Article 3 — Definitions

ARTICLE 3.

Except as specifically defined herein, all words used in this Ordinance shall be as defined in The Latest Illustrated Book of Development Definitions (2004, Rutgers). Words not defined herein or in the above book shall be construed to have the meaning given by common and ordinary use, and shall be interpreted within the context of the sentence, Section and Article in which they occur.

For the purpose of this Ordinance, certain words or terms used herein shall be defined as follows:

Words used in the singular include the plural and words used in the plural include the singular.

Words used in the present tense include the future tense.

The word "erected" includes the words "constructed", "moved", "located" or "relocated".

The word "lot" includes the word "plot" or "parcel".

The word "map" or "zoning map" means the Zoning Map of Sugar Hill, Georgia.

The word "person" includes the words "individuals", "firms", "partnerships", "corporations", "associations", "governmental bodies" and all other legal entities.

The word "shall" is always mandatory and never discretionary.

The words "used" or "occupied" include the words "intended, arranged or designed to be used or occupied."

Accessory Structure. A structure detached from a principal building on the same lot and customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal building or use.

Accessory Use. A use of land or of a building or portion thereof customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal use of the land or building and located on the same lot with such principal use.

Adult Entertainment Establishment: An adult book store, an adult business, an adult dancing establishment, an adult mini motion picture theater, an adult motion picture theater, an adult motion picture arcade, an adult video store, an erotic dance establishment, or an escort bureau or introduction service as defined in Section 18-152 of the Sugar Hill Code which definitions are specifically incorporated hereby by reference.

Amenity: Aesthetic or other characteristics that increase a development’s desirability to a community or its marketability to the public. Amenities may differ from development to development but may include such things as recreational facilities, pedestrian plazas, views, streetscape improvements, special landscaping, or attractive site design.

Animal Day Care - An establishment in which household pets are kept during daytime hours for the benefit of persons who do not reside on the premises. Facilities may provide outdoor runs, shelter, feeding, training and grooming services. Does not include overnight boarding.

Animal Hospital. Facility for the treatment and temporary boarding of domestic animals operated under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian. This facility may include the boarding of animals in outside runs or kennels.

Animal Quarters. Any structure which surrounds or is used to shelter, care for, house, feed, exercise, train, exhibit, display or show any animals, other than fenced pasture land for grazing.

Appearance: The outward aspect that is visible to the public.

Automobile Graveyard: Any establishment which is maintained or used for storing, buying, or selling wrecked, scrapped, ruined, or dismantled motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts.

Apartment. A room or suite of rooms used as a dwelling for (1) family which does its cooking therein.

Apartment house. A residential structure containing three (3) or more apartments.

Appropriate: Fitting to the context of a site, neighborhood or community.

Architectural concept: The basic aesthetic idea of a structure, or group of structures, including the site, signs, buildings and landscape development that produces the architectural character.

Architectural features: Functional, ornamental or decorative features integral or attached to the exterior of a structure, including but not limited to roof elements, cornices, eaves, gutters, belt courses, sills, lintels, windows, doors, transoms, fan lights, side lights, chimneys, and elements of exterior embellishment.

Architectural recesses: Portions of a building wall at street level which are set back from the street line so as to create articulation of the building wall and/or to provide space for windows or doors.

Architecture: The art and science of designing and constructing buildings adapted to their purposes, one of which is beauty.

Attractive: Having qualities that arouse satisfaction and pleasure in numerous, but not necessarily all, observers.

Awning: A hood or cover that forms a roof-like structure, often of fabric, metal, or glass, designed and intended for the protection from the weather or as a decorative embellishment, and which projects from the wall or roof of a structure over a window, walk, door, or the like. Awnings may be retractable but are most often fixed with a rigid frame.

Awning, internally illuminated: A fixed awning covered with a translucent membrane that is, in whole or part, illuminated by light passing through the membrane from within the structure.

Balustrade: A railing consisting of a handrail or balusters.

Basement. That portion of any building for which the finished surface of its floor meets any of the following conditions:

Billboard. A sign larger than 300 square feet which is wholly independent of a building for support.

Boarding or Rooming House. A dwelling in which meals or lodging or both are furnished for compensation to more than two, but not more than ten, non-transient persons.

Body Art: The practice of physical body adornment by body piercing, tattooing and cosmetic tattooing. This definition does not include piercing of the outer perimeter or lobe of the ear with pre-sterilized single use stud and clasp ear piercing systems.

Body Artist or Body Art Practitioner. Means any person who performs the work of body art, body piercing or tattooing.

Body Art Establishment. See body art studio and tattoo and body piercing establishment.

Body Art Operator. Any person, firm, or entity which controls, operates, conducts or manages any body art establishment, whether performing body art and associated procedures or not.

Body Art Parlor. A single room within a body art studio where a body artist performs body art and associated procedures.

Body Art Studio. Any permanent building, structure or suite located in a planned commercial center on a permanent foundation which contains at least one body art parlor, holding a valid body art studio permit from the county health department and all other required city permits, licenses, certificates and approvals. Includes the term body art establishment.

Body Piercing: The puncturing or penetrating the skin or mucosa of a person with any sharp instrument and/or the insertion of jewelry or other adornment into the opening. This definition does not include piercing of the outer perimeter or lobe of the ear with pre-sterilized single use stud and clasp ear piercing systems.

Body Piercing: The perforation of human tissue, other than ear, for a nonmedical purpose and other than perforation of human tissue by a licensed medical practitioner.

