§ 2-1. [Definitions.]

For the purpose of this ordinance, certain words and terms are defined as follows:

Words used in this ordinance have their normal dictionary meaning unless they are listed below. Words listed below have the specific meaning stated, unless the context clearly indicates another meaning.

Words used in the present tense include the future. Words in the singular include the plural and words in the plural include the singular, unless the natural construction of the word indicates otherwise.

The word "shall" is mandatory and not discretionary; the words "used" and "used for" shall be deemed also to include "designed, designed for, intended" or "arranged to be used"; the word "lot" includes the word "plot"; the word "dwelling" includes the word "residence"; the term "erected" shall be deemed also to include "constructed", "reconstructed", "altered", "placed", or "moved"; the terms "land use" and "use of land" shall be deemed also to include "building use" and "use of building"; the word "adjacent" means "contiguous".

Abandonment: The cessation of the use of land without the intention of transferring rights to the land or of resuming the same use of the land.

Abut/Abutting: Having property lines in common, with no separation by a street, alley or other right-of-way.

Accent Lighting: Lighting used to emphasize or draw attention to a special object or building.

Accessory Use: A use normally incidental, subordinate, exclusively devoted to and located on the same lot as the principal use.

Acre: A measure of land equating to forty-three thousand five hundred sixty (43,560) square feet.

Addition: Any construction that increases the size of a building or structure, such as a porch, attached garage, carport, new room, etc.

Administrator: The Zoning Administrator of the County of Culpeper, Virginia.

Adjacent/Adjoining: Abutting or being directly across a street, alley, [or] other rights-of-way.

Adult Day Care Center: "Adult day care center" means any facility that is either operated for profit or that desires licensure and that provides supplementary care and protection during only a part of the day to four (4) or more aged, infirm or disabled adults who reside elsewhere, except (i) a facility or portion of a facility licensed by the State Board of Health or the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, and (ii) the home or residence of an individual who cares for only persons related to him by blood or marriage. Included in this definition are any two (2) or more places, establishments or institutions owned, operated or controlled by a single entity and providing such supplementary care and protection to a combined total of four (4) or more aged, infirm or disabled adults (see also Assisted Living Facility and Nursing Home).

Advertisement: Any device or representation visible to the general public that is meant for the purpose of directly or indirectly promoting sales or drawing attention to an enterprise or undertaking, and includes any sign or similar structure, any bunting, flag or streamer, or any balloon used or adapted for use for the display of advertisements or attracting attention.

Affordable Housing: Dwelling units utilized as a linkage with specific performance options in a planned unit development (PUD). Affordable housing includes low and moderate income housing, as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development standards, and housing that is affordable to County residents, as defined by current demographic data. Affordability is determined by the application of standard mortgage criteria to average household income (growth adjusted) to establish the current annual value by average County households.

Agriculture: The practice of cultivating the soil, producing crops, raising of livestock, which includes among other items, horticulture, forestry, dairying, apiculture, floriculture, viticulture, aquaculture, hydroponics, animal and poultry husbandry, and including accessory uses such as the harvesting, keeping and processing of any products produced on the premises, such as milk, eggs, and similar products. Provided however, that the operation of any such accessory uses shall be accessory to that of the principal agricultural use, and shall not include any industry or business such as fruit packing plants, dairies or similar uses where all products processed are not produced on said premises.

Agricultural Animals: All livestock and poultry.

Agritourism: Any activity carried out on a farm or ranch that allows members of the general public, for recreational, entertainment, or educational purposes, to view or enjoy rural activities, including farming, wineries, ranching, historical, cultural, harvest-your-own activities, or natural activities and attractions. An activity is an agritourism activity whether or not the participant paid to participate.

Airport: The use of land, building or structure for facilitating the landing and handling of aircraft and their passengers and freight and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, accessory uses may include ticket office, restaurants, confections, luggage checking facilities and freight shipping facilities.

Aircraft Landing Strip: Land used for the purpose of landing, storing, taxing or take-off of private aircraft.

Alley: A public or private way within a block, generally giving access to the rear of lots or buildings and not used for general traffic circulation.

Alteration:

• When used in reference to a building or structure or part thereof, shall mean to change any one or more of the external dimensions of such building or structure or to make any change in the supporting members, to the type of construction of the exterior walls or roof thereof.

• When used in reference to use, shall mean to discontinue and replace the use with a use that is defined herein as being distinct from the discontinued use (see also Change of Use).

Ambient Light: The general overall level of lighting in an area.

Animal, Companion (Pets): Any domestic or feral dog, domestic or feral cat, nonhuman primate, guinea pig, hamster, rabbit not raised for human food or fiber, exotic or native animal, reptile, exotic or native bird, or any feral animal or any animal under the care, custody, or ownership of a person or any animal that is bought, sold, traded, or bartered by any person. Agricultural animals, game species, or any animals regulated under federal law as research animals shall not be considered companion animals.

Antique Shop: A place offering antiques for sale. An antique, for purposes of this ordinance, shall be a work of art, piece of furniture, decorative object, or the like, of or belonging to the past.

Appeal: A request for review of a decision or determination made by an administrative official, the Board of Supervisors, Planning Commission or Board of Zoning Appeals relating to this ordinance.

Applicant: A person seeking any determination or approval under, or permits required by, this ordinance.

Approving Authority: Refers to the County Board of Supervisors, Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals as the context of these regulations require in regard to the review of development approvals. This term shall also include the County Administrator, Director of Planning, Zoning Administrator or their designees in regard to the review of administratively issued permits as the context of these regulations so require.

Art Gallery: A place for display or sale of finished art objects, including paintings, statues, tapestries, ceramics, or other art work.

Asphalt/Concrete Plant: A plant used for the manufacture of asphalt, macadam and other forms of coated roadstone, sometimes collectively known as blacktop (asphalt). A concrete plant, also known as a batch plant, is a device that combines various ingredients to form concrete. Some of these inputs include sand, water, aggregate (rocks, gravel, etc.), fly ash, potash, and cement. There are two (2) types of concrete plants: ready mix plants and central mix plants. A concrete plant can have a variety of parts and accessories, including but not limited to: mixers, cement batchers, aggregate batchers, conveyors, radial stackers, aggregate bins, cement bins, heaters, chillers, cement silos, batch plant controls, and dust collectors.

Assisted Living Facility: Any congregate residential setting that provides or coordinates personal and health care services, 24-hour supervision, and assistance (scheduled and unscheduled) for the maintenance or care of adults who are aged, infirm or disabled and who are cared for in a primarily residential setting, not including the home or residence of an individual who cares for or maintains only persons related to him by blood or marriage. Included in this definition are any two (2) or more places, establishments or institutions owned or operated by a single entity and providing maintenance or care to aged, infirm or disabled adults. Maintenance or care means the protection, general supervision and oversight of the physical and mental well-being of an aged, infirm or disabled individual.

Attached Structure: Any structure that is attached to another structure by a common wall, by a roof, or by structural connections that allow pedestrian access to both structures. For example, decks or stairways are attached structures when they are connected to another structure. A garage may be attached to another structure by sharing a wall or by a breezeway.

Auditorium: A large enclosed and roofed building or structure used for spectator sports, civic, education, political, religious or cultural events or exhibitions.

Automobile/Auto: See Motor Vehicle and related definitions.

Automobile Graveyard: Any lot or place that is exposed to the weather upon which more than five (5) motor vehicles of any kind, incapable of being operated are placed, located or found.

Automobile Supplies: See Motor Vehicle Parts, Retail.

Bakery/Bake Shop: A business where products of a bakery are sold or offered for retail sale, including incidental baking of products for retail sale on the premises only.

Bank/Lending and Financial Institution: Any establishment, the primary business of which is concerned with such state or federally regulated activities as banking, savings and loans, and consumer loan companies.

Banner: A sign intended to be hung either with or without a frame, possessing characters, letters, illustrations or ornamentation applied to paper, plastic, fabric or other non-rigid material, excluding flags and insignias of any government entity.

Barber Shop: Any commercial establishment or place where the practice of barbering is engaged in or carried on.

Base Flood/One-Hundred Year Flood: A flood that, on the average, is likely to occur once every one hundred (100) years (i.e. that has a one-percent (1%) chance of occurring each year although the flood may occur in any year).

Base Flood Elevation (BFE): The Federal Emergency Management Agency designated one hundred (100) year water elevation.

Basement: That portion of a building partly underground, but having less than one-half (½) its clear height below the adjacent average finished grade level adjacent to the exterior walls of the building.

Beauty Shop: Any commercial establishment where cosmetology is offered or practiced on a regular basis for compensation.

Bed and Breakfast/Country Inn: An owner or operator-occupied single-family detached dwelling unit which contains no more than one (1) kitchen, and guest rooms intended or designed to be used, or which are used, rented or hired out to be occupied or which are occupied for sleeping purposes by guests, other than temporary personal guests of the family in the dwelling unit, for compensation with or without meals.

