VILLAGE OF CARO ZONING ORDINANCE

ARTICLE 18 GENERAL PROVISIONS

 

Section 1800 CONFLICTING REGULATIONS:

Whenever any provision of this Ordinance imposes more stringent requirements, regulations, restrictions or limitations than are imposed or required by the provisions of any other law or Ordinance, then the provisions of this Ordinance shall govern.  Whenever the provisions of any other law or Ordinance impose more stringent requirements than are imposed or required by this Ordinance, then the provisions of such Ordinance shall govern.

Section 1801 SCOPE:

No building or structure, or part thereof, shall hereafter be erected, constructed or altered and maintained, and no new use or change shall be made or maintained of any building, structure or land, or part thereof, except in conformity with the provisions of this Ordinance.

Section 1802 ACCESSORY BUILDINGS:

Accessory buildings, except as otherwise permitted in this Ordinance, shall be subject to the following regulations:

 

1.          Where the accessory building is structurally attached to a main building, it shall be subject to, and must conform to, all regulations of this Ordinance applicable to the main building.

 

2.          Accessory buildings shall not be erected in any minimum side yard setback nor in any front yard.

 

3.          An accessory building shall not occupy more than twenty-five (25) percent of a required rear yard, provided that in a residential district the total lot coverage of the accessory building shall not exceed the ground floor area of the main building. Accessory buildings shall not exceed fourteen (14) feet in total height.

 

4.          No detached accessory building shall be located closer than ten (10) feet to any main building nor shall it be located closer than eight (8) feet to any side or rear lot line to the exterior wall of the structure.

 

5.          No more than one (1) attached or detached accessory building shall be permitted for each lot, excluding garages, either attached or detached.

 

6.          Dwelling units with attached garages may be allowed not more than one (1) detached accessory building not to exceed two hundred fifty (250) square feet in total area. Dwelling units without an attached garage may be allowed not more than one (1) detached accessory building not to exceed seven hundred ninety (790) square feet in total area. On a parcel of one (1) acre or more, no detached accessory building shall exceed one thousand five hundred (1500) square feet.

 

7.          When an accessory building is located on a corner lot, the side lot line of which is substantially a continuation of the front lot line of the lot to its rear, said building shall not project beyond the front yard setback required on the lot to the rear of such corner lot. In no instance shall an accessory building be located nearer than ten (10) feet to a street right-of-way line.

 

8.          The parking of recreational vehicles, motor homes, campers or boats owned by residents of the Village and stored on the individual lots shall be stored only within the confines of the rear yard and shall further respect the requirements of this Section 1802 ACCESSORY BUILDINGS,           insofar as distances from principal structures, lot lines and easements are concerned. They shall be parked on a driveway or a separate concrete slab.

 

9.          A detached accessory building, when located on the same or adjoining lot, shall not involve any business, profession, trade or occupation.

 

10.       Side walls may not exceed eight (8) feet in height.  Accessory buildings shall not exceed fourteen (14) feet in total height.

Section 1803 EXTERIOR LIGHTING:

1.          All outdoor lighting in all use districts used to light the general area of a specific site shall be shielded to reduce glare and shall be so arranged as to reflect lights away from all adjacent residential districts or adjacent residences.

 

2.          All outdoor lighting in all use districts shall be directed toward and confined to the ground areas of lawns or parking lots.

 

3.          All lighting in nonresidential districts used for the external illumination of buildings, so as to feature said buildings, shall be placed and shielded so as not to interfere with the vision of persons on adjacent highways or adjacent property.

 

4.          Illumination of signs shall be directed or shaded downward so as not to interfere with the vision of persons on the adjacent highways or adjacent property.

 

5.          All illumination of signs and any other outdoor feature shall not be of a flashing, moving or intermittent type.  Artificial light shall be maintained stationary and constant in intensity and color at all times when in use.

Section 1804 RESIDENTIAL ENTRANCEWAY:

In all Residential Districts, so called entranceway structures including but not limited to walls, columns, and gates marking entrances to single family subdivisions or multiple housing projects may be permitted and may be located in a required yard, except as provided in Section 1807 CORNER CLEARANCE, provided that such entranceway structures shall comply to all codes of the Village and shall be approved by the Building Department and a permit issued.

Section 1805 GARAGE SALES, ESTATE SALES, RUMMAGE SALES, AND THE LIKE:

Garage (yard, porch, rummage, basement, estate, etc.) sales are permitted as an accessory use to any attached or detached single-family residence, provided that any one (1) garage sale does not last more than three (3) days and only two (2) garage sales are permitted per residence per year. A permit must be purchased from the Village and must be attached to the premises of the garage sale. No signs advertising a garage sale or similar activity shall be placed upon public property. A sign advertising a garage sale is permitted to be placed upon private property with the consent of the owner of the said property. All signs must conform to the Village off-premise sign ordinance.