Buffer. Land area used to visibly separate one use from another through screening and distance; to shield or block noise, light, glare, or visual or other conditions; to block physical passage to non-similar areas; or to reduce air pollution, dust, dirt, and litter.

Buffer, Construction. A type of buffer which is temporary and remains in effect during the construction of a project.

Build-to line: An alignment established a certain distance from the curb or right-of-way line to a line along which a building or buildings shall be built.

Buildable area. The portion of a lot remainig after required yards have been provided.

Building. Any structure attached to the ground which has a roof and which is designed for the shelter, housing or enclosure of persons, animals, or property of any kind.

Building bulk: The visual and physical mass of a building.

Building line. A line established in general, parallel to the front street line, side property line, or rear property line between which line and the property line no part of a building shall project.

Buildings, Metal. A structure which has a roof, and which is designed for the shelter, storage, housing or enclosure of persons, animals, or property of any kind and is constructed of exterior metal panels or pieces. This shall not include residential structures intended for occupancy with an exterior finish of aluminum siding where such siding is commonly used for residential structures.

Built environment: The elements of the environment that are generally built or made by people as contrasted with natural processes.

Cannabidiol: Shall mean a phytocannabinoid derived from the hemp plant which does not exceed the federally defined THC level for hemp, and which is devoid of psychoactive activity.

Cannabidiol store: Shall mean any premises used for the display, sale, distribution, delivery, offering, furnishing or marketing of cannabidiol or cannabidiol related products.

Cannabidiol-related products: Means any product in cream, oil, liquid, capsule, gummy, gel, balm, or any other form containing cannabidiol which is intended for human or animal consumption or topical application. Including any paraphernalia, equipment, device, or instrument that is primarily designed or manufactured for the smoking, chewing, absorbing, dissolving, inhaling, snorting, sniffing, or ingesting by any other means into the body of cannabidiol or cannabidiol-related products such as pipes, punctured metal bowls, bongs, water bongs, electric pipes, e-cigarettes, e-cigarette juice, buzz bombs, vaporizers, hookahs, and devices for holding burning material.

Canopy: A roof-like structure, supported by a building and/or columns, poles, or braces extending from the ground, including an awning, that projects from the wall of a building over a sidewalk, driveway, entry, window, or similar area, or which may be freestanding.

Cattery. Any place that regularly breeds, boards, trains, buys, sells, or trades any cat.

Certificate of Occupancy. A compliance approval or certificate authorized and issued by the City building inspector indicating that the use of the building or land in question is in conformity with this Ordinance, or that a legal variance there from has been approved.

Character: The nature of a building or site.

City Manager. The City of Sugar Hill City Manager or his designee.

Cluster homes. A group of single-family or multi-family housing units sharing common open space in an approved planned unit residential development.

Cohesiveness: Unity of composition among elements of a structure or among structures, and their landscape development.

Common area: Land within a development, not individually owned or dedicated to the public, and designed for the common usage of the development. These areas include green open spaces and yards and may include pedestrian walkways and complimentary structures and improvements for the enjoyment of residents of the development. Maintenance of such areas is the responsibility of a private association, not the public.

Community Shelter. A non-profit, institutional use comprised of a building, institutional in nature, which provides overnight shelter, sleeping accommodations and services, and not otherwise mandated by the State government, for related or non-related individuals for a period of time not to exceed fifteen (15) hours every twenty-four (24) hours.

Compatibility: With regard to development, the characteristics of different land uses or activities that permit them to be located near each other in harmony and without conflict; with regard to buildings, harmony in appearance of architectural features in the same vicinity.

Composting Facility, Municipal Solid Waste . An establishment converting municipal solid waste to humus through a controlled process of degrading organic matter by microorganisms.

Composting Facility, Yard Trimmings. An establishment converting yard trimmings to humus through a controlled process of degrading organic matter by microorganisms. This definition does not include composting conducted on a residential lot for home gardening purposes.

Comprehensive Plan. A comprehensive plan, which may consist of several maps, data, and other descriptive matter, for the physical development of the City or any portion thereof, including any amendments, extensions or additions thereto recommended by the Sugar Hill Planning Commission, indicating the general location for major streets, parks or other similar information. The Comprehensive Plan shall be based upon and include appropriate studies of the location and extent of present and anticipated population, social and economic resources and problems, and other useful data. The term "Comprehensive Plan" includes component or functional plans for the City, including but not limited to a plan for land use or a plan for transportation facilities.

Conditional Use. A use which is not automatically permitted by right, but which may be permitted within a zoning district subject to meeting specific conditions contained in this Ordinance or required by the governing body.

Conditional Zoning. The granting or adoption of zoning for a property subject to compliance with restrictions as to use, size, project design or timing of development, stipulated by the City Council of the City of Sugar Hill to mitigate adverse impacts that could be expected without the imposition of such conditions.

Condominium. A condominium is a multiple dwelling in which each dwelling unit is owned or financed by the occupant, but in which halls, entrance ways and underlying lands are owned jointly.

Congregate Personal Care Home. A home for individuals which offers care to sixteen (16) or more persons (See Personal Care Home).

Continuity: The flow of elements or ideas in a non-interrupted manner.

Cornice: A horizontal element member, structural or nonstructural (i.e., molding), at the top of the exterior wall or projecting outward from an exterior wall at the roofline, including eaves and other roof overhang.

