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TOR-2012-3
AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE CODE OF THE TOWN OF AGAWAM ZONING
ORDINANCES §180-2 "DEFINITIONS AND WORD USAGV9
WHEREAS, the Agawam Planning Board voted to act as Petitioner for proposed zoning amendment
to §180-2 "Definitions and Word Usage"; and
WHEREAS, the new definitions section updates existing definitions and reorganizes definitions that
are presently found in various sections of the Code of the Town of Agawam; and
WHER]EAS, it is in the best interest of the Town of Agawam to update and'reorganize the definitions
contained in the Code of the Town of Agawam.
NOW THEREFORE, THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL hereby resolves, ordains, arn'ends and
enacts the following amendments to the Code of the Town of Agawam:
Delete Section §180-2 in its entirety and replace it with Exhibit A attached hereto, C�
2. Delete Section §180-75 in its entirety and replace it with the following:
§180-75 Purpose.
The purpose of this section is to provide for the reasonable regulation and control of the
erection and maintenance of signs and advertising devices within the Town to the end that
the appearance and amenities of the Town may be preserved and enhanced, without
unduly restricting the conduct of lawful enterprise.
3. Delete Section §180-92 in its entirety and replace it with the following:
§180-92 Definitions.
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For the purposes of this article, the following words and phrases shall have the Trfea
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respectively ascribed to them by this section:
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ACT The Telecommunications Act of 1996 :K::0
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DATED this dayof AOV�M862— 2012.
PER ORDER OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL
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Cle rL's c G.-L.-
Ch�i`stopher C. J son, President UI C C,
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Arft9VED S TO FORM AND LEGALITY VC,
Vincent Q<cia, City Solicitor
Exhibit A
ARTICLE VI, DEFINITIONS
AGAWAM ZONING ORDINANCE
§ 180-2 Definitions and word usage
For the purpose of this Ordinance, certain terms and words shall have the following meaning,
Words used in the present tense include the future; the plural number includes the singular; the
words "used" or "occupied" include the words "designed", "arranged", "intended" or "offered to
be used or occupied"; the words "building", "structure", "lot", "land" or "premise" shall be
construed as though followed by the words "or any portion thereof ; and the word "shall" is
always mandatory and not merely directory.
Terms and words not defined herein but defined in the Building Code or Subdivision Regulations
shall have the meanings given therein unless a contrary intention clearly appears. Words not
defined in either place shall have the meaning given in the most recent edition of Webster's
Unabridged Dictionary.
Definitions
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings
respectively ascribed to them by this section:
ABANDONMENT: The cessation of a nonconforming use or structure as indicated by the
visible or otherwise indicated intention to discontinue a nonconforming use of a structure or a
lot, or the cessation of a nonconforming use or structure by its replacement with a conforming
use or structure.
ACCESSORY BUILDING: A subordinate building, located on the same lot as the main, or
principal building or principal use, the use of which is customarily incidental to the main or
principal use permitted in the district.
ACCESSORY USE: A use customarily incidental to that of the main or principal building or
use of the land,
ADEQUATE COVERAGE- Coverage 'is considered to be adequate within that area
surrounding a base station where the predicted or measured median field strength of the
transmitted signal for at least 75% of the covered area is greater than -95 dbm. It is acceptable
for there to be holes within the area of adequate coverage where the signal is less than -95 dbm,
as long as the signal regains its strength to greater than -95 dbm further away from the base
station. For the limited purpose of determining whether the use of a repeater is necessary or
desirable, there shall be deemed not to be adequate coverage within said holes. The outer
boundary of the area of adequate coverage, however, is that location past which the signal does
not regain a strength of greater than -95 dbm.
ADEQUATE CAPACITY: Capacity is considered to be adequate if the grade of service is
p.05 or better for a worst case day in a preceding month, based on the Erliang B 'rabies, prior to
the date of application; or as measured using direct traffic measurement of the personal wireless
service facility in question for existing facilities requesting major modification and where the
call blocking is due to frequency contention at the antenna(s).
ADULT DAY CARE FACILITY: A building or structure where care, protection, and
supervision are provided, on a regular schedule, to adults over the age of 18.
AGRICULTURE: The production, keeping or maintenance, for sale or lease of plants and
animals useful to man, including but not limited to: forages and sod crops; grains and seed crops;
dairy animals and dairy products; poultry and poultry products; livestock including beef cattle,
swine, horses, mules, ponies, or goats or any mutations of hybrids thereof, including the breeding
and grazing of any or all such animals, bees, and apiary products, for animals, trees and forest
products; fruits of all kinds, including grapes, nuts and berries, vegetables, floral, nursery,
ornamental and green house products, or lands devoted to a sod conservation or forestry
management program.
ALTERATION: Any construction, reconstruction or other action resulting in a change in the
structural parts, height, number of stories, exits, size, use or location of a building or other
structure.
AMUSEMENT PARK: A commercially operated park with a predominance of outdoor games
and activities for entertainment, including shows or riding devices, games of skill or chance, or
any combination of shows, riding devices, water slides, miniature golf, batting cages or any
combination of several enterprises, such as revolving wheels, merry-go-rounds, giant swings,
panoramas, musical and theatrical entertainments, or riding devices, whether carried on, engaged
in or conducted as one enterprise or by several concessionaries, and whether an admission fee is
charged for admission to all such shows for entertainments, or a separate fee for admission is
charged for each amusement.
ANIMAL CLINIC OR HOSPITAL: A place where animals or pets are given medical or
surgical treatment and the boarding of animals is limited to short term care incidental to the
clinic or hospital use.
ANTENNA: A device which is attached to a tower or other structure for transmitting and
receiving electromagnetic waves.
APARTMENT HOUSE: A building or structure arranged, intended and designed to be
occupied by two to eight families, living independently of each other, and each including its own
separate kitchen and bathroom accommodations. Garden-type apartments shall be considered as
an apartment house.
ATTIC: The unfinished space between the ceiling of the top story of a building and its roof
which is not used for living, sleeping or eating quarters.
BASE STATION: The primary sending and receiving site in a wireless telecornmunications
network.
BUILDING: A structure enclosed within exterior, walls or firewalls, built, erected and framed
of a combination of any materials, whether portable or fixed, having a roof, to form a structure
for the shelter of persons, animals or property. For the purpose of this definition, "roor' shall
include an awning or any similar covering, whether or not permanent in nature. The word
"building" shall be constructed, where the context requires, as though followed by words "or part
or parts thereof'. A porch or an attached garage, greenhouse or similar structure is to be
considered as part of a building when considering the requirements of setback, side or rear yards.
BUSINESS: The transacting or carrying on of a trade or commercial enterprise with a view to
profit or for livelihood.
CEMETERY: Land used or intended to be used for the burial of the dead and dedicated for
cemetery purposes including columbarium, crematoriums, mausoleums, and funeral
establishments, when operated in conjunction with and within the boundary of such cemetery
under the care and super-vision of the Town or other public authority.
CHANNEL: The segment of the radiation spectrum from an antenna which carries one signal.
An antenna may radiate on many channels simultaneously,
CHILDCARE FACILITY: Facilities that serve children under seven years of age or sixteen
years if the children have special needs, or school-age children (under fourteen years of age or
sixteen years if they have special needs) in programs that are held before or after school hours or
during vacations. A child care facility defined in M.G.L. c.28A, s.9.
CLUB OR LODGE, PRIVATE: Buildings, structures and premises used by a non-profit social
or civic organization or by a nonprofit organization, catering exclusively to members and their
guests for social, civic, recreation, or athletic purposes which are not conducted primarily for
gain and provided there are no vending stands, merchandising, or commercial activities except as
may be required generally for the membership and purposes of such organization.
COMMERCIAL RECREATION, INDOORS: A structure for recreational, social or
amusement purposes, which may include as an accessory, use the consumption of food and
drink, including all connected rooms or space with a common means of egress and entrance.
Places of assembly shall include theaters, concert halls, dance halls, skating rinks, bowling
alleys, health clubs, dance studios, or other commercial recreational centers conducted for or not
for profit.
COMMERCIAL RECREATION, OUTDOORS: Driving range, bathing beach, sports club,
horseback riding stable, boathouse, marina or other commercial recreation carried on in whole or
in part outdoors, except those activities more specifically designated in this ordinance.
COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT SHELTER: A structure located at a base station
designed principally to enclose equipment used in connection with personal wireless service
transmissions.
CONVENIENCE STORE: A retail store that sells groceries and may also sell gasoline; does
not include automotive service stations, or vehicle repair shops.
CREMATORY: A building containing a furnace designed and intended to be used for
cremating the dead and owned and controlled by a cemetery corporation or crematory
corporation duly organized under the laws of the state.
DETACHED: Separate from.
DBM: Unit of measure of the power level of an electromagnetic signal expressed in decibels
referenced to I milliwatt,
DWELLING: A building designed and occupied as the living quarters of one (1) or more
families. Single and two-family dwellings shall be designed for and occupied by not more than
one (1) or two (2) families, respectively. A multifamily dwelling shall be one designed for and
occupied by two (2) or more families. Hotels, lodging houses, hospitals, membership clubs, or
dormitories shall not be considered dwellings.
EARTH REMOVAL: Extraction of sand, gravel, top soil, or other earth for sale or for use at a
site removed from the place of extraction exclusive of the grading of a lot preparatory to the
construction of a building for which a building permit has been issued, or the grading of streets
in accordance with an approved definitive plan and exclusive of granite operations.
EDUCATIONAL USE: Use of land or structures for education purposes on land owned or
leased by the Commonwealth or any of its agencies, subdivisions or bodies politic or by a
religious sect or denomination, or by a non-profit education corporation. Educational facilities
not exempted from regulation by M.G.L. 40A, s.3.
EMF: Electromagnetic frequency radiation.
ERECT: To build, construct, reconstruct, move upon, or conduct any physical development of
the premises required for a building; to excavate, fill, drain, and the like preparation for building
shall also be considered to erect.
ESSENTIAL SERVICES: Services provided by a public service corporation or by
governmental agencies through erection, construction, alteration, or maintenance of gas,
electrical, steam, or water transmission or distribution systems and collection, communication,
supply, or disposal systems whether underground or overhead, but not including wireless
communications facilities. Facilities necessary for the provision of essential services include
poles, wires, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits, cables, fire alarm boxes, police call boxes, traffic
signals,hydrants and other similar equipment in connection therewith.
FACILITY SITE: The location within a Wireless Telecommunications Overlay District leased
by one of more personal wireless service providers and upon which one or more personal
wireless service facility(s) and required landscaping are located.
FAMILY: A number of individuals related by blood, marriage and/or adoption or a group of
unrelated individuals not to exceed four (4) who are occupying a dwelling unit and living as a
single nonprofit housekeeping unit. This definition, however, does not apply to non-reiated
disable persons as defined by any applicable federal and/or state law and/or regulations.
FAMILY DAY CARE FACILITY: Any private residence which on a regular basis receives
for temporary custody and care during part of all of the day, children under seven (7) years of
age or children under sixteen (16) years of age if such children have special needs. Provided,
however, in either case, that the total number of children shall not exceed more than six (6),
excluding participating children living in the residence.
FARMSTAND: A facility for the sale of produce, and wine and dairy products, provided that
during the months .of June, July, August, and September of every year, or during the harvest
season of the primary crop raised on land of the owner or lessee, the majority of such products
for sale, based on either gross sales dollars or volume, have been produced by the owner or
lessee of land containing more than five acres on which the facility is located used primarily for
agriculture in conformance with M.G.L. c-40A, s-3.
FCC: Federal Communications Commission. The government agency responsible for regulating
telecommunications in the United States.
FCC 96-326: A report and order which sets new national standards for emissions of radio
frequency emissions from FCC regulated transmitters.
FENCE: An artificially constructed barrier of any material or combination of materials erected
to enclose or screen areas of land.
FLOOD OR FLOODING: A general and temporary condition of partial or complete
inundation of normally dry land areas from:
(1) The overflow of inland or tidal waters;
(2) The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source.
FLOODWAY: The channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that
must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water
surface elevation more than one foot.
FLOODWAY FRINGE. The land in the floodplain within a community subject to a one
percent or greater chance of flooding in a given year that is located outside of the floodway.
GARAGE, PRIVATE: A building or space used as an accessory to or a part of a main building
permitted in any residential district, and providing for the storage of one or more motor vehicles
and in which no business, occupation or service for profit Is in any way conducted.
GARAGE, PUBLIC: A garage, other than a private or storage garage, which is used for the
short-term parking of vehicles.
GARAGE, REPAIR-. A building or portion thereof, other than a private or storage garage,
designed or used for equipping, servicing, repairing, hiring, selling, and/or storing of motor
vehicles. The term repairing shall not include an automobile body repair shop nor the rebuilding,
dismantling, or storage of wrecked or junked vehicles.
GASOLINE SERVICE STATION: A gasoline service station shall include any business
selling or offering for sale any motor fuel, such as gasoline or diesel fuel, to the public, whether
or not the public permitted or expected to operate the pump to put the fuel into a motor vehicle's
fuel tank or a container, and shall include gasoline filling stations and gasoline self-service
stations. For the purposes of this ordinance gasoline service station shall also include any site
used or operated as a retail refueling site, including the fuels of gasoline, propane, electricity and
hydrogen.
GHZ: Gigahertz: one billion hertz.
GRADE OF SERVICE: A measure of the percentage of calls which are able to connect to the
base station, during the busiest hour of the day. Grade of service is expressed as a number, such
as p. 05, which means that 95% of callers will connect on their first try. A lower number (p. 04)
indicates a better grade of service.
HALF STORY: The space between the ceiling of the top story of a building and the roof where
the area and height are sufficient for sleeping and living quarters.
HAZARDOUS MATERIAL: Any substance which is listed in, but not limited to, the EPA
priority pollutants as described in section 307 (a) of the Clean Water Act, as amended.
HEIGHT: The vertical distance from the average finished grade of the adjacent ground to the
top of the structure of the highest roof beams of a flat roof, or the mean level of the highest gable
or slope of a hip roof.
HERTZ: One hertz is the frequency of an electric or magnetic field which reverses polarity
once each second or one cycle per second.
HOME OCCUPATION: An occupation, business, trade, service Or Profession which is
incidental to and conducted in a dwelling unit or in a building or other accessory structure
thereto, by a resident thereof
HOSPITAL-. An institution providing primary health services and medical or surgical care to
persons, primarily in-patients, suffering from illness, disease, injury, deformity and other
abnormal physical or mental conditions, and including, as an integral part of the institution
related facilities such as laboratories, outpatient facilities or training facilities, a sanitarium, and
clinic. The term "hospital" does not include a rest home, nursing home and/or convalescent
home.
HOUSEKEEPING UNIT: See definition of"family".
JUNK VEHICLES: A wrecked, damaged, destroyed, non-operational, abandoned or
disassembled trailer, house trailer, boat, tractor, automobile, aircraft, or other motor vehicle, or
any parts thereof. A junk vehicle includes apparently inoperable, immobile, disassembled or
extensively damaged vehicles, Evidence of non-operation and damaged includes, but is not
limited to, a buildup of debris that obstructs use, a broken window or windshield, a missing
wheel, a flat tire, a nonfunctional motor or transmission, missing bumpers, or missing plates and
the like.
KENNEL, COMMERCIAL: An establishment licensed to operate a facility housing dogs,
cats, or other household pets and where grooming, breeding, boarding, training or selling of
animals is conducted as a business.
KENNEL, PRIVATE: Any building or land designated or arranged for the care of dogs, cats or
other household pets belonging to the owner of the residential, principal use, kept for purposes of
show, hunting, or as pets.
LODGING HOUSE: A building containing more than five (5) lodging units for semi-
permanent residence (longer than one (1) week) for compensation and which meals may also be
supplied as part of the fee. This shall not include bed and breakfast home uses, congregate
housing, motels, hotels, multi-family dwellings, or nursing homes.
LIGHT MANUFACTURING: Fabrication, assembly, processing, finishing work or
packaging.
LOADING SPACE, OFF-STREET: Space located on the same lot with principal building, or
contiguous to a group of buildings, for bulk pickups and deliveries, scaled to delivery vehicles
expected to be used, and accessible to such vehicles when required off-street parking spaces are
filled. It shall abut a street, alley, or other appropriate means o�ingress or egress.
LOT: A continuous parcel of land with legally definable boundaries.
LOT, AREA: The horizontal area of the lot exclusive of any area in a street or recorded way
open to public use.
LOT, CORNER: A lot located at the intersection of two or more streets.
LOT, DEPTH OF: The mean distance from the street line of the lot to its opposite rear line
measured in the general direction of the side lines of the lot.
LOT, FRONTAGE OF: A lot line coinciding with the sideline of a street which provides legal
rights of vehicular access and actual physical vehicular access to the lot. Frontage shall be
measured continuously along a street and shall be the horizontal distance between the side lot
lines measured at the point where the side lot lines intersect with the front set back line. Lots
adjacent to paper streets may not use any portion of the paper street in calculating frontage or lot
area.
LOT LINE: A line dividing one lot from another, or from a street or any public place,
LOT LINE, REAR: The lot line opposite the street line, except that, in the case of a corner lot,
the rear lot line shall be the line opposite the street line on which the building is numbered or
would be numbered.
MAJOR MODIFICATION OF AN EXSITING FACILITY: Any change or proposed change
in power input or output, number of antennas, change in antenna type or model, repositioning of
antenna (s), change in number of channels per antenna above the maximum number approved
under an existing special permit. Also any increase or proposed increase in dimensions of an
existing and permitted tower or other structure designed to support personal wireless service
transmissions, receiving and/or relaying antennas and/or equipment.
MEDICAL CENTER OR CLINIC: A building designed and used for the diagnosis and
treatment of human patients that does not include overnight care facilities.
MHZ: Megahertz: one million hertz.
MILE- A "mile" (5,280 feet) is to be measured from a point on an imaginary line which is
perpendicular to the vertical line at that point.
MONITORING: The measurement, by the use of instruments in the field, of the radiation from
a site as a whole or from individual personal wireless service facilities, towers or antennas.
MONITORING PROTOCOL: The testing protocol, initially the Cobbs Protocol, which is to
be used to monitor the emissions from existing and new personal wireless service facilities and
towers upon adoption of this article. The SPGA may, as the technology changes, require, by
written regulation, the use of other testing protocols. A copy of the monitoring protocol shall be
on file with the Town Clerk.
MONOPOLE: A single self-supporting vertical pole with below-grade foundations.
MOUNT: The structure or surface upon which antennas are mounted, including the following
four types of mounts:
A. Roof-mounted-. mounted on the roof of a building.
B. Side-mounted: mounted on the side of a building.
C. Ground-mounted: mounted on the ground
D. Structure-mounted: mounted on a structure other than a building.
MOTEL: A building or buildings intended and designed for transient overnight or extended
occupancy, divided into separate units within the same building with or without a public dining
facility.
MOTOR VEHICLE COMMERCIAL: Any vehicle used or designed to be used for business
or commercial purposes that infringes on the residential character of residential districts and
includes, but is not necessarily limited to-, a bus, cement truck, commercial tree-trimming
equipment, construction equipment, dump truck, garbage truck, panel truck, semi-tractor , semi-
trailer, stake bed truck, step van, tank truck, tar truck, fire truck, or the like, or other commercial
type vehicle licensed by the state as a commercial vehicle or truck.
MOTOR VEHICLE GENERAL OR BODY REPAIR: An establishment, garage or work
area enclosed within a building where repairs are made or caused to be made to motor vehicles
and their bodies, including fenders, bumpers and similar components of motor vehicle bodies,
but does not include the storage of vehicles for the cannibalization of parts or fuel sales.
MUNICIPAL FACILITIES: Facilities owned or operated by the Town of Agawam,
NON-CORNFORMING BUILDING OR STRUCTURE: A building or structure, existing at
the effective date of this ordinance, or any subsequent amendment to, which does not conform to
one or more provisions of this ordinance.
NON-CONFORMING LOT: A lot lawfully existing at the effective date of this ordinance, or
any subsequent amendment to, which is not in accordance with all the provisions of this
ordinance.
NON-CONFORMING USE: A use lawfully existing at the time of adoption of this ordinance,
or any subsequent amendment thereto, which does not conform to one or more provisions of this
ordinance.
NURSING, REST HOME, OR CONVALESCENT HOME: An extended or intermediate
care facility licensed or approved to provide full-time convalescent or chronic care to individuals
who, by reason of advanced age, chronic illness or infirmity, are unable to care for themselves.
OFF-STREET PARKING SPACE: A space of 200 square feet or more plus access and
maneuvering space, whether inside or outside a structure for exclusive use as a parking stall for
one motor vehicle, and further being surfaced with durable pavement.
OPEN SPACE: The space on a lot unoccupied by buildings, structures, driveways, off-street
parking or loading spaces or other impervious surfaces.
