Town of Poland Maine - Chapter 14 Definitions

In the interpretation and enforcement of this Code, all words other than those specifically defined in the various Chapters shall have the meaning implied by their context or their ordinarily accepted meaning. In the case of any difference of meaning or implication between the text of this Code and any map, illustration or table, the text shall control.

Access Right-of-way: A narrow portion of a parcel of land abutting a right-of-way that; (1) does not meet road frontage requirements for the parcel, (2) is too narrow to build on or is impractical to build a primary structure because of setbacks, and (3) is used as a corridor for ingress and egress to the main body of the parcel where a primary structure may be built. Access right-of-ways shall not count towards the required road frontage for the lot(s) using access.

Accessory Structure or Use: a use or structure that is incidental and subordinate to the principal use or structure. Accessory uses, when aggregated, shall not subordinate the principal use of the lot. A deck or similar extension of the principal structure or a garage attached to the principal structure by a roof or a common wall is considered part of the principal structure.

Adult Book/Video Store: An establishment having as a substantial or significant portion of it stock in trade books, magazines, publications, tapes or videos that are distinguished or characterized by their emphasis on matter depicting, describing, or relating to sexual activities or anatomical genital areas.

Adult Entertainment Facility: An establishment devoted to adult entertainment, either with or without a liquor license, presenting material distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on matter depicting, describing, or relating to sexual activities or anatomical genital areas or features topless dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators, or similar entertainers for observation by patrons.

Aggrieved Party: an owner of land whose property is directly affected by the granting or denial of a permit or variance; or a person whose land abuts or is across a road or street or body of water from land for which a permit or variance has been granted; or any other person or group of persons who have suffered particularized injury as a result of the granting or denial of such permit or variance.

Agriculture: the production, keeping, or maintenance, for sale or lease, of plants and/or animals, including but not limited to: forages and sod crops; grains and seed crops; dairy animals and dairy products; poultry and poultry products; livestock; fruits and vegetables; and ornamental and green house products. Agriculture does not include forest management, timber harvesting activities or confined feeding operations.

Amusement Facility: Any indoor or outdoor private, commercial premises which are maintained or operated primarily for the amusement, patronage, or recreation of the public containing four (4) or more table sports, pinball machines, video games, or similar mechanical or electronic games, mechanical rides, booths for the conduct of games or sale of items whether activated by coins, tokens or discs, or whether activated through remote control by the management.

Area of a Shallow Flooding: Means a designated AO and AH zone on the Town of Poland Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) with a one percent or greater annual chance of flooding to an average depth of one to three feet where a clearly defined channel does not exist, where the path of flooding is unpredictable, and where velocity flow may be evident. Such flooding is characterized by ponding or sheet flow.

Automobile Graveyard: In addition to those vehicles defined in Auto graveyards and recycling businesses in the definitions in Title 30-A, M.R.S.A. Section 3752, (unserviceable, discarded, worn out, et al) other vehicles included in the definition shall be those that meet any of the following criteria:

Also included with these vehicles are commercial, box, tanker, flatbed, tandem, utility, boat, snowmobile, travel, other trailers, or railroad cars designed to be hauled behind a motorized vehicle or another trailer and fall into the same categories described in Title 30-A, M.R.S.A. Section 3752.

Automotive Storage Lot: A lot or part thereof that is used for the storage for more than sixty (60) days of more than three (3) automobiles, trucks, and/or other motorized vehicles, as defined in Title 29-A MRSA, Section 101, Subsection 42, or parts of such vehicles. These vehicles are exempt providing they are registered and inspected, or wholly contained within a structure with solid roof and permanent walls around the entire perimeter of the structure.

Banner: Any sign of lightweight fabric or similar material that is permanently mounted to a pole or a building by a permanent frame at one or more edges. National flags, State or Municipal flags, or the official flag of any institution or business shall not be considered banners.

Bed and Breakfast: Any dwelling in which transient lodging or boarding and lodging are provided and offered to the public for compensation for less than one (1) month. This dwelling shall also be the full-time, permanent residence of its owner. There shall be no provisions for cooking in any individual guest room.

