§ 47-39.A.2. Definitions and Measurements.

The following definitions shall apply to all property located in the Melrose Park and Riverland Road areas as defined in Section 47-39.A. Where certain definitions and measurements do not appear in this section and are defined in Section 47-35.1 or Section 47-2.2, Section 47-35.1 and Section 47-2.2 shall apply.

A.

General construction of terms. For the purpose of this code, certain terms used herein are herewith defined. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future, words in the singular number include the plural and words in the plural number include the singular number. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory. The word "building" shall include the word "structure." The word "used" shall include arranged, designed, constructed, altered, converted, rented, leased or intended to be used. The word "land" shall include water surface and land water.

B.

Terms defined. (Defined in Sec. 47-35.1)

Adult Day Care Center: An establishment, which provides day care and activities for adolescents or adults who require supervision due to physical or mental limitations.

Alley: A public thoroughfare or way, not more than thirty (30) feet in width, and which normally provides a secondary means of access to abutting property.

Alter: "Alter", "altered" or "alteration" shall mean any change in size, occupancy or use of a building or structure; any repair or modification to a nonconforming building, structure or use; the erection or placement of any sign; the addition, removal or modification of any paving or landscaping.

Antenna: A transmitting and/or receiving device and/or relays used for personal wireless services, that radiates or captures electromagnetic waves, including directional antennas, such as panel and microwave dish antennas, and omni-directional antennas, such as whips, excluding radar antennas, amateur radio antennas and satellite earth stations.

Arterial: A street having that meaning given in F.S. § 334.03(1), (Arterials in Broward County are shown on the Broward County Trafficways Plan.)

Auditorium: A building or complex of buildings that has facilities for cultural, entertainment, recreational, athletic and convention activities or performances.

Building: Any structure having a solid roof and solid walls on all sides and used or built for the shelter or enclosure of persons, animals, chattels, or property of any kind.

Child Care Center: A place for the day care and instruction of children not remaining overnight.

Club, Private: Shall pertain to and include those associations and organizations of a fraternal or social character, not operated or maintained for profit. The term "private club" shall not include casinos, night clubs or other institutions operated as a business.

Combined Parking: An off-street parking facility originally designed, approved and permitted as a single site plan, but which was subsequently subdivided and sold to two (2) or more persons as separate plots.

Commercial Vehicle: Any vehicle designed, intended or used for transportation of people, goods or things, other than private passenger vehicles and recreational vehicles. The term "commercial vehicle" shall include, but is not limited to, the following:

(1)

Semitrailer: All two- or more wheeled vehicles designed to be coupled to and drawn by a motor vehicle.

(2)

Truck: A motor vehicle designed with or modified to contain a bed, platform, cabinet, rack or other equipment for the purpose of carrying items or things or performing commercial activities and weighing four thousand (4,000) pounds or more. This term includes, but is not limited to, wreckers, tow trucks, dump trucks, utility or service vehicles, and moving vans.

(3)

Truck-tractor: A motor vehicle having four (4) or more wheels and equipped with a fifth wheel for the purpose of drawing a semitrailer.

(4)

Bus: Any vehicle designed or modified for transportation of ten (10) or more people in seats permanently placed in the vehicle.

(5)

Business vehicle: Any vehicle upon which a business name is displayed. This term includes, but is not limited to, taxis, limousines, ambulances, and vans, but excludes police and security vehicles, which are providing security services to the area where the vehicle is parked.

Common Open Space: Any area designated on a recorded plat or approved site development plan, not including private or public streets, for joint use by the residents of the development as parking, drives, service areas, tennis courts, recreational buildings, preservation of natural areas, landscaping, drainage areas, and water areas.

Common Party Wall: A solid wall, without any openings, which separates two (2) dwelling units, with no open space between the two (2) units.

Community Residential Facility: A residential building or buildings designed or altered to provide housing, food service, and personal services to persons unrelated to the owner or manager of the facility, and which is licensed by the State of Florida or other government agency for such purposes.

Completely Enclosed Building: A building separated on all sides from adjacent open space, or from other buildings or other structures, by a permanent roof and by exterior walls or party walls, pierced only by windows and normal entrance or exit doors.