Cosmetic Tattoo. To mark or color the skin by pricking in, piercing, or implanting indelible pigments or dyes under the skin or mucosa. Cosmetic tattooing shall include permanent/semi-permanent cosmetics, micropigmentation, permanent color technology, microblading and micropigment implantation. Includes tattoo.

Council. The City Council of the City of Sugar Hill, Georgia.

Customary Home Occupation. An occupation customarily carried on within a dwelling unit for gain or support involving the sale of only those articles, products or services produced on the premise, conducted entirely within the dwelling by members of the immediate family residing in the dwelling unit with equipment customarily used for household purposes and involving no display of articles or products and no outdoor advertising.

Day Care Facility. A structure or portion of a structure wherein is provided care and supervision of persons away from their place of residence for less than twenty-four (24) hours per day on a regular basis for compensation. For the purposes of this Ordinance the term "day care" shall include but not be limited to the terms "nursery school," "early learning center," "pre-kindergarten," "private kindergarten," "play school," "pre-school," "Group Day Care Home," and "Family Day Care Home."

Density. The number of families, individuals, dwelling units or housing structures per unit of land. Gross density includes all the land within the boundaries of the particular area excluding nothing. Net density excludes street right-of-way dedications, land identified as a flood hazard area, or within any electricity or gas transmission easement or right-of-way.

Design criteria: A description of appropriate activity that will establish, preserve, or enhance the architectural character and site design and function of a building, structure, or development.

Includes standards or requirements to satisfy the purpose of each criteria.

Detail: A small feature or element that gives character to a building.

Development: Redevelopment, rehabilitation and the conversion of raw or vacant land into a different use.

Director. The City of Sugar Hill City Manager or his designee.

Dormer: A window projecting from a roof.

Drive-in restaurant. Any place or premises used for the sale, dispensing, or service of food, refreshments, or beverages to automobiles, including those establishments where customers may eat or drink on the premises.

Duplex. A dwelling containing two and only two dwelling units.

Dwelling. A building which is designed or used exclusively for residential purposes, including single-family, duplex and multiple family residential buildings, rooming and boarding houses, fraternities, sororities, dormitories, manufactured homes, and industrialized homes but not including hotels and motels.

Dwelling, Attached. A dwelling containing three or more dwelling units which are joined only by common vertical walls.

Dwelling, Multiple. A dwelling containing three or more dwelling units or designed for occupancy by a fraternity or sorority or by three or more boarders or roomers.

Dwelling, One-Family. See "Dwelling, Single Family."

Dwelling, Single Family. A dwelling containing one and only one dwelling unit, other than a manufactured home.

Dwelling, Two-Family. See "Duplex."

Dwelling Unit. One or more rooms designed for the occupancy, cooking, and sleeping of one or more persons living as a family.

Dwelling Unit, Efficiency. A dwelling unit consisting of not more than one habitable room together with kitchen or kitchenette and sanitary facilities.

Eave: The projecting lower edges of a roof overhanging the wall of a building.

Eave line: The extension of a roofline beyond the vertical wall of a building.

Entablature is a major element of classical architecture, the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above the columns, resting on their capitals.

Event facility: Any public place kept, used, maintained, advertised and held out to the public as a place where special events including, but not limited to weddings, wedding receptions, private parties and similar events are held and which provides meals or food services in connection with such events. Any such facility shall be equipped with an adequate and sanitary kitchen and dining facilities and shall have a seating capacity of at least fifty (50) people. The event facility shall be capable of preparing, cooking and serving meals and other food products associated with its special events on site.

External design feature: The general arrangement of any portion of structures or landscaping, including the type, and texture of the materials, the type of roof, windows, doors, lights, signs, and fixtures of portions which are open to the public view.

Façade: Typically the front of a building; however, any building square on view is considered a façade (see definitions below).

Façade, front: Any façade with a main public entrance that faces one of the primary streets.

Façade, rear: Any façade without a public entry that does not face a public road.

Façade, side: Any façade without a public entry but facing a public street.

Family. An individual, or two or more persons related by blood, marriage, adoption or guardianship, or a group of not more than four unrelated persons, occupying a single dwelling unit; provided however that domestic servants employed on the premises may be housed on the premises without being counted as a separate family or families. The term "family" does not include any organization or institutional group.

Family Day Care Home. A customary home occupation which provides for no more than six persons who are not residents of the premises, care and supervision by a state of Georgia registered resident adult for less than twenty-four (24) hours per day on a regular basis for compensation.

Family Personal Care Home. A customary home occupation which provides a home for individuals in a family-type residence, non-institutional in character, which offers care to two through six persons (See Personal Care Home).

Fence. A structural barrier for enclosure, screening or demarcation, presenting a solid face or having openings amongst or between its constituent members; also, a wall separate from or extending from a building.

Fenestration: The organization of windows on a building wall.

Floor Area. The gross heated, finished horizontal area of the several floors of a dwelling unit exclusive of basement, attic, carport, or garage.

Floor Area, Gross. (GFA) The sum of the gross horizontal areas of all enclosed floors of a building, including cellars, basements, mezzanines, penthouses, corridors and lobbies from the exterior face of exterior walls or from the centerline of a common wall separating two buildings, but excluding any space with a floor-to-ceiling height of less than 6 feet 6 inches.

Floor Area Ratio (FAR): Representing the gross floor area of all buildings or structures on a lot divided by the total lot area.

