(a) The building official shall not issue a certificate of occupancy or a building permit until a building site is established in one of the following ways:
(1) A lot is part of a plat that has been approved by the commission, or approved by the platting authority recognized by state law for the jurisdiction where the property was located before annexation or consolidation with the city of Dallas, and filed in the plat records of the appropriate county. Unless a lot is part of a shared access development, or unless otherwise provided in an ordinance establishing or amending a planned development district, all platted lots must contact, through fee simple ownership, a dedicated street or a private street.
(2) A parcel was separately owned before September 11, 1929, or before annexation or consolidation and the parcel has contact, through fee simple ownership, with a dedicated street. For purposes of this paragraph, a parcel is considered “separately owned” if it:
(A) is described in a different deed than that of adjacent properties; and
(B) has remained in the same configuration since September 10, 1929, regardless of whether ownership has changed since that date.
Documented evidence must be provided by the owner to demonstrate that land has remained in the same configuration during the relevant time period. Under this paragraph, the building official may issue a building permit for only one main building on each building site.
(3) A lot is part of an industrial subdivision in which only streets, easements, and blocks are delineated. The industrial subdivision must be approved by the commission and filed in the plat records of the appropriate county. No specific lot delineation is required, but yard, lot, and space requirements will be determined by property lines or lease lines.
(4) Any area in a CA-1(A) district that is bound on all sides by public streets or alleys constitutes a legal building site.
(5) A parcel upon which a building permit was authorized for development of a single family or duplex use before August 1, 1984, provided the single family or duplex use is not changed to a different use than that approved before August 1, 1984. The authorized single family or duplex use need not exist at the time of application for a certificate of occupancy or building permit under this paragraph, but evidence must be provided showing that the single family or duplex use was authorized on the property before August 1, 1984, did in fact exist, and no other use has been made of the property since the single family or duplex use was authorized by the city. A building site must be established under another paragraph of this section if a change of use has been made or is proposed for the property.
(6) A parcel upon which a building permit was authorized for development of other than a single family or duplex use and:
(A) the building permit authorizing an existing structure was issued before August 1, 1984;
(B) the proposed work does not increase the floor area of the structure by more than 35 percent; and
(C) the proposed addition does not exceed 10,000 square feet of floor area. Evidence must be provided showing that the use was authorized on the property before August 1, 1984.
(7) A parcel with less lot area, depth, or width than required in this chapter provided:
(A) the parcel has an area, depth, or width that is not more than 10 percent smaller or is greater than the average lot area, depth, or width of other platted lots or recognized building sites capable of development with single family or duplex uses within the same platted block (for purposes of this subsection, “platted block” means the legal block as shown on the plat map);
(B) the platted lots or recognized building sites contiguous to the parcel are developed with single family or duplex uses;
(C) the majority of the platted lots and recognizable building sites within the same platted block as the parcel have been platted or have been recognizable building sites for at least 20 years; and
(D) the parcel complies with all other zoning regulations other than lot area, depth, or width regulations.
(b) Land used in meeting the requirements of this article for a particular use or building may not be used to meet the requirements for any other use or building.
(c) Except as provided in the regulations for the single family and duplex uses, more than one main building may be erected on a building site when there is compliance with all applicable regulations in this chapter.
(d) A lot with less lot area than required in this chapter that was lawfully established under the regulations in force at the time of the creation of the building site may be used for a single family use if permitted by all zoning regulations applicable to the property other than lot area regulations. (Ord. Nos. 19455; 23383; 24731; 25809)