ORDINARY HIGH-WATER MARK: The highest point on the bank of a floodway or
floodplain at which the water level has been for a sufficient period of time to leave a definite
mark.
PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICES: Commercial mobile services, unlicensed wireless
services and common carrier wireless exchange access services. These services include: cellular
services, personal communications services (PCS), specialized mobile radio services and paging
services.
PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE FACILITY: All equipment (excluding any repeaters)
with which a personal wireless service provider broadcasts and receives the radio frequency
waves which carry their services and all locations of said equipment or any part thereof This
facility may be sited on one or more towers or structures(s) owned and permitted by another
owner or entity.
PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE PROVIDER: An entity licensed by the FCC to provide
personal wireless services to individuals or institutions.
PRINCIPAL BUILDING: A building in which is conducted the principal use of the lot on
which it is located.
PRINCIPAL USE: The main or primary purpose for which a structure or lot is designed,
arranged or intended, or for which it may be used, occupied or maintained under this ordinance.
Any other use within the main structure or the use of any other structure or land on the same lot
and incidental or supplementary to the principal use and permitted under this ordinance shall be
considered an accessory use.
RADIATION PROPAGATION STUDIES OR RADIAL PLOTS: Computer generated
estimates of the radiation emanating from antennas or repeaters sited on a specific tower or
structure. The height above mean sea level, power input and output, frequency output, type of
antenna, antenna gain, topography of the site and its surroundings are all taken into account to
create these simulations. They are the primary too] for determining whether a site will provide
adequate coverage for the personal wireless service facility proposed for that site.
REAR VARD: The required unoccupied space or area within the rear lot line and the part of the
principal building nearest such rear lot fine.
RESTAURANT: A building, or portion thereof, which is designed, intended and used for the
indoor sales and consumption of food prepared on the premises, except that food may be
consumed out doors in landscaped terraces, designed for dining purposes, which are adjuncts to
the main indoor restaurant facility. The term "restaurant" shall not Include "fast food
establishments".
RESTAURANT, FAST-FOOD: An establishment engaged primarily in the business of
preparing food and purveying it on a self-service or semi self-service basis. Customer orders
and/or service may be by means of a walk-up counter or window designed to accommodate
automobile traffic. Consumption is either on or off the premises.
RESTAURANT, DRIVE-IN AND DRIVE-THROUGH: A restaurant which provides
convenient vehicular access and may provide service to customers while in their vehicles.
SANITARIUM: A hospital used for treating chronic and usually long-term illness.
SEMI-DETACHED DWELLING: A single-family residential unit that is Joined on one side
to another single-family residential unit having a party wall between the units.
SERVICES, PROFESSIONAL: Establishments primarily engaged in rendering services by
professional persons on a fee or contract basis, including, but not limited to the following..
accounting, auditing, and bookkeeping; medical, dental or health; planning, engineering and
architectural; education and science; attomeys and notary publics, etc.
SETBACK: The minimum required unoccupied space or area between the street line'of which
the building is numbered or would be numbered and the part of the building nearest such street
line, such unoccupied space or area extending the entire width or distance across the lot.
SIDE LOT LINE: The line dividing one lot from another.
SIDE YARD. The required unoccupied space and area within the lot between the side lot line
and parts of the building nearest such side lot line. In the case of a comer lot, one of the side
yards shall be the unoccupied space or area between the street line of the side street and the parts
of the building nearest to such street line.
SIGN: Any device, surface or framework on which words, symbols or other designs, are
inscribed or displayed and designed to call attention thereto, including flags, banners and the
like.
SIGN, ACCESSORY: Any sign that advertises or indicates the person occupying the premises
on which the sign is erected or maintained or the business transacted thereon or the products sold
thereon.
SIGN, AREA OF:
A. Area of the face-. The area of the face of a sign shall be considered to include all lettering,
Working and accompanying designs and symbols, together with the background on which
they are displayed and any cutouts or extensions.
B. The area of a sign consisting of individual letters or symbols attached to or painted on a
surface, building, wall or window shall be considered to be that of the smallest
quadrangle or triangle which encompasses all the letters and symbols.
C. The area of a sign consisting of a three-dimensional object shall be considered to be the
area of the largest vertical cross section of that object.
D. In computing the area of the signs, both sides of v-shaped signs, but only one (1) side of
the back-to-back signs, shall be counted.
Sign, billboard: Any non-accessory sign greater in face area than 40 square feet.
Sign, color: The color concept of the sign shall be such that it does not violate the purpose of
this Article.
Sign, instructional: Signs indicating entrance", "exit" or the like, erected on premises for the
direction of persons or vehicles.
Sign, outdoor advertising board: The Outdoor Advertising Board of the Commonwealth or
any board or official which may hereafter succeed to its powers or functions.
Sign, overhanging: A sign or other advertising device which hangs or extends over a sidewalk
or a way in which the public has a right of access. Wail signs and standing signs shall not be
included in this definition,
Sign, real estate-. A sign advertising the sale, rental or lease of the premises on which it is
maintained.
Sign, standing. A sign standing or hanging free on its own support-, such support may be
attached to a building or fixed in or to the ground. "Standing signs" may have two (2) faces or
sides showing in opposite directions.
Sign, structure: The supports, uprights, bracing and framework of a sign. Any color applied to
the "structure" shall meet the purposes of this Article.
Sign, temporary: Any sign, including its supporting structure, intended to be maintained for a
period less than one hundred eight (180) days for agricultural purposes and sixty (60) days for
any other purposes.
Sign, wall: A sign fastened or affixed parallel to and within twelve (12) inches of the wall of a
building.
I
Sign, window: A sign painted or placed on the inside or outside of a window.
SINGLE-FAMILY DWELLING: A structure designed exclusively for and occupied
exclusively by one family.
SITE PLAN: A plan, to scale, showing uses and structures proposed for a parcel of land as
required by the zoning regulations, including lot lines, streets, building sites, buildings,
landscape features, traffic circulation, parking, drainage, utilities, signs, topography and lighting
within the parcel.
SPECIAL PERMIT GRANTING AUTHORITY: The Board of Appeals of the Town of
Agawam.
STORAGE CAPACITY OF A FLOODPLAIN: The volume of space above an area of
floodplain that can be occupied by flood water of a given stage at a given time, regardless of
whether the water is moving,
STORY: The horizontal portion through a building between floor and ceiling. The word
"story" shall not include the portion of the basement or cellar of a building above grade or an
attic as defined in this section.
STREET- An accepted city way, or a way established by or maintained under county, state, or
federal authority, or a way established by a subdivision plan approved in accordance with the
subdivision control law actually constructed to specifications or for which adequate security
exists to construct such a way.
STREET LINE: The dividing line between a street and a lot and, in the case of a public way,
the street line established by the public authority laying out such way upon which the lot abuts.
STREET, PAPER- A street shown on a recorded plan but never built on the ground.
STREET RIGHT-OF-WAY: A general term denoting land, property or interest therein,
usually a strip acquired for or devoted to a planned roadway, A street right-of-way should be
sufficient to accommodate the ultimate roadway, including, but not limited to., the street
pavement, shoulder, grass strip, sidewalk,public utility facilities, street trees, and snow storage.
STRUCTURE: A combination of materials assembled at a fixed location to give support or
shelter, such as a building, framework, retaining wall, tent, reviewing stand, platform, bin fence,
sign, flagpole, recreational tramway, and mast for radio antenna or the like. The word
"structure" shall be construed, where the context allows, as though followed by the words "or
part or parts thereof'.
SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT IN THE FLOODPLAIN: Any repair, reconstruction or
improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds fifty percent (50%) of the
assessed value of the structure either before the improvement is started or, if the structure has
been damaged and is being restored, before the damage occurred. "Substantial improvement" is
started when the first alteration of any structural part of the building commences.
TOWER: A monopole that is designed to support personal wireless service transmission,
receiving and/or relaying antennas and/or equipment.
TRAILER: Any so-called automobile trailer, mobile home or trailer coach, including any
portable structure, means of conveyance or vehicle so designed or constructed, altered or
converted in any manner as to permit occupancy thereof for dwelling or sleeping purposes.
TRUCKING TERMINAL: Terminal facilities for handling freight with or without
maintenance facilities.
UNREGISTERED MOTOR VEHICLES: Any motor vehicle or trailer not registered in
accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 90, or any motor vehicle which fails to
carry or display its license plate as provided in §6 of said Chapter 90; or any motor vehicle or
trailer owned by a non-resident who has failed to comply with the registration laws of the non-
resident state or country.
USE, SUBSTANTIALLY DIFFERENT: A use which by reason of its normal operation would
cause readily observable differences in patronage, service, sight, noise, employment or similar
characteristics from the use to which it is being compared.
WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS OVERLAY DISTRICT (WTOD): Specific
area(s), determined by engineering analysis to contain sites where adequate service may be
provided to the Town of Agawam, which, at the same time, have the potential of reducing or
mitigating negative impacts in accordance with the Overlay District as defined in this article.
YARD: A space open to the sky, located between a building or structure and a lot line,
unoccupied except by fences, walls, poles, paving, and other customary yard accessories.
YARD, FRONT: A yard extending the full width of the lot and situated between the street line
and nearest point of the building.
YARD, REAR: The required unoccupied space or area within the rear lot line and the part of
the principal building nearest such rear lot line.
YARD, SIDE: The required unoccupied space or area within the lot between the side lot line
and parts of the building nearest such side lot line. In the case of a corner lot one (1) of the side
yards shall be the unoccupied space or area between the street line of the side street and the parts
of the building nearest to such street line.
N/1.4-YORA-L ,kCTION
Received this —day of _.Alotery)&tc , 2012 from Council Clerk,
Signed by Council President this 74'k —dayof &jrem �x,,�:, 2012.
kPPROVAL OF LEGISLATION
By the powers vested in me pursuant to Article 3, Section 3-6 of the Agawam Charter, as
amended, I hereby approve the passage of the above legislation on this 01� day of
mcVt�-'t-'Li- 2012.
Richard A. Cohen, Mayor
DISAPPROVAL OF LEGISLATION
By the powers vested in me pursuant to Arficle. 3, Section 3-6 of the Agawam Charter, as
amended, I hereby veto the passage of the above legislation on this day of
2012 for the following reason(s):
Richard A. Cohen, Mayor
RETURN OF LEGISLATrON TO COUNCIL CLERK
Returned to Council Clerk this day of No ttin 4:3 2012.
TOR-2012-3
AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE CODE OF THE TOWN OF AGAWAM ZONING
ORDINANCES §180-2 "DEFINITIONS AND WORD USAGE."
WHEREAS, the Agawam Planning Board voted to act as petitioner for proposed zoning
amendment to §180-2 "Definitions and word Usage;" and
WHEREAS, the new definitions section updates existing definitions and reorganizes
definitions that are presently found in various sections of the Town Code; and
WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of the Town of Agawam to update and reorganize
the definitions contained in the Agawam Town Code.
NOW THEREFORE, THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL hereby resolves, ordains and
amends and enacts the following amendments to the Code of the Town of Agawam:
Delete Section §180-2 in its entirety.
Delete Section §180-92 in its entirety.
Delete Section §180-7 5 in its entirety.
Add the following:
§ 180-75 Purpose.
The purpose of this section is to provide for the reasonable regulation and control of the erection
and maintenance of signs and advertising devices within the Town to the end that the appearance
and amenities of the Town may be preserved and enhanced, without unduly restricting the
conduct of lawful enterprise.
Add the following:
§180-92. Definitions.
For the purposes of this article, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings
respectively ascribed to them by this section:
ACT The Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Add the Following: See exhibit A attached.
DATED THIS OF 2012.
PER ORDER OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL
Christopher C. Johnson, President
A CPIJ�OED S�T03FORMAAND LEGALITY
:91
Vincent 0", Solicitor
Exhibit A
ARTICLE VI,DEFINITIONS
AGAWAM ZONING ORDINANCE
§ 180-2 Definitions and word usage
For the purpose of this Ordinance, certain terms and words shall have the following meaning.
Words used in the present tense include the future; the plural number includes the singular; the
words"used" or"occupied" include the words "designed", "arranged", "intended", or"offered to
be used or occupied"; the words "building", "structure", "lot", "land", or "premise" shall be
construed as though followed by the words "or any portion thereof'; and the word "shall" is
always mandatory and not merely directory.
Terms and words not defined herein but defined in the Building Code or Subdivision Regulations
shall have the meanings given therein unless a contrary intention clearly appears. Words not
defined in either place shall have the meaning given in the most recent edition of Webster's
Unabridged DictioDary.
Definitions
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings
respectively ascribed to them by this section:
ABANDONMENT: The cessation of a nonconforming use or structure as indicated by the
visible or otherwise indicated intention to discontinue a nonconforming use of a structure or a
lot, or the cessation of a nonconforming use or structure by its replacement with a conforming
use or structure.
ACCESSORY BUILDING: A subordinate building, located on the same lot as the main, or
principal building or principal use, the use of which is customarily incidental to the main or
principal use permitted in the district.
ACCESSORY USE: A use customarily incidental to that of the main or principal building or
use of the land.
ADEQUATE COVERAGE Coverage is considered to be adequate within that area
surrounding a base station where the predicted or measured median field strength of the
transmitted signal for at least 75% of the covered area is greater than -95 dbm. It is acceptable
for there to be holes within the area of adequate coverage where the signal is less than -95. dbm,
as long as the signal regains its strength to greater than -95 dbm further away from the base
station. For the limited purpose of determining whether the use of a repeater is necessary or
desirable, there shall be deemed not to be adequate coverage within said holes. The outer
boundary of the area of adequate coverage, however, is that location past which the signal does
not regain a strength of greater than -95 dbm.
ADEQUATE CAPACITY: Capacity is considered to be adequate if the grade of service is
p.05 or better for a worst case day in a preceding month, based on the ErIlang B Tables, prior to
the date of application; or as measured using direct traffic measurement of the personal wireless
service facility in question for existing facilities requesting major modification and where the
call blocking is due to frequency contention at the antenna(s).
ADULT DAY CARE FACILITY: A building or structure where care, protection, and
supervision are provided, on a regular schedule, to adults over the age of 18.
AGRICULTURE: The production, keeping or maintenance, for sale or lease of plants and
animals useful to man, including but not limited to: forages and sod crops; grains and seed crops;
dairy animals and dairy products; poultry and poultry products; livestock including beef cattle,
swine, horses, mules, ponies, or goats or any mutations of hybrids thereof, including the breeding
and grazing of any or all such animals, bees, and apiary products, for animals, trees and forest
products; fruits of all kinds, including grapes, nuts and berries, vegetables, floral, nursery,
ornamental and green house products, or lands devoted to a soil conservation or forestry
management program.
ALTERATION: Any construction, reconstruction or other action resulting in a change in the
structural parts, height, number of stories, exits, size, use or location of a building or other
structure.
AMUSEMENT PARK: A commercially operated park with a predominance of outdoor games
and activities for entertainment, including shows or riding devices, games of skill or chance, or
any combination of shows, riding devices, water slides, miniature golf, batting cages or any
combination of several enterprises, such as revolving wheels, merry-go-rounds, giant swings,
panoramas, musical and theatrical entertainments, or riding devices, whether carried on, engaged
in or conducted as one enterprise or by several concessionaries, and whether an admission fee is
charged for admission to all such shows for entertainments, or a separate fee for admission is
charged for each amusement. [Added 2-2-2001 by TOR-2001-1]
ANIMAL CLINIC OR HOSPITAL: A placc where animals or pets are given medical or
surgical treatment and the boarding of animals is limited to short term care incidental to the
clinic or hospital use.
ANTENNA: A device which is attached to a tower or other structure for transmitting and
receiving electromagnetic waves.
APARTMENT HOUSE: A building or structure arranged, intended and designed to be
occupied by five or more families, living independently of each other, and each including its own
separate kitchen and bathroom accommodations. Garden-type apartments shall be considered as
an apartment house.
I
ATTIC. The unfinished space between the ceiling of the top story of a building and its roof
which is not used for living, sleeping or eating quarters.
BASE STATION: The primary sending and receiving site in a wireless telecommunications
network.
BUILDING: A structure enclosed within exterior, walls or firewalls, built, erected and framed
of a combination of any materials, whether portable or fixed, having a roof, to form a structure
for the shelter of persons, animals or property. For the purpose of this definition, "roof" shall
include an awning or any similar covering, whether or not permanent in nature. The word
"building" shall be constructed, where the context requires, as though followed by words "or part
or parts thereof'. A porch or an attached garage, greenhouse or similar structure is to be
considered as part of a building when considering the requirements of setback, side or rear yards.
BUSINESS: The transacting or carrying on of a trade or commercial enterprise with a view to
profit or for livelihood.
CEMETERY: Land used or intended to be used for the burial of the dead and dedicated for
cemetery purposes including columbarium, crematoriums, mausoleums, and funeral
establishments, when operated in conjunction with and within the boundary of such cemeteiy
under the care and super-vision of the Town or other public authority.
CHANNEL: The segment of the radiation spectrum from an antenna which carries one signal.
An antenna may radiate on many channels simultaneously.
CHILDCARE FACILITY: Facilities that serve children under seven years of age or sixteen
years if the children have special needs, or school-age children (under fourteen years of age or
sixteen years if they have special needs) in programs that are held before or after school hours or
during vacations.
A child care facility defined in M.G.L. c.28A, s.9.
CLUB OR LODGE, PRIVATE: Buildings, structures and premises used by a non-profit social
or civic organization or by a nonprofit organization, catering exclusively to members and their
guests for social, civic, recreation, or athletic purposes which are not conducted primarily for
gain and provided there are no vending stands, merchandising, or commercial activities except as
may be required generally for the membership and purposes of such organization.
COMMERCIAL RECREATION, INDOORS: A structure for recreational, social or
amusement purposes, which may include as an accessory, use the consumption of food and
drink, including all connected rooms or space with a common means of egress and entrance.
Places of assembly shall include theaters, concert halls, dance halls, skating rinks, bowling
alleys, health clubs, dance studios, or other commercial recreational centers conducted for or not
for profit.
COMMERCIAL RECREATION, OUTDOORS: Driving range, bathing beach, sports club,
horseback riding stable, boathouse, marina or other commercial recreation carried on in whole or
in part outdoors, except those activities more specifically designated in this ordinance.
COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT SHELTER: A structure located at a base station
designed principally to enclose equipment used in connection with personal wireless service
transmissions.
CONVENIENCE STORE: A retail store that sells groceries and may also sell gasoline; does
not include automotive service stations, or vehicle repair shops.
CREMATORY: A building containing a furnace designed and intended to be used for
cremating the dead and owned and controlled by a cemetery corporation or crematory
corporation duly organized under the laws of the state.
DETACHED: Separate from.
DBM: Unit of measure of the power level of an electromagnetic signal expressed in decibels
referenced to I milliwatt.
DWELLING: A building designed and occupied as the living quarters of one (1) or more
families. Single- and two-family dwellings shall be designed for and occupied by not more than
one (1) or two (2) families, respectively. A multifamily dwelling shall be one designed for and
occupied by three (3) or more families. Hotels, lodging houses, hospitals, membership clubs, or
dormitories shall not be considered dwellings.
EARTH REMOVAL: Extraction of sand, gravel, top soil, or other earth for sale or for use at a
site removed from the place of extraction exclusive of the grading of a lot preparatory to the
construction of a building for which a building permit has been issued, or the grading of streets
in accordance with an approved definitive plan and exclusive of granite operations.
EDUCATIONAL USE: Use of land or structures for education purposes on land owned or
leased by the Commonwealth or any of its agencies, subdivisions or bodies politic or by a
religious sect or denomination, or by a non-profit education corporation. Educational facilities
not exempted from regulation by M.G.L. 40A, s.3.
EMF: Electromagnetic frequency radiation.
ERECT: To build, construct, reconstruct, move upon, or conduct any physical development of
the premises required for a building; to excavate, fill, drain, and the like preparation for building
shall also be considered to erect.
ESSENTIAL SERVICES: Services provided by a public service corporation or by
governmental agencies through erection, construction, alteration, or maintenance of gas,
electrical, steam, or water transmission or distribution systems and collection, communication,
supply, or disposal systems whether underground or overhead, but not including wireless
communications facilities. Facilities necessary for the provision of essential services include
poles, wires, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits, cables, fire alarm boxes, police call boxes, traffic
signals, hydrants and other similar equipment in connection therewith.
FACILITY SITE: The location within a Wireless Telecommunications Overlay District leased
by one of more personal wireless service providers and upon which one or more personal
wireless service facility(s) and required landscaping are located.
FAMILY: A number of individuals related by blood, marriage and/or adoption or a group of
unrelated individuals not to exceed four (4) who are occupying a dwelling unit and living as a
single nonprofit housekeeping unit. This definition, however, does not apply to non-related
disable persons as defined by any applicable federal and/or state law and/or regulations.
