chapter 6

Cul-del-sac

A blind alley: a street with only one outlet.

Certificate of Occupancy

A document issued by the governing authority stating that a building complies with applicable laws and permitting occupancy for its designated use.

Group Home

A home where a small number of unrelated people in need of care, support, or supervision can live together, such as those who are elderly or mentally ill.

master plan

A long-term planning document. It establishes the framework and key elements of a site reflecting a clear vision created and adopted in an open process. It synthesizes civic goals and the public's aspirations for a project, gives them form and organization, and defines a realistic plan for implementation, including subsequent approvals by public agencies.

Acessory apartment uses

A second residential unit that may be contained within an existing single-family home, garage, or carriage house. An accessory apartment is usually required to be a complete housekeeping unit that can function independently with separate access, kitchen, bedroom, and sanitary facilities.

morartorium

A temporary prohibition of an activity

Doctrine of Laches

Failure to do something at the proper time, especially such delay as will bar a party from bringing a legal proceeding.

As-of-right development

If a real estate developer builds a building that complies with the local zoning laws, the building will be referred to as a/an. has the right build

New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP)

Oversees public recreational areas and administrates federal and state preservation programs authorized by federal and state law.

abutting

Parcels of land next to each other that share a common border.

Area Variance

Permission to modify or exceed the bulk regulations imposed by local zoning ordinances

Use Variance

Permission to use or develop land other than that permitted by local zoning ordinances.

cenus tract

Small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a country or equivalent entity that are updated by local participants prior to each decennial census. The primary purpose of the census tracts is to provide a stable set of geographic units for the presentation of statistical data.

condemnation

Taking private property for public use, with fair compensation to the owner; exercising the right of eminent domain.

Spot Zoning

The application of zoning to a specific parcel of land within a larger zoned area when the rezoning is usually at odds with a city's master plan and current zoning restrictions.

Topography

The arrangement of the natural and artificial physical features of an area.

Variance

The authorization to improve or develop a particular property in a manner not authorized by zoning.

Varience

The authorization to improve or develop a particular property in a manner not authorized by zoning.

Subdivision Regulations

The control of the division of a tract of land into individual lots by requiring development according to specific design standards and procedures adopted by local ordinances

Escheat

The state takes property upon an owners death if there is no will & no heirs exist.

accessory uses

The use of land that is subordinate, incidental to, and customarily found in connection with the principal use allowed on a lot by the zoning law. A garage is incidental to the principal use of a lot as a single-family residence and customarily found on a single-family parcel.

Non-conforming Us

Utilization of a use that does not comply with local zoning for a particular parcel.

building permit

Written governmental permission for the construction, alteration, or demolition of an improvement, showing compliance with building codes and zoning ordinances.

eminent domain

a right of the government to acquire property for necessary use. the owner must be fairly compensated.

police power

the right of any political law to enact laws and force them to keep public safe

Demography

the statistical study of human populations