Accessory Building:

A building or structure which is located on the same lot as, and is customarily incidental and subordinate in building mass and use to, the Primary Building. Typically accessory building uses include vehicular parking, storage of lawn and garden equipment, storage of household items, playhouses, and greenhouses.

Active Living Spaces:

Habitable spaces such as dining rooms, living rooms, or bed rooms that accommodate living activities.

Active living spaces do not include kitchens, bathrooms, partially submerged basements, or utility spaces.

Alley:

A vehicular way located within a block to the rear of parcels providing access to service areas and parking, and often containing utility easements.

Alley Setback:

The required minimum distance from an alley’s right-of-way to any building.

Anchor development:

A development with at least 30,000 square feet of retail uses including at least one anchor retail of at least 10,000 square feet.

Articulation:

The use of architectural elements to create breaks in the horizontal and vertical surfaces or masses of buildings.

Average Finished Grade:

Average finished grade means the elevation determined by averaging the highest and lowest elevations of a parcel, building site or other defined area of land after final grading.

Back-of-Sidewalk:

The edge of a sidewalk that is furthest from a street’s curb.

Belt Course:

A contrasting horizontal layer of stones, bricks, tile, etc. in a wall.

Block:

An aggregate of land, including parcels, passages, rear lanes and alleys, bounded by streets or railroad rights-of-way. A passage, rear lane, or alley does not constitute the boundary of a Block.

Block Perimeter:

The total length of the public rights-of-way along all block faces.

Building:

A relatively permanent, enclosed structure having a roof. Buildings include both habitable and inhabitable structures (e.g. parking structures).

Building Composition:

A building’s spatial arrangement of masses and architectural elements in relation to each other and the building as a whole.

Building Disposition:

The placement and orientation of a building or buildings on a parcel.

Building Envelope:

The maximum space a building or buildings may occupy on a parcel.

Building Function:

The uses accommodated by a building and its lot.

Building Height:

The vertical extent of a building measured in feet and stories, not including a raised basement or a habitable attic.

Building Mass:

Part or all of a building’s three dimensional bulk.

Building Orientation:

The direction that the primary building façade of a building faces.

Building Placement:

The location of a building on a parcel.

By Right Permit:

A proposal for a building or community plan that complies with this code and may thereby be processed administratively, without public hearing.

Carriage House:

A separate, detached, complete housekeeping unit with kitchen, sleeping and full bathroom facilities, located on the same parcel as a Primary Building but subordinate in size.

Commercial Clerestory Windows:

A continuous horizontal row of smaller window panes above a larger plate-glass storefront window, usually located above eye level and below the top of the first floor. At ground floor shopfronts with tall ceilings (to 14 feet), they serve to introduce daylight deeper into the shop. They are a characteristic feature of late 19th and early 20th Century commercial architecture that continues today.

Community Development Director/Designee:

The head of a Bothell Community Development Department or other individual designated by said official who has the authority to make decisions regarding the implementation of the regulations within this plan.

Context:

Physical surroundings, including a combination of architectural, natural and civic elements that establish a specific district, neighborhood, or block character.

Cornice:

A protruding horizontal decorative molding at the top of a façade or architectural feature.

Corridor:

The combination of all elements that characterize a roadway. This consists of all elements within the public right-of-way/street (the vehicular realm or thoroughfare, and the pedestrian realm or public frontage) as well as each adjacent property’s private frontage.

Curtain Wall (Window Wall):

A curtain window wall is a system where a wall of windows is hung on the building structure, usually from floor to floor.

District Zone:

An area as defined in the District Zones Map whose urban form has a unique character within the Plan Area. The range of District Zones forms the basic organizing principle for the Plan’s regulations.

District Zones Map:

The map that designates District Zones and determines which regulations within this document apply to each property within the Plan Area.

Driveway:

A vehicular lane within a parcel, usually leading to a garage or parking area.

Dwelling Unit:

Any building or portion thereof that contains living facilities including all of the following: provisions for sleeping, a kitchen, and sanitation for not more than one family.

Enfront:

To be located along a frontage line.

Entrance or Entry:

A point of pedestrian access into a building.

Façade (street façade, side façade, rear façade, river façade):

The exterior wall of a building.

