Unless specifically defined below, words or phrases used in this Ordinance shall be interpreted so as to give them the same meaning as they have in common usage and so as to give this ordinance its most reasonable application. Words used in the present tense shall include the future; words in the singular shall include the plural; and the words “shall” and “must” are mandatory and not discretionary. Unless otherwise specified, all distances shall be measured horizontally and in feet.
Accessory Use: A use that is ancillary to the principal use of a property.
Aircraft: Any machine for flying as defined by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Aircraft Landing Strip, Public: A small landing field having only one runway used by the general public.
Alley: A public or private roadway which affords only a secondary means of access to abutting property.
Animal Unit: Means a unit of measure to compare differences in the size of domestic farm animals as shown in the chart in section 5.
Animal Unit Density Requirements.
No animal pen or fence shall be established or maintained within 75 feet of a neighboring property owner’s primary structure. If the neighboring property does not have a primary structure on the property, at the time of construction of the pen or fence, the distance must be measured from the minimum side yard and front yard setback of the neighboring property.
When making density calculations to determine allowable animal units on a parcel, the acreage located within a designated wetland, lake, shoreland, or the 100 foot floodplain shall be excluded from the calculation unless the property owner can show the land to be excluded does not contain standing water.
Permitted Density in the Agriculture Zoning District:
- Less than 2 acres: 0.5 animal units.
- 2.00 to 2.99 acres: 1.0 animal units
- 3.00 and larger 1.0 animal units for the first two acres, and 1.0 animals per full acre owned above 2 acres.
In the Agriculture Zoning District, an animal unit density greater than those listed above requires a Conditional Use Permit, with a review of existing and proposed site conditions, structures, etc.
Cats and dogs or other domestic animals customarily kept as household pets are allowed on any size parcel without a density restriction unless kept within a commercial kennel.
Permitted Density in the General Rural Zoning District:
- Less than 2 acres: .5 animal units
- 2.00 to 2.99 acres: 1.0 animal units
- 3.00 and larger: 1.0 animal unit for the first two acres, and 1.0 animal units per full acre owned above two acres, with a limit of 20.0 animal units.
In the General Rural Zoning District, an animal unit density greater than those listed above or a total number of units greater than 20.0 requires a conditional use permit, with a review of existing and proposed site conditions, structures, etc.
Cats and dogs and other domestic animals customarily kept as household pets are allowed on any size parcel without a density restriction unless kept within a commercial kennel.
Permitted Density in the Commercial Rural Zoning District:
- Less than 2 acres: Cats and dogs and other domestic animals customarily kept as household animals.
- 2.01 to 4.99 acres: 1.0 animal units; and cats and dogs and other domestic animals customarily kept as household pets.
- 5.00 to 9.99 acres: 1.0 animal units plus 0.25 animal unit for each additional acre owned above 5 acres, with a maximum of 2.25 animal units; and cats and dogs and other domestic animals customarily kept as household pets.
- 10.00 to 19.99 acres: 2.25 animal units plus 0.5 animal unit for each additional acre owned above 10 acres, with a maximum of 7.25 animal units; and cats and dogs and other domestic animals customarily kept as household pets.
- 20.00 or more acres: 7.25 animal units plus 0.5 animal unit for each additional acre owned above 20 acres; and cats and dogs and other domestic animals customarily kept as household pets.
Apartment Building: Any building or portion thereof which is designed, built, used or intended for use, for three or more apartments.
Apartment: A room or suite of rooms in an Apartment Building used or intended for use by one family.
Application: The documents and written material by which a property owner justifies a request for a building permit, a zoning amendment, a conditional use permit, a variance, an appeal, or other request for approval, relief or consideration, which must include all information on any application form approved by the Zoning Administrator.
Backyard Compost Site: A site no greater than four cubic yards used to compost food scraps, garden wastes, weeds, lawn cuttings, leaves, and prunings from a single family or household with the intention of using compost produced on site. (MN Rules 7035.0300)
Backyard Compost Sites are permitted on any single-family residential lot within the Township; sites larger than four cubic yards are permitted based on one cubic yard allowed per one acre of property in excess of four acres.
