Code Section: 130 (c)

Subject: Optional frontage, frontage on two or more streets

Effective Date: 3/87

Interpretation:

   This subsection states that in the case of multiple frontage, the owner may elect a frontage for purposes of yards and setbacks. However, this option may have to be modified in some circumstances. Section 101.1 states that before any permit for any demolition, conversion or change of use is issued, findings of compliance with the Priority Policies of the General Plan shall be made. One of these Priority Policies [Paragraph 101.1(b)(2)] states that existing housing and neighborhood character be conserved and protected. Subsections 172(b) and 173(b) state that no structure or lot shall be built, created or modified in such a way as to create a violation of the Code or increase an existing discrepancy. Section 307 states that the Zoning Administrator shall enforce the Code and gives the Zoning Administrator the authority to adopt such rules, regulations and interpretations and to take appropriate actions as are necessary to secure compliance with the provisions of the Code. Therefore, the owner's option provided by this subsection must occasionally be overridden. Examples of such occasions are noted below.

3/87:A through lot extended from a street to an alley. There was a large house on the street end and a smaller house on the alley end of this lot. Surrounding lots contained only one house built near the major street or also had a larger house near the major street and a smaller house near the alley. The owner wanted to choose the alley as the frontage in order to allow the smaller house to be expanded but was not allowed to do so as this would have run counter to the established building pattern of the block and would jeopardize the neighborhood character protected by the Priority Policies. It also would have placed the required rear yard under the larger house which, since it covered more ground, would have increased the rear yard deficiency. Further, it would have made the larger house nonconforming, making improvements to it more difficult. This would have jeopardized the viability of the larger house which offers greater housing potential than the smaller house in its less desirable location.

8/88:When one end of a lot is higher or lower than the other end, the Planning Commission would prefer new development to occur at the lower end in order to preserve the views of the existing residents of the area.

Code Section: 130 (c)

Subject: Frontage of lot abutting two streets

Effective Date: 1987

Interpretation:

   A lot is shaped nearly like a quarter pie slice with two interior lot lines meeting at a 90-degree angle and the street line curving from one of these lines toward the other.

   Before the curving street line can intersect the other interior line to complete the exterior corner, it is intersected by another street. The lot frontage created by the street which truncates this potential corner is only six feet. Since this six-foot frontage does not meet the minimum frontage standard, it cannot be chosen as the frontage for purposes of determining the location and size of the rear yard. Therefore the lot is treated like a triangular lot.

Code Section: 130 (c)

Subject: Yard and setback requirements, general

Effective Date: 12/97

Interpretation:

   This Section allows owners of lots that abut on two or more streets, to select any street lot line as the front lot line for purposes of yards and setbacks as required by Sections 131 thru 134 of the Code. For purposes of selecting front lot lines on developed lots, existing open spaces that meet current Code requirements should be preserved and established as their respective yards and/or setbacks. Their preservation should occur through the election of an appropriate street lot line as the front lot line. 

Code Section: 130 (d)

Subject: Triangular lot defined

Effective Date: 2/91

Interpretation:

   See Appendix

Code Section: 130 (e)

Subject: Averaging of a required side yard

Effective Date: 1/86

Interpretation:

   See Interpretation 133 Side yard measurement

Code Section: 130 (e)

Subject: Rear yard averaging

Effective Date: 9/87

Interpretation:

   Pursuant to long-standing policy, where a site has two depths, a rear yard must be provided for each of these segments at the rear of these segments. This Section states that, "Where the building wall is not parallel to a side or a rear lot line [emphasis added] the required least dimension of the side yard or the rear yard along such line may be applied to the average, provided that no such side yard shall be less than three feet in width at any point, and no such rear yard shall be less than five feet in depth at any point." This provision cannot apply to situations where a lot has two rectilinear segments of different depth because the lot lines are still parallel and perpendicular to each other allowing a rectilinear building. The section is intended to allow flexibility in design only to an extent which would allow full development of the buildable area with a rectilinear building.

Code Section: 131

Subject: Legislated setback lines, waiver by PUD or ZA

Effective Date: 1994

Interpretation:

   This Section continues in effect, the legislated setback lines established by separate ordinances and specifically states that the procedures for establishing, abolishing or modifying them shall be as specified in Sections 302 and 306 through 306.5. These Sections provide for text and map amendments. The provisions governing variances and planned unit development are in Sections 304 and 305. Therefore, legislated setbacks cannot be modified by the PUD or variance process. Nor can the Zoning Administrator adjust a legislated setback by averaging it along a series of buildings. In most cases, a variance would also be needed for the setback required by Section 132.

Code Section: 132

Subject: Front setback

Effective Date: 5/87

Interpretation:

   Three lots (2129/2C, 2D and 2E) used a third lot (Lot 2F) for common access to the street. Lots 2C and 2E have no frontage by themselves on a street. The question was how to determine the front setback on Lot 2C. Once proof of 1/3 ownership of Lot 2F was shown, the average of the setbacks from their own front property lines of the buildings on the two lots on either side would be applied to the subject lot relative to its front property linerelative to the street. See Appendix, 132 and 134 for drawing and for an explanation of how lot depth and building depth and height under the NCIC were determined for another lot in this group.