§ 46-1. Definitions.

For the purpose of this chapter, certain words or phrases shall have the meanings that either vary somewhat from their customary dictionary meanings or are intended to be interpreted to have a specific meaning. The word "person" includes a firm, association, partnership, trust, company or corporation, as well as an individual. The word "shall" is mandatory, the word "should" is advisory and the word "may" is permissive. Any words not defined in this section shall be presumed to have their customary dictionary definitions unless a specific definition is otherwise provided for in section 1-2 of this Code.

Abandoned sign means a sign, or part thereof, which no longer correctly advertises a bona fide business, service, or product available on the premises; or a structurally unsound sign, or part thereof, which has been left unrepaired.

Accessory use or structure means a use or detached structure subordinate to the principal use of a structure, land or water and located on the same lot or parcel serving a purpose customarily incidental to the principal use or the principal structure.

Alley means a special public right-of-way affording only secondary access to abutting properties.

Area of copy means the entire area within a single, continuous perimeter composed of squares or rectangles which encloses the extreme limits of the advertising message, announcement or decoration of a wall sign.

Arterial street means a public street or highway used or intended to be used primarily for fast or heavy through traffic. Arterial streets and highways shall include freeways and expressways as well as arterial streets, highways and parkways.

Awning, canopy or marquee sign means a sign that is mounted or painted on, or attached to an awning, canopy, or marquee.

Babysitting means the act of providing care and supervision for fewer than four children. This definition does not apply when the baby sitter is related to the child, or when more than four children in one household are related.

Basic district. See " District, basic. "

Bed and breakfast establishment means any place of lodging that provides four or fewer rooms for rent to tourists or other transients for more than ten nights in a 12-month period, is the owner's personal residence, is occupied by the owner at the time of rental, and in which the only meal served to guests is breakfast.

Billboard means an off-premise sign with removable or changeable copy on which the copy is intended to be replaced with new copy after the termination of a specified period and directs attention to a business, product, service or entertainment conducted, sold or offered at a location other than the premise on which the sign is located. For the purpose of this chapter, billboards do not include community signs and bulletin boards used to announce church services, or to display court or other public official notices, or signs offering the sale or lease of the premises on which the sign is located.

Boardinghouse means a building other than a hotel or restaurant where meals or lodging are regularly furnished by prearrangement for compensation for four or more persons not members of a family, but not exceeding 12 persons and not open to transient customers.

Breakfast means a meal served between 6:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.

Buffer yard means an area of land which contains sufficient area and width, landscape plantings, earth berms, fencing, walls, or other visual and/or sound barriers intended to eliminate or minimize land use conflicts between adjacent land uses.

Buildable lot area means the portion of a lot remaining after required yards have been provided.

Building means any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls used or intended to be used for the shelter or enclosure of persons, animals, equipment, machinery or materials.

Building area means the total area bounded by the exterior walls of a building at the floor levels, but not including basement, utility rooms, garages, porches, breezeways and unfinished attics.

Building, detached means a principal building surrounded by open space on the same lot.

Building frontage means that portion of a building which is parallel or nearly parallel to the abutting public street right-of-way.

Building height means, for principal buildings, the vertical distance measured from the mean elevation of the unfinished lot grade along the street yard face of the principal building or the finished grade at the building line, whichever is higher, to the highest point of the coping (cap) of a flat roof; to the highest point of a mansard roof; or to the average height between the eaves and the highest point (ridge) of a gable, hip or gambrel roof. For accessory buildings, the building height means the vertical distance measured from the mean elevation of the unfinished lot grade along the street yard face of the accessory building or the finished grade at the building line, whichever is higher, to the highest point of the ridge.

Building line means a line parallel to the street line defining an area in which no buildings or parts of buildings may be erected, altered or maintained except as otherwise provided for in this chapter.

Building, principal means a building in which the principal use of the lot on which it is located is conducted.

Business means an occupation, employment or enterprise which occupies time, attention, labor and materials or wherein merchandise is exhibited or sold or where services are offered other than home occupations.

Canopy sign means a sign affixed to or forming part of a permanent canopy and which does not extend horizontally beyond the limits of the canopy.

Clothing repair shops means shops where clothing is repaired, such as shoe repair shops, seamstress, tailor shops, shoeshine shops, clothes pressing shops, but not employing over five persons.