Breakaway Wall: means a wall that is not part of the structural support of the building and is intended through its design and construction to collapse under specific lateral loading forces without causing damage to the elevated portion of the building or supporting foundation system.

Business/Commercial: The use of lands, buildings, or structures, other than home occupations, the intent and result of which activity is the production of income from the buying and selling of goods or services except as defined herein. The definition does not include the rental of residential buildings or dwelling units.

Business and Professional Offices: The place of business of doctors, lawyers, accountants, financial advisors, architects, surveyors, real estate and insurance businesses, psychiatrists, counselors and the like or in which a business conducts its administrative, financial or clerical operations including banks and other financial services, but not retail sales nor activities utilizing trucks as part of the business operation.

Campground: Land upon which one or more tents are erected or recreational vehicles are parked for temporary family recreational use for a fee on sites arranged specifically for that purpose. The word "campground" shall include the words "camping ground" and "tenting grounds."

Club: Any voluntary association of persons organized for social, religious, benevolent, literary, scientific or political purposes; whose facilities, especially a clubhouse, are open to members and guests only and not the general public; and not engaged in activities customarily carried on by a business or for pecuniary gain. Such term shall include fraternities, sororities and social clubs generally.

Club, Private: Any building or rooms, which serves as a meeting place for an incorporated or unincorporated association for civic, social, cultural, religious, literary, political, recreational or like activities, operated for the benefit of its members and not open to the general public.

Club, Recreational: Any building or land which serves as a meeting place or recreation area for an incorporated or unincorporated association or group operated for the benefit of its members and guests and not open to the general public, and not engaged in activities customarily carded on by a business for pecuniary gain.

Commercial Recreation Facility: Any commercial enterprise which receives a fee in return for the provision of some recreational activity including but not limited to: racquet and tennis clubs, health facility, amusement parks, gymnasiums, swimming pools, and bowling alleys but not including amusement facilities, as defined herein.

Complete Application: An application shall be considered complete upon submission of the required fee, a signed application and all information required by this Code except as validly waived by a vote of the Planning Board to waive the submission of required information that may not be applicable.

Comprehensive Plan: Comprehensive Plan means a document or interrelated documents containing the elements established under Title 30-A, M.R.S.A. Section 4326, subsection 1 to 4, including the strategies for an implementation program which are consistent with the goals and guidelines established under subchapter II.

Congregate Care Facility: Residential housing consisting of private apartments and central dining facilities and within which a congregate housing supportive services program serves functionally impaired elderly or disabled occupants; the individuals are unable to live independently yet do not require the constant supervision or intensive health care available at intermediate care or skilled nursing facilities. Congregate housing shall include only those facilities that have been certified by the State of Maine as meeting all certification standards and guidelines for congregate housing facilities as promulgated by the Department of Human Services pursuant to the provisions of Maine State Statutes.

Conservation Easement: A non-possessory interest in real property imposing limitations or affirmative obligations, the purposes of which include retaining or protecting natural, scenic or open space values of real property; assuring its availability for agricultural, forest, recreational or open space use; protecting natural resources; or maintaining air or water quality.

Day Care Facility: A place in which a person maintains or otherwise carries out a regular program, for consideration, for any part of the day providing care and protection for three (3) or more children under thirteen (13) years of age and employs more than one (1) other person not including the owner/operator.

Demolition/Waste Disposal: A facility including a landfill operated by a public, quasi-public or private entity which purpose is to dispose of useless, unwanted or discarded solid material with insufficient liquid content to be free flowing, including by way of example, and not by limitation to, rubbish, garbage, scrap materials, junk, refuse, inert fill material, landscape refuse, and demolition debris. The definition does not, however, include commercial hazardous waste disposal facilities or recycling of products.

