Article 8. DEFINITIONS  

The following is a list of all definitions of terms included within the text of this Unified Land Development Code. Refer also to Section 1.5. regarding the interpretation of figures, words and phrases as used in this Code. Any word or phrase not herein defined but defined elsewhere in this Code shall be given that meaning. All other words or phrases shall be given their common ordinary meaning unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

Academic School: See under "School."

Access: A way or means of approach to provide physical entrance to a property.

Accessory Apartment: A second dwelling unit incorporated within either a single-family detached dwelling or a private garage for use as a complete, independent living unit with facilities within the accessory apartment for cooking, eating, sanitation, and sleeping, separate from such facilities within the primary residence.

Accessory Farm Structure: Any building or other structure commonly used for agricultural purposes in relation to an active farming operation, such as a barn or stable, poultry house, silo, water tank, farm equipment storage shed, or irrigation system.

Accessory Structure Setback Line: A line delineating the minimum allowable distance between a property line or the right-of-way line of an abutting street and an accessory structure.

Accessory Use or Structure: A use or structure that is permitted on a property in conjunction with a principal use. An accessory use is incidental to the principal use and would not exist independent of the principal use.

Addition (to an existing building): Any walled and roofed expansion to the perimeter of a building in which the addition is connected by a common load-bearing wall other than a firewall. Any walled and roofed addition which is connected by a firewall or is separated by independent perimeter, load-bearing walls is new construction.

Agricultural operations: The raising, harvesting, marketing or storing of products of the field or orchard; feeding, breeding or managing livestock (including but not limited to cattle, swine, equine, goats, sheep and rabbits) or poultry (including but not limited to chickens, ducks, turkeys and ratites); producing and/or storing feed for use in the production of livestock or poultry; the production of aquacultural, horticultural, dairy, livestock, poultry, eggs and apiarian products; forestry land management practices including harvesting trees; and constructing farm buildings and farm ponds. These activities may also involve the application of pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, and animal wastes and irrigation, tillage of the soil and harvesting of crops. Execution of these activities may create noise, odors and dust at any time of any day of the week.

Amusement or Recreational Attraction: A business establishment offering leisure time activities such as a billiard or pool hall, bingo parlor, go-cart track, miniature golf, golf driving range, judo or karate instruction, softball field, batting cage or skating rink.

Amusement Park: A business establishment that groups together a number of leisure time activities such as mechanical rides, amusement devices, refreshment stands and picnic grounds.

Amusement Parlor: A business establishment providing leisure entertainment utilizing video games, pinball machines or other coin-operated amusement devices.

Animal feeding operation: A lot or facility where animals are stabled or confined and fed or maintained for a total of 45 days or more in any 12-month period. Growth or post-harvest residues are not sustained in the normal growing season over any portion of the lot or facility.

Animal unit: As determined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and periodically revised. Currently, one animal units consists of:

One slaughter or feeder cattle.

Seventh-tenths mature dairy cows (milked or dry).

Two and one-half swine each weighing over 55 pounds.

One-half horses.

Ten sheep or lambs.

55 turkeys.

100 laying hens or broilers in facility with continuous watering.

30 laying hens or broilers in facility with liquid manure system.

Five ducks.

Note: Dry litter poultry houses not included.

Applicant: A property owner or their authorized representative who has petitioned the City or County for approval of a zoning change, development permit, building permit, hardship variance, special exception or appeal, or any other authorization for the use or development of their property under the requirements of this Development Code.

Application: A petition for approval of a zoning change, development permit, building permit, hardship variance, special exception or appeal, or any other authorization for the use or development of a property under the requirements of this Development Code.

Aquifer: Any stratum or zone of rock beneath the surface of the earth capable of containing or producing water from a well.

Area of Shallow Flooding: A designated AO or VO zone on the city's flood insurance rate map (FIRM) with base flood depths from one to three feet where a clearly deemed channel does not exist, where the path of flooding is unpredictable and indeterminate, and where velocity flow may be evident.

Area of Special Flood Hazard: The land in the floodplain within a community subject to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year.

Artisans or Crafts Studio: A facility for:

• Creation or production of unique, hand-made, or one of a kind works or products for individual retail or special order purchase by professional painters, drawers, sketchers, sculpters, costumers, jewelers, musicians, dancers, potters, carpenters, or other artists or craftspeople, as differentiated from mass production; where the production of such goods employs six or fewer full-time individuals; and where the production process is characterized by no emissions of noxious odors, dust, fumes, gas, noise or vibration outside of any building.

• Teaching of artistic or craft process by professional artists or craftspeople.

Automobile Parking Lot, Commercial: An area or structure dedicated to the temporary storage of automobiles or other vehicles for periods of less than 24 hours for a fee, operated as the principal use of the property or structure.

Automobile Sales and Service: The use of any building or premises for the display and sale of new or used automobiles, panel trucks, vans or busses, and which may include any repair service conducted as an accessory use. See also "Boat Dealers," "Motorcycle Sales and Service," and "Recreational Vehicle Dealer."

Automobile Service Station: Buildings and premises where gasoline or diesel fuel is dispensed at retail for automobiles, recreation vehicles and motorcycles, and where in addition at least one of the following services is rendered:

(1)

Sale, replacement, or servicing of spark plugs, oil, water hoses, brake fluids, batteries, distributors, tires, carburetors, brakes, fuel pumps, or other automotive parts or accessories, etc.

(2)

Uses permissible at an automobile service station shall not include major mechanical and body work, straightening of body parts, painting, welding, or storage of automobiles not in mechanically operable condition. See "Automotive Repair Shop" where major mechanical and body work activities are allowed.

Automotive Repair Shop: The use of a building or premises for the repair of automobiles or other motorized vehicles, or the installation or repair of equipment or parts on motorized vehicles such as mufflers, brakes, tires, radios, transmissions, glass, and engines or engine parts. Automotive Repair Shops also include:

(1)

Automotive Paint or Body Shop: The use of a building or premises for the repair of automotive bodies and/or major mechanical works, straightening of body parts, painting, welding, or storage of automobiles not in operable condition.

(2)

Tire Retreading or Repair Shop: The use of a building or premises for the repairing or retreading of automotive tires.

Automotive Service Business (excluding repair): The use of a building or premises for the servicing of automobiles, including sales, installation, and servicing of minor parts such as lights, belts, hoses, wipers, tires, batteries, air or oil filters, spark plugs, fuses, brakes, glass radios, and air conditioners; diagnostic and emissions testing; and replacement of fluids such as oil, water, brake fluid, transmission fluid, Freon, wiper fluid, etc.

Awning: A roof-like cover that projects from the wall of a building for the purpose of shielding a doorway, walkway, or window from the elements. Awnings are often made of fabric or flexible plastic supported by a rigid frame, and may be retracted into the face of the building.

Awning or Canopy Sign: See "Building Sign."

Bank, Savings and Loan or Credit Union: A financial depository institution or related banking facility that accepts money for deposit into accounts from the general public or other financial institutions, and may include personal or business loans, wire transfers and safe deposit boxes as accessory uses.

Banner: A sign other than an official flag, made of paper, cloth, thin plastic, or similar lightweight material and usually containing a message or logo.

Bar or Tavern: An establishment primarily engaged in the retail sale of alcoholic drinks, such as beer, ale, wine and liquor, for consumption on the premises, and which may also serve food as a substantial portion of its business.

Base Flood: The flood having a one (1) percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.

Basement: That portion of a building having its floor subgrade (below ground level) on all sides.

Bed and Breakfast Inn: A business establishment operated within a dwelling by the owner-occupant, offering one to ten units for temporary lodging and one or more meals to the traveling public while away from their normal places of residence. See also "Hotel or Motel."

Berm: A mound of earth, or the act of pushing earth into a mound.

Best Management Practices (BMP's): A collection of structural measures and vegetative practices which, when properly designed, installed and maintained, will provide effective erosion and sediment control for all rainfall events up to and including a 25-year, 24-hour rainfall event.

Block: An area of land bounded by such features as streets, rivers, railroads or the development project boundary.

Board of Adjustments: The duly appointed Board of Adjustments of the City of Rome or the duly appointed Board of Appeals of Floyd County, as appropriate to the jurisdiction within which an appeal is taken.

Boarder: An individual who lives in a part of a dwelling unit at the behest of the resident family and is provided lodging or lodging and meals for pay or other consideration on a temporary basis.

Boarding House: See "Rooming or Boarding House."

Boat Dealer: The use of any building or premises for the display and sale of new or used motorboats or other watercraft, and which may include the sale of marine supplies or outboard motors and repair service conducted as accessory uses.

Breakaway Wall: A wall that is not part of the structural support of the building and is intended through its design and construction to collapse under specific lateral loading forces without causing damage to the elevated portion of the building or the supporting foundation system.