Contiguous: Directly adjoining; immediately adjacent to; contiguous plots have at least one (1) side of each plot which touches one (1) side of the other plot or plots with no separator between the plots such as a public right-of-way, canal, river, or railroad.

Coverage: The percentage of the plot area covered or occupied by buildings or roofed structures or portions thereof. Shuffleboard courts, swimming pools, barbecue pits, terraces and other appurtenances not roofed over shall not be included in computing coverage.

Density: The maximum number of dwelling units permitted on one (1) net acre of property.

Developed: Land or water upon which a permitted building, structure, other improvement or use has been constructed or established, excluding solely underground utilities, pipes, wires, cable, culverts, conduits or other similar underground improvements and excluding structure bearing overhead power transmission lines that carry at least five hundred (500) kilovolts of electrical power, provided such lands contain no other buildings or structures.

Dumpster: A watertight container constructed of impervious material and provided with a cover or covers of like material which is intended and designed to be used for the retention or storage of garbage, refuse or recyclable materials. This term shall not include containers having a maximum capacity of forty (40) gallons or less.

Dwelling, Detached: A single dwelling unit physically detached from other buildings, dwelling units or structures.

Dwelling, Group: A building, or part thereof, in which several unrelated persons or families permanently reside, but in which individual cooking facilities are not provided for the persons or families. "Group dwelling" may include a rooming house, fraternity house, sorority house, convent, monastery or private club in which one (1) or more members have a permanent residence. "Group dwelling" shall not be deemed to include a hotel, motel, tourist home, trailer camp.

Dwelling, One-Family: A building with one (1) or more rooms providing complete living facilities for one (1) family, including equipment for cooking or provisions for cooking, and including a room or rooms for living, sleeping and eating, and having all areas within the building accessible from the interior of the building. One-family dwellings shall not include group homes, adult congregate living facilities, rooming or boarding houses, or dormitory, fraternity or sorority buildings or facilities.

Dwelling, Two-Family: A building containing two (2) one-family dwellings within a single building. Two-family dwellings shall not include group homes, adult congregate living facilities, rooming or boarding houses, or dormitory, fraternity or sorority buildings or facilities.

Dwelling Unit: A room or group of rooms not less than four hundred (400) square feet in total floor area, which include a kitchen and sanitary facilities designed to provide complete, long-term living accommodations for one (1) family, with no access to adjoining dwelling units.

Dwelling Unit, Adult Congregate Living Facility: One (1) room or connected rooms, with kitchen and bathroom facilities, which have access from a common area and constitute a separate independent housekeeping establishment.

Environmentally Sensitive Lands: Those lands defined as environmentally sensitive in the 1989 Broward County Land Use Plan.

Erected: Built, constructed, reconstructed or moved on or upon any property.

Essential Services: The erection, construction, alteration or maintenance by public utilities or municipal or other governmental agencies, of underground or overhead gas, electrical, steam or water transmission or distribution systems, including poles, wires, mains, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits, cables, fire alarm boxes, police call boxes, traffic signals, hydrants, transformer substations and other similar equipment and accessories in connection therewith, reasonably necessary for the furnishing of adequate service by such public utilities or municipal or other governmental agencies or for the public health or safety or general welfare.

Established Grade: The average elevation of the streets abutting the plot.

Family: Any number of persons living together as a single housekeeping unit, whether legally related to each other or not. The persons constituting a family may also include gratuitous guests and domestic servants, but shall not include paying guests.

Family Day Care Home: An occupied residence in which child day care is regularly provided for no more than five (5) preschool children from more than one (1) unrelated family and which receives a payment, fee or grant for any of the children receiving care, whether or not operated for profit. The maximum number of five (5) preschool children includes preschool children living in the home and preschool children received for day care who are not related to the resident caregiver. Elementary school siblings of the preschool children received for day care may also be cared for outside of school hours provided the total number of children, including the caregiver's own and those related to the caregiver, does not exceed ten (10).

First Floor Level: The lowest habitable floor area of a building. This definition shall not include parking garages or floor areas devoted exclusively to mechanical equipment used to energize, heat, cool, or otherwise service the building in which it is located. (Defined in Sec. 47-2.2)

Foster Care Home: A home licensed by the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (HRS) or other government agency which provides residential services and supervision for no more than eight (8) individuals who are unrelated to the resident houseparent. Foster care homes with three (3) or less children age two (2) or under shall be excluded from the ordinance.

