§ 2.1.2. Definitions.

Accessory use or structure: A use or structure that is permitted on a property in conjunction with a principal use.

Adult use: Any building or structure or portion of any building or structure used or intended to be used for an adult store, adult entertainment establishment, or adult theater.

a.

Adult store: A business establishment that contains or is used for the display or sale of books, magazines, videos, movie films, still pictures, and any and all other written materials, novelties, devices, and related sundry items, which are distinguished or characterized by their emphasis on matters depicting, describing, or related to specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas, as defined below; or an establishment with a segment or section devoted to the sale or display of such material constituting a majority of its retail value of stock displayed for sale or a majority of the monthly gross receipts of the business.

b.

Adult entertainment establishment: A business where the patron is afforded a view of specified anatomical areas or specified sexual activities as defined below of or involving employees, or where the patron otherwise views the modeling of undergarments, dance routines, strip performances, or other gyrational choreography provided by the establishment that appeals to the prurient interest of the patron.

c.

Adult theater: A business that offers the viewing of recorded performances or activities by others, whether such performances are in the form of motion pictures, videos, slide shows, or other forms of photographic or visual display, which are distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on matters depicting, describing, or relating to specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas as defined below.

d.

Specified anatomical areas: Human genitals and pubic regions, buttocks, female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola if less than completely and opaquely covered, and human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state, even if completely and opaquely covered.

e.

Specified sexual activities: Acts of human masturbation, sexual intercourse, sodomy or any acts of bestiality, and fondling or other erotic touching of human genitals, pubic region, buttock or breast of either male or female.

Agriculture: All agricultural pursuits including but not limited to field crop farming; forestry; dairying and pasturage; poultry husbandry; plant nursery; and livestock breeding, raising and care.

Amusement place: A business establishment providing leisure entertainment such as, but not limited to, video games or other coin-operated amusement devices, billiard and pool halls, and miniature golf, but excluding adult uses.

Automobile service station: Buildings and premises where gasoline or diesel fuel is dispensed at retail, and where in addition at least one of the following services is rendered:

a.

Sale, installation, or servicing of spark plugs, batteries, distributors, tires, carburetors, brakes, fuel pumps, or other automotive parts or accessories;

b.

Replacement of water hoses, fan belts, brake fluid, light bulbs, fuses, floor mats, seat covers, windshield wipers and wiper blades, mirrors, and the like;

c.

Engine tune-up, radiator cleaning and flushing, or greasing and lubrication.

d.

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

Automobile wrecking yard: The dismantling, storage, sale or dumping of used, wrecked, damaged or inoperable motor vehicles, trailers or parts thereof.

Automotive sales. The use of any building, land area or other premises for the display and sale of new or used motorized vehicles such as automobiles, panel trucks or vans, motorcycles, busses, boats, or recreation vehicles, and which may include any warranty repair work and other repair service conducted as an accessory use.

Automotive service establishment. A business principally engaged in the repair of automobiles or other motorized vehicles, or the installation or repair of equipment or parts on motorized vehicles such as mufflers, brakes, tires, radios, transmissions, and engines or engine parts.

Bed and breakfast facility: A business establishment operated within a dwelling by the owner-occupant, offering temporary lodging to the traveling public while away from their normal places of residence, and containing no more than seven (7) bedrooms available for temporary lodging. See also "Hotel" and "Motel."

Board of Commissioners: The Board of Commissioners of Hawkinsville, Georgia.

Boarding house: A building where by pre-arrangement for periods exceeding one week, meals and lodging are provided for not more than ten (10) persons.

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

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

Car wash: Any building or premises or portions thereof dedicated to use for washing automobiles; whether by hand or mechanical means.

Clinic: An establishment where medical or dental patients who are not lodged overnight, are admitted for examination or treatment.

Club or fraternal organization: Buildings and facilities owned or operated by an association or persons for a social or recreational purpose, but not operated primarily for profit.

Commercial parking lot: An area or structure dedicated to the temporary storage of automobiles or other vehicles for periods of less than twenty-four (24) hours for a fee, operated as the principal use of the property or structure.

