“Accessory building” shall mean a detached building where fifty percent or more of the footprint of the enclosed space is covered. Accessory buildings are subordinate to, and their use is customarily incidental to, that of the main building, structure, or use on the same or attached/adjacent lot as regulated in this title. This classification includes: guest houses for occupancy no more than thirty days per year, garages, greenhouses, poolhouses, sunrooms, workshops, storage sheds, carports, patio covers, gazebos, barns, stables, and other agricultural outbuildings with solid roof construction.

“Accessory structure” shall mean a detached structure that is not enclosed by walls and a solid or partially enclosed roof. Accessory structures are subordinate to, and their use is customarily incidental to, that of the main building, structure, or use on the same or attached/adjacent lot as regulated in this title. Types of accessory structures regulated by the town include the following:

“Approval authority” means the body of the town planning agency (city council, planning commission, town planner) who makes a decision on a planning permit. See Section 17.06.070.

“Atherton Zoning Plan” means the map identifying the designations, locations, and boundaries of the zoning districts established by this title. This map and all notations and information on it are a part of this title by reference.

“Attached/adjacent lot” means one or more lots of record located adjacent to one or more lots of record all held in common ownership. The attached/adjacent lots may be designated as one, separate, or several assessor’s parcels.

“Average natural grade” means the average elevation of the natural grade based upon twelve points of measure along the perimeter of the building prior to any cut and fill. Each point of measure shall be located (first) at every corner of the building and (second) every thirty feet along continuous walls with lengths over fifty feet. A “corner” shall mean a change in the wall plane of thirty degrees or more. However, if a building has more than twelve corners, then each corner shall be a point of measure regardless of the twelve point requirement. The points shall be determined by starting at the most northerly corner of the building or structure as determined by magnetic north then moving clockwise around the building or structure. See section 17.42.030 for determining natural grade.

“Basement” means that finished story below the finished floor of the first story of a building. Basements are subject to the requirements of chapter 17.44. Basements do not include crawl spaces or other under-floor areas, which are separately defined. Includes, but not limited to, hobby space and wine cellar.

“Building” means any structure having a roof, columns, walls, and foundation.

“Building height” means the vertical distance from the ground to the highest point on the structure. See chapter 17.42 for an explanation of how to calculate height.

“Building setback line” means the front line of the building area.

“Chimney” means a vertical structure or flue, which extends through the roof of a house, and provides a path through which smoke from a fire is carried away.

“Clear visibility area” means a triangular area bounded on two sides by street lines extending a distance of thirty feet from any street corner measured along the curb, gutter, or edge of pavement. See Figure 17.60.020-1 (Clear Visibility Area).

“Conditional use permit” means a planning permit for the establishment of a specific use of land within the town.

“District” or “zone” means a portion of the town within which certain uses of land and development standards are established for buildings.

“Dormer” means a window which is set vertically on a sloping roof. A dormer has its own roof.

“Dormer, face of” means the vertical surface of a dormer projecting from a sloping roof that is parallel to the vertical walls of the structure.

“Eave” means the overhang at the lower edge of a roof or the line along the sidewall formed by the intersection of the planes of the roof and wall.

“Eave line” means where the face of a dormer or other architectural feature intersects the eave, that part of the roof that projects beyond the exterior wall. The eave line is the projection on the architectural feature of where the eave of the roof would continue uninterrupted if the architectural projection did not intersect it.

“End wall” means any wall or group of walls parallel to one another as so designated by this title or the town if no such designation exists.

“Entry gate” means a gate in a fence or wall intended for vehicle entry into a property.

“Extents of the main building” shall be the area of a lot as determined by drawing a rectangle around the outermost edges of the footprint of the main building. See figure 17.60.020-2 (Extents of Main Building).