Frontage of a Building: Shall mean the side or wall of a building approximately parallel and nearest to a street.

Frontage of Property: Shall mean the plot line, which abuts a street or separates the plot from a street.

Garage, Private: An accessory structure designed or used for inside parking of self-propelled private passenger vehicles by the occupants of the main building.

Grouped Buildings: Two (2) or more buildings for dwelling purposes erected or placed on the same plot.

Habitable Room Area: The total floor area of a dwelling unit excluding closets, bathrooms, garages, utility rooms, storage areas, and rooms not accessible from the interior of the dwelling unit.

Height of Building: The vertical distance from the established grade at the center of the front of the building to the highest point of the roof surface for a flat roof, to the deck line for a mansard roof and to the mean height level between eaves and ridge for gable, hip and gambrel roofs.

Home Office: An office designed for and operated as a business location in a dwelling unit, and carried on by persons residing in the dwelling unit involving only written correspondence, phones, computers, or other common office equipment, and which is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for residential purposes. Home offices shall preclude any business operation, which requires or permits customers or patrons to visit the dwelling. Home offices shall be permitted in all residential zoning districts subject to the following limitations:

(1)

Not more than ten (10) percent of any dwelling unit may be used for a home office.

(2)

No merchandise or equipment related to the home office shall be stored at, delivered to or dispensed from the dwelling unit, or from any accessory building or structure on the property, except office equipment or supplies required for daily office operations.

(3)

Commercial vehicles associated with the home office in all residential districts shall be subject to Section 47-39.A.1.b.(7) General Provisions.

(4)

No sign or any other evidence of the existence of the home office shall be visible from the exterior of the dwelling unit.

(5)

A certificate of use shall be obtained for any home office. In addition to the requirements of Section 47-19.7, certificates of use for home offices shall comply with the following:

a.

A floor plan of the dwelling unit, drawn to scale, shall be submitted with an application for a certificate of use for a home office, designating the room or rooms to be occupied by the home business.

b.

Any certificate of use issued for a home.

Household Pet: An animal kept for pleasure, rather than for utility, by a family, within the family's dwelling unit or on the same plot as the family's dwelling unit. The term shall include one (1) non-breeding Vietnamese pot-bellied pig on a plot of land, which is at least thirty-five thousand (35,000) square feet.

Impervious: Any non-organic material, which prohibits penetration by liquids or other soluble materials.

Lot: A parcel or tract of land designated and identified as a single unit of area in a subdivision plat officially recorded in the Broward County Circuit Court Clerk's office.

Nonprofit Neighborhood Social and Recreational Facility: A building or plot of land devoted entirely to providing social activities and services only for the residents, and their guests, of the subdivision or neighborhood where the building or plot is located.

Occupied: The word "occupied" includes arranged, designed, built, altered, converted, rented or leased, or intended to be occupied.

Opaque: Any nontranslucent, nontransparent, nonliving material, which provides a visual barrier from one (1) side to the other.

Off-street Parking: The temporary, transient storage of operable private passenger vehicles used for personal transportation, while their operators are engaged in other activities, in an area designated for such purposes, not on a street or other thoroughfare. It shall not include storage of new or used cars for sale, service, rental or any other purpose than specified above.

Off-site Parking Lots: Location, Character and Size, for off-street parking facilities, a plot within five hundred (500) feet of a nonresidentially used plot may be used to supply twenty-five (25) percent of the required off-street parking for the nonresidentially used plot. Such off-site facilities shall be permitted in all zoning districts except open space and conservation districts subject to the following conditions:

(1)

Except as provided herein this definition, the minimum plot size for off-site parking lots shall be ten thousand (10,000) square feet of net area with a minimum street frontage of one hundred (100) feet on a public right-of-way at least sixty (60) feet in width which is designated as a collector or arterial road on the Broward County Trafficways Plan.

(2)

Except as provided in subparagraph (8) of this definition, access to the parking lot shall only be from the designated collector or arterial road.

(3)

A landscape buffer at least ten (10) feet in depth shall be provided on all sides of the plot in accordance with Article VIII, Functional Landscaping and Xeriscaping.