Façade Offset:

A plane break where a portion of the façade steps back a sufficient distance in order to break the building into smaller volumes.

Front Entrance:

The main point of pedestrian access into a building.

Finished Grade:

The ground elevation at any point after final grading.

Front Street:

The street that a building’s primary entrance is oriented towards.

Front Yard:

The area that results from a front yard setback.

Front Yard Setback:

The distance or range of distances (expressed in both minimum and maximum) required from the back-of-sidewalk to the primary building façade along a street.

Frontage Coverage:

The minimum percentage of the length of the frontage coverage zone that shall be occupied by the street façade of the primary building.

Frontage Coverage Zone:

The space between the minimum and maximum front yard setback lines and the minimum side yard (or front yard) setback lines.

Frontage Line:

A property line that coincides with the corridor public right-of-way.

Frontage Type:

A specific configuration of elements that define how public or private frontages may be designed.

Garage:

An accessory building used for vehicular parking with no internal circulation.

Guidelines:

Principles that provide direction regarding the preferred method of addressing specified design considerations. Conformance with guidelines is recommended but not required.

Historic Resource:

A building, site or feature that is a local, state, or national historic landmark.

Home Occupation:

An occupation conducted at a premises containing a dwelling unit as an incidental use by the occupant of that dwelling unit.

House Scale:

To be roughly equivalent in size and mass to a detached single family house.

Human Scale:

To have the size, height, bulk, massing, or detailing that creates a comfortable visual relationship to the size of the human body.

Liner Building/Uses:

A portion of a building, with distinct, habitable uses located along a property frontage such that it conceals the larger building behind. Typically, liner uses are located along parking garages or large format/anchor retail buildings.

Lug Sill:

An exterior protruding window sill that is longer than the width of the window opening.

Multi-Family:

The use of a site for two or more dwellings within one or more buildings.

Municipal Code:

A collection of regulations that guide local government.

Open Space:

Land that may be used for passive or active recreation. There are a wide range of open space types including parks, plazas, landscaping, lawns and other configurations.

Parcel or Assembled Parcel:

A legally defined area of land under single ownership.

Parking Lot:

A paved area, usually divided into individual spaces, intended for parking vehicles.

Parking Podium:

A ground-level parking structure portion of a building, partially submerged or fully above grade. The podium is usually made of heavier materials such as concrete, while upper portions of the building of different use may be constructed of lighter materials such as wood, metal, etc. Other uses may be incorporated into the parking podium such as storefronts, entry lobbies, etc.

Parking Structure:

A building used for vehicular parking containing internal circulation.

Partially Submerged Podium:

A parking structure built below the main building mass and partially submerged underground.

Passage:

An at-grade pedestrian connector passing between buildings, providing shortcuts through long blocks and connecting sidewalks or front yards to rear yards, parking areas, and open spaces. Passages may be roofed over.

Path:

A pedestrian (or bike) way traversing a park or rural area, with landscape matching the contiguous open space.

Pedestrian Scale:

See Human Scale.

Plan Area:

The land whose boundary includes all the properties that must adhere to the regulations within this document.

Planter Strip:

An element of the public frontage, located in between the sidewalk and the thoroughfare curb face, which accommodates landscaping, including street trees. Planter strips may be continuous or individual.

Primary Building:

A main/principal building on a lot, including parking structures and excluding accessory buildings or structures, whose street façade is located with the frontage coverage zone.

Primary Building Façade:

The main/principal façade of a building that faces a street.

Primary Building Mass:

The most prominent portion of the Primary Building’s three-dimensional bulk.

Primary Entrance:

The main/principal point of pedestrian access into a building.

Private Frontage:

Property:

An individual/owner’s land, including land improvements and any permanent fixtures on the land including buildings, trees and other fixtures.

Property Line:

The boundary that legally and geometrically demarcates a property.

Public Frontage:

The area between a thoroughfare centerline and the back of sidewalk line. Physical elements of the Public Frontage include, but are not limited to, the type of curb, sidewalk, planter strip, street tree and streetlight.

Public Right-of-Way:

For purposes of this plan, any area dedicated or subject to public fee ownership or an easement for public use for vehicular and/or pedestrian travel including, but not limited to, streets, alleys, and sidewalks.

