Definitions.
Coral Springs Land Development Code § 250105
in effectSec. 250105. - Definitions.
For the purposes of this chapter, unless otherwise provided, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future, words in the singular number include the plural and words in the plural number include the singular number. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory. The word "used" shall include arranged, designed, constructed, altered, converted, rented, leased or intended to be used. The word "land" shall include water surface and land under water. Definitions pertaining to landscaping are located in section 250832 under definitions.
Abut: For the purposes of this chapter, plots shall be considered to abut, or be abutting, or adjacent to, when the plots border upon, adjoin, or are across from plots of dissimilar land use or zoning without a roadway of a minimum classification or without a separator of a minimum distance between dissimilar plots. Dissimilar plots separated by a water body are considered to abut, or be abutting, regardless of the placement of the zoning line unless the district regulations only require a separator of a minimum distance between the dissimilar plots. The district regulations include the minimum distance of any separator and the minimum classifications of the roadways for the more intensive zoning districts.
Accessory building: A subordinate building on the same plot with, or a part of, the main building, which is occupied by, or devoted to, an accessory use.
Accessory structure: A subordinate structure on the same plot with, or a part of, the main building, which is occupied by, or devoted to an accessory use.
Accessory or ancillary use: A use naturally and customarily incidental to, subordinate to, and subservient to the main use of the premises, and unless defined elsewhere in the Code, is limited to no more than one-third (⅓) or less of the gross floor area of the principal building or use.
Accessways: A means for vehicular ingress or egress, which area shall be excluded from the perimeter required to be landscaped pursuant to this chapter.
Active recreation: Use of land such as swimming pools, tennis courts, cabanas and clubhouses or recreation buildings.
Alley: A public thoroughfare or way, not more than thirty (30) feet in width except for necessary turnarounds and which normally provides a secondary means of access to abutting property.
Alteration: Any change in size, shape, character, occupancy or use of a building or structure.
Anchor tenant: A retail tenant in a multi-tenant retail center or building whose space has the largest square footage or the most significant and identifiable brand identity, (either local or nationally recognized).
Antenna: See chapter 25, article XVI.
Apartment, efficiency: A dwelling unit in a multiple dwelling, consisting of not more than one habitable room, together with kitchen or kitchenette and sanitary facilities.
Architectural guidelines: See article I, section 250156.
Assisted living facility: Has the same meaning as provided for in F.S. § 429.02(5), as may be amended from time to time. For purposes of this chapter, an assisted living facility that does not comport with the definition of "community residence" is a congregate living facility.
Automobile wrecking: The dismantling or disassembling of used motor vehicles or trailers, or the storage, sale or dumping of dismantled, partially dismantled, obsolete or wrecked vehicles or their parts.
Bar: Any place devoted primarily to the retailing and drinking of malt, vinous or other alcoholic beverages, or any place where any sign is exhibited or displayed indicating that alcoholic beverages are obtainable for consumption on the premises.
Base building line: The line formed by the minimum setbacks of the zoning district, behind which the primary structures may be built.
Boarding or rooming house: A building other than a hotel, motel, residential inn, or bed and breakfast used to provide lodging for compensation, and where more than one (1) of the partitioned sections are occupied by separate families or rent is charged separately for the individual rooms or partitioned areas occupied by the renter or occupant. Individual living units may or may not be equipped with kitchen facilities. Congregate dining facilities may be provided for the guest. A boarding or rooming house is not a community residence nor a recovery community.
Boat: A water-borne vessel propelled by oars, paddles, sail or power, including but not limited to inboard, outboard, airboats, rowboats and similar craft.
Building: Any structure, either temporary or permanent, having a roof, and used or built for the shelter or enclosure of persons, animals, chattels or property of any kind. This definition shall include tents, awnings or vehicles situated on private property and serving in any way the function of a building.
Business services: Any activity where the primary function is to support commercial office uses, such as secretarial, graphics, advertising, accounting and similar services.
Business zoned property: Any land or water area whose zoning district classification is "business" under this chapter.
Canopy, portable: A portable, non-permanent structure made typically of silk, cotton, canvas, fabric or similar pliable material intended to provide protection from the outside elements.
Carports: A permanent roofed structure providing space for the parking of a car, truck, recreational vehicle or motorcycle and enclosed on two (2) sides that is properly screened.
Change of occupancy: A discontinuance of an existing use and the substitution therefor of a use of a different kind of class. Change of occupancy is not intended to include a change of tenants or proprietors unless accompanied by a change in the type of use.
Club, night: A restaurant, dining room, bar or other similar establishment providing food or refreshments wherein floor shows or other forms of entertainment are provided for guests.
Club, private: Associations and organizations of a fraternal, social or recreational character. The term "private club" shall not include night clubs.
Cluster: A group of two (2) or more buildings, each of which may contain one or more housing units, grouped to form a unified development, with usable open area in either common or individual ownership.