FAMILY DAY CARE FACILITY: Any private residence which on a regular basis receives
for temporary custody and care auring part of all of the day, children under seven (7) years of
age or children under sixteen (16) years of age if such children have special needs. Provided,
however, in either case, that the total number of children shall not exceed more than six (6),
excluding participating children living in the residence.
FARMSTAND: A facility for the sale of produce, and wine and dairy products, provided that
during the months of June, July, August, and September of every year, or during the harvest
season of the primary crop raised on land of the owner or lessee, the majority of such products
for sale, based on either gross sales dollars or volume, have been produced by the owner or
lessee of land containing more than five acres on which the facility is located used primarily for
agriculture in conformance with M.G.L. c.40A, s.3.
FCC: Federal Communications Commission. The government agency responsible for regulating
telecommunications in the United States.
FCC 96-326: A report and order which sets new national standards for emissions of radio
frequency emissions from FCC regulated transmitters.
FENCE: An artificially constructed barrier of any material or combination of materials erected
to enclose or screen areas of land.
FLOOD OR FLOODING: A general and temporary condition of partial or complete
inundation of normally dry land areas from:
(1) The overflow of inland or tidal waters;
(2) The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source.
FLOODWAY: The channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that
must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water
surface elevation more than one foot.
FLOODWAY FRINGE: The land in the floodplain within a community subject to a one
percent or greater chance of flooding in a given year that is located outside of the floodway.
GARAGE, PRIVATE: A building or space used as an accessory to or a part of a main building
permitted in any residential district, and providing for the storage of one or more motor vehicles
and in which no business, occupation or service for profit is in any way conducted.
GARAGE, PUBLIC: A garage, other than a private or storage garage, which is used for the
short-term parking of vehicles.
GARAGE, REPAIR: A building or portion thereof, other than a private or storage garage,
designed or used for equipping, servicing, repairing, hiring, selling, and/or storing of motor
vehicles. The term repairing shall not include an automobile body repair shop nor the rebuilding,
dismantling, or storage of wrecked orjunked vehicles.
GASOLINE SERVICE STATION: A gasoline service station shall include any business
selling or offering for sale any motor fuel, such as gasoline or diesel fuel, to the public, whether
or not the public permitted or expected to operate the pump to put the fuel into a motor vehicle's
fuel tank or a container, and shall include gasoline filling stations and gasoline self-service
stations. For the purposes of this ordinance gasoline service station shall also include any site
used or operated as a retail refueling site, including the fuels of gasoline, propane, electricity and
hydrogen. (Approved by Council 5/5/03)
GHZ: Gigahertz: one billion hertz.
GRADE OF SERVICE: A measure of the percentage of calls which are able to connect to the
base station, during the busiest hour of the day. Grade of service is expressed as a number, such
as p. 05, which means that 95% of callers will connect on their first try. A lower number (p. 04)
indicates a better grade of service.
HALF STORY: The space between the ceiling of the top story of a building and the roof where
the area and height are sufficient for sleeping and living quarters.
HAZARDOUS MATERIAL: Any substance which is listed in, but not limited to, the EPA
priority pollutants as described in section 307 (a) of the Clean Water Act, as amended.
HEIGHT: The vertical distance from the average finished grade of the adjacent ground to the
top of the structure of the highest roof beams of a flat roof, or the mean level of the highest gable
or slope of a hip roof.
HERTZ: One hertz is the frequency of an electric or magnetic field which reverses polarity
once each second or one cycle per second.
HOME OCCUPATION: An occupation, business, trade, service or profession which is
incidental to and conducted in a dwelling unit or in a building or other accessory structure
thereto, by a resident thereof
HOSPITAL: An institution providing primary health services and medical or surgical care to
persons, primarily in-patients, suffering from illness, disease, injury, deformity and other
abnormal physical or mental conditions, and including, as an integral part of the institution
related facilities such as laboratories, outpatient facilities or training facilities, a sanitarium, and
clinic. The term "hospital" does not include a rest home, nursing home and/or convalescent
home. (Jessica)
HOUSEKEEPING UNIT: See definition of"family".
JUNK VEHICLES: A wrecked, damaged, destroyed, non-operational, abandoned or
disassembled trailer, house trailer, boat, tractor, automobile, aircraft, or other motor vehicle, or
any parts thereof. A junk vehicle includes apparently inoperable, immobile, disassembled or
extensively damaged vehicles. Evidence of non-operation and damaged includes, but is not
limited to, a buildup of debris that obstructs use, a broken window or windshield, a missing
wheel, a flat tire, a nonfunctional motor or transmission, missing bumpers, or missing plates and
the like.
KENNEL, COMMERCIAL. An establishment licensed to operate a facility housing dogs,
cats, or other household pets and where grooming, breeding, boarding, training or selling of
animals is conducted as a business.
KENNEL, PRIVATE: Any building or land designated or arranged for the care of dogs, cats or
other household pets belonging to the owner of the residential, principal use, kept for purposes of
show, hunting, or as pets.
LODGING HOUSE. A building containing more than five (5) lodging units for semi-
permanent residence (longer than one (1) week) for compensation and which meals may also be
supplied as part of the fee. This shall not include bed and breakfast home uses, congregate
housing, motels, hotels, multi-family dwellings, or nursing homes.
LIGHT MANUFACTURING: Fabrication, assembly, processing, finishing work or
packaging.-
LOADING SPACE, OFF-STREET: Space located on the same lot with principal building, or
contiguous to a group of buildings, for bulk pickups.and deliveries, scaled to delivery vehicles
expected to be used, and accessible to such vehicles when required off-street parking spaces are
filled. It shall abut a street, alley, or other appropriate means of ingress or egress.
LOT, A continuous parcel of land with legally definable boundaries.
LOT, AREA: The horizontal area of the lot exclusive of any area in a street or recorded way
open to public use.
LOT, CORNER: A lot located at the intersection of two or more streets.
LOT, DEPTH OF: The mean distance from the street line of the lot to its opposite rear line
measured in the general direction of the side lines of the lot.
LOT, FRONTAGE OF: A lot line coinciding with the sideline of a street which provides legal
rights of vehicular access and actual physical vehicular access to the lot. Frontage shall be
measured continuously along a street and shall be the horizontal distance between the side lot
lines measured at the point where the side lot lines intersect with the front set back line. Lots
adjacent to paper streets may not use any portion of the paper street in calculating frontage or lot
area.
LOT LINE: A line dividing one lot from another, or from a street or any public place.
LOT LINE, REAR: The lot line opposite the street line, except that, in the case of a corner lot,
the rear lot line shall be the line opposite the street line on which the building is numbered or
would be numbered.
MAJOR MODIFICATION OF AN EXSITING FACILITY: Any change or proposed change
in power input or output, number of antennas, change in antenna type or model, repositioning of
antenna (s), change in number of channels per antenna above the maximum number approved
under an existing special permit. Also any increase or proposed increase in dimensions of an
existing and permitted tower or other structure designed to support personal wireless service
transmissions, receiving and/or relaying antennas and/or equipment.
MEDICAL CENTER OR CLINIC: A building designed and used for the diagnosis and
treatment of human patients that does not include overnight care facilities.
MHZ: Megahertz: one million hertz.
MILE: A "mile" (5,280 feet) is to .be measured from a point on an imaginary line which is
perpendicular to the vertical line at that point.
MONITORING: The measurement, by the use of instruments in the field, of the radiation from
a site as a whole or from individual personal wireless service facilities, towers or antennas.
MONITORING PROTOCOL: The testing protocol, initially the Cobbs Protocol, which is to
be used to monitor the emissions from existing and new personal wireless service facilities and
towers upon adoption of this article. The SPGA may, as the technology changes, require, by
written regulation, the use of other testing protocols. A copy of the monitoring protocol shall be
on file with the Town Clerk.
MONOPOLE: A single self-supporting vertical pole with below-grade foundations.
MOUNT: The structure or surface upon which antennas are mounted, including the following
four types of mounts:
A. Roof-mounted: mounted on the roof of a building.
B. Side-mounted: mounted on the side of a building.
C. Ground-mounted: mounted on the ground
D. Structure-mounted: mounted on a structure other than a building.
MOTEL: A building or buildings intended and designed for transient overnight or extended
occupancy, divided into separate units within the same building with or without a public dining
facility.
MOTOR VEHICLE COMMERCIAL: Any vehicle used or designed to be used for business
or commercial purposes that infringes on the residential character of iesidential districts and
includes, but is not necessarily limited to: a bus, cement truck, commercial tree-trimming
equipment, construction equipment, dump truck, garbage truck, panel truck, semi-tractor , semi-
trailer, stake bed truck, step van, tank truck, tar truck, fire truck, or the like, or other commercial
type vehicle licensed by the state as a commercial vehicle or truck.
MOTOR VEHICLE GENERAL OR BODY REPAIR: An establishment, garage or work
area enclosed within a building where repairs are made or caused to be made to motor vehicles
and their bodies, including fenders, bumpers and similar components of motor vehicle bodies,
but does not include the storage of vehicles for the cannibalization of parts or fuel sales.
MUNICIPAL FACILITIES: Facilities owned or operated by the Town of Agawam.
NON-CORNFORMING BUILDING OR STRUCTURE: A building or structure, existing at
the effective date of this ordinance, or any subsequent amendment to, which does not conform to
one or more provisions of this ordinance.
NON-CONFORMING LOT: A lot lawfully existing at the effective date of this ordinance, or
any subsequent amendment to, which is not in accordance with all the provisions of this
ordinance.
NON-CONFORMING USE. A use lawfully existing at the time of adoption of this ordinance,
or any subsequent amendment thereto, which does not conform to one or more provisions of this
ordinance.
NURSING, REST HOME, OR CONVALESCENT HOME: An extended or intermediate
care facility licensed or approved to provide full-time convalescent or chronic care to individuals
who, by reason of advanced age, chronic illness or infirmity, are unable to care for themselves,
OFF-STREET PARKING SPACE: A space of 200 square feet or more plus access and
maneuvering space, whether inside or outside a structure for exclusive use as a parking stall for
one motor vehicle, and further being surfaced with durable pavement.
OPEN SPACE: The space on a lot unoccupied by buildings, structures, driveways, off-street
parking or loading spaces or other impervious surfaces.
ORDINARY HIGH-WATER MARK: The highest point on the bank of a floodway or
floodplain at which the water level has been for a sufficient period of time to leave a definite
mark.
PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICES: Commercial mobile services, unlicensed wireless
services and common carrier wireless exchange access services. These services include: cellular
services, personal communications services (PCS), specialized mobile radio services and paging
services.
PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE FACILITY: All equipment (excluding any repeaters)
with which a personal wireless service provider broadcasts and receives the radio frequency
waves which carry their services and all locations of said equipment or any part thereof. This
facility may be sited on one or more towers or structures(s) owned and permitted by another
owner or entity.
PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE PROVIDER: An entity licensed by the FCC to provide
personal wireless services to individuals or institutions.
PRINCIPAL BUILDING: A building in which is conducted the principal use of the lot on
which it is located.
PRINCIPAL USE: The main or primary purpose for which a structure or lot is designed,
arranged or intended, or for which it may be used, occupied or maintained under this ordinance.
Any other use within the main structure or the use of any other structure or land on the same lot
and incidental or supplementary to the principal use and permitted under this ordinance shall be
considered an accessory use.
RADIATION PROPAGATION STUDIES OR RADIAL PLOTS: Computer generated
estimates of the radiation emanating from antennas or repeaters sited on a specific tower or
structure. The height above mean sea level, power input and output, frequency output, type of
antenna, antenna gain, topography of the site and its surroundings are all taken into account to
create these simulations. They are the primary tool for determining whether a site will provide
adequate coverage for the personal wireless service facility proposed for that site.
REAR YARD: The required unoccupied space or area within the rear lot line and the part of the
principal building nearest such rear lot line.
RESTAURANT: A building, or portion thereof, which is designed, intended and used for the
indoor sales and consumption of food prepared on the premises, except that food may be
consumed out doors in landscaped terraces, designed for dining purposes, which are adjuncts to
the main indoor restaurant facility. The term "restaurant" shall not include "fast food
establishments".
RESTAURANT, FAST-FOOD: An establishment engaged primarily in the business of
preparing food and purveying it on a self-service or semi self-service basis. Customer orders
and/or service may be by means of a walk-up counter or window designed to accommodate
automobile traffic. Consumption is either on or off the premises.
RESTAURANT, DRIVE-IN AND DRIVE-THROUGH: A restaurant which provides
convenient vehicular access and may provide service to customers while in their vehicles.
SANITARIUM: A hospital used for treating chronic and usually long-term illness.
SEMI-DETACHED DWELLING: A single-family residential unit that is joined on one side
to another single-family residential unit having a party wall between the units.
SERVICES, PROFESSIONAL. Establishments primarily engaged in rendering services by
professional persons on a fee or contract basis, including, but not limited to the following:
accounting, auditing, and bookkeeping; medical, dental or health; planning, engineering and
architectural; education and science; attorneys and notary publics; etc.
SETBACK: The minimum required unoccupied space or area between the street line of which
the building is numbered or would be numbered and the part of the building nearest such street
line, such unoccupied space or area extending the entire width or distance across the lot.
SIDE LOT LINE: The line dividing one lot from another.
SIDE YARD: The required unoccupied space and area within the lot between the side lot line
and parts of the building nearest such side lot line. In the case of a corner lot, one of the side
yards shall be the unoccupied space or area between the street line of the side street and the parts
of the building nearest to such street line.
SIGN: Any device, surface or framework on which words, symbols or other designs, are
inscribed or displayed and designei to call attention thereto, including flags, banners and the
like.
SIGN, ACCESSORY: Any sign that advertises or indicates the person occupying the premises
on which the sign is erected or maintained or the business transacted thereon or the products sold
thereon.
SIGN, AREA OF:
A. Area of the face: The area of the face of a sign shall be considered to include all lettering,
working and accompanying designs and symbols, together with the background on which
they are displayed and any cutouts or extensions.
B. The area of a sign consisting of individual letters or symbols attached to or painted on a
surface, building, wall or window shall be considered to be that of the smallest
quadrangle or triangle which encompasses all the letters and symbols.
C. The area of a sign consisting of a three-dimensional object shall be considered to be the
area of the largest vertical cross section of that object.
D. In computing the area of the signs, both sides of v-shaped signs, but only one (1) side of
the back-to-back signs, shall be counted.
Sign, billboard: Any non-accessory sign greater in face area than 40 square feet.
Sign, color: The color concept of the sign shall be such that it does not violate the purpose of
this Article.
Sign, instructional: Signs indicating "entrance", "exit" or the like, erected on premises for the
direction of persons or vehicles.
Sign, outdoor advertising board: The Outdoor Advertising Board of the Commonwealth or
any board or official which may hereafter succeed to its powers or functions.
Sign, overhanging: A sign or other advertising device which hangs or extends over a sidewalk
or a way in which the public has a right of access. Wall signs and standing signs shall not be
included in this definition.
Sign, real estate: A sign advertising the sale, rental or lease of the premises on which it is
maintained.
Sign, standing: A sign standing or hanging free on its own support; such support may be
attached to a building or fixed in or to the ground. "Standing signs" may have two (2) faces or
sides showing in opposite directions.
Sign, structure: The supports, uprights, bracing and framework of a sign. Any color applied to
the "structure" shall meet the purposes of this Article.
Sign, temporary: Any sign, including its supporting structure, intended to be maintained for a
period less than one hundred eight (180) days for agricultural purposes and sixty (60) days for
any other purposes.
Sign, wall: A sign fastened or affixed parallel to and within twelve (12) inches of the wall of a
building.
Sign,window: A sign painted or placed on the inside or outside of a window.
SINGLE-FAMILY DWELLING: A structure designed exclusively for and occupied
exclusively by one family.
SITE PLAN: A plan, to scale, showing uses and structures proposed for a parcel of land as
required by the zoning regulations, including lot lines, streets, building sites, buildings,
landscape features, traffic circulation, parking, drainage, utilities, signs, topography and lighting
within the parcel.
SPECIAL PERMIT GRANTING AUTHORITY: The Board of Appeals of the Town of
Agawam.
STORAGE CAPACITY OF A FLOODPLAIN: The volume of space above an area of
floodplain that can be occupied by flood water of a given stage at a given time, regardless of
whether the water is moving.
STORY: The horizontal portion through a building between floor and ceiling. The word
"story" shall not include the portion of the basement or cellar of a building above grade or an
attic as defined in this section.
STREET; An accepted city way, or a way established by or maintained under county, state, or
federal authority, or a way established by a subdivision plan approved in accordance with the
subdivision control law actually constructed to specifications or for which adequate security
exists to construct such a way.
STREET LINE: The dividing line between a street and a lot and, in the case of a public way,
the street line established by the public authority laying out such way upon which the lot abuts.
STREET, PAPER: A street shown on a recorded plan but never built on the ground.
STREET RIGHT-OF-WAY: A general term denoting land, property or interest therein,
usually a strip acquired for or devoted to a planned roadway. A street right-of-way should be
sufficient to accommodate the ultimate roadway, including, but not limited to: the street
pavement, shoulder, grass strip, sidewalk, public utility facilitie7s, street trees, and snow storage.
STRUCTURE: A combination of materials assembled at a fixed location to give support or
shelter, such as a building, framework, retaining wall, tent, reviewing stand, platform, bin fence,
sign, flagpole, recreational tramway, and mast for radio antenna or the like. The word
"structure" shall be construed, where the context allows, as though followed by the words "or
part or parts thereof'.
SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT IN THE FLOODPLAIN: Any repair, reconstruction or
improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds fifty percent (50%) of the
assessed value of the structure either before the improvement is started or, if the structure has
been damaged and is being restored, before the damage occurred. "Substantial improvement" is
started when the first alteration of any structural part of the building commences.
TOWER: A monopole that is designed to support personal wireless service transmission,
receiving and/or relaying antennas and/or equipment.
TRAILER: Any so-called automobile trailer, mobile home or trailer coach, including any
portable structure, means of conveyance or vehicle so designed or constructed, altered or
converted in any manner as to permit occupancy thereof for dwelling or sleeping purposes.
TRUCKING TERMINAL: Terminal facilities for handling freight with or without
maintenance facilities.
UNREGISTERED MOTOR VEHICLES: Any motor vehicle or trailer not registered in
accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 90, or any motor vehicle which fails to
carry or display its license plate as provided in §6 of said Chapter 90; or any motor vehicle or
trailer owned by a non-resident who has failed to comply with the registration laws of the non-
resident state or country.
USE, SUBSTANTIALLY DIFFERENT: A use which by reason of its normal operation would
cause readily observable differences in patronage, service, sight, noise, employment or similar
characteristics from the use to which it is being compared.
WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS OVERLAY DISTRICT (WTOD); Specific
area(s), determined by engineering analysis to contain sites where adequate service may be
provided to the Town of Agawam, which, at the same time, have the potential of reducing or
mitigating negative impacts in accordance with the Overlay District as defined in this article.
YARD: A space open to the sky, located between a building or structure and a lot line,
unoccupied except by fences, walls, poles, paving, and other customary yard accessories.
YARD, FRONT: A yard extending the full width of the lot and situated between the street line
and nearest point of the building.
YARD, REAR: The required unoccupied space or area within the rear lot line and the part of
the principal building nearest such rear lot line.
YARD, SIDE: The required unoccupied space or area within the lot between the side lot line
and parts of the building nearest such side lot line. In the case of a comer lot one (1) of the side
yards shall be the unoccupied space or area between the street line of the side street and the parts
of the building nearest to such street line.
Town of Agawam
Interoffice Memorandum
To: Agawam Town Council
CC: Mayor Cohen, Planning Board
From: Deborah S. Dachos, Director of Planning and Community Development
Date: 10/10/12
Subject: Zoning Definition Revisions
During the Planning Board's meeting held on October 4, 2012, it was discussed that the
proposed Definitions of "Apartment House" and "Dwelling" sent to the Council should be
revised to reflect the intent of the Board to define multifamily as all structures containing
two or more dwelling units. This is consistent with the trend to have two-family units
in condominium developments. Allowing the construction of two family units results in a
lower density development. Please accept the revised definitions as follows:
APARTMENT HOUSE: A building or structure arranged, intended and designed to be
occupied by two or more families, living independently of each other, and each
including its own separate kitchen and bathroom accommodations. Garden-type
apartments shall be considered as an apartment house.
DWELLING: A building designed and occupied as a living quarters of one (1) or more
families. Single- and two-family dwellings shall be designed for and occupied by not
more than one (1) or two (2) families, respectively. A multifamily dwelling shall be
one designed for and occupied by two (2) or more families. Hotels, lodging
houses, hospitals, membership clubs, or dormitories shall not be considered dwellings.