Berm: A raised form of earth that provides visual and/or auditory screening or to improve the aesthetic character.

Best Management Practices (BMP): Structural or nonstructural practices or combination of practices that are determined to be effective, practical means of preventing or reducing the amount of pollution generated by nonpoint sources of pollution to a level compatible with water quality goals. Examples of BMPs include but are not limited to spill management, vegetation control, sediment/erosion control and buffer zones.

Billboard: A sign that identifies or communicates a commercial or noncommercial message related to an activity conducted, a service rendered, or a commodity sold at a location other than where the sign is located.

Biosolids: Any solid, semisolid or liquid wastes with similar characteristics and effects generated from a public, municipal, commercial or industrial wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, air pollution control facility or any other waste producing facility.

Blueprinting and Photostatting Shop: See Copy, Duplicating Shop.

Board of Zoning Appeals: The Board appointed to review appeals made by individuals with regard to decisions of the zoning administrator in the interpretation of this ordinance.

Boat Building/Yard: A premises used as a manufacturing establishment for the provision of all facilities that are customary and necessary for the construction, reconstruction, repair or maintenance of boats, marine engines or marine equipment, supplies and services.

Boat Sales/Services: See Motor Vehicle Sales Agency and Motor Vehicle Sales Lots.

Book/Stationary Store: A retail establishment that, as its primary business, engages in the sale or other charge-for-use of books, magazines, newspapers, greeting cards, post cards, stationery and other similar products.

Boundary Line Adjustment: The process of reconfiguring two (2) or more existing lots into two (2) or more lots. No new lots or parcels are created through this process (see also Consolidation).

Buffer (Landscape): Any combination of vegetation, walls, fencing, berms and open spaces that are used to physically separate and screen one (1) land use or property from another and is intended to minimize or mitigate negative impacts of one (1) use on another use.

Buffer Area (Watershed Management): A natural vegetative or wooded strip of land utilizing the natural capacity of the vegetation to reduce runoff velocities, enhance infiltration and remove runoff contaminants, thus improving runoff quality and reducing the potential for water quality degradation.

Building: Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls, intended for the housing or enclosure of persons, animals, process, equipment, goods or materials of any kind or nature.

Building, Accessory: A subordinate structure customarily incidental to and located upon the same lot occupied by the main structure or building.

Building Envelope/Area: The area of a lot surrounded by, but exclusive of the minimum yard area requirements of the Zoning Ordinance.

Building, Principal: A building or combination of buildings of chief importance or function on a lot. In general, the primary use of the lot is carried out in a principal building. The difference between a principal and accessory building is determined by comparing the size, placement, similarity of design, use of common building materials and the orientation of the buildings on a lot.

Building Supply/Lumber Outlet: A building, structure or area of land in which building or construction and home improvement materials are offered or kept for sale at retail.

Business School: A non-college degree-granting school offering courses in office machine operation, computers, data processing, software, secretarial, and related skills, schools, including educational correspondence courses; offices and classroom facilities are permitted by right, however, laboratory or other specialized training facilities are to be evaluated based upon the zoning district in which the school is located.

Caliper: A measurement of a tree trunk diameter measured at two and one-half (2½) feet above grade level.

Campground: An area of land, managed as a unit, providing only short term accommodations for tents, tent trailers, travel trailers, recreational vehicles and campers, including accessory facilities that support the principal use, such as administrative offices, laundry facilities, but not including the use of mobile/manufactured homes or trailers on a permanent year-round basis.

Candela (cd): A measure of luminous intensity. It is a measure of radiant power, rather than energy, and it is weighted in terms of the eye sensitivity curve.

Canopy, Awning: A movable shelter cantilevered or otherwise extending from the exterior wall of a building, used to shade or screen windows or doors, and composed of non-rigid materials except for the supporting framework.

Carnival: A traveling or transportable group or aggregation of rides, shows, games or concessions or any combination thereof.

Carport: An accessory structure or portion of a primary structure, consisting of a roof and supporting members such as columns or beams, unenclosed from the ground to the roof on no more than three (3) sides and designed or used for the storage of vehicles owned and used by the occupants of the building to which it is accessory.

Cartway (Roadway): The portion of the street right-of-way, paved or unpaved, intended for vehicular use.

Car Wash: A cleaning facility for motor vehicles where the cleaning is physically performed by machine and/or someone using supplies and water from the facility, including coin-operated facilities.

Catering Establishment: An establishment where food and beverages are prepared for consumption off the premises, and are not served to customers on the premises, or to take out, but does not include a restaurant.

Cemeteries, Mausoleum, and Columbaria: Property used for the interring of the dead.

Centralized Water System: A water supply source and distribution system serving two (2) or more dwellings or structures intended for human occupation which are located on separate parcels.

Change of Use/Occupancy: A discontinuance of an existing use or occupancy, and the substitution therefore of a use or occupancy of a different kind or class.

Church, Synagogue, Religious Institution: Buildings, structures or groups of buildings and structures used by a organized religious organization where persons regularly assemble for the purpose of worship, including such legal accessory uses as may be operated by such church, synagogue or religious institution.

Clear Sight Triangle: An area of unobstructed vision at street intersections defined by lines of sight between points at a distance front the intersection of the street center lines as established by the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Club, Private: A facility used by a group of people organized for a common purpose to pursue common goals, interests or activities and usually characterized by certain membership qualifications, payment of fees and dues, regular meetings, and a constitution and bylaws (see also Club, Private Recreation and Fraternal Organization).

Club, Private Recreation: A land area and one (1) or more buildings and structures containing recreational facilities, club house and usual accessory uses, operated for the pleasure and recreation only of its members and their guests for a membership fee, which may include, but are not limited to, indoor restaurant, bar, lounge, meeting rooms, exercise and sauna, outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts, shuffle board courts, cabanas, outdoor furniture and other similar facilities (see also Club, Private and Fraternal Organization).

College or University: An institution of higher education, including teaching and research, and offering a course of general studies leading to advanced academic degrees; which may include related facilities such as, but not limited to, classroom buildings; libraries; laboratories; dormitories (except when specifically prohibited); administration; physical plant; dining hall; campus center; theater; student gymnasium, stadium, field house.

Commission: The Planning Commission of the County of Culpeper, Virginia.

Community Building or Facility: Any tract of land or buildings, or any part of any buildings, used for community activities without purpose of monetary gain, the control of which is vested in the County, a local board or association or agent thereof.

Community Well: See Centralized Water System.

Comprehensive Plan: The maps, charts and textual material adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Culpeper County in accordance with Title 15.2, Chapter 22 of the Code of Virginia, and designated as a whole and in its several parts as the Comprehensive Plan of Culpeper County.

Conditional Zoning: The attachment of special conditions to a rezoning that are not enumerated in the text of the Ordinance.

Conditional Use: A use that has operational, physical and other characteristics that may be different from those of the predominant permitted uses in a zoning district, but which is a use that complements or may otherwise be compatible with the intended over-all development within a district, provided that specified standards and special requirements, different from those usual requirements for the district are met. Conditional uses require a special use permit in accordance with Article 17 of this Ordinance.

Condominium: A building in which each unit is held in separate private ownership and all floor space, facilities and outdoor areas used in common by all tenants are owned, administered and maintained by an association created pursuant to the provisions of the Code of Virginia.

Conforming: A use, lot, building or structure that conforms to all the regulations set out in this Ordinance for the district in which the use, lot, building or structure is located.

Conservation Area: An area reserved as undisturbed open space because of its unique natural or physical characteristics or its special environmental or ecological value. These areas include woodlands, unique geologic formations, wetlands, streams, gorges, marshes, hydric soils, steep slopes (in excess of twenty-five percent (25%)), historic sites and scenic areas.

Conservation Easement: A legal document that provides permanent, property-specific protection for natural features on private land through legal agreements to restrict the development, management and use of significant areas.

Conservation Sanctuary: Land left in its natural state for the purpose of providing sanctuary, habitat and breeding grounds for wild birds, animals and plant-life (see also Wildlife Sanctuary).

Consolidation: The removal of common property lines between abutting lots (see also Boundary Adjustment).

Contiguous: Next to, abutting or touching and having a boundary, or portion thereof, which is coterminous.

Contractor's Offices and Shops: Establishments for the installation and servicing of such items as air conditioners, electrical equipment, flooring, heating, painting, plumbing, roofing, tiling and ventilating and establishments for the planting and maintenance of gardens, grounds and yards such as landscape contractors and lawn maintenance services.

Contractor's Storage Yard: An area of land or a building where contractor's equipment, vehicles, material, etc. are stored. All such areas are subject to screening and landscaping. This definition shall not be construed to prohibit vehicles lawfully parked in accordance with Article 9-1-1.

