Physical and Land Use Planning Act
2. Interpretation
2. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—"advertisement" means any word, letter, devise, model, sign, placard, board, notice or representation, whether illuminated or not, in the nature of and employed wholly or in part for the purpose of the advertisement of proprietary article and without prejudice to the foregoing includes any hoarding or similar structure used or adapted for use for the display of advertisement, and references to the display of advertisements shall be construed accordingly:Provided that any advertisement displayed inside a building shall not be included;"building" means any structure or erection and any part of any structure or erection of any kind whatsoever whether permanent, temporary or movable, and whether completed or uncompleted;"building operations" include rebuilding operations, structural alterations or additions to buildings and other similar operations and the making of access roads, railways, waterworks, sewerage and drainage works, electrical and telephone installations and any road works preliminary to, or incidental to, the erection of buildings;"building or works" include waste materials, refuse and other matters deposited on land and reference to the erection or construction of building or works shall be construed accordingly;"Cabinet Secretary" means the Cabinet Secretary for the time being responsible for matters related to physical and land use planning;"commercial use" includes shops, offices, hotels, restaurants, bars, kiosks and similar business enterprises but does not include petroleum filling stations;"Commission" means the National Land Commission established under Article 67 of the Constitution;"county executive committee member” means the county executive committee member responsible for matters relating to physical and land use planning in the respective county;"density” means the maximum amount of development permitted or the maximum number of persons permitted to reside, as the case may be, on any area of land;"development" means carrying out any works on land or making any material change in the use of any structures on the land;"development control" means the process of managing or regulating the carrying out of any works on land or making of any material change in the use of any land or structures and ensuring that operations on land conform to spatial development plans as well as policy guidelines, regulations and standards issued by the planning authority from time to time in order to achieve a purposeful utilization of land in the interest of the general welfare of the public;"dwelling" means a building or any part or portion of a building, used or constructed, adapted or designed to be used for human habitation;"Director-General of Physical and Land Use Planning" means the Director-General appointed under section 11 of this Act;"electronic media" means any electronic medium including television or radio, that may be used to transmit information;"emerging technologies" include telecommunication installations, information and communications technology parks and aviation services;"existing building" or "existing works" means, respectively, a building or works erected, constructed or carried out before the date this Act becomes applicable to the area in which the building or works are situated, and includes a building or works, as the case may be, commenced before, but completed after such date;"existing use" means in relation to any building or land the use of that building or land for any purpose of the same character as that for which it was used before the date this Act becomes applicable to the area in which the building or land is situated:Provided that where an existing use of land is, after such date, extended onto, under or over adjoining land, whether such adjoining land is held under the same title or not, such extension shall not be an existing use for the purposes of this Act;"industrial use" includes manufacturing, processing, distilling, brewing, warehousing and storage, workshops and garages, mining and quarrying, power generation and similar industrial activities including petroleum filling stations;"Inter-County physical and land use development plan" means a plan for the area covering two or more counties or parts thereof;"land use planning" means the process of designating, regulating, evaluating, zoning and organizing the present and future use and development of land in all its geographical areas and its resources to secure the physical, economic and social efficiency, health and well-being of urban and rural communities;"local physical and land use development plan" means a plan for the area or part thereof of a city, municipality, town or urban centre and includes a plan with reference to any trading or market centre;"physical planning” means the active process of organizing the physical infrastructure and its functions to ensure orderly and effective siting or location of land uses, and it encompasses deliberate determination of spatial plans with an aim of achieving the optimum level of land utilization in a sustainable manner;"planning authority"—Source: Kenya Law