C:5
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;K
FRom THE DESK OF...
DEBORAH S.DACHOS C')
DIRECTOR OF PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPEMENT Ln
TOWN OF AGAWAM
36 MAIN ST
AGAWAM,MA 0 1001
Email address planning@agawam.ma.us
413-786-0400 X 8738
Fax:413-786-9927
Lcoal Noticcs
%-.I
AGAWAM ZONING LEGAL NOTICE AGAWAM ZONING that the Agawam Zoning purpose of this hearing will To all persons who may
BOARD OF APPEALS PUBLIC HEARING BOARD OFAPPEALS Board of Appeals will hold a be to hear the petition of the have an interest in the above-
LEGAL AGAWAM CITY LEGAL public hearing at the Agawam Agawam Planning Board on captioned estate,the Division
ADVERTISEMENT COUNCIL ADVERTISEMENT Public Library Conference a proposed zoning amend- of Medical Assistance and,
August 30,2012 The Agawam City Coun- August 22,2012 Room, 750 Cooper Street. ment to Section 180-2 of the if interested, to the Office of
Notice is hereby given cil will hold a public hear- Notice is hereby given Agawam, MA on Tuesday, Agawam Zoning Ordinance the Attorney General and the
that the Agawam Zoning ing on Monday, October that the Agawam Zoning October 9th at 6:30PM for entitled "Definitions and United States Department of
Board of Appeals will hold 1, 2012 at 7:00 P.M. at the Board of Appeals will hold all parties interested in the Word Usage." A copy ofthe Veterans Affairs-;
a public hearing at (he Aga- Roberia G. Doering School, a public hearing at the Aga- appeal of T-MobilcUSA,Inc. proposal can be obtained Notice is being sent to
wam Public Library Con- 68 Main Street, Agawam. warn Public Library Confer- which is seeking a Special from the Agawarn Planning you as you may have a legal
ference Room, 750 Cooper MA. The purpose of this ence Room, 750 Cooper Permit in accordance with Office between the hours of interest in this case, in order
Street, Agawam, MA on hearing will be to hear the Street, Agawam, MA on Section 180-96, Paragraph 8:30 AM and 4:30 PM in the to inform you of your rights.
Tuesday, Octolier 9, 2012 petition or the Agawam City Tuesday, October 9th at A of the Zoning Ordinances Agawam Town Hall,36 Main Under the new Massa-
at 7:30PM for all par- Council on proposed Resolu- 7PM for all parties interested to allow for the installation Street,Agawam,MA. chusetts Uniform Probate
ties interested in the appeal tion (TR-2012-46) accepting in the appeal of MctroPCS of wireless communication BY ORDER OF: Code Inventory and
of Maxine Cirillo, who is the "Massachusew. Stretch Massachusetts, LLC which antennas and equipment to Christopher C.Johnson Accounts are not required
appealing a decision of the Energy Code- (App. 115.AA is seeking a Special Permit an existing utility tower at President of the City Council to be filed with the Court,
Agawam Building inspector of the Massachusetts Building in accordance with Section the premises identified as 9/20,9/27/12 but interested parties are
as allowed in Section 2, Code, 780 CMIR), A copy of 180-96, Paragraph A of the 695 Cooper Street. entitled to notice regard-
Paragraph C of the Town of the,proposal can be obtained Zoning Ordinances to allow Doreen Prouty Chairperson Commonwealth of ing the administration from
Agawam "Adopted Charter" frorn the Agawam Clerk's for the installation of wire- Agawam Board of Appea Is Massachusetts the Personal Reprcsentalive
and MGL Ch. 40A, regard- Office between the hours of less communication antennas 9/20,9/27/12 The Trial Court and can Petition the Court
ing signs and parking at the 8:30am and 4:30pm in the and equipment to an exist- Probate and Family Court in any matter relating to the
premises identified as 1710 Agawam Town Hall, 36 Main ing utility tower at the prem- LEGAL NOTICE Hampden Division estate, including distribu-
Main Street. Street,Agawam,MA. ises identified as 695 Cooper PUBLIC HEARING 50 State Street (ion of assets and expenses
Doreen Prouty BY ORDFR OF: Street. AGAWAM Springfield,MA 0 1103 of administration. Interested
Chairperson Christopher C.Johnson Doreen Prouty Chairperson CITY COUNCIL (413)748-8600 parties are entitled to Petition
A&wam B6ardbf ft�ls City Coun(4TWiesident Agawam Board of Appeals The Agawam City Coun- Docket No. 12PI602EA the Court to institute formal
9120.Y/27/12 9/20,9/27/12 9120,9127112 cil will conduct public hear- Estate of: proceedings and to obtain
ing on Monday,October 15, Robert Henry Griffen orders terminating or restrict-
4 1 AGAWAM ZONING 2012 at 7:00 PM at its regu- Also Known As: ing the powcrs of the appoint-
BOARD OF APPEALS larly scheduled City Council Robert H.Griffen ed Personal Representative.
LEGAL meeting to be held in the Date of Death: Petitioner requests
ADVERTISEMENT auditorium at the Roberta March 31,2011 to be permitted to file a
August 22,2012 G. Doering School, 68 Main MUPC SUPPLEMENTAL MUPC Bond.
11 ne Rest Witbou t the Mess" Notice is hereby given Street, Agawam, MA. The NOTICE 9120/12
Tree Trimming*Tree Removal
Stump Grinding B L E 13 S A E) A I T S AIM E I
hrub Removal Brush Chipping
E E R I C I A L JA Y I
-Call 77pe&0-
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Stump
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ISh b e at A 1 11
FREE ESTMATES,FUUY INSUHD HOW TO SUBMIT
786-1786 v 786-0808 G R E E C R F A C E
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H D A S
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A
AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL
36 MAIN STREET
AGAWAM, MASSACFWSETTS 01001
E LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE
PUBLIC HEARING
AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL
PRESIDENT
Christopher C. Johnson The Agawam City Council will conduct public hearing on Monday,
VICE PRESIDENT October 15, 2012 at 7:00 PM at its regularly scheduled City Council
Dennis J. Perry meeting to be held in the auditorium at the Roberta G. Doering School,
68 Main Street, Agawam, MA. The purpose of this hearing will be to
COUNCILORS hear the petition of the Agawam Planning Board on a proposed zoning
George Bitzas amendment to Section 180-2 of the Agawam Zoning Ordinance
Cecilia P. Calabrese entitled "Definitions and Word Usage". A copy of the proposal can be
Paul C. Cavallo obtained from the Agawam Planning Office between the hours of 8.30
James A Cichelti AM and 4:30 PM in the Agawam Town Hall, 36 Main Street,
Gina M. Letellier Agawam, MA.
Robert A. Magovern
Joseph Mineo
Donald M. Rheault
Robert E. Rossi BY ORDER OF:
ADMINISTRATIVE Christopher C. Johnson
ASSISTANT President of the City Council
Barbw.a A. Bard
Q0
CIV
Lz X) TO BE ADVERTISED ON 9/20/12 and 9/27/12
CD
6i
C--Z- qrr
Lu
IT
Ic-
'rELEPBONE
(413) 786-0400 Ext. 233
FAX
(413) 786-9927
EMAIL
bbard@agawam.ma.us
F AG
t7
AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL
36 MAIN STREFT TTS 0 100 1
AGAWAM, NIASSACHUSE
Sepieniber 6, 2012
PRERDENT
Chrisiopher C. Johnson. Agalmn PNnnkg Bowd
Town Hall
%4CE PREADENT 36 Mlin Sireei
Dolmis J, Perry A g a wa m, M A. 0 10 0 1
COUNCILORS
Cearp Bif�as Re! TOR-2()12-3 (Zoning J)efjnjtjt)j,.s ,,(I Wo ,.(, Usage Ordinince)
Cecilia P. Calabrese
Paul(I cavallo Dmr Nfemb"s of Qe Agm,lm Phn&nV Board:
James P Cicheiti
Gma At LeallOr At hs I-eguhrly Mcluted City C,"lly m,on, Or SuMember 4, 2012. Ow Agawam
Roben A. Alagovem Ci[Y Council referred 'roj�-2012-3 which i,; a proposed
JosephAffireo Ql-dilla"ce lo Anicn(f flic
Code,of tile To%vn of Agwmn Oflitlg 0"d in',]'ices §180-2 "Dul'initi q til(
Donald Al. R/woull ow , I W0111
LNagf' (a COPY of Wch is atlached heroo) u) the Agga%vom P1,11111ini
Robep't C. Rossi ,, Board for then]
10 hold a Public hearing. The City Comcd abo so a Me oFOooha 15, NH2
"'ll ich to hold their public hearing on i he same.
A DNI INISTIZATINT iryou have any quembm, plase do not hedue lo conwo me.
ASSBTAN'r
/X
Chrkiopher C. .ohnsmL PmsW- I
Agawki Chy Comwil
CCYhb
cc FAI Coww�j
Adayov
TELEPHOIANE solichor
(413) 186-0400&-rl- 8716
FAX
t413) 726-9717
EMAIL
hbiwdrePagaivam,ina,us
Town of Agawam
q 36 Main Street Agawam, Massachusetts 01001-1837
Tel. 413-786-0400 Fax 413:-786-9927
September 10, 2012
Christopher C. Johnson, President
Dennis J. Perry, Vice President
George Bitzas, Councilor
-Ppc,)
Cecilia P. Calabrese, Councilor Gn If-
Paul C. Cavallo, Councilor
James P. Cechetti, Councilor
Gina M. Letellier, Councilor
CD
Robert A. Magovern, Councilor
77
Joseph Mineo, Councilor
Donald M. Rheault, Councilor
Robert Rossi, Councilor
Agawam Town Council
36 Main Street
Agawam, MA 01001
Dear Councilors:
RE: TOR-2012-3
At its duly called meeting held on September 6, 2012, the Agawam Planning Board voted to send
a positive recommendation to the Town Council regarding the Proposed Zoning Amendment
entitled "Definitions and Word Usage".
Sincerely,
/,.0 OIL
Travis P. Ward, Chairman
AGAWAM PLANNING BOARD
cc: Clerk, Solicitor, Board of Appeals, File
TOR-2012-3
AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE CODE OF THE TOWN OF AGAWAM ZONING
ORDINANCES §180-2 "DEFINITIONS AND WORD USAGE."
WHEREAS, the Agawam Planning Board voted to act as petitioner for proposed zoning
amendment to §180-2 "Definitions and word Usage;" and
WHEREAS, the new definitions section updates existing definitions and reorganizes
definitions that are presently found in various sections of the Town Code; and
WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of the Town of Agawam to update and reorganize
the definitions contained in the Agawam Town Code.
NOW THEREFORE, THE AGAWAM CITY'COUNCIL hereby resolves, ordains and
amends and enacts the following amendments to the Code of the Town of Agawam:
Delete Section §180-2 in its entirety.
Delete Section §180-92 in its entirety.
Delete Section §180-75 in its entirety.
Add the following:
§ 180-75 Purpose.
The purpose of this section is to provide for the reasonable regulation and control of the erection
and maintenance of signs and advertising devices within the Town to the end that the appearance
and amenities of the Town may be preserved and enhanced, without unduly restricting the
conduct of lawful enterprise.
Add the following:
§180-92. Definitions,
For the purposes of this article, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings
respectively ascribed to them by this section:
ACT The Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Add the Following: See exhibit A attached.
DATED THIS OF 2012.
PER ORDER OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL
Christopher C. Johnson, President
A CPIT�OJED .S T(03�FORM AND LEGALITY
Vincent M�4 Solicitor
Exhibit A
ARTICLE VI, DEFINITIONS
AGA WA M ZONING ORDINANCE
§ 180-2 Definitions and word usage
For the purpose of this Ordinance, certain terms and words shall have the following meaning.
Words used in the present tense include the future; the plural number includes the singular; the
words"used" or"occupied" include the words "designed", "arranged", "intended", or"offered to
be used or occupied"; the words "building", "structure", "lot", "land", or "Premise" shall be
construed as though followed by the words "or any portion thereof"; and the word "shall" is
always mandatory and not merely directory.
Terms and words not defined herein but defined in the Building Code or Subdivision Regulations
shall have the meanings given therein unless a contrary intention clearly appears. Words not
defined in either place shall have the meaning given in the most recent edition of Webster's
Unabridged Dictionary.
Definitions
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings
respectively ascribed to them by this section-.
ABANDONMENT: The cessation of a nonconforming use or structure as indicated by the
visible or otherwise indicated intention to discontinue a nonconforming use of a structure or a
lot, or the cessation of a nonconforming use or structure by its replacement,with a conforming
use or structure.
ACCESSORY BUILDING: A subordinate building, located on the same lot as the main, or
principal building or principal use, the use of which is customarily incidental to the main or
principal use permitted in the district.
ACCESSORY USE: A use customarily incidental to that of the main or principal building or
use of the land.
ADEQUATE COVERAGE Coverage is considered to be adequate within that area
surrounding a base station where the predicted or measured median field strength of the
transmitted signal for at least 75% of the covered area is greater than -95 dbm. It is acceptable
for there to be holes within the area of adequate coverage where the signal is less than -95 dbm,
as long as the signal regains its strength to greater than -95 dbm further away from the base
station. For the limited purpose of determining whether the use of a repeater is necessary or
desirable, there shall be deemed not to be adequate coverage within said holes. The outer
boundary of the area of adequate coverage, however, is that location past which the signal does
not regain a strength of greater than -95 dbm.
ADEQUATE CAPACITY: Capacity is considered to be adequate if the grade of service is
p.05 or better for a worst case day in a preceding month, based on the Erliang B Tables, prior to
the date of application; or as measured using direct traffic measurement of the personal wireless
service facility in question for existing facilities requesting major modification and where the
call blocking is due to frequency contention at the antenna(s).
ADULT DAY CARE FACILITY: A building or structure where care, protection, and
supervision are provided, on a regular schedule,to adults over the age of 18.
AGRICULTURE: The production, keeping or maintenance, for sale or lease of plants and
animals useful to man, including but not limited to: forages and sod crops; grains and seed crops-,
dairy animals and dairy products; poultry and poultry products; livestock including beef cattle,
swine, horses, mules, ponies, or goats or any mutations of hybrids thereof, including the breeding
and grazing of any or all such animals, bees, and apiary products, for animals, trees and forest
products; fruits of all kinds, including grapes, nuts and berries, vegetables, floral, nursery,
ornamental and green house products, or lands devoted to a soil conservation or forestry
management program.
ALTERATION: Any construction, reconstruction or other action resulting in a change in the
structural parts, height, number of stories, exits, size, use or location of a building or other
structure.
AMUSEMENT PARK: A corrithercially operated park with a predominance of outdoor games
and activities for entertainment, including shows or riding devices, games of skill or chance, or
any combination of shows, riding devices, water slides, miniature golf, batting cages or any
combination of several enterprises, such as revolving wheels, merry-go-rounds, giant swings,
panoramas, musical and theatrical entertainments, or riding devices, whether carried on, engaged
in or conducted as one enterprise or by several concessionarics, and whether an admission fee is
charged for admission to all such shows for entertainments, or a separate fee for admission is
charged for each amusement. [Added 2-2-2001 by TOR-2001-1]
ANIMAL CLINIC OR HOSPITAL: A place where animals or pets are given medical Or
surgical treatment and the boarding of animals is limited to short term care incidental to the
clinic or hospital use.
ANTENNA: A device which is attached to a tower or other structure for transmitting and
receiving electromagnetic waves.
APARTMENT HOUSE: A building or structure arranged, intended and designed to be
M
occupied by five or more families, living independently of each other.. and each including its own
separate kitchen and bathroom accommodations. Garden-type apartments shall be considered as
an apartment house.
I
ATTIC- The unfinished space between the ceiling of the top story of a building and its roof
which is not used for living, sleeping or eating quarters.
BASE STATION: The primary sending and receiving site in a wireless telecommunirations
network.
BUILDING: A structure enclosed within exterior, walls or firewalls, built, erected and framed
of a combination of any materials, whether portable or fixed, having a roof, to form a structure
for the shelter of persons, animals or property. For the purpose of this definition, "roof' shall
include an awning or any similar covering, whether or not permanent in nature. The word
"building" shall be constructed, where the context requires, as though followed by words "or part
or parts thereof'. A porch or an attached garage, greenhouse or similar structure is to be
considered as part of a building when considering the requirements of setback, side or rear yards-
BUSINESS: The transacting or carrying on of a trade or commercial enterprise with a view to
profit or for livelihood.
CEMETERY: Land used or intended to be used for the burial of the dead and dedicated for
cemetery purposes including columbarium, crematoriums, mausoleums, and funeral
establishments, when operated in conjunction with and within the boundary of such cemetery
under the care and supervision of the Town or other public authority.
CHANNEL: The segment of the radiation spectrum from an antenna which carries one signal.
An antenna may radiate on many channels simultaneously.
CHILDCARE FACILITY: Facilities that serve children under seven years of age or sixteen
years if the children have special needs, or school-age children (under fourteen years of age or
sixteen years if they have special needs) in programs that are held before Or after school hours or
during vacations.
A child care facility defined in M.G.L. c.28A, s.9.
CLUB OR LODGE, PRIVATE: Buildings, structures and premises used by a non-profit social
or civic organization or by a nonprofit organization, catering exclusively to members and their
guests for social, civic, recreation, or athletic purposes which are not conducted primarily for
gain and provided there are no vending stands, merchandising, or commercial activities except as
may be required generally for the membership and purposes of such organization.
COMMERCIAL RECREATION, INDOORS: A structure for recreational, social or
amusement purposes, which may include as an accessory, use the consumption of food and
drink, including all connected rooms or space with a common means of egress and entrance.
Places of assembly shall include theaters, concert halls, dance halls, skating rinks, bowling
alleys, health clubs, dance studios, or other commercial recreational centers conducted for or not
for profit.
COMMERCIAL RECREATION, OUTDOORS: Driving range, bathing beach, sports club,
horseback riding stable, boathouse, marina or other commercial recreation carried on in whole or
in part outdoors, except those activities more specifically designated in this ordinance.
COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT SHELTER: A structure located at a base station
designed principally to enclose equipment used in connection with personal wireless service
transmissions.
CONVENIENCE STORE: A retail store that sells groceries and may also sell gasoline-, does
not include automotive service stations, or vehicle repair shops.
CREMATORY: A building containing a furnace designed and intended to be used for
cremating the dead and owned and controlled by a cemetery corporation or crematory
corporation duly organized under the laws of the state.
DETACHED: Separate from.
DBM: Unit of measure of the power level of an electromagnetic signal expressed in decibels
referenced to 1 milliwatt.
DWELLING: A building designed and occupied as the living quarters of one (1) or.more
families. Single- and two-family dwellings shall be designed for and occupied by not more than
one (1) or two (2) families, respectively. A multifamily dwelling shall be one designed for and
occupied by three (3) or more families. Hotels, lodging houses, hospitals, membership clubs, or
dormitories shall not be considered dwellings,
EARTH REMOVAL: Extraction of sand, gavel, top soil, or other earth for sale or for use at a
site removed fTom the place of extraction exclusive of the grading of a lot preparatory to the
construction of a building for which a building pen-nit has been issued, or the grading of streets
in accordance with an approved definitive plan and exclusive of granite operations,
EDUCATIONAL USE: Use of land or structures for education purposes on land owned or
]eased by the Commonwealth or any of its agencies, subdivisions or bodies politic or by a
religious sect or denomination, or by a non-profit education corporation. Educational facilities
not exempted from regulation by M.G.L. 40A, s.3.
EMF: Electromagnetic frequency radiation.
ERECT: To build, construct, reconstruct, move upon, or conduct any physical development of
the premises required for a buildin ; to excavate, fill, drain, and the like preparation for building
9
shall also be considered to erect.
ESSENTIAL SERVICES: Services provided by a public service corporation or by
governmental agencies through erection, construction, alteration, or maintenance of gas,
electrical, steam, or water transmission or distribution systems and collection, communication,
supply, or disposal systems whether underground or overhead, but not including wireless
communications facilities, Faciiities necessary for the provision of essential services include
poles, wires, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits, cables, fire alarm boxes, police call boxes, traffic
signals, hydrants and other similar equipment in connection therewith.
FACILITY SITE: The location within a Wireless Telecommunications Overlay District ]eased
by one of more personal wireless service providers and upon which one or more personal
wireless service facility(s) and required landscaping are located.
FAMILY- A number of individuals related by blood, marriage and/or adoption or a group of
unrelated individuals not to exceed four (4) who are occupying a dwelling unit and living as a
single nonprofit housekeeping unit. This definition, however, does not apply to non-related
disable persons as defined by any applicable federal and/or state law and/or regulations.