Convalescent Home: See Assisted Living Facility.

Convenience Store: Any retail store that sells food stuffs, tobacco, periodicals and other similar items of household convenience to the public. Also known as a General Store.

Copy, Duplicating Shop: A retail establishment that provides duplicating services using photocopying, blueprint, and computer printing equipment, and may include the collating and binding of booklets and reports.

County: The County of Culpeper, Virginia.

Craft/Hobby Store: A building or part thereof in which a handicraft is conducted for gain or profit and may include the retail sales of such handicraft.

Cutoff Fixture: A fixture that provides a cutoff (shielding) of the emitted light.

Dairy: An area of land on which cows are kept for the purpose of producing dairy products in commercial quantities, as well as the related buildings, structures, equipment and processes.

Dance Studio: A facility which provides various types of dance instruction, class recitals and may include incidental sales of dance supplies.

Day Care Center or Nursery School: A facility which provides temporary care, protection, guidance and supervision of children for a period of less than twenty-four (24) hours a day for more than five (5) children, under the age of ten (10), unrelated to the operator and not of common parentage, but does not include a public school, private school, group home or a school of special education (see also Family Day Home).

Decibel: A unit of measurement that describes the sound pressure level or intensity of sound; abbreviated "dB." A sound level meter is calibrated in decibels.

Delicatessen: See Restaurant, Fast Food.

Density: A measurement (ratio), generally used for residential uses, of the number of dwelling units in relationship to a specified amount of land.

Detention: The collection and storage of surface water for subsequent controlled discharge at a rate that is less than the rate of inflow (see also Retention).

Development (Watershed Management District): Any subdivision (boundary adjustments and consolidations, family partitions and one (1) single lot division in a twenty-four (24) month period are exempted), commercial or industrial construction, any use or change in the use or intensity of use of any structure or any change in the intensity of use of land, grading or land disturbance in excess of five thousand (5,000) square feet or other disturbance which results in substantial physical change in a parcel of land or water course.

Direct Light: Light emitted directly from the lamp, reflector or bulb, or through a refractor or diffuser lens, of a light fixture.

District, Zoning: Districts as referred to in § 15.2-2280 of the Code of Virginia, 1950, as may be amended from time to time.

Drilling, Production: Drilling or boring a hole into the earth for the purpose of extracting any gas, petroleum or other liquid product, excluding water, for sale on a commercial basis.

Drip Line: An imaginary, perpendicular line that extends downward from the outermost tips of a tree's branches to the ground.

Driveway: The area that provides vehicular access to a lot. A driveway begins at the property line and extends into the lot. Driveway does not include parking, maneuvering, or circulation areas in parking areas (see also Parking Area and Vehicle Areas).

Drug Store: See Pharmacy.

Duplex: A building that contains two (2) primary dwelling units. Each dwelling unit must share common walls or common floor/ceilings, or portion thereof.

Dwelling Unit: Any building or portion thereof designed, occupied or intended for occupancy as a complete, independent living facility for the exclusive use of one (1) family, including permanent full provisions for sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation. A dwelling unit shall provide complete internal access to all rooms in the unit.

Dwelling Unit Right(s): A right(s) assigned to an individual lot for cluster subdivision purposes.

Dwelling Unit, Accessory: A dwelling unit, for use as a complete independent living facility, located on the same lot as a principal detached single-family dwelling unit. The accessory dwelling unit is auxiliary to, and is always smaller than the principal dwelling unit, including a Tenant Unit.

Dwelling, Attached Single-Family: A dwelling unit, located on its own lot that shares one (1) or more common or abutting walls with one (1) or more dwelling units. An attached single-family dwelling does not share common floor/ceilings with other dwelling units. An attached single-family dwelling is also called a townhouse, row house or common-wall house.

Dwelling, Detached Single-Family: A detached dwelling unit located on its own lot, designed for, or intended to be occupied by one (1) family.

Dwelling, Multiple-Family: A structure arranged or designed to be occupied by three (3) or more dwelling units that share common walls or floor/ceilings with one (1) or more units where the land underneath the structure is not divided into separate lots. Multiple-family dwellings include structures commonly called garden apartments, apartments, and condominiums.

Easement: An interest in the land of another that allows the easement holder specified uses or rights without actual ownership of the land.

Engineer: A professional engineer licensed as such in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Environmental Impact Assessment: A comprehensive report that describes the natural features and characteristics of a proposed development site, the changes that will occur as a result of the proposed development activities on the site, the anticipated environmental impacts and consequences of the proposed development, and the mitigation measures to be taken to minimize undesirable impacts to the environment.

Equestrian Center: The use of lands, buildings or structures for the boarding of horses, the training of horses and riders, and the staging of equestrian events, but does not include a racetrack.

Erosion: The mobilization of soil as a result of loss of vegetative cover, scouring by runoff or associated with slope instability.

Facade: All the wall planes of a structure as seen from one (1) side or view. For example, the front facade of a building would include all of the wall area that would be shown on the front elevation of the building plans.

Fairgrounds: An area where buildings, structures and land are used for the exhibition of livestock, farm products, etc and/or for carnival-like entertainment.

Family: One (1) person or two (2) or more persons related by blood or marriage, or a group of not more than five (5) persons (excluding servants) not related by blood or marriage, in any case living together as a single housekeeping unit in a dwelling unit.

Family, Immediate: Any person who is a natural or legally defined offspring, spouse, parent, grandparent or sibling.

Family Day Home: A child day program offered in the residence of the provider or the home of any of the children, in care for one (1) through twelve (12) children under the age of thirteen (13), exclusive of the provider's own children and any children who reside in the home, when at least one (1) child receives care for compensation. The provider of a licensed or registered family day home shall disclose to the parents or guardians of children in their care the percentage of time per week that persons other than the provider will care for the children. Family day homes serving five (5) through twelve (12) children, exclusive of the provider's own children and any children who reside in the home, shall be licensed. However, no family day home shall care for more than four (4) children under the age of two (2), including the provider's own children and any children who reside in the home, unless the family day home is licensed or voluntarily registered. However, a family day home where the children in care are all related to the provider by blood or marriage shall not be required to be licensed.

Farm: Land used for the tillage of soil and the growing of vegetables, fruits, grains and other staple crops including the raising of livestock or dairying.

Farm Distillery: A property, building and works where distilling, especially of alcoholic liquors is carried on, and where the majority of products used in the distillation process are produced on site. Farm distilleries must be properly licensed by all applicable state and federal entities.

Farm Tenant: A worker who resides on and derives his principal income (at least eighty percent (80%)) from a farm, but who does not own the land on which he lives and farms.

Farm Winery, Licensed: An establishment (i) located on a farm with a producing vineyard, orchard, or similar growing area and with facilities for fermenting and bottling wine on the premises where the owner or lessee manufactures wine that contains not more than eighteen percent (18%) alcohol by volume or (ii) with a producing vineyard, orchard, or similar growing area or agreements for purchasing grapes or other fruits from agricultural growers within the Commonwealth, and with facilities for fermenting and bottling wine on the premises where the owner or lessee manufactures wine that contains not more than eighteen percent (18%) alcohol by volume. As used in this definition, the terms "owner" and "lessee" shall include a cooperative formed by an association of individuals for the purpose of manufacturing wine. In the event such cooperative is licensed as a farm winery, the term "farm" as used in this definition includes all of the land owned or leased by the individual members of the cooperative as long as such land is located in the Commonwealth.

Feed Store: An establishment engaged in retail sales of supplies directly related to the day-to-day activities of agriculture products.

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

Flood Light or Spot Light: Any light fixture or lamp that incorporates a reflector or a refractor to concentrate the light output into a directed beam in a particular direction, so as to illuminate a defined area or object.

Floodplain: Any area that is susceptible to being inundated by water from any source.

Floor Area: The total floor area of the portion of a building that is above ground. Floor area is measured from the exterior faces of a building or structure. Floor area does not include the following:

• Vent shafts and courts;

• Cellar area;

• Roof area;

• Roof top mechanical equipment, and associated enclosures;

• Roofed porches, exterior balconies, or other similar areas.

Floor Area, Gross: The total floor area of a building that is both above and below ground. Gross floor area is measured from the exterior faces of a building or structure. Gross floor area does not include the following: roofs, parking structures, courts, vent shafts and the like.

Floor Area Ratio (FAR): The total amount of gross floor area of all buildings on a lot in relation to the total square footage of lot area, expressed as a ratio. For example, a floor area ratio of 2:1 means two (2) square feet of floor area for every square foot of lot area.

Florist: A retail store where flowers and plants are sold or offered for sale to the public and such use may include the arranging of flowers and plants for sale in the store.

Footcandle (fc): A unit of luminance on a surface one (1) square foot in size.

Frontage: A line parallel to the front property line extending the full width of the lot, all points of which correspond to those of the required setback line.

