§ 12½-13. Definitions.

(a)

Scope. Unless otherwise stated, the following definitions shall, for the purpose of this code, have the meanings indicated.

(b)

Interchangeability. Words used in the present tense include the future; words in the masculine gender include the feminine and neuter; the singular numbers include the plural, and the plural numbers the singular.

(c)

Applied meanings of words and terms.

Apartment. A room or suite of rooms occupied, or intended or designed to be occupied, by one individual, family or household for housekeeping purposes.

Approved. Approved by the authorized administrative official of the city.

Basement or cellar. That portion of a dwelling between floor and ceiling which is partly or wholly below grade.

Board. The housing board of appeals.

Building code. The code adopted by the legislative body of the City of Crystal City.

Building official or housing official. The person charged with the administration of this chapter.

City. Shall mean the City of Crystal City.

Dwelling. Any building, mobile home or other structure which is wholly or partly used or intended to be used for living or sleeping by human occupants. This does not include temporary housing which is designed to be portable and is not attached to the ground another structure or any utilities system on the same premises for more than thirty (30) days.

Dwelling unit. One or more rooms arranged for the use of one or more individuals living together as a single housekeeping unit with cooking, living, sanitary and sleeping facilities.

Efficiency apartment. Any room having cooking facilities used for combined living, dining and sleeping purposes and meeting the requirements of this chapter.

Enforcement official. [Building commissioner.]

Exterior property areas. Open space on the premises and on adjoining property under the control of owners or operators of such premises.

Extermination. Control and elimination of insects, rodents or other pests by eliminating their harborage places; by removing or making inaccessible materials that may serve as their food; by poison, spraying, fumigating, trapping or by any other approved pest elimination method.

Garbage shall mean the animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and consumption of food.

Habitable room. A room or enclosed floor space arranged for living, eating and sleeping purposes (not including bathrooms, water closet compartment, laundries, pantries, foyers, hallways and other accessory floor spaces or basement rooms used for recreational purposes).

Heating. The definitions following under this paragraph shall apply to heating installations:

Central heating boilers and furnaces. Heating furnaces and boilers shall include warm air furnaces; floor-mounted, direct-fired unit heaters; hot water boilers; and steam boilers operating not in excess of fifteen (15) pounds of gauge pressure used for heating of buildings or structures.

Chimney. A vertical shaft of masonry, reinforced concrete, or other approved, noncombustible, heat resistant material enclosing one or more flues, for the purpose of removing products of combustion from solid liquid or gas fuel.

Flue. A vertical passageway for products of combustion.

Vent pipe. As applied to heating, means a pipe for removing products of combustion from gas appliances.

Water heater. A device for the heating and storage of water to be used for other than heating or industrial purpose.

Infestation. The presence, within or contiguous to, a structure or premises of insects, rodents, vermin or other pests.

Nuisance.

(1)

Any public nuisance known at common law or in equity jurisprudence.

(2)

Any attractive nuisance which may prove detrimental to children whether in a building, on the premises of a building, or upon an unoccupied lot. This includes any abandoned wells, shafts, basements or excavation; abandoned refrigerators and motor vehicles; any structurally unsound fences or structures; or any lumber, trash, fences, debris or vegetation which may prove hazardous.

(3)

Whatever is dangerous to human life or is detrimental to health, as determined by the building official or administrator.

(4)

Overcrowding a room with occupants.

(5)

Insufficient ventilation or illumination.

(6)

Inadequate or unsanitary sewage or plumbing facilities.

(7)

Uncleanliness, as determined by the building official.

(8)

Whatever renders air, food, or drink unwholesome or detrimental to the health of human beings, as determined by the building official.

Occupant. Any person over one year of age living and sleeping in a dwelling unit or having actual possession of said dwelling or rooming unit.

Openable area. That part of a window or door which is available for unobstructed ventilation and which opens directly to the outdoors.

Operator. Any person who has charge, care or control of a structure or premises which are let or offered for occupancy.

Owner and owner-occupant. Any person, as herein defined, who, alone, jointly, or severally with others, shall have record legal title to any dwelling, as herein defined.

Person. An individual, firm, corporation, association or partnership.

Plumbing or plumbing fixtures. Water heating facilities, water pipes, gas pipes, garbage and disposal units, waste lavatories, bathtubs, shower baths, installed clothes washing machines, or other similar equipment, catch basins, drains, vents, or other similarly supplied fixtures, together with all connections to water, gas, sewer or vent lines.

Rooming unit. Any room or group of rooms forming a single habitable unit used or intended to be used for living and sleeping, but not for cooking or eating purposes.

Space heater. A self-contained, vented, heating appliance of the circulating type or the radiant type and intended primarily to heat only one room.

Structure. An assembly of materials forming a construction for occupancy or use including, among others, buildings, stadiums, tents, reviewing stands, platforms staging, observation towers, radio towers, water tanks, trestles, piers, wharves, open sheds, coal bins, shelters, fences and display signs.

Supplied. Installed, furnished or provided by the owner or operator.

Trash (or rubbish). Combustible and noncombustible waste materials, except garbage. The term shall include the residue from the burning of wood, coal, cokes and other combustible materials, paper, rags, carton, boxes, wood, excelsior, rubber, leather, tree branches, yard trimmings, tin cans, metals, mineral matter, glass, crockery, dust and other similar material.

Ventilation. The process of supplying and removing air by natural or mechanical means to or from any space. (Mechanical: Ventilation by power driven devices. Natural: Ventilation by opening to outer air through windows, skylights, doors, louvers, or stacks without wind driven devices.)

Workmanlike. When the words "workmanlike state of maintenance and repair" are used they shall mean that such maintenance and repair shall be made in a reasonably skillful manner.

Yard. An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a building extending along the entire length of a street or rear, on interior lot line.

(Ord. No. 871, Art. II, 1-12-76)