Commercial vehicle: Any vehicle designed, intended or used for transportation of people, chattel, goods or things other than private passenger vehicles, trailers, motor homes and campers for private nonprofit transport of goods and boats.
Commission or city commission: The Board of City Commissioners of Coral Springs.
Common lobbies: That area of a building's space that is used to accommodate visitors waiting to transact business in another part of the building. Areas of a lobby that are used to conduct commercial transactions are specifically excluded from this definition.
Community facility: A building or facility owned and operated by a governmental or nonprofit entity which is open to the public or a designated part of the public for recreational, social and educational activities which primarily serve the immediate community in which the facility is located.
Community residence: A residential living arrangement for five (5) to ten (10) unrelated individuals with disabilities except that up to fourteen (14) individuals may be allowed when licensed as a "community residential home" pursuant to F.S. § 419.01, living as a single functional family in a single dwelling unit who need the mutual support furnished by other residents of the dwelling unit as well as the support services, if any, provided by any staff of the community residence. Residents may be self-governing or supervised by a sponsoring entity or its staff, which provide habilitative or rehabilitative services related to the residents' disabilities. A community residence emulates a biological family to foster normalization of its residents, integrate them into the surrounding community, and use neighbors as role models. Supportive inter-relationships between residents are an essential component. Its primary purpose is to provide shelter; foster and facilitate life skills; and meet the physical, emotional, and social needs of the residents in a mutually supportive family-like environment. Medical treatment is incidental as in any home but does not include detoxification which is more than incidental.
A community residence is considered a residential use of property for purposes of all city regulations. The term does not include any other group living arrangement for unrelated individuals who are not disabled nor any recovery community, congregate living facility, institutional or medical use, shelter, lodging or boarding or rooming house, extended-stay hotel, nursing home, vacation rental, or other use as defined in this Code.
Community residences include, but are not limited to, those residences that comport with this definition licensed by the Florida Agency for Persons with Disabilities, the Florida Department of Elder Affairs, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, and the Florida Department of Children and Families, pursuant to F.S. ch. 419, Community Residential Homes; and Level 1 or 2 Recovery Residences certified by the state's designated credentialing entity established under F.S. § 397.487, Substance Abuse Services.
A community residence occupied by five (5) to ten (10) unrelated individuals with disabilities can be a "family community residence" or a "transitional community residence" as defined in section 250105 of the Land Development Code.
Community theater: A theater with live performances.
Compact deferral area: The geographic area which is a two-mile band having a centerline which is coincident with the centerline of the congested link, extending parallel to the congested link for a distance of one-half (½) mile beyond each end point of the congested link.
Completely enclosed building: A building separated on all sides from adjacent open space, or from other buildings or other structures, by a permanent roof and by exterior walls or party walls, pierced only by windows and normal entrance or exit doors.
Congregate living facility: A facility that provides long-term care, accommodations, food service, and one (1) or more assistive care services to persons not related to the owner or administrator by blood or marriage. A congregate living facility is a permanent or temporary group living arrangement for people without disabilities, a group living arrangement too large to emulate a family, a group living arrangement in which normalization and/or community integration are not integral elements, intermediate care or assisted living facilities that do not emulate a family, a group living arrangement that is an alternative to incarceration for people who pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others, a group living arrangement for people undergoing treatment in a program at the same site, and a facility for the treatment of substance use disorder where treatment is the primary purpose and use whether it provides only services or includes a residential component on site. A congregate living facility is not a community residence or recovery community.
Contractor shops: Business encompassing an activity where the primary function is construction relating to residential, farm, industrial, commercial, or other buildings including miscellaneous types of construction work other than buildings (including, but not limited to, painting and papering, lawn maintenance, residential swimming pool contracting and water well contracting). This does not include general contractors engaged in heavy construction (including new work, additions, improvements, maintenance and repair) such as highways and streets, bridges, sewers, railroads, irrigation projects, flood control projects and marine construction.
Convalescent home: A building, or portion thereof, wherein for compensation, living accommodations and care are provided for persons suffering from illness, other than mental or contagious, which is not of sufficient severity to require hospitalization, or for persons requiring further institutional care after being discharged from a hospital other than a mental hospital. A convalescent home that does meet the definition of "community residence" is a congregate living facility.
Corporate park use: A corporate park use is a technology, information, communication, research, medical, financial, or consumer products-based corporate facility where corporate offices and support facilities in addition to ancillary fabrication, storage and wholesale of products may be located. It is not intended for typical business uses that attract the general public for walk-in retail or walk-in office uses that are permitted in the city's commercially zoned areas.
Coverage: The percentage of a plot area covered or occupied by buildings or roofed portions of structures. Shuffleboard courts, swimming pools, barbecue pits, terraces and other appurtenances not roofed over with other than open mesh screening are not included in computing coverage.