Basement: The lowest story of a building which has more than half of its height below the finished grade.
Barber and Beauty Shops: Any building or portion thereof in which personal services are performed which require a license from the Board of Barber and Cosmetologist Examiners (Chapter 154, Minnesota Statutes) including without limitation, barbers, cosmetologists, estheticians, and manicurists.
Bio-Fuel Manufacturing: The conversion of organic materials to combustible fuel for use in an internal combustion engine.
Block: An area of land within a subdivision conforming to Minn. Stat. §505.02 which is entirely bounded by any combination of the following: Streets, exterior boundary of the subdivision, rivers, lakes, railroad lines used or intended for use as a boundary.
Buffer: The use of land, topography (differences in elevation), space, fences, or landscape plantings to screen or partially screen a tract of property from another tract of property and thus reduce undesirable influences such as sight, noise, dust and other external effects which a land use may have upon other adjacent or nearby land uses.
Buildable Area: Any site, lot, parcel or any portion thereof that does not contain designated flood plain, wetlands or areas in excess of twenty-five (25) percent slope.
Building: A structure having a roof supported by columns or walls and any structure used or intended for use as an enclosure or shelter for persons, animals or property.
Building Height: The vertical distance between the highest adjoining ground level at the building or ten feet above the lowest ground level or ten feet above the lowest ground level, whichever is lower, and the highest point of a flat roof or average height of the highest gable of a pitched or hipped roof.
City: City of Becker.
Comprehensive Plan: Planning documents prepared by the Town of Becker and adopted by the Becker Joint Planning Board pursuant to authority granted in Chapter 462 of Minnesota Statutes.
County: Sherburne County.
County Board: The Sherburne County Board of Commissioners.
Driveway: An area improved for vehicular and pedestrian traffic connecting a lot to a public road, which is wholly located on the lot to which access is provided. Lots or parcels of record for which a deed has been recorded upon or prior to October 1, 2009 may have a driveway accessing a public road via a permanent private easement as described in Subdivision 6.05 of this Ordinance.
Easement: A grant by a landowner for a specific use of land by one or more persons.
Family: Family is any of the following: Any number of individuals living together on the premises as a single housekeeping unit as distinguished from a group occupying a boarding or lodging house, licensed residential care facility, licensed day care facility or community based residential facility.
Family Child Care Home: A Dwelling Unit in which child care is provided to no more than twelve children (including the day care operator’s children under five years of age).
Farm: A lot exceeding 10 acres, the principal use of which is agriculture.
Farm Building: Any building or structure other than a single family dwelling which is used by the operator of a farm, in the farming operation.
Fence: A partition intended as a dividing marker, a barrier, or an enclosure.
Floor Area, Ground: The area within the exterior walls of the main building or structure excluding the garage as measured from the outside walls at the ground level.
Glare: A light source that is located, directed or controlled such that the light source itself is visible from a point four feet above the ground or higher at any point off the lot on which the light source is located.
Granny Pod/Temporary family health care dwelling - The Joint Planning Board opted out of the requirements of Minn. Stat. §462.3593, on September 27, 2016, which defines and regulates Temporary Family Health Care Dwellings
Hospital: An establishment providing medical, dental or mental health treatment to its patrons, both as out-patients and in-patients.
Interim Use: A temporary use of a lot until a particular date, or the occurrence of a particular event, as defined by the Town Board.
Irrigation System: Any structure or equipment used to supply water for agriculture including, but not limited to, wells, pumps, motors, pipes, culverts, gates, dams, ditches, tanks, ponds, and reservoirs.
Joint Planning Board: The representative body established as part of an annexation agreement.
Joint Planning Area: The area encompassing Becker Township in its entirety in which planning, zoning, and subdivision activities are governed by the Becker Joint Planning Board.
