Shelton, Conn., Code of Ordinances ch. 8 § 8-4

The following definitions shall apply in the interpretation and enforcement of this chapter:
Accessory structure shall mean a structure, the use of which is incidental to that of the main building or structure, which is located on the same lot with a dwelling, or commercial structure.
Approved shall mean approved by the local or state authority having such administrative authority.
Ashes shall mean the residue from the burning of combustible materials and the noncombustible portion of refuse loaded into an incinerator.
Basement shall mean a portion of a building located partly underground, but having less than half its clear, floor-to-ceiling height below the grade plane as defined by the state basic building code.
Cellar shall mean a portion of a building located partly or wholly underground, and having half or more than half of the clear floor-to-ceiling height below the grade plane as defined by the state basic building code.
Central heating system shall mean a single system supplying heat to one (1) or more dwelling units or more than one (1) rooming unit.
Code enforcement officer shall mean the official charged with the administration and enforcement of this chapter, or his authorized representative.
Commercial activity shall mean any wholesale or retail sale of goods, commodities, insurance, or services or the activities which make possible such sale.
Commercial structure shall mean any structure which is wholly or partly used or intended to be used for the wholesale or retail sale of goods, commodities, insurance, or services or for the activities which make possible such sale.
Commercial unit shall mean any unit excluding those portions which are used as dwellings, dwelling units or habitable rooms, which is used or partly used or intended to be used for the wholesale or retail sale of goods, commodities, insurance, or services, or for the activities which make possible such sale by a single owner or operator, company or corporation.
Dwelling shall mean any enclosed space which is wholly or partly used or intended to be used for living or sleeping by human occupants, provided that temporary housing shall not be regarded as a dwelling.
Dwelling unit shall mean any 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.
Extermination shall mean the control and elimination of insects, rodents, or other pests by eliminating their harborages, by removing, or making inaccessible, materials that may serve as their food; by poisoning, spraying, fumigating, trapping, or by any other recognized and legal pest elimination methods approved by the health officer.
Family shall mean a person or group of related persons, plus guests and domestic servants thereof, or a group of not more than six (6) persons who need not be so related, who are living as a single housekeeping unit maintaining a common household. A roomer or boarder to whom rooms are let or board is furnished shall not be considered a member of a family.
Flush watercloset shall mean a toilet bowl flushed with water under pressure with a water sealed trap above the floor level.
Garbage shall mean the animal and vegetable waste resulting from handling, preparation, cooking, serving and nonconsumption of food.
Guest shall mean any person who shares a dwelling unit in a nonpermanent status for not more than thirty (30) days in a calendar year.
Habitable room shall mean 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, furnace rooms, pantries, kitchenettes and utility rooms of less than fifty (50) square feet, foyers or communicating corridors, stairways, closets, storage spaces and workshops, hobby and recreation areas in unsealed or uninsulated parts of a structure below ground level or in attics or hobby and recreation areas for communal use in buildings containing several dwelling units.
Health officer shall mean the legally designated health authority of the city or his authorized representative.
Heated water shall mean water heated to a temperature of not less than one hundred twenty (120) degrees Fahrenheit at the outlet.
Hotel shall mean a building or portion of a building used as a place where sleeping accommodations are furnished for hire or other consideration, with or without board for sixteen (16) or more guests or employees of the management. The term "hotel" shall include all clubs, schools, dormitories or other buildings which have similar sleeping accommodations, but shall not include apartment houses, hospitals, penal institutions or buildings housing the insane. Members of the management's family shall not be considered as guests or employees.
Household shall mean a family of one (1) or more unrelated persons, including servants and not more than two (2) boarders, who share the same dwelling and use some or all of its cooking and eating facilities.
Infestation shall mean the presence of insects, rodents or other pests within or around a dwelling or other structure in numbers considered hazardous.
Kitchen or kitchenette shall mean any room containing any or all of the following equipment, or area of a room within three (3) feet of such equipment: sink or other device for dish washing, stove or other device for cooking, refrigerator or other device for cool storage of food.
Lavatory shall mean a bowl or basin for washing the face and hands, or a room equipped with such a basin.
Lead paint shall mean any pigmented, liquid substance applied to surfaces by brush, roller or spray, in which the total nonvolatile ingredient contains more than five-tenths (0.5) percent of lead, by weight, calculated as metallic lead.
Meaning of certain words. Wherever the words "dwelling," "dwelling unit," "rooming house," "rooming unit," "commercial structure," "commercial unit," "premises," and "structure" are used in this chapter, they shall be construed as though they were followed by the words "or any part thereof".