Disability: A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one (1) or more of an individual's major life activities, impairs an individual's ability to live independently, having a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment as defined in the Fair Housing Act and Americans with Disabilities Act. People with disabilities do not include individuals who are currently using alcohol, illegal drugs, or using legal drugs to which they are addicted, nor individuals who constitute a direct threat to the health and safety of others. People with disabilities include, but are not limited to:
(1) An elderly person with disabilities as defined in F.S. § 429.65(9), as amended.
(2) A person with physical disabilities as defined in F.S. § 760.22(7)(a), as amended.
(3) A person with developmentally disabled disabilities as defined in F.S. § 393.063(11), as amended.
(4) A person with mental illness as defined in F.S. § 394.455(3), as amended.
(5) A person in recovery from a substance use disorder, also known as a drug and/or alcohol addiction, as defined in F.S. § 397.311(46), as amended.
District or zoning district: A portion of the territory of the City of Coral Springs within which certain uniform regulations and requirements or various combinations thereof apply under the provisions of this chapter.
Drive-in restaurant or refreshment stand: Any place or premises used for the sale, dispensing or serving of food, refreshments or beverages to patrons who enter upon the premises in automobiles and receive service in automobiles, and for consumption of food, refreshments or beverages in automobiles.
Drive-thru: A facility designed to accommodate pickup of food, merchandise or services by a motor vehicle momentarily at rest in a driveway expressly designed for that purpose.
Dwelling: Any building, structure or vehicle or part thereof, occupied in whole or in part, as the residence or living quarters of one or more persons, permanently or temporarily, continuously or transiently.
Dwelling, one-family: A dwelling occupied by not more than one family.
Dwelling, two-family: A dwelling occupied by not more than two (2) families.
Dwelling, multiple-family: A dwelling occupied by three (3) or more families.
Dwelling unit: A space, area or portion of a building designed for and occupied by one family as a dwelling, with cooking facilities for the exclusive use of such family.
Efficiency: See Apartment, efficiency."
Energy conservation device: Any device, such as a solar heating unit, which is designed to alter energy use patterns so as to provide the same level of services while requiring less total energy expenditures.
Erected: Built, constructed, reconstructed, moved upon or any physical operations on the premises required in building. Excavation, fill, drainage and the like shall be considered a part of erection.
Established grade: The average elevation of the public sidewalks around or abutting a plot, or in the absence of sidewalks, the average elevation of the public streets abutting the plot as measured at the crown of the road.
Essential services: Any structure, or facility (not including buildings over two hundred (200) square feet in interior area) required by a utility owned by the city or franchised to operate within the city limits, which by its nature, is customarily required to be located in a specific proximity to the area it serves, as determined by the city engineer.
Family: One (1) or more persons related by blood, marriage, or legal adoption occupying a single dwelling unit, having one (1) set of culinary facilities and living as a single housekeeping unit as distinguished from a group occupying a boarding or rooming house, hotel or motel. Any person living alone, or any number of people related by blood, marriage, adoption, or guardianship; two (2) unrelated individuals in a domestic partnership who have made a commitment to share their lives, living as a single housekeeping unit along with their children including stepchildren, adopted children, and children under guardianship; or up to four (4) unrelated individuals not living in a domestic partnership.
Family community residence: A community residence that provides a relatively permanent living arrangement which, in practice and/or under its rules, charter, or other governing document, does not limit how long a resident may live there. The intent is for residents to live in the family community residence on a long-term basis of at least one (1) year. Typical uses can include, but are not limited to, the following uses:
(1) Community residential home licensed under F.S. ch. 419, as amended;
(2) Assisted living facility for the elderly or other people with disabilities licensed under F.S. § 429.02(5), as amended;
(3) Adult family-care home licensed under F.S. § 429.60, as amended;
(4) Intermediate care facility for people with developmental disabilities licensed under F.S. § 400.96, as amended;
(5) Housing licensed under F.S. ch. 394, as amended;
(6) Recovery residences certified under F.S. ch. 397, as amended, currently administered by the Florida Association of Recovery Residences, typically Levels 1 and 2 certified homes, where residency is characteristically at least one (1) year; and
(7) Oxford House or other similar self-governed long-term housing for people in recovery from substance use disorder, and with no limit on tenancy in practice or in its charter or rules.
Fast food restaurant: An establishment where the principal business is the sale of food to the consumer in a ready to consume state and where the design or principal method of operation is that of a fast food or drive-in restaurant offering quick food service, where orders are generally not taken at the customer's table, where food is generally served in a disposable wrapping or containers and where food and beverages may be served directly to the customer in a motor vehicle.
Fence: An artificially constructed barrier erected to enclose, screen or separate an area.
Floor area: The area within the perimeter of the outside walls of the building with no deduction for corridors, stairs, closets, thickness of wall, columns or other features but excluding utility rooms not accessible from the interior of a dwelling, unenclosed porches, terraces or breezeways and carports or garages.