Full-Cutoff Fixture: A fixture that allows no light emission above a horizontal plane through the fixture.

Fully-Shielded Lights: Outdoor light fixtures shielded or constructed so that no light rays are emitted by the installed fixture at angles above the horizontal plane.

Funeral Home: A facility used for the preparation of the deceased for burial and the display of the deceased and ceremonies connected therewith before burial or cremation, and may include storage of caskets, funeral urns, and other related funeral supplies and the storage of funeral vehicles.

Garage, Private: A building or structure designed or used for the parking of motor vehicles owned and used by the occupants of the premises to which it serves and which is not operated or leased for commercial gain.

Garage, Public: A building or portion thereof designed or used for parking motor vehicles that is available to the public.

Garden and Landscape Center: A use or structure for the storage, maintenance and/or retail sale of plants, products, equipment and supplies employed in connection with the raising and cultivation of house plants, herbs, flowers, vegetables, trees, shrubs and other indoor and outdoor plants, including landscape contracting.

Gasoline Station (Sale Only): See Motor Vehicle Fuel Station (Retail).

General Store: See Convenience Store.

Glare: The sensation produced by luminance within the visual field that is sufficiently greater than the luminance to which the eyes are adapted, and which causes annoyance, discomfort, and/or loss of visibility. Where the light source itself is more apparent than what it is illuminating.

Golf Course: A public or private tract of land with at least nine (9) holes on which the game of golf is played, that may include a clubhouse, shelter and other similar accessory uses and buildings customary thereto.

Golf Driving Range: An open air recreation facility where the sport of golf is practiced from a central driving tee area and which may include accessory structures to house the tees, a kiosk for golf balls and golf clubs rentals and a structure from which the golfers tee-off.

Governing Body: The Board of Supervisors of the County of Culpeper, Virginia.

Grade, Finished: The average elevation of the finished surface of the ground measured at the center of all exterior walls of a building or structure.

Grade, Natural: The elevation of the ground level in its natural state, before construction, filling, or excavation, measured in feet above mean sea level.

Hardship, Emergency: Any dilemma or hardship caused by forces beyond the control of man or arising out of circumstances created by such a catastrophe or which is found to be a true hardship of an emergency nature by the Board of Supervisors member from the district in which the hardship is alleged to be and which said dilemma or hardship results in, or will likely result in, loss of habitation, health, fortune or other manifest personal suffering or anguish, which condition is capable of documentation and may only be alleviated by emergency measures.

Hardship, Medical: Any adult person having a documented medical condition or affliction which results in an incapacitation, either mental or physical, of such a nature that the person so affected is rendered unable to properly care for his own welfare and health.

Hardware Store: A facility of thirty thousand (30,000) or fewer square feet gross floor area, primarily engaged in the retail sale of various basic hardware lines, such as tools, builders' hardware, plumbing and electrical supplies, paint and glass, housewares and household appliances, garden supplies and cutlery; if greater than thirty thousand (30,000) square feet, such a facility is a "Home Improvement Center."

Health Care Facility: Health care facilities include hospitals, clinics, and other health care institutions providing medical or mental health care, treatment for addiction and other similar health issues.

Health Club or Spa: A facility in which memberships in a program of physical exercise or the rights and privileges to use one (1) or more of the following are sold: sauna, whirlpool, weightlifting room, massage, steam room, swimming pool, or exercising machine or device. The term "health spa" shall not include the following:

• Bona fide nonprofit organizations, including, but not limited to, the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), or similar organizations whose functions as health spas are only incidental to their overall functions and purposes;

• Any private club owned and operated by its members;

• Any nonprofit public or private school, college or university.

Height: The vertical distance to the highest point of the roof for flat roofs; to the deck line of mansard roofs; and to the average height between eaves and the ridge for gable, hip and gambrel roofs measured from the curb level if the building is not more than ten (10) feet distant from the front lot line, or from the finished grade in all other cases.

Height of Light Fixture: The vertical distance from the finished grade directly below the fixture to the lowest portion of the direct light-emitting source or bulb.

Historical Area: A geographically definable area, possessing a significant concentration, linkage or continuity of sites, buildings, structures or objects united by past events or aesthetically by plan or physical development.

Home Improvement Center: A facility of more than thirty thousand (30,000) square feet gross floor area, engaged in the retail sale of various basic hardware lines, such as tools, builders' hardware, paint and glass, housewares and household appliances, garden supplies, and cutlery (see also Hardware Store).

Home Occupation: A business, profession, occupation, trade, or telecommuting which is conducted within a portion of a residential building or within an accessory building for the economic gain or support of at least one (1) of the permanent residents of the dwelling, and which is clearly incidental and secondary to the residential use within the dwelling. There shall be no outdoor display and/or storage associated with the home occupation, and no one (1) shall be employed other than members of the family living on the premises. The total area devoted to the home occupation shall not exceed twenty-five percent (25%) of the livable floor area of the principal structure, exclusive of the basement.

Hospital: An institution primarily engaged in providing diagnostic services, extensive medical treatment including surgical services, and other services, as well as continuous nursing services. The establishment has an organized medical staff on duty twenty-four (24) hours a day, inpatient beds, and equipment and facilities to provide complete health care; may also provide emergency room care and include less intensive medical uses such as convalescent and ambulatory care facilities.

Hotel, Motel: A building or group of detached or connected buildings containing six (6) or more guest rooms, designed or used primarily for providing sleeping accommodations for automobile travelers and/or tourists on a daily or weekly rate basis. Such establishments shall provide customary hotel/motel services such as linen, maid service, telephone, etc. Said use may also contain such ancillary facilities as conference facilities, restaurant, bar, recreational facilities, ballroom, banquet room, and meeting rooms. These terms shall also include auto courts, motor courts, interval occupancy facilities, timeshare facilities, and tourist courts.

Impervious Surfaces: Any material, such as concrete, asphalt, brick or metal constructed or erected on landscaped or natural areas that impedes the percolation of water into the ground.

Improvements: Those physical additions and changes to the land that may be necessary to produce usable and desirable lots.

Indirect Light: Direct light that has been reflected or has scattered off of other surfaces.

Indoor Sports Facility: A building or group of buildings that are used for a variety of sports training, competitions, including competition courts, training equipment, etc.

Intensity: The amount or magnitude of a use on a site or allowed in a zone district. Generally, it is measured by floor area. Intensity may be measured by such things as number of employees, amount of production, trip generation, or hours of operation (see also Density and Floor Area Ratio).

Jewelry Store: A shop that primarily sells new merchandise, and some used merchandise from estate sales, or reconstitutes precious metals they have purchased into jewelry forms that are sold at retail on the premises.

Junk: Any old, dilapidated, abandoned, or scrap machinery, dismantled, inoperable, or dilapidated motor vehicles, including parts, building material, iron, steel, other ferrous and nonferrous metals, tanks and drums, tires, pipes, tools, implements or portions thereof, glass, plastic, cordage, and other kind of salvage or waste material that has been abandoned from its original use.

Junkyard: The use of any area of land or structure for the storage, keeping, collection, salvage, sale, disassembling, wrecking, baling, maintenance or abandonment of junk, or other discarded material, including scrap metals or other scrap materials. The term "junkyard" shall include the term "automobile graveyard" as defined in this Ordinance.

Kennel: Any structure, lot, premises or other facility where more than five (5) household animals (pets), five (5) months of age or older, are kept, housed, groomed, bred, boarded, trained or sold for compensation. This may include commercial breeding, boarding, training and selling of animals, and facilities for the breeding, training and sale (or contract service) for guard and security dogs. Specifically excluded are agricultural animals integral to agriculture, as defined.

Kitchen: Any room or portion of a room within a building designed and/or used or intended to be used for the cooking or preparation of food, which may also include, but is not limited to, stoves, microwave ovens, sinks, refrigerators, storage or other food preparation equipment, or any combination thereof.

Landfill: A disposal site employing an engineering method of disposal of solid wastes in a manner that minimizes environmental hazards by spreading, compacting to the smallest volume.

Landowner: The legal or beneficial owner or owners of land, including the holder of an option or contract to purchase (whether or not such option or contract is subject to any condition), a lessee if he is authorized under the lease to exercise the rights of the landowner, or other persons who have a proprietary interest in the land.

Laundromat: A building where coin-operated laundry machines, using only water, detergents and additives, are made available to the public for the purpose of laundry cleaning.

Library: A place in which literary and artistic materials, such as books, periodicals, newspapers, computers, pamphlets, prints, records, and tapes, are kept for reading, reference, or lending.

Light Trespass: Light that is distributed where it is not wanted or needed. Light trespass occurs whenever light shines beyond or away from the intended target.