Development [Floodplain Management Standards]: Means any change by individuals or entities to improved or unimproved real estate, including but not limited to, the construction of buildings or other structures; the construction of additions or substantial improvements to buildings or other structures; mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation, drilling operations or storage of equipment or materials; and the storage, deposition, or extraction of materials, public or private wastewater disposal systems or water supply facilities.

Disability: Any disability, infirmity, malformation, disfigurement, congenital defect or mental condition caused by bodily injury, accident, disease, birth defect, environmental conditions or illness; and also includes the physical or mental condition of a person which constitutes a substantial handicap as determined by a psychologist as well as any other health or sensory impairment which requires special education, vocational rehabilitation or related services.

3. Multi-family Dwelling: A structure containing three (3) or more dwelling units such buildings being designed exclusively for residential use and occupancy by three or more families living independently of one another with the number of families not exceeding the number of dwelling units.

Dwelling Unit: A room or suite of rooms used by a family as a habitation which is separate from other such rooms or suites of rooms, and which contains independent living, cooking, sleeping, and bathroom facilities. For the purposes of this definition so called commercial housekeeping cottages and the like are not considered dwellings in regards to lot size requirements.

Elderly/Disabled Housing: A dwelling complex that is occupied by a minimum of ten (10) persons sixty-two (62) years of age or older and/or disabled persons as a residential living environment with other persons sixty-two (62) years of age or older and/or disabled persons.

Emergency Operations: Operations conducted for the public health, safety or general welfare, such as protection of resources from immediate destruction or loss, law enforcement, and operations to rescue human beings, property and livestock from the threat of destruction or injury.

Essential Services: Electric power, or water transmission or distribution lines, towers, and related equipment; telephone cables or lines, poles, and related equipment; municipal sewage lines, collection or supply systems; and associated storage tanks. Such systems may include towers, poles, wires, mains, drains, pipes, conduits, cables, fire alarms and police call boxes, traffic signals, hydrants, and similar accessories, but shall not include service drops or buildings which are necessary for the furnishing of such services.

2. The collapse or subsidence of land along the shore of a lake or other body of water as a result of erosion or undermining caused by waves or currents of water exceeding anticipated cyclical levels or suddenly caused by an unusually high water level in a natural body of water, accompanied by a severe storm, or by an unanticipated force of nature, such as flash flood, or by some similarly unusual and unforeseeable even which results in flooding.

Floodplain Management Regulations: Means zoning Codes and ordinances, subdivision regulations, building Codes, health regulations, special purpose ordinances (such as floodplain, grading or erosion control ordinances) and other applications of police power. The term describes such Federal, State or local regulations, in any combination thereof, which provide standards for the purpose of flood damage prevention and reduction.

Flood Proofing: Means any combination of structural and non-structural additions, changes, or adjustments to structures which reduce or eliminate flood damage to real estate or improved real property, water and sanitary facilitates, structures and contents.

Forest Management Activities: Timber cruising and other forest resource evaluation activities, pesticide or fertilizer application, management planning activities, timber stand improvement, pruning, regeneration of forest stands, and other similar or associated activities, exclusive of timber harvesting and the construction, creation or maintenance of roads.

Freeboard: Means a factor of safety usually expressed in feet above a flood level for purposes of floodplain management. "Freeboard" tends to compensate for the many unknown factors, such as wave action, bridge openings, and the hydrological effect of urbanization of the watershed, that could contribute to flood heights greater than the height calculated for a selected size flood and floodway conditions.

Frontage, Road: The linear distance between the sidelines of a lot measured along the lot line that borders ~~upon whatever~~ the right-of-way that serves as legal access to the lot. A lot that borders more than one side of a right-of-way shall use the centerline of the right-of-way for frontage measurement with the property’s side lines extending perpendicular to the right-of-way’s centerline.

Functionally Water-Dependent Uses: Those uses that require, for their primary purpose, location on submerged lands or that require direct access to, or location in, inland waters and that cannot be located away from these waters. The uses include, but are not limited to recreational fishing and boating facilities, excluding recreational boat storage, waterfront dock facilities, boat yards and boat building facilities, navigation aides, retaining walls, industrial uses requiring large volumes of cooling or processing water that cannot reasonably be located or operated at an inland site.