Floor area ratio (FAR): The total floor area of the building or buildings on a plot, divided by the area of the plot.
Frontage of a building: The side or wall of a building approximately parallel and nearest to a street.
Garden apartment: A structure which contains three (3) or more dwelling units and is one (1) to three (3) stories in height.
Grade: See "Established grade."
Gross acre: Forty-three thousand five hundred sixty (43,560) square feet of land or water.
Group housing: Two (2) or more buildings for dwelling purposes erected or placed on the same plot.
Hazardous substance: A substance which, by reason of being explosive, flammable, poisonous, corrosive, oxidizing, irritating, or otherwise harmful, is likely to cause death or injury.
Hedge: A continuous planting of shrubs constituting a visual screen serving a function similar to a fence or wall.
Height of accessory structure: The vertical distance of an accessory structure measured from the average elevation of the finished grade surrounding the accessory structure to the highest point of the accessory structure.
Height of building: The vertical distance from the established grade at the center of the front of the building to the highest point of the roof surface for a flat roof, to the deck line for a mansard roof and to the mean height level between eaves and ridge for gable, hip and gambrel roofs.
Heliport: A designated landing area, other than an airport, used primarily for the operation and basing of rotocraft.
Helistop: A designated landing area, other than an airport, used regularly for the operation of rotocraft where no basing facilities are provided.
High-rise apartment: A structure which contains dwelling units and is nine (9) or more stories in height.
Home occupation: An accessory use of a portion of a dwelling unit as a personal office or business by a resident of the dwelling only.
Hotel: A building or part thereof in which rental sleeping units are offered to the public and which maintains an inner lobby through which all occupants must pass to gain access; catering to transient occupancy; with no cooking facilities, permanent or portable, for use by the occupants.
Housing for the elderly: Eight (8) or more new or rehabilitated living units which are specially designed for use and occupancy by elderly persons.
Impervious area: Land surfaces, which do not allow, or minimally allow the penetration of water. Examples include building roofs, normal concrete and asphalt pavements and some fine grained soils such as clays.
Industrially zoned property: Any land or water area whose zoning district classification is industrial commerce and industrial, research and development under this chapter.
Inflammable liquid: Any liquid which under operating conditions gives off vapor which, when mixed with air, is combustible and explosive.
Junk yard: A place, structure or plot where junk, waste, discarded salvage, or other similar materials such as old metals, wood, lumber, glass, paper, rags, cloth, bagging, cordage, barrels, containers, etc., are bought, sold, exchanged, baled, packed, disassembled or handled, including auto wrecking yards, used lumberyards, housewrecking yards and yards or places for storage or handling of salvages house wrecking and structural steel materials. The term shall not include pawn shops and establishments for the sale, purchase or storage of usable secondhand cars, salvaged machinery, used furniture, radios, stoves, refrigerators or similar household goods and appliances; nor shall it apply to the processing of used, discarded or salvaged materials as part of manufacturing operations.
Kennel: Any place or premises where four (4) or more dogs or cats over four (4) months of age are kept.
Land, developed: A plot for which building plans have been reviewed and approved by the city administration and physical construction has begun.
Land, improved: A plot which has usable water and sewer service immediately accessible to the site as determined by the city engineer.
Land, platted: Any land recorded by plat in the public records of Broward County.
Landscaped open space: Usable open space and all portions of the plot not intended or used as a vehicular use area or covered or occupied by buildings or roofed portions of structures not roofed over with other than open mesh screening. Landscaped areas located off-site, but within three hundred (300) feet of the site, may be counted toward twenty (20) per cent of the minimum landscaped open space requirement. Where off-site areas are counted toward minimum landscaped open space requirements, a common ownership or unity of title shall be provided.
Landscaping: See definitions, chapter 25, article IX, section 250832.
Land, unplatted: Any land or part thereof, not recorded by plat in the public records of Broward County.
Large scale retail establishment: A retail establishment or any combination of retail establishments in a single building (single bay), occupying more than forty thousand (40,000) square feet of gross floor area.
LEED: The certification process for sustainable construction as developed and maintained by the United States Green Building Council, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
Marquee: A canopy or covered structure projecting from and supported by a building when such canopy or covered structure extends beyond the building, building line, or property line.
Medical marijuana cultivation facility: Any facility or area of a facility licensed by the Florida Department of Health that is used for the cultivation of marijuana.
Medical marijuana dispensing facility: Any facility or area of a facility licensed by the Florida Department of Health to sell, distribute, or dispense products containing medical marijuana and medical marijuana delivery devices.
Medical marijuana processing facility: Any facility or area of a facility licensed by the Florida Department of Health that is used for processing forms of marijuana suitable for medical use.