Commercial recreation: A business offering leisure sports facilities such as a bowling alley, skating rink, commercial golf course or driving range, softball fields, batting cages, health clubs, and fitness centers.

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

Conditional use: A use that may be compatible with other uses in a zoning district under certain circumstances or with special restrictions. Establishment of a conditional use on a property requires approval by the Board of Commissioners in accordance with the procedures in this Ordinance.

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

Crematory: An establishment where bodies of dead people are cremated.

Daycare center: An establishment that is required to be licensed by the State of Georgia as a "group care home" or a "day care center," as defined by regulations of the State of Georgia, which enrolls for pay, supervision and non-medical care, seven (7) or more children or adults.

Drive-in theater: See "Theater, Drive-In."

Dwelling: A building or portion of a building arranged or designed to provide living quarters for one or more families.

a.

Single-family dwelling: A residential building, whether site-built or a manufactured home or an industrialized building, designed for or occupied exclusively by one family and meeting or exceeding the Standards for Single-Family and Two-Family Dwellings under Section 2.4.1 of this Ordinance.

b.

Two-family dwelling: A residential building designed for or occupied exclusively by two (2) families in separate dwelling units living independently of each other on a single lot, and meeting or exceeding the Standards for Single-Family and Two-Family Dwellings under Section 2.4.1 of this Ordinance.

c.

Multi-family dwelling: A residential building exclusively designed for or occupied by three (3) or more families in separate dwelling units living independently of each other.

d.

Group dwelling: A building or portion of a building occupied or intended for occupancy by several unrelated persons or families as their normal place of residence, but in which separate cooking facilities are not provided for such resident persons or families. The term "group dwelling" includes but is not limited to the terms "rooming house," "apartment hotel," "fraternity house" or "sorority house." A hotel, motel or bed and breakfast facility shall not be deemed to be a group dwelling as herein defined.

Dwelling unit: One or more rooms connected together and constituting a separate, independent housekeeping establishment for use on a basis involving owner occupancy or rental or lease on a weekly, monthly or longer basis, with provisions for cooking, eating and sleeping, and physically set apart from any other rooms or dwelling units in the same structure.

Farm equipment sales: A business specializing in the sale of tractors and other machinery normally associated with agricultural operations in the production of crops or the raising of poultry or livestock.

Fast food restaurant: Any establishment, building or structure where food or drink are served for consumption, either on or off the premises, by order from or service to persons either over an interior counter, outside the structure or from an outdoor service window or automobile service window, or by delivery. This definition shall not include otherwise permitted restaurants where outdoor table service is provided to customers in established outdoor dining areas.

Family: An individual or two (2) or more persons living together as a household.

Family day care home: An accessory use within a private residence, licensed by or registered with the State of Georgia as a family day care home, operated by the occupant of the dwelling who enrolls for pay, for supervision and care, three but not more than six (6) children or adults.

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

Freestanding wall: An artificially constructed barrier of brick or stone, singly or in combination with decorative metal, erected to enclose, screen or separate portions of a lot.

Funeral home: A building used for the preparation of deceased human beings for services or burial, and ceremonies connected therewith before burial or cremation.

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

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

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

Hotel: A business establishment offering temporary lodging to the traveling public while away from their normal places of residence, and in which ingress and egress to and from the rooms are made primarily through an inside lobby. See also "Bed and Breakfast facility" and "Motel."

Hospital: A building providing primary or tertiary health services and medical or surgical care to persons including in-patients and out-patients, suffering from illness, disease, injury, deformity and other abnormal physical or mental conditions, and including as an integral part of the institution, related facilities such as laboratories, out-patient facilities or training facilities.

Industrialized building: Any structure or component thereof which is wholly or in substantial part made, fabricated, formed, or assembled in manufacturing facilities for installation or assembly and installation on a building site and has been manufactured in such a manner that all parts or processes cannot be inspected at the installation site without disassembly, damage to, or destruction thereof. Industrialized buildings are constructed and regulated in accordance with O.C.G.A. Title 8, Chapter 2, Article 2, Part 1, §§ 8-2-110 through 8-2-121, as the same may be hereafter amended.