Public Right-of-Way Line:

The boundary that legally and geometrically demarcates the Public Right-of-Way.

Rear Lane:

A vehicular driveway located to the rear of lots providing access to parking and outbuildings and containing utility easements. Rear lanes may be paved lightly to driveway standards. Its streetscape consists of gravel or landscaped edges, no raised curb and is drained by percolation.

Rear Street:

A street along the opposite side of a block from a front street.

Rear Yard:

The area that results from a rear yard setback.

Rear Yard Setback:

The distance between a rear property line and any structure on the property.

Recess Line:

A line extending along a façade, above which there is a façade offset of a minimum distance such that the height to this line (not the overall building height) effectively defines the enclosure of the enfronting space.

Regulations:

Both standards and guidelines.

Ribbon Windows:

Ribbon windows are a series of long, horizontally proportioned windows interrupted by vertical mullions.

Right-of-Way:

See Public Right-of-Way

R.O.W.:

See Public Right-of-Way

Secondary Cornice:

When a façade has a (primary) cornice at its top, a secondary cornice occurs at a lower level on the façade, such as at the top of the ground floor. See Cornice.

Services:

Activities and, in some instances, their structural components that relate to the maintenance and basic functioning components of each land use. These activities may include, but are not limited to, trash and recycling areas and aboveground components of wet and dry utilities.

Shopfront:

A specific private frontage type. Shopfronts are the primary treatment for ground-level commercial uses, designed for active ground floor activities including retail, dining, and personal services.

Side Setback:

See Side Yard Setback

Side Street:

A street along a corner parcel with two street frontages that is not a front street.

Side Yard:

The area that results from a side yard setback.

Side Yard Setback:

The distance between a side property line and any structure on the property.

Sidewalk:

The paved area of the public frontage dedicated exclusively to pedestrian activity.

Sign:

Any writing (including letter, word, or numeral), pictorial representation (including illustration or decoration), emblem (including device, symbol, or trademark), flag (including banners or pennants), or any other device, figure, or similar character, including its structure and component parts, which is used for, intended to be used for, or which has the effect of identifying, announcing, directing, or attracting attention for locational, advertising, or other informational purposes, including subject matter attached to, printed on, or in any other manner represented on a building or other structure or device.

Significant:

An important part or area, or a large quantity.

Significant Additions:

Additions constituting greater than 10% of a building’s floor area.

Single Family:

The use of a site for one dwelling within one building.

Requirements:

Rules or provisions that specify requirements. Conformance with requirements is mandatory.

Story:

A habitable level within a building as measured from finished floor to finished ceiling. Attics and raised basements are not considered stories for the purposes of determining building height.

Street:

The combination of all elements within the public right-of-way: the vehicular realm / thoroughfare and the pedestrian realm / public frontage.

Street Façade:

The plane of a building façade that fronts upon a street, extending from the ground up to the street façade eave line.

Street Type:

A specific configuration of elements that define how new streets may be designed.

Streetscape:

The composition and design of all elements within the public right-of-way: the vehicular realm / thoroughfare (travel lanes for vehicles and bicycles, parking lanes for cars, and sidewalks or paths for pedestrians) and the amenities of the pedestrian realm / public frontage (sidewalks, street trees and plantings, benches, streetlights, etc.).

Tandem Parking:

An off-street parking arrangement where one vehicle is parked behind the other.

Thoroughfare:

The portion of the street between curbs that includes all vehicular lanes, including travel lanes, turn lanes, and parking lanes.

Townhouse:

A home that is attached to one or more other houses.

Urban Design Concept:

The district structure which serves as the conceptual basis for the regulations contained in the Downtown Subarea Development Regulations.

Use (as a verb):

To occupy land in any manner or to establish, carry out, maintain or continue any activity or development on land regardless of whether the activity or development is established, carried out, maintained or continued in a manner that utilizes buildings or structures on land.

Zoning Ordinance:

Land use regulations enacted by the city that define the development standards for different zones. These standards establish permitted and provisional uses and provide regulations for density, height, lot size, building placement and other development standards. (Ord. 2171 § 3 (Exh. C), 2015).