Clothing stores means retail stores where clothing is sold, such as department stores, dry goods and shoe stores, dress, hosiery and millinery shops.

Commercial catering or food preparation services means a combination of some or all of the following activities with the intent that the food prepared will be consumed at a location other than where it is prepared: taking food orders by telephone or by any other means, storing food, preparing and cooking food, and the delivery of such prepared and cooked food to specific households or businesses.

Commercial day care center means an establishment providing care and supervision for four or more children under the age of seven for less than 24 hours a day and licensed by the State of Wisconsin pursuant to Wis. Stats. § 48.65.

Commercial feed lot means confinement of 200 or more head of livestock on a farm or other site for the purpose of intensive feeding prior to slaughter or shipment in such concentration that ground vegetation is substantially destroyed where the farm or site:

(1)

Does not produce a minimum of 60 percent of the feed necessary to sustain the herd.

(2)

Is insufficient in size to provide for the disposal of all animal wastes in a manner that they will not run off, seep, percolate or wash into surface or subsurface waters.

Community-based residential facility (CBRF) means a place where five or more adults who are not related to the operator or administrator and who do not require care above intermediate level nursing care reside and receive care, treatment or services that are above the level of room and board but that include no more the three hours of nursing care per week per resident. CBRF does not include any of the following: a convent, facilities for victims of domestic abuse and their children, a shelter, or other facilities identified in Wis. Stats. § 50.01(1g).

Community living arrangements includes community living arrangements for children or adults. Community living arrangements for children means a residential care center for children and youth or a group home. Community living arrangements for adults means a community-based residential facility.

Conditional uses. See "Use, conditional."

Condominium means a class or form of ownership wherein individual dwelling units are owned separately and other associated lands and facilities are owned in common. Condominium units may be individual units under individual ownership within a multiple-family structure where the land on which the structure is located is in common undivided ownership, or in the case of a detached condominium, may consist of individual homesites owned by separate individuals with common open space lands owned by a cooperative or property owners' association.

Conservation standards means guidelines and specifications for soil and water conservation practices and management enumerated in the Technical Guide prepared by the USDA Soil Conservation Service (now called the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service) for the county, adopted by the county soil and water conservation district supervisors and containing suitable alternatives for the use and treatment of land based upon its capabilities from which the landowner selects that alternative which best meets his needs in developing his soil and water conservation plan.

Coping means the highest point or covering course of a wall often with a sloping top to carry off water and commonly cut with a drip.

Corner lot. See "Lot, corner."

Decorative ponds are:

(1)

Intended for decorative purposes.

(2)

Not intended for wading or swimming.

(3)

Subject to restrictions that apply to accessory uses.

(4)

Not to consume more than ten percent of any required yard in which it is located, except those that may be approved for more coverage in planned outlots in an approved development.

(5)

Subject to an order to remove if not maintained in good working order and in a sanitary condition.

Density, gross means the total or gross area required for a residence divided by an acre (43,560 square feet). The result is expressed as dwelling units per gross acre. Gross acres, used in computing gross density, are the net area of a parcel devoted to the residential use plus any portion of the parcel devoted or dedicated to supporting land uses, including streets, parks, schools, and public lands or unusable lands within the parcel.

Density, net means the net area required for a residence divided by an acre (43,560 square feet). The result is expressed as dwelling units per net acre. Net acres, used in computing net density, are the net area or actual site area of a parcel devoted to the residential use and consists of the building footprint area, required yards, and open space that is part of the residential lot or site.

Development means any manmade change to improved or unimproved real estate including, but not limited to, construction of or additions or substantial improvements to buildings, other structures or accessory uses, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation or drilling operations or disposition of materials.

Directional sign means a sign placed on private property which serves to designate the location or the direction of the location of a public, charitable or religious institution.

District, basic means parts of the village for which the regulations of this chapter governing the use and location of land and buildings are uniform.

District, overlay means a zoning designation that modifies the underlying basic zoning district requirements in a specific manner, which may include superimposing certain additional requirements upon a basic zoning district.

Dog boarding facilities means a facility for the grooming, training, and temporary boarding of dogs without on-site provision of veterinary services.