FAMILY DAY CARE FACILITY: Any private residence which on a regular basis receives
for temporary custody and care auring part of all of the day, children under seven (7) years of
age or children under sixteen (16) years of age if such children have special needs. Provided,
however, in either case, that the total number of children shall not exceed more than six (6),
excluding participating children living in the residence.
FARMSTAND: A facility for the sale of produce, and wine and dairy products, provided that
during the months of June, July, August, and September of every year, or during the harvest
season of the primary crop raised on land of the owner or lessee, the majority of such products
for sale, based on either gross sales dollars or volume, have been produced by the owner or
lessee of land containing more than five acres on which the facility is located used primarily for
agriculture in conformance with M.G.L. c.40A, s.3.
FCC: Federal Communi cations Commission. The government agency responsible for regulating
telecommunications in the United States.
FCC 96-326: A report and order which sets new national standards for emissions of radio
frequency emissions from FCC regulated transmitters,
FENCE: An artificially constructed barrier of any material or combination of materials erected
to enclose or screen areas of land.
FLOOD OR FLOODING: A general and temporary condition of partial or complete
inundation of normally dry land areas frorn:
(1) The overflow of inland or tidal waters;
(2) The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source.
FLOODWAY: The channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that
must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water
surface elevation more than one foot.
FLOODWAY FRINGE: The land in the floodplain within a community subject to a one
percent or greater chance of flooding in a given year that is located outside of the floodway.
GARAGE, PRIVATE: A building or space used as an accessory to or a part of a main building
permitted in any residential district, and providing for the storage of one or more motor vehicles
and in which no business, occupation or service for profit is in any way conducted.
GARAGE, PUBLIC: A garage, other than a private or storage garage, which is used for the
short-term parking of vehicles.
GARAGE, REPAIR: A building or portion thereof, other than a private or storage garage,
designed or used for equipping, servicing, repairing, hiring, selling, and/or storing of motor
vehicles. The term repairing shall not include an automobile body repair shop nor the rebuilding,
dismantling, or storage of wrecked or junked vehicles.
GASOLINE SERVICE STATION: A gasoline service station shall include any business
selling or offering for sale any motor fuel, such as gasoline or diesel fuel, to the public, whether
or not the public pen-nitted or expected to operate the pump to put the fuel into a motor vehicle's
fuel tank or a container, and shall include gasoline filling stations and gasoline self-service
stations. Por the purposes of this ordinance gasoline service station shall also include any site
used or operated as a retail refueling site, including the fuels of gasoline, propane, electricity and
hydrogen. (Approved by Council 5/5/03)
GHZ: Gigahertz: one billion hertz.
GRADE OF SERVICE: A measure of the percentage of calls which are able to c'onnect to the
base station, during the busiest hour of the day, Grade of service is expressed as a number, such
as p. 05, which means that 95% of callers will connect on their first try. A lower number (p. 04)
indicates a better grade of service.
HALF STORY: ne space between the ceiling of the top story of a building and the roof where
the area and height are sufficient for sleeping and living quarters.
HAZARDOUS MATERIAL: Any substance which is listed in, but not limited to, the EPA
priority pollutants as described in section 307 (a) of the Clean Water Act, as amended.
HEIGHT: The vertical distance from the average finished grade of the adjacent ground to the
top of the structure of the highest roof beams of a flat roof, or the mean level of the highest gable
or slope of a hip roof
HERTZ: One hertz is the frequency of an electric or magnetic field which reverses polarity
once each second or one cycle per second.
HOME OCCUPATION: An occupation, business, trade, service or profession which is
incidental to and conducted in a dwelling unit or in a building or other accessory structure
thereto, by a resident thereof
HOSPITAL: An institution providing primary health services and medical or surgical care to
persons, plimarily in-patients, suffering from illness, disease, injury, deformity and other
abnormal physical or mental conditions, and including, as an integral part of the institution
related facilities such as laboratories, outpatient facilities or training facilities, a sanitarium.. and
clinic. The term "hospital" does not include a rest home, nursing home and/or convalescent
home. (Jessica)
HOUSEKEEPING UNIT: See definition of"family".
JUNK VEHICLES: A wrecked, damaged, destroyed, non-operational, abandoned or
disassembled trailer, house trailer, boat, tractor, automobile, aircraft, or other motor vehicle, or
any parts thereof A junk vehicle includes apparently inoperable, immobile, disassembled or
extensively damaged vehicles. Evidence of non-operation and damaged includes, but is not
limited to, a buildup of debris that obstructs use, a broken window or windshield, a missing
wheel, a flat tire, a nonfunctional motor or transmission, missing bumpers, or missing plates and
the like.
KENNEL, COMMERCIAL: An establishment licensed to operate a facility housing dogs,
cats, or other household pets and where grooming, breeding, boarding, training or selling of
animals is conducted as a business.
KENNEL,PRIVATE- Any building or land designated or arranged for the care of dogs, cats or
other household pets belonging to the owner of the residential, principal use, kept for purposes of
show, hunting, or as pets.
LODGING HOUSE: A building containing more than five (5) lodging units for semi-
permanent residence (longer than one (1) week) for compensation and which meals may also be
supplied as part of the fee. This shall not include bed and breakfast home uses, congregate
housing, motels, hotels, multi-family dwellings, or nursing homes.
LIGHT MANUFACTURING- Fabrication, assembly, processing, finishing work or
packaging:
LOADING SPACE, OFF-STREET-. Space located on the same lot with principal building, or
contiguous to a group of buildings, for'bulk pickups and deliveries, scaled to delivery vehicles
expected to be used, and accessible to such vehicles when required off-street parking spaces are
filled. It shall abut a street, alley, or other appropriate means of ingress or egress.
LOT: A continuous parcel of land with legally defina ble boundaries.
LOT, AREA: The horizontal area of the lot exclusive of any area in a street or recorded way
open to public use.
LOT, CORNER. A lot located at the intersection of two or more streets.
LOT, DEPTH OK The mean distance from the street line of the lot to its opposite rear line
measured in the general direction of the side lines of the lot.
LOT, FRONTAGE OF: A lot line coinciding with the sideline of a street which provides legal
rights of vehicular access and actual physical vehicular access to the lot. Frontage shall be
measured continuously along a street and shall be the horizontal distance between the side lot
lines measured at the point where the side lot-lines intersect with the front set back line. Lots
adjacent to paper streets may not use any portion of the paper street in calculating frontage Or lot
area.
LOT LINE: A line dividing one lot from another, or from a street or any public place.
LOT LINE, REAR: The lot line opposite the street line, except that, in the case of a comer lot,
the rear lot line shall be the line opposite the street line on which the building is numbered or
would be numbered.
MAJOR MODIFICATION OF AN EXSITING FACILITY: Any change or proposed change
in power input or output, number of antennas, change in antenna type or model, repositioning of
antenna (s), change in number of channels per antenna above the maximum number approved
under an existing special permit. Also any increase or proposed increase in dimensions of an
existing and permitted tower or other structure designed to support personal wireless service
transmissions, receiving and/or relaying antennas and/or equipment.
MEDICAL CENTER OR CLINIC: A building designed and used for the diagnosis and
treatment of human patients that does not include ovemight care facilities.
MHZ: Megahertz: one million hertz.
MILE: A "mile" (5,280 feet) is to .be measured from a point on an imaginary line which is
perpendicular to the vertical line at that point.
MONITORING: The measurement, by the use of instruments in the field, of the radiation from
a site as a whole or from individual personal wiyeless service facilities, towers or antennas.
MONITORING PROTOCOL: The testing protocol, initially the Cobbs Protocol, which is to
be used to monitor the emissions from existing and new personal wireless service facilities and
towers upon adoption of this article. The SPGA may, as the technology changes, require, by
written regulation, the use of other testing protocols. A copy of the monitoring protocol shall be
on file with the Town Clerk-,
MONOPOLE: A single self-supporting vertical pole with below-grade foundations.
MOUNT: The structure or surface upon which antennas are-mounted, including the following
four types of mounts:
A. Roof-mounted: mounted on the roof of a building.
B. Side-mounted-. mounted on the side of a building.
C. Ground-mounted: mounted on the ground
D. Structure-mounted: mounted on a structure other than a building.
MOTEL: A building or buildings intended and designed for transient overnight or extended
occupancy, divided into separate units within the same building with or without a public dining
facility,
MOTOR VEHICLE COMMERCIAL: Any vehicle used or designed to be used for business
or commercial purposes that infringes on the residential character of residential districts and
includes, but is not necessarily limited to: a bus, cement truck, commercial tree-trimming
equipment, construction equipment, dump truck, garbage truck, panel truck, semi-tractor , semi-
trailer, stake bed truck, step van, tank truck, tar truck, fire truck, or the like, or other commercial
type vehicle licensed by the state as a commercial vehicle or truck.
MOTOR VEHICLE GENERAL OR BODY REPAIR: An establishment, garage or work
area enclosed within a building where repairs are made or caused to be made to motor vehicles
and their bodies, including fenders, bumpers and similar components of motor vehicle bodies,
but does not include the storage of vehicles for the cannibalization of parts or fuel sales.
MUNICIPAL FACILITIES: Facilities owned or operated by the Town of Agawam.
NON-CORNFORMING BUILDING OR STRUCTURE: A building or structure, existing at
the effective date of this ordinance, or any subsequent amendment to, which does not conform to
one or more provisions of this ordinance.
NON-CONFORMING LOT: A lot lawfully existing at the effective date of this ordinance, or
any subsequent amendment to, which is not in accordance with all the provisions of this
ordinance.
NON-CONFORMING USE: A use lawfully existing at the time of adoption of this ordinance,
or any subsequent amendment thereto, which does not conform to one or more provisions of this
ordinance.
NURSING, REST HOME, OR CONVALESCENT HOME: An extended or intermediate
care facility licensed or approved to provide full-time convalescent or chronic care to individuals
who, by reason of advanced age, chronic illness or infirmity, are unable to care for themselves.
OFF-STREET PARKING SPACE: A space of 200 square feet or more plus access and
maneuvering space, whether inside or outside a structure for exclusive use as a parking stall for
one motor vehicle, and further being surfaced with durable pavement,
OPEN SPACE- The space on a lot unoccupied by buildings, structures, driveways, off-street
parking or loading spaces or other impervious surfaces.
ORDINARY HIGH-WATER MARK: The highest point on the bank of a floodway or
floodplain at which the water level has been for a sufficient period of time to leave a definite
mark.
PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICES: Commercial mobile services, unlicensed wireless
services and common carrier wireless exchange access services. These services include: cellular
services, personal communications services (PCS), specialized mobile radio services and paging
services.
PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE FACILITY: All equipment (excluding any repeaters)
with which a personal wireless service provider broadcasts and receives the radio frequency
waves which carry their services and all locations of said equipment or any part thereof. This
facility may be sited on one or more towers or structures(s) owned and permitted by another
owner or entity.
PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE PROVIDER: An entity licensed by the FCC to provide
personal wireless services to individuals or institutions.
PRINCIPAL BUILDING- A building in which is conducted, the principal use of the lot on
which it is located.
PRINCIPAL USE: The main or primary purpose for which a structure or lot is designed,
arranged or intended, or for which it may be used, occupied or maintained under this ordinance.
Any other use within the main structure or the use of any other structure or land on the same lot
and incidental or supplementary to the principal use and permitted under this ordinance shall be
considered an accessory use.
RADIATION PROPAGATION STUDIES OR RADIAL PLOTS: Computer generated
estimates of the radiation ema nating from antennas or repeaters sited on a specific tower or
structure, The heigh t above mean sea level, power input and output, frequency output, type of
antenna, antenna gain, topography of the site and its surroundings are all taken into account to
create these simulations. They are the primary tool for determining whether a site will provide
adequate coverage for the personal wireless service facility proposed for that site.
REAR YARD: The required unoccupied space or area within the rear lot line and the part of the
principal building nearest such rear lot line.
RESTAURANT: A building, or portion thereof, which is designed, intended and used for the
indoor sales and consumption of food prepared on the premises, except that food may be
consumed out doors in landscaped terraces, designed for dining purposes, which are adjuncts to
the main indoor restaurant facility. The term "restaurant" shall not include "fast food
establishments".
RESTAURANT, FAST-FOOD: An establishment engaged primarily in the business of
preparing food and purveying it on a self-service or semi self-service basis. Customer orders
and/or service may be by means of a walk-up counter or window designed to accommodate
automobile traffic. Consumption is either on or off the premises.
RESTAURANT, DRIVE-IN AND DRIVE-THROUGH: A restaurant which provides
convenient vehicular access and may provide service to customers while in their vehicles.
SANITARIUM: A hospital used for treating chronic and usually long-term illness.
SEMI-DETACHED DWELLING: A single-family residential unit that is joined on one side
to another single-family residential unit having a party wall between the units.
SERVICES, PROFESSIONAL: Establishrnents primarily engaged in rendering services by
professional persons on a fee or contract basis, including, but not limited to the following:
accounting, auditing, and bookkeeping; medical, dental or health; planning, engineering and
architectural; education and science; attorneys and notary publics; etc.
SETBACK: The minimum required unoccupied space or area between the street line of which
-the building is numbered or would be numbered and the part of the building nearest such street
line, such unoccupied space or area extending the entire width or distance across the lot.
SIDE LOT LINE: The line dividing one lot from another.
SIDE YARD: The required unoccupied space and area within the lot between the side lot line
and parts of the building nearest such side lot line. In the case of a comer lot, one of the side
yards shall be the unoccupied space or area between the street line of the side street and the parts
of the building nearest to such street line.
SIGN: Any device, surface or framework on which words, symbols or other designs, are
inscribed or displayed and designed to call attention thereto, including flags, banners and the
like.
SIGN, ACCESSORY: Any sign that advertises or indicates the person occupying the premises
on which the sign is erected or maintained or the business transacted thereon or the products sold
thereon.
SIGN,AREA OF:
A. Area of the face: The area of the face of a sign shall be considered to include all lettering,
working and accompanying designs and symbols, together with the background on which
they are displayed and any cutouts or extensions.
B. The area of a sign consisting of individual letters or symbols attached to or painted on a
surface, building, wall or window shall be considered to be that of the smallest
quadrangle or triangle which encompasses all the letters and symbols.
C. The area of a sign consisting of a three-dimensional object shall be considered to be the
area of the largest vertical cross section of that object.
D. In computing the area of the signs, both sides of v-shaped signs, but only one (1) side of
the back-to-back signs, shall be counted.
Sign, billboard: Any non-accessory sign greater in face area than 40 square feet.
Sign, color. The color concept of the sign shall be such that it does not violate the purpose of
this Article.
Sign, instructional: Signs indicating "entrance", "exit" or the like, erected on premises for the
direction of persons or vehicles,
Sign, outdoor advertising board: The Outdoor Advertising Board of the Commonwealth or
any board or official which may hereafter succeed to its powers or functions.
Sign, overhanging: A sign or other advertising device which,hangs or extends over a sidewalk
or a way in which the public has a right of access. Wall signs and standing signs shall not be
included in this definition.
Sign, real estate: A sign advertising the sale, rental or lease of the premises on which it is
maintained.
Sign, standing: A sign standing or hanging free on its own support; such support may be
attached to a building or fixed in or to the ground. "Standing signs" may have two (2) faces or
sides showing in opposite directions.
Sign, structure: The supports, uprights, bracing and framework of a sign. Any color applied to
the "structure" shall meet the purposes of this Article.
Sign, temporary: Any sign, including its supporting structure, intended to be maintained for a
period less than one hundred eight (180) days for agricultural purposes and sixty (60) days for
any other purposes.
Si-n, wall: A sign fastened or affixed parallel to and within twelve (12) inches of the wall of a
building.
Sign, window: A sign painted or placed on the inside or outside of a window.
SINGLE-FAMILY DWELLING: A structure designed exclusively for and occupied
exclusively by one family.
SITE PLAN: A plan, to scale, showing uses and structures proposed for a parcel of land as
required by the zoning regulations, including lot lines, streets, building sites, buildings,
landscape features, traffic circulation, parking, drainage, utilities, signs, topography and lighting
within the parcel.
SPECIAL PERMIT GRANTING AUTHORITY: The Board of Appeals of the Town of
Agawam.
STORAGE CAPACITY OF A FLOODPLAIN: The volume of space above an area of
floodplain that can be occupied by flood water of a given stage at a given time, regardless of
whether the water is moving.
STORY: The horizontal portion through a building between floor and ceiling. The word
"story" shall not include the portion of the basement or cellar of a building above grade or an
attic as defined in this section.
STREET: An accepted city way, or a way established by or maintained under county, state, or
federal authority, or a way established by a subdivision plan approved in accordance with the
subdivision control law actually constructed to specifications or for which adequate security
exists to construct such a way.
STREET LINE: The dividing line between a street and a lot and, in the case of a public way,
the street line established by the public authority laying out such way upon which the lot abuts.
STREET, PAPER: A street shown on a recorded plan but never built on the ground,
STREET RIGHT-OF-WAY: A general term denoting land, property or interest therein,
usually a strip acquired for or devoted to a planned roadway. A street right-of-way should be
sufficient to accommodate the ultimate roadway, including, but not limited to: the street
pavement, shoulder, grass strip, sidewalk, public utility facilities, street trees, and snow storage,
STRUCTURE: A combination of materials assembled at a fixed location to give support or
shelter, such as a building, framework, retaining wall, tent, reviewing stand, platform, bin fence,
sign, flagpole, recreational tramway, and mast for radio antenna or the like. The word
"structure" shall be construed, where the context allows, as though followed by the words "or
part or parts thereof'.
SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT IN THE FLOODPLAIN: Any repair, reconstruction or
improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds fifty percent (50%) of the
assessed value of the structure either before the improvement is started or, if the structure has
been damaged and is being restored, before the damage occurred. "Substantial improvement" is
started when the first alteratioh of any structural part of the building commences.
TOWER: A monopole that is designed to support personal wireless service transmission,
receiving and/or relaying antennas and/or equipment.
TRAILER: Any so-called automobile trailer, mobile home or trailer coach, including any
portable structure, means of conveyance or vehicle so designed or constructed, altered or
converted in any manner as to permit occupancy thereof for dwelling or sleeping purposes.
TRUCKING TERMINAL: Terminal facilities for handling freight with or without
maintenance facilities.
UNREGISTERED MOTOR VEHICLES: Any motor Vehicle or trailer not registered in
accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 90, or any motor vehicle which fails to
carry or display its license plate as provided in §6 of said Chapter 90; or any motor vehicle or
trailer owned by a non-resident who has failed to comply with the registration laws of the non-
resident state or country.
USE, SUBSTANTIALLY DIFFER-ENT: A use which by reason of its normal operation would
cause readily observable differences in patronage, service, sight, noise, employment or similar
characteristics from the use to which it is being compared.
WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS OVERLAY DISTRICT (WTOD): Specific
area(s), determined by engineering analysis to contain sites where adequate service may be
provided to the Town of Agawam, which, at the same time, have the potential of reducing or
mitigating negative impacts in accordance with the Overlay District as defined in this article.
YARD: A space open to the sky, located between a building or structure and a lot line,
unoccupied except by fences, walls, poles, paving, and other customary yard accessories.
YARD, FRONT: A yard extending the full width of the lot and situated between the street line
and nearest point of the building.
YARD, REAR: The required unoccupied space or area within the rear lot line and the part of
the principal building nearest such rear lot line,
YARD, SIDE: The required unoccupied space or area within the lot between the side lot line
and parts of the building nearest such side lot line. In the case of a corner lot one (1) of the side
yards shall be the unoccupied space or area between the street line of the side street and the parts
of the building nearest to such street line.
TOR-2012-3
AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE CODE OF THE TOWN OF AGAWAM ZONING
ORDINANCES §180-2 "DEFINITIONS AND WORD USAGE."
WHEREAS, the Agawam Planning Board voted to act as petitioner for proposed zoning
amendment to §180-2 "Definitions and word Usage;" and
WHEREAS, the new definitions section updates existing definitions and reorganizes
definitions that are presently found in various sections of the Town Code; and
WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of the Town of Agawam to update and reorganize
the definitions contained in the Agawam Town Code.
NOW THEREFORE, THE AGAWAM CITY COLNCIL hereby resolves, ordains and
amends and enacts the following amendments to the Code of the Town of Agawam:
Delete Section §180-2 in its entirety.
Delete Section §180-92 in its entirety.
Delete Section §180-75 in its entirety.
Add the following:
§ 180-75 Purpose.
The purpose of this section is to provide for the reasonable regulation and control of the erection
and maintenance of signs and advertising devices within the Town to the end that the appearance
and amenities of the Town may be preserved and enhanced, without unduly restricting the
conduct of lawful enterprise.
Add the following:
§180-92. Definitions.
For the*purposes of this article, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings
respectively ascribed to them by this section:
ACT The Telecommunications Act of 1996.
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Add the Following: See exhibit A attached. :Z
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DATED THIS OF ) 2012.
