Template for Sorting Out a Zoning Code
Work it out on paper first….
How do I know what I can build/rebuild on a particular site?
Before you get too far analyzing a particular piece of property, you should get a handle on the likely market for what could be built and the likely costs delivering the completed project in the neighborhood. What are folks paying in rent near the site you are looking at? As a starting point/rule of thumb the rule of 100 will get you a rough idea. It works like this.
$1 in monthly rent will typically support $100 in Total Project Costs. So if a one bedroom apartment in the area of the site your are interested in rents for $1,000, you can’t spend more than $100,000 creating that apartment, land, soft costs, hard costs, everything. Total Project Costs. Yes, that is an oversimplification, but it is a decent starting point. You can start looking at the rough hard cost (direct construction costs) per SF, figure 25% of that number for soft costs (engineering, Architecture, financing, legal, CPA, developer’s fee), and the price that similar vacant properties have sold for. You will put together more detailed estimates and budgets for all your costs down the line, but you need to start with a working theory of how the building can make money.
Rents of $1,000 for a one bedroom x $100 = Total Project Cost of $100,000.
Hard Cost per unit of $70,000 per unit.
Soft Cost of $18,000 per unit.
leaving the land cost (always a residual number) of $12,000 per unit.
Note: $70,000 in Hard Costs divided by the typical construction cost for new wood frame construction in the area at $135 per SF means one bedroom units at around 500 SF and stairways and common area must be kept to a minimum.
Now what about the zoning? You first look at the local zoning code can be daunting. “What can I build here?” seems like a straightforward question. The answer you get after spending half an hour paging through the local zoning code is going to be “well, that depends.”
Start off by identifying what the particular zoning category applies to the property you are considering. Let’s say that category is “R-5” which according to the naming habits of this particular zoning code stands for Residential 5,000 SF minimum lot size. Now go the the Use Table, (often titled “Allowed Uses”) to see if what you want to build and how you want to use the building is allowed in the R-5 Zone. There will typically be a table with a very long list of every conceivable thing you could use a property for (from shoe repair to landfill) running down the left side of the table and the various Zoning Categories running across the top of the table.
Annotate this graphic template with the particular information you find in the zoning code.
Zoning Code Graphic Template
Go the the section of the zoning code specific to the zoning category that applies to the site. That is where you will typically find most of the information shown on this graphic template. As you start to find the answers to the puzzle of “what can I build?” note them on the template. Each zoning code will have a minimum lot area measured in acres or in square feet (SF). There will also be a minimum lot width. It your potential site is big enough and wide enough, then look at the required setbacks. A setback is the minimum distance you have to set back your building from the front, rear, or side property line. Once you know what the setbacks are you can show them on a scale drawing of the property.
Draw the setbacks all the way around the property to create a box inside the property boundaries. Your building(s) will need to fit within that box. Check your zoning code section for limitations on how much of the property you can cover with buildings, or with buildings and driveways, walkways, patios, etc.
Figure out how much parking you will be required to build on the property. The minimum off-street parking requirement is often found in a section on parking that applies to all the zoning categories. You may have to hunt for parking in the table of contents.
This would be a good time to read the Definitions section of the zoning code. The definitions section is where one town’s zoning code may vary significantly from another town’s ordinance. This is where you will find how you are required to measure the height of a building, whether or not you can encroach into the front or side setback with a porch, or perhaps if you are allowed to build a driveway or parking within a setback. Read the section twice. Return to your specific zoning category and read it one more time to annotate your template with the requirements. The result should look something like this:
