Town of Orchard Park, NY: zoning for new construction

Agricultural District - The figures shown bind a lot created since 1989. A lot that predates the current schedule keeps the older figures: 40,000 sq ft on a 120 by 150 ft envelope with 50 ft front, 20 ft side and 50 ft rear yards and 10% coverage.

• A one-storey house needs 1,200 sq ft on the first floor; a two-storey house needs 1,500 sq ft in total with at least 900 of it on the first floor
• An accessory building may reach 35 ft and must sit 20 ft off the rear line

Residential District - The figures shown bind a lot created since 1989. A lot that predates the current schedule keeps the older figures: 20,000 sq ft on a 100 by 150 ft envelope with 50 ft front, 15 ft side and 50 ft rear yards and 15% coverage.

• A single-storey house is allowed 17% coverage rather than 14%
• A one-storey house needs 1,400 sq ft on the first floor; a two-storey house needs 1,800 sq ft in total with at least 1,000 on the first floor
• An accessory building may reach 18 ft and must sit 15 ft off the rear line

Residential District - The figures shown bind a lot created since 1989. A lot that predates the current schedule keeps the older figures: 15,000 sq ft on a 100 by 120 ft envelope with 40 ft front, 10 ft side and 40 ft rear yards and 20% coverage.

• A single-storey house is allowed 20% coverage rather than 14%
• A one-storey house needs 1,200 sq ft on the first floor; a two-storey house needs 1,500 sq ft in total with at least 900 on the first floor

Residential District - The figures shown bind a lot created since 1989. A lot that predates the current schedule keeps the older figures: 13,500 sq ft on a 90 by 100 ft envelope with 30 ft front, 10 ft side and 40 ft rear yards and 30% coverage, which the current schedule halves.

• A one-storey house needs 1,100 sq ft on the first floor and a two-storey 1,400 in total with at least 850 on the first floor
• A duplex needs 2,000 sq ft either way, with 1,200 on the first floor if it is two storeys
• An apartment needs 800 sq ft per dwelling unit
• An accessory building may reach 18 ft and must sit 10 ft off the rear line

Residential District - The figures shown bind a lot created since 1989. A lot that predates the current schedule keeps the older figures: 12,000 sq ft on an 80 by 100 ft envelope with 10 ft side yards and 30% coverage.

• A one-storey house needs 1,000 sq ft on the first floor and a two-storey 1,300 in total with at least 800 on the first floor
• A duplex is held to the R-3 figures
• An apartment needs 700 sq ft per dwelling unit
• An accessory building must sit 10 ft off the rear line

Commercial District - The twenty-acre minimum applies to a permitted principal use only and does not apply to a special exception use. The side yard is unsettled, because the two bulk schedules disagree, so confirm it with the Town before siting a wall.

• The older schedule's note requires none, but at least 10 feet if required by statute
• The current schedule's note requires a ten-yard setback in all B districts, unless in a shopping center or business center where buildings on different lots are connected

Commercial District, Commercial District, Commercial District - There is no minimum lot area here; shape is what this district controls, at 80 ft of width and 150 ft of depth. A new lot and one created before the current schedule are held to the same figures.

• The side yard is unsettled, because the two bulk schedules disagree, so confirm it with the Town before siting a wall
• The older schedule's note requires none, but at least 10 feet if required by statute
• The current schedule's note requires a ten-yard setback in all B districts, unless in a shopping center or business center where buildings on different lots are connected

Industrial District - A side yard of 20 ft is required where the lot adjoins any residence. The 20 ft rear yard doubles to 40 ft where an industrial or research district abuts a residential or agricultural one.

• The 40,000 sq ft lot minimum and the 150 by 200 ft envelope hold for a lot created at any time

Development and Research District - The front yard is the one figure the current schedule relaxes: a lot that predates it keeps a 50 ft front yard, while the acre minimum, the 100 ft width and the 20 ft side and rear yards are unchanged.

• The 20 ft rear yard doubles to 40 ft where the district abuts a residential or agricultural one
• An accessory structure may reach 35 ft, the same as a principal building

Stadium Mixed-Use District - The figures shown are the detached-house tier. An attached house is priced at 20,000 sq ft with 10,000 sq ft of land per dwelling unit on a lot only 45 ft wide, and takes no side yard at all.

• Any other use needs 20,000 sq ft on a 150 by 150 ft envelope with a 25 ft side yard, and is allowed 60% coverage rather than 50%
• Both bulk schedules state the same figures here, so a new lot and an older one are held to the same standard
• An accessory structure may reach 35 ft, the same as a principal building, and must sit 10 ft off the rear line

Development and Research-2 District - Height here is set by what the building is: three storeys and 42 ft for a mixed-use building, four storeys and 56 ft for a hotel.

Land Conservation District - This district delineates land where buildings and structures are prohibited, either for topography, drainage, floodplain or other natural conditions that would put a building at risk, or because the land cannot yet be served with proper facilities at reasonable cost to the Town.

• Essential services, parks, golf courses and athletic fields are reachable only as special exception uses

Senior Residential District - This district sets no lot area at all: the land a scheme needs is calculated from the units it contains, at 3,600 sq ft per unit where the unit is 780 sq ft or smaller and 5,000 sq ft per unit where it is larger.

• The rear yard is 15% of the lot depth and never less than 50 ft, so it grows with the site
• A building other than the principal one takes 15 ft or half the building height, whichever is greater
• A perimeter fire lane at least 16 ft wide must ring the building, with no parking on it or between it and the building
• Activity space for tenants runs from 400 sq ft for a scheme of twenty units to 10 sq ft per unit above a hundred, with 25 sq ft per unit of recreation open space on top
• The Town Board assigns the designation to land currently zoned R-3 or R-4

Collegiate Residential District - Lot size, setbacks and coverage come from whichever of R-3 or R-4 the land already carries, so read that district for them. The unit count is not set by a density figure: the Planning Board recommends the number for each scheme after site plan review and the Town Board adopts it.

• Housing is limited to full-time matriculated students under a written contract with the college
• The site needs a 16 ft perimeter fire lane and at least one entrance on a public highway
• Parking is three-quarters of a space per bedroom
• The Town Board assigns the designation to land within 1,000 ft of the main campus of an accredited college that is currently zoned R-3 or R-4