§ 3. Definitions.

For the purpose of this ordinance, certain terms and words are hereby defined. Words used in the present tense shall include the future; the singular number shall include the plural, and the plural the singular. The word "building" shall include the word "structure"; the word "lot" includes the word "plot", and the word "shall" is mandatory and not merely permissive or directory.

(1)

Accessory buildings and use. A subordinate building or a portion of the main building, the use of which is incidental to that of the main building or to the main use of the premises. An accessory use is one which is incidental to the main use of the premises. Examples: Garages, storages, sheds, detached carports, porches, gazebos.

(2)

Alley. A public or private thoroughfare which affords only a secondary means of access to property abutting thereon.

(3)

Apartment. A room or suite of rooms in a multiple dwelling, or in a building in which more than one (1) living unit is established above or on the same floor as nonresidential uses, which room or suite is intended, or designed for use as a residence by one (1) family and which includes culinary accommodations.

(4)

Apartment house. A building or portion thereof used or designed as a residence for three (3) or more families living independently of each other, and doing their own cooking in said building, including apartments and apartment hotels.

(4a)

Bed and breakfast facility. Shall mean an accessory use to a single-family dwelling unit in which no more than twelve (12) rooms in the principal residential structure are set aside for guest clients; breakfast is available on-site to only such guest clients at no extra cost; length of stay of guest clients ranges from one (1) to thirty (30) days; and the owner/operator of the principal structure resides on—site. Bed and breakfast homestay does not include uses such as motels, hotels, boarding or lodging houses, apartment dwellings, or guest cottages.

(4b)

Boardinghouse. A building, other than a hotel, where for compensation and by pre-arrangement for definite periods, meals or lodging and meals are provided for three (3) or more persons, but not exceeding twenty (10) persons.

(4c)

Building. Any structure designed or intended for the support, enclosure, shelter or protection of persons, animals, chattels, or property.

(5)

City council. Whenever the words city council are used, they shall mean the City Council of the City of Eagle Pass, Texas.

(6)

Clinic. An office or group of offices for one (1) or more physicians, surgeons, or dentists engaged in treating the sick or injured, but not including rooms for the abiding of patients.

(7)

Conditional use permit. See Section 21.

(8)

District. A section or sections of the City of Eagle Pass, Texas, for which regulations governing the use of buildings and premises, the height of buildings, the size of yards, and the intensity of use are uniform.

(8a)

Durable surface. A concrete or asphalt finish on parking requirements.

(9)

Dwelling. Any building or portion thereof which is designed and used exclusively for residential purposes.

(10)

Dwelling, single family. A building having accommodations for and occupied exclusively by one (1) family.

(11)

Dwelling, two family or duplex. A building having accommodations for and occupied exclusively by two (2) families.

(12)

Dwelling, multiple. A building having accommodations for and occupied exclusively by more than two (2) families.

(13)

Family. One (1) or more persons occupying a premises and living as a single housekeeping unit as distinguished from a group occupying a boardinghouse, lodging house, or hotel as herein defined.

(14)

Filling station or service station. Any building or premises used for the dispensing, sale, or offering for sale at retail of any automobile fuels or oils. When the dispensing, sale, or offering for sale is incidental to the conduct of a public garage, or retail store, the premises are classified as a public garage or retail store.

(14a)

Finish floor elevation. The top of any proposed slab as noted by the engineer on the plat where a lot may be located. Said top shall be one (1) foot above the curb of any street where a lot may front.

(15)

Frontage. All the property on one side of a street between two intersecting streets (crossing or terminating), measured along the line of the street, or if the street is dead-ended, then all the property abutting on one side between an intersecting street and the dead end of the street.

(16)

Garage, private. An accessory building or portion of the main use building, designed for or used for the housing of motor-driven vehicles which are the property of and for the private use of the occupants of the lot on which the private garage is located. Not more than one (1) of the vehicles may be a commercial vehicle and of not more than one and one-half (1½) tons capacity.

(17)

Garage, public. A building or portion thereof, other than a private garage, designed or used for equipping, repairing, hiring, servicing, selling, or storing motor-driven vehicles.

(18)

Grade.

(a)

For buildings having walls adjoining one street only, the elevation of the sidewalk at the center of the wall adjoining the street.

(b)

For buildings having walls adjoining more than one street, the average of the elevation of the sidewalk at the center of all walls adjoining the streets.

(c)

For buildings having no wall adjoining the street, the average level of the finished surface of the ground adjacent to the exterior walls of the building.

Any wall approximately parallel to and not more than five (5) feet from the street line shall be considered as adjoining the street. Where no sidewalk exists, the grade shall be established by the city building inspector.

(19)

Height of building. The vertical distance from the grade to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof; to the deck line of a mansard roof; or the mean height level between the eaves and ridge for a gable, hip and gambrel roofs.

(20)

Home occupation. Any occupation or profession engaged in by the occupants of a dwelling not involving the conduct of a retail business, and not including any occupation conducted in any building on the premises excepting the building which is used by the occupant as his or her private dwelling. Home occupations shall include, in general, personal services such as furnished by an architect, lawyer, physician, dentist, musician, artist, and seamstress, when performed by the person occupying the building as his or her private dwelling and not including a partnership or the employment of more than one (1) assistant in the performance of such services.

