Definitions.
Columbus City Codes § 3320.03
in effect3320.03 - Definitions.
"Administrative Review" means the review of a Regulating Plan.
"Ancillary dwelling unit" means a dwelling unit not greater than 800 square feet sharing a single set of utility connections with a principal building. It may or may not be a separate building. Either the principal building or the apartment shall be occupied by the owner. An ancillary dwelling unit does not count toward density calculations.
"Apartment" means a dwelling unit sharing a building and a lot with other dwellings and/or uses.
"Back of a building" means the side opposite the front of a building.
"Basis points" means total possible points not including bonus points.
"Bicycle network" means an interconnected system of bicycle trails, thoroughfares, and bicycle lanes within thoroughfares.
"Bicycle lane" means a dedicated bicycle way generally created by striping from the edge of a thoroughfare.
"Bicycle route" means a vehicular travel lane within a thoroughfare having speed limit of 25 mph and below.
"Bicycle trail" means an independent bicycle way generally running through the countryside or parallel with a parkway or highway.
"Big box retail" means a retail store with greater than 50,000 square feet of retail floor space on one floor.
"Block" means the length of street between two intersecting streets.
"Boulevard" means a wide access way, often lined with trees having a landscaped median in the center with its axis usually terminated. A boulevard may be conceived as an elongated square. See Thoroughfares section.
"Building parcel" means a tract of land intended to be occupied by individually owned building(s).
"Buildout" means the portion of the building on the frontage line.
"Civic Buildings" may be used for neighborhood scale commercial uses, and not-for-profit organizations dedicated to religion, recreation, arts and culture, education, government, social service, and transit.
"Civic space" means a tract of land, designated and used by the public for active and passive recreation.
"Close" means a thoroughfare enclosing a small green.
"Collector street" means a local, slow-movement thoroughfare suitable for neighborhood general, neighborhood center and town center districts. Streets provide frontage for high-density buildings such as office, shops, apartment buildings and rowhouses. A collector street is urban in character, with raised curbs, closed drainage, sidewalks, parallel parking, and trees in individual planting areas. Character may vary somewhat, however, responding to the fronting commercial or residential uses. See Thoroughfares section.
"Commercial street" means a local, slow-movement thoroughfare suitable for neighborhood center and town center districts, providing frontage for higher-density mixed-use buildings such as shops and offices. It is urban in character with raised curbs, storm-drain inlets and striped on-street parking. A single species of tree is planted in continuous alignment and confined by individual planters to create a sidewalk of maximum width, with areas accommodating street furniture. Clear trunks and high canopies are necessary to avoid shopfronts, signage and awnings. See Thoroughfares section.
"Commercial use" means the general term that includes office and retail uses. See Use Standards.
"Common lawn" means a frontage type in which the façade is set back substantially from the frontage line. The front yard thus created should remain unfenced and be visually continuous with adjacent yards. The ideal is to simulate buildings sitting in a common rural landscape. A front porch is not warranted, as social interaction from the fronting thoroughfare is unlikely at such a distance. Common lawns are suitable frontages for higher speed thoroughfares, as the large setback provides a buffer from the traffic.
"Conceptual thoroughfare plan" illustrates the general location of thoroughfare pattern, identifies public and publicly accessible thoroughfares, establishes the location of connections to adjacent properties and thoroughfares, and the types of thoroughfares utilized.
"Curb radius" means the curved edge of a thoroughfare at an intersection.
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"District" means an area dedicated to a single zoning category.
"Dooryard" means a frontage type in which the facade is set back from the frontage line with an elevated garden or terrace or a sunken light court. This type can effectively buffer residential quarters from the sidewalk, while removing the private yard from public encroachment. The terrace is suitable for restaurants and cafes as the eye of the sitter is level with that of the standing passerby. The light court can give light and access to a basement.
"Driveway" means a vehicular access way into a lot from the frontage.
"Elevation" means the exterior walls of a building. See Façade.