(4)

A decorative, translucent visual barrier shall be provided at least two and one-half (2½) feet inside the perimeter of the required landscape buffer on any side which is contiguous to a residential district. The minimum height of such visual barrier shall be four (4) feet and the maximum height shall be eight (8) feet measured from the established grade. The visual barrier shall be in one (1) of the following forms:

a.

A translucent fence or wall; or

b.

Landscape material dense enough to provide only translucent visibility.

(5)

The off-site parking facility must comply with all requirements of Article XII, Off-Street Parking and Loading.

(6)

No signs shall be permitted except entrance or exit signs or signs identifying the purpose of the off-site parking lot. Such signs shall be no larger than six (6) square feet and not higher than four (4) feet above the ground unless affixed flush on the required visual barrier. No exterior illumination of such signs shall be permitted.

(7)

Off-site parking lots shall be used only for the temporary parking of operable, currently licensed private passenger vehicles of patrons of the nonresidentially used property which the parking lot serves.

(8)

Where a residentially zoned plot used for off-site parking is contiguous to or separated from the nonresidentially used property it serves by a dedicated alley, such plot may be used for all or any portion of required parking for the nonresidentially used plot it serves. The provisions of paragraphs (1) and (2) of this definition shall not be applicable, provided the off-site parking is accessed only from the dedicated alley or from the nonresidential plot it serves.

Open Area: A portion of the total site, lot or parcel not including the area covered by buildings and structures.

Outdoor Event: A carnival, circus, concert or festival shall be classified as an outdoor event if it has mechanical rides or amplified music or sounds. Commercial promotions, shows, sales and other similar types of events providing entertainment and/or food service shall also be classified as outdoor events. Advertised religious events held outdoors involving mechanical rides, amplified music or sounds or food service shall also be classified as outdoor events. Permits for certain outdoor events may be issued subject to compliance with this section. The following outdoor events may be permitted in the zoning districts designated:

Event	Permitted Zoning Districts
(a) Carnival or circus	Commercial, industrial, and commercial recreation. Residential, rural, agricultural, and institutional if sponsored by non-profit organization
(b) Concerts, festivals	Commercial, industrial, and commercial recreation
(c) Commercial promotions, shows, sales, events	Commercial and industrial

 

(1)

Minimum site requirements. All outdoor events shall require a minimum of one (1) net acre of open space with not less than two hundred (200) feet of street frontage on a public street having a right-of-way width of at least seventy (70) feet.

(2)

Setbacks. No activity, temporary tent, mechanical device, temporary sanitary facility, or animal associated with any outdoor event shall be closer than one hundred (100) feet from any residentially zoned plot, nor closer than one hundred (100) feet from a public or private street line, and not less than three hundred (300) feet from any privately owned property in agricultural, estate, and rural districts.

(3)

Access. Vehicular access onto any plot used for an outdoor event shall be from a public street which provides the minimum required street frontage specified above. No vehicular traffic shall be allowed ingress to or from the plot through any other residential street.

(4)

Parking. Off-street parking shall comply with requirements of Section 47-39.A.14 insofar as the amount of spaces required, minimum parking space size, and minimum aisle widths. All parking spaces may be on an unpaved surface. Temporary barriers, guides, signs, and other temporary markings shall be erected and placed around and within the parking area to facilitate safe and efficient vehicular traffic flow on site.

(5)

Lighting. Temporary lighting used to illuminate the outdoor event after dusk shall be designed and arranged to reflect away from adjacent properties and away from any street or other vehicular use area.

(6)

Temporary structures, exhibits, and mechanical riding devices. Temporary structures, exhibits, and mechanical riding devices shall be permitted in conjunction with outdoor events subject to permit and inspection requirements of all applicable county and state agencies. No temporary structure shall be used for living quarters. All such structures, exhibits, and mechanical riding devices shall be removed from the premises within seven (7) days after the conclusion of the event.

(7)

Signs. One (1) temporary sign advertising the event may be erected on the plot where the event will be held not more than fourteen (14) days prior to the event. Such signs shall be no larger than twenty-four (24) square feet in sign area and no higher than ten (10) feet above the ground. The sign shall be set back at least ten (10) feet from the front plot line and shall not be located within twenty-five (25) feet of the intersection of any two (2) public or private streets. The sign shall be removed by the permit holder at the conclusion of the outdoor event.

