specified anatomical areas and specified sexual activities shall be those as defined in the sexually oriented business regulations of the Meadville Municipal Code. Sexually oriented businesses shall include but are not limited to the following:
1. Sexually oriented or adult bookstores, arcades, novelty stores or video stores.
2. Sexually oriented or adult motion picture or mini-motion picture theaters.
3. Any premises to which the public, patrons or members are invited or admitted and which are so physically arranged as to provide booths, cubicles, rooms, studios, compartments or stalls separate from the common areas of the premises for the purpose of viewing sexually oriented motion pictures or where an entertainer provides adult entertainment to a member of the public, a patron or a member.
“Shopping center” means a group of commercial establishments planned, constructed and managed as a total entity. Shopping center includes, but is not limited to, shopping malls, shopping plazas and similar facilities which include off-street parking, uniform appearance and unified maintenance. Shopping centers may include retail uses, personal services, eating establishments and related uses.
“Sign” means any structure, building, wall, or other outdoor surface, or any device or part thereof, which displays or includes any letter, word, model, banner, flag, pennant, insignia, device, or other representations used for announcement, direction, advertisement or identification. The word “sign” does not include the flag, pennant, or insignia of any nation, state, city or other political unit, nor public traffic or directional signs, nor religious symbols.
“Sign area” shall be construed to include all lettering, wording, and accompanying designs and symbols, together with the background which is incidental to the display itself. Where the sign consists of individual letters or symbols attached to or painted on a surface, the area shall be considered the smallest rectangle which can be drawn to encompass all of the letters and symbols.
“Sign, electronic” is any sign or portion of a sign that is capable of displaying text, graphics, video, symbols or images wherein the sequence of messages and the rate of change is electronically programmed and can be modified by electronic processes.
“Sign, freestanding” means any nonmovable sign not affixed to a building, including pole and ground signs.
“Sign, identification” is a permanent sign advertising the occupant’s name, typically but not limited to a business.
“Sign, other temporary” is a sign which is temporarily affixed, installed or placed for any purpose other than those for a temporary business sign, including but not limited to political signs, holiday and special event signs, and contractor identification signs placed on or near properties where work is being performed.
“Sign, permanent” is a sign which is affixed to the ground or a building by enduring means, and is not readily removable.
“Sign, portable business” is a sign which is intended to be displayed on a regular basis but placed in storage or otherwise removed from view, typically during non-business hours. It is not a temporary sign. It shall not be affixed in any way to the ground or to any building or structure. Examples include sandwich boards and other signs typically capable of being moved by one person.
“Sign, projecting” means a sign that is wholly or partly dependent upon a building for support and that projects more than 12 inches from such a building.
“Sign, projection” shall be considered the distance of the sign from the most distant point of its base. For freestanding signs, this shall be considered the distance from the top of the sign to the ground surface. For projecting or roof signs, this shall be considered the distance from the portion of the sign which attaches to the supporting surface to its most distant point.
“Sign, roof” means a sign which is mounted on the roof of a building or that is wholly dependent upon a building for support, and that projects above the top, walk or edge of a building with a flat roof or the crest of a gable roof or mansard building.
“Sign, temporary business” is a sign temporarily affixed, installed or placed for the purpose of announcing a special business event or promotion. Such signs shall include banners. No temporary sign may be used as the primary means to identify the name or nature of a business.
“Sign, wall” means a sign fastened to or painted on a wall of a building or structure in such a manner that the wall becomes the supporting structure for or forms the background surface of the sign, and does not project more than 12 inches from the building.
“Special exception” means a use permitted with special permission granted by the zoning hearing board, to occupy or use land and/or a building for specific purposes in accordance with the criteria set forth in this code when such use is not permitted by right.
“Stadium” means a large open or enclosed place used for games, concerts, major events and surrounded by tiers of seats for spectators.
“Stealth technology” means camouflaging methods applied to wireless communications facilities which render them more visually appealing or blend the proposed facility into the existing structure or visual backdrop in such a manner as to render it minimally visible to the casual observer. Such methods include, but are not limited to, architecturally screened roof-mounted antennas, building-mounted antennas painted to match the existing structure and facilities constructed to resemble trees, shrubs, flagpoles, and light poles.
“Story” means that portion of a building located between the surface of any floor and the next floor above; if there is not more than one floor the space between any floor and the ceiling next above it shall be considered a story.
“Street” means a public or private right-of-way, excluding driveways, intended for use as a means of vehicular and pedestrian circulation which provides a means of access to abutting property. The word “street” includes thoroughfare, avenue, boulevard, court, drive, expressway, highway, lane, alley and road or similar terms.
“Structure” means any manmade object having an ascertainable stationary location on or in land or water, whether or not affixed to the land. This includes sheds, swimming pools, refuse and compost facilities, and parking lots, but excluding sidewalks and access drives.