"Entrance door" means the principal entrance to a building, usually leading directly to a lobby, the main shopping floor or the living room.
"Façade" means the exterior walls of a building that are set along a frontage line. See Elevation.
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"Forecourt" means a frontage type in which the façade is aligned close to the frontage line with a portion of it set back. The forecourt created is suitable for gardens, vehicular drop offs, and utility off loading. This type should be used sparingly and in conjunction with the two frontage types above, as a continuous excessive setback is boring and unsafe for pedestrians. Trees within the forecourts should be placed to have their canopies overhanging.
"Foundation planting" means the planting along the exterior foundation of a building designed to soften and enhance the architecture and to accentuate certain architectural elements (i.e. entryways). The planting should be of correct size for the intended location and should be designed to present a continuous theme around the building using both evergreen and deciduous materials to provide year round appeal. Planting should be maintained to prevent an overcrowded or overgrown appearance.
"Front" means the provision of an element along a frontage line, as in "porches front the avenue."
"Front of a building" means the widest side of the building fronting on the widest thoroughfare except lane, alley or a passage, interconnected with other thoroughfares, which has no fewer entrance doors than any other side of the building.
"Frontage" means the layer of a lot between the façade and the lot line that fronts a thoroughfare or a civic open space or the privately held layer between the façade of a building and the lot line.
"Gallery and arcade" means a frontage type which is the façade of a building or an attached colonnade. The building overlaps the sidewalk above while the ground story remains set back at the lot line. This type is indicated for retail use, but only when the sidewalk is fully absorbed within the arcade so that a pedestrian cannot bypass it. An easement for private use of the right-of-way is usually required. To be useful, the arcade should be no less than 12 feet wide.
"Green" means a medium-sized civic open space available for unstructured recreation, its landscape predominantly consisting of grassy areas and trees, naturalistically disposed and requiring only limited maintenance.
"Hedge" means a continuous row of shrubs with minimum height of 24 inches at installation, three feet on center maximum and reaching 36 inches in height and 85 percent opacity within three years.
"Lane" means a vehicular access way located to the rear of lots providing access to parking and outbuildings and utility easements designed for providing access to more than two residential properties. No overhead wires, no overhangs, and no parking are permitted in the right-of-way. See Thoroughfares section.
"Live-work unit" means a commercial building type with one dwelling above a commercial shopfront. Common walls are permitted on the side lot lines.
"Lodging" means premises available for short-term residence, including daily and weekly letting. See Use Standards Table.
"Lot line" means the boundary that legally and geometrically demarcates a lot. Lot lines appear graphically on the Regulating Plan as the baseline for measuring setbacks. See Frontage Line.
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"Lot width" means the dimension of a lot measured parallel to the frontage line at the building setback.
"Mid-block parking lot" means parking lots situated between the side walls of buildings and not extending beyond the rear or front wall of the buildings, which are no wider than two parking lanes and the access drive.
"Neighborhood scale commercial" means single use retail tenants of 10,000 square feet or less.
"Outbuilding" means an ancillary building, usually located towards the rear of the lot, on the same lot as an existing or future principal building. See Principal Building.
"Park" means a large open area available for recreation, usually located at the neighborhood edge, fronted by buildings. Its landscape comprises paved paths and trails, open lawn, trees, and open shelters, all naturalistically disposed and requiring limited maintenance.
"Parking layer" means the depth of the lot within which open parking is permitted. The first layer is the area between the frontage line and the façade. The second layer is the area behind the façade to the rear lot line. The third layer is the area between 20 feet behind the front façade to the rear lot line. (see Building Standards Table)
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"Parking structure" means a building containing two or more stories of parking.
"Parking way" means a frontage type in which the façade is no more than eight feet from the right-of-way. Parking is placed within the first layer. Private sidewalks are provided between the public sidewalk and the building entrances. The parking area and private sidewalk system are landscaped to provide shade and shelter and a streetwall buffer. Appropriate transit stops are provided along the frontages, directly linked to the private sidewalk system.
