§ 155.03.06. REQUIRED BUFFERS.

A buffer is an area of land in which no activity is permitted other than a passive activity. Parking is not considered a passive activity and thus is not permitted in the buffer area, but driveways may cross the buffer to provide access to the activity conducted on the parcel.

Buffer areas vary depending upon the zoning district of the parcel, the nature of the activity proposed, and the nature of the activities of adjacent parcels.

Buffers are measured from the property line inward; however, buffers may be measured from across roads, railroads, and utility rights-of-way as well as from across bodies of water where those exist adjacent to the property line from which the buffer is being measured. See § 155.03.07 for illustration of how to apply buffers (and setbacks); assume that all parcels shown are located in the Town of Lexington.

If a property is split-zoned, distances will only apply to the adjacent property sides and not to the district zone line through the property unless the intended activity is not allowed in one of the split-zoned districts. See § 155.03.07 for illustration of how to apply setbacks and buffers on split-zoned property.

The charts in § 155.03.09 list the required buffers for each activity.

In addition to the required buffers listed for each activity in § 155.03.09, a 100-foot buffer shall be measured from all residential or otherwise protected property lines that are adjacent to a golf course. This buffer would automatically come into effect at such time as the golf course or any portion of it ceases to exist and any other activity begins on the property formerly occupied by the golf course. In the buffer area, any other activities more intense than passive recreation are prohibited. Driveways may cross into the buffer area but not roads. The additional buffer shall not apply to "regulated areas," including but not limited to Utility Easements, Flood Plains and wetlands. It shall apply and be measured as to areas abutting a tee box, fairway or green of the subject golf course.

For the purpose of this section, "protected" refers to protected zoning districts as described in § 155.03.03 as well as the note to that section that classifies as protected all Town-owned property regardless of the zoning district of the particular Town-owned property.

(Ord. 2007-34, § 1, passed 10-1-07; Ord. 2008-42, § 1, passed 8-4-08)