Epsom Road Board

By-laws of the Body Corporate under the Name of the Inhabitants of the Epsom Road District, made and enacted by the Epsom Road Board.
In pursuance of the powers vested in it by the Road Boards Act, 1908, the Public Health Act, 1908, the Public Health Amendment Act, 1910, and the By-laws Act, 1910, and by all or any other statutes it hereunto enabling, the Road Board of the Epsom Road District doth hereby make and enact the following by-laws (to come into operation on the gazetting thereof), namely :—

PART I.—GENERAL PROVISIONS.

Interpretation.

In the interpretation of these by-laws, unless inconsistent with the context,—
“Board” means the Epsom Road Board:
“District” means the Epsom Road District, as defined in the New Zealand Gazette of the 18th May, 1883, page 650, and any alterations thereof which may from time to time be legally made:
“House” and “dwellinghouse” include hotel, boardinghouse, and any building in which human beings dwell or are intended to dwell, and include a shop with dwelling-rooms attached:
“Person” and “works,” applying to any person or individual, shall include a body of persons, whether incorporated or unincorporated:
“Road” means any road in the district, and includes street, and also any footpath and crossing, and the whole land between the fences on either side of a road or street :
“Special area” means all that portion of the district bounded on the north by the northern boundary of the district, on the east by the eastern boundary of the district, on the south by the southern boundary of the district, and on the west by a line running parallel to the main Auckland-Onehunga Road, but at a distance therefrom of 500 links:
“An offence” shall mean an offence against these by-laws, and shall include the omission or neglect to comply with any part thereof.
Where not inconsistent, words, phrases, and designations herein used which appear in the interpretation clauses of any of the Acts under which these by-laws are made shall have and include the interpretation given thereto by such Acts.

Dwelling-site Areas.

1. Except as hereinafter provided by these by-laws, no person shall erect a new dwellinghouse in the district upon a site of a less area than one-fifth of an acre, and unless such site shall have a frontage of at least $50$ ft. to a road; and no such dwellinghouse shall be erected or shall stand closer than $5$ ft. to either of the side boundaries of its site.

Exceptions.

2. Nothing in these by-laws contained shall apply to any allotment of land in the district shown on a plan or subdivision deposited at the Auckland Lands or Deeds Registration Office, or approved by this Board, prior to the passing of the Public Health Amendment Act, 1910.
3. The provisions of these by-laws shall not apply so as to prevent the erection of one dwellinghouse on a site of less area than one-fifth of an acre owned at the date of the passing of this by-law by a person not owning any adjoining land, or to prevent the erection of a shop with dwelling-rooms attached upon any site having frontage to the main Auckland-Onehunga Road and situated within the “special area”; provided always that in the erection of such shop and dwelling-rooms provision shall be made for the disposal of sewage and offensive matter from such shop and dwelling-rooms thereto attached in accordance with any general condition for such disposal which may be made by the Board in respect of the said special area, or such portion thereof in which such shop is intended to be erected, as the case may be.

Air-spaces.

4. No person shall erect a new dwellinghouse in the district unless he shall provide at the side or in the rear thereof an open space exclusively belonging to such house, and of an aggregate area of not less than $1,000$ square feet; provided that such open space shall extend throughout the entire width, or, in the alternative, throughout the entire depth, of the site, and shall be free from any erection thereon above the level of the ground, and shall be so maintained while the site is occupied by the said dwelling-house; provided also that the minimum distance across such open space from the house or every part of any wash-

house, shed, convenience, or other erection attached thereto shall be as follows :—

(a.) If the height of the house does not exceed $15$ ft. … … … 20 ft.
(b.) If the height exceeds $15$ ft. but does not exceed $25$ ft. … … … 25 ft.
(c.) If the height exceeds $25$ ft. but does not exceed $35$ ft. … … … 30 ft.
(d.) If the height exceeds $35$ ft. … … … 35 ft.
For the purpose of these by-laws, where the side boundaries of any site are not of the same length, the mean length of such side boundaries shall be taken as the depth of the site for the purpose of defining the distance across such open space, and the height of the dwellinghouse shall for the purpose of these by-laws be measured from the average level of the house immediately adjoining the side or rear of such house, as the case may be, to the level of half the vertical height of the roof or to the top of the parapet, whichever is the higher.

Alteration to Buildings.

5. No person shall make any alteration or addition to any dwellinghouse (whether erected before the coming into operation of these by-laws or not) whereby the open space attached to such house shall be diminished by such alteration or addition so as to leave a less open space than is required by these by-laws to be provided.

Definition of New Dwellinghouse.

6. The erection of a dwellinghouse upon vacant land, or upon a site previously occupied by any building, or the re-erection of any house pulled down to within $1$ ft. of the ground floor, or the conversion into a house of any building not originally constructed for human habitation, or the conversion into more than one house of a building originally constructed as one house only, shall be deemed to be the erection of a new dwellinghouse within the meaning of these by-laws.

Definition of Site.

7. The ground upon which any dwellinghouse is erected, together with the whole curtilage thereof enclosed within the boundary-fence, walls, or lines of the premises, shall be deemed to be the site of such house within the meaning of these by-laws, and the whole of the said site having the frontage and area mentioned in By-law $l$ hereof shall be provided exclusively for each such dwellinghouse.

Site-formation.

8. The ground on which any new dwellinghouse is erected, and the ground immediately around such new dwellinghouse, shall be so formed and graded that no water can lodge thereon or under such dwellinghouse or run under such dwellinghouse.

Powers of Board.

9. If the Board is satisfied upon due inquiry that a full compliance with all or any of these by-laws or any provisions thereof would injuriously affect the course and operation of business, or be attended with great loss and inconvenience to any person, or would work a wrong, then and under such circumstances the Board may, on special application in any particular case, and upon such terms and conditions as it shall in each particular case see fit to impose,
   (a.) Relax or modify the strict observance of or compliance with any provisions of these by-laws ; or
   (b.) Dispense with the observance of or compliance with any provision of these by-laws.
10. It shall be the duty of every person applying to the Board to exercise the powers in the last clause mentioned to produce clear evidence in support of such application and of the grounds upon which he makes the same, in order that the Board be fully satisfied of the merits of such application.

Repeal.

11. Part III of the Board’s by-laws relating to dwelling-sites, and numbered $1$ to $7$, passed on the $9$th day of January, $1906$, is, and all the by-laws contained in said Part III are, hereby repealed.

Offences and Penalties.

12. Any person who shall do or cause to be done, or be concerned in doing, anything contrary to these by-laws, or any of them, or any provision therein contained, or who shall omit to do anything required by these by-laws or any of them to be done by him, shall be deemed to have committed a breach of these by-laws.
    Any person committing a breach of these by-laws shall be guilty of an offence, and shall be liable to a penalty not