Dwelling means a building designed or used exclusively as a residence or sleeping place, but does not include boardinghouses or lodging houses, motels, hotels, tents, cabins or mobile/manufactured homes.

Dwelling, efficiency means a dwelling unit consisting of one principal room with no separate sleeping rooms.

Dwelling, multiple-family means a residential building designed for or occupied by three or more families with the number of families in residence not to exceed the number of dwelling units provided.

Dwelling, single-family means a detached building designed for or occupied exclusively by one family.

Dwelling, two-family means a detached building containing two separate dwelling (or living) units, designed for occupancy by not more than two families.

Dwelling unit means a group of rooms constituting all or part of a dwelling which are arranged, designed, used or intended for use exclusively as living quarters for one family.

Earth station dish antenna means a dish-shaped antenna with a low noise amplifier and other related components designed and installed in a manner to receive communication or other signals from orbiting satellites for the purpose of transferring signals into the interior of a building.

Eave means the projecting lower edge of a roof overhanging the wall of the building.

Electronic message sign means a changeable message sign whose message is electrically activated.

Environmental control facility means any facility, temporary or permanent, which is reasonably expected to abate, reduce or aid in the prevention, measurement, control or monitoring of noise, air or water pollutants, solid waste or thermal pollution, radiation or other pollutants, including facilities installed principally to supplement or to replace existing property or equipment not meeting or allegedly not meeting acceptable pollution control standards or which are to be supplemented or replaced by other pollution control facilities.

Essential services means services provided by public and private utilities, necessary for the exercise of the principal use or service of the principal structure. These services include underground, surface or overhead gas, electrical, steam, water, sanitary sewage, stormwater drainage and communication systems and accessories thereto, such as poles, towers, wires, mains, drains, vaults, culverts, laterals, sewers, pipes, catchbasins, water storage tanks, conduits, cables, fire alarm boxes, police call boxes, traffic signals, pumps, lift stations and hydrants, but not including buildings.

Excavations means all excavations on private property, except as permitted by the ordinances of the village or which, although made in accordance with such ordinances, are kept or maintained for an unreasonable time without the issuance of a certificate of compliance from the building inspector. An in-ground swimming pool that does not comply with section 46-11(6) is an excavation within this definition.

Externally illuminated sign means a sign illuminated by light sources from the outside.

Family means any number of persons related by blood, adoption or marriage, or not to exceed four persons not so related, living together in one dwelling unit.

Family day care home means a dwelling licensed as a day care center by the State of Wisconsin pursuant to Wis. Stats. § 48.65, where care is provided for not more than eight children.

Fascia sign means a sign that is mounted or painted on, or attached to, the flat horizontal surface or piece (such as a band or board, sometimes called a signboard or nameplate) of a building typically located directly above the front door and may extend over adjacent windows.

Fence means a structure which creates an enclosure, barrier, or boundary; having a more or less permanent location in the ground, or which is attached to something having a permanent location on the ground.

Flashing sign means any sign which contains an intermittent or flashing light source or which includes the illusion of an intermittent light source, not including electronic message signs or time and temperature signs for the purpose of this chapter.

( Floodplain and other words and terms pertaining to floodplain. See section 46-1095 of article X in this chapter.)

Floor area, business and manufacturing buildings means, for the purpose of determining off-street parking and off-street loading requirements, the sum of the gross horizontal areas of several floors of the building, or portion thereof, devoted to a use requiring off-street parking or loading. This area shall include accessory storage areas located within selling or working space, such as counters, racks or closets, and any basement floor area devoted to retailing activities, to the production or processing of goods, or to business or professional offices. However, floor area, for the purposes of determining off-street parking spaces, shall not include floor area devoted primarily to storage purposes except as otherwise noted in this section.

Floor area, gross means the sum of the gross horizontal areas of all floors measured in square feet, not including the basement floor, measured from the exterior faces of the exterior walls or from the centerline of walls separating two buildings. The floor area of a building includes elevator shafts and stairwells at each floor, floor space used for mechanical equipment (except equipment, open or closed, located on a roof or in a basement), penthouses, attic space having headroom of seven feet, ten inches or more, interior balconies and mezzanines, enclosed porches, and floor area devoted to accessory uses.