Garage/Lawn/Yard Sales, etc.: The sale of used personal possessions, usually from one's residence, to the general public exclusive of items that usually require a registration and/or excise fee to use them. Sales events are short in duration and few in number in any given twelve-month period.

General Storage Lot: A lot or portions thereof used for the outdoor sale and/or storage of used equipment and materials that covers a total aggregate area of more than four hundred square feet (400 sq ft) of land area and/or piled to a height of more than six feet (6’) high. Used equipment and materials include but are not limited to: used plumbing, heating, and electrical supplies; used household appliances and furniture; used lumber; all types of used metals, ropes, rags, batteries, trash, and debris; and plastic, rubber, and rubber-like goods of all types.

Great Pond: Any inland body of water which in a natural state has a surface area in excess of ten (10) acres, and any inland body of water artificially formed or increased which has a surface area in excess of thirty (30) acres except where the artificially formed or increased inland body of water is completely surrounded by land held by a single owner.

Group Home: A housing facility for more than eight (8) mentally handicapped or developmentally disabled persons which is approved, authorized, certified or licensed by the State. A group home may include a community living facility, foster home or intermediate care facility.

High Intensity Soil Survey: A soil survey conducted by a State of Maine Department of Human Services certified Soil Scientist meeting the standards of the National Cooperative Soil Survey which identifies soil types down to 1/10 acre or less at a scale equivalent to subdivision plan submitted. The mapping units shall be the soil series. Single soil test pits and their evaluation shall not be considered to constitute high intensity soil surveys.

1. Listed individually in the National Register of Historic Places (a listing maintained by the Department of Interior) or preliminary determined by the Secretary of the Interior as meeting the requirements for individual listing on the National Register,

2. Certified or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior as contributing to the historical significance of a Registered Historic District or a district preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior to qualify as a Registered Historic District;

4. Individually listed on a local inventory of historic places in communities with historic preservation programs that have been certified either: a) by an approved State program as determined by the Secretary of the Interior; or b) directly by the Secretary of the Interior in states without approved programs.

Home Occupation: An occupation or business activity which results in a product or service and is conducted in whole or in part in the dwelling unit or accessory structure. For the purpose of this definition vehicle body shops, vehicle repair and vehicle sales shall not be considered a home occupation.

Hospital: An institution providing, but not limited to, overnight health services, primarily for in-patients, and medical or surgical care for the sick or injured including as an integral part of the institution such related facilities as laboratories, out-patient departments, training facilities, central services facilities, and staff offices.

Hotel/Motel: A commercial building or group of buildings built to accommodate for a fee travelers and other transient guests who are staying for a limited duration with sleeping rooms without cooking facilities, each rental unit having its own private bathroom and its own separate entrance leading either to the outdoors or to a common corridors or hallway. A hotel may include restaurant facilities where food is prepared and meals served to its guests and other customers.

Impervious Surface Ratio: A measure of the intensity of land use that is determined by dividing the total area of all impervious surfaces on the site by the area of the lot. For the purpose of this Code, impervious surfaces include buildings, structures, paved and gravel surfaces.

Increase in Nonconformity of a Structure: Any change in a structure or property that causes further deviation from the dimensional standard(s) creating the nonconformity. Property changes or structure expansions which either meet the dimensional standard or which cause no further increase in the linear extent of the nonconformance of the existing structure shall not be considered to increase nonconformity. For example, there is no increase in nonconformity if the expansion extends no further into the required setback area than does any portion of the existing nonconforming structure.

Individual Private Campsite: An area of land which is not associated with a campground, but which is developed for repeated camping by only one group not to exceed ten (10) individuals and which involves site improvements which may include but not be limited to gravel pads, parking areas, fire places, or tent platforms. The term individual private camp site does not include sites used by property owners for infrequent cook-outs or "camping out."

