§ 21.50.020. Definitions.

Unless otherwise stated, the following words shall, for the purpose of this chapter, have the meaning indicated in this section. Any word used in this chapter which is not defined in this section and which is defined elsewhere in this Zoning Ordinance or the Subdivision Ordinance shall, for the purpose of this chapter, have the meaning defined therein.

"Bay" means a regularly repeated unit on a building elevation defined by columns, pilasters, or other vertical elements, or defined by a given number of windows or openings.

"Belt course" (also "string course" or "horizontal course") means a projecting horizontal band on an exterior wall marking the separation between floors or levels.

"Blank wall" means an exterior building wall with no openings and generally constructed of a single material, uniform texture, and on a single plane.

"Boulevard" means a major road with a planted median in the center of two lanes, with greenbelts on both outside edges.

"Build-up line" means an alignment which dictates an average height to the cornice line or to the roof edge line on a street or space.

"Building scale" means the relationship between the mass of a building and its surroundings, including the width of street, open space, and mass of surrounding buildings.

"Column" means a vertical pillar or shaft, usually structural.

"Common open space" means a parcel, or parcels, of land, an area of water, or a combination of land and water including floodplain and wetland areas (consistent with the applicable sections of Title 24 TCC or Chapter 17.15 TCC) within a development site designed and intended for the use and enjoyment of residents of the development and, where designated, the community at large. The area of parking facilities serving the activities in the common open space may be included in the required area computations. Common open space shall not include:

1.

The land area of lots allocated for single-family dwellings and duplex dwellings, front yards, side yards, and rear yards, whether or not the dwellings are sold or rented;

2.

The land area of lots allocated for apartment and townhouse dwellings, including front yards, side yards, rear yards, interior yards, and off street parking facilities whether or not the dwellings are sold or rented;

3.

The land area of lots allocated for total commercial use, including front yards, side yards, rear yards, and parking facilities whether or not the commercial facilities are sold or rented;

4.

The land area of lots allocated for semipublic uses, community clubs and community facilities, including open space for playgrounds and athletic fields which are a part of the principal use and may not be open to the general public of the village center; and front yards, side yards, rear yards, and other open space around the buildings; and parking facilities whether or not the schools and churches are sold or rented;

5.

Street rights-of-way, planter strips along streets, driveways, off-street parking, and service areas.

"Community green" means open space in the form of a park area or old-fashioned town square that is designed to be a major focus for the village center, usually centralized and surrounded by commercial or high density uses.

"Context" means the character of the buildings, streetscape, and neighborhood which surround a given building or site.

"Cornice" means the top part of an entablature, usually molded and projecting.

"Cupola" means a small roof tower, usually rising from the roof ridge.

"Curtain wall" means a light, nonstructural outer wall of a building in the form of a metal grid with infill panels of glass and other materials.

"Design review" means a process where design characteristics of a project are reviewed for consistency with goals of the Lacey Joint Plan and this chapter for proper neighborhood, site and building design. In the context of this chapter, design review therefore includes review of neighborhood design for general issues such as layout of uses, connectivity of neighborhood areas, neighborhood focus points, and creation of a sense of place. It also includes review of specific plats for similar issues and more localized and specific issues such as relationship of the plat to adjacent plats in the context of the neighborhood plan (master plan), consistency of plat layout and design to neighborhood themes, specific placement and design of key uses or buildings, and requirements for general building design and characteristics within the plat. Design review also includes specific site and building design details; its facade and roof treatment, building style, orientation to sun and compatibility with plat conditions, etc. Design review requirements by nature of this definition will be implemented over the course of a village center's three stage review process, including more general neighborhood design review at the master planning stage, somewhat more specific area review at the plat stage, and a site and building specific design review at the building permit stage. All design review processes shall be implemented concurrently with normal master plan, plat and site plan review and timing requirements.

"Elevation" means an exterior facade of a structure, or its head-on view, or representation drawn with no vanishing point, and used primarily for construction.

"Environmental constraints" means features, natural resources, or land characteristics that are sensitive to improvements and may require conservation measure or the application of creative development techniques to prevent degradation of the environment, or may require limited development, or in certain instances may preclude development.

"Facade" means a building face or wall.

"Fenestration" means window and other openings on a building facade.

Focal Point. See "Visual termination."

"Front yard setback" means the required distance between a building and the fronting street right-of-way line.

