§ 518.111. Definitions.

In this Code, unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms or words listed in alphabetical order herein shall have the meaning contained below.

Words not defined in this Section shall be as defined in the building code or, if not defined in the building code, shall have their ordinarily accepted meanings.

Abandoned vehicle means a vehicle that does not bear a license plate, or if the displayed license plate is invalid, unless said vehicle is stored within a completely enclosed building or unless it is stored on a bona fide automobile sales lot or an automobile storage yard or automobile wrecking yard, as those terms are defined in Section 656.1601, Ordinance Code.

Alter or alteration means a change or modification in construction or occupancy.

Apartment means a room or a suite of rooms occupied or which is intended or designed to be occupied as the residence of one individual, family or household for housekeeping purposes.

Apartment house means a building which is designed, built, rented, leased, let or hired out to be occupied or which actually is occupied as the residence of more than two families living independently of each other and doing their own cooking in the building, and shall include flats and apartments.

Approved means:

(a)

Approved by the state or city official having jurisdiction by law with respect to the subject.

(b)

Approved by the Chief of Municipal Code Compliance or designee to exercise this approval authority, in all other cases.

Area, as applied to the dimensions of a building, means the maximum horizontal projected area of the building at grade.

Attic story means a story situated wholly or partly in the roof and so designated, arranged or built as to be used for business, storage or habitation.

Basement means a story of a building or structure having one-half or more of its clear height below grade.

Blight, blighting influence or blighting factor means either: that which endangers life or property by fire or other causes or that which substantially impairs or arrests property values or the sound growth of the county or city and is a menace to the public health, safety, morals, or welfare in its present condition and use. This may include, but not be limited to, the following factors:

(a)

Faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility, or usefulness;

(b)

Unsanitary or unsafe conditions;

(c)

Deterioration of site or other improvements;

(d)

Tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of the land; and

(e)

Diversity of ownership or defective or unusual conditions of title which prevent the free alienability of land within the deteriorated or hazardous area.

(f)

Dilapidation of real or personal property.

(g)

Residential and commercial vacancy rates higher in the areas than in the remainder of the county or municipality;

(h)

Incidence of crimes in the area higher than in the remainder of the county or municipality;

(i)

Fire and emergency medical service calls to the area proportionately higher than in the remainder of the county or municipality;

(j)

A greater number of violations of the Florida Building Code in the area than the number of violations recorded in the remainder of the county or municipality.

Building or structure means that which is built or constructed, an edifice of any kind, or any piece of work artificially built or composed of parts joined together in some form. The terms "building" or "structure" shall be construed as if followed by the words "or part thereof." Accessory buildings, canopy, shelving, rack, and each and every type of portable equipment shall be considered buildings or structures within the meaning of the definition.

Chief shall mean Chief of Municipal Code Compliance and such employees to whom shared authority has been delegated.

Debris means fragments of something that has been destroyed, demolished or broken into pieces.

Deterioration shall mean the condition or appearance of a building or structure, characterized by holes, breaks, rot, crumbling, cracking, spalling, peeling, rusting, or other evidence of physical decay or neglect, excessive use, or lack of maintenance.

Dock shall mean a structure of wood, masonry or metal that extends from a shoreline over water and/or navigable waterways.

Dwelling means a building or mobile home which is wholly or partly used or intended to be used for living or sleeping by human occupants, whether or not the building is actually occupied or vacant; provided, that temporary housing, as defined in this Section shall not be regarded as a dwelling.

Dwelling unit means a room or group of rooms located within a dwelling and forming a single habitable unit with facilities which are used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking and eating.

Emergency action means that action necessary to abate a condition posing an immediate threat to life or property within or relating to a building or structure.

Enforcement Officer shall mean the Chief of Municipal Code Compliance or their duly authorized representative.

Existing building means a building, apartment house or rooming house, irrespective of when the building was constructed, altered or repaired.

Exit corridor means a corridor or passageway used as an integral part of the exit system. That portion of a corridor or passageway which exceeds the allowable distance of travel to an exit becomes an exit corridor or exit passageway.

Exit passageway means an enclosed hallway or corridor connecting a required exit to a street or other open space at ground level.

Exposed to public view shall mean any premises, or open space, or any part thereof, or any building or structure that may be lawfully viewed by any member of the public from a sidewalk, street, alleyway, or from any adjoining or neighboring premises.

Exterior premises shall mean those portions of a building or structure that are exposed to public view, and the open space of any premises outside of any building or structure erected thereon.

Extermination means the control and elimination of insects, rodents or other pests by eliminating their harborage places; by removing or making inaccessible materials that may serve as their food; by poisoning, spraying, fumigating or trapping; or by using another recognized and legal pest elimination methods approved by the Chief.

Family means one individual living alone or two or more individuals living together, whether related to each other by birth or not, and having common housekeeping facilities.

Floor area means the area included within the surrounding walls of a building, exclusive of vent shafts and courts.

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

Grade, with reference to a building, means:

(a)

When the curb level has been established, the mean elevation of the curb level opposite those walls that are located on or parallel with and within 15 feet of street lines.