Fur Farm. Any place that regularly breeds and raises rabbits, mink, foxes or other fur or hide-bearing animals for the harvesting of their skins.

Gable: The triangular upper portion of an end wall, underneath a peaked roof.

Garage. An accessory building or portion of a principal building used primarily for vehicle storage.

Gas Recovery/Gas Cogeneration Plant. A facility operating as an accessory use to a landfill which extracts and utilizes landfill gases for the production of energy.

Grade, natural: The existing grade or elevation of the ground surface that exists or existed prior to man-made alterations, such as grading, grubbing, filling, or excavating.

Ground coverage. The area of a zoning lot occupied by a building, but not including paved areas, expressed as a percentage of gross area of the lot.

Group Day Care Home. An occupied dwelling in which the owner-occupant is licensed by the State of Georgia to provide care and supervision for more than six (6), but less than nineteen (19), persons who are not residents of the dwelling. Such care shall be provided for less than twenty-four (24) hours a day on a regular basis for compensation.

Group Personal Care Home. A home for individual persons in a residence or other type building, non-institutional in character, which offers care to seven (7) through fifteen (15) persons (See Personal Care Home).

Habitat: The physical location or type of environment, in which an organism or biological population lives or occurs.

Hard-Surfaced Area or All-Weather Surface. An area which has been packed and covered with gravel and confined by landscaping timbers, railroad cross-ties, brick or rock wall.

Harmony: A quality that represents an attractive arrangement and agreement of parts of a composition, as in architectural elements.

Hazardous Waste. Solid or liquid waste material resulting from the manufacture or use of pesticides and drugs (other than normal household use); pathological wastes; highly flammable or explosive wastes; toxic wastes; sewage sludges; and other waste material that may be a hazard to the public health, safety or environment, except radioactive waste materials as defined by the State of Georgia.

Hedge: A row of closely planted shrubs, bushes, or any kind of plant forming a boundary.

Height of Building. The vertical distance measured from the mean finished ground level at the front of the building to the highest point of the roof or parapet.

Hobby Breeder. An individual who owns any horse, purebred dog or pedigreed cat, any of which is registered with a national registry for the breed, who may intentionally breed the animal to preserve and further the respective breed with regard to physical and temperamental soundness and in conformance with official breed standards. Hobby Breeding shall be deemed to be a Customary Home Occupation only when the animals and/or their offspring are sold directly to retail purchasers and are not bred or sold for commercial resale, research or other purposes.

Home occupation. See "customary home occupation."

Hotel. A building in which lodging or boarding and lodging are provided for more than twenty

Industrialized Home. A factory fabricated transportable building consisting of units designed to be incorporated at a building site on a permanent foundation into a structure to be used for residential purposes. An industrialized home or modular home shall be certified by the manufacturer to meet the approval of the State Building Administration Board (SBAB) to meet the same requirements as an on site-built home within The City of Sugar Hill.

Junk. Any old or scrapped copper, brass, rope, rags, batteries, paper, trash, rubber, debris to waste; junked dismantled to wrecked automobiles, or parts therefrom; or iron, steel, and other scrapped ferrous or non-ferrous materials.

Junkyard. Property used for indoor or outdoor storage, keeping or abandonment, whether or not for sale or resale, of junk including scrap metal, rags, paper or other scrap materials, used lumber, salvaged house wrecking and structural steel materials and equipment; or for the dismantling, demolition or abandonment or automobiles or other vehicles or machinery or parts thereof.

Kennel. Any place that regularly breeds, boards, trains, buys, sells, trades or lets for hire any dog.

Lakes, Existing and Proposed. An inland body of water fed by springs, creeks and surrounding runoff which has a surface area in excess of two acres of water measured at outflow structure elevation. An existing lake is a body of water, formed by a natural or man-made dam, which is not increased as a result of development by more than 25%. A proposed lake is a body of water which is created by a developer or is an existing lake which realizes an increase of 25% or more as a result of development. Any body of water which has a surface area of two acres or less measured at outflow structure elevation shall be considered floodplain for the purpose of calculating required open space.

Land Disturbance Permit. Any permit other than a Building Permit issued by City of Sugar Hill that authorizes clearing or grading activities on a site or portion of a site. Said permit may be a Clearing, Clearing and Grubbing, Grading, or Development Permit as defined in the City of Sugar Hill Development Regulations.

Landfill. A method a disposing of waste on land by placing an earth cover thereon. The term "landfill" shall include Construction and Demolition Debris Landfill, Hazardous Waste Landfill, Industrial Waste Landfill, Inert Waste Landfill, Monofill, Municipal Solid Waste Landfill and Private Industry Landfill. The term "landfill" shall not include approved on-site disposal of inert waste at a building, land disturbing, or development site.

Landfill, Construction and Demolition Waste. A landfill in which construction/demolition waste is disposed. Construction/ demolition waste means waste building materials and rubble resulting from construction, remodeling, repair and demolition operations on pavements, houses, commercial buildings and other structures. Such wastes include, but are not limited to, asbestos containing waste, wood, bricks, metal, concrete, wallboard, paper, cardboard, inert waste landfill material and other non-putrescible wastes which have a low potential for groundwater contamination.

Landfill, Hazardous Waste. A landfill in which hazardous waste is disposed. Hazardous waste means any solid waste which has been defined as a hazardous waste in regulations promulgated by U.S. EPA pursuant to the federal act codified as 40 C.F.R. Section 261.3 or by the Georgia Hazardous Waste Management Act.