Limited Brewery, Licensed: Brewery that manufactures no more than fifteen thousand (15,000) barrels of beer per calendar year, provided (i) the brewery is located on a farm in the Commonwealth on land zoned agricultural and owned or leased by such brewery or its owner and (ii) agricultural products, including barley, other grains, hops, or fruit, used by such brewery in the manufacture of its beer are grown on the farm. The licensed premises shall be limited to the portion of the farm on which agricultural products, including barley, other grains, hops, or fruit, used by such brewery in the manufacture of its beer are grown and that is contiguous to the premises of such brewery where the beer is manufactured, exclusive of any residence and the curtilage thereof. The Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board may, with notice to the Board of Supervisors, in accordance with the provisions of law, also may have approved other portions of the farm to be included as part of the licensed premises.

Livestock: All domestic or domesticated bovine animals; equine animals; ovine animals; porcine animals; cervidae animals; capradae animals; animals of the genus Lama; ratites; fish or shellfish in aquaculture facilities, enclosed rabbits or hares raised for human food or fiber; or any other individual animal specifically raised for food or fiber, except companion animals.

Livestock Market: A commercial establishment wherein livestock is collected for sale and auctioned off.

Lot: An area of land of at least sufficient size to meet minimum zoning requirements for use, coverage and area, together with such yards, open spaces as are required by this ordinance, as well as certain non-conforming lots exempted by Article 12 of this ordinance. Provided that in no case of division, boundary adjustment, or consolidation shall any residual area of land be created which does not meet the requirements of this ordinance. The grant of an interest, for security or other purposes, in real property of less than an entire lot, or the foreclosure or sale of such interest, shall not be deemed to create a legal lot unless properly approved in accordance with this ordinance and the county subdivision ordinance.

Lot, Corner: A lot at the intersection of two (2) or more streets. A street that curves with angles that are one hundred thirty-five (135) degrees or less is considered two (2) intersecting streets for the purpose of evaluating whether a lot is a corner lot. Of the two (2) sides of a corner lot, the front shall be deemed to be the shortest of the two (2) sides fronting on streets.

Lot Coverage: The result of dividing the gross area of a lot by the total gross area of the lot covered by buildings and other roofed areas, which extend at least eighteen (18) inches above the existing grade, excluding allowed projecting sills, cornices, window and door treatments, and similar features and also excluding parking, walkways, landscape or other similar surfaces. Lot coverage shall include, in addition to the area of the lot directly covered by the footprint of all buildings and structures, the area directly below any upper portion of a building or structure that is cantilevered beyond the edge of the first level of a building or structure, and the area directly below those portions of any balcony, stairway, porch, platform or deck that is enclosed on at least three (3) sides.

Lot Depth: The average horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines. In the case of a triangular lot, the perpendicular distance from the front line to the apex of the angle formed by the intersection of the side lot lines.

Lot, Double-Frontage/Through: An interior lot having frontage on two (2) streets.

Lot, Flag: A lot located behind another lot that has normal street frontage. A flag lot includes a strip of land that goes out to the street and is generally used for an access drive.

Lot, Front: That side of the lot which fronts on a street. In the case of a corner lot, the shortest side fronting on the street shall be considered to be the "front" of the lot. If two (2) or more street lot lines are of equal length, then the applicant or property owner can choose which lot line is to be the front. However, a double-frontage lot has two (2) front lot lines regardless of whether the street lot lines are of equal or unequal length.

Lot, Interior: Any lot, other than a corner lot with only one (1) frontage on a street.

Lot Line, Rear: A lot line that is opposite a front lot line. A triangular lot has two (2) side lot lines but no rear lot line. For other irregularly shaped lots, the rear lot line is all lot lines that are most nearly opposite the front lot line.

Lot, Remnant/Residue: Any portion of the original parcel of land which remains or is left as excess following a subdivision. The "remnant" or "residue" is itself a lot subject to building or development regulations.

Lot Line, Side: A lot line that is neither a front lot line nor a rear lot line. On a corner lot, the longer lot line that abuts a street is a side lot line.

Lot Line, Zero: A detached single-family dwelling unit located on one (1) of the side lot lines that the dwelling unit is located on.

Lot Width: The width of any lot measured at the front setback line. If the street line curves or angles, then the front setback line shall also curve or angle uniformly with the street line, and the "lot width" shall be calculated along said curved or angled front setback line.

Lumen: A measure of light. One (1) footcandle is one (1) lumen per square foot. For the purposes of this Ordinance, the lumen-output values shall be the lumen output ratings of a lamp. A source emitting a luminous intensity of one (1) candela (cd) uniformly in all directions.

Luminaire: A complete lighting unit consisting of a light source and all necessary mechanical, electrical and decorative parts. A luminaire does not include a pole or other support.

Luminaire, Cutoff-Type: A luminaire with elements such as shields, reflectors, or refractor panels which direct and cut off the light at a cutoff angle that is less than ninety (90) degrees.

Luminance: The amount of light reflected from a surface. It is a measure of the "brightness" we see. The measured unit is candela (cd) per square foot.

Maintenance Guaranty: A security required by the subdivision ordinance to ensure that improvements will be kept in good condition after completion or construction and installation, including cash or cash equivalents, letters of credit, and other similar assurances or performance approved by the Zoning Administrator and County Attorney.

Manufacture and/or manufacturing: The processing and/or converting of raw, unfinished materials or products, or either of them, into articles or substances of different character, or for use for a different purpose.

Manufactured or Mobile Home: A factory-built, single family dwelling that was manufactured prior to the enactment of the National Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, which became effective June 15, 1976, that is transportable in one (1) or more sections, is built on a permanent chassis, is designed to be used as a year-round permanent single family dwelling, with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and electrical systems contained in the structure; but which is not constructed with a permanent hitch or other device allowing transport of the unit other than for the purpose of initial delivery to a permanent site, and which does not have wheels or axles permanently attached to its body or frame.

Manufactured or Mobile Home Park: A tract of land where manufactured and/or mobile homes are parked for non-transient living or sleeping purposes and where lots are offered only for rent or lease for use by manufactured and/or mobile homes, including any land, building, structure or facility used by occupants of, manufactured and/or mobile homes on such premises.

Medical or Dental Office or Clinic: A facility engaged in the examination, diagnosis and treatment of medical, chiropractic, ophthalmologic, dental, pediatric or other health care patients; includes administrative and clerical operations of the practice; does not include overnight facilities for patients.

Mining: The extraction of any materials, such as sand, gravel, earth, rock, stone or mineral bearing substance, from the ground, and limited processing thereof. The term also includes quarrying.

Mixed Use Development: A development on one (1) lot that combines residential uses with commercial and/or office uses, consisting of one (1) or more buildings.

Model Home: A finished, residential dwelling unit, including units in a multifamily structure, for which a certificate of occupancy could be obtained, located in a residentially zoned district but utilized as an example of a product offered for sale or lease by a realtor, builder, developer or contractor. The dwelling unit may be furnished and contain a small office for meeting with prospective purchasers, but not occupied as a residence while being used as a "Model Home."

Modification: An administrative process that modifies any provision contained in the Zoning Ordinance with respect to physical requirements on a lot or parcel of land, including but not limited to size, height, location or features of or related to any building, structure, or improvements so long as established guidelines are adhered to per the Code of Virginia. See Article 18-5 of Zoning Ordinance.

Modular Home: A dwelling unit constructed in accordance with the standards set forth in the Virginia Building Code applicable to site-built dwelling units and composed of components substantially assembled in a manufacturing plant and transported to the building site for final assembly on a permanent foundation. Among other possibilities, a modular home may consist of two (2) sections transported to the building site in a manner similar to a manufactured home, except a modular home meets the Virginia Building Code applicable to site-built homes, or a series of panels or room sections transported on a truck and erected or joined together on the site. "Modular Home" does not include manufactured home, mobile home, motor vehicle, accessory recreational vehicle or recreational vehicle as defined herein.

Monument (for purposes of Appendix B, Subdivision Ordinance): A concrete marker, iron pipe, pin or rod set in the ground to mark the corner of a property.

Motor Home: A fully self-contained motorized recreational vehicle that is designed for human occupancy on an intermittent basis.

Motor Vehicle: A vehicle which is self-propelled or designed to be self-propelled, in or upon which one (1) or more persons or goods may be transported, except on rails, such as automobiles, trucks, vans, motorcycles, buses, all-terrain vehicles, etc.

Motor Vehicle Fuel Station, Retail: A structure, building or premises or any portion thereof where a flammable fluid is stored, housed and sold for supply to motor vehicles and does not include any accessory motor vehicle servicing (see also Motor Vehicle Service Station).

Motor Vehicle Parts, Retail: A facility engaged in retail sales of motor vehicle parts and supplies, other than fuel.