Brewpub: As defined in O.C.G.A. § 3-1-2, any eating establishment in which beer or malt beverages are manufactured or brewed, subject to production limits—10,000 barrels per year for on-site consumption and 5,000 barrels per year for sale to a licensed wholesale dealer—for retail consumption on the premises and solely in draft form. As used in this definition, the term "eating establishment" means an establishment which is licensed to sell distilled spirits, beer, malt beverages, or wines and which derives at least 50 percent of its total annual gross food and beverage sales from the sale of prepared meals or food; provided, however, that barrels of beer sold to licensed wholesale dealers for distribution to retailers and retail consumption dealers, as authorized pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 3-5-36(2)(c), shall not be used when determining the total annual gross food and beverage sales.

Buffer: An area of natural vegetation or man-made construction, which is intended to provide a visual and dimensional separation between dissimilar land uses.

(1)

Natural Buffer: A visual screen created by vegetation of such density so as to present an opaque visual separation when viewed from one side to the other throughout the year.

(2)

Structural Buffer: A visual screen created through construction of a solid wooden fence, decorative masonry wall, earthen berm, or combination of fence or wall with an earthen berm, which may be supplemented with vegetation, so as to present an opaque visual separation when viewed from one side to the other throughout the year.

Buildable Area of Lot: That portion of a lot bounded by and interior to the required rear, side and front building setback lines.

Building: Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls and intended for the shelter, housing, or enclosure of any individual, animal, process, equipment, goods, or materials of any kind.

Building Code: The technical codes approved for enforcement under the Georgia Uniform Codes Act (O.C.G.A. § 8-2-20 et seq.) by the respective Governing Bodies.

Building Floor Area: The total floor area of all heated spaces within a building as measured within the outside of the exterior walls, exclusive of uncovered porches, terraces, and unheated stairwells, storage areas, garages and loading docks.

Building Height: The vertical distance measured to the highest point of a building from the average finished grade across those sides of a building that face a street.

Building Inspections Department: References to action by the "Building Inspections Department" shall mean action by that administrative official of the Building Inspections Department of the City of Rome to whom responsibility for that action has been assigned by the Chief Building Inspector also known as the Chief Building Official.

Building Materials Sales: An establishment offering lumber or other construction materials used in buildings for sale to contractors or the general public.

Building Sign: A sign that in any manner is fastened to, projects from, or is placed or painted upon the exterior wall, window, door, or roof of a building. The term "building sign" includes but is not limited to the following:

(1)

Awning or Canopy Sign: A sign imposed or painted upon or suspended beneath any awning or canopy.

(2)

Facade or Wall Sign: A sign that is fastened directly to or is placed or painted directly upon the exterior wall of a building and extends from the surface of the wall no more than 18 inches.

(3)

Incidental Sign: An announcement or other display providing information about the occupancy or conduct of business permitted on a premises, such as logos of credit cards accepted on the premises, hours of operation, a "closed" or "open" sign, emergency contact person name and telephone number, street address, "help wanted," "no loitering or solicitations," security system notices, notices required by law, and similar information.

(4)

Projecting Sign: A sign affixed to a wall and extending more than 18 inches from the surface of such wall, usually perpendicular to the wall surface.

(5)

Roof Sign: A sign that is mounted on, applied to, or otherwise structurally supported by the roof of a building.

(6)

Window Sign: A sign that is placed on or behind a window pane and intended to be viewed from outside the building.

Building Tree Line: The lines extending from the corners of a building nearest a street to the side lines of the lot (not including a street right-of-way), parallel to the right-of-way line or to the chord of that line.

Business or Vocational School: See under "School."

Business, Professional or Trade Association: See under "Membership Organization."

Business Service: The use of a building or premises primarily for rendering a service to other business establishments on a contract or fee basis, such as advertising, credit reporting, computer programming, photocopying, and employment services.

(1)

Miscellaneous Business Service Establishment: An establishment offering such business services as private security, photo finishing, appraisals, map drafting, paralegal, press clipping, recording studio, repossession, and telephone answering.

Caliper: The diameter of a tree (usually nursery stock) measured at a point six inches above the ground or top of root ball for up to and including four-inch caliper trees, and at a point 12 inches above the ground or top of root ball for larger sizes.

Canopy: A roof-like structure supported by columns or projecting from a building and open on at least three sides.

Carwash: The use of a building or premises primarily for washing automobiles, recreation vehicles and motorcycles, whether by hand or mechanical means.

Cemetery: A facility for the burial of deceased human beings or animals.

Center Line: That line connecting the succession of midpoints between the identifiable limits of any improvements on the ground or of any easement.

Chief Building Inspector: The Chief Building Inspector of the City of Rome and Floyd County, also known as the Chief Building Official.

Church or Place of Worship: See under "Membership Organization."

Civic, Social or Fraternal Association: See under "Membership Organization."

Clinic: An establishment where medical or dental patients, who are not lodged overnight, are admitted for examination or treatment requiring less than an hour recovery time.

Common party wall: A wall used jointly by contiguous structures, erected upon a line dividing two parcels of land, each of which is a separate real estate entity.

Community Garden: Land used to grow flowers, vegetables, or fruit; cultivated and managed by members of a community for their own use or to produce food to donate to other community members; with a minimum lot size of 7,500 square feet, and ten feet of setback on any side adjacent a residentially-zoned property. Such a garden may have plots for individual use or plots for communal use; and have as accessory uses small sitting areas, gathering areas, no more than four off-street parking spaces, and no play areas.

Comprehensive Plan: The Comprehensive Plan adopted pursuant to the Georgia Planning Act of 1989, which includes Floyd County and the City of Rome, as amended from time to time.

Concentrated or Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO): A lot or facility, together with any associated treatment works, where animals have been, are or will be stabled or confined and fed or maintained for a total of 45 days or more in any 12-month period; and where crops, vegetation, forage growth, or post-harvest residues are not sustained over any portion of the confinement area; and where 1,000 animal units (as defined in this Article 8) or more are confined, as currently defined by the State of Georgia, Rules and Regulations for Water Quality Control, Chapter 391.

Condition of Zoning Approval: A requirement adopted by the governing body at the time of approval of a zoning change, placing greater or additional requirements or restrictions on the property than provided in this Development Code in order to reduce an adverse impact of the zoning change and to further the protection of the public health, safety, or general welfare.

Condominium: A multi-family unit, the interior of which is owned by an individual. Common walls and exterior common space of the development is maintained in undivided ownership of all individual unit owners.

Congregate Personal Care Home: See under "Personal Care Home."

Construction Contractor: An establishment engaged in the construction of buildings, engaged in heavy construction (such as streets, bridges or utilities), or specialized in such construction trades as plumbing, heating and air-conditioning, electrical wiring, masonry, roofing or gutters, well drilling, or house painting.

Construction Sign: A sign identifying the contractors, engineers, architects or financial institutions involved in the building construction or development of a property.

Convalescent Home: An intermediate care facility primarily engaged in providing inpatient nursing and rehabilitative services to residents who require watchful care and medical attention or treatment, but not on a continuous basis, although staff is on duty 24-hours per day.

Convenience Gas Station: A building or premises where gasoline, diesel fuel and oil may be dispensed at retail with no automobile repair facilities. Uses permissible also include the sale of cold drinks, packaged foods, tobacco and similar household convenience goods for station customers.

County Health Officer: The Floyd County Health Department officer responsible for approval of on-site sewage disposal systems.

Critical Root Zone: The land area circular in shape and centered on the trunk of a tree, the radius of which circle is determined by the farthest extent of the drip line from the trunk.

Cul-de-sac: A dead-end street that terminates in a permanent turnaround and not intended for future extension.

Curb Break or Curb Cut: Any interruption or break in the line of a street curb for the purpose of connecting a driveway to a street, or otherwise to provide vehicular access to abutting property.

Custom Order and Specialty Shop: A business establishment that offers handmade or special order merchandise, one of a kind original art work, home furnishings or similar merchandise, but which maintains no inventory on site other than display items.

Cut: A portion of land surface or area from which earth has been removed or will be removed by excavation; the depth below original ground surface to excavated surface. Also known as "excavation."

Cutting: The removal of any soil or other solid material from a natural ground surface.

Day Care Facility: The use of a building or premises for the care and supervision of children or elderly adults who do not reside on the property, for periods of less than 24 hours.

(1)

Day Care Center: A day care facility that enrolls for pay, supervision and non-medical care, 19 or more children or elderly adults with no overnight stays.

(2)

Family Day Care Home: An accessory use within a private residence operated by the occupant of the dwelling that enrolls for pay, supervision and non-medical care, five or fewer children or elderly adults with no overnight stays, or no more than six children or elderly adults if the structure meets the Building Code requirements for institutional uses.

(3)

Group Day Care Home: A day care facility that enrolls for pay, supervision and non-medical care, seven to 18 children or elderly adults with no overnight stays.

Day Labor Hiring Center: A facility at which job seekers congregate to be hired by the day or by the job for short periods of time by third parties. Job seekers must be present to receive and accept a job offer or to be transported to a job site, and typically return to the facility for payment. Related support and/or personnel services may be offered to job seekers.