Panel Antenna: An array of antennas designed to concentrate a radio signal in a particular area.

Place of Worship: A building, or part thereof, designed and arranged for religious services, on land held in fee simple ownership or on a long-term lease, a minimum of five (5) years duration, by a chartered religious organization, which utilizes the building for regular, continuing religious services.

Plot: Land occupied or to be occupied by a building or use, and their accessory buildings and accessory uses, together with such yards and open spaces as are required by this code. A plot may consist of one (1), or more, or portions of a platted lot and/or unplatted land.

Plot, Corner: A corner plot is a plot of which at least two (2) adjacent sides abut for their full length upon a street, provided that such two (2) sides intersect at an interior angle of not more than one hundred thirty-five (135) degrees. Where a plot is on a curve, if tangents through the intersections of the lot lines with the street lines make an interior angle of not more than one hundred thirty-five (135) degrees, such a plot is a corner plot. In the case of a corner plot with a curved street line, the corner shall be considered to be that point on the street line nearest to the point of intersection of the tangents herein described.

Plot, Interior: A plot other than a corner plot.

Plot, Through: A plot abutting on two (2) streets, not at their intersection, if any, which may be either a corner or interior plot.

Plot Depth: The mean horizontal distance between the front and rear plot lines.

Plot Width: The horizontal distance between the side plot lines at the depth of the required front yard.

Plot Line, Front: The line dividing a plot from a street or base building line, whichever will result in a lesser depth of plot. On a corner plot the shorter of the two (2) front lines as above defined shall be considered to be the front plot line for the purposes of determining required plot width and required front yard depth. On a corner plot where both front plot lines as above defined are equal or within five (5) feet of the same length, both such lines shall be considered to be front plot lines for the purposes of determining required street yard depth. On through lots, both front plot lines as above defined shall be considered to be front plot lines for the purpose of determining required yards.

Plot Line, Rear: The plot line opposite and most distant from the front plot line. In the case of a triangular or gore-shaped lot wherein the two (2) side plot lines converge in the rear, the rear plot line shall be considered to be a line ten (10) feet in length within the plot parallel to and at the maximum distance from the front plot line.

Plot Line, Side: Any plot line other than a front or rear plot line. A side plot line separating a plot from a street is called a side street plot line. A side plot line separating a plot from another plot or plots is called an interior or side plot line.

Plot Line, Street or Alley: A plot line separating the plot from a street or alley.

Porch: A roofed-over space attached to the outside of an exterior wall of a building, which has no enclosure other than the exterior walls of such building. Open mesh screening shall not be considered an enclosure.

Private Property: All lands and water areas owned by other than a municipality, county, state or federal government or any of its subdivisions.

Recreational Vehicle: shall mean one (1) of the following:

(1)

Camping trailer: A vehicular, portable unit mounted on wheels and constructed with collapsible partial side walls which fold for towing by another vehicle, and unfolded at the site to provide temporary living quarters for recreational, camping or travel use.

(2)

Truck camper: A truck equipped with a portable unit, designed to be loaded onto, or affixed to, the bed or chassis of the truck and constructed to provide temporary living quarters for recreational, camping or travel use.

(3)

Motor home: A vehicular unit which does not exceed the length and width limitations provided in F.S. § 316.515, is built on a self-propelled motor vehicle chassis, and is primarily designed to provide temporary living quarters for recreational, camping or travel use.

(4)

Park trailer: A transportable unit in a travel trailer park which has a body width not exceeding twelve (12) feet and is built on a single chassis and is designed to provide seasonal or temporary living quarters when connected to utilities necessary for operation of installed fixtures and appliances. The total area of the unit in a setup mode, when measured from the exterior surface of the exterior walls at the level of maximum dimensions and including any bay window that extends to the floor line, does not exceed five hundred (500) square feet. The length of a park trailer means the distance from the exterior of the front of the body (nearest the drawbar and coupling mechanism) to the exterior of the rear body (at the opposite end of the body), including any protrusions.

(5)

Off-road vehicle: A motorized vehicle designed and intended solely for recreational activities and not as a means of transportation on public streets.

