Published
A road does not stop your neighbour being adjacent.
The definitions chapter is where applications are actually won and lost
Nobody reads a definitions chapter for pleasure. But Fremont County's Chapter 10 contains several terms whose ordinary English meaning is narrower than the code's, and a handful of applications go wrong every year because somebody assumed the everyday sense of a word the ordinance had already defined differently.
The chapter opens by telling you what to do when the meaning is contested, which is itself worth knowing.
“This chapter provides definitions for terms used in this Ordinance. Any dispute about the meaning of a term shall be resolved using the appeals procedure of 2.04.”
— Fremont County Development Code, 2011 Edition (Ordinance 2011-04), Chapter 10, Definitions. Consolidated through Ordinance 2026-03. Retrieved 1 September 2026
A disagreement about what a word means is not a matter of persuasion at the counter. It has a defined route, and that route is an appeal. Knowing that early changes how you frame the conversation.
The chapter also sets two interpretive rules that quietly broaden everything else: terms include both singular and plural forms, and except where otherwise indicated, terms include their derivatives. So building includes buildings, and adjacent includes adjoining.
The four terms most worth knowing
| Term | What the code makes it mean |
|---|---|
| Absolute | A performance standard with which all Applications must comply. There is no balancing and no discretion in an absolute standard. |
| Accessory | Buildings and uses customarily associated with and clearly subordinate to a principal building or use that exists on the same lot or parcel. |
| Adjacent | All lots or parcels that directly border a lot, and all lots separated from it by only a public or private easement or right-of-way. |
| Adverse Impact | A negative consequence to the physical, social, or economic environment resulting from a land use activity. Note that social and economic consequences count, not only physical ones. |
Adjacent is the one that catches people. In ordinary speech a road between two properties makes them neighbours rather than adjacent. In this code it does not: a parcel separated from yours by only an easement or a right-of-way is still adjacent. Wherever the ordinance attaches a consequence to adjacency — notice, consent, a standard measured against an adjacent use — the road does not break the relationship.
Accessory carries two conditions that are easy to read past. The use must be customarily associated with the principal one, which is a test about what is usual rather than about what you intend. And the principal building or use must already exist on the same lot — so an accessory building cannot precede the thing it is accessory to.
That second point has a practical edge on corridor acreage, where the instinct is to put up a shop first and build the house later. Whether that works is a question about what the shop is classified as while nothing else is there, and it is worth asking before ordering the building.
Two more interpretive habits are worth carrying into any reading of the ordinance, because they change the scope of sentences that look narrow:
- A term written in the singular covers the plural, so a rule about a building is a rule about buildings.
- A term covers its derivatives unless otherwise indicated, so adjacent reaches adjoining.
- A definition given in Chapter 10 displaces the ordinary meaning wherever the ordinance uses that word.
- Where the meaning is genuinely disputed, the route is the appeals procedure at 2.04 rather than negotiation at the counter.
- A defined term keeps its defined meaning throughout the ordinance, including inside appendices that never restate it.
Not all impacts are equal, and the code says how they differ
Adverse impact is the general term. Underneath it the code defines two narrower ones, and the distinction is what a contested application turns on.
- Undue Impact. The reasoned determination of disproportionality or the exceeding of propriety. It is a judgement about degree — whether the effect is out of proportion.
- Significant Impact. Determined by considering both context and intensity. It is a two-part test rather than a single measure.
The code then explains both halves of the significance test in some detail, and the explanation is more useful than the label.
Context means significance must be analysed in several contexts — society as a whole, the affected region, the affected interests, and the locality. Significance varies with the setting: for a site-specific action, significance would usually depend upon effects in the locale rather than in the world as a whole. Both short-term and long-term effects are relevant.
Intensity refers to the severity of impact. And the first consideration the code lists under intensity is the one worth quoting at anyone who assumes a popular project is safe from scrutiny: impacts may be both beneficial and adverse, and a significant effect may exist even if the community believes that on balance the effect will be beneficial.
That sentence does real work. Popularity is not a defence against a finding of significant impact, and a project's benefits do not cancel its adverse effects for the purpose of this test. They are assessed, not netted.
What to do with all this
- Before assuming a word means what you think it means, check whether Chapter 10 defines it. Several ordinary words are given narrower or broader meanings than everyday use.
- When adjacency matters, count the parcels across a road or an easement as adjacent, because the code does.
- Check whether a standard you are dealing with is described as absolute. If it is, compliance is the only route — there is nothing to balance it against.
- If you plan an outbuilding before a house, ask how it will be classified in the meantime, since accessory requires a principal use that exists on the same lot.
- In a contested application, argue context and intensity separately, because significance is defined as requiring both.
- Do not rely on a project being well-liked. The code expressly contemplates a significant effect existing even where the community thinks the net effect is beneficial.
- If a definition is genuinely disputed, remember the route is the appeals procedure at 2.04 rather than an argument at the counter.
None of this is exciting, and all of it is cheap to check. The pattern across every one of these terms is the same: the code is more precise than conversation, and the precision usually runs in the direction of catching more rather than less — which is the same reason it pays to read the actual standard behind every one of the items in what differs lot to lot along the corridor rather than working from the general impression. Where an application is contested, the definitions are frequently what the conditions attached to an approval end up turning on.
Common questions
What does the code mean by an absolute standard?
Chapter 10 defines Absolute as a performance standard with which all Applications must comply. Where a standard is absolute there is nothing to balance it against — compliance is the only route.
Is a property across the road from mine adjacent?
Yes, under this code. Adjacent includes all lots or parcels that directly border a lot, and all lots or parcels separated from it by only a public or private easement or right-of-way. A road does not break adjacency.
Why does the definition of adjacent matter?
Because wherever the ordinance attaches a consequence to adjacency — notice requirements, consent, or a standard measured against an adjacent use — the wider definition governs. Parcels you might think of as merely nearby can be adjacent.
What makes a building accessory?
Accessory buildings and uses are those customarily associated with and clearly subordinate to a principal building or use that exists on the same lot or parcel. Both the customary association and the existing principal use are required.
Can I build a shop before the house?
It is worth asking how the shop would be classified in the meantime. The accessory definition requires a principal building or use that exists on the same lot, so a building has nothing to be accessory to until the principal use is there.
What is an adverse impact?
A negative consequence to the physical, social, or economic environment resulting from a land use activity. The code then defines two narrower terms beneath it — undue impact and significant impact.
What is an undue impact?
The reasoned determination of disproportionality or the exceeding of propriety. It is a judgement about degree — whether an effect is out of proportion — rather than about the existence of an effect.
How is significant impact determined?
By considering both context and intensity. Context means analysing significance across society, the affected region, the affected interests and the locality, with both short and long-term effects relevant. Intensity refers to the severity of the impact.
Does a project being popular protect it?
No. The code states that impacts may be both beneficial and adverse, and that a significant effect may exist even if the community believes that on balance the effect will be beneficial. Benefits are assessed alongside adverse effects rather than netted against them.