Floor area, residential means, for the purpose of calculating floor area to meet minimum residential floor area requirements, the sum of the gross horizontal area of all floors of a building measured from the exterior faces of the exterior walls or, in the case of a common wall separating two dwellings or units, from the centerline of such a common wall. Such floor area does not include basements, breezeways, decks, garages, porches, and unfinished attics.

Foster home means a foster home facility or the primary domicile of a foster parent that is licensed by the State of Wisconsin pursuant to Wis. Stats. § 48.62 and that provides care and maintenance for four or fewer children or, if necessary to enable a sibling group to remain together, for no more than six children or, if the state promulgates rules permitting a different number of children, for the number of children permitted under those rules.

Freestanding sign means any sign which is supported by structures or supports in or upon the ground and is independent from any building such as, for example, monument (ground) signs and pole or pylon signs.

Frontage means the smallest dimension of a lot abutting a public street measured along the street line.

Gardening means an activity requiring an area of property used for the cultivation of flowers, vegetables, fruits, herbs, trees or shrubs, mulching and composition are included as gardening accessory uses.

Garage, public means any building, or portion of a building, not accessory to a residential building or structure, used for equipping, servicing, repairing, leasing or public parking of motor vehicles.

Gift stores means retail stores where items such as art, antiques, jewelry, books and notions are sold.

Ground sign. See " Monument sign."

Group home means any facility operated by a person required to be licensed by the State of Wisconsin pursuant to Wis. Stats. § 48.625, for the care and maintenance of five to eight children.

Hardware stores means retail stores where items such as plumbing, heating and electrical supplies, sporting goods and paints are sold.

Home occupations means any occupation for financial gain or support conducted entirely within buildings by resident occupants which is clearly incidental and subordinate to the principal use of the premises, does not exceed 25 percent of the area of any floor, no stock in trade is kept or sold except that made on the premises, and does not significantly change the residential character or appearance of the residential dwelling.

Hotel means a building in which lodging, with or without meals, is offered to transient guests for compensation and in which there are more than five sleeping rooms with no cooking facilities in any individual room or apartment.

Housing for the elderly (senior housing) means a dwelling unit or units designed and constructed to be occupied by elderly persons. An elderly person is a person who is 55 years of age or older on the date such person intends to occupy the premises, or a family, the head of which, or his spouse, is an elderly person as defined here.

Illuminated sign means any sign which has characters, letters, figures, designs, or outlines illuminated by electric lights or luminous tubes.

Intensity means the degree to which land is occupied or the density of development. (There is no single measure of the intensity of land use. Rather, a land use is relatively more or less intense than another use. Generally, a particular use may be more intense due to one or more characteristics, such as parking or traffic generated, amount of impervious surface, bulk of the structures, number of employees, density such as number of dwelling units per acre, or nuisance such as pollution, noise, light, etc.)

Intermediate level nursing care means basic care that is required by a person who has a long-term illness or disability that has reached a relatively stable plateau.

Internally illuminated sign means a sign illuminated by light sources enclosed entirely within the sign cabinet and not directly visible from outside the sign.

Live-work unit or live-work space means a building or space within a building used jointly for commercial and residential purposes where the residential use of the space is usually secondary or accessory to the principal or primary use as a place of work.

Living rooms means all rooms within a dwelling except closets, foyers, storage areas, utility rooms and bathrooms.

Loading area means a completely off-street space or berth, on the same lot for the loading or unloading of freight carriers, having adequate ingress and egress to a public street or alley.

Lodging house means a building where lodging only is provided for compensation for not more than three persons.

Lot means a parcel of land having frontage on a public street, occupied or intended to be occupied by a principal structure or use and sufficient in size to meet the lot width, lot frontage, lot area and other open space provisions of this chapter.

Lot, corner means a lot abutting two or more streets at their intersection, provided that the corner of such intersection shall have an angle of 135 degrees or less, measured on the lot side.

Lot coverage means the area under a roof and enclosed by the exterior permanent walls.

Lot, interior means a lot situated on a single street which is bounded by adjacent lots along each of its other lines.

Lot lines and area means the peripheral boundaries of a parcel of land and the total area lying within such boundaries.

Lot, substandard means a parcel of land held in separate ownership having frontage on a public street, occupied or intended to be occupied by a principal building or structure, together with accessory buildings and uses, having insufficient size to meet the lot width, lot area, yard, off-street parking areas or other open space provisions of this chapter.

