SECTION 1. GENERAL
1.1 Purpose
The purpose of this By-law is to promote the health, safety and general welfare of the inhabitants of the Town of Ashburnham, to lessen the danger of fire and congestion and to protect and preserve the surface and groundwater resources of the Town and the region from any use of land or buildings which may reduce the quality and quantity of its water resources, and further to conserve the natural resources of Ashburnham, to prevent temporary and permanent contamination of the environment and to improve the Town under the provisions of Chapter 40A, General Laws.
1.2 Basic Requirements
1.21 All buildings or structures herein erected, reconstructed, altered, enlarged, or moved and used of premises in the Town of Ashburnham shall be in conformity with the provisions of this By-Law. Any building, structure or land shall not be used for any purpose or in any manner other than is permitted within the district in which such building, structure or land is located. Any use not specifically enumerated in a district herein shall be deemed prohibited. In accordance with Chapter 40A, General Laws, and notwithstanding any provisions to contrary, this By-Law shall not prohibit or limit the use of land for any church or other religious purpose or for any educational purpose
which is religious, sectarian denominational, or public, or for any municipal purpose. This By-Law shall not repeal, annul or in any way impair or remove the necessity of compliance with any rule, regulation, by-law, permit or provision of law. Where this By-Law imposes a greater restriction upon the use of land, buildings or structures, the provisions of this By-Law shall control.
1.22 No building shall be erected except on a lot fronting on a street, way or road (as defined by this By-Law), and there shall be not more than one principal building on any lot, except as allowed in this By-Law.
1.3 Non-Conforming Uses
1.31 Continuation – the lawful use of any land existing at the time of the enactment or subsequent amendment of this By-Law may be continued although such use did not conform with the provisions of the By-Law as adopted or amended.
1.32 Extension – except for agricultural, horticultural or floricultural uses, the extent of non-conforming use of land not covered by a building or structure may not be increased by more than twenty-five (25) percent of the land area in non-conforming use at the time the By-Law is adopted or amended except by special permit from the Board of Appeals after a finding that such extension will not be detrimental or injurious to the neighborhood.
1.33 Abandonment – all non-conforming uses which have been abandoned or discontinued for more than two (2) years shall not be re-established except by special permit from the Board of Appeals after a public hearing and a finding that such re-establishment will not be detrimental or injurious to the neighborhood.
1.34 Changes – once changed to a conforming use, no land shall be permitted to revert to a non-conforming use.
1.4 Non-Conforming Buildings and Structures
1.41 Continuation – the lawful use of any building or structure existing at the time of the enactment or subsequent amendment of this By-Law may be continued although such building or structure did not conform with the provisions of the By-Law as adopted or amended.
1.42 Alteration and Enlargement – a non-conforming building may be altered or enlarged provided that such alteration or enlargement conforms to applicable yard, building height and lot coverage requirements, but a non-conforming extension or alteration of a non-conforming structure may be permitted by special permit and only if there is a finding by the Zoning Board of Appeals that such extension or alteration shall not be substantially more detrimental to the neighborhood than the existing non-conforming structure. In no case may the height of a permitted non-conforming alteration or extension of a non-conforming structure exceed that of the applicable schedule of dimensional
regulations except by a variance.
1.43 Restoration – a non-conforming building or structure which has been damaged or destroyed may be repaired or rebuilt, subject to the provisions of Section 1.32, 1.33 and 1.42.
1.5 Definitions
In this By-Law, the following terms shall have the following meanings unless a contrary meaning is required by the context or is specifically prescribed.
Accessory Building – A building devoted exclusively to a use subordinate to and customarily incidental to the principal use.
Accessory Dwelling Unit – An Accessory Dwelling Unit is a self-contained housing unit that is clearly a subordinate part of the single-family dwelling and complies with Section 5.16 of this Bylaw.
Accessory Use – A use subordinate to and customarily incidental to the principal use.
Assisted Elderly Housing – Private or private nonprofit elderly housing comprised of individual studio, one bedroom, and two bedroom dwelling units for residents over the age of sixty-five (65). On-site services and facilities such as meals, cleaning, laundry, recreation, fitness, transportation, and social activities are an integral part of the development. Medical services may be offered but no long-term hospital or nursing home care is provided within the assisted elderly housing development. Town water and sewer must serve assisted elderly housing unit(s).
Bed & Breakfast – Private, owner-occupied building with no more than five (5) guest rooms which includes a breakfast in the room rate and which serves meals to overnight guests only.
Building – Any structure built for the support, shelter or enclosure of person, animals, goods or property of any kind.
Conforming Use – Use of buildings, structures or land which complies with all the use and dimensional requirements of the zoning district in which the use is located.