Landfill, Industrial Waste. A commercially-operated landfill for the disposal of solid waste generated by manufacturing or industrial processes or operations that is not a hazardous waste regulated by the U.S. EPA or the Georgia Hazardous Waste Management Act. Such waste includes, but is not limited to, waste resulting from the following manufacturing processes; electric power generation; fertilizer and agricultural chemicals; food and related products and by-products; inorganic chemicals; iron and steel products; leather and leather products; nonferrous metal and foundry products; organic chemicals; plastics and resins; pulp and paper; rubber and miscellaneous plastic products; stone, glass, clay and concrete products; textiles; transportation equipment; and water treatment. This term does not include mining waste or oil and gas waste.

Landfill, Inert Waste. A landfill accepting only wastes that will not or are not likely to cause production of leachate of environmental concern. Such wastes are limited to earth and earth-like products, concrete, cured asphalt, rock, bricks, yard trash, stumps, limbs and leaves. This definition excludes other types of industrial and demolition waste not specifically listed above.

Landfill, Municipal Solid Waste. A disposal facility where any amount of municipal solid waste, whether or not mixed with or including commercial waste, industrial waste, nonhazardous sludges, or small quantity generator hazardous waste, is disposed of by means of placing an approved cover thereon. Municipal solid waste means any solid waste derived from households, including garbage, trash and sanitary waste in septic tanks and means solid waste from single-family and multi-family residences, hotels and motels, bunkhouses, campgrounds, picnic grounds, and day use recreation areas. The term includes yard trimmings and commercial solid waste but does not include solid waste from mining, agriculture, or silvicultural operations or industrial processes or operations.

Landfill, Private Industry. A landfill which is operated exclusively by and for a private solid waste generator for the purpose of accepting solid waste generated exclusively by said private solid waste generator.

Landscape Strip. Land area located within the boundary of a lot and required to be set aside and used for landscaping upon which only limited encroachments are authorized.

Landscaping: The area within the boundaries of a given lot that consists of planting materials, including but not limited to, trees, shrubs, ground covers, grass, flowers, decorative rock, bark, mulch, and other similar materials.

Lane: A public or private street designed for primary access to no more than 25 residential dwelling units, where the residential environment is dominant and traffic is completely subservient.

Livestock. The term "livestock" as used herein shall mean and include cattle, horses, goats, sheep, swine and other hoofed animals; poultry, ducks, geese and other live fowl; and rabbits, mink, foxes and other fur or hide-bearing animals customarily bred or raised in captivity for the harvesting of their skins; whether owned or kept for pleasure, utility or sale.

Loading space. Off-street vehicle parking space reserved for bulk pickups and deliveries.

Lot. A developed or undeveloped tract of land in one ownership legally transferable as a single unit of land.

Lot, Depth. The mean horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines, measured generally perpendicular to the front lot line.

Lot, Developed. A lot which has erected upon it a building or structure.

Lot, Frontage. See Road Frontage.

Lot, Through. A lot having frontage on two streets that are approximately parallel.

Lot, Undeveloped. A lot which does not have erected upon it a building or structure.

Lot Width. The horizontal distance between the side lines of a lot measured at the minimum required front yard (building setback) line.

Lot Width (Cul-de-sac). For a lot having the majority of its frontage on a cul-de-sac, the lot width shall be the horizontal distance between the side lines of the lot, measured at the minimum required front yard (building setback) line or at a line parallel to said setback line, which is no more than twice the minimum front yard setback distance from the street.

Manufactured Home. A dwelling which does not meet the standards of an “industrialized home”, but is built to conform to national standards embodied in the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 as amended, 42 U.S.C. 5401, et seq., administered by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, transportable in one or more sections, which in the traveling mode, is 8 feet or more in width and 40 body feet or more in length, or when erected on site is more than 320 square feet and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities and includes the plumbing, heating, and electrical systems contained therein.

Manufactured Home Lot. A parcel of land for the exclusive use of the occupants of a single manufactured home.

Manufactured Home Park. A manufactured home park is a parcel of land that has been planned and improved for the placement of manufactured homes for non-transient use under single or corporate ownership.

Massage Establishment: Massage establishment shall have the same meaning as the term “massage therapy business” as defined in O.C.G.A. Section 43-24A-3.

Massing the overall visual impact of a structure’s volume; a combination of height and width, and the relationship of the heights and widths of the building’s components.

Material change in exterior appearance: A change that will affect either the exterior architectural or environmental features of a building, structure, land use activity, or development site. A material change in exterior appearance shall at minimum include the following: the construction of a new building or structure; the reconstruction or alteration of the size, shape, or façade of an existing building or structure, including any of its architectural elements or details; commencement of excavation for construction purposes; and installation of freestanding walls, fences, steps, and pavements, or other appurtenant features.

Mobile Home. See "Manufactured Home."

Modular Home. See "Industrialized Home."

Modularity: Design composition comprised of a rhythmic organization of parts.

Modulation: A measured setback or offset.

Monofill. A method of solid waste disposal that involves the landfilling of one waste type or wastes having very similar characteristics in a segregated trench or area which is physically separated from dissimilar or incompatible waste. Solid waste means any garbage or refuse;

sludge from a wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility; and other discarded material including solid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining and agricultural operations and community activities, but does not include recovered materials; solid dissolved materials in domestic sewage; solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges that are point sources subject to permit under 33 U.S.C. Section 1342; or source, special nuclear, or by-product material as defined by the Federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended.