Junkyard or salvage yard: A lot, land or structure or part thereof, used primarily for the collecting, storage or sale of waste paper, rags, scrap metal or other discarded material; and for the collecting, dismantling, storage, or salvage of machinery or vehicles not in running condition, or for the sale of parts thereof.

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

Manufactured home: A structure, transportable in one or more sections, which, in the traveling mode, is eight (8) body feet or more in width or forty (40) body feet or more in length, or, when erected on site, is three hundred twenty (320) or more square feet in floor area, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein; or otherwise comes within the definition of a "manufactured home" under the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, as amended (42 U.S.C. 5401-5445).

a.

Class A manufactured home: A manufactured home that meets or exceeds the Standards for Single-Family and Two-Family Dwellings under Section 2.4.1 of this Ordinance. A Class A Manufactured Home shall be considered a Single-Family Dwelling.

b.

Class B manufactured home: A manufactured home that does not meet the Standards for Single-Family and Two-Family Dwellings under Section 2.4.1 of this Ordinance.

Manufactured home park: Any lot under single ownership on which two (2) or more manufactured homes are be located or intended to be located for purposes residential occupancy.

Manufactured home sales lot: A premises on which manufactured homes are displayed for sale.

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

a.

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

b.

Light manufacturing: The finishing, fabrication or assembly of previously manufactured parts into a final product or component products ready for retail sale.

Mini-warehouse: A structure containing separate storage spaces of varying sizes leased or rented on an individual basis.

Mobile home: A manufactured home.

Motel: A business establishment offering temporary lodging to the traveling public while away from their normal places of residence, and in which ingress and egress to and from the rooms are made primarily direct from an exterior walkway rather than from an inside lobby. See also "Bed and Breakfast facility" and "Hotel."

Nursery school: See "Daycare Center."

Nursing home: An extended or intermediate care facility required to be licensed or approved by the State of Georgia to provide full-time convalescent or chronic care to individuals who, by reason of advanced age, chronic illness or infirmity, are unable to care for themselves.

Office: A room or group of rooms used for conducting the affairs of a business, profession, service, industry or government.

Office building: A building used primarily for conducting the affairs of a business, profession, service, industry or government, or like activity, that may include ancillary services for office workers such as a restaurant, coffee shop, newspaper or candy stand.

Outdoor display area: A portion of a property outside of any building where merchandise, goods or other items are placed in public view for the purpose of advertising or for sale or lease.

Outdoor storage: The keeping within an unroofed area of any goods, material, merchandise or vehicles in the same place for more than twenty-four (24) hours.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rental services establishment: Any business establishment which rents or leases items of personal property such as tools, appliances, and equipment to the general public.

Restaurant: An establishment where food and drink are prepared to individual order, ordered and served at the table, and consumed primarily within the principle building, as contrasted to a fast food restaurant.

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

Retail services business: An establishment principally engaged in providing a service, as opposed to products to the general public, such as a banking or financial institution, real estate or insurance office, barber or beauty shop, travel agency, amusement or recreation center, health clinic, legal firm, professional service and the like.

Retirement community: An age-restricted residential development in a multi-family dwelling that offers significant services and facilities for the elderly including social and recreational activities, personal care services, or health facilities limited to use by the development's residents. At least eighty (80) percent of the units must be occupied by residents sixty-two (62) years old or older, and the remaining units must be occupied by at least one resident fifty-five (55) years old or older.

Roadside stand: A structure for the shelter, display and sale of agricultural products produced on the premises, with no space for customers within the structure itself.

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

a.

Academic school: Any building or part thereof which is designed, constructed or used for education or instruction following the same curriculum offered in a public elementary, secondary, trade or technical, or higher education facility, and accredited to award diplomas as such.

b.

Commercial school: Any building or part thereof which is designed, constructed or used for education or instruction in any branch of knowledge or vocational pursuit, other than an academic school.

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

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

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

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

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

Theater, drive-in: An open lot with its appurtenant facilities devoted primarily to the showing of motion pictures or theatrical productions to patrons seated in automobiles.

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

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

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

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

Utility company: A private business providing electricity, natural gas, telephone, or other services under the regulation of the Georgia Public Services Commission.

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

a.

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

b.

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

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

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

(Ord. of 5-10-96; Ord. No. 2016-1, § 1, 6-6-16)