PER ORDER OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL
Christopher C. Johnson, President
A P9.O ED S TO FORM AND LEGALITY
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Vincent Solicitor
Exhibit A
ARTICLE VI, DEFINITIONS
A GA WA M ZONING ORDINANCE
§ 180-2 Definitions and word usage
For the purpose of this Ordinance, certain terms and words shall have the following meaning.
Words used in the present tense include the future; the plural number includes the singular; the
words "used"or"occupied" include the words "designed", "arranged", "intended", or"offered to
be used or occupied"; the words "building", "structure", "lot", "land", or "Premise" shall be
construed as though followed by the words "or any portion thereof"; and the word "shall" is
always mandatory and not merely directory.
Terms and words not defined herein but defined in the Building Code or Subdivision Regulations
shall have the meanings given therein unless a contrary intention clearly appears. Words not
defined in either place shall have the meaning given in the most recent edition of Webster's
Unabridged Dictionary.
Definitions
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings
respectively ascribed to them by this section:
ABANDONMENT: The cessation of a nonconforming use or structure as indicated by the
visible or otherwise indicated intention to discontinue a nonconforming use of a structure or a
lot, or the cessation of a nonconforming use or structure by its replacement with a conforming
use or structure.
ACCESSORY BUILDING: A subordinate building, located on the same lot as the main, or
principal building or principal use, the use of which is customarily incidental to the main or
principal use permitted in the district.
ACCESSORY USE: A use customarily incidental to that of the main or principal building or
use of the land.
ADEQUATE COVERAGE Coverage is considered to be adequate within that area
surrounding a base station where the predicted or measured median field strength of the
transmitted signal for at least 75% of the covered area is greater than -95 dbm. It is acceptable
for there to be holes within the area of adequate coverage where the signal is less than -95. dbm,
as long as the signal regains its strength to greater than -95 dbrn further away from the base
station. For the limited purpose of determining whether the use of a repeater is necessary or
desirable, there shall be deemed not to be adequate coverage within said holes. The outer
boundary of the area of adequate coverage, however, is that location past which the signal does
not regain a strength of greater than -95 dbm.
ADEQUATE CAPACITY: Capacity is considered to be adequate if the grade of service is
p.05 or better for a worst case day in a preceding month, based on the Erllang B Tables, prior to
the date of application; or as measured using direct traffic measurement of the personal wireless
service facility in question for existing facilities requesting major modification and where the
call blocking is due to frequency contention at the antenna(s).
ADULT DAY CARE' FACILITY: A building or structure where care, protection, and
supervision are provided, on a regular schedule, to adults over the age of 18.
AGRICULTURE: The production, keeping or maintenance, for sale or lease of plants and
animals useful to man, including but not limited to: forages and sod crops; grains and seed crops;
dairy animals and dairy products; poultry and poultry products; livestock including beef cattle,
swine, horses, mules, ponies, or goats or any mutations of hybrids thereof, including the breeding
and grazing of any or all such animals, bees, and apiary products, for animals, trees and forest
products; fruits of all kinds, including grapes, nuts and berries, vegetables, floral, nursery,
ornamental and green house products, or lands devoted to a soil conservation or forestry
management program.
ALTERATION: Any construction, reconstruction or other action resulting in a change in the
structural parts, height, number of stories, exits, size, use or location of a building or other
structure.
AMUSEMENT PARK: A commercially operated park with a predominance of outdoor games
and activities for entertaim-nent, including shows or riding devices, games of skill or chance, or
any combination of shows, riding devices, water slides, miniature golf, batting cages or any
combination of several enterprises, such as revolving wheels, merry-go-rounds, giant swings,
panoramas, musical and theatrical entertainments, or riding devices, whether carried on, engaged
in or conducted as one enterprise or by several concessionaries, and whether an admission fee is
charged for admission to all such shows for entertainments, or a separate fee for admission is
charged for each amusement. [Added 2-2-2001 by TOR-200 1-1]
ANIMAL CLINIC OR HOSPITAL, A place where animals or pets are given medical or
surgical treatment and the boarding of animals is limited to short term care incidental to the
clinic or hospital use.
ANTENNA: A device which is attached to a tower or other structure for transmitting and
receiving electromagnetic waves.
APARTMENT HOUSE: A building or structure arranged, intended and designed to be
occupied by five or more families, living independently of each other, and each including its own
separate kitchen and bathroom accommodations. Garden-type apartments shall be considered as
an apartment house.
I
ATTIC: The unfinished space between the ceiling of the top story of a building and its roof
which is not used for living, sleeping or eating quarters.
BASE STATION: The primary sending and receiving site in a wireless telecommunications
network.
BUILDING, A structure enclosed within exterior, walls or firewalls, built, erected and framed
of a combination of any materials, whether portable or fixed, having a roof, to form a structure
for the shelter of persons, animals or property. For the purpose of this definition, "roof" shall
include an awning or any similar covering, whether or not permanent in nature. The word
"building" shall be constructed, where the context requires, as though followed by words "or part
or parts thereof'. A porch or an attached garage, greenhouse or similar structure is to be
considered as part of a building when considering the requirements of setback, side or rear yards.
BUSINESS: The transacting or carrying on of a trade or commercial enterprise with a view to
profit or for livelihood.
CEMETERY: Land used or intended to be used for the burial of the dead and dedicated for
cemetery purposes including columbarium, crematoriums, mausoleums, and funeral
establishments, when operated in conjunction with and within the boundary of such cemetery
under the care and supervision of the Town or other public authority.
CHANNEL: The segment of the radiation spectrum from an antenna which carries one signal.
An antenna may radiate on many channels simultaneously.
CHILDCARE FACILITY- Facilities that serve children under seven years of age or sixteen
years if the children have special needs, or school-age children (under fourteen years of age or
sixteen years if they have special needs) in programs that are held before or after school hours or
during vacations.
A child care facility defined in M.G.L. c.28A, s.9.
CLUB OR LODGE, PRIVATE: Buildings, structures and premises used by a non-profit social
or civic organization or by a nonprofit organization, catering exclusively to members and their
guests for social, civic, recreation, or athletic purposes which are not conducted primarily for
gain and provided there are no vending stands, merchandising, or commercial activities except as
may be required generally for the membership and purposes of such organization.
COMMERCIAL RECREATION, INDOORS: A structure for recreational, social or
amusement purposes, which may include as an accessory, use the consumption of food and
drink, including all connected rooms or space with a common means of egress and entrance.
Places of assembly shall include theaters, concert halls, dance halls, skating rinks, bowling
alleys, health clubs, dance studios, or other commercial recreational centers conducted for or not
for profit.
COMMERCIAL RECREATION, OUTDOORS: Driving range, bathing beach, sports club,
horseback riding stable, boathouse, marina or other commercial recreation carried on in whole or
in part outdoors, except those activities more specifically designated in this ordinance.
COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT SHELTER: A structure located at a base station
designed principally to enclose equipment used in connection with personal wireless service
transmissions.
CONVENIENCE STORE: A retail store that sells groceries and may also sell gasoline; does
not include automotive service stations, or vehicle repair shops.
CREMATORY: A building containing a furnace designed and intended to be used for
cremating the dead and owned and controlled by a cemetery corporation or crematory
corporation duly organized under the laws of the state.
DETACHED: Separate from.
DBM: Unit of measure of the power level of an electromagnetic signal expressed in decibels
referenced to I milliwatt.
DWELLING: A building designed and occupied a s the living quarters of one (1) or more
families. Single- and two-family dwellings shall be designed for and occupied by not more than
one (1) or two (2) families, respectively. A multifamily dwelling shall be one designed for and
occupied by three (3) or more families. Hotels, lodging houses, hospitals, membership clubs, or
dormitories shall not be considered dwellings.
EARTH REMOVAL: Extraction of sand, gravel, top soil, or other earth for sale or for use at a
site removed from the place of extraction exclusive of the grading of a lot preparatory to the
construction of a building for which a building permit has been issued, or the grading of streets
in accordance with an approved definitive plan and exclusive of granite operations.
EDUCATIONAL USE: Use of land or structures for education purposes on land owned or
leased by the Commonwealth or any of its agencies, subdivisions or bodies politic or by a
religious sect or denomination, or by a non-profit education corporation. Educational facilitie
not exempted from regulation by M.G.L. 40A, s.3.
EMF: Electromagnetic frequency radiation.
ERECT: To build, construct, reconstruct, move upon, or conduct any physical development of
the premises required for a building; to excavate, fill, drain, and the like preparation for building
shall also be considered to erect.
ESSENTIAL SERVICES: Services provided by a public service corporation or by
governmental agencies through erection, construction, alteration, or maintenance of gas,
electrical, steam, or water transmission or distribution systems and collection, communication,
supply, or disposal systems whether underground or overhead, but not including wireless
communications facilities. Facilities necessary for the provision of essential services include
poles, wires, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits, cables, fire alarm boxes, police call boxes, traffic
signals, hydrants and other similar equipment in connection therewith.
FACILITY SITE: The location within a Wireless Telecommunications Overlay District leased
by one of more personal wireless service providers and upon which one or more personal
wireless service facility(s) and required landscaping are located.
FAMILY: A number of individuals related by blood, marriage and/or adoption or a group of
unrelated individuals not to exceed four (4) who are occupying a dwelling unit and living as a
single nonprofit housekeeping unit. This definition, however, does not apply to non-related
disable persons as defined by any applicable federal and/or state law and/or regulations.
FAMILY DAY CARE FACILITY: Any private residence which on a regular basis receives
for temporary custody and care during part of all of the day, children under seven (7) years of
age or children under sixteen (16) years of age if such children have special needs. Provided,
however, in either case, that the total number of children shall not exceed more than six (6),
excluding participating children living in the residence.
FARMSTAND: A facility for the sale of produce, and wine and dairy products, provided that
during the months of June, July, August, and September of every year, or during the harvest
season of the primary crop raised on land of the owner or lessee, the majority of such products
for sale, based on either gross sales dollars or volume, have been produced by the owner or
lessee of land containing more than five acres on which the facility is located used primarily for
agriculture in conformance with M.G.L. c.40A, 0.
FCC: Federal Communications Commission. The government agency responsible for regulating
telecommunications in the United States.
FCC 96-326: A report and order which sets new national standards for emissions of radio
frequency emissions from FCC regulated transmitters.
FENCE: An artificially constructed barrier of any material or combination of materials erected
to enclose or screen areas of land,
FLOOD OR FLOODING, A general and temporary condition of partial or complete
inundation of normally dry land areas from:
(1) The overflow of inland or tidal waters;
(2) The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source.
FLOODWAY: The channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that
must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water
surface elevation more than one foot.
FLOODWAY FRINGE: The land in the floodplain within- a community subject to a one
percent or greater chance of flooding in a given year that is located outside of the floodway.
GARAGE, PRIVATE: A building or space used as an accessory to or a part of a main building
permitted in any residential district, and providing for the storage of one or more motor vehicles
and in which no business, occupation or service for profit is in any way conducted.
GARAGE, PUBLIC: A garage, other than a private or storage garage, which is used for the
short-ten-n parking of vehicles.
GARAGE,- REPAIR: A building or portion thereof, other than a private or storage garage,
designed or used for equipping, servicing, repairing, hiring, selling, and/or storing of motor
vehicles. The term repairing shall not include an automobile body repair shop nor the rebuilding,
dismantling, or storage of wrecked or junked vehicles.
GASOLINE SERVICE STATION: A gasoline service station shall include any business
selling or offering for sale any motor fuel, such as gasoline or diesel fuel, to the public, whether
or not the public permitted or expected to operate the pump to put the ftiel into a motor vehicle's
fuel tank or a container, and shall include gasoline filling stations and gasoline self-service
stations. For the purposes of this ordinance gasoline service station shall also include any site
used or operated as a retail refueling site, including the fuels of gasoline, propane, electricity and
hydrogen. (Approved by Council 5/5/03)
GHZ: Gigahertz: one billion hertz.
GRADE OF SERVICE: A measure of the percentage of calls which are able to connect to the
base station, during the busiest hour of the day. Grade of service is expressed as a number, such
as p. 05, which means that 95% of callers will connect on their first try. A lower number (p. 04)
indicates a better grade of service.
HALF STORY: The space between the ceiling of the top story of a building and the roof where
the area and height are sufficient for sleeping and living quarters.
HAZARDOUS MATERIAL: Any substance which is listed in, but not limited to, the EPA
priority pollutants as described in section 307 (a) of the Clean Water Act, as amended.
HEIGHT: The vertical distance from the average finished grade of the adjacent ground to the
top of the structure of the highest roof beams of a flat roof, or the mean level of the highest gable
or slope of a hip roof.
HERTZ: One hertz is the frequency of an electric or magnetic field which reverses polarity
once each second or one cycle per second.
HOME OCCUPATION: An occupation, business, trade, service or profession which is
incidental to and conducted in a dwelling unit or in a building or other accessory structure
thereto, by a resident thereof.
HOSPITAL: An institution providing primary health services and medical or surgical care to
persons, primarily in-patients, suffering from illness, disease, injury, deformity and other
abnormal physical or mental conditions, and including, as an integral part of the institution
related facilities such as laboratories, outpatient facilities or training facilities, a sanitarium, and
clinic. The term "hospital" does not include a rest home, nursing home and/or convalescent
home. (Jessica)
HOUSEKEEPING UNIT: See definition of"family".
JUNK VEHICLES: A wrecked, damaged, destroyed, non-operational, abandoned or
disassembled trailer, house trailer, boat, tractor, automobile, aircraft, or other motor vehicle, or
any parts thereof. A junk vehicle includes apparently inoperable, immobile, disassembled or
extensively damaged vehicles. Evidence of non-operation and damaged includes, but is not
limited to, a buildup of debris that obstructs use, a broken window or windshield, a missing
wheel, a flat tire, a nonfunctional motor or transmission, missing bumpers, or missing plates and
the like.
KENNEL, COMMERCIAL: An establishment licensed to operate a facility housing dogs,
cats, or other household pets and where grooming, breeding, boarding, training or selling of
animals is conducted as a business.
KENNEL, PRIVATE: Any building or land designated or arranged for the care of dogs, cats or
other household pets belonging to the owner of the residential, principal use, kept for purposes of
show, hunting, or as pets.
LODGING HOUSE: A building containing more than five (5) lodging units for semi-
permanent residence (longer than one (1) week) for compensation and which meals may also be
supplied as part of the fee. This shall not include bed and breakfast home uses, congregate
housing, motels, hotels, multi-family dwellings, or nursing homes.
LIGHT MANUFACTURING: Fabrication, assembly, processing, finishing work or
packaging.,
LOADING' SPACE, OFF-STREET: Space located on the same lot with principal building, or
contiguous to a group of buildings, for bulk pickups.and deliveries, scaled to delivery vehicles
expected to be used, and accessible to such vehicles when required off-street parking spaces are
filled. It shall abut a street, alley, or other appropriate means of ingress or egress.
LOT: A continuous parcel of land with legally definable boundaries.
LOT, AREA: The horizontal area of the lot exclusive of any area in a street or recorded way
open to public use.
LOT, CORNER: A lot located at the intersection of two or more streets.
LOT, DEPTH OF: The mean distance from the street line of the lot to its opposite rear line
measured in the general direction of the side lines of the lot.
LOT, FRONTAGE OF: A lot line coinciding with the sideline of a street which provides legal
rights of vehicular access and actual physical vehicular access to the lot. Frontage shall be
measured continuously along a street and shall be the horizontal distance between the side lot
lines measured at the point where the side lot lines intersect with the front set back line. Lots
adjacent to paper streets may not use any portion of the paper street in calculating frontage or lot
area.
LOT LINE: A line dividing one lot from another, or from a street or any public place.
LOT LINE, REAR: The lot line opposite the street line, except that, in the case of a corner lot,
the rear lot line shall be the line opposite the street line on which the building is numbered or
would be numbered.
MAJOR MODIFICATION OF AN EXSITING FACILITY: Any change or proposed change
in power input or output, number of antennas, change in antenna type or model, repositioning of
antenna (s), change in number of channels per antenna above the maximum number approved
under an existing special permit. Also any increase or proposed increase in dimensions of an
existing and permitted tower or other structure designed to support personal wireless service
transmissions, receiving and/or relaying antennas and/or equipment.
MEDICAL CENTER OR CLINIC: A building designed and used for the diagnosis and
treatment of human patients that does not include overnight care facilities.
MHZ: Megahertz- one million hertz.
MILE: A "mile" (5,280 feet) is tobe measured from a point on an imaginary line which is
perpendicular to the vertical line at that point.
MONITORING: The measurement, by the use of instruments in the field, of theradiation from
a site as a whole or from individual personal wireless service facilities, towers or antennas.
MONITORING PROTOCOL: The testing protocol, initially the Cobbs Protocol, which is to
be used to monitor the emissions from existing and new personal wireless service facilities and
towers upon adoption of this article. The SPGA may, as the technology changes, require, by
written regulation, the use of other testing protocols. A copy of the monitoring protocol shall be
on file with the Town Clerk.
MONOPOLE: A single self-supporting vertical pole with below-grade foundations.
MOUNT: The structure or surface upon which antennas are mounted, including the following
four types of mounts:
A. Roif-mounted: mounted on the roof of a building.
B. Side-mounted: mounted on the side of a building.
C. Ground-mounted: mounted on the ground
D. Structure-mounted: mounted on a structure other than a building.
MOTEL: A building or buildings intended and designed for transient overnight or extended
occupancy, divided into separate units within the same building with or without a public dining
facility.
MOTOR VEHICLE COMMERCIAL: Any vehicle used or designed to be used for business
or commercial purposes that infringes on the residential character of residential districts and
includes, but is not necessarily limited to- a bus, cement truck, commercial tree-trimming
equipment, construction equipment, dump truck, garbage truck, panel truck, semi-tractor , semi-
trailer, stake bed truck, step van, tank truck, tar truck, fire truck, or the like, or other commercial
type vehicle licensed by the state as a commercial vehicle or truck.
MOTOR VEHICLE GENERAL OR BODY REPAIR: An establishment, garage or work
area enclosed within a building where repairs are made or caused to be made to motor vehicles
and their bodies, including fenders, bumpers and similar components of motor vehicle bodies,
but does not include the storage of vehicles for the cannibalization of parts or fuel sales.
MUNICIPAL FACILITIES: Facilities owned or operated by the Town of Agawam.
NON-CORNFORMING BUILDING OR STRUCTURE: A building or structure, existing at
the effective date o f this ordinance, or any subsequent amendment to, which does not conform to
one or more provisions of this ordinance.
NON-CONFORMING LOT: A lot lawfully existing at the effective date of this ordinance, or
any subsequent amendment to, which is not in accordance with all the provisions of this
ordinance.
NON-CONFORMING USE: A use lawfully existing at the time of adoption of this ordinance,
or any subsequent amendment thereto, which does not conform to one or more provisions of this
ordinance.
NURSING, REST HOME, OR CONVALESCENT HOME: An extended or inten-nediate
care facility licensed or approved to provide full-time convalescent or chronic care to individuals
who, by reason of advanced age, chronic illness or infirmity, are unable to care for themselves.
OFF-STREET PARKING SPACE: A space of 200 square feet or more plus access and
maneuvering space, whether inside or outside a structure for exclusive use as a parking stall for
one motor vehicle, and further being surfaced with durable pavement,
OPEN SPACE: The space on a lot unoccupied by buildings, structures, driveways, off-street
parking or loading spaces or other impervious surfaces.
ORDINARY HIGH-WATER MARK: The highest point on the bank of a floodway or
floodplain at which the water level has been for a sufficient period of time to leave a definite
mark.
PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICES: Commercial mobile services, unlicensed wireless
services and common carrier wireless exchange access services. These services include: cellular
services, personal communications services (PCS), specialized mobile radio services and paging
services.
PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE FACILITY: All equipment (excluding any repeaters)
with which a personal wireless service provider broadcasts and receives the radio frequency
waves which carry their services and all locations of said equipment or any part thereof. This
facility may be sited on one or more towers or structures(s) owned and permitted by another
owner or entity.
PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE PROVIDER: An entity licensed by the.FCC to provide
personal wireless services to individuals or institutions.
PRINCIPAL BUILDING: A building in which is conducted the principal use of the lot on
which it is located.
PRINCIPAL USE: The main or primary purpose for which a structure or lot is designed,
arranged or intended, or for which it may be used, occupied or maintained under this ordinance.
Any other use within the main structure or the use of any other structure or land on the same lot
and incidental or supplementary to the principal use and permitted under this ordinance shall be
considered an accessory use.
RADIATION PROPAGATION STUDIES OR RADIAL PLOTS: Computer generated
estimates of the radiation emanating from antennas or repeaters sited on a specific tower or
structure. The height above mean sea level, power input and output, frequency output, type of
antenna, antenna gain, topography of the site and its surroundings arc all taken into account to
create these simulations. They are the primary tool for determining whether a site will provide
adequate coverage for the personal wireless service facility proposed for that site.
