This online version of the Zoning Ordinance has not been comprehensively checked against the official version. Neither the Town of Wilton nor the Zoning Board can be responsible for the consequences of any action taken on the basis of any errors in the online text.
This PDF file is the official printable text of the Wilton Zoning Ordinance as prepared for the Town of Wilton. by the Nashua Regional Planning Commission It is also available on the Planning Board page at the official Town of Wilton web site under the “Current Land Use Laws and Regulations” link.
This is the 1998 version of the Zoning Ordinance, including all amendments up to and including those passed by Town Meeting in March, 1998, but not any amendments passed in 1999 or later.
3.0 Definitions
For the purpose of this Ordinance, certain terms are defined as provided in this section.
3.1.1 Accessory building. A building subordinate to the main building on a lot used for purposes incidental to those of the main building.
3.1.2 Aquifer. Land areas determined to overlay water saturated stratified drift deposits of sands and/or gravels capable of yielding private and public potable water supplies.
3.1.3 Buffer. An area within a lot or site, generally adjacent to and parallel with the property line, either consisting of natural existing vegetation or created by the use of trees, shrubs, fences and/or berms designed to limit continuously the view of and/or sound from the site to adjacent sites or properties. (Amended March 1991.)
3.1.4 Building. A structure having a roof or cover and forming a shelter for persons, animals or property.
3.1.5 Dwelling. A building containing one or more dwelling units used for non-transient occupancy. The term "dwelling" includes but is not restricted to private homes, apartment buildings, condominiums and town houses. (See also "Hotel" and "Rooming House".)
a. Single Family Dwelling. A building containing one dwelling unit.
b. Duplex or Two-Family Dwelling. A building containing two (2) dwelling units attached, designed or arranged as separate housekeeping units within the dwelling.
c. Multi-Family Dwelling. A building containing three (3) or more dwelling units attached, designed or arranged as separate housekeeping units within the dwelling.
3.1.6 Dwelling Unit. One or more living or sleeping rooms arranged for the use of one or more individuals living as a single family housekeeping unit, with cooking, living, sanitary and sleeping facilities. (See also "Lodging Unit".)
3.1.7 Family. One or more persons related by blood, marriage, legal adoption or those placed in the home for adoption, and foster children, or a group of not more than five persons (excluding no more than two servants) not related by blood or marriage, living together as a single non-profit housekeeping unit.
3.1.8 Floodplain. A land area adjacent to a river, stream, lake or other watercourse subject to flooding during periods of high water and runoff including but not limited to those areas generally identified on the Town of Wilton, NH, Flood Boundary and Floodway Maps and the Flood Insurance Rate Maps prepared by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Insurance Administration.
3.1.9 Frontage. The continuous length of a lot bordering on the public right-of-way providing the principal route of access to a lot, subdivision or other type of development.
3.1.10 Hazardous or Toxic Materials or Liquids. Materials or liquids that pose a threat to the environment, whether in use, storage or transit, including without exception hazardous waste identified and listed in accordance with Section 3001 of the Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, and any amendments thereto.
3.1.11 Home Occupation. A business operated in a building that is incidental and subordinate to the use of the building or lot for residential purposes in compliance with the criteria established for home occupations in section 5.3.1 or 6.6.1 of this Ordinance. (Adopted March 1998)
3.1.12 Hospital. A building providing twenty-four (24) hour in-patient services for the diagnosis, treatment and care of human ailments.
3.1.13 Hotel. A building or buildings containing one or more dwelling units or lodging units intended or used primarily for transient occupancy, together with any common cooking, dining, living or sanitary facilities for the shared use of the occupants. The term "hotel" includes, but is not restricted to, inns, motels, motor inns, tourist homes and tourist courts. (See also "Dwelling" and "Rooming House".)
3.1.14 Lodging Unit. One or more living or sleeping rooms arranged for occupancy by a single family, but sharing common cooking, dining, living or sanitary facilities with other lodging units. (See also "Dwelling Unit".)
3.1.15 Lot or Parcel. A single area of land defined by metes and bounds or boundary lines as shown in a recorded deed or on a recorded plan. (Amended March 1992.)
3.1.16 Lot, Building. A lot having the minimum area and frontage to meet the requirements of this ordinance.
3.1.17 Lot Line. A line dividing one lot from another.
a. Front lot line. The lot line dividing the lot from a street right-of-way and providing the principal route of access to the lot or subdivision.
b. Rear lot line. The lot line opposite to the front lot line.
c. Side lot line. Any lot line not a front or rear lot line.
3.1.18 Lot of Record. Land designated as a separate and distinct parcel in a legally-recorded deed filed in the record of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. (Amended March 1992.)
3.1.19 Manufactured Housing. Any structure, transportable in one or more sections, which, in the traveling mode, is 8 body feet or more in width and 40 body feet or more in length, or when erected on site, is 320 square feet or more, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to required utilities, NH RSA 674:31. Manufactured housing does not include pre-site built housing.
3.1.20 Manufactured Housing Park. A land area occupied or designed for occupancy by two or more manufactured homes in use for living purposes.
3.1.21 Non-conforming Building or Structure. A building or structure, or the use of which, in whole or in part, does not conform to the regulations of the district in which the building or structure is located.
3.1.22 Non-conforming Land Use. A use of any land which does not conform to the regulations of the district in which such use exists.
3.1.23 Perennial Stream. Any stream with a minimum drainage area of one (1) square mile, 640 acres.
3.1.24 Pre-site Built Housing. Any structure designed primarily for residential occupancy which is wholly or in substantial part made, fabricated, formed or assembled in off-site manufacturing facilities in conformance with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development minimum property standards and local building codes, for installation, or assembly and installation, on the building site, NH RSA 674:31-a. Pre-site built housing does not include manufactured housing.
3.1.25 Public Right-of-Way. All town, state and federal highways and the land on either side as covered by statutes.
3.1.26 Rooming House. A building containing one or more lodging units used primarily for rental to non-transient occupants, together with any common cooking, dining, living or sanitary facilities for the shared use of the occupants. The term "rooming house" includes, but is not restricted to, boarding houses, lodging houses and dormitories. See also "Hotel" and "Dwelling".
3.1.27 School. A learning center having an academic curriculum approved for attendance purposes by the State Department of Education.
3.1.28 Setback. The minimum distance between two (2) points prescribed by the Ordinance.
3.1.29 Sign. Any lettering, word, numeral, pictorial representation, emblem, trademark, device, banner, pennant or other figure of similar character located outdoors and being a structure or any part thereof, or attached to, painted on, or in any other manner represented on a building or other structure, and used to announce, direct, attract, advertise or promote.
3.1.30 Structure. Any construction, erection, assemblage or other combination of materials upon the land which is made in such a manner as to imply that it will remain in position indefinitely or which in fact remains on the land for a period of time in excess of thirty (30) days.
3.1.31 Town Zoning Map. A map of the Town of Wilton that shows the boundaries of the zoning. Districts will be depicted by the following colors or lines as indicated on the map:
Residential - Blue
General Residential and Agricultural - White
Commercial - Red
Industrial - Yellow
Office Park - Orange
Wetland Conservation District
Flood Plain District
Aquifer Protection District
3.1.32 Yard, Front. That portion of the lot nearer to the front lot line than the principal building.
3.1.33 Wetlands. Those areas where the water table is usually at or near the surface or where the land is covered by shallow water, including those soils identified as poorly or very poorly drained by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, in the Soil Survey of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Western Part, 1985, for the Town of Wilton, meeting one of the following requirements: (1) periodically the land supports predominantly wetland vegetation; 2) the substratum (the material underlying the A and B horizons of the soil) contains predominantly undrained hydric soils; 3) the substratum is non-soil and is saturated with water or is covered by shallow water at some time during the growing season.
2.0 Districts