Monopole Tower. A communications tower consisting of a single pole, constructed without guy wires or ground anchors.

Motel. A building or group of buildings where lodging is provided for more than ten (10) persons and offered to the public for compensation and in which ingress or egress to and from all rooms are made through private entrances.

Natural drainage: Channels formed in the existing surface topography of the earth prior to changes made by unnatural causes.

Natural features: Components and processes present or produced by nature, including soil types, geology, slopes, vegetation, surface water, drainage patterns, aquifers, climate, floodplains, aquatic life, and wildlife.

Non-Conforming Use and Non-Conforming Structure. See Article 8.

Office Park. A development on a tract of land that contains a number of separate office buildings, supporting uses and open space designed, planned, constructed and managed on an integrated and coordinated basis.

Open Space A parcel or area of land set aside, designated, or reserved for public or private use or enjoyment or for the use and enjoyment of owners, occupants and their guests of land adjoining or neighboring such open space. Creditable open space shall not include any portion of an overhead power line easement or a stormwater retention/detention pond which is not part of an existing or proposed permanent lake or recreation area required by the City of Sugar Hill Development Regulations.

Parapet: A low retaining wall at the edge of or along a roof.

Pedestrian-oriented development: Development designed with an emphasis primarily on the street sidewalk and on pedestrian access to the site and building, rather than auto access and parking areas. The building is generally placed close to the street and the main entrance is oriented to the street sidewalk. There are generally windows or display cases along building facades that face the street.

Personal Care Home. A residence or building composed of related or non-related individuals with one or more surrogate parents that function as a single housekeeping unit. All personal care homes shall be approved and licensed by Georgia Department of Human Resources.

Petroleum Products Recycling Center, Accessory. A facility storing, reclaiming or containing used petroleum products which is accessory to an automotive service establishment, industrial establishment or similar use.

Pet (Household Pet). Any animal owned or kept for pleasure rather than sale, which is an animal of a species customarily bred and raised to live in the habitat of humans and is dependent upon them for food and shelter; except that livestock and wild animals shall not be deemed pets.

Portico: An exterior appendage to a building, normally at the entry, usually roofed.

Principal Use. The primary or predominant purpose for which a lot is occupied and/or used.

Private Deed Restrictions or Covenants. Private deed restrictions or covenants are imposed on land by private land owners. They bind and restrict the land in the hands of present owners and subsequent purchasers. They are enforced only by the land owners involved and not by any city or other public agency.

Proportion: Balanced relationship of parts of a building, signs and other structures, and landscape to each other and to the whole in terms of size, shape, mass and scale.

Putrescible Wastes. Wastes that are capable of being decomposed by microorganisms. Examples of putrescible wastes include, but are not necessarily limited to, kitchen wastes, animal manure, offal, hatchery and poultry processing plant wastes and garbage.

Recovered Materials Processing Facility, Accessory. Any facility utilized for the purpose of collecting household and commercial materials to be recycled including, but not limited to, plastics, glass, paper, and aluminum materials whenever such use is customarily incidental to a shopping center, church, school, multi-family residential development, waste disposal facility or similar use.

Recovered Materials Processing Facility, Principal. Any facility utilized for the purpose of collecting, sorting, processing, and shipping materials to be recycled including, but not limited to, plastics, glass, paper and aluminum whenever such use is principal to the site.

Redevelopment: The reuse of existing developed property. Redevelopment typically requires demolition or rehabilitation of existing buildings or structures on the site or changes to the site itself to accommodate reuse. Redevelopment of former commercial site for office or residential uses is an example, although redevelopment does not always imply a change in use.

Rehabilitation: The improvement of an existing building or structure, which may or may not involve a change in use.

Residential Shelter. A non-profit institutional use comprised of a residential building, which provides two or more beds and other facilities or services, including room and food service facilities and not otherwise mandated by State government for related or non-related individuals. Length of stay of the individuals is presumed to be of a temporary nature. A Shelter must meet the provisions of the Rules for Shelters in Gwinnett County.

Ridge: The peak of a roof. Also, the horizontal member at the peak into which the rafters join.

Road Frontage. The distance on which a parcel of land adjoins a public street or public road right-of-way dedicated to and accepted by the City of Sugar Hill or Gwinnett County for vehicular traffic or over which the City of Sugar Hill or Gwinnett County may hold a prescriptive easement for public access, and including designated and numbered U.S. and State highways.

Roof: The cover of a building, including the eaves and similar projections.

Roof line: The contour, shape or outline of a roof.

Roof, flat: A roof having no pitch or a pitch of not more than 2:12.

Roof, pitched: A shed, gabled, or hipped roof having a slope or pitch of at least two foot rise for each 12 feet of horizontal distance.

Salvage Operation and/or Junk Yard. Property used for outdoor storage, keeping, abandonment, sale or resale of junk including scrap metal, rags, paper or other scrap materials, used lumber, tires, batteries, salvage building wrecking and structural steel materials and equipment, or for the dismantling, demolition or abandonment of automobiles or other vehicles or machinery or parts thereof.

Scale: Proportional relationships of the size of parts to one another and to humans.

Scenic vista: A visual panorama with particular scenic value.

Scrap Tire Processing Plant. A facility which grinds, shreds, chops or otherwise processes scrap tires for secondary use.