Dead-End Street: A street connected to another street at only one end.

Deflection Angle: The angle between a deviation in the direction of the centerline of a street and the extension of the centerline along a straight course from the point from which the centerline changed direction. (See illustration below)

Deflection Angle Illustrated

Design Variance: An alteration or relaxation of the terms of this Chapter where such alteration will not be contrary to the public interest, convenience and welfare, and where, owing to conditions peculiar to the property over which the applicant for a variance has no control, a literal enforcement of these regulations would create unnecessary and undue hardship on the applicant in the use of the property.

Developer: The person, corporation or other legal entity that undertakes the subdivision of property, the alteration of land or vegetation in preparation for construction activity, or the construction of streets, utilities, buildings or other improvements required for the habitation or use of property.

Development: (1) A land development project involving the construction of streets, utilities, buildings, or other improvements required for the habitation or use of property, such as a residential neighborhood, an apartment complex, a store, or a shopping center; (2) any manmade change to improved or unimproved real estate, including, but not limited to, buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavating, drilling operations, or permanent storage of materials; (3) the act of constructing or carrying out a land development project, including the alteration of land or vegetation in preparation for construction activity.

Development Permit: The authorization necessary to initiate and conduct a land-disturbing activity and to carry out the planned development of land and structures.

Diameter Breast Height (DBH): The diameter of a tree trunk (usually a mature tree) measured at a height of four and one-half feet above the ground. If a tree splits into multiple trunks below four and one-half feet, the trunk is measured at its most narrow point beneath the split.

Director of Planning: The Director of the Rome-Floyd County Planning Commission.

Director of Public Utilities: The Director of the Water and Sewer Department of the City of Rome or the Floyd County Water Department, as appropriate to the jurisdiction where a development is proposed.

Director of Public Works: The Director of the Department of Public Works of the jurisdiction within which a development project is located.

District: The Coosa River Soil and Water Conservation District.

Drainage Structure: A device composed of a virtually non-erosive material such as concrete, steel, plastic or other such material that conveys water from one place to another by intercepting the flow and carrying it to a release point for stormwater management, drainage control or flood control purposes.

Drip Line: A perimeter formed by the points farthest away from the trunk of a tree where precipitation falling from the branches of that tree lands on the ground.

Drive-in Motion Picture Theater: See under "Theater."

Dwelling : A building or portion of a building arranged or designed to provide living quarters for one or more families on a permanent or long-term basis.

(1)

Single-Family Detached Dwelling: A residential building, whether site-built or a manufactured home or an industrialized building, designed for occupancy by one family.

(2)

Site Built Single-Family Detached Dwelling: A single-family detached dwelling constructed on the building site from basic materials and pre-assembled components delivered to the site, and which is constructed in accordance with all requirements of the Building Codes as adopted by the Governing Body and, if applicable, the Georgia Industrialized Building Act.

(3)

Single-Family Attached Dwelling: A zero-lot line single-family dwelling unit constructed on an individual lot attached to a dwelling unit on an adjoining lot where the units are attached by common party wall. The common party wall in all units, including Type V construction, must be a parapet wall that meets the standards adopted by the Governing Body and, if applicable, the Georgia Industrialized Building Act.

(4)

Site-Built Single-Family Attached Dwelling: A single-family attached dwelling constructed on the building site from basic materials and pre-assembled components delivered to the site, and which is constructed in accordance with all requirements of the Building Codes as adopted by the Governing Body and, if applicable, the Georgia Industrialized Building Act.

(5)

Two-Family Dwelling (Duplex): A residential building whether site built, or manufactured or industry built home, designed for or occupied exclusively by two families, respectively, in separate dwelling units living independently of each other.

(6)

Site-Built Two-Family Dwelling: A dwelling constructed on the building site from basic materials and pre-assembled components delivered to the site, and which is constructed in accordance with all requirements of the Building Codes as adopted by the Governing Body and, if applicable, the Georgia Industrialized Building Act.

(7)

Multi-Family Dwelling: A residential building designed exclusively for occupancy by three or more families in separate dwelling units living independently of each other.

(a)

Townhouse: A multi-family dwelling in which the dwelling units may adjoin one another only at the vertical walls and no dwelling unit may be located above another. Also referred to as a "townhome."

(b)

Three-Family Dwelling (Triplex): A residential building designed for or occupied exclusively by three families, respectively, in separate dwelling units living independently of each other.

(c)

Garden Apartment Building: A multifamily dwelling in which a dwelling unit may be located above another.

(d)

Loft Dwelling: In a building originally constructed for nonresidential purposes, a dwelling unit located in a building above the first floor, the first floor being used for nonresidential purposes such as stores or offices.

Dwelling Unit: One or more rooms connected together and constituting a separate, independent housekeeping establishment with complete provisions for cooking, eating, sleeping, bathing and personal hygiene, and physically set apart, whether by doors, stairs, walls or partitions, from any other dwelling unit in the same structure.

Easement: A strip of land on which the property owner has granted to another entity the right to use such land for specific purposes.

Electronic Message Board: A type of sign that presents its message through illumination of flashing, intermittent, or moving lights forming the letters, numbers, or symbols of the message, whether or not the message appears to move across the sign face.

Elevated Building: A non-basement building built to have the lowest floor elevated above the ground level by means of fill; solid foundation perimeter walls; pilings, columns, posts and piers, shear walls; or breakaway walls.

Employment or Personnel Agency: An establishment engaged in providing information and placement services to candidates seeking employment and/or clients looking for qualified employees. Candidates seeking employment register with the agency, but do not wait on-site or at a central location for assignments.

EPD: The Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

EPD Director: The Director of the Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Erosion: The process by which land surface is worn away by the action of wind, water, ice or gravity.

Erosion and Sediment Control Plan: A plan for the control of soil erosion and sedimentation resulting from a land-disturbing activity.

Existing Construction: Any structure for which the start of construction commenced before the effective date of the original ordinance from which this chapter derives.

Family: An individual or two or more persons living together as a household.

Family Day Care Home: See under "Day Care Facility."

Family Personal Care Home: See under "Personal Care Home."

Farm Equipment Sales and Service: The use of a building or premises primarily for the retail sale of vehicles and equipment used in agriculture, such as tractors, combines, brooders or thrashers, and which may include the sale of seed and feed or any farm equipment repair service conducted as an accessory use.

Farm Winery or Distillery: A facility in which wine or alcoholic spirits are produced from non-animal agricultural products (fruits, grains, or vegetables), at least some of which are grown on the premises. Such facility shall be operated in conjunction with an operating, conforming agricultural operation, and subject to production limits of 60,000 gallons per year.

Farming: See [under] "Agricultural operations".

Fence: An artificially constructed barrier of wood, wire, wire mesh, or decorative metal erected to enclose, screen or separate portions of a lot.

Fill: A portion of land surface to which soil or other solid material has been added; the depth above the original ground.

Filling: The placement of any soil or other solid material, either organic or inorganic, on a natural ground surface or excavation.

Finished Grade: The final elevation and contour of the ground after cutting or filling and conforming to the proposed design.

Fire Department: A reference to action by the "Fire Department" shall mean action by that administrative official of the Rome Fire Department to whom responsibility for that action has been assigned by the Fire Chief or the State Fire Marshall, as applicable.

Flood or Flooding: A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from the:

a.

Overflow of inland or tidal waters; or

b.

Unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source.

Flood Hazard Boundary Map (FHBM): An official map of a community, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, where the boundaries of the areas of special flood hazard have been defined as zone A.

Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM): An official map of a community, on which the Federal Emergency Management Agency has delineated both the areas of special flood hazard and the risk premium zones applicable to the community.

Flood Insurance Study: The official report provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The report contains flood profiles, as well as the flood boundary floodway map and the water surface elevation of the base flood.

Floodway: The channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than one foot.

Floor: The top surface of an enclosed area in a building, including basement, i.e., top of slab in concrete slab construction or top of wood flooring in wood frame construction. The term does not include the floor of a garage used solely for parking vehicles.

Free-standing Sign: A sign permanently attached to the ground, which is wholly independent of any building or other structure. The term "free-standing sign" includes but is not limited to the following:

(1)

Pole Sign: A sign that is mounted on a free-standing pole or similar support such that the bottom of the sign face is at least six feet above the ground.

(2)

Ground Sign: A free-standing sign, other than a pole sign, in which the bottom of the sign face is less than six feet above the ground but not directly in contact with the ground.

(3)

Monument Sign: A free-standing sign in which the entire bottom of the sign face is in contact with the ground, providing a solid and continuous background for the sign face from the ground to the top of the sign.

Freight Agency or Shipping Coordinator: An establishment primarily engaged in the remote arrangement of freight or cargo transportation, and not located where the freight or cargo is handled, stored or transported.