REAR YARD: The required unoccupied space or area within the rear lot line and the part orthe
principal building nearest such rear lot line.
RESTAURANT: A building, or portion thereof, which is designed, intended and used for the
indoor sales and consumption of food prepared on the premises, except that food may be
consumed out doors in landscaped terraces, designed for dining purposes, which are adjuncts to
the main indoor restaurant facility. The term "restaurant" shall not include "fast food
establishments".
RESTAURANT, FAST-FOOD: An establishment engaged primarily in the business of
preparing food and purveying it on a self-service or semi self-service basis. Customer orders
and/or service may be by means of a walk-up counter or window designed to accommodate
automobile traffic. Consumption is either on or off the premises.
RESTAURANT, DRIVE-IN AND DRIVE-THROUGH: A restaurant which provides
convenient vehicular access and may provide service to customers while in their vehicles.
SANITARIUM: A hospital used for treating chronic and usually long-term illness,
SEMI-DETACHED DWELLING: A single-family residential unit that is joined on one side
to another single-family residential unit having a party wall between the units.
SERVICES, PROFESSIONAL: Establishments primarily engaged in rendering services by
professional persons on a fee or contract basis, including, but not limited to the following:
accounting, auditing, and bookkeeping; medical, dental or health; planning, engineering and
architectural; education and science; attorneys and notary publics; etc.
SETBACK: The minimum required unoccupied space or area between the street line of which
the building is numbered or would be numbered and the part of the building nearest such street
line, such unoccupied space or area extending the entire width or distance across the lot.
SIDE LOT LINE: The line dividing one lot from another.
SIDE YARD: The required unoccupied space and area within the lot between the side lot line
and parts of the building nearest such side lot line. In the case of a comer lot, one of the side
yards shall be the unoccupied space or area between the street line of the side street and the parts
of the b�ilding nearest to such street line.
SIGN: Any device, surface or framework on which words, symbols or other designs, are
inscribed or displayed and designed to cal] attention thereto, including flags, banners and the
like.
SIGN, ACCESSORY: Any sign that advertises or indicates the person occupying the premises
on which the sign is erected or maintained or the business transacted thereon or the products sold
thereon.
SIGN, AREA OF:
A. Area of the face: The area of the face of a sign shall be considered to include all lettering,
Working and accompanying designs and symbols, together with the background on which
they are displayed and any cutouts or extensions.
B. The area of a sign consisting of individual letters or symbols attached to or painted on a
surface, building, wall or window shall be considered to be that of the smallest
quadrangle or triangle which encompasses all the letters and symbols.
C. The area of a sign consisting of a three-dimensional object shall be considered to be the
area of the largest vertical cross section of that ob ect.
D. In computing the area of the signs, both sides of v-shaped signs, but only one (1) side of
the back-to-back signs, shall be counted.
Sign, billboard: Any non-accessory sign greater in face area than 40 square feet.
Sign, color. The color concept of the sign shall be such that it does not violate the purpose of
this Article.
Sign, instructional: Signs indicating "entrance", "exit" or the like, erected on premises for the
direction of persons or vehicles.
Sign, outdoor advertising board: The Outdoor Advertising Board of the Commonwealth or
any board or official which may hereafter succeed to its powers or functions.
Sign, overhanging: A sign or other advertising device which hangs or extends over a sidewalk
or a way in which the public has a right of access. Wall signs and standing signs shall not be
included in this definition.
Sign, real estate: A sign advertising the sale, rental or lease of the premises on which it is
maintained.
Sign, standing: A sign standing or hanging free on its own support; such support may be
attached to a building or fixed in orto the ground. "Standing signs" may have two (2) faces or
sides showing in opposite directions.
Sign, structure: The supports, uprights, bracing and framework of a sign. Any color applied to
the "structure" shall meet the purposes of this Article.
Sign, temporary: Any sign, including its supporting structure, intended to be maintained for a
period less than one hundred eight (180) days for agricultural purposes and sixty (60) days for
any other purposes.
Sign, wall: A sign fastened or affixed parallel to and within twelve (12) inches of the wall of a
building.
Sign,window: A sign painted or placed on the inside or outside of a window.
SINGLE-FAMILY DWELLING: A structure designed exclusively for and occupied
exclusively by one family.
SITE PLAN: A plan, to scale, showing uses and structures proposed for a parcel of land as
required by the zoning regulations, including lot lines, streets, building sites, buildings,
landscape features, traffic circulation, parking, drainage, utilities, signs, topography and lighting
within the parcel.
SPECIAL PERMIT GRANTING AUTHORITY: The Board of Appeals of the Town of
Agawam.
STORAGE CAPACITY OF A FLOODPLAIN: The volume of space above an area of
floodplain that can be occupied by flood water of a given stage at a given time, regardless of
whether the water is moving.
STORY: The horizontal portion through a building between floor and ceiling. The word
"story" shall not include the portion of the basement or cellar of a building above grade or an
attic as defined in this section.
STR.EET.- An accepted city way, or a way established by or maintained under county, state, or
federal authority, or a way established by a subdivision plan approved in accordance with the
subdivision control law actually constructed to specifications or for which adequate security
exists to construct such a way.
STREET LINE: The dividing line between a street and a lot and, in the case of a public way,
the street line established by the public authority laying out such way upon which the lot abuts.
STREET, PAPER: A street shown on a recorded plan but never built on the ground.
STREET RIGHT-OF-WAY: A general term denoting land, property or interest therein,
usually a strip acquired for or devoted to a planned roadway. A street right-of-way should be
sufficient to accommodate the ultimate roadway, including, but not limited to: the street
pavement, shoulder, grass strip, sidewalk, public utility facilities, street trees, and snow storage.
STRUCTURE: A combination of materials assembled at a fixed location to give support or
shelter, such as a building, framework, retaining wall, tent, reviewing stand, platform, bin fence,
sign, flagpole, recreational tramway, and mast for radio antenna or the like. The word
"structure" shall be construed, where the context allows, as though followed by the words "or
part or parts thereof".
SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT IN THE FLOODPLAIN: Any repair, reconstruction or
improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds fifty percent (50%) of the
assesscd value of the structure either before the improvement is started or, if the structure has
been damaged and is being restored, before the damage occurred. "Substantial improvement" is
started when the first alteration of any structural part of the building commences.
TOWER-. A monopole that is designed to support personal wireless service transmission,
receiving and/or relaying antennas and/or equipment.
TRAILER: Any so-called automobile trailer, mobile home or trailer coach, including any
portable structure, means of conveyance or vehicle so designed or constructed, altered or
converted in any manner as to permit occupancy thereof for dwelling or sleeping purposes.
TRUCKING TERMINAL: Terminal facilities for handling freight with or without
maintenance facilities.
UNREGISTERED MOTOR VEHICLES: Any motor vehicle or trailer not registered in
accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 90, or any motor vehicle which falls to
carry or display its license plate as provided in §6 of said Chapter 90; or any Motor vehicle or
trailer owned by a non-resident who has failed to comply with the registration laws of the non-
resident state or country.
USE, SUBSTANTIALLY DIFFERENT: A use which by reason of its normal operation would
cause readily observable differences in patronage, service, sight, noise, employment or similar
characteristics from the use to which it is being compared.
WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS OVERLAY DISTRICT (WTOD): Specific
area(s), determined by engineering analysis to contain sites where adequate service may be
provided to the Town of Agawam, which, at the same time, have the potential of reducing or
mitigating negative impacts in accordance with the Overlay District as defined in this article.
YARD: A space open to the sky, located between a building or structure and a lot line,
unoccupied except by fences, walls, poles, paving, and other customary yard accessories.
YARD, FRONT: A yard extending the full width of the lot and situated between the street line
and nearest point of the building.
YARD, REAR: The required unoccupied space or area within the rear lot line and the part of
the principal building nearest such rear lot line.
YARD, SIDE: The required unoccupied space or area within the lot between the side lot line
and parts of the building nearest such side lot line. In the case of a corner lot one (1) of the side
yards shall be the unoccupied space or area between the street line of the side street and the parts
of the building nearest to such street line.
INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM
TO: PAMELA KERR, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
FROM: BARBARA BARD, COUNCIL ADMTNISTRATIVE ASST.
SUBJECT: PROPOSED ZONING AMENDMENT
DATE: 8/23/2012
The Council office is in receipt of your memo dated August 6, 2012 where the
Agawam Planning Board voted to act as the petitioner for a proposed zoning
amendment to Section 180-2 "Defin-l'tions and Word Usage". It is my
understanding that the City Solicitor is working on an Ordinance for you to
place on the City Council Agenda and that it must appear on our Agenda prior
to your public hearing on September 6, 2012. Our next meeting is September
4 th
Once it is on our Agenda, it will be referred to the Plariming Board. The City
Council will also set our public hearing date for October 1". If you need
further information, please contact me. Thank you.
cc: Full Council, Mayor, Solicitor, Deborah Dachos, Planning Board
Page I of I
barbara bard
From: Pamela Kerr
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2012 2:28 PM
To: barbara bard
Cc: Vince Gioscia
Subject: zoning amendment
Hi Barb— Have you looked at the Zoning Amendment re: "Definitions"that I gave you? The Planning
Board's public hearing has been scheduled for September 61h. Do you have a date for the Council
hearing yet? Please submit a memo stating that you received the zoning amendment and when the
Council's public hearing would be. If you have any questions, please give me a call.
Pam
Pameia R. Kerr
Administrative Assistant
Office of Planning & Community Development
413 786-0400, ext. 8737
413 726-8737(direct)
Fax 786-9927
8/23/2012
Town of Agawam
36 Main Street Agawam, Massachusetts 01001-1837
Tel. 413-786-0400 Fax 413-786-9927
August 6, 2012
Christopher C. Johnson, President
Dennis J. Perry, Vice President
George Bitzas, Councilor
Cecilia P. Calabrese, Councilor C3
Paul C. Cavallo, Councilor
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James P. Cichetti, Councilor QF
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Gina M. Letellier, Councilor *n
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Robert A. Magovern, Councilor 7-r.T1
Joseph Minco, Councilor > :1-71
Donald M. Rheault, Councilor
Robert E. Rossi, Councilor CD Cn
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Agawam Town Council
36 Main Street
Agawam, MA 01001
Dear Councilors:
At its duly called meeting held on August 2, 2012., the Agawam Planning Board voted to act as
the petitioner for a proposed zoning amendment to Section 180-2 "Definitions and Word Usage".
The new definition section updates existing definitions, reorganizes definitions that are presently
found in other sections of the Zoning Ordinance and adds definitions for terms presently not
defined in the Ordinance.
The Planning Board will be holding its public hearing on this zoning amendment on September
6, 2012.
-�incerely,
Tfavis P. Ward, Chairman
AGAWAM PLANNTNG BOARD
cc: Mayor, Clerk, Solicitor, Board of Appeals, Building Inspector, File
ARTICLE VI, DEFINITIONS
AGA WAM ZONING ORDINANCE
August Z 2012
ARTICLE 1, General Provisions
§ 180-1 Purpose (leave)
§ 180-2 Definitions and word usage
For the purpose of this Ordinance, certain terms and words shall have the following meaning.
Words used in the present tense include the future; the plural number includes the singular; the
words "used" or "occupied" include the words "designed", "arranged", "intended", or "offered to
be used or occupied"; the words "building", "structure", "lot", "land", or "premise" shall be
construed as though followed by the words "or any portion thereof"; and the word "shall" is
always mandatory and not merely directory. (Jessica)
Terms and words not defined herein but defined in the Building Code or Subdivision Regulations
shall have the meanings given therein unless a contrary intention clearly appears. I Words not
defined in either place shall have the meaning given in the most Tecent edition of Webster's
Unabridged Dictionary. (Jessica)
§ 180-2 Definitions
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings
respectively ascribed to them by this section:
ABANDONMENT: The cessation of a nonconforming use or structure as indicated by the
visible or otherwise indicated intention to discontinue a nonconforming use of a structure or a lot,
or the cessation of a nonconforming use or structure by its replacement with a conforming use or
structure. (New Jessica)
ACCESSORY BUILDING. A subordinate building, located on the same lot as the main, or
principal building or principal use, the use of which is customarily incidental to the main or
principal use permitted in the district. (Jessica)
ACCESSORY USE: A use customarily incidental to that of the main or principal building or use
of the land. (Mark)
ACT: The Telecommunications Act of 1996. (Existing)
ADEQUATE COVERAGE : Coverage is considered to be adequate within that area
surrounding a base station where the predicted or measured median field strength of the
transmitted signal for at least 75% of the covered area is greater than -95 dbm. It is acceptable for
there to be holes within the area of adequate coverage where the signal is less than -95 dbm, as
long as the signal regains its strength to greater than -95 dbrn further away from the base station.
For the limited purpose of determining whether the use of a repeater is necessary or desirable,
there shall be deemed not to be adequate coverage within said holes, The outer boundary of the
I
area of adequate coverage, however, is that location past which the signal does not regain a
strength of greater than-95 dbm. (Existing)
ADEQUATE CAPACITY: Capacity is considered to be adequate if the grade of service is
p.05 or better for a worst case day in a preceding month, based on the Erllang B Tables, prior to
the date of application; or as measured using direct traffic measurement of the personal wireless
service facility in question for existing facilities requesting major modification and where the call
blocking is due to frequency contention at the antenna(s). (Existing)
ADULT DAY CARE FACILITY: A building or structure where care, protection, and
supervision are provided, on a regular schedule, to adults over the age of 18. (New Mark)
AGRICULTURE: The production, keeping or maintenance, for sale or lease of plants and
animals useful to man, including but not limited to: forages and sod crops; grains and seed crops;
dairy animals and dairy products; poultry and poultry products; livestock including beef cattle,
swine, horses, mules, ponies, or goats or any mutations of hybrids thereof, including the breeding
and grazing of any or all such animals, bees, and apiary products, for animals, trees and forest
products; fruits of all kinds, including grapes, nuts and berries, vegetables, floral, nursery,
ornamental and green house products, or lands devoted to a soil conservation or forestry
management program. (New Jessica)
ALTERATION: Any construction, reconstruction or other action resulting in a change in the
structural parts, height, number of stories, exits, size, use or location of a building or other
structure. (New Jessica)
AMUSEMENT PARK: A commercially operated park with a predominance of outdoor games
and activities for entertainment, 'including shows or riding devices, games of skill or chance, or
any combination of shows, riding devices, water slides, miniature golf, batting cages or any
combination of several enterprises, such as revolving wheels, merry-go-rounds, giant swings,
panoramas, musical and theatrical entertainments, or riding devices, whether carried on, engaged
in or conducted as one enterprise or by several concessionaries, and whether an admission fee is
charged for admission to all such shows for entertainments, or a separate fee for admission is
charged for each amusement. [Added 2-2-2001 by TOR-200 1-1] (Existing)
ANIMAL CLINIC OR HOSPITAL: A place where animals or pets are given medical or
surgical treatment and the boarding of animals is limited to short term care incidental to the clinic
or hospital use. (New Mark)
ANTENNA: A device which is attached to a tower or other structure for transmitting and
receiving electromagnetic waves. (Existing)
APARTMENT HOUSE: A building or structure arranged, intended and designed to be
occupied by five or more families, living independently of each other, and each including its own
separate kitchen and bathroom accommodations. Garden-type apartments shall be considered as
an apartment house. (Revised Jessica)
ATTIC: The unfinished space between the ceiling of the top story of a building and its roof
which is not used for living, sleeping or eating quarters. (Revised Jessica)
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BASE STATION: The primary sending and receiving site in a wireless telecommunications
network. (Existing)
BUILDING: A structure enclosed within exterior, walls or firewalls, built, erected and framed of
a combination of any materials, whether portable or fixed, having a roof, to form a structure for
the shelter of persons, animals or property. For the purpose of this definition, "roof' shall include
an awning or any similar covering, whether or not permanent in nature. The word "building"
shall be constructed, where the context requires, as though followed by words "or part or parts
thereof'. A porch or an attached garage, greenhouse or similar structure is to be considered as
part of a building when considering the requirements of setback, side or rear yards. (Mark)
BUSINESS: The transacting or carrying on of a trade or commercial enterprise with a view to
profit or for livelihood. (Existing)
CEMETERY. Land used or intended to be used for the burial of the dead and dedicated for
cemetery purposes including columbarium, crematoriums, mausoleums, and funeral
establishments, when operated in conjunction with and within the boundary of such cemetery
under the care and supervision of the Town or other public authority. (Jessica and existing)
CHANNEL: The segment of the radiation spectrum from an antenna which carries one signal. An
antenna may radiate on many channels simultaneously. (Existing)
CHILDCARE FACILITY: Facilities that serve children under seven years of age or sixteen
years if the children have special needs, or school-age children (under fourteen years of age or
sixteen years if they have special needs) in programs that are held before or after school hours or
during vacations. (Jessica)
A child care facility defined in M.G.L. c.28A, s.9. (Mark)
CLUB OR LODGE, PRIVATE: Buildings, structures and premises used by a non-profit social
or civic organization or by a nonprofit organization, catering exclusively to members and their
guests for social, civic, recreation, or athletic purposes which are not conducted primarily for gain
and provided there are no vending stands, merchandising, or commercial activities except as may
be required generally for the membership and purposes of such organization. (Mark)
COMMERCIAL RECREATION, INDOORS: A structure for recreational, social or
amusement purposes, which may include as an accessory, use the consumption of food and drink,
including all connected rooms or space with a common means of egress and entrance. Places of
assembly shall include theaters, concert halls, dance halls, skating rinks, bowling alleys, health
clubs, dance studios, or other commercial recreational Centers conducted for or not for profit.
(new Mark)
COMMERCIAL RECREATION, OUTDOORS: Driving range, bathing beach, sports club,
horseback riding stable, boathouse, marina or other commercial recreation carried on in whole or
in part outdoors, except those activities more specifically designated in this ordinance. (Zoning
Committee)
3
COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT SHELTER: A structure located at a base station designed
principally to enclose equipment used in connection with personal wireless service transmissions.
(Existing)
CONVENIENCE STORE: A retail store that sells groceries and may also sell gasoline; does
not include automotive service stations, or vehicle repair shops, (New Zoning Committee)
CREMATORY- A building containing a furnace designed and intended to be used for cremating
the dead and owned and controlled by a cemetery corporation or crematory corporation duly
organized under the laws of the state. (existing)
DETACHED: Separate from. (existing)
DBM: Unit of measure of the power level of an electromagnetic signal expressed in decibels
referenced to I milliwatt. (Existing)
DWELLING: A building designed and occupied as the living quarters of one (1) or more
families. Single- and two-family dwellings shall be designed for and occupied by not more than
one (1) or two (2) families, respectively. A multifamily dwelling shall be one designed for and
occupied by three (3) or more families. Hotels, lodging houses, hospitals, membership clubs, or
dormitories shall not be considered dwellings. (Mark and Jessica)
EARTH REMOVAL: Extraction of sand, gravel, top soil, or other earth for sale or for use at a
site removed from the place of extraction exclusive of the grading of a lot preparatory to the
construction of a building for which a building permit has been issued, or the grading of streets in
accordance with an approved definitive plan and exclusive of granite operations. (Mark)
EDUCATIONAL USE: Use of land or structures for education purposes on land owned or
]eased by the Commonwealth or any of its agencies, subdivisions or bodies politic or by a
religious sect or denomination, or by a non-profit education corporation. Educational facilities
not exempted from regulation by M.G.L. 40A, s.3. (Jessica)
EMF: Electromagnetic frequency radiation. (Existing)
ERECT: To build, construct, reconstruct, move upon, or conduct any physical development of
the premises required for a building; to excavate, fill, drain, and the like preparation for building
shall also be considered to erect. (New Mark)
ESSENTIAL SERVICES: Services provided by a public service corporation or by
governmental agencies through erection, construction, alteration, or maintenance of gas,
electrical, steam, or water transmission or distribution systems and collection, communication,
supply, or disposal systems whether underground or overhead, but not including wireless
communications facilities. Facilities necessary for the provision of essential services include
poles, wires, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits, cables, fire alarm boxes, police call boxes, traffic
signals, hydrants and other similar equipment in connection therewith. (new Mark)
4
FACILITY SITE: The location within a Wireless Telecommunications Overlay District ]eased
by one of more personal wireless service providers and upon which one or more personal wireless
service facility(s) and required landscaping are located. (Existing)
FAMILY: A number of individuals related by blood, marriage and/or adoption or a group of
unrelated individuals not to exceed four (4) who are occupying a dwelling unit and living as a
single nonprofit housekeeping unit. This definition, however, does not apply to non-related
disable persons as defined by any applicable federal and/or state law and/or regulations. (Jessica)
FAMILY DAY CARE FACILITY: Any private residence which on a regular basis receives for
temporary custody and care during part of all of the day, children under seven (7) years of age or
children under sixteen (16) years of age if such children have special needs. Provided, however,
in either case, that the total number of children shall not exceed more than six (6), excluding
participating children living in the residence. (Mark)
FARMSTAND: A facility for the sale of produce, and wine and dairy products, provided that
during the months of June, July, August, and September of every year, or during the harvest
season of the primary crop raised on land of the owner or lessee, the majority of such products for
sale, based on either gross sales dollars or volume, have been produced by the owner or lessee of
land containing more than five acres on which the facility is located used primarily for agriculture
in conformance with M.G.L. c.40A, s.3. (State law)
FCC: Federal Communications Commission. The government agency responsible for regulating
telecommunications in the United States. (Existing)
FCC 96-326: A report and order which sets new national standards for emissions of radio
frequency emissions from FCC regulated transmitters. (Existing)
FENCE: An artificially constructed barrier of any material or combination of materials erected to
enclose or screen areas of land. (Jessica)
FLOOD OR FLOODING: A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation
of normally dry land areas from:
(1) The overflow of inland or tidal waters;
(2) The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source.