"Passage" means a pedestrian connector passing between buildings. Passages provide shortcuts through long blocks and connect rear parking areas with street frontages. Passages may be roofed over and lined by shopfronts. See Thoroughfares section.
"Path" means an independent pedestrian access way generally running through open space or parallel with highways.
"Pedestrian shed" means the distance that may be traversed at an easy pace in a five minute walk from the Neighborhood Center or Town Center generally one-third of a mile radius.
"Plaza" means a public space at the intersection of important streets set aside for civic purposes and commercial activities, its landscape consisting of durable pavement and trees requiring little maintenance.
"Porch and fence" means a frontage type in which the façade is set back from the frontage line with an encroaching porch appended. The porch should be within a conversational distance of the sidewalk, while a fence (optional) at the frontage line maintains the demarcation of the yard. A great variety of porches is possible, but to be useful, none should be less than eight feet wide.
"Principal building" means the main building on a lot, always oriented towards the frontage. A principal building accommodates the functions described in the Use Standards Table.
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"Retail frontage line" means those frontage lines designated on the Regulating Plan that are required to provide a shopfront, making the ground level available for retail or commercial use.
"Rowhouse" means a single-family house placed on its own lot, sharing at least one sidewall with an adjacent rowhouse.
"Setback" means the area of a lot measured from a lot line that must be maintained clear of permanent structures. Galleries, fences, arcades, porches, stoops, balconies, bay windows, terraces, and decks (that align with the first floor level) may encroach into the frontage and the rear setback. Encroachments elsewhere in the zoning code such as eaves and overhangs are also permitted. Air conditioning units are permitted in the side yard.
"Shared parking" means the condition wherein day/night and weekday/weekend schedules allow parking spaces to be shared by users of more than one building or more than one use within the same building.
"Shopfront" means a frontage type in which the façade is aligned close to the frontage line with the entrance at sidewalk grade. This type is conventional for retail frontage. It is commonly equipped with a cantilevered shed roof or an awning. The absence of a raised ground story precludes residential use on the ground floor, although this use is appropriate above.
"Square" means a public space, seldom larger than a block, at the intersection of important streets, its streetscape consisting of paved walks, lawns, trees and civic buildings all formally disposed and requiring substantial maintenance.
"Stoop" means a frontage type in which the façade is aligned close to the frontage line with the ground story elevated from the sidewalk, securing privacy for the windows. This type is suitable for ground-floor residential uses at short setbacks with rowhouses and apartment buildings. An easement may be necessary to accommodate the encroaching stoop. This type may be interspersed with the shopfront.
"Street" means a local, slow-movement thoroughfare suitable for neighborhood edge, neighborhood general, and neighborhood center. A street is urban in character, with raised curbs, closed drainage, sidewalks, parallel parking and trees in continuous planting areas. Character may vary somewhat, however, responding to the fronting commercial or residential uses. See Thoroughfares section.
"Streetwall" means a continuous wall or fence with a minimum height of 36 inches and 90 percent opacity.
"Terminated vista" means the visual composition at the axial termination of a thoroughfare. The termination or deflection should occur within 600 feet of any vantage point.
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"Thoroughfare" means the urban element that provides the major part of the public space as well as paved lanes for vehicles. A thoroughfare is endowed with two attributes: capacity and character. Capacity is the number of vehicles that can move safely through a segment of the thoroughfare within a given time period. It is physically manifested by the number of lanes and their width, by the centerline radius, and the superelevation of the pavement. Character is suitability of a thoroughfare as a setting for pedestrian activities and as a location for a variety of building types. Character is physically manifested by the thoroughfare's associated building and frontage types as determined by its location within each district.
"TND" refers to Traditional Neighborhood Development, Article II of city of Columbus Zoning Codes codes.
(Ord. 1518-01 § 3 (part); Ord. 1627-02 § 1.)
Source: City of Columbus, City Codes and City Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/oh/columbus/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT33ZOCO_CH3320TRNEDE_3320.03DEFetched: 10/27/2026