Section 25.48.030 Notes to Table.

a. General rule. Any structure, use or building hereafter erected or altered shall comply with the height limitations of the zone in which it is located except as specified below. However, no exception listed below shall exceed the maximum height restrictions of the airport hazard overlay zone.

b. Appurtenances. The following appurtenances may exceed the prescribed height limit provided they are normally required for a use permitted in the zone in which they are erected or constructed: Flagpoles, chimneys, cooling towers, condensers, solar energy collectors and energy storage units, elevator bulkheads, belfries, penthouses for other than living purposes, stacks, observation towers, ornamental towers, monuments, cupolas, domes, spires, standpipes and other necessary mechanical appurtenances and their protective housing, solar collectors and associated storage, condensers; provided, however, no such appurtenances shall appreciably shade a solar energy collector located on an adjoining property.

3. Yard space - general rule. Any building, structure or use hereafter erected, altered or established shall comply with the yard space requirements of the zone in which it is located except as specified herein. The required yard space for any building, structure or use shall be contained on the same zoning lot as the building, structure or use and such required yard space shall fall entirely upon land in a zone or zones in which the principal use is permitted. Any required yard space shall be open from the ground to the sky except as specified herein.

a. Yard space encroachments - eaves. Eaves and cornices may extend two feet into a required yard space except that eaves may encroach three feet into a yard space when such yard space is ten feet or more in width.

b. Yard space encroachments - chimneys. Chimneys, when not more than four feet wide, may extend one foot into any required side yard space. Such chimneys may extend two feet into any yard space when such yard is ten feet or more in width. Chimneys of more than four feet in width must conform to yard space requirements.

c. Yard space encroachments - porches and terraces. Open, uncovered porches or terraces no higher than the floor level of the first floor above grade on the side of the building to which they are attached and in no event higher than twenty-six inches above grade of the lot on the side of the building where such porch or terrace is located, may extend three feet into any required side yard or ten feet into any required front yard or without limit into any rear yard. No railing or other barrier higher than forty-two inches shall be placed around such porch or terrace and no solid wall or barrier which blocks light or air shall be within five feet of any property line, except as otherwise provided in this title. This exception shall be subject to street corner visibility requirements. Any side yard on a corner lot when such yard is twenty feet or more in width may be considered as a front yard for the purposes of determining permitted encroachments.

d. Yard space encroachments - solar energy collectors and condensers. An air-conditioning condenser may extend four feet into any required yard, provided such condenser is no more than three feet in height and not more than thirty cubic feet in bulk. Solar energy collectors and heat storage units of up to two hundred square feet of collector surface area may extend two feet into any required yard of ten feet or more. A solar energy collector and heat storage unit of any size needed to supply the building to which it is appurtenant may be treated as an accessory use and established according to the provisions of Chapter 25.92, Accessory Uses.

f. Exceptions and encroachments - yard exceptions - steep slopes. Automobile garages may be allowed within a required front or side yard when such yard slopes so steeply that the roof of such garage shall be no more than one foot above the surface of the ground at the top of the area of grade change, the base of the garage closest to public right-of-way will not extend into the area between the end of the grade change and the right-of-way, and after a finding by the Zoning Administrator that topographic conditions make such a location necessary and that such orientation will not create a hazard to automobile or pedestrian traffic in the street, and that such orientation will be in harmony with the character of development of the neighborhood. In no case shall such a garage be allowed in which more than 25% of its side walls are above ground and exposed to the elements. (See illustration.)

g. Fences and hedges - corner visibility. Except in zones allowing the construction of buildings to the property line, there shall be provided an unobstructed view across the triangle formed by joining points measured thirty feet distant along the property line from the intersection of two streets and of fifteen feet along both the street and alley line from the intersection of a street and an alley. Within the area of the triangle there shall be no sight-obscuring or partly obscuring wall, fence, sign or foliage higher than twenty-four inches above curb grade or in case of trees, foliage lower than ten feet. Vertical measurement shall be made at the top of the curb on the street or alley adjacent to the nearest street of the triangle or if no curb exists, from the edge of the nearest traveled way.

h. Fences and hedges - other than corner. On portions of a lot not covered by street or alley intersection restrictions, the height of fences of any length, and foliage continuous for five feet or more, shall be limited to forty-two inches on any street line and the front fifty feet of any side lot line. On all other portions of lot lines, fences, hedges and continuous foliage barriers may not exceed a height of eighty inches.

i. Fences and hedges - within building lines. Fences and hedges erected within a portion of a zoning lot on which a principal building, but not an accessory building, may be erected, may conform with height limits for buildings which may be erected on such lot, but shall be subject to any building code provisions which may be applicable for buildings.

j. Fences and hedges - exception - Board of Adjustment. The board of adjustment may approve, or may direct as a condition for granting an appeal, that fences or plantings of a height in excess of these regulations be placed as shielding between different uses, or between like uses upon agreement between the parties affected thereby, provided that no such approval shall have the effect of reducing corner visibility as provided herein.

5. Front and side yard at corner exception for built-up streets. Where the two lots immediately adjoining the lot in question, or any two or more lots comprising fifty percent or more of the frontage on the block on which the lot in question is located, are developed with buildings having an average front yard line different than the required front yard line, the building in question may extend to, but not beyond, the aforesaid average front yard line.

6. Platted building and setback lines. If a recorded subdivision plat imposes a building or setback line for a lot which is greater than the minimum front yard herein required, then, notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the minimum front yard shall be the same as the minimum building line or setback line shown on such subdivision plat.

7. Corner lot side yard. In the case of back to back, end block lots (as defined in Section 25.04.020 of this Chapter) the corner side yard shall be 20 feet unless reduced to no less than 15 feet by the Zoning Administrator based on garage access from the side street. (See illustration)

8. In addition to maximum lot coverage requirements, the maximum aggregate Gross Floor Area Ratio for all buildings on a zoning lot shall be 3.0 in the RG-20 District and 8.0 in the RG-8 District.

9. The yard, space, and bulk regulations specified in this chapter include consideration of minor modifications that may be authorized by the zoning administrator pursuant to Chapter 25.12 Subchapter X. (Ord. 2007-0114, 2001-0219; 99-8572; 97/U-5924; 93/U-912; S-37494, 1979; S-30424, 1976)