Frontage or Street Frontage: The width in linear feet of a lot where it abuts the right-of-way of any street from which access may be directly gained.

Functionally Dependent Facility: A facility which cannot be used for its intended purpose unless it is located or carried out in close proximity to water, such as a docking or port facility necessary for the loading and unloading of cargo or passengers, shipbuilding, ship repair, or seafood processing facilities. The term "functionally dependent facility" does not include long-term storage, manufacture, sales, or service facilities.

Funeral Home: A building used for the preparation of deceased human beings for burial or cremation and for conducting funeral ceremonies, and where cremations may be conducted as an accessory use.

Furniture or Equipment Rental Establishment: A business establishment that rents or leases items of personal property such as furniture, tools, medical equipment, appliances and construction equipment to the general public, but not including automobiles or trucks.

Garden Apartment Building: See under "Dwelling."

Garment Services: A business establishment engaged primarily in such activities as linen supply, dressmaking, custom tailoring, or fur cleaning and storage.

General Business Office: See under "Office."

General Merchandise Store: A retail establishment that sells a number of lines of merchandise, such as dry goods, apparel, furniture, small wares, hardware and boutique foods. Such stores are also known as "department stores," "variety stores" and "country general stores."

Governing Body: The Floyd County Commission or the Rome City Commission, whichever is appropriate to the context.

Grading: Altering the shape of ground surfaces to a predetermined condition; this includes stripping, cutting, filling, stockpiling and shaping, or any combination thereof, and shall include the land in its cut or filled condition.

Greenhouse: A building whose roof and sides are made largely of glass or other transparent or translucent material and in which the temperature and humidity can be regulated for the cultivation of plants for subsequent sale or for personal enjoyment.

Greenway: An area along the course of any state waters to be maintained in an undisturbed and natural condition, or which may contain limited minor land disturbances, such as trails and picnic areas.

Gross Floor Area: The total area of all floors of a building, measured from the outside planes of the exterior walls.

Ground Anchor: Any device at the manufactured home space designed to secure a manufactured home to the ground.

Ground Elevation: The original elevation of the ground surface prior to cutting or filling.

Group Day Care Home: See under "Day Care Facility."

Group Home for the Elderly: See "Retirement Community."

Group Personal Care Home: See under "Personal Care Home."

Group Residence: A dwelling unit occupied by several unrelated persons as their normal place of residence, but in which separate cooking facilities are not provided for such resident persons. The term "group residence" includes but is not limited to the term's "fraternity house" or "sorority house." A retirement community, nursing home, personal care home, hotel or motel, rooming or boarding house, or bed and breakfast inn shall not be deemed to be a group residence as herein defined.

Guest House: An accessory use to a dwelling designed and intended for the temporary housing of visitors to a property at the behest of the property residents for no fee or other consideration.

Handicapped Parking Space: A space laid out and designated by signage in accordance with the requirements of the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

Health Club or Fitness Center: A business that provides facilities for aerobic exercises, such as running and jogging tracks, exercise equipment, game courts, gymnasium, or swimming facilities.

Health Department: The Floyd County Health Department.

Health Services Facility: An establishment primarily engaged in outpatient health services and counseling, such as a kidney dialysis center, blood bank, alcohol or drug treatment center, or childbirth preparation center.

Highest Adjacent Grade: The highest natural elevation of the ground surface, prior to construction, next to the proposed walls of a building.

Home Occupation: Any activity carried out for profit by the resident and conducted as an accessory use in the resident's dwelling unit.

Home Office: A home occupation that is limited to an office use and does not involve visits or access by the public, suppliers or customers, and does not involve the receipt, maintenance, repair, storage or transfer of merchandise at the home.

Hospital: The use of a building or premises for the provision of diagnostic health services and medical or surgical care to inpatients and out patients suffering from illness, disease, injury, deformity and other physical or mental afflictions, and including as an integral part of the institution, related facilities such as laboratories, outpatient facilities or training facilities.

Hotel or Motel: A business establishment offering temporary lodging to the traveling public while away from their normal places of residence, and often including a restaurant as an accessory use. See also "Bed and Breakfast Inn."

Household: An individual living alone or a group of individuals living together in a single dwelling unit, sharing common use of and access to all living and eating areas, bathrooms, and food preparation areas, who mutually combine their efforts and share responsibilities for domestic chores such as child rearing, cleaning and cooking in a permanent and long-term relationship, as contrasted to one in a transient relationship who pays for lodging such as a boarder.

Impermeable: Something (such as a layer of rock) that water cannot pass through or be absorbed by.

Impervious Surface: A man-made structure or surface that prevents the infiltration of stormwater into the ground below the structure or surface, such as a building, paved road or driveway, parking lot, deck, swimming pool or patio.

Improvements: The physical addition and changes to land that may be necessary to produce usable, desirable and acceptable lots or building sites.

Indoor Athletic Training or Fitness Facility: A facility that provides low density and/or guided athletic training or fitness activities such as CrossFit training, cheerleading, and gymnastics.

Industrialized Building: See under "Modular Home."

Industrialized Home: A dwelling manufactured in accordance with the Georgia Industrialized Building Act (O.C.G.A. Title 8, Chapter 2, Article 2, Part 1) and the Rules of the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs issued pursuant thereto. State approved buildings meet the State Building and Construction Codes and bear an insignia of Approval issued by the Commissioner.

Inflatable Sign: A sign that is intended to be expanded by air or other gas for its proper display or support.

Intersection: (1) The place where two streets cross; (2) The point at which the centerline of a street intersects the centerline of another street or railway.

Junkyard or Salvage Yard: A building or premises used primarily for the collecting, storage or sale of waste paper, rags, scrap metal or other discarded material; or for the collecting, dismantling, storage, or salvage of machinery or vehicles not in running condition, or for the sale of parts thereof.

Jurisdiction: That area over which each governing body has authority for planning, zoning and development permitting under the Constitution of the State of Georgia.

Kennel: A shelter where dogs or cats are bred, raised, trained or boarded as a business.

Land-Disturbing Activity: Any activity that may result in soil erosion from water or wind and the movement of sediments into state waters or onto lands within the state, including, but not limited to, clearing, dredging, grading, excavating, transporting and filling of land but not including agricultural practices as described in Section 8.3.2.a.(5).

Livestock: Animals used for the production of food or products or for recreation, such as cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, poultry, ratites or equines.

Loft Dwelling: A dwelling unit located in a building above the first floor, the first floor being used for nonresidential purposes such as stores or offices.

Lot: A parcel or tract of land held in single ownership.

Types of Lots

(1)

Corner Lot: Any lot bounded by two streets at their intersection.

(2)

Double-Frontage Lot: A lot bounding on two or more streets, but not at their intersection, so that it is not a corner lot.

(3)

Interior Lot: A lot having frontage on only one street.

Lot Area: The total horizontal area included within lot lines.

Types of Lot Lines

Lot Lines: The boundary dividing a given lot from the street, an alley, or adjacent lots.

(1)

Front Lot Line: Any boundary line of a lot that abuts a street right-of-way line. A lot adjacent to more than one street will have more than one front lot line.

(2)

Rear Lot Line: Any boundary line of a lot that does not intersect with a street right-of-way line and is not a front lot line.

(3)

Side Lot Line: Any boundary line of a lot that intersects with a street right-of-way line and is not a front lot line.

Lot of Record: A lot which is part of a subdivision recorded in the office of the Clerk to Superior Court, or a lot described by metes and bounds, the description of which has been so recorded.

Lot Width: The distance measured along the front principal building setback line between intersecting lot lines.

Major Street or Major Thoroughfare: An arterial or collector street (see under "Street Classifications.")

Manual for Erosion and Sediment Control in Georgia: A publication of the same name published by the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission, and as amended or supplemented from time to time.

Manufactured Home: A structure that is transportable in one or more sections, built on a permanent chassis and has been designed to be used as a dwelling with or without permanent foundation. This structure, when connected to the required utilities, which includes plumbing, heating air conditioning and electrical systems contained therein, bears a label certifying that is constructed in compliance with the national Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards act, U.S. Public Law 93-383. This definition is different than that of a "mobile home" below.

Manufactured Home Development: A general category of development that includes manufactured home subdivisions and manufactured home parks.

Manufactured Home Lot/Site: A plot of ground within a manufactured home park designated for the placement of not more than one manufactured home of single-family occupancy.

Manufactured Home Owner: The person who has legal title to the manufactured home.

Manufactured Home Park: A parcel of land designed and/or intended for the lease or rental of spaces for the placement of two or more manufactured homes.

Manufactured Home Park Street: A street that affords principal means of access to manufactured home lots/sites or auxiliary buildings from any adjacent county-maintained street.

Manufactured Home Sales Lot: A premise on which manufactured homes are displayed for sale.