Section 1806 CORNER CLEARANCE:

No fence, wall, shrubbery, sign or other obstruction to vision above a height of two (2) feet from the established street grades shall be permitted within the triangular area formed at the intersection of any street right-of-way lines by a straight line drawn between said right-of-way lines at a distance along each line of twenty-five (25) feet from their point of intersection.

 

Screening Walls or Fences:

1.          For those use districts and uses listed below, there shall be provided and maintained on those sides abutting or adjacent to a residential district an obscuring wall or fence as required below (except otherwise required in subsection 4 of this Section 1808):

 

	USE	REQUIREMENTS
a.	P-1 Vehicular Parking District	4' -6" high wall or fence
b.	Off-street Parking Area (other than P-1 Districts)	4' -6" high wall or fence
c.	B-1, B-2 and OS-1 Districts	4'-6" high wall or fence
d.	I-1 and I-2 Districts - open storage areas, loading or unloading areas, service areas	4' to 8' high wall (Height shall provide the most complete obscuring possible) (See Section 1700.1. and Section 1808.4.)
e.	Auto wash drive-in restaurants	6' - 0" high wall or fence
f.	Hospital-ambulance and delivery areas	6' - 0" high wall or fence
g.	Utility buildings, stations and/or substations	6' - 0" high wall, and/or a 6' - 0" high greenbelt complying with Section 1908.

 

2.          Required walls or fences shall be located on the lot line except where underground utilities interfere and except in instances where this Ordinance requires conformance with front yard setback lines in abutting Residential Districts.  Upon review of the site plan, the Planning Commission may approve an alternate location for the wall or fence or may waive the wall requirement if in specific cases it would not serve the purpose of screening the parking area effectively.  Required walls may, upon approval of the Board of Appeals, be located on the opposite side of an alley right-of-way from a nonresidential zone that abuts a residential zone when mutually agreeable to affected property owners.  The continuity of the required wall on a given block will  be a major consideration of the Board of Appeals in reviewing such request.

3.          Such walls or fences and screening barrier shall have no openings for vehicular traffic or other purposes, except as otherwise provided in this Ordinance and except such openings as may be approved by the Chief of Police and the Zoning Administrator.  All walls herein required shall be constructed of materials approved by the Zoning Administrator to be durable, weather resistant, rust proof and easily maintained.

 

Masonry walls may be constructed with openings which do not in any square section (height and width) exceed twenty (20) percent of the surface.  Where walls are so pierced, the openings shall be so spaced as to maintain the obscuring character required, and shall not reduce the minimum height requirement.  The arrangement of the openings shall be reviewed and approved by the Zoning Administrator.

 

4.          The requirement for an obscuring wall or fence between off-street parking areas, outdoor storage areas, and any abutting residential district shall not be required when such areas are located more than two hundred (200) feet from such abutting residential district.

 

5.          The Board of Appeals may waive or modify the foregoing requirements where cause can be shown that no good purpose would be served, provided that in no instance shall a required wall be permitted to be less than four feet (4') in height, except where Section 1807 applies.

 

In consideration of request to waive wall requirements between nonresidential and residential districts, the Board shall refer the request to the Planning Commission for a determination as to whether or not the residential district is considered to be an area in transition and will become nonresidential in the future.

 

In such cases as the Planning Commission determines, the residential district to be a future nonresidential area, the Board may temporarily waive wall requirements for an initial period not to exceed twelve (12) months.  Granting of subsequent waivers shall be permitted, provided that the Planning Commission shall make a determination as hereinafter described, for each subsequent waiver prior to the granting of such waiver by the Board.

Section 1807 RESIDENTIAL FENCES:

Fences are permitted or required, subject to the following:

 

1.          Fences on all lots of record in all residential districts which enclose property or are within a required side or rear yard, shall not exceed six (6) feet in height, measured from the surface of the ground, and shall not extend toward the front of the lot nearer than the front of the house or the required minimum front yard, whichever is greater.

 

2.          Recorded lots having a lot area in excess of two (2) acres and a frontage of at least two hundred (200) feet, and acreage or parcels not included within the boundaries of a recorded plat, in all residential districts, are excluded from these regulations.

 

3.          Fences shall not contain barbed wire, electric current or charge of electricity.

 

4.          Fences which enclose public or institutional parks, playgrounds, or public landscaped areas, situated within an area developed with recorded lots shall not exceed eight (8) feet in height, measured from the surface of the ground, and shall not obstruct vision to an extent greater than twenty-five (25) percent of their total area.

 

5.          Decorative or ornamental fences such as, but not limited to split rail or picket fences no higher than 36' from grade are permitted in the front yard.