Screening. A method of shielding or obscuring one abutting or nearby structure or use from another by opaque fencing, walls, berms, densely planted vegetation, or the like.

Sign. Any surface, fabric, device or display which bears letters, numbers, symbols, pictures or sculptured matter, whether illuminated or non-illuminated, designed to identify, announce, direct or inform and that is visible from a public right of way or adjacent property.

Sign Face Area. (SFA) The area as measured by the largest horizontal and vertical dimension of each sign including the lettering, graphics, or background including any extensions and open spaces. If the sign contains no frame or background then the largest vertical and horizontal dimensions of the lettering and graphics shall be used to calculate the SFA.

Sign, Ground. A permanently affixed sign that is anchored to the ground wholly independent of a building for support and mounted to a base at least as wide as the sign’s largest horizontal dimension. The base shall extend from the ground to the top of the sign structure and shall be faced with wood, fiber cement siding, brick or stone. High grade e.i.f.s or high grade stucco may be used up to 25% coverage.

Sign, Ground; Height. The distance in vertical feet from the elevation of the adjacent dedicated public street, edge of pavement, to the highest point of the sign structure. For property with an elevation higher than the adjacent public street, the height shall be measured from ground level at base of sign to the highest point of the sign structure. The ground shall not be altered for the sole purpose of providing additional sign height.

Sign, Multi-Message. Signs that are designed to change the message or copy on the sign face mechanically or electronically.

Sign, Project Informational. During any development project or building project, one sign may be placed at the entrance to the project site. No such sign shall be more than ten feet high or larger than thirty-two (32) square feet in size. Except that during the construction of any project within a residentially zoned area no such sign shall be more than three (3) feet high or larger than six (6) square feet in size.

Sign, Portable. Signs which are attached to vehicles, trailers, movable structures, or attached to sign structures which are not securely anchored into the ground, or any sign which may be transported or is designed to be transported. Except signs painted or permanently affixed to a single motor vehicle or trailer with an aggregate total of less than 12 square feet of sign face area.

Sign Structure. The structure to which a sign is mounted. Includes, footings, supporting base, frame and finish materials.

Sign, Temporary. A sign of a non-permanent nature.

Sign, Wall. A sign applied to or mounted to the wall or surface of a building or structure, the display surface which does not project more than six (6) inches, in any direction, from a wall of such a building or structure. The total lettering on one side of a building or structure shall constitute one wall sign.

Spa establishment: Any business established for profit that provides personal services such as body wraps, hydro mineral wraps, body polish, body wash, baths and hydro tub soak.

Solid Waste. Putrescible and non-putrescible wastes, except water-carried body waste, and shall include garbage, rubbish, ashes, street refuse, dead animals, sewage sludges, animal manures, industrial wastes, abandoned automobiles, dredging wastes, construction wastes, hazardous wastes and any other waste material in a solid or semi-solid state not otherwise defined in these regulations.

Solid Waste Transfer Station. Any facility which collects, consolidates, and ships solid waste to a disposal facility or processing operation.

Special Exception. A "Special Exception" is a use listed in the Zoning Ordinance as permitted if it meets stated conditions and is approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals after a public hearing.

Special Use. A "Special Use" is a use listed in the Zoning Ordinance as being permitted if it meets stated conditions and is approved by the City Council of The City of Sugar Hill.

Story. That portion of a building 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. A basement of a building shall not count as a story if the upper surface of the first floor above such basement complies with all of the following: 1) Is less than seven (7) feet above grade; 2) Is less than seven (7) feet above finished ground level for more than fifty

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

Street, Collector. A street shown as such in the Gwinnett County Comprehensive Plan or the City of Sugar Hill Comprehensive Plan, which is on file in the office of the City of Sugar Hill Planning and Development Department. The primary purpose of a Collector Street is to collect and distribute traffic between the Local Streets and the Major and Minor Arterial Streets and to provide access to adjacent properties.

Street furniture: Those features associated with a street that are intended to enhance the street’s physical character and use by pedestrians, such as benches, trash receptacles, planting containers, pedestrian lighting, kiosks, etc.

Street hardware: Objects other than buildings or street furniture that are part of the streetscape.

Examples are: non-pedestrian street light fixtures, utility poles, traffic lights and their fixtures, fire hydrants, etc.

Street, Local Nonresidential. A surface street intended primarily to provide local access to adjacent, existing, or planned commercial or industrial development and not through traffic.

Street, Local Residential. A surface street intended primarily to provide local access to adjacent residential development and not for through traffic.

Street, Major Arterial. A street shown as such in the Gwinnett County Comprehensive Plan or the City of Sugar Hill Comprehensive Plan, which is on file in the office of the City of Sugar Hill Planning and Development Department. The primary purpose of a Major Arterial Street is to carry longer trip length segments and larger volumes of traffic to, from and through the City.

Street, Major Thoroughfare. Any public street, existing or proposed, which is shown in the Comprehensive Plan as an arterial or major collector.

Street, Minor Arterial. A street shown as such in the Gwinnett County Comprehensive Plan or the City of Sugar Hill Comprehensive Plan, which is on file in the office of the City of Sugar Hill Planning and Development Department. The primary purpose of a Minor Arterial Street is to carry medium length trip segments and moderate volumes of traffic to, from and through the City.

Street, Principal Arterial. A street shown as such in the Gwinnett County Comprehensive Plan or the City of Sugar Hill Comprehensive Plan, which is on file in the office of the City of Sugar Hill Planning and Development Department. The primary purpose of a Principal Arterial Street is to carry very long trip length segments and very large volumes of traffic to, from and through the City.