Motor Vehicle Sales Agency: Any building and premises which displays, demonstrates, sells or leases new automobiles, trucks, vans, trailers, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, recreational boats or similar motorized vehicles which includes a showroom enclosed within a sizable building and open display areas. A motor vehicle sales agency may maintain an inventory of the vehicles for sale or lease on-site or at a nearby location and may include accessory on-site facilities for repair services and the sale of used motor vehicles.

Motor Vehicle Sales Lots (Used): An open area upon which used automobiles, trucks, vans, trailers, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, recreational boats or similar motorized vehicles are, or may be, parked or displayed for the purpose of sales or demonstration, which may include a small accessory building necessary for the conduct of the use, and where no repair work, except for minor incidental repairs or detailing on the vehicles for display or sale, is done.

Motor Vehicle Service Station: A structure, building or premise or any portion thereof where a flammable fluid is stored, housed and sold for supply to motor vehicles; and which includes routine motor vehicle servicing within the principal building, not including body shop, engine rebuilding, upholstering, radiator reconditioning and repair and similar industrial type processes (see also Motor Vehicle Fuel Station, Retail).

Museums: A building, place, or institution, owned and operated by either a governmental entity or a nonprofit organization, open to the public and devoted to the acquisition, conservation, study, exhibition, and educational interpretation of objects having scientific, historical, or artistic value.

Music Store: An establishment primarily engaged in the retail sale of instruments, recordings, sheet music and literature; lessons are permitted accessory uses.

Newsstand: A temporary structure manned by a vendor that sells newspapers, magazines and other periodicals and printed materials.

Nonconforming Building or Structure: A building or structure that does not conform to the yard, height, lot coverage or other area regulations of this ordinance for the district in which it is located, either at the effective date of this ordinance or as a result of subsequent amendments to the ordinance.

Nonconforming Lot: A lot that does not conform to the minimum area, width, frontage or dimensional requirements of this ordinance for the district in which it is located, either at the effective date of this ordinance or as a result of subsequent amendments to the ordinance.

Nonconforming Use: The existing use or activity of a building, structure or tract of land that does not conform to the use, parking, landscaping, buffering or other similar regulations of this ordinance for the district in which it is located, either at the effective date of this ordinance or as a result of subsequent amendments to the ordinance.

Nonprofit Organization: An entity that exists solely for religious, charitable, educational, political or civic purposes and is not in business to make a profit.

Nursing Home: (See Adult Day Care Center, Assisted Living Facility).

Nursery School: See Day Care Center.

Office: A building, or portion of a building, wherein activities are performed involving predominately administrative, record keeping, professional, and/or clerical operations and, where in the case of professions such as dentists, physicians, lawyers or engineers, the facility where such professional services are rendered.

Office or Industrial Park: A group of two (2) or more office and/or industrial sites with or without ancillary uses, developed as an integrated project, and either connected contiguously, or directly across a public or private street; and also having at least one (1) of the following characteristics: (a) some or all of the uses share common parking, travelways, or entrances; or (b) the land, uses, or facilities are organized under one (1) management or ownership form for the purpose of enforcing reciprocal covenants.

Open Space: The open, unobstructed space on a lot, including the open unobstructed space accessible to all occupants of any residential or commercial building or structure on the lot, which is suitable and used for the growth and maintenance of grass, flowers, bushes and other landscaping and may include any surface pedestrian walk, swimming pools, patio, permanent water bodies or similar area, but does not include any driveway, ramp, parking or loading areas, trash pick-up areas or similar areas.

Open Space Lot: A single lot required in a cluster division, limited to one (1) dwelling unit right, which consists of certain percentage of the total land area in the parent tract as further defined in the applicable zoning district.

Outdoor Sales and Display Area: A portion of a lot, outside of a building, used for exhibiting in an orderly manner, completely assembled or finished products sold by a retail business located on the same lot. This is an accessory use to the principal retail use on the same lot.

Outdoor Storage: The keeping of goods or materials, excluding junk, outside of a building for more than twenty-four (24) hours, and which shall be considered as an accessory use, unless specifically enumerated as a principal use (such as a contractor's storage yard or building material sales yard).

Overlay District: A zoning designation specifically delineated on the County of Culpeper official zoning map establishing land use requirements in addition to the standards set forth in the underlying district. Development within the overlay zone must conform to the requirements of both the underlying zone district and the overlay zone district or the more restrictive of the two (2).

Owner, Property: Any person or legal entity that owns fee simple title to a given area of land.

Parcel: A lot or contiguous group of lots under single ownership or under single control and usually considered a unit for purposes of development.

Park: A tract of land, designated and used for active and/or passive recreation.

Parking Area: An area or areas of land or a structure or part thereof that is provided for and maintained upon the same lot or lots on which the principal use is located for the purpose of parking, maneuvering and circulation of motor vehicles. Parking areas do not include driveways or areas devoted exclusively to non-passenger loading (see also Driveway, Garage, Structured Parking and Vehicle Areas).

Parking Lot or Garage (Commercial): An off-street parking area or structure, available to the public for compensation, but may also be used to accommodate employees, customers and clients.

Parking Space: A space, exclusive of driveways, ramps, aisles and travelways, for parking a motor vehicle that meets the requirements of Article 10.

Parking Area, Off-street: A parking area outside the dedicated street right-of-way.

Passenger terminal: Facility for the pick up and discharge of passengers and freight for buses and trains; includes ticket sales and may include administrative offices.

Pawnshop: An establishment wherein the business of a pawnbroker is conducted. A pawnbroker shall be any person who lends or advances money or other things for profit on the pledge and possession of personal property, or other valuable things, other than securities or written or printed evidences of indebtedness, or who deals in the purchasing of personal property or other valuable things on condition of selling the same back to the seller at a stipulated price.

Performance Guaranty: Security requirement pursuant to the subdivision ordinance to guarantee that the proper construction of improvements be made by the developer as a condition for the approval of the plan, including cash or cash equivalents, letters of credit and other similar assurances of performance approved by the Zoning Administrator and County Attorney.

Permitted/Principal Use: The principle purpose, permitted by-right, for which land, buildings or structures may be used; and for the purpose of this ordinance all uses not listed as "permitted or principal" shall be deemed to be a prohibited use in that zone district (see also Conditional Uses).

Person: Any individual, partnership, firm, association, public or private corporation, trust or trustee, joint venture, estate, cooperative, political subdivision or other instrumentality of this state, or other legal entity.

Pet Shop: A shop or place where animals or birds for use as pets are sold, kept for sale or groomed, but does not include a shop or place for the breeding or overnight boarding of pets.

Pharmacy: A store where the primary business is the filling of medical prescriptions and the sale of drugs, medical devices and supplies and nonprescription medicines but where nonmedical products are sold as well.

Photo/Film Store, Retail: A facility primarily engaged in the retail sale, lease, and service of photography equipment and supplies, including limited on-site processing or development.

Plan, Sketch: An informal plan showing existing features of a tract or parcel and its surroundings and the general layout of the proposed subdivision.

Plan, Preliminary: A tentative plan showing proposed streets, lot layouts, existing and proposed buildings, wells and sewer locations and other such information as required in the Subdivision Ordinance.

Plan, Final: A complete and exact plan with a licensed surveyor's seal prepared as required in the Subdivision Ordinance for official recording in the Clerk's Office.

Planned Unit Development (PUD): A contiguous tract of land of not less than two hundred (200) acres in size under unified control that is planned and improved as regulated in Article 8B of the Ordinance:

• To function as a relatively self-contained and readily identifiable district, section or neighborhood of the County.

• To accommodate a variety of dwelling types together with appropriate and supported nonresidential uses and activities.

• To provide in a single development or programmed series of developments over an extended period of time according to an officially adopted master PUD document and related plans for the provision, operation and maintenance of such areas, improvements, facilities and services for the common use of all residents and/or users of the planned community.

Plant Nursery: Structures or area of land for the raising or cultivation of agricultural and horticultural products, but specifically excluding retail sales on premises. Does not include a wayside stand as permitted by this ordinance.

Plat: A legal document, prepared by a qualified professional licensed to prepare such in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Plate: A piece of lumber that lies horizontally within a framed structure, such as the "top plate". Top plate is the top horizontal member of a frame wall supporting ceiling joists, rafters, or other structural members.

Playground: An active recreation area with a variety of facilities, including equipment for younger children as well as court and field games.

Primary Streams: Those creeks, streams and intermittent waterways that flow directly into Mountain Run Lake and Lake Pelham (identified as such in the Watershed Management Plan).

Print Shop/Publishing Establishment: A retail establishment that provides duplicating services using photocopy, blueprint and off-set printing equipment, including collating of booklets and reports.

Public Utility: Persons, corporations, or governments supplying gas, electric, transportation, water, sewer, or land line telephone for the consumption or use of the general public. For the purpose of this ordinance, commercial wireless telecommunication service facilities shall not be considered public utility uses, and are defined separately.