Manufactured Home Skirting: Installation of approved material from the exterior base of the manufactured home to the ground, that may or may not provide support to the home. Acceptable materials include masonry, brick, rock, materials manufactured for such purposes or other appropriate durable materials. The materials shall be secured, as necessary, to assure stability, to minimize vibrations, to minimize susceptibility to wind damage, and to compensate for possible frost heave. An access opening not less than 18 inches in any dimension and not less than three square feet in area shall be provided and shall be located so that any water supply and sewer drain connections located under the home are accessible for inspection. Such access panel or door shall not be fastened in a manner requiring the use of a special tool to remove or open same.

Manufactured Home Underpinning. See "manufactured home skirting" above.

Manufacturing: The creation of finished goods from raw materials or intermediate component parts.

(1)

Heavy Manufacturing: The extraction of natural resources or the transformation of raw materials through mechanical or chemical means into basic products for subsequent assembly, fabrication or use in the production of finished goods.

(2)

Light Manufacturing: The finishing, fabrication or assembly of previously manufactured parts into a final product or component products ready for retail sale. Light manufacturing is characterized by no emissions of noxious odors, dust, fumes, gas, noise, or vibration outside of any building.

Mean Sea Level: The average height of the sea for all stages of the tide. It is used as a reference for establishing various elevations within the flood plain or for airport zone elevations. For purposes of this Section, the term "mean sea level" is synonymous with National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD).

Medical or Dental Office: See under "Office."

Membership Organization: An organization that operates on a membership basis for the promotion of the members' interests.

(1)

Business, Professional or Trade Association: A private organization that promotes the interests of business groups, such as the Chamber of Commerce; professions, such as the Bar Association; or members of a trade, such as a labor union.

(2)

Church or Place of Worship: A religious organization operated for worship, religious training or study, and including convents, monasteries, shrines and temples.

(3)

Civic, Social or Fraternal Association: An organization dedicated to public activities of a civic and non-profit nature, such as an alumni association, American Legion, Hibernian Society, Masonic Lodge or Oddfellows.

(4)

Political Organization: An organization established to promote the interests of a local, State or national political party or candidate.

Metropolitan River Protection Act (MRPA): A state law referenced as O.C.G.A. § 12-5-440 et seq., which addresses environmental and developmental matters in certain metropolitan river corridors and their drainage basins.

Mini-Warehouse: A structure containing separate storage spaces of varying sizes leased or rented on an individual basis to the general public.

Miscellaneous Business Service Establishment: See under "Business Service."

Miscellaneous Personal Service: See under "Personal Service Establishment."

Miscellaneous Retail Stores: See under "Retail Store."

Mobile Food Vehicle: A unit mounted on or pulled by a motorized vehicle where food including prepackaged foods and beverages for individual portion service are prepared, stored, served, or dispensed.

Mobile Food Vehicle Park: Any property allowing as a primary use a site for more than one mobile food vehicle to serve food and/or drink to customers for consumption on- or off-site; where rent is charged. A set-up fee, registration fee, or participation fee for a special event shall not be considered rent.

Mobile Home: A transportable, factory-built home, designed to be used as a year-round residential dwelling and built prior to enactment of the Federal Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, that became effective June 15, 1976. In many cases mobile homes were built to a voluntary industry standard of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)—A119.1 Standards for Mobile Homes. This definition differs from that of a "manufactured home" above.

Mobile Home Court: See "Manufactured Home Park."

Mobile Home Inspection: An inspection conducted according to the requirements set forth in this article.

Modular Home: A factory fabricated, transportable structure, consisting of a single section or multiple sections called modules, to be constructed on top of a permanent foundation at the site for residential use. This structure is constructed in compliance with the standards adopted by the State Commissioner of Community Affairs in accordance with the Georgia Industrialized Buildings Act. A label bearing the Commissioner's insignia will be affixed to the structure certifying the design and construction of the structure complies with the requirements of the Commissioner's rules.

Motion Picture Theater: See under "Theater."

Motor Freight Truck Terminal: A building or premises 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.

Motor Vehicle Dealers, Miscellaneous: A business establishment primarily engaged in the sale of motorized vehicles and related equipment other than automobiles, motorboats, motorcycles or recreation vehicles, such as aircraft, dunebuggies, go-carts, snowmobiles and utility trailers, and which may include a repair service conducted as an accessory use.

Motorcycle Sales and Service: The use of any building or premises for the display and sale of new or used motorcycles, scooters or mopeds, and which may include any repair service conducted as an accessory use.

Multi-Faced Sign: A sign structure that contains two or more sign face surfaces that are located on different sides of the structure and are separated from each other at their nearest point by no more than three feet.

Multi-Tenant Nonresidential Development: A single office, commercial or industrial property that is designed or intended for occupancy by two or more separately owned principal businesses having no corporate relationship.

National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD): As corrected in 1929, is a vertical control used as a reference for establishing varying elevations within the flood plain.

Natural Ground Surface: The ground surface in its original state before any grading, excavation or filling.

Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU): Numerical units of measure based upon photometric analytical techniques for measuring the light scattered by finely divided particles of a substance in suspension. This technique is used to estimate the extend of turbidity in water in which colloidal dispersed particles are present.

New Construction: Any structure for which the start of construction commenced after the effective date of this Development Code.

Nonconforming Lot: A lot of record whose area, frontage, width or other dimensions, or location were lawful prior to the adoption, revision or amendment of this Ordinance, and which, by reason of such adoption, revision or amendment, no longer meets or exceeds one or more such requirements of the applicable zoning district.

Nonconforming Sign: A sign that was lawfully erected and maintained prior to the adoption, revision or amendment of this Ordinance, and which by reason of such adoption, revision or amendment fails to conform to all applicable regulations and restrictions of this Ordinance.

Nonconforming Structure: A structure or building whose size, dimensions or location on a property were lawful prior to the adoption, revision or amendment of this Ordinance, but which, by reason of such adoption, revision or amendment, no longer meets or conforms to one or more such requirements of this Ordinance.

Nonconforming Use: A use or activity that was lawfully established prior to the adoption, revision or amendment of this Ordinance, but which, by reason of such adoption, revision or amendment, is no longer a use or activity permitted by right or no longer meets or conforms to the requirements of this Ordinance.

Nursery School: See "Day Care Facility."

Nursing Home: A skilled nursing care facility primarily engaged in providing full-time convalescent or rehabilitative care to individuals who, by reason of advanced age, chronic illness or infirmity, are unable to care for themselves and require continuous care under the direction of a physician. See in contrast "Convalescent Home."

Office: The use of any building or premises primarily for conducting the affairs of a business, profession, service, industry, or government, and generally furnished with desks, tables, files, and communication equipment.

(1)

General Business Office: An office used primarily for the administrative or legal affairs of a company.

(2)

Medical or Dental Office: An office occupied and maintained for the provision of services by a person licensed by the State of Georgia to practice in the healing arts for humans, such as a physician, surgeon, dentist, or optometrist.

(3)

Professional Office: An office occupied by a member of a recognized profession and maintained for the provision of professional services, such as a lawyer, architect, city planner, landscape architect, interior designer, or engineer.

One-Hundred Year Floodplain: A land area subject to a one percent or greater statistical occurrence probability of flooding in any given year.

Opaque: Impenetrable to view, or so obscuring to view that features, buildings, structures, and uses become visually indistinguishable.

Open Space: An essentially unimproved area of land or water permanently set aside through dedication, designation, or reservation for passive recreation or enjoyment.

(1)

Common Open Space: Useable land area of a site that is available to all occupants of a development on a continuing and permanent basis and is not covered by buildings (except recreational structures) or public rights-of-way.

(2)

Public Open Space: Land reserved for leisure and/or recreational use but dedicated in fee simple to a governing body or agency to be responsible for operation and maintenance; therefore, such land is not for the exclusive use of the residents of a specific development.

Operator: The entity that is legally responsible for operation of the mobile food vehicle or mobile food vehicle park.

Outdoor Display Area: A portion of a property outside of any building where merchandise, goods or other items are placed in public view for the purpose of direct sale or lease to customers.

Outdoor Storage: The keeping within an unroofed and unenclosed area of any goods, material, merchandise or vehicles in the same place for more than 24 hours.

Outparcel: A lot deeded separately from a larger tract for individual development, but generally sharing access with the larger tract. Outparcels are most generally associated with shopping centers.

Overlay Zone: A geographical area that encompasses one or more underlying zoning districts and that imposes additional requirements above that required by the underlying zone.

Parking Aisle: The traveled way, which is not the public right-of-way, by which cars enter and depart parking spaces.

Parking Area: Any public or private area at grade or within a structure used for the express purpose of temporarily parking automobiles and other vehicles otherwise in operation for personal or business use.

Parking Bay: Three or more parking spaces adjacent to one another and aligned side-by-side.

Parking Garage: An accessory building or portion of a principal building used only for the private storage of motor vehicles as an accessory use. See also "Automobile Parking Lot, Commercial."

Parking Space: A space identified and set aside for the temporary parking of an automobile or other motor vehicle.