Kennel, Commercial: Any commercial operation that boards dogs and/or cats.
Kennel, Private: Any lot where four or more dogs over six months of age are owned or kept for private enjoyment.
Lean-to: An extension of an enclosed building, sheltered by a roof that has rafters leaning against the building’s wall or as an extension of the building’s rafters, supported only by posts, columns, or end walls and open along the outside or longest edge. For the purposes of this ordinance, the lean-to may be as large as fifty (50) percent of the square footage of the building to which it is attached, and the square footage under the lean-to will not be counted toward the maximum accessory structure square footage allowed on the property. Lean-to square footage will count toward the maximum allowable impervious surface on a property.
Living Quarters: The seasonal temporary use of designated rooms within a principal dwelling unit by employees of the owner of the dwelling unit.
Loading Space: A space accessible from a street, alley, or way, in a building or on a lot, for the use of trucks while loading or unloading merchandise or materials.
Local Street: A street of limited continuity used primarily for access to abutting properties and the local needs of a neighborhood.
Lot: A parcel of land separated from other parcels by legal description.
Lot Area: The contiguous horizontal plane of a lot, bounded by the lot lines.
Lot, Corner: A lot bounded by the intersecting boundaries of two (2) or more streets.
Lot Coverage: That portion of a lot covered with structures and impervious surfaces such as parking, loading, and storage.
Lot Depth: The average horizontal distance between the front lot line and the rear lot line.
Lot, Interior: A lot other than a corner lot.
Lot Line: A line bounding the horizontal plane of a lot.
Lot Line, Front: The line connecting the side lot lines of a lot measured along the boundary of the right-of- way designated by the Town Board to serve the lot.
Lot Line, Rear: The lot line that is opposite the front lot line.
Lot Line, Side: Any lot line that is not a front lot line or a rear lot line.
Lot, Through: An interior lot having frontage on two (2) streets.
Lot Width: The horizontal distance between the side lot lines measured parallel to the front lot line at the front building setback.
Lots of Record: A Lot of Record is a parcel of land separated from other parcels by legal description and which satisfied the physical standards for width, depth, density, area, right of way frontage and sewage treatment requirements established by law on the date the lot was recorded with the Sherburne County Recorder, after approval by the then appropriate governmental authority as a division or a subdivision. A lot of record which no longer meets the requirements described in the preceding provision hereof, is subject to the non-conforming use provisions of this Ordinance.
Manufactured (Mobile) Home: A Dwelling Unit bearing the seal of the State Building Inspector classifying it as a manufactured or mobile home.
A structure, transportable in one or more sections, which in the traveling mode, is 8 feet or more in width or 40 or more feet in length, or, when erected on site, is 320 or more square feet, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and includes plumbing, heating, air conditioning and electrical systems contained therein. The term includes any structure that meets all the requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification required by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and complies with the standards established under State law.
Manufactured (Mobile) Home Park: A lot used or intended for use as the location or accommodation for two or more manufactured homes.
Medical and/or Dental Office: An establishment providing medical, dental or mental health treatment to its patrons as out-patients, only
Non-Conforming Use or Structure: Any lot, building or structure, or the use thereof, which satisfied all legal requirements of this Ordinance (and amendments thereto) prior to the effective date thereof, and which does not satisfy the legal requirements of this Ordinance after its effective date.
Nursing Home: An establishment which provides full-time convalescent or chronic care for three or more individuals who are not related by blood or marriage to the operator and who, by reason of advanced age, chronic illness or infirmity, are unable to care for themselves.
Open Space Use: A use which preserves the unimproved natural character of land, air and water and in which accommodations for human habitation or domestic animals are substantially prohibited.
Open Space Recreation Use: An open space use based on outdoor activities and including such improvements as hiking and riding trails, primitive camp sites, way-side rest and observation areas and other non-competitive recreation.
Outlot: A lot delineated on a plat as an outlot as approved by the Becker Town Board.
