When you design your new home you’ll need to understand zoning. Zoning is the establishment of requirments and limitations on the use of property established by a local authority. The information pertaining to these requirements and limitations are compiled into whats called a zoning code. Understanding the zoning code and what you’re allowed to do on your property is an important part of the design process.
BASIC COMPONENTS OF ZONING
ZONING DISTRICT – WHERE YOU’RE ALLOWED TO DO CERTAIN THINGS
All land within a local jurisdiction that has a zoning code is assigned a zoning district. A zoning district established the common requirements and limitations for property within the area of the district.
In broad terms, zoning consist of districts for residential, commercial, and industrial uses. Zoning was generally developed in the early 20th century to address issues such as noise, pollution, access to daylight, and other aspects of community living that people wanted to improve.
Each of the general uses are typically broken down further into various categories to further define what can be done on a parcel of land. Residential uses are often broken down into single family and multi-family uses, which can be broken down further to define areas of varying densities and types of housing.
For each specific district for single family homes you’ll have a common set of requirements. Let’s take a look at each one.
USE – WHAT YOU CAN AND CAN’T DO WITH YOUR PROPERTY
For building a custom home, zoning use will be “residential”, which means you can build a residence (house) on your property. However, other types of uses might or might not be allowed, such as:
- A rental apartment – In many older areas of towns and cities, before the proliferation of zoning, people would sometimes build a small apartment on their property to rent or to have extended family members live. This might be located over or adjacent to a garage or as a finished-out basement. However, most zoning codes today don’t allow such apartments.
- Home office – Some people might want to build a small office separated from their house but on the same property in order to conduct business from home. Many, if not most, zoning codes don’t allow for such a use in a single-family district, especially if the business would have a lot of customers visiting the office.
- Home-based business – Some zoning might allow for small business to be operated out of a home as long as its considered to not be a nuisance to a neighborhood. This could include such things as small-scale sewing services, phone-based business, online business, etc. Be sure to check with your local authority to confirm what you can and can’t do.
SETBACKS – WHERE YOU CAN BUILD ON YOUR SITE
Setbacks are specified distances from your property lines within which you can’t build your home. Setbacks are used to ensure access to daylight and air for your and your neighbor’s home, provide fireman access in the event of a home fire, to ensure enough room for a car to be parked in front of a house, and to establish a specific aesthetic to a neighborhood through the sizing of front yards.
Setbacks are typically smaller on the side and back property lines and larger for the street-side.
HOME SIZE – HOW BIG YOU CAN BUILD
Zoning often limits the size of house you can build by defining the largest number of square feet you can build. This is done primarily to to control the density of a neighborhood – smaller houses on smaller lots allow for greater a density of houses in a neighborhood, whereas larger houses on larger lots allows for lower housing density.
Some zoning codes might even have a minimum size of house you can build.
LOT COVERAGE – HOW MUCH MUST REMAIN UNBUILT AND UNPAVED
Lot coverage has to do with how big a footprint you can build for your house. Footprint is the size of the house at the ground level. This can be different from a home’s overall square footage in that a multi-story house can have more square footage than the footprint of the ground level.
Lot coverage can also refer to the amount of paving on a property in addition to the footprint of the house. Limiting the amount of paving ensures minimum amounts of landscaped areas and limits the amount of rain water run-off into the streets, storm sewers, and neighboring properties.
OTHER LIMITATIONS
There may be additional requirements and limitations to your property and the design of your new home that go beyand basic zoning requirements. Let’s review some of these below.
HOA’S – THE NEIGHBORHOOD REQUIRMENTS
If you’re considering purchasing property in some new or existing developments you’ll need to know if you’ll be under the jurisdiction of a Homeowner Association (HOA). These organizations have additional authority regarding the use of your property through covenants that are part of your purchase contract.
HOA’s can control such things as the design style of your home, acceptable colors for your home’s exterior, mailbox standards, landscaping requirments, outdoor parking restrictions, large recreation vehicle and watercraft parking and storage restrictions, garage access restrictions, and other potential items.
Many HOA’s might require you to submit for design review before granting permission to build. Be sure to understand what is required and the approvals process before you purchase.
HISTORIC DISTRICTS
Many oder neighborhoods, and even some historic communities, are designated historic districts by a governing authority. Such districts will have design requirements and limitations for new homes being built based on written requirements established for the district.
Be sure to check with your governing authority to determine if your property falls within a historic district and where the requirements are listed.
EASEMENTS
Many properties will have easements that fall across them. Easements are defined areas on your property on which other people or entities have right of access or right of placement of utilities.
Eastments can allow for such things as power line/communication (phone and cable) line easements for the placement of their transmission lines above ground or below ground, placement of electral tranformer pads for underground power service, the running of underground public utilities such as water, sewer, and gas (though these are typically placed in public street or public alley rights-of-way), driveway access for neighbors, access to adjacent property that doesn’t have direct access to a public road, and blanket property access for utility service and repair.
Easements will typically be indicated on your propery survey and should be included as part of the legal written description of your property.
AESTHETICS
Some communities will have specific requirements for new homes to be designed within a particular style, use of materials, colors of materials and paints that can be used, and specific requirements of material finishes to reduce glare.
These requirments are often established to maintain a specific character within the community and/or to address issues of the local and regional environment.
Examples include many residential developments such as those of the “new urbanism” style, resort communities that advertise a specific “lifestyle”, and retirement communities that want to maintain a paritcular regional character or design aesthetic.
LANDSCAPING – WHAT YOU CAN AND CAN’T PLANT
Many communities will have requirements and limitations relating to landscaping. These are established for various reasons.
Many desert communities have xeriscape requirments, meaning you must use regional plants that minimize the use of irrigation, typically in semi-arid and desert climates.
Other communities require or encourage the use of local plants to reduce the possibility of invasive plant species.
Some rural developments with large acreage lots might require a large portion of land to be planted with regional plants, such as prairie grasses, to maintain a specific character to the development.
Some states and regions outlaw the use or relocation of endangered plants to help preserve them in their natural habitats. Such an example is the outlaw of moving an existing native saguaro cactus in Arizona without state permission.
TREE PRESERVATION
Some communities take the preservation of trees very seriously. This can include a restrictions to the removal of existing trees of certain sizes or types, and may also limit the types of new trees that can be planted. Some communities will have limits with what can be done with trees located in the parkway of a street between the street curb/edge and the public sidewalk.
Be sure to check with your local jurisdiction to see what limitations and requirements it has regarding trees.
FLOOD PLAIN
Some properties are located within flood plains. Flood plains are areas prone to flooding during large storms or to periodic flooding due to tides.
Homes built on property within flood plains might have requirements as to how they are designed and the materials that can be used. Such design might require all living spaced and finished spaces to be above flood level, leaving the ground level as open space or parking. These requirements can be established by a local authority, HOA, or a development covenant, but might also be a requirement for home insurance.
WETLANDS
Wetlands are areas where the soil is covered by water or where the soil is naturally saturated by water such as in swamps, and areas that are covered by water intermittently, such as playa lakes on the Great Plains of the U.S.
Properties that have wetlands on them may fall under jurisdictional requirements to maintain them. This can include local, state, and federal requirements. Be sure to check with your local authority about any requirements that may pertain to wetlands on your property.
GOING FORWARD
The main thing to know about any limitations and requirements for your property and the design of your new home is that you’ll need to inquire and research. Your local authority is a great resource, but you can also talk with your real estate agent regarding such issues when looking at potential locations to design and build your new home.
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