Mid-rise apartment: A structure which contains three (3) or more dwelling units and is four (4) to eight (8) stories in height.
Mixed-use development: A development in which residential and business uses are allowed in the same development, where the permitted residential structures are limited to townhouses, apartment buildings and mixed business/residential unit buildings, and no more than fifty (50) per cent of the floor area of the development is utilized for residential uses.
Motel: A building or part thereof, in which sleeping, and/or living accommodations are offered to the public primarily on a short-term or transient basis, with access to the individual units from the exterior of the building and parking facilities for use of guests near their quarters. Cooking facilities whether permanent or portable, are not permitted.
Nonaccess easement, line or strip: A method by which vehicular access is controlled on a piece of property.
Nonconforming structure: A structure or portion thereof, existing at the effective date of this chapter or any amendment thereto, which was occupied, designed, erected, intended or structurally altered so that it does not conform to all of the regulations applicable to the district in which it is located.
Nonconforming use: The use of a structure or premises, existing at the effective date of this chapter, or any amendment thereto, for any purpose not permitted in the district in which it is located.
Nursing home: A home for aged, chronically ill or incurable persons in which three (3) or more persons not of the immediate family are received, kept, or provided with food and shelter or care for compensation, but not including hospitals, clinics or similar institutions devoted primarily to the diagnosis and treatment of the sick or injured. A state-licensed facility or any identifiable component of any facility in which the primary function is to provide, on a continuing basis, nursing services and health-related services for the treatment and inpatient care of five (5) or more non-related individuals, including facilities known by varying designations such as rest homes, convalescent homes, skilled care facilities, intermediate care facilities, extended care facilities, and infirmaries. Accessory uses may include dining rooms and recreation and physical therapy facilities for residents, and offices and storage facilities for professional and supervisory staff. This use type does not include the home or residence of any individual who cares for or maintains only persons related to them by blood or marriage. It also does not include assisted living facilities. A nursing home is a congregate living facility.
Nursery school: A place for the day care and instruction of children not remaining overnight.
Occupied: Arranged, designed, built, altered, converted, rented or leased, or intended to be occupied.
Off-heliport land site: Take-off and landing area intended for temporary or occasional rotocraft use, but not formally designated as a heliport.
Off-road vehicle: A vehicle designed primarily for use in areas normally not accessible by other vehicles. This term shall also include any vehicle used for any purpose regardless of vehicle registration, and so designed with oversized tires and/or tracks to enable said vehicle to operate in a swampy or off-road area.
Off-site parking: Any vehicular parking area located on a plot other than that which the parking serves.
Off-street parking: Any vehicular parking area located on private property
Opaque screen: A screen that consists of a decorative masonry wall or similar material, earthen berm, or combination thereof.
Open space: See "Landscaped open space" or "Usable open space" or "Usable open area."
Open wood trellis: A decorative wooden structure designed in accordance with specifications maintained in the building department.
Package store: A place where alcoholic beverages are dispensed or sold in containers for consumption off the premises.
Pain management clinic: Any clinic, facility, or office that is required to be registered with the Florida Department of Health pursuant to F.S. § 458.3265 or F.S. § 459.0137, as amended from time to time.
Parent shopping center plot: A plot of three (3) or more acres which is zoned for business use and which is used or to be used for shopping center purposes.
Parking: The temporary, transient storage of motor vehicles used for transportation, while their operators are engaged in other activities. It shall not include storage of new or used motor vehicles for sale, services, rental or any other purpose other than specified above.
Pedestrian zone: The setback of any building wall from the vehicular use area.
Person: Individual, association, firm, partnership or corporation.
Personal and professional services: Any business activity of a personal or professional nature provided to the general public, such as banking, barbershops, beauty shop, dry cleaning pickup and medical or dental.
Phase: A portion of a cluster development project as set forth in the master site plan scheduled for construction and occupancy as an entity apart from other phases of the development.
Planting strip or planting easement: Any portion of land which is set aside in order to separate two (2) areas or uses with a buffer of landscaping.
Plot: Land occupied or to be occupied by a building or use, and its accessory buildings and accessory uses, together with such yards and open spaces as are required by this chapter. A plot may consist of one, or more and/or portions of a platted lot or lots and/or unplatted land.
Plot area, usable: The plot area less easements, setbacks and yard spaces.
Plot, corner: A plot where the interior angle of two (2) adjacent sides at the intersection of two (2) streets is less than one hundred thirty-five (135) degrees. A plot abutting upon a curved street or streets shall be considered a corner plot if the arc is of less radius than one hundred fifty (150) feet and the tangents to the curve at the two (2) points where the plot lines meet the curve or the straight lines extend from an interior angle of less than one hundred thirty-five (135) degrees.
Plot, depth: The average distance between the front and rear plot lines.
Plot, interior: A plot other than a corner plot.
Plot, key: The first plot to the rear of a reversed corner plot whether or not separated by an alley therefrom.
Plot line: A line of record bounding a lot or property that divides one lot from another lot or from a public or private street or any other public space.
Plot line, front: A line separating the narrowest street frontage of the plot from a street. On through plots, both street frontages of the plot shall be considered to have front plot lines unless there is a planting and non-access easement or strip. On a corner, the narrowest street frontage shall be considered to be the front plot line unless a longer street frontage is more compatible with the orientation of adjacent plots as determined by the city manager or their designee. On a corner where both lines are equal length, the city manager or their designee will determine the front plot line. All front setbacks for structures shall be considered as measured from the front plot lines.
Plot line, rear: The plot line opposite or most distant from the front plot line whichever is most compatible with setbacks of adjacent properties. In the case of triangular or gore-shaped lot wherein the two (2) side plot lines converge in the rear, the rear plot line shall be considered to be a line ten (10) feet in length within the plot parallel to and at the maximum distance from the front plot line.
Plot line, side: Any plot line other than a front or rear plot line. A side plot line separating a plot from a street is a side street plot line. A side plot line separating a plot from another plot or plots is an interior or side plot line.
Plot line, street or alley: A plot line separating the plot from a street or alley.
Plot, reversed corner: A corner plot the side street line of which is substantially a continuation of the front plot line of the first plot to its rear.
Plot, through: A plot abutting on two (2) streets, not at their intersection, if any, which may be either a corner or interior plot.
Plot, width: The average distance between the side plot lines.
Porch: A roofed-over space attached to the outside of an exterior wall of a building, which has no enclosure other than exterior walls of such building.
Portable storage unit: Any container designed for the storage of personal property which is typically rented to owners or occupants of property for their temporary use and which is delivered and removed by truck.
Principal building: A building which is occupied by, or devoted to, a principal use or an addition to an existing principal building which is larger than the original existing building. In determining whether a building is of primary importance, the use of the entire parcel shall be considered. There may be more than one principal building on a parcel.
Principal use: The primary or main use of a parcel of land as distinguished from an accessory use. There may be more than one principal or main use on a parcel of land.
Private court club: Racquetball, paddleball, handball or tennis courts with accessory lounge, snack bar and exercise area constituting together not more than fifteen (15) per cent of total building/court area. All accessory facilities are to be used only by those entering the club for the purpose of using court facilities, which shall be available on a membership basis only.
Property line: See "plot line."
Recovery community: Multiple dwelling units in multi-family housing, attached single-family dwellings, or a group of detached single-family dwellings that are not held out to the general public for rent or occupancy, that provide a mutually supportive drug-free and alcohol-free living arrangement for people in recovery from a substance use disorder which, taken together, do not emulate a single biological family and are under the auspices of a single entity or group of related entities. A recovery community provides no more treatment than the sort of incidental treatment expected in residences. Recovery communities include land uses for which the operator is eligible to apply for certification from the State of Florida, pursuant to F.S. ch. 397, as amended. The term does not include any other group living arrangements for people who are not disabled nor any community residence, congregate living facility, institutional or medical use, shelter, lodging or boarding house, extended stay hotel, nursing home, vacation rental, or other use defined or used in this Code.
Each dwelling unit in a recovery community located in a multi-family structure shall be classified as a multi-family dwelling unit. Each dwelling unit in a recovery community located in attached single-family dwellings shall be classified as an attached single-family dwelling. Each detached single-family dwelling that a recovery community occupies shall be classified as a single-family dwelling unit.
Redevelopment: Any demolition of an existing structure or portion of a structure and reconstruction on the same site or any proposed expansion or addition to an existing structure on the same site.
Remodeling, redecorating or refinishing: Any change, removal, replacement or addition to walls, floor, ceilings, and roof surfaces or coverings which do not support any beam, ceiling, floor loadbearing partition, columns, exterior walls, stairways, roofs or other structural elements of a building or a structure.
Residentially zoned property: Any land or water area whose zoning district classification is RS, RD, RC, RM under this chapter.
Restaurant: A building or part of a building where food is prepared and served for compensation for consumption on the premises.
Roof: Any structure or material serving as the top of an enclosure or protective covering of an area intended for occupancy by people or animals, or storage of goods or materials. A roof may be permanent impervious structure or may be porous, such as screening or canvas.
Room: For the purpose of determining the required plot area, room shall mean an unsubdivided portion of the interior of a dwelling, having a floor area of eighty (80) square feet or more intended or adopted for living and/or sleeping purposes. Space in a dwelling used only for bathroom, storage, hallway, utilities or similar purposes shall not be included as a room under this definition.
Separator: Permanent open space, such as a canal or right-of-way.
Service station: Any building or land used for retail sale dispensing of automobile motor fuel. A filling station may furnish supplies, equipment, and minor repair services.
Setback: The minimum required distance between any property line and the location of a building or structure.