Customary Home Occupation – An occupation engaged in by a resident of the premises including but not limited to carpentry, cooking, dressmaking, electrical work, handicrafts, interior decorating, masonry work, painting, plumbing, repairs of appliances or other small items and other similar activities but not including the display or sale of goods not produced on the premises.
Dwelling – Any fixed structure, not a mobile home, containing one or more dwelling units.
Dwelling Unit – A room or group of rooms designed and equipped exclusively for use as living quarters for only one family including provisions for living, sleeping, cooking and eating.
Family – One or more persons occupying a dwelling unit and living as a single, non-profit, housekeeping unit.
Family Type Camp Grounds – An area used for a range of overnight accommodations, from tenting to serviced trailer sites, including accessory facilities which support the use, such as administration offices, laundry facilities, washrooms, support recreational facilities, but not including the use of mobile homes, trailers or other forms of moveable shelter on a permanent year-round basis.
Groundwater – All water found beneath the surface of the ground.
Gross Floor Area – The sum, in square feet, of the floor areas of all roofed portions of a building, as measured from the interior faces of the exterior walls.
Hazardous Materials – Material including but not limited to, any material, in whatever form, which, because of its quantity, concentration, chemical, corrosive, flammable, reactive, toxic, infectious or radioactive characteristics, either separately or in combination with any substance or substances, constitutes a present or potential threat to human health, safety, welfare, or the environment, when improperly stored, treated, transported, disposed of, or otherwise managed. The term shall not include oil.
Hazardous Waste – Those wastes and materials designated as hazardous in the Regulations of the Massachusetts Hazardous Waste Management Act, Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 21C (310 CMR 30.00)
Height of Building – The vertical distance of the highest point of the roof above the mean grade of the ground adjoining the building.
Impervious Surfaces – Materials or structures on or above the ground that do not allow precipitation or surface water to penetrate directly into the soil.
Living Space – The floor area used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking or eating purposes, excluding bathroom, toilet, laundry and storage spaces, communicating corridors, stairways, spaces with less than four (4) feet clear headroom, garages, breezeways and carports.
Lot – A single area of land in one ownership with definite boundaries as described on a recorded deed or recorded plan.
Lot Line – A property boundary separating a lot from a street or adjoining lots; for example, street, side and rear lot lines.
Mobile Homes – A structure designed as a dwelling unit for living purposes, capable of being moved on its own wheels by a motor vehicle whether retained on wheels or fixed to a permanent foundation.
Non-Conforming Use – Use of buildings, structures or land which does not comply with all the use and dimensional requirements of the zoning district in which the use is located, but which was in existence at the time the use regulation became effective and was lawful at the time it was established.
Overnight Cabin – A building containing only one or two habitable rooms, which is adapted and used to provide transient sleeping accommodations for hire to not exceed four (4) persons but not adapted or used for cooking or preparing meals or for residence by the same person for more than 90 days.
Premises – One or more lots in the same ownership, contiguous or separated only by a road, including all buildings, structures and improvements thereon.
Primary Residence – A building in which is conducted the principal use of the lot on which it is located. For residentially zoned lots, such a building would be a dwelling.
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 By-Law.
Recreational Vehicle – A vehicle or vehicular attachment with or without motive power designed for temporary sleeping or living quarters for one or more persons, which is not a dwelling and which may include a pick-up camper, travel trailer, tent trailer, beach buggy and motor home.
Street, Way or Road – An accepted town way, or a way established by or maintained under county, state or federal authority, or a way established by a subdivision control law, or a way determined by the Planning Board to have sufficient width, suitable grades, and adequate construction to provide for the needs of vehicular traffic in relation to the proposed use of the land, and for the installation of municipal services to serve such land and the buildings erected or to be erected thereon.
Supportive Housing – Facilities comprising personal and other supportive services with a non-medical focus, limited to persons 55 years and older, including but not limited to, assisted living, congregate care and independent living and should specifically exclude skilled nursing facilities, intermediate care facilities, nursing facilities, custodial care facilities and continuing care retirement communities, or such facilities which provide multiple levels of care within a single facility. Town water and sewer must serve supportive housing facility(ies).
Surface Water – Any lake, stream, spring, impoundment, or pond as determined by the Massachusetts geographic information service based upon the United States Geological Survey one to twenty five thousand scale quadrangle maps. Surface water shall include the land located thereunder and the banks thereto. Surface water shall exclude all reservoirs, aquifers, ground waters and man-made farm ponds used for irrigation, as well as all so-called great ponds of the Commonwealth which do not drain into any lake, stream, spring or pond as described above.
Trailer – A vehicle without motive power, designed to be towed by a passenger automobile but not designed for human occupancy and which may include a utility trailer, boat trailer and horse trailer.
Watershed – Lands lying adjacent to water courses and surface water bodies which create the catchment or drainage areas of such water courses and bodies.
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