City of Lackawanna, NY: zoning for new construction

Single-Family Residential District - The 25 ft front yard is a maximum, not a minimum. It is a build-to control pulling houses toward the street to hold an urban street wall, so a house set 40 ft back breaks it.

• Coverage is two standards: buildings may cover a fifth of the lot, and everything including paving may cover 30%.
• A use going through site plan review must also keep a fifth of the site landscaped.

Mixed Residential District - The figures shown are the detached single- and two-family tier; attached and multifamily housing take their own standards. The 25 ft front yard here is a genuine minimum.

• The height, front yard and coverage figures are shared by every use in the district; the lot, frontage and side and rear yards change with the building type.
• An attached house needs at least 7,000 sq ft on a 70 ft frontage, with a side yard of 10 ft or half the building height, whichever is greater, and no more than four units in one structure.
• Attached housing needs at least 60 ft between buildings and 500 sq ft of open space per dwelling.
• Multifamily needs at least 8,000 sq ft on a 75 ft frontage with 30 ft side and rear yards, and reaches 36 units to the acre.
• No building of either kind may run more than 160 ft.

Central Business District - The 5 ft front yard is a maximum, not a minimum: a building must come within five feet of the street line, or match the average of the buildings within 100 ft if that average is less than five feet.

• No side yard is required at all, which is what lets a continuous downtown street wall exist.
• A building must contain at least 2,000 sq ft and no more than 10,000.
• Coverage is two standards: buildings may cover half the lot, and everything including paving may cover 80%.

Neighborhood Commercial District - The 10 ft front yard is a maximum, not a minimum. It is a build-to line holding the street wall, so a building set further back breaks it.

• No side yard is required at all.
• A building may not exceed 10,000 sq ft.
• Coverage is two standards: buildings may cover half the lot, and everything including paving may cover 80%, with a fifth of the site kept landscaped.
• Multifamily dwellings and apartment buildings are permitted uses here.

Regional Commercial District - No building may be smaller than 10,000 sq ft here: the district sets a floor on building size rather than a ceiling, which is what keeps it regional in scale. The 80% is a total lot coverage cap including paving, not a building footprint limit.

• The yards are conventional minimums, 20 ft on every side.
• A fifth of the site must be landscaped.
• Multifamily dwellings are permitted.

Mixed Commercial and Industrial District - Where the district meets residential land a buffer at least 30 ft wide and 8 ft high is required. No building may be smaller than 10,000 sq ft, a floor on building size rather than a ceiling.

• The 80% is a total lot coverage cap including paving, not a building footprint limit.
• A fifth of the site must be landscaped.

Industrial District - This district sets a minimum building coverage of 10% as well as a maximum lot coverage of 80%, a floor on how much of the site must actually be built. No building may be smaller than 10,000 sq ft.

• The 80% is a total lot coverage cap including paving, not a building footprint limit.
• A fifth of the site must be landscaped.
• Employee services such as a credit union, restaurant or child-care centre are accessory uses so long as they stay under a tenth of the developed floor area.

Open Space District - Minimum lot size and lot frontage are not applicable in this district, and every yard and both coverage figures are determined through site plan review. What is fixed is a ceiling on building size: no more than 5,000 sq ft.

Bethlehem Redevelopment Area Light Industry Business District - The deed restrictions on the former steel property prohibit residential use of any density, schools, day-care and nursery facilities, and any well for extracting water other than for monitoring or treatment.

• The five acres rises to fifty where the scheme is a planned unit development.
• A 50 ft buffer to the Smokes Creek Greenway Corridor Overlay boundary applies throughout the redevelopment area.
• The 30 ft front yard rises to 50 ft against the Route 5 or Hamburg Turnpike right-of-way.
• No rear yard is stated.
• A minimum building coverage of 15% applies as well as the 75% lot cap, so a share of the site must actually be built.
• A quarter of the site must be landscaped, and parking stands 10 ft off a right-of-way.

Bethlehem Redevelopment Area Medium Industry District - The deed restrictions on the former steel property prohibit residential use of any density, schools, day-care and nursery facilities, and any well for extracting water other than for monitoring or treatment.

• The eight acres rises to fifty for a planned unit development.
• A 50 ft buffer to the Smokes Creek Greenway Corridor Overlay boundary applies throughout the redevelopment area.
• A minimum building coverage of 18% applies as well as the 80% lot cap, and the lot figure includes parking.
• A fifth of the site must be landscaped.
• Any part of the site fronting Route 5 carries higher design and screening standards.

Bethlehem Redevelopment Area Heavy Industry District - The deed restrictions on the former steel property prohibit residential use of any density, schools, day-care and nursery facilities, and any well for extracting water other than for monitoring or treatment.

• A building must stand 75 ft back from the ship canal, and the front yard must be landscaped.
• A 50 ft buffer to the Smokes Creek Greenway Corridor Overlay boundary applies throughout the redevelopment area.
• A minimum building coverage of 10% applies as well as the 85% lot cap, and 15% of the site must be kept as open space.

Bethlehem Redevelopment Area Intermodal District - The deed restrictions on the former steel property prohibit residential use of any density, schools, day-care and nursery facilities, and any well for extracting water other than for monitoring or treatment.

• The 50 ft side and rear yards apply to outdoor storage of bulk materials as well as to buildings.
• Lot frontage, building coverage, lot coverage and landscaping are not applicable in this district.
• A 50 ft buffer to the Smokes Creek Greenway Corridor Overlay boundary applies throughout the redevelopment area.

Bethlehem Redevelopment Area Lakefront Open Space District - A 100 ft setback from the top of the bluff must be kept, with no use or structure inside it, and a 100 ft vegetative buffer runs along the bluff.

• Permanent structures are prohibited under the deed restrictions on the former steel property
• The permitted uses are trails, open space and overlooks, and parking serving the recreational trail