 

6.          The property owner erecting the fence is responsible for maintaining both sides of the fence.

 

7.          If there is a good side to the fence, it shall be situated so as to face the neighbor’s residence.

Section 1808 FRONTAGE ON A PUBLIC STREET:

No lot shall be used for any purpose permitted by this Ordinance unless said lot abuts a public street the width of the minimum lot width in the district it is located in or unless this Ordinance otherwise provides such as in the case of permitted access drives as outlined in Article 24.

Section 1809 ACCESS TO MAJOR THOROUGHFARE OR COLLECTOR STREET:

For uses making reference to this Section 1811, vehicular access shall be provided only to an existing or planned major thoroughfare, or collector street.  Provided, however, that access driveways may be permitted to other than a major thoroughfare, or collector street where such access is provided to a street where the property directly across the street from such driveway and the major thoroughfare or collector street is zoned for multiple-family use or any nonresidential uses, is developed with permanent uses other than single-family purposes in the future.  This exception shall only apply if the Planning Commission finds that there are special circumstances which indicate that there will be a substantial improvement in traffic safety by reducing the number of driveways to a thoroughfare.

Section 1810 STANDARDS FOR SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCES:

1.         Any mobile home shall be placed on a concrete slab (wire meshed) which extends at least 6" above the outside dimensions of the mobile home. This slab shall be at least 4" thick on sandy soil or 6" thick on clay soil.  The mobile home shall be anchored to this slab in compliance with mobile home manufacturer’s specs.

 

2.         Any pre–manufactured or precut residential structures shall be supported and attached agreeable to Michigan Construction Code.

 

3.         For residences without basements, a masonry skirting, brick or concrete blocks shall be erected between the slab and lower edge of any home on all sides and shall be sufficiently vented.  An access panel of sufficient size to allow full access to utility hook–ups shall be installed in the rear section of the masonry skirting.

 

4.         Permanently attached steps or a porch shall be constructed where an elevation differential requires same.

 

5.         Any mobile home shall bear the Michigan State Construction Inspection Seal.

 

6.         The minimum ceiling height shall be 7.5 feet.

 

7.         The minimum width of any exterior side shall be twenty (20 ft).

 

8.         There shall be no exposed wheels, towing mechanism, undercarriage or chassis.

 

9.         The dwelling shall be connected to public water and sewer as provided by local ordinance.

 

10.       Any single family shall be constructed to be compatible aesthetically and in design with other single family structures within a three hundred (300) foot radius of it.  Characteristics used in comparing compatibility shall include roof pitch, roofing and siding material, length of eaves and location and arrangement of windows, doors and porches.  A dwelling may be approved as aesthetically compatible in design and appearance to homes in the neighborhood in which it is located, even if all of the above conditions do not exist, provided that the dwelling or site has other design features that make it compatible.

 

11.       There shall be no additions of any less quality construction than the original construction.

 

12.       The dwelling shall comply with all building and fire codes including those pertaining to newly manufactured mobile homes or other homes and such other standards as may be hereafter developed.

 

13.       The foregoing standards shall not apply to mobile homes located within a mobile home park.

Section 1811 RECREATIONAL VEHICLES:

1.         Recreational Vehicle: Vehicles, whether or not motorized, used primarily for recreational purposes including motor homes, campers, travel trailers, jet skis, snowmobiles and trailers used to transport the same or similar vehicles.

 

2.         Recreational vehicles parked in an RA-1 or RA-2 District shall be parked off public streets in the following locations:

 

            a.         Inside an accessory building,

            b.         on a gravel or other all-weather surface, or

            c.         if in the front yard, on a driveway.

 

3.         Recreational vehicles parked in rear or side yards must meet all of the regulations applicable to accessory buildings under Section 1902.

 

4.         Recreational vehicles shall not be used as a living quarters for a period exceeding 14 consecutive days.

Section 1812 TRASH ENCLOSURES

1.         Dumpsters are required for all developments other than single-family residential. All dumpsters shall be located in trash enclosures placed at the rear of a site, in an area obscured from adjacent properties and thoroughfares and shall meet the following requirements:

 

a.         Trash enclosures shall be six (6) feet high and shall be gated and screened in a manner consistent with the color and materials on the building(s).

 

b.         Trash enclosures in any residential, office and commercial zoning districts shall be constructed of decorative masonry to match the building.

 

c.         For all uses, the trash receptacle area shall be screened at the opening with a six (6) foot high metal-framed wood screening gate.

           

2.         Where the Planning Commission determines that the type of operation does not necessitate a dumpster, the Commission may vary the requirements of this section to facilitate the trash storage needs of the development.

           

3.         No dumpster shall be allowed within the front yard.

 

4.         If no dumpster is required or needed for a proposed use, this shall be noted on any site plan.

 

5.         Ballards will be required to protect the structure.

 

6.         All trash enclosures shall have a six (6) inch reinforced concrete floor and apron.