Passive Park: A publicly or privately owned greenspace where recreational opportunities are limited to walking/running/biking trails or sidewalks, roofed or open picnic facilities, children's playgrounds, fishing piers, interactive fountains, park benches, artistic exhibits, and open space; as opposed to athletic playing fields, sports complexes, neighborhood or community recreation centers, or commercial amusement or recreational attractions.

Pawn Shop: A type of used merchandise store in which merchandise is offered as collateral for obtaining loans and wherein such merchandise is offered for sale in recompense for default of loan repayment.

Perennial Stream: A stream that flows throughout the whole year. Perennial streams may be identified as shown as such on a United States Geologic Service Quad map.

Performing Arts Theater: See under "Theater."

Personal Care: Protective care and watchful oversight of a resident who needs a watchful environment but who does not have an illness, injury, or disability that requires chronic or convalescent care such as medical or nursing services. Protective care and watchful oversight means a 24-hour responsibility for the well-being of the resident, which includes at least a daily awareness by the management of the resident's functioning and whereabouts, the making and reminding a resident of appointments, the ability and readiness to intervene if a crisis arises for the resident, supervision in areas of nutrition and medication, and actual provision of transient medical care.

Personal Care Home: A place of residence for adults where lodging, meals, and personal care are provided 24 hours per day, seven days per week and where federal and/or state licensing or permitting is required.

(1)

Family Personal Care Home: A personal care home in a family type residence, non-institutional in character, that offers care for two to six adults.

(2)

Group Personal Care Home: A personal care home in a residence or other type of building that is non-institutional in character and offers care for seven to 15 adults.

(3)

Congregate Personal Care Home: A personal care home that offers care to 16 or more adults.

Personal Enrichment School: See under "School."

Personal Service Establishment: A business primarily engaged in providing a service generally to individuals, such as a laundry, portrait photographic studio, or beauty or barber shop.

(1)

Miscellaneous Personal Service: An establishment offering such personal services as tax return preparation, clothing or costume rental, dating service, hair removal or replacement, or tanning salon.

Planning Commission: The duly appointed Rome-Floyd County Planning Commission. References to the Planning Commission pertain only to the appointed board acting in their official capacity.

Planning Department: References to action by the "Planning Department" shall mean action by that administrative official of the Rome-Floyd County Planning Commission to whom responsibility for that action has been assigned by the Director of Planning or the Planning Commission.

Plant Nursery: Land or greenhouses used to raise flowers, shrubs, trees, and other plants for sale to distributors or for subsequent replanting by the owner, a landscape company or others.

Political Organization: See under "Membership Organization."

Pollution Susceptibility: The relative vulnerability of a aquifer to being polluted from spills, discharges, leaks, impoundment, applications of chemicals, injections and other human activities in a recharge area.

Premises: An area of land with its appurtenances and buildings, which, because of its unity of use, is one unit of real estate.

Presiding Official: The person chairing a meeting of the Planning Commission, Board of Adjustments or the Governing Body in their official capacity.

Principal Building: A building in which is conducted a principal use.

Principal Building Setback Line : A line delineating the required allowable distance between a property line or the right-of-way line of an abutting street and a principal building on a lot.

(1)

Front Building Setback : The required allowable distance between the right-of-way line of any abutting street and any part of a principal building on a lot. The front setback distance is applied along the full length of the right-of-way line and is parallel to it. If the required lot width is not achieved at the required front setback then the front setback is to be established at that point beyond the required at which the required lot width is achieved.

(2)

Rear Building Setback : The required allowable distance between a rear lot line and any part of a principal building on a lot. The rear building setback extends along the full length of the rear lot line.

(3)

Side Building Setback : The required allowable distance between a side lot line and any part of a principal building on a lot. The side building setback extends along the side lot line between the front building setback an a rear building setback (if any).

Principal Freestanding Sign: The main freestanding sign on a property, other than a billboard.

Principal Use: The specific, primary purpose for which land or a building is used.

Professional Engineer: An engineer licensed and registered to perform the duties of a professional engineer (P.E.) by the State of Georgia.

Professional Office: See under "Office."

Prohibited Use: A use that is not permitted in a zoning district by right, as an accessory use, or as a conditional use.

Project: The entire proposed development project regardless of the size of the area of land to be disturbed.

Project Entrance Sign: A sign located at a discernible entrance into a particular subdivision, development, or office or industrial park.

Projecting Sign: See "Building Sign."

Property or Parcel of Land: See "Lot."

Property Owner: Person(s) having a fee simple interest of 50 percent or more in real estate.

Public Improvement: The construction, enlargement, extension or other construction of a facility intended for dedication to and maintenance by the public, including but not limited to a street, curb and gutter, sidewalk, cross drain, catch basin, traffic control and street name sign, or other roadway appurtenance other than a driveway apron connection; domestic water supply system main, fire hydrant, valve or other appurtenance other than a supply line to a building; or sanitary sewerage main or outfall, lift station, force main, manhole or other appurtenance other than a drain line from a building.

Public Open Space: See under "Open Space."

Public Utility: A utility owned and operated by a public agency or authority.

(1)

Public Sewerage System: A sanitary sewerage system for the collection of water-borne wastes complete with a sewage treatment plant that is owned and operated by a public agency or authority.

(2)

Public Water System: A system for the intake, treatment and distribution of potable water that is owned and operated by a public agency or authority.

Public Utilities Department: References to action by the "Public Utilities Department" shall mean action by that administrative official of the Water and Sewer Department of the City of Rome or the Floyd County Water Department, as appropriate to the jurisdiction where a development is proposed, to whom responsibility for that action has been assigned by the Director of the respective Departments.

Public Works Department: References to action by the "Public Works Department" shall mean action by that administrative official of the Rome or Floyd County Public Works Department to whom responsibility for that action has been assigned by the Director of the respective Public Works Departments.

Public Works Director: The Director of the Department of Public Works of the Jurisdiction, or his designee, whose duties include the review and approval of construction plans for public streets.

Publicly Dedicated: Land or improvements that has or have been transferred by plat or deeded to and accepted by the Jurisdiction for public use and maintenance.

Real Estate Sign: A sign offering a property or premises for sale or lease.

Recharge area: Any portion of the earth's surface where water infiltrates into the ground to replenish an aquifer.

Record and Video Tape Sales: A business establishment primarily engaged in the retail sale (but not rental) of prerecorded music, movies or other audio or video programs. See also "Video Tape Rental Store."

Recreation Facility, Community: A swimming pool, tennis court, or other recreation facility owned by or provided for the use of the residents of a subdivision, apartment project, or other residential development.

Recreation Facility, Private: An accessory use to a dwelling designed and equipped for the conduct of personal leisure time activities such as a swimming pool, tennis court, deck, or patio. See also "Community Recreation Facility."

Recreational Vehicle: A motorized camper, converted bus, tent trailer, motor home, or other similar vehicular or portable structure used or designed for temporary portable housing or occupancy while on vacation or other recreational trip and provided with sleeping accommodations.

Recreational Vehicle Dealer: The use of any building or premises for the display and sale of new or used recreational vehicles, and which may include any repair service conducted as an accessory use.

Recreational Vehicle Parks or Campgrounds: A commercial operation designed for temporary lodging where members of the travelling public possessing recreational vehicles or tents may rent a campsite by the night or week; and where the intent is not to establish permanent residence.

Recycling Center: A use operated exclusively for the collection and temporary storage of used paper, glass, metal, and similar materials suitable for reprocessing, which are transported elsewhere for separating, processing, or storage.

Registered Land Surveyor: A land surveyor licensed and registered to perform the duties of a registered land surveyor (R.L.S.) by the State of Georgia.

Repair Shop, Miscellaneous: A business establishment primarily engaged in specialized repair services such as bicycle repair, leather goods repair, lock and gun repair, musical instrument repair, septic tank cleaning, furnace cleaning and taxidermists.

Reserve Strip: A strip or tract of land reserved for the purpose of controlling or limiting access from properties to abutting streets.

Residential Cluster Development: A cluster of attached and detached single-family dwelling units developed on a single lot.

Restaurant: An establishment in a site built or "brick and mortar" structure where food is prepared and served on the premises for consumption on or off the premises:

(1)

Custom Service: An establishment where food and drink are prepared to individual order, ordered and served at the table, and consumed primarily within the principal building or in established outdoor dining areas.

(2)

Drive-In or Drive Through: Any establishment, building, or structure where food or drinks are served for consumption, either on or off the premises, by order from or service to persons either over an interior counter, outside the structure or from an outdoor service window or automobile service window, or by delivery. This definition shall not include otherwise permitted restaurants where outdoor table service is provided to customers in established outdoor dining areas or where drive-through or take-out service is provided incidental to a Custom Service Restaurant.

Retail Store: An establishment principally engaged in offering a category of similar goods or products for sale to the general public, such as a grocery store, hardware store, pharmacy, clothing shop, home furnishings store, office supplies store, and the like.