Motel shall be defined the same as hotel.
Multiple dwelling shall mean any dwelling containing more than three (3) dwelling units.
Occupant shall mean any person, over one (1) year of age, living, sleeping, cooking, or eating in, or actually having possession of, a dwelling unit or a rooming unit, except that in dwelling units a guest will not be considered an occupant.
Operator shall mean any person who has charge, care or control of a building, or part thereof, in which dwelling units or rooming units are let, or where commercial activity is conducted.
Owner shall mean any person, who, alone or jointly or severally with others: (a)
Shall have legal title to any commercial structure or commercial unit or dwelling or dwelling unit, with or without accompanying actual possession thereof; or
(b) Shall have charge, care or control of any commercial structure or commercial unit, dwelling, or dwelling unit as owner or agent of the owner, or as executor, administrator, trustee or guardian of the estate of the owner. Any such person thus representing the actual owner shall be bound to comply with the provisions of this chapter and of rules and regulations adopted pursuant thereto to the same extent as if he were the owner.
Permissible occupancy shall mean the maximum number of persons permitted as family or household to reside in a dwelling unit or rooming unit based on the required square footage per person in habitable rooms.
Person shall mean and include any individual, firm, corporation, association or partnership.
Plumbing shall mean and include all of the following supplied facilities and equipment: gas pipes, gas burning equipment, water pipes, garbage disposal units, waste pipes, water closets, sinks, installed dishwashers, lavatories, bathtubs, shower baths, installed clothes washing machines, catch basins, drains, vents, and other similar supplied fixtures, together with all connections to water, sewer, septic tank or gas lines.
Premises shall mean a plotted lot or part thereof, or unplotted lot or parcel of land, or plot of land, either occupied or unoccupied by any dwelling or nondwelling structure, and including any such building, accessory structure or other structure thereon.
Privacy shall mean the ability of a person or persons to carry out an activity commenced without observation, unwarranted interruption, or unwarranted interference, either by sight or sound, by unwanted persons.
Refuse shall mean all putrescible and nonputrescible solids (except body wastes) including garbage, rubbish, ashes and dead animals.
Rodent proofing shall mean a form of construction which will prevent the ingress or egress of rodents to or from a given space or building, or gaining access to food, water or harborage. It consists of the closing and keeping closed of every opening in foundations, basements, cellars, exterior and interior walls, ground or first floors, roofs, sidewalk gratings, sidewalk openings, and other places that may be reached and entered by rodents by climbing, burrowing or other methods, by the use of materials impervious to rodent gnawing and other methods approved by the appropriate authority.
Rooming house shall mean any dwelling or that part of any dwelling containing one (1) or more rooms in which living and sleeping accommodations are let, or intended to be let by the owner or operator, to five (5) to fifteen (15) guests who are not husband or wife, son or daughter, mother or father, or sister or brother of the owner; provided that hospitals, homes for the aged, and other institutions licensed by the state department of health under chapter 333 of the Connecticut General Statutes shall not be regarded as rooming houses.
Rooming unit shall mean any room or group of rooms forming a single habitable unit used or intended to be used for living and sleeping, but not for cooking or eating purposes, excluding rooms in convalescent and nursing homes.
Rubbish shall mean nonputrescible solid wastes (excluding ashes) consisting of both: (a)
Combustible wastes such as paper, cardboard, plastic containers, yard clippings, and wood; and
(b) Noncombustible wastes such as tin cans, glass and crockery.
Safety shall mean the condition of being free from danger and hazards which may cause accidents or disease.
Septic tank shall mean an underground receptacle to which sewage is drained and retained to effect disintegration of the organic matter by bacteria, and as defined in section 19-13-B20A of the state public health code, as revised.
Space heater shall mean a self-contained, automatically controlled, vented, fuel-burning appliance of either the circulating type or the radiant type.
Supplied shall mean paid for, furnished, provided by, or under the control of the owner or operator.
Temporary housing shall mean any trailer, mobile home, or any other structure used for human shelter which is designed to be transportable and is not attached to the ground, to another structure, or to any utility system on the same premises for more than thirty (30) consecutive days.
Ventilation shall mean the process of supplying or removing air by natural or mechanical means to or from any space. Such air may or may not have been conditioned.
Workmanlike. Whenever the words "workmanlike state of maintenance and repair" are used in this chapter, they shall mean that such maintenance and repair shall be made in a reasonably skillful manner.
Yard shall mean an open unoccupied space, on the same lot with a building extending along the entire length of a street, or rear, or interior lot line, or other unoccupied space on a lot with a building.