(b)

When the curb level has not been established, or all the walls of the building are more than 15 feet from the street lines, the average of the finished ground level at the center of all walls of a building.

Good state of repair shall mean and be a standard of maintenance that renders a building safe, serviceable, habitable, and possessed of a neat and orderly appearance.

Good working condition shall mean the item is fully operable for the use for which it was intended.

Habitable room means a room or enclosed floor space used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking or eating purposes, excluding bathrooms, water closet compartments, laundries, pantries, foyers or communicating corridors, closets and storage space.

Historic district means a geographically definable area, urban or rural, (as designated by the appropriate federal, state or local authority) possessing a significant concentration, linkage or continuity of sites, buildings, structures, objects or areas, which are united by past events or aesthetically by plan or physical development, or a district may also be comprised of individual resources which are separated geographically, but are thematically linked by association or history.

Historic landmark means a specific object, site or building designated as historic by law.

Historic Structure shall mean any structure, 50 years old or older, and that is designated a City of Jacksonville landmark; a contributing property in a City of Jacksonville historic district; listed on the United States Department of Interior, National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places or a contributing structure in a National Register district; or has been determined as eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, individually or as contributing to a potential district based on the Florida Master Site File or with respect to any other structure over 50 years old as determined by the Jacksonville Planning and Development Department to be eligible for such listing.

Infestation means the presence, within or around a dwelling, of insects, rodents or other pests.

Inner court means an open unoccupied space bounded by the walls of the building, but located within the exterior walls of the building.

Inoperable when referring to a vehicle means incapable of being immediately driven, moved or pulled in the manner for which it was intended or designed.

Junk vehicle means an inoperable vehicle.

Junk vehicle removal means to physically remove a junk vehicle from private property by authorized wrecker service licensed to do business in the city.

Mobile home means a detached vehicular, portable structure built on a chassis, which is designed and used as a single-family dwelling unit and is constructed to be transported after fabrication on its own wheels upon streets or highways.

Multiple dwelling: See apartment house.

Multifamily residential building or structure shall mean a residential building or structure not used, or intended to be used, as a single-family residence.

Nuisance means any one or combination of the following:

(a)

Any public nuisance known at common law or in equity jurisprudence or as provided by statute, administrative rule, or ordinances of the city, including this Chapter;

(b)

Any attractive nuisance which may prove detrimental to health or safety;

(c)

Physical conditions dangerous to human life or property, or detrimental to health, or detrimental to property values, or which tend to degrade the appearance of a neighborhood;

(d)

Conditions relating to private or public property which impede the free passage of persons on a public or private sidewalk, or which impede ingress or egress to property; or which impede safe passage of vehicles on a public alley or street;

(e)

Fire hazards.

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

Operator means a person who has charge, care or control of a building in which dwelling units or rooming units are let.

Ordinary minimum winter conditions means the temperature 20° Fahrenheit above the lowest recorded temperature for the previous 15-year period.

Owner means:

(a)

The holder of the title in fee simple, whether a single person, a group of persons or one or more companies, associations or corporations whose name or names show in the records of the Property Appraiser.

(b)

A person who alone or jointly or severally with others:

(1)

Has legal title to a dwelling unit, with or without accompanying actual possession thereof.

(2)

Has charge, care or control of a dwelling or dwelling unit, as owner or as personal representative, administrator, trustee, guardian of the estate of the owner, mortgagee or vendee in possession, assignee of rents, lessee or other person, firm or corporation in control of a building.

(3)

The duly authorized agent of any of the foregoing.

Physical value means the actual cost of replacement of a building or structure with similar materials erected in a manner similar to the original construction.

Plumbing means the practice, materials and fixtures used in the installation, maintenance, and alteration of all piping, fixtures, appliances and appurtenances in connection with sanitary drainage or storm drainage facilities, the venting system and the public or private water supply systems, within or adjacent to a building, structure, or conveyance; and also the practice and materials used in the installation, maintenance, extension or alteration of stormwater, liquid-waste or sewerage and water supply systems of a premises to their connection with a point of public disposal or other acceptable terminal.

Premises shall mean building, structure and the grounds thereon situated.

Private property means real property not owned or used by a governmental body in the city but does not include a place licensed under Part 2, Chapter 185 and permitted under the Zoning Code to be used as a junk yard.

Property shall mean land, including any abutting city right of way or easement, and whatever is erected or growing upon, placed on, or affixed thereto.

Protective railings means handrails on an enclosed stairway and handrails and balusters on an unenclosed stairway, porch or other appurtenance.

Public area means an unoccupied open space adjoining a building and on the same property that is permanently maintained so as to be accessible to the Fire Operations Division or Rescue Division and free of all encumbrances that might interfere with its use by the Fire Operations Division or Rescue Division.

Repair means the replacement of existing work, in a workmanlike manner, with the same kind of material used in the existing work, not including additional work that would:

(a)

Change the structural safety of the building.

(b)

Affect or change required exit facilities or a vital element of an elevator, plumbing, gas piping, wiring or heating installation.