(1)

Miscellaneous Retail Stores: Retail stores such as florists, tobacco stores or newsstands, optical goods stores, artists' supplies, stamp and coin shops, pet stores, telephone stores, and home swimming pool or hot tub stores.

Retirement Community: An age-restricted residential development that offers significant services and facilities for the elderly, including social and recreational activities, personal care services, or health facilities limited to use by the development's residents. At least 80 percent of the units must be occupied by residents 55 years old or older.

Right-of-Way: Land reserved for and immediately available for use as a street or other public purpose.

Roadbed: That portion of a street improved for vehicular travel, including the curbs and shoulders.

Roadway: The paved portion of a street improved for vehicular travel, measured from back of curb to back of curb, or from edge of pavement to edge of pavement for swale ditch roads.

Roadway Drainage Structure: A device such as a bridge, culvert or ditch, composed of a virtually non-erodible material such as concrete, steel, plastic or other such material that conveys water under a roadway by intercepting the flow on one side of a traveled way consisting of one or more defined lanes, with or without shoulder areas, and carrying water to a release point on the other side.

Roof Sign: See "Building Sign."

Rooming or Boarding House: A dwelling unit within which a resident family or manager offers lodging or lodging and meals to two or more unrelated adults in exchange for monetary compensation or other consideration.

School: A facility used for education or instruction in any branch of knowledge.

(1)

Academic School: A private educational facility offering instruction following the same curriculum used in a public kindergarten, elementary, secondary, trade or technical, or higher education facility, and accredited to award diplomas as such.

(2)

Business or Vocational School: A business establishment offering courses of instruction oriented to improving business skills or securing employment in a specific field, such as data processing, secretarial or office services, banking, commercial art, nursing, real estate, truck driving, or other trade or vocation.

(3)

Personal Enrichment School: A business establishment offering courses in the arts or personal skills, not necessarily related to employment, such as automobile driving, drama, ceramics, cooking, diction, languages, modeling, music, public speaking or reading.

Sediment: Solid material, both organic and inorganic, that is in suspension, is being transported or has been moved from its site of origin by air, water, ice or gravity as a product of erosion.

Sedimentation: The process by which eroded material is transported and deposited by the action of water, wind, ice or gravity.

Semi-Public Use: A use owned or operated by a nonprofit, religious, or eleemosynary institution for the purpose of providing educational, cultural, recreational, religious, or social services to the general public.

Setback: The shortest straight line distance between a street right-of-way or lot line and the nearest point of a structure or building or projection therefrom (excluding roof overhangs of 18 inches or less).

Setback, Minimum: The shortest distance allowed between a street right-of-way line or any other lot line and any principal or accessory building on a lot. Minimum setback requirements for buildings are associated with the type of lot line from which the setback is taken; for instance, a "side yard setback" is measured from a side lot line.

Shade Tree: A broadleaf tree having an average height at maturity of a least 20 feet and having a broad spread relative to its height (excluding trees with pyramidal, conical, or columnar crowns) and a dense canopy, so as to provide shade to structures or parking areas in the summer months.

Shopping Center: A commercial development containing at least three retail sales or services establishments located in one building, the total gross floor area of which is 25,000 square feet or greater.

Sign: The term "sign" shall mean any structure, display, or device that is used to advertise, identify, direct, or attract attention to a business, institution, organization, person, idea, product, service, event, or location by any means, including words, letters, figures, design characteristics, symbols, logos, fixtures, colors, movement, or illumination.

Sign Types

Sign Face: That portion of the surface of a sign structure where words, letters, figures, symbols, logos, fixtures, colors, or other design elements are or may be located in order to convey the message, idea, or intent for which the sign has been erected or placed. The sign face may be composed of two or more modules on the same surface that are separated or surrounded by portions of a sign structure not intended to contain any advertising message or idea and are purely structural or decorative in nature.

Sign Face Module: Each portion or unit of a sign face that is clearly separable from other such units by virtue of the expression of a complete thought, message, logo, or idea.

Sign Height: The vertical distance to the highest point of a sign structure, as measured from the average grade at the base of the structure or directly below a projecting structure.

Sign Height Limitation Illustrated

Sign Structure: All elements of a freestanding sign, including the sign face, background or decorative elements related to the presentation of the sign's message, and the structural supports.

Single-Family Detached Dwelling: See under "Dwelling."

Soil and Water Conservation District Approved Plan: An erosion and sediment control plan approved in writing by the Coosa River Soil and Water Conservation District.

Solar Farm: Multiple solar panels converting the energy of the sun into electricity and selling it for distribution through a utility company's service grid.

Solar Panel Array: Single or multiple solar panels converting the energy of the sun into electricity almost entirely for the use of an office, residential, industrial, or agricultural development or operation as an accessory use.

Solar Panel Installation: Less than ten solar panels or 300 square feet, whichever is less, converting the energy of the sun into electricity for the sole use of a single-family dwelling or duplex as an accessory use.

Solid Waste Transfer Station: A facility where refuse and garbage (but no hazardous waste) is delivered for compaction or aggregation and loaded on trucks for shipment to a remote landfill or other disposal facility.

Special Outdoor Event: A festival, carnival or exhibition produced for a limited time by or on behalf of a non-profit organization or in conjunction with special promotional activities of a business.

Sports Facility, Commercial: The use of any building, structure or premises for the conduct of a professional or semi-professional sport, such as a boxing pavilion, racetrack, stadium or sports field where admission is charged in order to pay the players or fund a prize purse.

Stabilization: The process of establishing an enduring soil cover of vegetation by the installation of temporary or permanent structures for the purpose of reducing to a minimum the erosion process and the resultant transport of sediment by wind, water, ice or gravity.

Start of Construction: The initiation of new construction or a substantial improvement, as follows:

(1)

For New Construction: The date the development permit was issued, provided the actual start of construction, repair, reconstruction or improvement was within 180 days of the permit date. The actual start of construction means the first placement of permanent construction of a building, including a manufactured home, on a site, such as the pouring of slabs or footings, installation of piles, construction of columns, or any work beyond the stage of excavation or the placement of a manufactured home on a foundation. Permanent construction does not include land preparation, such as clearing, grading and filling, nor does it include the installation of streets or walkways; the excavation for a basement, footings, piers or foundations or the erection of temporary forms; nor does it include the installation on the property of accessory buildings, such as garages or sheds not occupied as dwelling units or not part of the main building.

(2)

For a Substantial Improvement: The date the building permit was issued, provided the actual start of construction was within 180 days of the permit date. The actual start of construction means the first alteration of any wall, ceiling, floor or other structural parts of a building, whether or not that alteration affects the external dimensions of the building.

State Waters: Any and all rivers, streams, creeks, branches, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, drainage systems, springs, wells and other bodies of surface or subsurface water, natural or artificial, lying within or forming a part of the boundaries of the State which are not entirely confined and retained completely upon the property of a single individual, partnership or corporation.

Storage: The placement, keeping, or retention of vehicles, equipment, materials, goods, or products on a temporary basis for intermittent use or subsequent distribution or transfer.

Street: An improved way for the conveyance of motor driven, rubber-tired vehicles, such as automobiles and trucks. The term includes streets that have been opened and accepted by the jurisdiction as a "public" street, streets otherwise maintained by the jurisdiction, and streets that have been approved and designated by the jurisdiction as a "private" street.

Street Classifications: Streets are classified according to the function that they are to serve, the type, speed, and volume of traffic they will carry and the required standards of design. The classifications of streets and roads are as follows:

(1)

Major streets include the following:

(a)

Arterial Roads (Major). A road intended to move through traffic to and from major areas of activity and/or as a route for traffic between communities or large areas. A minor function is to provide direct access to abutting property.

(b)

Arterial Roads (Minor). A road intended to collect and distribute traffic in a manner similar to major arterials, except that these roads service major activity centers, and/or are designed to carry traffic from collector streets to the major arterials. A minor function is to provide direct access to abutting property.

(c)

Collector streets —Major streets that carry traffic between minor streets and arterial streets.

(2)

Minor streets include the following:

(a)

Local streets —Streets in residential subdivisions that primarily provide access to individual lots, do not carry through traffic, and serve fewer than 100 dwelling units.

(b)

Alleys —A public or private right-of-way that affords only secondary means of access to abutting properties and not intended for general traffic circulation.

Street Jog: the incidence where two streets or two portions of a single street are separated by a relatively short distance, usually at their intersection with another street. (See illustration below)

Street Jog

Structural Erosion and Sedimentation Control Measures: Measures for the stabilization of erodible or sediment-producing areas by utilizing the mechanical properties of matter for the purpose of either changing the surface of the land or storing, regulating or disposing of runoff to prevent excessive sediment loss. Examples of structural erosion and sedimentation control practices are riprap, sediment basins, dikes, level spreaders, water-ways or outlets, diversions, grade stabilization structures, sediment traps and land grading. Such measures can be found in the publication Manual for Erosion and Sediment Control in Georgia.