“Fence” means a vertical screening structure used to prevent the ingress or egress of persons or animals or for the obstruction of vision or noise. Structures that are used to support a roof, awning, or other horizontal compositions, or structures that have a purpose other than those hereinabove specified, including, but not limited to, tennis courts and other enclosures for athletic activities, compost bins, bath structure enclosures, and enclosures for the storage of tools, equipment and garden supplies, shall not be deemed to be fences. Wing walls or extensions of a building wall that do not support the building shall be included in the definition of a fence for purposes of this title.

“Finish grade” means the final contour of the ground surface of a site that conforms to the approved grading plan.

“Floor area” means the sum of the gross horizontal areas of the several planes of the building at each floor level measured from the outside perimeter of the exterior walls or roof in the case of open structures. In instances where the roof line creates the exterior wall of a floor, such as in an attic, the floor area shall be measured to the interior wall (see figure 17.60.020-3 (Floor Area for Second Floor/Attic Spaces)). Floor area shall also include those portions of overhangs exceeding four feet on the main building and those portions of overhangs exceeding one foot on accessory structures. Floor area shall not include pools, tennis courts, drives and other paved surfaces, or basements (except as otherwise required by this title). In areas with an open height of sixteen feet or greater at any point, the floor area for that portion of the building shall be multiplied by two.

“Floor area ratio” means the sum of the floor areas of all main and accessory structures on a lot, divided by the gross lot area.

“Footprint” means the plan view projection to ground level of the perimeter of a building to the outside perimeter of the exterior walls. Open or partially covered flat work such as decks and patios not more than six inches in height are excluded from the footprint.

“Front/rear lot line redesignation” means a planning permit that allows a property owner to request a different line as the front or rear lot line.

“Front line of main building” means the line touching the frontmost point of the main building that is at a right angle to the line connecting the midpoints of the front and rear lot lines.

“Garage or carport” means a separate building or portion of a main building or accessory building designed for shelter or storage of vehicles owned or operated by the occupants of the lot. For the purposes of this title, a carport is equivalent to a garage.

“General plan” means the Town of Atherton’s general plan as adopted by the city council and as may be amended from time to time.

“General plan amendment” means a planning process for approving an amendment to the general plan, including the Land Use Map.

“Grade” means the elevation of the ground surface.

“Group home” means a dwelling unit licensed or supervised by any Federal, State, or local health/welfare agency that provides twenty-four-hour nonmedical care of unrelated persons who are not disabled but are in need of personal services, supervision, or assistance essential for sustaining the activities of daily living or for the protection of the individual in a family-like environment. Group homes include children’s homes, rehabilitation centers, and self-help group homes. Medical care may be provided in conjunction with group homes that provide alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment services.

“Guest house” shall mean a detached accessory building subject to the accessory building regulations and limited occupancy of no more than thirty days per year.

“Home occupation” means any use customarily conducted entirely within a dwelling and carried on by the inhabitants thereof, which use is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for dwelling purposes and does not change the character or appearance thereof.

“Kitchen” means any room or area intended or designed to be used or maintained for the cooking, storing, and preparation of food and includes facilities for cleaning, preparation, and storage of food and cooking and eating utensils.

“Landscape screening area” means the rear yard, the side yard and, when required by the town arborist, the front yard.

“Legislative decisions” means decisions that must be made by the city council. Legislative land use decisions apply to the general population and prescribe policy and require the greatest amount of discretion and evaluation of subjective approval criteria. A public hearing is required for legislative land use decisions.

“Lot” or “site” means a parcel of land consisting of a single lot of record, used or intended for use or uses under the regulations of this title. See “Lot, corner,” “Lot, double frontage,” “Lot, flag,” and “Lot, interior.”

“Lot area” means the area of a lot measured horizontally between bounding lot lines, including any portion of a flag lot providing access to the street.

“Lot, corner” means a lot bounded by two or more abutting and intersecting street lines. See figure 17.60.020-4 (Corner Lot).

