Illegal Residential Use of Property Zoned for Industrial Purpose

Section 11-7-6 of the Mesa City Code states: PROHIBITED USES IN ALL MANUFACTURING, INDUSTRIAL, AND EMPLOYMENT DISTRICTS: PEP, M-1 AND M-2: (A) All residential uses, except a dwelling unit in conjunction with a primary use intended for occupancy by the proprietor, caretaker, or night watchman of the primary use. Refer to Uniform Building Code for occupancy separation regulations. (B) All uses which create or are likely to create conditions detrimental to the health, safety, and general welfare of the community as determined by the Zoning Administrator. Since "residential" is not defined in the Mesa zoning regulations, we thus will give the word its plain and ordinary meaning. See State v. Mahaney, 193 Ariz. 566, 568, 975 P.2d 156, 158 (App. 1999). As such, "residential" describes the "circumstances or fact of having one's usual or permanent abode in or at a certain place" or the "place where one resides; one's dwelling-place; the abode of a person ... ." OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY (1987); See WEBSTER'S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (unabridged)(1969)(a structure "used, serving, or designed as a residence or for occupation by residents ... of, relating to, or connected with residence or residences"). Mesa's zoning regulations do define the word "use" as "the specific purpose for which a building or lot is arranged, intended, designed, occupied, or maintained." M.C.C. 11-1-6. Thus the phrase "residential uses," in the context of this regulation, means occupying or maintaining a space as one's dwelling or abode. Indeed, the exception underscores this interpretation because it specifically excludes "a dwelling unit in conjunction with a primary use intended for occupancy." M.C.C. 11-7-6(A). As the superior court well characterized it, the regulation forbids "setting up" a residence, not incidental activity that could be performed either at home or somewhere else. The key to this matter is that "use" is defined. In the Mesa City Code, it states that a "use" is the specific purpose for which a building or lot is arranged, designed, occupied or maintained." Mesa City Code 11-1-6 [sic]. With that in mind, the court takes the ordinary meaning of "residence" as "a place where one actually lives or has his home; a person's dwelling place or place of habitation, an abode; house where one's home is; a dwelling house." Black's Law Dictionary, 6th Ed., pp. 1308-1309.