Structure: Anything constructed or erected with a fixed location on the ground or attached to something having a fixed location on the ground. Among other things, structures include but are not limited to buildings, driveways, parking lots, walls, fences, signs, and swimming pools.

Structure Height: The vertical distance to the highest point of a structure, as measured from the average grade at the base of the structure or directly below a projecting structure.

Subdivision: (1) The division of a property or tract of land into two or more tracts or lots; (2) A land development project in which two or more lots are created, along with the streets and utilities needed to support construction of buildings on the lots.

Substantial Improvement: Any combination of repairs, reconstruction, alteration, or improvements to a building, taking place during the life of a building, in which the cumulative cost equals or exceeds 50 percent of the market value of the building prior to improvement. The market value of the building should be:

(1)

The appraised value of the building prior to the start of the initial repair or improvement; or

(2)

In the case of damage, the value of the building prior to the damage occurring.

For the purposes of this definition, the term does not include any project for improvement of a building required to comply with existing health, sanitary or safety code specifications which are solely necessary to assure safe living conditions.

Tangent: The straight-line distance between the ending of one curve of a line (center line of a street) and the beginning of another curve of the same line (center line). (See illustration below)

Tangent Illustrated

Temporary Special Event: An activity that occurs sporadically for definitive periods of time or until a definitive ending, such as a grand opening or special sale, or a festival or bazaar.

Temporary Use: A use established for a fixed period of time with the intent to discontinue such use upon the expiration of the time period.

Tenant: One who possesses or occupies land or buildings by title, under a lease, or through payment of rent; an occupant, inhabitant, or dweller of a place.

Theater: A building or premises devoted to showing motion pictures, or for live dramatic or musical performances.

(1)

Drive-In Motion Picture Theater: An open lot with its appurtenant facilities devoted primarily to the showing of motion pictures or other prerecorded productions to patrons seated in automobiles.

(2)

Motion Picture Theater: A building primarily used for the exhibition of movies or other prerecorded productions to the general public in an indoor setting.

(3)

Performing Arts Theater: A building primarily used for the presentation of live performances of plays or music.

Tiny Home: A custom-built, transportable structure designed to provide living quarters that may be constructed for one of the following uses:

(1)

Modular Home: This structure, when it bears a label certifying it is constructed in compliance with the Georgia Industrialized Buildings Act and meets standards in this Code, is allowed wherever site-built single-family dwellings are permitted if:

•

The structure is placed on continuous footings and foundations; and

•

Exterior walls of modular buildings are supported by continuous solid or fully grouted masonry or concrete footings and foundations; and

•

The towing tongue and wheels are removed from the structure.

(2)

Manufactured Home: This structure, when it bears a label certifying that it is constructed in compliance with the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act, U.S. Public Law 93-383 and meets standards in this Code, is allowed wherever manufactured housing units are permitted.

(3)

Recreational Vehicle: This structure is used or designed for temporary portable housing or occupancy while on vacation or other recreational trip and provided with sleeping accommodations.

Tire Retreading or Repair Shop: See under "Automotive Repair Shop."

Townhouse: See under "Dwelling."

Travel Trailer: A vehicular, portable structure built on a chassis, designed to be used as a temporary dwelling for travel and recreational purposes, having a body width not exceeding eight feet.

Triplex: A three-family dwelling. See under "Dwelling: Multi-Family Dwelling."

Trout Streams: All streams or portions of streams within the watershed as designated by the Game and Fish Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources under the provisions of the Georgia Water Quality Control Act, O.C.G.A. § 12-5-20 et seq. Streams designated as primary trout waters are defined as water supporting a self-sustaining population of rainbow, brown or brook trout. Streams designated as secondary trout waters are those in which there is no evidence of natural trout reproduction, but are capable of supporting trout throughout the year. First order trout waters are streams into which no other streams flow except springs.

Truck Loading Docks: A portion of a building designed for the loading and unloading of trucks.

Truck Terminal: See "Motor Freight Truck Terminal."

Two-Family Dwelling: See under "Dwelling."

Uniform Sign Plan: Coordinated drawings and specifications that establish a unified design concept with regard to the location, materials, size, letter style, and color of all signs to be placed on a property.

Unrelated: When referring to persons, two or more people not related by blood, marriage or adoption.

Use: The purpose for which land or a building or other structure is designed or arranged, or for which it is occupied. See also "Principal Use" and "Accessory Use or Structure."

Used Merchandise Store: The use of a building or premises primarily for the retail sale of used merchandise or secondhand goods, such as used clothes, antiques, secondhand books or rare manuscripts, or items of architectural salvage, but not including used cars or other motorized vehicles. A pawn shop is a type of used merchandise store.

Utility Company: A private business providing electricity, natural gas, telephone, wireless communications or other services under the regulation of the Georgia Public Services Commission or license of the federal government.

Utility Company Substation: A facility used for the transmission or distribution of services provided by a utility company, such as an electrical transformer station, telephone junction box, cable television box or natural gas regulator station.

Vegetative Erosion and Sedimentation Control Practices: Practices for the stabilization of erodible or sediment-producing areas by covering the soil with:

(1)

Permanent seeding, sprigging or planting, producing long-term vegetative cover; or

(2)

Temporary seeding, producing short-term vegetative cover; or

(3)

Sodding, covering areas with a turf of perennial sod-forming grass.

Such practices can be found in the publication Manual for Erosion and Sediment Control in Georgia.

Veterinary: A hospital or clinic providing medical care and treatment for animals.

(1)

Large Animal Veterinary: A place where horses, cattle, sheep or other animals normally kept in agricultural settings are given medical or surgical treatment and the boarding of animals is limited to short-term care.

(2)

Small Animal Veterinary: A place where dogs, cats, birds or other animals normally kept as household pets are given medical or surgical treatment and the boarding of animals is limited to short-term care.

Video Tape Rental Store: An establishment primarily engaged in renting movies or other entertainment programs prerecorded on tape, disks or other media, to the general public for personal or household use.

Wall Sign: See "Facade or Wall Sign" under "Building Sign."

Warehouse or Indoor Storage Facility: A building used primarily for the storage of goods and materials. See also "Mini-Warehouse."

Watercourse: Any natural or artificial watercourse, stream, river, creek, channel, ditch, canal, conduit, culvert, drain, waterway, gully, ravine, or wash in which water flows either continuously or intermittently and which has a definite channel, bed and banks, and including any area adjacent thereto subject to inundation by reason of overflow or floodwater.

Water Supply Intake: The point at which water is withdrawn from a river, stream or lake to be sent to a treatment plant for public consumption.

Water Supply Watershed: The area upstream of a governmentally owned public drinking water supply intake.

(1)

Large Water Supply Watershed: One with 100 or more acres of land in the drainage basin upstream of the intake.

(2)

Small Water Supply Watershed: One with fewer than 100 acres of land in the drainage basin upstream the intake.

Wetlands: Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas.

Wholesale Trade Establishment: A place of business primarily engaged in selling merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional, or professional business users, or to other wholesalers; or acting as agents or brokers and buying merchandise for, or selling merchandise to, such individuals or companies.

Window Sign: See "Building Sign."

Yard: An area that lies between the principal building on a lot and the nearest lot line.

(1)

Front Yard: A yard situated along any public street right-of-way or private street easement.

(2)

Rear Yard: A yard situated along a rear lot line.

(3)

Side Yard: A yard situated along a side lot line, but not extending into a front or rear yard.

Yard Lot Lines

Zoning Change: An amendment to the Zoning Map (rezoning), approval of a special use, or approval of a change in the conditions of approval associated with a rezoning or special use.

Zero-Lot Line: The location of a building on a lot in such manner that one or more of the building's sides rest directly on a lot line.

(Ord. No. 01-7-2, § I, 7-16-01; Ord. No. 02-4-10, § I, 4-1-02; Ord. No. 02-11-10, § I, 11-18-02; Ord. No. 04-6-4, §§ I, II, 6-7-04; Ord. No. 05-6-9, § IV, 6-20-05; Ord. No. 06-2-4, § II, 2-20-06; Ord. No. 2008-2-3, § I, 2-4-08; Ord. No. 2008-9-3, § I, 9-2-08; Ord. No. 2010-6-5, § I, 6-7-10; Ord. No. 2011-6-5, § I, 6-6-11; Ord. No. 2012-3-5, § III, 3-19-12; Ord. No. 2012-10-3, § IV, 10-22-12; Ord. No. 2013-3-3, § IV, 3-25-13; Ord. No. 2013-8-3, § I, 8-26-13; Ord. No. 2014-7-2, § III, 7-28-14; Ord. No. 2014-7-3, § IV, 7-28-14; Ord. No. 2015-06-01, § III, 6-8-15; Ord. No. 2016-11-04, § I, 11-28-16; Ord. No. 2016-12-04, § VI, 12-19-16; Ord. No. 2017-2-5, § II, 2-27-17)