Quarry: A place where consolidated rock has been or is being removed by means of an open excavation and may include drilling and limited blasting to supply material for construction, industrial or manufacturing purposes.

Real Estate Office: A business and professional office conducted within a building or part of a building where agents primarily engage in the buying or selling of real estate, and which may include the managing and appraisal of real estate.

Recreation Area: The area of land reserved for active or passive enjoyment of activities that provide an alternative to residential, employment and service activities and complement the lifestyle of the community by providing the opportunity for the enhancement of health and welfare of the public for individuals and groups. Such areas may include landscape for quiet repose, open areas for games, facilities for exercise and/or trails for travel and linkage of recreation areas with other areas and the community.

Recreation, Commercial: A sports or activity facility open to the general public for a fee. These include, but are not limited to, the following:

Indoor: Roller or ice skating rink, bowling alley, billiard hall, dart pavilion, amusement arcade (video, pinball or other), swimming pools, slot cars, hard and soft courts, miniature golf.

Outdoor: Driving range, golf course, miniature golf, batting and pitching cages, hard and soft courts, facilities for radio controlled vehicle or airplanes, go-carts, pony rides, kiddie parks, swimming pools, water slides, ice skating rink, but not including amusement or theme parks.

Recreation, Private: A land area, buildings and/or structures, not open to the general public, designed and equipped for the conduct of sports, leisure time activities and other customary and usual recreational activities, such as country clubs, golf courses, swim/cabana clubs and pools, tennis clubs and other similar private noncommercial recreation areas and facilities.

Recreational Vehicle: A vehicle, with or without power, that is designed for sport or recreational use, or which is designed for human occupancy on an intermittent basis, but in no case may be occupied as permanent residence. "Recreational Vehicles" may include motor homes, vacation trailers, fifth-wheel trailers, recreational boats, all-terrain vehicles, etc.

Redevelopment: The conversion, relocation, reconstruction, structural alteration, enlargement of any building and/or use.

Refuse: Waste materials including ashes, garbage, rubbish, junk, industrial waste, dead animals, and other solid waste materials.

Repair Service Establishment: Any establishment wherein the primary occupation is the repair and general service of common home appliances such as musical instruments, sewing machines, televisions and radios, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, power tools, electric razors, refrigerators and lawnmowers; or any establishment wherein the primary occupation is interior decorating services which include reupholstering and/or the making of draperies, slipcovers and other similar articles, but not to include furniture or cabinet-making establishments.

Research and Development: A facility primarily used for the administration and conduct of investigation, examination, prototype production, experimentation, testing, and/or training aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, theories, and/or the practical application of the above to products or processes. Manufacturing shall be permitted as an accessory use.

Restaurant: Any premises in which the principal use, for compensation, is the preparation, cooking and consumption of food or beverages.

Retail Stores and Shops: Any premises used, or designed and constructed, for the display and sale of merchandise at retail or for the rendering of personal services (but specifically excluding coal, wood and lumberyards), such as the following, which will serve as illustration; drugstore, newsstand, food store, candy shop, milk dispensary, dry goods and notions store, antique store and gift shop, hardware store, household appliance store, furniture store, florist, optician, music and radio store, tailor shop, barbershop and beauty shop.

Resubdivision: Any replatting or resubdivision of land on an approved final plan or record plat.

Retention Pond: Depressions in the earth for the storage of surface runoff that remains partially filled with water from a constant baseflow, which are constructed by excavation and/or embankment procedures.

Riding and Boarding Stables: Any land or structure used for the boarding, riding, teaching or training of horses for compensation or including the uses and facilities for the showing, jumping, demonstration or other equestrian events (see also Equestrian Center).

Right-of-Way: A public or private area or strip of land on which an irrevocable right of passage for people or goods has been recorded for the use of vehicles, pedestrians, or both. A public right-of-way is one that is dedicated by plat or deed, in fee or by easement, to the public for public use and under the control of a public agency.

Roadway: The portion of a street that is improved for motor vehicle travel. Roadway includes vehicle travel lanes and on-street parking areas. Roadway does not include area devoted to curbs, parking strips, sidewalks or landscaping.

Sanitary Sewage Disposal, Public: A sanitary sewage collection system in which sewage is carried from individual lots by a system of pipes to a central treatment and disposal plant which is operated by a governmental authority.

Sanitary Sewage Disposal, On-Lot: Any structure or system which includes tanks, lines, etc. designed to treat sanitary sewage within the boundaries of an individual lot.

School: Premises or site upon which there is a nursery school, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, senior high school or an institution devoted solely to vocational or professional education or training or an institution of higher education, including but not limited to, a community college, junior college, four-year college or university. This shall also include a business school.

School, Private: Any building or group of buildings, the use of which meets state requirements for primary, secondary or higher education and which doesn't secure the major portion of its funding from any governmental agency.

School, Public: Any building or group of buildings, the use of which meets state requirements for primary, secondary or higher education and which secures the major portion of its funding from governmental agencies.

Screening: A continuous fence, wall, compact evergreen hedge or combination thereof, supplemented with landscape planting that would effectively screen the property that it encloses.

Seamstress Shop: See Tailor Shop.

Secondhand Shop: A building or part thereof in which used goods, merchandise, substances, articles or things are offered or kept for sale at retail and may include such uses as a flea market, pawnshop or similar use.

Self-Storage Facility: A building or group of buildings divided into separate compartments used to meet the temporary indoor storage needs of small businesses and residents.

Setback: The required minimum horizontal distance, measured at right angles, between a specified object, such as a building and another point. Setbacks are usually measured from lot lines to a specific object. Unless otherwise indicated, an unspecified setback refers to a building setback. In addition, the following setbacks indicate where each setback is measured.

• Front Setback: A setback that is measured from a front lot line.

• Rear Setback: A setback that is measured from a rear lot line.

• Side Setback: A setback that is measured from a side lot line.

• Street Setback: A setback that is measured from a street lot line.

Sight Distance: The required length of roadway visible to the driver of a motor vehicle, the design standards of which are normally prescribed by the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Sight Triangle: The area of the corner lot closest to the intersection that is kept free of visual impairment to allow full view of both pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

Sign: Any display of any letters, words, numerals, figures, objects, devices, emblems, pictures, or any parts or combinations thereof, by a means whereby the same are made visible for the purpose of making anything known, whether such display is made on, attached to or as a part of a structure, surface or any other thing, including but not limited to the ground, any rock, tree or other natural object, which display is visible beyond the boundaries of the parcel of land on which the display is located. In addition, the following sign types are defined more specifically. See Article 11.

• Banner: A sign intended to be hung either with or without a frame, possessing characters, letters, illustrations or ornamentation applied to paper, plastic, fabric or other non-rigid material, excluding flags and insignias of any government entity.

• Canopy Sign: Any sign that is affixed to, painted on, or suspended from a canopy or awning.

• Changeable Copy Sign: A sign that is designed so the characters, letters, numbers, or illustrations can be manually or mechanically/electronically/digitally changed without altering the face or surface of the sign.

• Directory Sign: A sign that lists the names of two (2) or more establishments, persons or agencies which exist on a premise and is located in a place or location common to all.

• Directly Illuminated Sign: A sign illuminated internally of the sign itself.

• Free-Standing Sign: Any sign which is permanently affixed in or upon the ground, supported by one (1) or more structural members (poles, columns, braces, etc.).

• Identification Sign: A sign that states the name of the business or establishment, including the national company or local proprietor, and/or the address of a building.

• Indirectly Illuminated Sign: A sign illuminated with a light directed primarily toward such sign, including back-lighted signs, and so shielded that no direct rays from the lights are visible elsewhere than on the lot where such illumination occurs.

• Monument Sign: A ground sign whose base is on the ground.

• Off-Site Sign (Billboard): A sign that identifies or communicates a commercial or noncommercial message related to an activity conducted, a service rendered, or a commodity sold at a location other than on the lot where the sign is located.

• On-Site Sign: A sign relating in its subject matter to the premises on which it is located or to products, accommodations, services or activities on the premises.

• Portable Sign: Any sign that is not permanently attached to the ground, a structure or a building.

• Projecting Sign: Any sign that is attached to a wall or structure and extending in whole or in part more than fourteen (14) inches.

• Real Estate Sign: A sign that advertises the sale, rental or development of property.

• Roof Mounted Sign: A building mounted sign extending above the plate line of a building or structure.

• Service Island Canopy Sign: A sign mounted permanently on, under, or otherwise mounted on a service island canopy.

• Suspended Sign: A sign attached to the underside of a lintel, arch or other overhead spanning member of a porch or walkway and which is hung either perpendicular or parallel to a vertical wall surface.

• Temporary Sign: A sign advertising a seasonal or other brief activity such as, but not limited to, summer camps, horse shows, auctions or the sale of land.