Outside Storage: The maintaining, outside of an authorized building or structure, of any personal property, whether usable or unusable, including recreational vehicles, or unlicensed or inoperable motor vehicles.
Owner: The term Owner in this Section includes the owner of the land, the owner of the extraction operations business, the applicant, and any third party operator contracting with or providing services to the land owner or the extraction operations business.
Planned Unit Development (Highway): A type of development, or redevelopment to allow, or preserve appropriate land uses adjacent to major county, state, and federal highway intersections in order to help meet the goals and objectives of the Comprehensive Plan of the Town of Becker, Sherburne County Transportation Plan, and related Ordinances. These developments may be accomplished by incorporating a mixture of dimensional regulations, and or uses as regulated by a Conditional Use Permit.
Pole Building: A post frame construction building made of wooden or metal parts, with metal panels covering three or more sides, and without a full foundation.
Principal Use: The predominate purpose or activity for which a lot, structure or building thereon is designed, used or intended for use, or for which it is occupied or maintained.
Recreational Activities: Sports and leisure-time activities, of a formal or informal nature, often performed with others.
Setback: The minimum horizontal distance between a building, structure, improvement, or similar constructive facility, and a lot line boundary, road, natural feature, or similar landmark, measured in feet.
Setback Area: The area of a lot between any lot line and the building setback line in which buildings and structures are prohibited by this Ordinance.
Setback Area, Front Yard: The setback area between the building and the front lot line.
Setback Area, Rear Yard: The setback area between the building and the rear lot line.
Setback Area, Side Yard: The setback area between the building and the side lot line.
Setback Area, Building: A line within a lot which establishes the minimum distance between any lot line and the nearest permitted portion of a building or structure.
Sewage Treatment System, On-Site Individual: A sewage treatment system that uses a septic tank and subsurface soil treatment and disposal to serve a Dwelling Unit on the same lot pursuant to Minn. Stat. §115.55 and Minn. Rules adopted pursuant thereto.
Sewered Areas: An area that is serviced by a public wastewater treatment facility, or a publicly owned, operated, and supervised centralized septic systems servicing an entire development.
Stand, Roadside: A temporary structure for the display and sale of products with no space for customers within the structure itself.
Structure: Anything constructed or erected on or in the ground, or attached to something on the ground, including but not limited to buildings, decks, balconies, bay windows, cantilevered upper level projections, building eaves, tool and gardening sheds. This includes a fixed or movable building which can be used for residential, business, commercial, agricultural, or office purposes, either temporarily or permanently.
Subdivision: A parcel of land separated from other parcels of land by legal description in accordance with the Subdivision Regulations of the Town of Becker, or the County of Sherburne.
Subdivision, Boundary Adjustment: The division of one or more lots of record for the purpose of combining a portion or portions thereof with other lots of record, without creating additional lots and provided that no additional nonconforming lots shall be created, nor shall any existing nonconformity be increased nor any new nonconformity be created.
Subdivision, Simple Lot: The division of a platted lot of record into two lots, each of which complies with all zoning and subdivision requirements
United States Public Land Survey: The original survey commissioned by the U. S. Government and described in Minn. Stat § 381.12 and required by Minn. Stat § 389.04.
Wetland: Lands traditionally between terrestrial and aquatic systems where the water table is usually at or near the surface or the land is covered by shallow water. For purposes of this Ordinance, wetlands must (1) have a predominance of hydric soils; (2) be inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support a prevalence of hydrophytic vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions; and (3) under normal circumstances, support a prevalence of hydrophytic vegetation.
- “A wetland” or “the wetland” means a distinct hydrologic feature with characteristics of the preceding paragraph, surrounded by nonwetland and including all contiguous wetland types except those connected solely by riverine wetlands. “Wetland are” means a portion of “a wetland” or “the wetland”.
- Wetlands do not include public waters wetlands and public waters that are designated on the public waters inventory maps prepared under Minnesota Statutes, Section 103G.201.
Wooded: A lot that has tree canopy over at least 75 percent of its area.