(21)

Hotel. A building in which lodging or board and lodging are provided and offered to the public for compensation and in which ingress and egress to and from all rooms is made through an inside lobby or office supervised by a person in charge at all hours. As such, it is open to the public in contradistinction to a boardinghouse, a lodging house, or an apartment which are herein defined.

(22)

Lodging house. A building or place where lodging is provided (or which is equipped to provide lodging regularly) by pre-arrangement for definite periods, for compensation, for three (3) or more persons in contradistinction to hotels open to transients.

(23)

Lot. A parcel of land occupied or intended for occupancy by a use permitted in this ordinance, including one (1) main building together with its accessory buildings, the open spaces and parking spaces required by this ordinance, and having its principal frontage upon a street or upon an officially approved place.

(24)

Lot, corner. A lot abutting upon two (2) or more streets at their intersection.

(25)

Lot, depth of. The mean horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines.

(26)

Lot width. The width of a lot at the front yard line. In the case of cul de sac or eyebrow lots, the lot width shall be determined at the building line.

(27)

Mobile home. See trailer.

(28)

Nonconforming use. Any building or land lawfully occupied by a use at the time of passage of this ordinance or amendment thereto, which does not conform after the passage of this ordinance or amendment thereto with the use regulations of the district in which it is situated.

(28a)

Nursing homes. Institutions and facilities designed for the occupancy by and care of the aged and or infirmed on either a temporary or permanent basis, including facilities for providing them with such therapy and medical care as may reasonably be required for their physical and mental recovery and well-being.

(28b)

On-premise sign. A sign advertising a service commodity, goods, wares, merchandise or opinion sold or offered to the public at the site upon which the sign is located.

(29)

Parking space. An area enclosed or unenclosed, containing not less than one hundred sixty (160) square feet and not less than nine (9) feet wide, exclusive of the driveways connecting said space with a street or alley. Said parking space and connecting driveway shall be durably surfaced with asphalt or concrete and so arranged to permit satisfactory ingress and egress of vehicles. Said parking space shall remain in satisfactory condition for the use of the premises (also See section 12.1 Parking Requirements).

(29a)

Set-back line. The building set-back line shall be noted on the plat filed of record.

(29b)

Storage shed. An accessory building designed for use to store basic household items such as lawnmower, bicycles, tools, etc.

(30)

Story. That portion of a building, other than a basement, included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the floor next above it; or if there be no floor above it then the space between the floor and the ceiling next above it.

(31)

Street. A public thoroughfare which affords the principal means of access to abutting property.

(32)

Structure. Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires permanent location on the ground or attachment to something having a permanent location on the ground, including, but without limiting the general inclusiveness of the foregoing, advertising signs, billboards, poster boards, and pergolas.

(33)

Structural alterations. Any change in the supporting members of a building, such as bearing walls or partitions, columns, beams or girders, or any complete rebuilding of the roof or the exterior walls.

(34)

Travel trailer. Any structure used for living, sleeping, business, or storage purposes, having no foundation other than wheels, blocks, skids, jacks, horses, or skirtings and which is, has been, or reasonably may be, equipped with wheels or other devices for transporting the structure from place to place, whether by motive power or other means. The term "trailer" shall include camp car and house car. Travel trailers or mobile homes shall only be permitted in areas where they are specifically allowed.

(35)

Trailer camp or trailer coach park. A lot or tract of land where facilities and accommodations are provided by the day, week, month or for a longer period of time, for or without compensation, for two (2) or more trailers when such trailers are being used for human habitation.

(36)

Tourist court (auto courts, motels, or motor lodges). A group of attached, semi-detached, or detached buildings containing individual sleeping or living units, designed for or used temporarily by automobile tourists, or transients, with garage attached or parking space conveniently located to each unit and offering to the public daily as well as other longer term rental rates, and maintaining a register of guests and/or their vehicles.

(37)

Yard. An open space on the same lot with a building, unoccupied and unobstructed by any portion of a structure from the ground upward, except as otherwise provided herein. In measuring a yard for the purpose of determining the width of a side yard, the depth of a front yard, or the depth of a rear yard, the horizontal distance between the lot line and the main building shall be used.

(38)

Yard, front. A yard extending across the front of a lot between the side yard lines, and being the minimum horizontal distance between the street right-of-way line and the main building or any projections thereof other than the projection of the usual steps, unenclosed balconies, or open porch.

(39)

Yard, rear. A yard extending across the rear of a lot, measured between the side lot lines, and being the minimum horizontal distance between the rear lot line and the rear of the main building or any projections other than steps, unenclosed balconies or unenclosed porches. On corner lots the rear yard shall be considered as parallel to the street upon which the lot has its least dimension. On both corner lots and interior lots the rear yard shall in all cases be at the opposite end of a lot from the front yard.

(40)

Yard, side. A yard between the main building and the side line of the lot, and extending from the front lot line to the rear yard line.

(Ord. No. 06-13, § 2, 7-11-2006)