Level of Service: A measure of the quality of the operating conditions within a traffic stream as determined from a capacity analysis, using the methodology described by the Transportation Research Board (TRB), a service of the National Research Council, in its “Highway Capacity Manual,” Special Report 209 (1994).

Locally Established Datum: Means, for purposes of this Code, an elevation established for a specific site to which all other elevations at the site are referenced. The National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD) or any other established datum and is used in areas where Mean Sea Level data is too far from a specific site to be practically used.

Locomotion Device Storage Lot: A lot or part thereof that is used for the storage for more than sixty (60) days of more than three (3) automobiles, trucks, and/or other motorized vehicles, as defined in Title 29-A MRSA, Section 101, Subsection 42, or any locomotion device, or parts of such vehicles. These vehicles or devices are exempt providing that their power train, braking systems, and other safety devices are 100% operational, if so originally equipped and, if required for off-premises use, are registered and inspected. These items are also exempt if, when they are not used, they are wholly contained within a structure with solid roof and permanent solid walls around the entire perimeter of the structure.

Lot: An area of land in one ownership, or one leasehold, with ascertainable boundaries established by deed or instrument of record, or a segment of land ownership defined by lot boundary lines on a Land Subdivision Plan duly approved by the Planning Board and recorded in the Androscoggin County Registry of Deeds.

2. Rear Lot Line: The lot line opposite the front lot line. On a lot pointed at the rear, the rear lot line shall be an imaginary line between the side lot lines parallel to the front lot line, not less than ten (10) feet long, lying farthest from the front lot line. On a corner lot, the rear lot line shall be opposite the front lot line at least dimension.

Lot of Record: A parcel of land, a legal description of which or the dimensions of which are recorded on a document or map on file with the Androscoggin County Registry of Deeds on or before the effective date of this Code, or other date set forth in the specific regulations of this Code.

Lot, Through: Any interior lot having frontages on two (2) more or less parallel streets or rights-of-way or between a street and a body of water, or a right-of-way and a body of water, or between two bodies of water, as distinguished from a corner lot. All sides of through lots adjacent to streets, rights-of-way, and bodies of water shall be considered frontage, and front yards shall be provided as required.

Lowest Floor: Means the lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area (including basement). An unfinished or flood resistant enclosure, usable solely for parking of vehicles, building access or storage in an area other than a basement area is not considered a building's lowest floor, provided that such enclosure is not built so as to render the structure in violation of the applicable non-elevation design requirements of Chapter 7-107 of this Code.

Manufactured Housing/Mobile Home Unit: Means structures, transportable in one or more sections, which were constructed in a manufacturing facility and are transported to a building site and designed to be used as dwellings when connected to the required utilities, including the plumbing, heating, air conditioning and electrical systems contained therein and as otherwise defined in Title 30-A, M.R.S.A. Section 4358(l).[For Floodplain Management purposes the term manufactured also includes park trailers, travel trailers, and other similar vehicles placed on site

"Manufactured housing" means a structural unit or units designed for occupancy, and constructed in a manufacturing facility and then transported by the use of its own chassis or placement on an independent chassis to a building site. The term includes any type of building which is constructed at a manufacturing facility and then transported to a building site where it is utilized for housing and may be purchased or sold by a dealer in the interim. For purposes of this ordinance, 3 types of manufactured housing are included. They are: ~

A. Those units constructed after June 15, 1976, which the manufacturer certifies are constructed in compliance with the HUD standard, meaning structures, transportable in one or more sections, which, in the traveling mode, are 8 body feet or more in width and 40 body feet or more in length or, when erected on site, are 320 or more square feet, and which are built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as dwellings, with or without permanent foundations, when connected to the required utilities, including the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning and electrical systems contained therein; except that such term shall include any structure which meets all the requirements of this paragraph except the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification required by the Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and complies with the standards established under the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, 42 United States Code 5401, et seq;

B. Those units which the manufacturer certifies are constructed in compliance with the state's Manufactured Housing Act and regulations, meaning structures, transportable in one or more sections, which are not constructed on a permanent chassis and are designed to be used as dwellings on foundations when connected to required utilities, including the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning or electrical systems contained therein;

C. Those units constructed prior to June 15, 1976, meaning structures, transportable in one or more sections, which are 8 body feet or more in width and are 32 body feet or more in length, and which are built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as dwellings, with or without permanent foundations, when connected to the required utilities, including the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning or electrical systems contained therein.