Shed: An accessory structure used for storage purposes that is not greater than one hundred (100) square feet and is designed without electricity or plumbing. The structure is intended to store lawn, garden, pool or other household equipment.
Shoe box lighting: Pole mounted down light with light source recessed in a box-shaped fixture.
Shopping center: A group of commercial establishments, built on a site that is planned, developed, owned or managed as an operating unit related in location, size and type of shops to the trade areas that the unit serves; it provides on-site parking in definite relationship to the type and total size of the stores. The lower limit of a shopping center shall not be less than forty thousand (40,000) square feet of gross leasable area.
Shopping center outparcel: A site for a freestanding building, or buildings, located on a parent shopping center plot which fronts on a public street and lies between said public street and the principal shopping center site to the rear, thereby potentially interfering with the site visibility of the principal shopping center building or buildings whether it is owned separately from the principal shopping center to the rear or not.
Sign: (See definitions contained in Sign Ordinance, Chapter 18.)
Site: A piece, parcel, tract, or plot of land occupied or to be occupied by one (1) or more buildings or uses and their accessory buildings and accessory uses which is generally considered to be one (1) unified parcel.
Street: A public or private thoroughfare twenty (20) feet or more in width which affords principal means of access to abutting property.
Structure: A material or combination of materials to form a construction for use, occupancy, or ornamentation whether installed on, above, or below the surface of land or water.
Structural alteration: Any change, in supporting members of a building or structure, such as bearing walls, columns, beams or girders.
Tent: Any structure or enclosure, the roof of which and/or one-half or more of the sides, are of silk, cotton, canvas, fabric, plastic or light-weight material.
Theme restaurant: A restaurant that specifically intends to serve food and provide entertainment to children who are accompanied by adults. Entertainment shall be in the form of interactive games and coin-or-token operated mechanical devices designed for use by children approximately twelve years of age or younger. Each theme restaurant shall have a policy of prohibiting the entrance of a minor without an accompanying adult and discouraging the entrance of an adult without an accompanying minor. There shall be a limit of one (1) coin-or-token-operated mechanical device for every two hundred (200) square feet of floor area of the theme restaurant. At least one-half (½) of the gross revenues of a theme restaurant shall be derived from the sale of food and beverages.
Time sharing: Occupancy of a residential dwelling unit pursuant to a written agreement whereby different entities, natural or corporate, have the right to occupy the said unit for a specific time each year.
Townhouse: A dwelling unit located in a group of three (3) or more attached dwelling units with no other dwelling unit located above or below another and with each dwelling unit having at least one (1) interior common wall and a private exterior entrance. However, where property is developed under section 250147, the definition of townhouses may include groups of two (2) or more units, at the discretion of the city manager, whenever the physical configuration of the property would otherwise create an unnecessary hardship.
Trailer: Any vehicle or structure constructed so as to permit occupancy thereof as sleeping or living quarters, or the conduct of any business, trade or occupation, or use as selling or advertising device, or use for storage or conveyance for chattel, tools, equipment or machinery, and so designed that it is or may be mounted on wheels and used as a conveyance on highways and streets propelled or drawn by its own or other motive power. This term shall include, but not be limited to: Automobile, motorcycle, boat utility trailers, trailer coaches and mobile homes.
Transitional community residence: A community residence that provides a relatively temporary living arrangement for unrelated people with disabilities with a limit on length of tenancy typically less than one (1) year which may be measured in weeks or months as determined either in practice or by the rules, charter, or other governing document of the transitional community residence. Typical uses can include, but are not limited to, the following uses:
(1) Halfway houses for people with disabilities that emulate a family, including, but not limited to, people with mental illness, substance use disorder, or physical disabilities;
(2) Community residential home licensed under F.S. ch. 419, as amended;
(3) Housing licensed under F.S. ch. 394, as amended, with only outpatient treatment;
(4) Recovery residences certified under F.S. ch. 397, as amended, currently administered by the Florida Association of Recovery Residences, where residency is typically less than one (1) year;
(5) The separate community housing component for people with substance use disorder who may be undergoing detoxification or treatment at another location such as a day or night residential treatment center licensed under F.S. § 397.311, as amended.
Use: The purpose for which land or a structure thereon is designed, arranged or intended, to be occupied or utilized, or for which it is occupied or maintained.
Use, residential: A noninstitutional use for living or sleeping purposes such as a one-family, two-family or multiple dwelling, community residence, recovery community, villa, hotel or motel.
Usable open area: As used in the RC District regulations, land or water area other than buildings, parking and roadways held in either common or individual ownership. However, water area shall not be included as usable open area unless it will be developed and maintained as usable recreation area. Land area designated as usable open area may include up to twenty-five (25) per cent of any roof, surface or deck provided that at least one of the two (2) following provisions are satisfied.