“Lot depth” means the mean distance between the front lot line and the rear lot line measured in the main direction of the side lines of the lot.

“Lot, double frontage” means an interior lot bounded by two or more abutting street lines that do not intersect. See figure 17.60.020-5 (Double Frontage Lot).

“Lot, flag” means a lot having access to a street by means of a private driveway or parcel of land (known as the access area) not otherwise meeting the requirements of this title for lot frontage. Width of the access area shall be measured at right angles to the side line of the access area.

See figure 17.60.020-6 (Flag Lot).

“Lot frontage” means that boundary of a lot along a public right-of-way.

“Lot, interior” means a lot other than a corner lot abutting only one street.

See figure 17.60.020-7 (Interior Lot).

“Lot line, front” means that boundary of a lot’s narrowest portion abutting a public street or access area in the case of a flag lot, except where a different front has been previously officially designated or recognized by the town.

“Lot line, rear” means the lot line or lines most nearly parallel to and most remote from the front property line.

“Lot width” means the width measured at right angles to its depth at the front line of the building area.

“Main building” means a building or buildings containing the principal use of the building site.

“Main building area” (front, interior side, street side, and/or rear) of a lot is the horizontal plane between the minimum setbacks of the respective yard.

“Natural grade” shall mean the original condition of the ground surface as it existed prior to mechanical grading or disturbance. Where the original condition of the ground surface cannot be determined, the town planner may approve a topographic survey of the property prepared by a registered civil engineer or licensed land surveyor indicating the approximate original condition of the ground surface of the site as can best be determined from record and survey data.

“Nonconforming building” means a building that does not conform to the current regulations of the district in which it is located.

“Nonconforming structure” means a structure that does not conform to the current regulations of the district in which it is located.

“Nonconforming use” means a use that does not conform to the current regulations for the district in which it is located.

“Prezoning” means a zoning designation, formally adopted by the town, that applies to property owners outside of the existing town limits in advance of annexation of the area into the town.

“Private school,” for zoning purposes, means a building, group of buildings, or any tract of land or lot used for play, instruction, or care of children other than at public expense.

“Public hearing” means a meeting held by the approval authority (i.e., the planning commission or city council) that is open to the public and at which the approval authority transparently deliberates a planning entitlement or other land use matter and accepts testimony from the public as required by the provisions of this title or state statute. During a public hearing, the applicant for a project and all other persons shall have the right to be represented, provide testimony, and present evidence. Following the completion of testimony at a public hearing, action shall be taken by the approval authority to approve, conditionally approve, deny, continue, or take under advisement the subject of the public hearing. The public shall be provided with advance notice of all public hearings in compliance with state law, as applicable. See section 17.06.090 (Public Hearings) for more information.

“Public school,” for zoning purposes, means a building, group of buildings, or any tract of land or lot used for play, instruction, or care of children at public expense.

“Quasi-judicial decisions” means decisions typically involving some level of discretion or policy determination on the part of the approval authority and require making a set of findings as part of the approval process. A public hearing is held, evidence is weighed, and conclusions are drawn. The approval authority uses this information as the basis for its decision.

“Rear line of main building” means the line touching the rearmost point of the main building that is at a right angle to the line connecting the midpoints of the front and rear lot lines.

“Reasonable accommodation for accessibility” means a planning permit that provides a process for individuals with disabilities to make requests for reasonable accommodation for relief from the various zoning rules, policies, practices, and/or procedures of the town.

“Retaining wall” means a structurally designed and engineered wall, the primary purpose of which is to retain earth material in an excavated or filled area.

“Rezoning” means a planning permit that changes the zoning designation on a piece of property within the town as recorded on the official zoning plan.

“Ridge line” means the highest point of the roof. Where the roof consists of two sloping roof surfaces, the ridge line is the line at the intersection of the upper edges of the two sloping roof surfaces.