Marina: A business establishment having frontage on navigable water and, as its principal use, providing for hire offshore moorings or docking facilities for boats, and which may also provide accessory services such as boat and related sales, boat repair and construction, indoor and outdoor storage of boats and equipment, boat and tackle shops, and fuel service facilities.

Mineral Exploration: Hand sampling, test boring, or other methods of determining the nature or extent of mineral resources which create minimal disturbance to the land and which include reasonable measures to restore the land to its original condition. Mineral exploration shall not include testing for a quarry.

Mineral Extraction: Any operation within any twelve (12) successive month period removes more than five thousand (5,000) cubic yards of soil, topsoil, loam, sand, gravel, clay, peat, or other like material from its natural location, and to transport the product removed, away from the extraction site. Mineral extraction shall not include the term quarry.

Minor Development [Floodplain Management]: all development that is not new construction or a substantial improvement, such as repairs, maintenance, renovations, or additions, whose value is less than 50% of the market value of the structure. It also includes, but is not limited to: accessory structures as provided for on Chapter 7-107.10 of this Code, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation, drilling operations, storage of equipment or materials, depositing or extraction of materials, public or private sewage disposal systems or water supply facilities that no not involve structures; and non structural projects such as bridges, dams, towers, fencing, pipelines, wharves, and piers.

National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD): The national vertical datum, whose standard was established in 1929, which is used by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). NGVD was based upon the mean sea level in 1929 and also has been called “1929 Mean Sea Level (MSL)".

Neighborhood "Convenience" Stores: A store of less than two thousand (2,000) square feet of floor space intended to service the convenience of a residential neighborhood primarily with the sale of merchandise including such items as, but not limited to, basic foods, newspapers, emergency home repair articles, and other household items.

Nonconforming Structure: A structure which does not meet any one or more of the following dimensional requirements; setback, height, or lot coverage, but which is allowed solely because it was in lawful existence at the time this Code or subsequent amendments took effect.

Nonconforming Use: Use of buildings, structures, premises, land or parts thereof which is not permitted in the district in which it is situated, but which is allowed to remain solely because it was in lawful existence at the time this Code or subsequent amendments took effect.

Normal High-water Line: That line which is apparent from visible markings, changes in the character of soils due to prolonged action of the water or changes in vegetation, and which distinguishes between predominantly aquatic and predominantly terrestrial land. In the case of wetlands adjacent to rivers and Great Ponds, the normal high-water line is the upland edge of the wetlands and not the edge of the open water.

Ownership, common (in reference to parcels of land): Two or more separately deeded parcels of land in which the owner(s) of one parcel of land have at least twenty percent (20%) ownership or interest in the other parcel(s) of land individually or as a group of individuals.

Practical Difficulty: Means that the strict application of Chapter 5, Land Zoning, to the property precludes the ability of the petitioner to pursue a use permitted in the Zoning District in which the property is located and results in a significant economic injury to the petitioner.

Public and Private Schools: Primary and secondary schools, or parochial schools, which satisfy either of the following requirements: the school is not operated for a profit or as a gainful business; or the school teaches courses of study which are sufficient to qualify attendance in compliance with state compulsory education requirements.

Residential Sign: Any sign located in a district zoned for residential uses that contains no commercial message except advertising for goods or services legally offered on the premises where the sign is located, if offering such service at such location conforms with all requirements of this Code.

Recording Plan: A copy of the Final Plan which is recorded at the Androscoggin County Registry of Deeds and which need not show information not relevant to the transfer of an interest in the property, such as sewer and water line locations and sizes, culverts, and building lines.