Lot, through means a lot which has a pair of opposite lot lines along two substantially parallel streets and which is not a corner lot. On a through lot, both street lines shall be deemed front lot lines.

Lot, width means the width of a parcel of land measured at the narrowest point between the side lot lines.

Marquee sign means a sign affixed to or forming a part of a permanent marquee and which does not extend horizontally beyond the limits of such marquee.

Medical facility or clinic means any location where, without regard to organization form and/or association, any combination of three or more individuals providing services under one or more of the following categories of licenses issued by the State of Wisconsin are present at any one time and working in cooperation and/or sharing the same general working facilities for the purpose of curative, medical, and/or therapeutic out-patient treatment of persons:

(1)

A nurse licensed under Wis. Stats. ch. 441.

(2)

A chiropractor licensed under Wis. Stats. ch. 446.

(3)

A dentist licensed under Wis. Stats. ch. 447.

(4)

A physician, physician assistant, perfusionist, or respiratory care practitioner licensed or certified under subch. II of Wis. Stats. ch. 448.

(5)

A physical therapist or physical therapist assistant licensed under subch. III of Wis. Stats. ch. 448.

(6)

A podiatrist licensed under subch. IV of Wis. Stats. ch. 448.

(7)

An athletic trainer licensed under subch. VI of Wis. Stats. ch. 448.

(8)

An occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant licensed under subch. VII of Wis. Stats. ch. 448.

(9)

An optometrist licensed under Wis. Stats. ch. 449.

(10)

A pharmacist licensed under Wis. Stats. ch. 450.

(11)

An acupuncturist certified under Wis. Stats. ch. 451.

(12)

A massage therapist or bodyworker certified under Wis. Stats. ch. 460.

Minor structures means any small, movable accessory erection or construction, such as birdhouses, tool house, pet houses, play equipment, arbors and walls and fences under four feet in height.

Mobile/manufactured home park means a parcel of land which has been developed for the placement of mobile homes and is owned by an individual, a firm, trust, partnership, public or private association or corporation. Individual lots within a mobile/manufactured home park are rented to individual mobile/manufactured home users.

Mobile home/manufactured home means a transportable structure built on a chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling, with or without a permanent foundation, when connected to required utilities. For the purpose of this chapter, a mobile recreational vehicle, a travel trailer, or a "modular" home—a living unit which is transported in two or more modules, including preassembled floors, walls and trusses, to construct a permanent residential home on a permanent foundation—are not considered mobile/manufactured homes.

Mobile recreational vehicle. See section 46-1095.

Monument (ground) sign means a low sign independent from any building that is in contact with or in close proximity to the ground and usually supported by ornate posts or pillars on the sides and/or an ornate structural base of not less than 75 percent of the width of the sign face (example: a sign with a face eight feet wide would have a structural base of six feet or more in width).

Motel means a building containing lodging rooms having adjoining individual bathrooms, where each lodging has a doorway opening directly to the outdoors and more than 50 percent of the lodging rooms are for rent to transient tourists for a continuous period of less than 30 days.

Navigable water means Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, all natural inland lakes within the State of Wisconsin, and all rivers, streams, ponds, sloughs, flowages, and other waters within the territorial limits of the State of Wisconsin, including the State of Wisconsin portion of boundary waters, which are navigable under law. The state supreme court has declared navigable all bodies of water with a bed differentiated from adjacent uplands and with levels of low sufficient to support navigation by recreational craft of the shallowest draft on an annually recurring basis. For the purpose of this chapter, rivers and streams will be presumed to be navigable if they are designated as either continuous or intermittent waterways on the United States Geological Survey Quadrangle maps until such time that the state department of natural resources has made a determination that the waterway is not, in fact, navigable.

Neon sign means a sign including luminous gas-filled tubes formed into text, symbols, or decorative elements and directly visible from outside the sign cabinet. For the purpose of this chapter, neon signs are considered internally illuminated signs.

Nonconforming uses or structures means any structure, use of land, use of land and structure in combination or characteristic of use (such as yard requirement or lot size) which was existing at the time of the effective date of the ordinance from which this chapter is derived, or amendments thereto. Any such structure conforming in respect to use but not in respect to frontage, width, height, area, yard, parking, loading or distance requirements shall be considered a nonconforming structure and not a nonconforming use.

