Covington

State means the Commonwealth of Virginia.

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

Street or road means a public thoroughfare.

Used includes "erected," "reconstructed," "altered," "placed" or "moved."

Adjacent means "nearby" and not necessarily "contiguous."

Administrative official or zoning administrator means the official charged with the enforcement of the zoning ordinance.

Accessory use means a use of land or a use of a building or structure for purposes customarily incidental and clearly subordinate to the principal use of the lot on which it is located.

For the purpose of this ordinance, certain words and terms are herein defined as follows; unless the obvious construction of the wording indicates otherwise, words used in the present tense include the future tense, words in the singular number include the plural number and words in the plural number include the singular number.

Setback means the minimum distance by which any building or structure must be separated from the front lot line. Where the dedicated street right-of-way is less than 50 feet, the setback shall be measured from a point which is 25 feet from the centerline of the street rather than the front lot line.

Garage apartment means a private garage as defined previously that has one dwelling unit all located in the story above the automobile parking story. No dwelling unit may be placed over a one-car garage. No garage apartment can be higher than the main building.

Home occupation means an occupation conducted in a dwelling unit, provided that: (a) No person other than members of the family residing on the premises shall be engaged in such occupation. (b) The use of the dwelling unit for the home occupation shall be clearly incidental and subordinate to its use for residential purposes by the family, and not more than 25 percent of the floor area of the dwelling unit, or 25 percent of said floor area if conducted in an accessory building, shall be used in the conduct of the home occupation.

Accessory building or structure means a building or structure separate from the main building on a lot and used for purposes clearly subordinate to and customarily incidental to the principal use of the lot on which it is located and located upon the same lot occupied by the main use or building, provided that no such accessory building shall be used for housekeeping purposes.

Family means an individual, or two or more persons related by blood or marriage, or a group of not more than five persons (excluding servants), who need not be related by blood or marriage, living together as a single housekeeping unit in a dwelling unit.

Private garage means an accessory building designed or used for the storage of not more than three automobiles owned and used by the occupants of the building to which it is accessory; provided, that on a lot occupied by a multiple dwelling, the private garage may be designed and used for the storage of 1½ times as many automobiles as there are dwelling units in the multiple dwelling.

Cellar means a story having more than one-half its height below lot grade and which may not be occupied for dwelling purposes.

Basement means a story having part, but not more than one-half of its height below grade. A basement shall be counted as a story, for the purpose of height regulations, if it is subdivided and used for business purposes or for dwelling purposes.

Half story means the space under a sloping roof, which has the line of intersection of roof decking and wall face not more than four feet above the top floor level, and in which space not more than two-thirds of the floor area is finished off for use.

In case of any dispute over the meaning of a word, phrase, or a sentence, whether defined herein or not, the zoning administrator is hereby authorized to make a definitive determination thereof, being guided in such determination by the purposes and intent of this ordinance as set forth in article I; provided, however, that an appeal may be taken from any such determination as provided in article XIX.

Within any floodway area, no encroachments, including fill, new construction, substantial improvements, or other development shall be permitted unless it has been demonstrated through hydrologic and hydraulic analysis... The placement of manufactured homes (mobile homes) is prohibited, except in an existing manufactured home (mobile home) park or subdivision.

Within any floodway area, no encroachments, including fill, new construction, substantial improvements, or other development shall be permitted unless it has been demonstrated through hydrologic and hydraulic analysis... that the proposed encroachment will not result in any increase in flood levels within the community during the occurrence of the base flood discharge.