(1) Said twenty-five (25) per cent area is landscaped in accordance with the Land Development Code; or
(2) Developed with recreational facilities.
Usable open space: Common land areas, either landscaped or developed in active recreation, but not located within a residential structure, that have a minimum dimension of twenty (20) feet in length and width and that comprise a contiguous area of not less than two thousand (2,000) square feet. Land areas with a slope of greater than 8-to-1 shall not be counted as usable open space. Spaces located between the ends of buildings which are individually less than two thousand (2,000) square feet in area shall not be counted as usable open space. Perimeter landscape buffers located between vehicular use areas and public rights-of-way or perimeter property lines shall not be counted towards required usable open space. Usable open space located off-site, but within three hundred (300) feet of the primary site, may only comprise twenty (20) per cent of the minimum usable open space requirements. Where such areas are counted towards the usable open space requirement, a common ownership or unity of title shall be provided.
Ground level open patios or courtyards that have a depth not less than fifteen (15) feet and are oriented towards individual units may be counted as usable open space.
Use, first permitted in "X" District: A use which in the sequence of successively less restricted districts occurs as a permitted use for the first time in the "X" District.
Use of land: The use of any real estate including the use of water surfaces and land under water to the extent covered by zoning districts, and over which the City of Coral Springs has jurisdiction.
Use, principal or main: The primary use of the plot as distinguished from secondary or accessory use. There may be more than one principal or main use on the plot.
Use, nonresidential: A use other than residential.
Use, residential: A noninstitutional use for living or sleeping purposes such as a one-family, two-family or multiple dwelling, villa, hotel or motel.
Use, transitional: A use of land or buildings located or permitted to be located on certain plots abutting a zoning district boundary line in the more restricted of the two (2) different zoning districts on either side of such boundary line in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, which use is not among the uses generally submitted in other locations in said more restricted district.
Vehicle: Any automobile, truck, bus, trailer, camper, motorcycle, recreational vehicle or motor home used to transport people or goods.
Vehicle repair, light: Repair of any vehicle of less than ten thousand (10,000) pounds gross weight not including major vehicle repair.
Vehicle repair, major: Vehicle paint and body work, frame straightening and similar vehicular repair.
Vehicle encroachment: Any protrusion of a vehicle outside of a vehicular use area into a landscaped area.
Vehicular storage: Any parking of a motor vehicle that does not fall within the definition of "parking" as defined in this section.
Vehicular use area: Any area utilized or designed for vehicular circulation, parking access, delivery or emergency service.
Wall: A physical barrier which is more than twenty-five (25) per cent opaque and made of concrete block and stucco, brick, or other solid material.
Water control district: The governmental agency with primary responsibility for the conveyance or retention of stormwater within an established area.
Yard: A space on the same plot with a structure or use, open and unobstructed from the ground to the sky except by encroachments specifically permitted in this chapter. Yard measurements shall be the minimum horizontal distances. Yards shall extend and be measured inward from the respective plot lines.
Yard, front: A yard extending across the full width of the plot between the front plot line and the required setback line.
Yard, rear: A yard extending across the full width of the plot between the rear plot line and the required setback line.
Yard, required: The minimum yard required by this chapter. Any yard space supplied in excess of the minimum amount specified shall not be deemed to be a required yard. The width of a yard shall be the shortest distance between the plot line and the required setback line.
Zero lot line dwelling: A detached one-family dwelling unit with usable private side and rear yard areas, and developed in accordance with the provisions of section 250148 of this chapter.
Zoning board: The Planning and Zoning Board of the City of Coral Springs.
(Code 1972, § 20-4; Ord. No. 93-146, § 1, 9-21-93; Ord. No. 94-147, § 2, 11-1-94; Ord. No. 94-151, § 2, 1-3-95; Ord. No. 95-038, § 2, 6-20-95; Ord. No. 96-110, § 2, 3-19-96; Ord. No. 97-135, § 2, 9-16-97; Ord. No. 99-121, § 1, 8-17-99; Ord. No. 99-123, § 1, 9-7-99; Ord. No. 2001-125, § 2, 11-6-01; Ord. No. 2003-106, § 2, 3-18-03; Ord. No. 2003-109, § 2, 7-15-03; Ord. No. 2004-129, § 2, 1-18-05; Ord. No. 2007-115, § 2, 11-20-07; Ord. No. 2008-106, § 2, 5-6-08; Ord. No. 2011-127, § 3, 11-1-11; Ord. No. 2018-104, § 5, 6-6-18; Ord. No. 2019-104, § 3, 4-3-19; Ord. No. 2023-101, § 117, 4-19-23; Ord. No. 2023-114, § 4, 9-13-23)
Source: City of Coral Springs, Florida, Code of Ordinances, Charter and Land Development Code (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/fl/coral_springs/codes/land_development_code?nodeId=CH25ZOOR_ARTIINGE_S250105DEFetched: 11/8/2026