“Substantially change” or “substantial change” means a modification to an existing wireless communications facility that changes the physical dimensions of a communications tower or base station if it meets any of the following criteria:
(a) For a communications tower outside the public rights-of-way:
(1) It increases the height of the facility by more than 10 percent, or by the height of one additional antenna array with separation from the nearest existing antenna, not to exceed 20 feet, whichever is greater;
(2) It protrudes from the edge of the wireless communications facility by more than 20 feet or more than the width of the tower structures at the level of the appurtenance, whichever is greater.
(b) For a communications tower in the public rights-of-way:
(1) It increases the height of the facility by more than 10 percent or 10 feet, whichever is greater;
(2) It protrudes from the edge of the structure by more than six feet;
(3) It involves installation of more than the standard number of new equipment cabinets for the technology involved, but not to exceed four cabinets;
(4) It entails any excavation or deployment outside the current site of the communications tower; or
(5) It does not comply with conditions associated with prior approval of construction or modification of the communications tower unless the noncompliance is due to an increase in height, increase in width, or addition of cabinets.
“Theater” means a building or part of a building devoted to the showing of moving pictures or theatrical productions on a paid-admission basis.
“Traditional neighborhood development” means an area of land developed for a compatible mixture of residential units for various income levels and nonresidential commercial and workplace uses, including some structures that provide for a mix of uses within the same building. Residences, shops, offices, workplaces, public buildings and parks are interwoven within the neighborhood so that all are within relatively close proximity to each other. Traditional neighborhood development is relatively compact, limited in size and oriented toward pedestrian activity. It has an identifiable center and a discernible edge. The center of the neighborhood is in the form of a public park, commons, plaza, square or prominent intersection of two or more major streets. Generally, there is a hierarchy of streets laid out in a rectilinear or grid pattern of interconnecting streets and blocks that provides multiple routes from origins to destinations and are appropriately designed to serve the needs of pedestrians and vehicles equally.
“Truck terminal” means an area or building where trucks load and unload cargo and freight and where the cargo and freight may be broken down or aggregated into smaller or larger loads for transfer to other vehicles or modes of transportation.
“Upper floor residential use” means a mixed use of a building where the ground floor is used for a permitted nonresidential use in the zoning district in which the building is located and a floor or floors above the ground floor are used for dwelling unit or residential use.
“Use” means the purpose or activity for which land or buildings are designed, arranged or intended, or for which land or buildings are occupied or maintained.
“Warehousing” means a building used by a commercial group or the general public for storage of goods and materials. For the purposes of this code, warehousing also includes self-service or “mini” storage facilities.
“WBCA” means the Pennsylvania Wireless Broadband Collocation Act (53 P.S. §11702.1 et seq.)
“Wireless” means transmissions through the airwaves including, but not limited to, infrared line of sight, cellular, PCS, microwave, satellite, or radio signals.
“Wireless communications facility (WCF)” means the antennas, nodes, control boxes, towers, poles, conduits, ducts, pedestals, electronics and other equipment used for the purpose of transmitting, receiving, distributing, providing, or accommodating wireless communications services.
“Wireless support structure” means a freestanding structure, such as a communications tower or any other support structure that could support the placement or installation of a wireless communications facility, if approved by the city.
“Yard” means that portion of a lot which is unoccupied and open to the sky and extends from the lot line to the yard line.
“Yard, front” means a yard between an adjacent street right-of-way and the building line and extending for the full width of the lot.
“Yard line” means a line within a lot defining the minimum distance between any building or structure, or portion thereof, and an adjacent lot line. Such line shall be measured at right angles from and parallel to the corresponding lot line.
“Yard, rear” means a yard between the rear lot line and a line drawn parallel thereto at such distance therefrom as may be specified herein for any zoning district, and extending for the full width of the lot.
“Yard sale” means the sale or offering for sale of items or goods on property or premises used principally for residential uses, including all sales commonly referred to as “garage sales”, “yard sales”, “tag sales”, “porch sales”, “lawn sales”, “attic sales”, “basement sales”, “rummage sales”, “flea market sales”, “moving sales”, or any similar casual sale of tangible personal property. Yard sale shall also include placement and advertisement of any vehicle, trailer, boat or similar article for sale.
“Yard, side” means an open yard space between the side lot line and parallel thereto extending from the front lot line to the rear lot line.
“Zoning administrator” means the zoning officer of the City of Meadville, or his/her authorized representative. (Ord. 3777 § 1, 2019; Ord. 3764 § 1, 2017; Ord. 3752 §§ 2, 3, 2016; Ord. 3706 § 1, 2012; Ord. 3618 § 1, 2005; Ord. 3578 § 1, 2001; Ord. 3384 § 2, 1994)