Off-premises sign means a sign which is not appurtenant to the use of the property where the sign is located, or to a product sold, or a service offered upon the property where the sign is located, and which does not identify the place of business where the sign is located.

On-premises sign means a sign identifying a business, person, activity, goods, products or services located on a premise where the sign is installed and maintained.

Open fence means a structure of rails, planks, stakes, strung wire or similar material erected as an enclosure, barrier or boundary. Open fences are those with more than 50 percent of their surface area open for free passage of light and air. Examples of such fences include chainlink, picket and rail fences.

Open space means the area of a property containing turf/lawn, ornamental grasses, decorative mulch, flowers, shrubs, trees, and paved paths or trails. The open space does not include the area of a property occupied by buildings, accessory buildings, structures, parking areas, streets, driveways, alleys, sidewalks, pervious/permeable pavements, decks, patios, or other impervious surfaces.

Ordinary high-water mark means the point on the bank or shore of a body of water up to which the presence and action of surface water is so continuous as to leave a distinctive mark such as by erosion, destruction or prevention of terrestrial vegetation, predominance of aquatic vegetation, or other easily recognized characteristic.

Ornamental fence means a structure whose only purpose is to decorate, accent, or frame a feature of the landscape. Ornamental fences are often used to identify a lot corner or lot line; or frame a driveway, walkway, or planting bed. Ornamental fences are those with more than 50 percent of their surface area open for free passage of light and air. Ornamental fences are often of the picket, rail or wrought iron type.

Overlay district. See " District, overlay. "

Parking lot means a structure or premises containing ten or more parking spaces open to the public for rent or a fee.

Parking space means a graded and surfaced area of not less than 180 square feet in area either enclosed or open for the parking of a motor vehicle, having adequate ingress and egress to a public street or alley.

Parties in interest means all abutting property owners, all property owners within 100 feet and all property owners of opposite frontages.

Party wall means a wall containing no opening which extends from the elevation of building footings to the elevation of the outer surface of the roof or above and which separates contiguous buildings but is in joint use for each building.

Permanent swimming pool means a pond or pool intended for persons to wade or swim [and is] subject to fencing and permit requirements.

Pole or pylon sign means a sign that is mounted on a freestanding pole(s) or other support(s) so that the bottom edge of the sign face is eight feet or more above the ground.

Portable sign means a sign that is not permanently affixed to a building, structure, or the ground. Such signs include "sandwich board signs" and signs mounded on wheels to be transportable.

Portable storage unit means a container designed or used for the storage of personal property which is typically rented to owners or occupants of property for their temporary use and which is delivered and removed by truck.

Premises means a piece of real estate comprised of land and a building or buildings owned by an individual, group or corporation.

Preschool means a facility that provides day care with or without educational services for children not yet attending elementary school.

Principal uses. See " Use, principal.

Professional home offices means residences of doctors of medicine, dentists, ministers architects, landscape architects, lawyers, professional engineers, registered land surveyors, real estate agents, insurance agents, financial planners, artists, teachers, authors, musicians or other recognized professions used to conduct their professions where the office is clearly incidental and subordinate to the residential use of the premises, does not significantly change the essential residential character or appearance of the residential dwelling, does not exceed 25 percent of the area of any floor of the residence, and only one full-time nonresident person, or any equivalent thereof, is employed.

Professional offices means the office of a member of a recognized profession maintained for the conduct of that profession, such as offices or services of doctors of medicine, dentists, ministers, architects, landscape architects, lawyers, professional engineers, registered land surveyors, real estate agents, authors, artists, musicians, insurance agents, financial planners or other similar recognized professions.

Projecting sign means a sign that is wholly or partly dependent upon a building for support and which projects more than 12 inches from such building.

Reach means a longitudinal segment of a stream generally including those floodlands wherein flood stages are primarily and commonly controlled by the same manmade or natural obstructions to flow.

Rear yard means a yard extending across the full width of the lot, the depth of which shall be the minimum horizontal distance between the rear lot line and a line parallel thereto through the nearest point of the principal structure. This yard shall be opposite the side of the dwelling containing the front door or main entryway on a corner lot.