"Gable" means the triangular wall section at the ends of a pitched or gambrel roof.

"Gateway" means a principal point of entrance into a district or neighborhood.

"Gateway building" means a building located at a gateway and which dramatically marks this entrance or transition through massing, extended height, use of arches or colonnades, or other distinguishing features.

"Human scale" means the relationship between the dimensions of a building, structure, street, open space, or streetscape element and the average dimensions of the human body.

"Lane" means a private street or easement located through the interior of blocks and providing vehicular and service access to the side or rear of properties (also referred to as "alley").

"Linkage" means a line of communication or access, such as a pathway, arcade, bridge, lane, etc., linking two areas or neighborhoods which are either distinct or separated by a physical feature (e.g., a railroad line, major arterial) or a natural feature (e.g., a river, stream).

"Lintel" means a horizontal beam over an opening in a masonry wall, either structural or decorative.

"Main street (commercial area)" means a street containing a mix of uses, including the village center's greatest concentration of commercial development. This area, together with the community green and elementary school, shall form the focus of the neo-traditional neighborhood.

"Masonry" means wall building material, such as brick or stone, which is laid up in small units.

"Massing" means the three-dimensional bulk of a structure: height, width, and depth.

"Modified grid street pattern" means an interconnected system of streets which is primarily a rectilinear grid in pattern, however, modified in street layout and block shape as to avoid a monotonous repetition of the basic street/block grid pattern. Blocks are normally a length of two hundred to five hundred feet.

"Neo-traditional neighborhood" means a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood, with variable lot width and sizes, a mix of dwelling unit types, on-street parking, and nonresidential uses generally located along a Main Street commercial area or fronting on a community green. The size of the neighborhood is approximately a five minute walk from the core.

Open Space. See "Common open space."

"Pilaster" means a column partially embedded in a wall, usually nonstructural.

"Pitch" means the angle of slope of a roof or berm.

"Planter strip" means a planting area located within the public right-of-way, typically located between the curb and the sidewalk, and planted with ground cover and trees.

"Portico" means an open-sided porch or walkway with a roof attached to a building sheltering an entrance or serving as a semi-enclosed space.

"Proportion" means the relationship or ratio between two dimensions, e.g., width of street to height of building wall, or width to height of window.

"Public viewshed" means that which is reasonably visible, under average conditions, to the average observer located on any public land or right-of-way, or on any common open space or semipublic open space which is normally accessible to the general public.

"Quoins" means corner treatment for exterior walls, either in masonry or frame buildings.

"Residential density" means the number of dwelling units in relation to the total land area proposed to be used for residential purposes, not including wetlands. This can also apply to the specific lot on which a building(s) is sited. It can be measured in dwelling units per acre (du/a) or in floor area ratios (FAR).

"Rhythm" means the effect obtained through repetition of architectural elements such as building footprints, height, roof lines, or side yard setbacks; of streetscape elements, such as decorative lamp posts; or of natural elements, such as street trees.

"Rhythm of solids to voids" means the relationship between the solid portions of a building facade and the voids formed by doors, windows, other openings and recesses. May also refer to the relationship between building mass (solids) and side yard setbacks (voids) along a street.

Roof Type. Roof types referred to are shown below (Illustration 1):

Illustration 1

"Public sidewalk" means a paved path provided for pedestrian use and usually located at the side of a road within a right-of-way. In residential areas it is separated from the street by a planter strip.

"Street furniture" means functional elements of the streetscape, including but not limited to benches, trash receptacles, planters, telephone booths, kiosks, sign posts, street lights, bollards, and removable enclosures.

"Streetscape" means the built and planted elements of a street which define its character.

String Course. See "Belt course."

"Texture" means a surface finish.

"Townhouse" means a one-family dwelling unit which is part of a group of two or more such units separated by a common party wall having no doors, windows or other provisions for human passage or visibility. Each one-dwelling unit shall be attached by not more than two party walls.

"Vested" means a legal status given an application providing that the application will be processed and acted upon under the rules and regulations existing at the time such status is granted.

Viewshed. See "Public viewshed."

"Visual preference survey (VPS)" means a process by which communities have participated in evaluating the existing environment and in developing a common vision for the future.

"Visual termination" means a point, surface, building, or structure terminating a vista or view, often at the end of a straight street or coinciding with a bend.

(Ord. 11274 § 1 (part), 1996)

(Ord. No. 14773, § 10(Att. I), 7-24-2012)