Town of Highlands, NY: zoning for new construction

Mountain Residence - The lot minimum and coverage shown hold only on ground under eleven percent natural grade. Between eleven and twenty percent a lot needs at least sixty thousand square feet at twenty percent coverage, and over twenty percent at least eighty thousand at fifteen percent.

• A two-family house, permitted by right here, needs at least eighty thousand square feet unsewered, because each dwelling unit needs forty thousand.
• Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.
• At least fifty feet of street frontage at the street line is required, separate from the lot width.
• A side yard on the street side of a corner lot must be at least forty-five feet.
• Without public sewer a lot may not be built on unless it has room for a private waste disposal system the municipality accepts.
• The enclosed first floor of a dwelling must be at least seven hundred and fifty square feet with no dimension under twenty feet, not counting porches, breezeways, garages, basements or cellars.

Single-Family Residence - A two-family house and a multiple dwelling are prohibited here. A planned residential development, by special exception and site plan approval, is the one route to different figures.

• In a planned residential development the Planning Board may modify lot area, lot width, yards, setbacks and street frontage, but not height, at no more than 2.4 dwelling units to the gross acre.
• Units in a planned residential development may be single-family, two-family or multiple-dwelling structures.
• Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.
• At least fifty feet of street frontage at the street line is required, separate from the lot width.
• A side yard on the street side of a corner lot must be at least forty-five feet.
• Without public sewer a lot may not be built on unless it has room for a private waste disposal system the municipality accepts.

Single-Family Residence - A two-family house, a multiple dwelling and the conversion of an existing house for two families are all prohibited here. A planned residential development, by special exception and site plan approval, is the one route to different figures.

• In a planned residential development the Planning Board may modify lot area, lot width, yards, setbacks and street frontage, but not height, at no more than 5.7 dwelling units to the gross acre.
• Units in a planned residential development may be single-family, two-family or multiple-dwelling structures.
• Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.
• At least fifty feet of street frontage at the street line is required, separate from the lot width.
• A side yard on the street side of a corner lot must be at least thirty feet.
• Without public sewer a lot may not be built on unless it has room for a private waste disposal system the municipality accepts.

Single- and Two-Family Residence - A one-family house, a two-family house and the conversion of an existing house for two families are all permitted; a multiple dwelling is not. The lot area and coverage hold at every natural grade.

• By special exception and site plan approval, a planned residential development may modify lot area, width, yards, setbacks and frontage, but not height, up to 8 dwelling units to the gross acre.
• In a planned residential development of an acre or more, a multiple-dwelling building may reach seventy feet if the Planning Board finds water, fire equipment and street access adequate.
• Such a building must stand back from every property line at least a third of the height of the wall facing it.
• The side yards together must be at least eighteen feet, so a house at least ten feet from one line may sit as close as eight feet to the other.
• Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.
• At least fifty feet of street frontage at the street line is required, separate from the lot width.

Apartment Residence - The figures shown are for a one-family house; a two-family house is also permitted by right and fits the minimum lot exactly. An apartment building is a special exception use with its own land requirement.

• Each townhouse unit needs at least five thousand four hundred and forty-five square feet of land and takes no side yard; each apartment unit needs at least three thousand six hundred and thirty.
• A multiple-dwelling building on an acre or more may reach forty-five feet, only under the special exception and only if the Planning Board finds water, fire equipment and street access adequate.
• Such a building must stand back from every property line at least a third of the height of the wall facing it.
• Apartment buildings must be at least thirty-five feet apart, or two-thirds the height of the taller if that is greater.
• By special exception and site plan approval, a planned residential development may modify lot area, width, yards, setbacks and frontage, but not height, up to 10 dwelling units to the gross acre.
• Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.

Apartment-Motel Residence - A two-family house is the use permitted by right here; a one-family house and an apartment building each need a special exception. A two-family house fits the minimum lot exactly, and a four-unit building needs ten thousand square feet.

• A multiple-dwelling building on an acre or more may reach forty-five feet, only under the special exception and only if the Planning Board finds water, fire equipment and street access adequate.
• Such a building must stand back from every property line at least a third of the height of the wall facing it.
• Apartment buildings must be at least thirty-five feet apart, or two-thirds the height of the taller if that is greater.
• By special exception and site plan approval, a planned residential development may modify lot area, width, yards, setbacks and frontage, but not height, up to 10 dwelling units to the gross acre.
• Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.
• A side yard on the street side of a corner lot must be at least twenty feet.

Mobile Home Court - Every use in this district, the mobile home court, the single-family house and the two-family house alike, needs a special exception. The special exception standard for a licensed court requires a site of not less than five acres.

• Each mobile home space takes four thousand square feet and must be at least forty feet wide and a hundred feet long.
• A mobile home in a licensed court needs five hundred square feet of floor area per family; one outside a licensed court needs nine hundred.
• Initial development must cover at least two acres and each later addition at least one.
• Interior roadways are twenty feet wide with curbs or gutters, and there must be two access drives to the public street.
• Recreation land runs one acre for every hundred spaces and never less than half an acre.
• A planned residential development is not available in this district.

Riverside Residence - The lot minimum counts usable land only: slopes of twenty-five to thirty-five percent count at half their area, and slopes over thirty-five percent, wetlands and special flood hazard land at a quarter. No principal building may stand on ground sloping twenty percent or more.

• Even a one-family house needs site plan review and approval, and buildings must be sited to preserve as much existing vegetation as possible.
• The two-family house permitted here needs at least eighty thousand square feet of usable land unsewered.
• Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.
• In a planned residential development, by special exception, the unit count is what the schedule allows, but the whole parcel counts, steep slopes, wetlands and flood hazard land included.
• In such a development no unit may be built in a wetland or special flood hazard area, multiple dwellings must stand at least twenty feet apart, and the applicant pays into the parkland trust fund.
• A side yard on the street side of a corner lot must be at least forty-five feet.

Business - A house and a ground-floor dwelling are prohibited here; the only dwelling allowed is one above a first-floor nonresidential use, and it needs a special exception.

• Along a boundary with a residence district a transitional yard of at least twenty feet is required, screened with a six-foot stockade fence or its equal kept up by the business owner.
• A side yard on the street side of a corner lot must be at least twenty feet.
• Coverage counts main and accessory buildings together.
• Off-street parking may fill a required front, side or rear yard entirely.
• Every building permit except one for a one-family or two-family residence needs site plan approval from the Planning Board.
• No minimum street frontage applies in this district.