Residential fence means any fence other than an ornamental fence which is constructed in a residential district.

Roof sign means a sign that is mounted on or over the roof of a building and which projects above the point of a building with a flat roof and the eave line of a building with a gambrel, mansard, gable or hip roof.

Security fence means a structure of rails, planks, stakes, strung wire or similar material erected as an enclosure, barrier or boundary. A security fence is erected for the purpose of preventing entry to a property by unauthorized persons and protecting equipment, materials or products contained within the enclosure. A security fence may also be erected to screen equipment, materials or products from unauthorized view.

Shorelands means those lands lying within the following distances from the ordinary high-water mark of navigable waters: 1,000 feet from a lake, pond or flowage; and 300 feet from a river or stream, or to the landward side of the floodplain, whichever distance is greater. Shorelands shall not include those lands adjacent to farm drainage ditches where:

(1)

Such lands are not adjacent to a navigable stream or river;

(2)

Those parts of such drainage ditches adjacent to such lands were not navigable streams before ditching or had no previous stream history; and

(3)

Such lands are maintained in nonstructural agricultural use.

Side yard means a yard extending from the street yard to the rear yard of the lot, the width of which shall be the minimum horizontal distance between the side lot line and a line parallel thereto through the nearest point of the principal structure. Lots generally have two side yards, however, a corner lot has only one side yard. The side yard setback does not extend beyond the front building face into the street yard, or beyond the rear building face into the rear yard.

Sign area means the area of the largest single face of the sign within a perimeter which forms the outside shape including any frame that forms an interal [integral] part of the display, but excluding the necessary supports or uprights on which the signs may be placed. If the sign is an irregular shape or consists of more than one section or module, their area be totaled. Any irregular shaped sign area shall be computed by using the actual sign face surface. In the case of individual letters and numbers, the area of copy will be squared off and used.

Sign copy means the message, announcement, words, letters, numbers, pictures, art, advertisement and any other information or decoration on the face of a sign.

Sign face means the area or display surface used for the message.

Sign height means the vertical distance measured from the grade at the base of the sign structure to the highest point of such sign or sign structure. In the case where a sign is to be located in a raised plant bed (planter) or on a berm, the grade shall be determined by the average of the grades measured at the base of the planter or the toes of the slope at the front and back of the berm.

Sign maintenance means the replacing or repairing of a part or portion of a sign made unusable by ordinary wear, tear or damage beyond the control of the sign owner, or the reprinting of existing copy without changing the wording, composition or color of said copy.

Signable area means the area of the façade of the building up to the roofline which is free of windows and doors or major architectural detail on which signs may be displayed. In computing signable area, any façade which faces and abuts upon a public street right-of-way may be utilized.

Signs means any medium, including its structure, words, letters, figures, numerals, phrases, sentences, emblems, devices, designs, trade names or trademarks by which anything is made known and which are used to advertise or promote an individual, firm, association, corporation, profession, business, commodity or product and which is visible from any public street or highway.

Solid fence means a structure of rails, planks, stakes, strung wire or similar material erected as an enclosure, barrier or boundary. Solid fences are those with 50 percent or less of their surface are open for free passage of light and air and designed to conceal from view the activities conducted behind them. Examples of such fences are stockade, board-on-board, board and batten, basket weave and louvered fences.

Storm water management facilities means village approved facilities established and maintained for the purpose of managing storm water only.

Story means that portion of a principal building included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the next floor above, or if there is no floor above, the space between the floor and the ceiling next above. A basement shall not be counted as a story.

Street means a public right-of-way not less than 50 feet wide providing primary access to abutting properties.

Street yard means the minimum horizontal distance between the street line and the nearest point of a building or any projection thereof excluding uncovered steps. Where the street line is an arc, the street yard shall be measured from the arc. In some provisions, the street yard is also called a setback.

Structural alterations means any change in the supporting members of a structure, such as foundations, bearing walls, columns, beams or girders.

Structure means any erection or construction, such as buildings, towers, masts, poles, booms, signs, decorations, carports, machinery and equipment.