Streetscape: The appearance and organization along a street of buildings, paving, plantings, street hardware, street furniture, and miscellaneous structures.

Structure. Anything constructed or erected on the ground or attached to something on the ground.

Subdivision. A tract of land which has been divided into two (2) or more lots, all fronting on a public street, and offered for sale as individual lots.

Surface Treated Area. An area which has been covered with asphalt or concrete.

Telecommunications Facilities. Refers to antenna and towers, either individually or together.

Tattoo: An indelible mark, figure, or decorative design introduced by pricking in, piercing or implanting indelible pigments, dyes or coloring matter into or under the subcutaneous portion of the skin or mucosa or by the production of scars upon the body of a live human. Includes the definition of tattoo as defined in O.C.G.A § 31-40-1(1) as may hereafter be amended. Includes all forms of cosmetic tattoos.

Tattooing: The practice of applying a tattoo(s) upon the body of a live human. Includes all forms of cosmetic tattooing.

Tattoo and Body Piercing Establishment: A facility where tattooing and body piercing is practiced or where the business of tattooing is conducted or any part thereof.

Through-street: A public or private street within a large-parcel redevelopment that connects a transit corridor to: (a) another public or private street within the large-parcel redevelopment; (b) a public or private street abutting the site; or (c) another property with through-access to another public or private street.

Tobacco store: Shall mean any premises used for the display, sale, distribution, delivery, offering, furnishing or marketing of tobacco or tobacco related products.

Tobacco-related products: Means any product in leaf, flake, plug, liquid, or any other form, containing nicotine derived from the tobacco plant, or otherwise derived, which is intended to enable human consumption of the tobacco or nicotine in the product. Including any paraphernalia, equipment, device, or instrument that is primarily designed or manufactured for the smoking, chewing, absorbing, dissolving, inhaling, snorting, sniffing, or ingesting by any other means into the body of tobacco or tobacco-related products such as pipes, punctured metal bowls, bongs, water bongs, electric pipes, e-cigarettes, e-cigarette juice, buzz bombs, vaporizers, hookahs, and devices for holding burning material. The term “tobacco-related product” exclude any product that has been specifically approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for sale as a tobacco/smoking cessation product or for other medical purposes, where such product is marketed and sold solely for such an approved purpose. Lighters and matches shall be excluded from the definition of tobacco-related products.

Tower. Means a structure, such as a lattice tower, guy tower, or monopole tower, constructed as a free-standing structure or in association with a building, other permanent structure or equipment, on which is located one or more antennae intended for transmitting or receiving digital, microwave, cellular, telephone, or similar forms of electronic communication. The term includes microwave towers, common carrier towers, and cellular telephone towers.

Town House. See "Dwelling, Attached."

Vape store: Means any premises used for the display, sale, distribution, delivery, offering, furnishing, or marketing of vape, or vape-related products.

Vape or vape juice: Means any substance that contains compounds containing pharmaceutical grade vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol, nicotine, food-grade flavoring and water, and can be used to deliver nicotine, cannabidiol, synthetics or other substances to a person inhaling from the device.

Vape-related products: Means any product or device that employs an electronic heating element, power source, electronic circuit, battery, or other electronic, chemical, or mechanical means to produce a vapor that delivers nicotine, synthetics, or other substances to a person inhaling from the device, including electronic cigarettes, electronic cigars, electronic hookahs, electronic bongs, electronic pipes, vape, vape juice and similar products or devices, whether manufactured, distributed, marketed, or sold as such.

Variance. A relaxation of the terms of the Sugar Hill Zoning Ordinance where such variance will not be contrary to the public interest and where, owing to conditions peculiar to the property, and not as a result of the action of the applicant, a literal enforcement of the Ordinance would result in unnecessary and undue hardship.

Veterinary Clinic. Facility for the treatment of domestic animals, operated under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian. The boarding of animals is limited to short-term care incidental to the clinic use and does not take place in outside runs or kennels.

View corridor: The line of signed identified as to height, width, and distance of an observer looking toward an object.

Viewshed: The area within view from a defined observation point.

Waste Incineration Facility. Any facility which reduces waste volume by burning at a high temperature for a specified period of time. This term excludes air curtain destructors used for the on-site burning of yard trimmings and wood wastes at a building, land disturbing, or development site.

Wild Animal. Any living member of the animal kingdom, including those born or raised in captivity; but excluding human beings, livestock, dogs and cats, rodents, hybrid animals that are part wild, captive-bred species of common cage birds and aquarium-kept fish, amphibians and reptiles.

Yard. An open space on a lot situated between the principal building or use on the lot and a lot line, and unoccupied by any structure except as otherwise provided herein.

Yard, Front: An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a principal building or use, extending the full width of the lot and located between the street line and the front line of the building projected parallel to the street to the side lines of the lot. Corner lots shall be considered to have two front yards. No other lot may have two front yards. Through lots shall have a front and rear yard to be determined by the Director of Planning and Development.

Yard, Rear. An open space on the same lot with a principal building or use, unoccupied except by an accessory building or use, extending the full width of the lot and located between the rear line of the lot and the rear line of the building or use projected to the side lines of the lot.

Yard, Side. An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a principal building or use, located between the building or use and the side line of the lot and extending from the rear line of the front yard to the front line of the rear yard.