(6)

Travel trailer, including fifth-wheel travel trailer: A vehicular, portable unit mounted on wheels, of such a size or weight as not to require special highway movement permits when drawn by a motorized vehicle. It is primarily designed and constructed to provide temporary living quarters for recreational, camping or travel use. It has a body width of no more than eight and one-half (8.5) feet and an overall body length of no more than forty (40) feet when factory-equipped for the road.

Residentially Zoned District: Includes the following zoning districts: RS-3.52, RS-6.86, RS-6.70 and RD-12.22.

Roof Line: The top edge of the roof or the top of the parapet, whichever forms the top line of the building silhouette.

Room: An unsubdivided portion of the interior of a building, having a floor area of eighty (80) square feet or more, intended or adapted for living, sleeping, working or storage purposes.

Side Yard, Street: A yard extending between a front and rear yard which directly abuts a street.

Story: A habitable area of a building horizontally enclosed by the exterior walls of the building, with a vertical clearance between the floor and ceiling of at least seven and one-half (7½) feet. Any upper story which does not exceed two-thirds ( 2/3 ) of the area of the first floor level shall not be considered a story except for determining the height of the building. For the purposes of determining the height of a building, a story shall be considered to be every ten (10) feet of building height above first floor level measured from the exterior elevation. For purposes of determining the height of a structure other than a building, a story shall be each ten (10) feet in height of the structure above the established grade.

Street: A public thoroughfare or any other vehicular accessway recorded in the public records of Broward County, Florida, for the sole purpose of providing access to and from abutting properties, and which is at least fifty (50) feet in total width.

Street Line: Shall mean the right-of-way line of a street or the base building line, whichever will provide for a greater width of street.

Structural Alteration: Any change, except for repair or replacement, in supporting members of a building or structure, such as bearing walls, columns, beams or girders.

Structure: Anything constructed or erected, which requires location on the ground or attached to something having location on the ground.

Townhouse: A one-family dwelling constructed as part of a series or group of attached dwellings with a common party wall or fire separation wall connecting each dwelling unit and with a property line running through the center of the common party wall or fire separation wall. Dwellings attached only by an open breezeway; or other unroofed wall or fence are not included in this definition. Section 47-18.33 does not apply to townhouse developments located in Section 47-39.A, Areas.

Trailer: A manufactured structure inspected, approved and licensed by the State of Florida Department of Motor Vehicles, constructed so as to permit occupancy thereof as sleeping or living quarters, or use for storage or conveyance for tools, equipment or machinery on a construction site, and so designed that it is or may be mounted on wheels and conveyed on highways and streets, propelled or drawn by other motive power from one (1) location to another.

Translucent: Any material, which allows the passage of light, but does not permit a clear view of any object or person.

Use: The purpose of which land or a structure thereon is designed, arranged or intended to be occupied or utilized, or for which it is occupied or maintained.

Use (v.): "Use" or "used" shall mean the establishment of a new use, or any expansion or change of an existing use, of a building, structure or part thereof, or of any land or water area.

Use of Land: Includes use of water surfaces and land under water to be the extent covered by zoning districts, and over which the City of Fort Lauderdale has jurisdiction.

Vessel: Shall mean every kind, type and description of boat, ship, watercraft or airboat, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water, other than seaplanes.

Waterway: A stream, canal or body of water, dedicated to public use, publicly owned, or used and available for public travel by boats, not including privately owned bodies of water or drainage ditches.

Yard, Required: Shall mean the minimum yard required by the zoning resolution. Any yard space supplied in excess of the minimum amount specified shall not be deemed to be a required yard.

Yard, Side: A yard extending from the front yard to the rear yard, between the side plot line and the nearest line of any building or use on the plot. The width of a side yard shall be the shortest distance between the side plot line and the nearest use or building on the plot.

Yard Sale: The sale of a residential occupant's personal or household belongings to the public from the occupant's residence, either inside or outside of the building. On any plot used for residential purposes two (2) yard sales may be held in a calendar year by the residents of the plot to sell their personal belongings to the public. Each yard sale may be for a maximum of three (3) consecutive days. Signs may not exceed two (2) square feet in size and shall be exempt from permit requirements. The signs may not be displayed more than one (1) day prior to the yard sale. Signs must be removed at the end of the yard sale.

(Ord. No. C-09-27, § 1, 10-20-09)