Title 15 BUILDINGS AND CONSTRUCTION
Chapter 15.40 HOUSING STANDARDS
15.40.044 Definitions.
A. Generally. Unless otherwise expressly stated the following
terms shall, for the purpose of this chapter, have the meanings indicated in
this article.
B. Interchangeability. Words used in the present tense
include the future; words in the masculine gender include the feminine and
neuter; the singular number includes the plural and the plural includes the
singular.
C. Terms Defined in the Building Code. Where terms are not
defined in this chapter and are defined in the building code, they shall have
the same meanings ascribed to them as in the building code.
D. Terms Not Defined. Where terms are not defined under the
provisions of this chapter or under the provisions of the building code, they
shall have ascribed to them their ordinarily accepted meanings or such as the
context herein may imply.
E. Applied Meanings and Terms. For the purpose of this
chapter, whenever the words "dwelling," "dwelling unit," "rooming unit," or
"premises" are used in this chapter, they shall be construed as though they were
followed by the words "or any part thereof."
F. Definitions.
1. "Approved" means in accordance with this
chapter.
2. "Basement" means a portion (story or level) of a building
or structure partly underground but having less than one-half of its clear
floor-to-ceiling height below the average grade of the adjoining
ground.
3. "Building code" means the building code of the village as
incorporated as a part of the municipal code.
4. "Director of village inspections" means the official
designated by the municipality to enforce building, zoning, or similar laws and
this chapter, or his duly authorized representative.
5. "Cellar" means a portion of any living unit structure
located partly or completely below grade but having more than half of its clear
floor-to-ceiling height below the average grade of the adjoining
ground.
6. "Dwelling" means any building which is wholly or partly
used or intended to be used for living or sleeping by human occupants; provided,
that temporary housing as hereinafter defined shall not be regarded as a
dwelling:
a. "One-family dwelling" means a building containing one
dwelling unit which lodges one family as hereinafter defined.
b. "Two-family dwelling" means a building containing two
dwelling units with not more than two families as hereinafter defined, but not
more than twenty individuals.
c. "Multi-family dwelling" means a building or portion
thereof containing more than two dwelling units and not classified as a
one-or-two-family dwelling.
d. "Boarding house/tourist house" means a building arranged
or used for the lodging with or without meals, for compensation, of more than
five but not more than twenty individuals.
e. "Lodging house" means any building or portion thereof
containing not more than five guests where rent is paid in money, goods, labor
or otherwise. A lodging house shall comply with all the requirements for
dwellings.
f. "Dormitory" means a space in a building where group
sleeping accommodations are provided for persons who are not members of the same
family group, in one room or in a series of closely associated rooms.
g. "Hotel" or "motel" means any building containing six or
more guest rooms intended or designed to be used, or which are used, rented or
hired out to be occupied, or which are occupied for sleeping purposes by
guests.
7. "Dwelling unit" means any room or group of rooms located
within a structure and forming a single habitable unit with facilities which are
used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking, eating and
sanitation.
8. "Electrical code" means the 1975 National Electrical Code
as adopted in the building code.
9. "Exterior property areas" means the open space on the
premises and on adjoining property under the control of owners or operators of
such premises.
10. "Extermination" means the control and elimination of
insects, rodents or other pests by eliminating their harborage places by
removing or making inaccessible materials that may serve as their food; by
poisoning, spraying, fumigating, trapping; or by any other recognized and legal
pest elimination methods approved by the director of village
inspections.
11. "Family" means an individual or two or more persons
related by blood, marriage or law, or a group of not more than five persons
(excluding servants), who need not be so related, living together in a dwelling
unit.
12. "Fire prevention code" means the fire prevention code of
the village as incorporated as a part of the municipal code.
13. "Garbage" means the animal and vegetable waste resulting
from the handling, preparation, cooking and consumption of food. Also, all
matter being discarded by the habitants of a given structure or
environs.
14. "Gross floor area" means the total area of all habitable
space in a building or structure.
15. "Habitable room" means an enclosed floor space used or to
be used for living, sleeping, cooking, or eating purposes, excluding bathrooms,
water closet compartments, laundries, furnace rooms, pantries, kitchenettes and
utility rooms of less than fifty square feet of floor space, foyers or
connecting corridors, stairways, closets, storage spaces and workshops, lobby
and recreation areas in parts of structure below ground level or in
attics.
16. "Infestation" means the presence, within or around a
dwelling, of any insects, rodents or other pests.
17. "Noxious weeds" means any annual or perennial herbaceous
plant of volunteer growth which is not cultivated or useful for human food or
enjoyment and which, when in blossom, exhales an unpleasant odor or gives off
pollen irritating to human tissue; and also any high bank vegetable growth that
may conceal debris or filthy deposits or constitutes a fire hazard when
dry.
18. "Occupant" means any person including an owner or
operator over one year of age, living and sleeping in a dwelling unit or rooming
unit or having actual possession of said dwelling or rooming unit.
19. "Openable area" means the part of a window or door which
is available for unobstructed ventilation and which opens directly to the
outdoors.
20. "Operator" means any person having charge, care,
management or control of any structure or part of it in which dwelling units or
rooming units are let or offered for occupancy.
21. "Owner" includes the owner, his agents for the purpose of
managing, controlling or collecting rents, any other person managing or
controlling a building or premises, any person entitled to the control or
direction of the management or disposition of a building or premises.
22. "Person" means an individual, firm, corporation,
association, or partnership.
23. "Plumbing" means water-heating facilities, water pipes,
garbage disposal units, waste pipes, water closets, sinks, installed
dishwashers, lavatories, bathtubs, shower baths, installed clothes washing
machines, catch basins, drains, vents and other similar supplied fixtures,
together with all connections to water or sewer lines.
24. "Plumbing code" means the plumbing code of the village,
being the plumbing code of the state.
25. "Premises" means a lot, plat or parcel of land including
the buildings or structures thereon.
26. "Rooming house" means any residence, building, or any
part thereof, containing one or more rooming units, in which space is let by the
owner or operator to more than five persons who are not members of the
family.
27. "Rooming unit" means any room or groups of rooms forming
a single habitable unit used or intended to be used for living and sleeping, but
not for cooking or eating purposes.
28. "Rubbish" means any combustible and noncombustible waste
material, except garbage; and the term shall include the residue from the
burning of wood, coal, coke and other combustible material, paper, rags,
cartons, boxes, wood, excelsior, rubbish, leather, tree branches, yard
trimmings, tin cans, metals, mineral matter, glass crockery and dust.
29. "Structure" means that which is built or
constructed.
30. "Supplied" means paid for, furnished or provided by or
under the control of the owner or operator.
31. "Temporary housing" means any tent, trailer, recreational
vehicle or other structure used for human habitations which is designated to be
transportable and which is not attached to the ground, to another structure or
to any utilities system on the same premises for more than fifteen consecutive
days.
32. "Ventilation" means the process of supplying and removing
air by natural or mechanical means to or from any space. In the context of this
definition:
a. "Mechanical" means ventilation by power-driven vehicles;
and
b. "Natural" means ventilation by opening to outer air
through windows, skylights, doors, louvers, or stacks without wind driven
devices.
33. Workmanlike. Whenever the words "workmanlike state of
maintenance and repair" are used in this chapter, they shall mean that such
maintenance and repair shall be made in a reasonably skillful manner.
34. "Yard" means an open, unoccupied space on the same lot
with a building extending along the entire length of a street, or rear, or
interior lot line. (Ord. 1977-14 § 2-1, 1977)