(c)

Be in violation of the law.

The term repair shall not apply to a change of construction.

Required means required by some provision of this Code.

Residential occupancy buildings include buildings in which families live or in which sleeping accommodations are provided, and also includes dormitories. Residential occupancy buildings include dwellings, multiple dwellings and lodging houses.

Rooming house means a dwelling containing one or more rooming units or one or more dormitory rooms.

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

Rubbish means combustible and noncombustible waste materials, except garbage, and includes the residue from the burning of wood, coal, coke and other combustible material; paper, rags, cartons, boxes, wood excelsior, rubber and leather; tree branches and yard trimmings; tin cans, metals, mineral matter, glass and crockery; and dust.

Smoke detector means a device which detects visible or invisible particles of combustion. A single-station alarm device is an assembly incorporating a detector and an alarm sounding device in one unit, operated from a power supply either in the unit or obtained at the point of installation.

Stairway means one or more flights of stairs and the necessary landings and platforms connecting them to form a continuous and uninterrupted passage from one story to another in a building or structure.

Story means that portion of a building included between the upper surface of a floor and the upper surface of the floor next above, except that the topmost story shall be that portion of a building included between the upper surface of the topmost floor and the ceiling or roof above.

Structure means that which is built or constructed, an edifice or building of any kind or a piece of work artificially built up or composed of parts joined together in some definite manner.

Substandard dwelling or structure means a dwelling, dwelling unit, multiple dwelling, apartment, apartment house or another space used or intended to be used as a habitable living space in a building or structure which does not meet the basic minimum requirements of this Chapter for the use.

Supplied means paid for, furnished or provided by or under the control of the owner or operator.

Tarpaulin or "Tarp" means a sheet of waterproof material, especially treated canvas or plastic, used as a covering to protect objects or structures from moisture.

Temporary housing means a tent, trailer or structure used for human shelter which is designed to be transportable and which is not attached to the ground, to another structure or to a utility system on the same premises for more than 30 consecutive days.

Trash means discarded, unwanted or worthless materials or objects.

Unsafe building or unsafe structure includes the following buildings and structures:

(a)

Those whose walls or other structural members sag, list, lean or buckle to such an extent that they are in danger of collapse.

(b)

Those with structural members which are overloaded, or which have insufficient strength to be safe for the purpose used.

(c)

Those damaged by fire, wind, deterioration, or other causes to such an extent that they are dangerous to the general health or safety of the occupants or the public.

(d)

Those not having exits or fire protection required by the building code or the fire prevention code.

(e)

Those having any piece, part or attachment which is so insecurely fixed as to be in danger of falling or being dislodged by the elements so that it may injure any person or property.

(f)

Those which are in violation of the minimum housing code, building codes, electrical code or plumbing code of the city.

(g)

Unfinished construction for which the building permit has expired.

(h)

Those which constitute a fire or windstorm hazard.

(i)

Those which have become or are so dilapidated, decayed, unsafe or unsanitary or which so utterly fail to provide the amenities essential to decent living that they are unfit for human habitation or are likely to cause sickness or disease, so as to work injury to the health, morals, safety or general welfare of those persons living therein.

(j)

The remains, debris, walls, chimney or floors of or left from a building or structure which has partially or completely collapsed, fallen or been torn down.

(k)

Any abandoned swimming pool, excavation or any septic tank which threatens or endangers the health, safety or welfare of the public.

(l)

Those which have been used in whole or in part for the unauthorized manufacture, processing, refinement or creation of any illicit drug wherein hazardous chemicals are used in such process. This shall include, but is not limited to, single-family residences, individual units of multi-family structures, hotels, motels, or other public lodgings, storage units, trailers intended to be pulled behind a motor vehicle, motorized vehicles, manufactured housing, or any shop, booth, structure or garden.

(m)

Any non-historic, blighted, vacant, unoccupied building or is occupied by transient persons, that has been boarded up, has unpaid code enforcement, nuisance or demolition liens, and has no active water or electric service for a time period that exceeds 24 months.

Vehicle when used in this Chapter means a motor vehicle, travel trailer, and other vehicles required by the state to be licensed, which also included buses, mopeds, motorcycles, trucks, semi-tractors and/or trailers, go-carts, golf carts, and campers. This definition shall not include mobile or manufactured homes.

Ventilation means the process of supplying and removing air by natural or mechanical means to or from a space.

Yard means an open unoccupied space on the same lot with a building.

Whenever the word apartment, apartment house, dwelling, dwelling unit, rooming house, rooming unit or premises is used in this Code, it shall be construed as though it was followed by the words "or a part thereof."

(Ord. 96-458-297, § 1; Ord. 98-496-E, § 1; Ord. 2002-1106-E, § 1; Ord. 2006-590-E, § 1; Ord. 2006-1363-E, § 2; Ord. 2010-282-E, § 1; Ord. 2015-693-E , § 1)

Editor's note

Ordinance 2007-839-E, § 18, authorized updated department/division names pursuant to reorganization.