• Wall Sign: Any sign attached to or erected against a wall of a building or structure with the exposed face of the sign in plane approximately parallel to the plane of the wall. Shall include projecting signs.

• Window Sign: A sign painted, etched, or otherwise affixed to a permanently installed window of a building or placed within twenty-four (24) inches of the inside of the window.

Sign Structure: Includes the supports, structure, uprights, bracing and framework of any sign, be it single-faced, double-faced, V-type or otherwise exhibiting a sign.

Silviculture: The development and/or maintenance of a forest or wooded preserve.

Site Plan: A graphic portrayal of a proposed development describing both existing and proposed conditions of the lot(s), including, but not limited to, use, location and bulk of buildings and structures, density of development, location of public utilities and facilities, means of ingress and egress, existing and finished grades, landscaping, signs, drainage and lighting.

Slope: The rate of vertical change of ground service expressed as a percentage figure and determined by dividing the vertical distance by the horizontal distance.

Solid Waste: Any garbage, refuse, sludge and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid or contained gaseous material, resulting from industrial, commercial, mining and agricultural operations, or community activities but does not include (i) solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage, (ii) solid or dissolved material in irrigation return flows or in industrial discharges which are sources subject to a permit from the State Water Control Board, or (iii) source, special nuclear, or by-product material as defined by the Federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended.

Stadium: A structure or facility designed primarily for athletic or sporting events and containing seating for spectators of those events.

Storage Yard: An area outside of an enclosed building where construction materials and equipment, solid fuels, lumber, building materials, monuments and stone products, public service and utility equipment or other materials, goods, products, vehicles, equipment or machinery are stored, baled, piled, handled, sold or distributed, whether as a principal or accessory use. A storage yard shall not be construed or operated to include an automobile wrecking yard, a display yard or junk yard.

Story: That portion of a building, other than a cellar, included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the floor or roof next above it.

Story, Half: A space under a sloping roof, which has the line of intersection of roof decking and wall face not more than three (3) feet above the top floor level, and in which space not more than two-thirds ( 2/3 ) of the floor area is finished off for use.

Street: A public or private right-of-way or easement that is intended for use as a means for vehicular and pedestrian circulation and/or access to two (2) or more parcels. Street includes all the area within the right-of-way or easement area, such as roadways, parking strips and sidewalks. The word "street" includes street, avenue, boulevard, road, highway, parkway, alley or any other way used or intended to be used by vehicular traffic or pedestrians, whether public or private.

Street Line: The dividing line between a street or right-of-way and the contiguous property.

Structure: Any assembly of materials constructed or erected on, in or over (or any combination thereof) land or water, which requires location on the ground, or is attached to something having a location on the ground. The word "structure" shall include buildings, decks, fences, towers, flag poles, signs, and other similar objects. Structure does not include paved areas or vegetative landscaping materials.

Structure, Nonresidential: A structure where no sleeping accommodations are provided, except that hotels and motels shall be deemed nonresidential structures.

Structure, Primary or Principal: A structure or combination of structures accommodating the primary or principal use or function on a lot. In general, the primary use of the lot is carried out in a primary structure. The difference between a primary and accessory structure is determined by analyzing its use and comparing the size, placement, similarity of design, use of common building materials and the orientation of the structures on a lot.

Structure, Residential: A structure where sleeping accommodations are provided, excluding hotels and motels.

Structure, Temporary: A structure without any foundation or footings and which is removed when the designated time period, activity or use for which the temporary structure was erected has ceased.

Subdivision: The division of a lot, tract or parcel into two (2) or more lots, tracts or parcels; and may include the establishment of new public or private streets and alleys. The term shall also include resubdividing.

Surveyor: A licensed land surveyor as licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Tailor/Dressmaking/Seamstress Shop: A building or part of a building where the business or service of individual custom tailoring for women or men is carried on, including altering, hemstitching and buttonhole making, but doesn't include a manufacturing industry where clothing manufacturing other than individual custom tailoring is carried on.

Tenant Unit: See Dwelling Unit, Accessory.

Townhouse: See Attached, Single-Family Dwelling Unit.

Travel Trailer: See Recreational Vehicle.

Tributaries: Those creeks, streams and intermittent waterways that flow into primary streams or other water bodies prior to flowing into Mountain Run Lake and Lake Pelham (as such are identified in the Watershed Management Plan).

Truck Stop: An establishment where the principal use is the refueling and servicing of trucks and tractor-trailer rigs. Such establishments may have restaurants, snack bars and sleeping accommodations for the drivers and may provide facilities for the repair and maintenance of such equipment.

Truck Terminal: An area and building where trucks load and unload cargo and freight and where the cargo and freight may be broken down or aggregated into smaller or larger loads for transfer to other vehicles or modes of transportation.

Uplight: Light that goes directly up into the night sky and serves no useful purpose.

Urban Sky Glow: The brightening of the night sky due to artificial lighting.

Use, Accessory: See Accessory.

Use, Primary or Principal: An activity or combination of activities of chief importance on the lot. One (1) of the main purposes for which the land or structures are intended, designed or ordinarily used. A lot may have more than one (1) primary use.

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

Utilities: Distribution or service connection facilities and appurtenances thereto, for gas, electricity, water, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, communications, heating, fuel, cable television and other similar consumable public commodities or services.

Utility Facilities, Primary/Generation: Such facilities as cogeneration power plants or other power generating plants including renewable energy generating facilities whose primary purpose is to produce power for consumption by a utility provider or sold into the wholesale markets.

Vacation (of Plat): Vacation or abandonment of a previously approved subdivision plat shall occur whenever any feature of that plat is revised. Revision shall include any change in the placement or location of public or private streets, and change in placement or location of easements or other right-of-ways, but shall not be deemed to include boundary line adjustments between lot owners as provided in the subdivision ordinance.

Variance: A relaxation of the terms of the Zoning Ordinance where such "variance" will not be contrary to the public interest and where, owing to conditions peculiar to the property and not the result of the action of the applicants, a literal enforcement of the ordinance would result in unnecessary and undue hardship. The establishment of a use otherwise prohibited shall not be allowed by "variance," nor shall a "variance" be granted solely because of the presence of nonconformities in the zoning division or district or adjoining divisions or districts.

Vehicle: A device, self-propelled or towed, by which persons or property may be transported, propelled, moved or drawn, except by human power.

Vehicle Areas: All areas on a lot where vehicles are intended to circulate or park including parking areas, driveways, drive-through lanes and loading areas. See also Driveway and Parking Area.

Veterinary Hospital and Clinic: A facility where animals are given medical and surgical care and the boarding of animals is limited to short-term care incidental to the hospital use.

Video/Record Sales and Rentals Store: Establishment primarily engaged in the retail rental or lease of videotapes, films, CD-ROMS, laser discs, records, DVDs, electronic games, cassettes or other electronic media. Sales of film, videotapes, laser discs, CD-ROMS and electronic merchandise associated with VCRs, video cameras and electronic games are permitted accessory uses.

Watercourse: A permanent stream, intermittent stream, river, brook, creek, channel or ditch for water, whether a natural or man-made body.

Wayside Stand, Roadside Stand or Wayside Market: Any structure or land used for the sale of agricultural or horticultural produce, livestock or merchandise produced by the owner or his family on their farm and located on the premises upon which the produce, livestock or merchandise is produced.

Warehousing: An operation from a structure, or part of a structure, for storing goods, wares, commodities and merchandise, whether for the owner thereof or for others, and whether it is a public or private warehousing operation, but excluding mini-warehouse self-storage centers.

Welding Shop: The use of land, building, or structure where pieces of metal are welded.

Wholesaling: The business of selling merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or professional business users, or to other wholesalers.

Wildlife Sanctuary/Preserve: Land used or intended to be used for the preservation of wildlife and plant life.

Yard: An open space on a lot, other than an interior of exterior court, located on the same lot with a principal building, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward, except for such encroachments as are expressly permitted in these regulations. See also Setback.

Yard, Front: An open space on the same lot as a principal building between the front line of the principal building, excluding steps, and the front lot or street line, and extending across the full width of the lot. Depth of a required front yard shall be measured at right angles to a straight line joining the foremost points of the side lot lines. The foremost point of the side lot line, in the case of rounded property corners at street intersections, shall be assumed to be the point at which the side and front lot lines would have met without such rounding.

Yard, Rear: An open, unoccupied space on the same lot as a principal building between the rear line of the principal building, excluding steps, and the rear line of the lot and extending the full width of the lot.

Yard, Side: An open, unoccupied space on the same lot as a principal building between the side line of the principal building, excluding steps, and the side line of the lot, and extending from the front yard line to the rear yard line.

(Ords. of 5-7-2013(2); 5-3-2016(2); 5-2-2017; 10-3-2017(1))

(Ords. of 5-7-2013(2); 5-3-2016(2); 5-2-2017; 10-3-2017(1))