Structure, principal. See " Building, principal. "

Substantial improvement means any repair, reconstruction or improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50 percent of the present equalized assessed value of the structure either before the improvement or repair is started or, if the structure has been damaged and is being restored, before the damage occurred. The term does not, however, include either:

(1)

Any project for improvement of a structure to comply with existing state or local health, sanitary or safety code specifications which are solely necessary to ensure safe living conditions; or

(2)

Any alteration of a structure or site documented as deserving preservation by the state historical society or listed on the National Register of Historic Places provided the alteration will not preclude the structure's continued designation as a historical structure. Ordinary maintenance repairs are not considered structural repairs, modifications or additions; such ordinary maintenance repairs include internal and external painting, decorating, paneling and the replacement of doors, windows and other nonstructural components.

Swimming pool means any pool, pond, lake or open tank, not located within a completely enclosed building, and containing or normally capable of containing water to a depth at any point greater than 12 inches other than depressions created or existing solely for the purpose of managing stormwaters or surface waters.

Temporary signs means any sign, banner, pennant or advertising display constructed of wood, metal, cloth, canvas, light fabric, cardboard, wallboard or other light material where, either by reason of construction or purpose, the sign is intended to be displayed for a short period of time.

Temporary swimming pool means:

(1)

A pond or pool intended for persons to wade or swim.

(2)

Holding water no deeper than 18 inches.

(3)

Not subject to permit or fence requirements if set up no earlier than May 15, each calendar year and taken down no later than September 30, each calendar year.

(4)

Subject to all conditions as stated under section 46-14(8)e. of this Code.

Time and temperature sign means an electrically controlled sign alternately displaying time and temperature for public service information.

Traditional neighborhoods means, in accordance with Wis. Stats. § 66.1027, compact, mixed-use neighborhoods where residential, commercial and civic buildings are within close proximity of each other.

Turning lanes means an existing or proposed connecting roadway between two arterial streets or between an arterial street and any other street. Turning lanes include grade separated interchange ramps.

Unnecessary hardship means that circumstance where special conditions, which are not self-created, affect a particular property and make strict conformity with the restrictions governing dimensional standards (such as lot area, lot width, setbacks, yard requirements or building height) unnecessarily burdensome or unreasonable in light of the purpose of this chapter. Unnecessary hardship is present only where, in the absence of a variance, no feasible use can be made of the property.

Use means the purpose or activity for which the land or building thereon is designed, arranged or intended, or for which it is occupied or maintained.

Use, accessory means a subordinate use on the same lot which is incidental and customary in connection with the principal use.

Use, conditional means a use of a special nature as to make impractical their predetermination as a principal use in a district.

Use, nonconforming means any use of a building or premises which on the effective date of the ordinance from which this chapter is derived, does not, even though lawfully established, comply with all of the applicable use regulations of the zoning district in which such building or premises is located.

Use, principal means the main use of land or building as distinguished from a subordinate or accessory use.

Utilities means public and private facilities, such as water wells, water and sewage pumping stations, water storage tanks, power and communication transmission lines, electrical power substations, static transformer stations, telephone and telegraph exchanges, microwave radio relays, and gas regulation stations, but not including sewage disposal plants, municipal incinerators, warehouses, shops and storage yards.

Variance means an authorization granted by the zoning board of appeals to construct, alter or use a building or structure in a manner that deviates from dimensional standards of this chapter. A variance may not permit the use of a property that is otherwise prohibited by the chapter or allow floodland construction that is not protected to the flood protection elevation.

Wall sign means a sign that is fastened to or painted on the wall of a building or structure in such a manner that the wall becomes the supporting structure for, or forms the background surface of, the sign and which does not project more than 12 inches from such building or structure. This definition includes signs composed of individual letters or symbols.

Window sign means a sign that is applied or attached to the exterior or interior of a window, which is usually intended to be seen from the exterior of the building. Signs displayed on glass panels which are integral to doors visible from the exterior of the building shall be considered to be window signs for the purposes of this chapter.

Wetland means an area where water is at, near or above the land surface long enough to be capable of supporting aquatic or hydrophytic vegetation and which has soils indicative of wet conditions.

Yard means an open space on the same lot with a structure, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward except the vegetation. The street and rear yards extend the full width of the lot.

( Ord. No. 845-18, § 2, 1-22-2018 )

Cross reference

Definitions generally, § 1-2.