“Second dwelling unit” means a building or portion of a building designed for use and occupancy by people living independently of the occupants of the main residence building and containing separate kitchen, bath, sleeping, or living facilities.

“Shielded and downlit” means that the lamp that emits the light is hidden from view by an opaque shade so that only cast light is visible, not the lamp or bulb itself, and that all cast light is lower than the bottom of the opaque shade.

“Sidewall” means any wall not parallel to the end wall. A sidewall shall be measured from the average natural grade to the base of the roof plate directly above.

“Single-family dwelling” means a building designed for use and occupancy by no more than one individual, family, or group of individuals.

“Solar facilities” means panels that are used for the conversion of sunlight into electricity. This includes solar hot water heaters, which are facilities that use sunlight to heat water.

“Special event” is an activity sponsored by one or more organizations, individuals, or other entities, held at one or more locations within the town to which the general public is invited.

“Special structures permit” means a planning permit that provides a process for the review of special and specific buildings and structures to ensure compatibility with surrounding areas and uses.

“Staff-level decisions” means decisions that require limited interpretation or exercise of policy or legal judgment in evaluating approval criteria because the decision is made according to specific criteria where no discretion is involved. Examples include zoning clearance as part of an application for a building permit.

“Story” means a horizontal section of a building with a single continuous or primarily continuous floor including all rooms on the same floor or level of a building.

“Story, first” means the first horizontal section of a building located above the natural grade.

“Street line” means the boundary line between a public or private street, road or way, and a lot or parcel of land.

“Structure” means anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires attachment to the ground or attachment to something located on the ground.

“Substantially open” means a structure or portion of a structure that is fifty percent open to the passage of light and air in all aspects.

“Under-floor area” (a.k.a. crawl space) is the space below the first floor in a building that has a ceiling height not more than seven feet, measured from the floor surface to the bottom of the floor joists above. A space below the first story in a building having a ceiling height greater than seven feet may be considered an under-floor area when the natural grade in the under-floor space slopes more than two percent due to hillside topography. In these cases, the area may be considered an under-floor area due to its non-usability features of not having a level floor surface. Once a sloped under-floor area (or portion of such area) is excavated to achieve a ceiling height of seven feet minimum and the space contains a relatively level floor surface (less than two percent), then the space will be considered a basement. Under-floor areas are considered restricted use areas and may not be used as habitable space. The area cannot be finished to look as if it were going to be used as habitable space.

“Use” means the purpose for which land or a building thereon is designed, arranged, or intended or for which it is or may be occupied or maintained.

“Variance” means a planning permit that provides a process to request exceptions to the development standards and provisions of this title in cases where, because of special circumstances applicable to the property, the strict application of this title deprives such property of privileges enjoyed by other property in the vicinity within identical land use zoning districts.

“Yard” means an open space on the same lot with a building that is unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward, except as otherwise permitted in this title.

“Yard, front” means the yard extending across the full width of the lot adjacent to the front lot line and measured from that line to the nearest line where the main building is permitted.

“Yard, rear” means the yard extending across the full width of the lot and lying between the rear line of the lot and the nearest line where the main building is permitted.

“Yard, side” means the yard lying between a side lot line and the nearest line where building is permitted, and extending from the front yard to the rear yard.

“Zoning clearance” means an administrative process, completed as part of the building permit review or similar administrative permit issuance or as required for all new fences and walls, that ensures the proposed activity or construction is consistent with applicable sections and standards of this title. See chapter 17.08 (Zoning Clearance) for more information.

“Zoning code amendment” means a planning process for approving an amendment to this title, including the Atherton Zoning Plan.

“Zoning code interpretation” means the process for clarification of ambiguity in the regulations of this title in order to provide consistent interpretation and application. See chapter 17.10 (Zoning Code Interpretations).

“Zoning plan” – see “Atherton Zoning Plan.” (Ord. 605 §§ 2, 3, 2014; Ord. 582 § 1 (Exh. A (part)), 2009)