(existing)
FLOODWAY: The channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must
.be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface
elevation more than one foot. (existing)
FLOODWAY FRINGE: The land in the floodplain within a community subject to a one percent
or greater chance of flooding in a given year that is located outside of the floodway. (existing)
GARAGE, PRIVATE: A building or space used as an accessory to or a part of a main building
permitted in any residential district, and providing for the storage of one or more motor vehicles
and in which no business, occupation or service for profit is in any way conducted. (zoning
committee)
5
GARAGE, PUBLIC: A garage, other than a private or storage garage, which is used for the
short-term parking of vehicles. (zoning committee)
GARAGE, REPAIR: A building or portion thereof, other than a private or storage garage,
designed or used for equipping, servicing, repairing, hiring, selling, and/or storing of motor
vehicles. The term repairing shall not include an automobile body repair shop nor the rebuilding,
dismantling,or storage of wrecked or junked vehicles. (zoning committee)
GASOLINE SERVICE STATION: A gasoline service station shall include any business selling
or offering for sale any motor fuel, such as gasoline or diesel fuel, to the public, whether or not
the public permitted or expected to operate the pump to put the fuel into a motor vehicle's fuel
tank or a container, and shall include gasoline filling stations and gasoline self-service stations.
For the purposes of this ordinance gasoline service station shall also include any site used or
operated as a retail refueling site, including the fuels of gasoline, propane, electricity and
hydrogen. (Approved by Council 5/503)
GHZ: Gigahertz: one billion hertz, (Existing)
GRADE OF SERVICE: A measure of the percentage of calls which are able to connect to the
base station, during the busiest hour of the day. Grade of service is expressed as a number, such as
p. 05, which means that 95% of callers will connect on their first try. A lower number (p. 04)
indicates a better grade of service. (Existing)
HALF STORY: The space between the ceiling of the top story of a building and the roof where
the area and height are sufficient for sleeping and living quarters. (existing)
HAZARDOUS MATERIAL- Any substance which is listed in, but not limited to, the EPA
priority pollutants as described in section 307 (a) of the Clean Water Act, as amended. (Mark)
HEIGHT: The vertical distance from the average finished grade of the adjacent ground to the top
of the structure of the highest roof beams of a flat roof, or the mean level of the highest gable or
slope of a hip roof. (Jessica)
HERTZ: One hertz is the frequency of an electric or magnetic field which reverses polarity once
each second or one cycle per second. (Existing)
HOME OCCUPATION: An occupation, business, trade, service or profession which is
incidental to and conducted in a dwelling unit or in a building or other accessory structure thereto,
by a resident thereof. (Mark)
HOSPITAL: An institution providing primary health services and medical or surgical care to
persons, primarily in-patients, suffering from illness, disease, injury, deformity and other
abnormal physical or mental conditions, and including, as an integral part of the institution related
facilities such as laboratories, outpatient facilities or training facilities, a sanitarium, and clinic.
The term "hospital" does not include a rest home, nursing home and/or convalescent home.
(Jessica)
6
HOUSEKEEPING UNIT: See definition of"family". (Jessica)
JUNK VEHICLES: A wrecked, damaged, destroyed, non-operational, abandoned or
disassembled trailer, house trailer, boat, tractor, automobile, aircraft, or other motor vehicle, or
any parts thereof. A junk vehicle includes apparently inoperable, immobile, disassembled or
extensively damaged vehicles. Evidence of non-operation and damaged includes, but is not
limited to, a buildup of debri's that obstructs use, a broken window or windshield, a missing
wheel, a flat tire, a nonfunctional motor or transmission, missing bumpers, or missing plates and
the like. (Zoning Committee)
KENNEL, COMMERCIAL: An establishment licensed to operate a facility housing dogs, cats,
or other household pets and where grooming, breeding, boarding, training or selling of animals is
conducted as a business. (Jessica)
KENNEL, PRIVATE: Any building or land designated or arranged for the care of dogs, cats or
other household pets belonging to the owner of the residential, principal use, kept for purposes of
show, hunting, or as pets. (Jessica)
LODGING HOUSE. A building containing more than five (5) lodging units for semi-permanent
residence (longer than one (1) week) for compensation and which meals may also be supplied as
part of the fee. This shall not include bed and breakfast home uses, congregate housing, motels,
hotels, multi-family dwellings, or nursing homes. (Jessica)
LIGHT MANUFACTURING: Fabrication, assembly, processing, finishing work or packaging.
(Mark)
LOADING SPACE, OFF-STREET: Space located on the same lot with principal building, or
contiguous to a group of buildings, for bulk pickups and deliveries, scaled to delivery vehicles
expected to be used, and accessible to such vehicles when required off-street parking spaces are
filled. It shall abut a street, alley, or other appropriate means of ingress or egress. (Mark)
LOT: A continuous parcel of land with legally definable boundaries. (Mark)
LOT, AREA: The horizontal area of the lot exclusive of any area in a street or recorded way
open to public use. (zoning committee)
LOT, CORNER: A lot located at the intersection of two or more streets. (New Deb)
LOT, DEPTH OF: The mean distance from the street line of the lot to its opposite rear line
measured in the general direction of the side lines of the lot. (Mark)
LOT, FRONTAGE OF: A lot line coinciding with the sideline of a street which provides legal
rights of vehicular access and actual physical vehicular access to the lot. Frontage shall be
measured continuously along a street and shall be the horizontal distance between the side lot
lines measured at the point where the side lot lines intersect with the front set back line. (Jessica)
LOT LINE: A line dividing one lot from another, Or from a street or any public place. (Mark)
7
LOT LINE, REAR: The lot line opposite the street line, except that, in the case of a comer lot,
the rear lot line shall be the line opposite the street line on which the building is numbered or
would be numbered. (existing)
MAJOR MODIFICATION OF AN EXSITING FACILITY: Any change or proposed change
in power input or output, number of antennas, change in antenna type or model, repositioning of
antenna (s), change in number of channels per antenna above the maximum number approved
under an existing special pen-nit. Also any increase or proposed increase in dimensions of an
existing and permitted tower or other structure designed to support personal wireless service
transmissions, receiving and/or relaying antennas and/or equipment. (Existing)
MEDICAL CENTER OR CLINIC: A building designed and used for the diagnosis and
treatment of human patients that does not include overnight care facilities. (Mark)
MHZ: Megahertz: one million hertz. (Existing)
MILE: A "mile" (5,280 feet) is to be measured from a point on an imaginary line which is
perpendicular to the vertical line at that point. (Existing)
MONITORING: The measurement, by the use of instruments in the field, of the radiation from
a site as a whole or from individual personal wireless service facilities, towers or antennas.
(Existing)
MONITORING PROTOCOL: The testing protocol, initially the Cobbs Protocol, which is to be
used to monitor the emissions from existing and new personal wireless service facilities and
towers upon adoption of this article. The SPGA may, as the technology changes, require, by
written regulation, the use of other testing protocols. A copy of the monitoring protocol shall be
on file with the Town Clerk. (Existing)
MONOPOLE: A single self-supporting vertical pole with below-grade foundations. (Existing)
MOUNT: The structure or surface upon which antennas are mounted, including the following
four types of mounts:
A. Roof-mounted: mounted on the roof of a building.
B. Side-mounted: mounted on the side of a building.
C. Ground-mounted: mounted on the ground
D. Structure-mounted: mounted on a structure other than a building.
MOTEL. A building or buildings intended and designed for transient overnight or extended
occupancy, divided into separate units within the same building with or without a public dining
facility. (Jessica)
8
MOTOR VEHICLE COMMERCIAL: Any vehicle used or designed to be used for business or
commercial purposes that infringes on the residential character of residential districts and
includes, but is not necessarily limited to: a bus, cement truck, commercial tree-trimming
equipment, construction equipment, dump truck, garbage truck, panel truck, semi-tractor , semi-
trailer, stake bed truck, step van, tank truck, tar truck, fire truck, or the like, or other commercial
type vehicle licensed by the state as a commercial vehicle or truck. (zoning committee)
MOTOR VEHICLE GENERAL OR BODY REPAIR: An establishment, garage or work area
enclosed within a building where repairs are made or caused to be made to motor vehicles and
their bodies, including fenders, bumpers and similar components of motor vehicle bodies, but
does not include the storage of vehicles for the cannibalization of parts or fuel sales. (Mark)
MUNICIPAL FACILITIES: Facilities owned or operated by the Town of Agawam. (Mark)
NON-CORNFORMING BUILDING OR STRUCTURE: A building or structure, existing at
the effective date of this- ordinance, or any subsequent amendment to, which does not conform to
one or more provisions of this ordinance. (Jessica)
NON-CONFORMING LOT: A lot lawfWly existing at the effective date of this ordinance, or
any subsequent amendment to, which is not in accordance with all the provisions of this
ordinance. (Jessica) I
NON-CONFORMING USE: A use lawfully existing at the time of adoption of this ordinance,
or any subsequent amendment thereto, which does not conform to one or more provisions of this
ordinance. (Jessica)
NURSING, REST HOME, OR CONVALESCENT HOME: An extended or intermediate care
facility licensed or approved to provide full-time convalescent or chronic care to individuals who,
by reason of advanced age, chronic illness or infirmity, are unable to care for themselves.
(Jessica)
OFF-STREET PARKING SPACE: A space of 200 square feet or more plus access and
maneuvering space, whether inside or outside a structure for exclusive use as a parking stall for
one motor vehicle, and further being surfaced with durable pavement. (Jessica)
OPEN SPACE: The space on a lot unoccupied by buildings, structures, driveways, off-street
parking or loading spaces or other impervious surfaces. (Jessica)
ORDINARY HIGH-WATER MARK: The highest point on the bank of a floodway or
floodplain at which the water level has been for a sufficient period of time to leave a definite
mark. (existing)
PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICES: Commercial mobile services, unlicensed wireless
services and common carrier wireless exchange access services. These services include: cellular
services, personal communications services (PCS), specialized mobile radio services and paging
services. (Existing)
9
PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE FACILITY: All equipment (excluding any repeaters)
with which a personal wireless service provider broadcasts and receives the radio frequency
waves which carry their services and all locations of said equipment or any part thereof. This
facility may be sited on one or more towers or structures(s) owned and permitted by another
owner or entity. (Existing)
PERSONAL WIRELESS SEAVICE PROVIDER: An entity licensed by the FCC to provide
personal wireless services to individuals or institutions. (Existing)
PRINCIPAL BUILDING: A building in which is conducted the principal use of the lot on
which it is located, (Jessica)
PRINCIPAL USE: The main or primary purpose for which a structure or lot is designed,
arranged or intended, or for which it may be used, occupied or maintained under this ordinance.
Any other use within the main structure or the use of any other structure or land on the same lot
and incidental or supplementary to the principal use and permitted under this ordinance shall be
considered an accessory use. (Jessica)
RADIATION PROPAGATION STUDIES OR RADIAL PLOTS: Computer generated
estimates of the radiation emanating from antennas or repeaters sited on a specific tower or
structure. The height above mean sea level, power input and output, frequency output, type of
antenna, antenna gain, topography of the site and its surroundings are all taken into account to
create these simulations. They are the primary tool for determining whether a site will provide
adequate coverage for the personal wireless service facility proposed for that site. (Existing)
REAR YARD: The required unoccupied space or area within the rear lot line and the part, of the
principal building nearest such rear lot line. (Existing)
RESTAURANT: A building, or portion thereof, which is designed, intended and used for the
indoor sales and consumption of food prepared on the premises, except that food may be
consumed out doors in landscaped terraces, designed for dining purposes, which are adjuncts to
the main indoor restaurant facility. The term "restaurant" shall not include "fast food
establishments". (zoning committee)
RESTAURANT, FAST-FOOD: An establishment engaged primarily in the business of
preparing food and purveying it on a self-service or semi self-service basis. Customer orders
and/or service may be by means of a walk-up counter or window designed to accommodate
automobile traffic. Consumption is either on or off the premises. (zoning committee)
RESTAURANT, DRIVE-IN AND DRIVE-THROUGH: A restaurant which provides
convenient vehicular access and may provide service to customers while in their vehicles.
(existing)
SANITARIUM: A hospital used for treating chronic and usually long-term illness. (Jessica)
SEMI-DETACHED DWELLING: A single-family residential unit that is joined on one side to
another single-family residential unit having a party wall between the units. (existing)
10
SERVICES, PROFESSIONAL: Establishments primarily engaged in rendering services by
professional persons on a fee or contract basis, including, but not limited to the following:
accounting, auditing, and bookkeeping; medical, dental or health; planning, engineering and
architectural; education and science; attorneys and notary publics-, etc. (Jessica)
SETBACK: The minimlim required unoccupied space or area between the street line of which
the building is numbered or would be numbered and the part of the building nearest such street
line, such unoccupied space or area extending the entire width or distance across the lot.
(existing)
SIDE LOT LINE: The line dividing one lot from another. (existing)
SIDE YARD: The required unoccupied space and area within the lot between the side lot line
and parts of the building nearest such side lot line. In the case of a comer lot, one of the side
yards shall be the unoccupied space or area between the street line of the side street and the parts
of the building nearest to such street line. (existing)
SIGN: Any device, surface or framework on which words, symbols or other designs, are
inscribed or displayed and designed to call attention thereto, including flags, banners and the like.
(existing)
SIGN, ACCESSORY: Any sign that advertises or indicates the person occupying the premises
on which the sign is erected or maintained or the business transacted thereon or the products sold
thereon. (existing)
SIGN, AREA OF:
A, Area of the face: The area of the face of a sign shall be considered to include all lettering,
working and accompanying designs and symbols, together with the background on which
they are displayed and any cutouts or extensions. (existing)
B. The area of a sign consisting of individual letters or symbols attached to or painted on a
surface, building, wall or window shall be considered to be that of the smallest quadrangle
or triangle which encompasses all the letters and symbols. (existing)
C. The area of a sign consisting of a three-dimensional object shall be considered to be the
area of the largest vertical cross section of that object. (existing)
D. In computing the area of the signs, both sides of v-shaped signs, but only one (1) side of
the back-to-back signs, shall be counted. (existing)
Sign, billboard: Any non-accessory sign greater in face area than 40 square feet. (existing)
Sign, color: The color concept of the sign shall be such that it does not violate the purpose of this
Article. (existing)
I
Sign, instructional: Signs indicating "entrance", "exit" or the like, erected on premises for the
direction of persons or vehicles. (existing)
Sign, outdoor advertising board: The Outdoor Advertising Board of the Commonwealth or any
board or official which may hereafter succeed to its powers or functions. (existing)
Sign, overhanging: A sign or other advertising device which hangs or extends over a sidewalk or
a way in which the public has a right of access. Wall signs and standing signs shall not be
included in this definition. (existing)
Sign, real estate: A sign advertising the sale, rental or lease of the premises on which it is
maintained. (existing)
Sign, standing: A sign standing or hanging free on its own support; such support may be attached
to a building or fixed in or to the ground. "Standing signs" may have two (2) faces or sides
showing in opposite directions. (existing)
Sign, structure: The supports, uprights, bracing and framework of a sign. Any color applied to
the "structure" shall meet the purposes of this Article. (existing)
Sign, temporary- Any sign, including its supporting structure, intended to be maintained for a
penod less than one hundred eight (180) days for agricultural purposes and sixty (60) days for any
other purposes. (existing)
Sign, wall: A sign fastened or affixed parallel to and within twelve (12) inches of the wall of a
building. (existing)
Sign,window: A sign painted or placed on the inside or outside of a window. (existing)
SINGLE-FAMILY DWELLING: A structure designed exclusively for and occupied
exclusively by one family. (zoning committee)
SITE PLAN: A plan, to scale, showing uses and structures proposed for a parcel of land as
required by the zoning regulations, including lot lines, streets, building sites, buildings, landscape
features, traffic circulation, parking, drainage, utilities, signs, topography and lighting within the
parcel. ( Jessica)
SPECIAL PERMIT GRANTING AUTHORITY: The Board of Appeals of the Town of
Agawam. (zoning committee)
STORAGE CAPACITY OF A FLOODPLAIN: The volume of space above an area of
floodplain that can be occupied by flood water of a given stage at a given time, regardless of
whether the water is moving. (existing)
STORY: The horizontal portion through a building between floor and ceiling. The word "story"
shall not include the portion of the basement or cellar of a building above grade or an attic as
defined in this section. (existing)
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STREET: An accepted city way, or a way established by or maintained under county, state, or
federal authority, or a way established by a subdivision plan approved in accordance with the
subdivision control law actually constructed to specifications or for which adequate security exists
to construct such a way. (Mark)
STREET RIGHT-OF-WAY: A general term denoting land, property or interest therein, usually
a strip acquired for or devoted to a planned roadway. A street right-of-way should be sufficient to
accommodate the ultimate roadway, including, but not limited to: the street pavement, shoulder,
grass strip, sidewalk, public utility facilities, street trees, and snow storage. (Jessica)
STREET LINE: The dividing line between a street and a lot and, in the case of a public way, the
street line established by the public authority laying out such way upon which the lot abuts.
(existing)
STRUCTURE: A combination of materials assembled at a fixed location to give support or
shelter, such as a building, framework, retaining wall, tent, reviewing stand, platform, bin fence,
sign, flagpole, recreational tramway, and mast for radio antenna or the like. The word "structure"
shall be construed, where the context allows, as though followed by the words "or part or parts
thereof'. (zoning committee)
SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT IN THE FLOODPLAIN: Any repair, reconstruction or
improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds fifty percent (50%) of the
assessed value of the structure either before the improvement is started or, if the structure has
been damaged and is being restored, before the damage occurred. "Substantial improvement" is
started when the first alteration of any structural part of the building commences. (existing)
TOWER: A monopole that is designed to support personal wireless service transmission,
receiving and/or relaying antennas and/or equipment. (Existing)
TRAILER: Any so-called automobile trailer, mobile home or trailer coach, including any
portable structure, means of conveyance or vehicle so designed or constructed, altered or
converted in any manner as to permit occupancy thereof for dwelling or sleeping purposes.
(existing)
TRUCKING TERMINAL: Terminal facilities for handling freight with or without maintenance
facilities. (Jessica)
UNREGISTERED MOTOR VEHICLES: Any motor vehicle or trailer not registered in
accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 90, or any motor vehicle which fails to
carry or display its license plate as provided in §6 of said Chapter 90; or any motor vehicle or
trailer owned by a non-resident who has failed to comply with the registration laws of the non-
resident state or country. (Zoning Committee)
USE, SUBSTANTIALLY DIFFERENT- A use which by reason of its normal operation would
cause readily observable differences in patronage, service, sight, noise, employment or similar
characteristics from the use to which it is being compared. (Jessica)
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WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS OVERLAY DISTRICT (WTOD): Specific
area(s), determined by engineering analysis to contain sites where adequate service may be
provided to the Town of Agawam, which, at the same time, have the potential of reducing or
mitigating negative impacts in accordance with the Overlay District as defined in this article.
(Existing)
YARD: A space open to the sky, located between a building or structure and a lot line
unoccupied except by fences, walls, poles, paving, and other customary yard accessories. (Mark)
YARD, FRONT: A yard extending the full width of the lot and situated between the street line
and nearest point of the building. (Mark)
YARD, REAR. The required unoccupied space or area within the rear lot line and the part of the
principal building nearest such rear lot line. (Mark)
YARD, SIDE: The required unoccupied space or area within the lot between the side lot line and
parts of the building nearest such side lot line. In the case of a comer lot one (1) of the side yards
shall be the unoccupied space or area between the street line of the side street and the parts of the
building nearest to such street line. (Mark)
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