Zoning Handbook 1961
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CITY PLANNING COMMISSION • DEPARTMENT OF CITY PLANNING ZONING HANDBOOK A Guide to the Zoning Resolution of The City of New York TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ............................................ >................. _ ••••• __••••••• __ ............................ 4 THE STRUCTURE OF THE RESOLUTION Zoning Maps ............................................................ _........................ _............................. 6 Text of the Resolution ................................................................................................ 7 Index of Uses ........................................................ ........................................................ 8 USE Use Groups and Special Permit Uses ....................................... __ .......................... 10 Use Districts .......................................................... _.......................... __ •......................... 12 Industrial Performance Standards (Manufacturing Districts) .............................................. _ .............................. 13 Supplementary Use Regulations and Special Provisions Along District Boundaries ............................................ 14 Signs ................................................................................................... _.............................. 14 BULK Controls Over Intensity of Development .............................................................. 16 Design Controls ........... ................................................................................................... 20 Which Bulk Provisions Apply .................................................... _.......................... 29 PARKING AND LOADING Parking ...................................... ............. .... .......... ............................................................. 30 Loading .............................................................................................. __........................... 34 LARGE-SCALE DEVELOPMENTS ............................................................................ 36 NON-CONFORMING USES AND NON-COMPLYING BUILDINGS Non-Conforming Uses .......................................................... _ ..... _.............................. 37 Non-Complying Buildings ....................................................... _...•. _........................... 38 Additional Provisions ...................................................................... _.......................... 38 ADMINISTRATION Administering Agencies ............................................................. _.............................. 39 The Grace Period and Vested Rights .................................... _.............................. 39 INTRODUCTION provide structures with clean lines, open plazas and imaginary lots. In residential projects it provides a attractive arcades. simple formula for the proper spacing of buildings and permits the incorporation of local convenience New York City's new Zoning Resolution has been new residences are permitted in Manufacturing Dis~ 6. Requirements for off-street parking of autos shopping. It also gives the City a reasonable period acclaimed as a "mandate for a better City." It repre tricts. In mapping these Districts, a careful review and off-street loading of trucks are built into of time to acquire sites for schools or other public sents a giant stride forward in the City's efforts to was made of all vacant land in the City to select appro the Resolution. facilities which may be required in conjunction with meet the compelling problems imposed by a modern priate areas for future residential construction and New factories and commercial buildings are required the large-scale project. metropolis. It frees the City from the shackles of the for modern industrial development. Careful attention to provide off-street parking. In addition, the parking past as embodied by the old code. was paid to achieving maximum compatibility between requirements for residential buildings are increased. This booklet is intended to serve as a guide to the The City's first Zoning Resolution, passed in 1916 Districts by buffering Residence Districts from heavy The percentage of parking spaces required is greater new Zoning Resolution. It contains, in summary, its and hailed as a pioneering achievement then, had manufacturing with high performing light industry in the outlying sections of the City than in the more major provisions and outlines the principles upon become hopelessly inadequate. Complicated by a three or appropriate Commercial Districts. densely developed and congested areas; in the high which they are based. In many instances regulations map system with more than 2,500 map and text density central areas of Manhattan and Brooklyn, are discussed in detail. Where possible, charts and amendments, and antique and unwieldy provisions, it 2. Loopholes are eliminated, by specifying uses no off-street parking is required for commercial and diagrams have been used to illustrate the text. industrial establishments. impeded rather than encouraged logical planning allowed in a District instead of those prohibited. The Resolution is the sum and distillation of nearly progress. It failed to provide a rational guide to the Every operation that is or may be carried on in this a half-century of thought and study. Five years in growth and future development of the City, and 7. Commercial Districts are zoned to help retail City is listed and assigned to appropriate Districts. shopping meet modern needs. preparation, it contains much material which can equally serious, failed to protect existing development No new use can be located anywhere until it is re not be abbreviated without the risk of distortion. from encroachment by incompatible or undesirable viewed and assigned to a District where it would Deeper zoned Commercial Districts provide for Thus, it is manifestly impossible in a guidebook uses. serve the community and where it would be most com more up-to-date shopping facilities and for off-street to match the Resolution's scope or magnitude. As A great number of new uses and new problems have patible with its neighbors. parking. Appreciable amounts of sterile commercial strip zones are rezoned for productive use. a guide to a technical document, every effort has come into being since the passage of the 1916 Reso been made to be accurate. However, this booklet does lution. Modern construction techniques and a multi 3. Performance standards are set for industry not have the status of an enactment. It has been which will make for more desirable plants that 8. Provision is made for large-scale residential tude of new materials have been developed. The and community facility developments. designed to aid in the use of the Resolution, but in automobile has demonstrated an insatiable appetite are not offensive to our residences and to other businesses. no respect should it be considered a substitute for for space - for parking, for highways, for garaging The new zoning does not force large-scale residential the original. - in an era when our old zoning code was hitched Regulations limiting noise, smoke, odor, vibration and community facility developments to be treated to the horse and buggy. and other annoying or hazardous effects of industry as if they were simply a collection of buildings on December 1961 The demands of these technological and social are eetablished and appropriate agencies designated changes have been met by the new Resolution. More to enforce their standards. These regulations will over, because of its rational structure, the Resolution permit greater freedom of site selection for industries will be easy to amend in order to meet the needs of that are now limited by arbitrary and inflexible zon the future. The new Resolution, for example, specifi ing provisions. cally makes provision for the inclusion of new uses in appropriate Districts as they come into existence. 4. More open space and less overcrowding in }'esidential areas are insured by a carefully Zoning serves as a basic blueprint for the City's worked out set of interrelated controls. development. Because of its importance, the Resolu tion was the subject of years of intensive study and Regulations limit the number of rooms that can be numerous public hearings to reflect the soundest expert built on a given lot and also curtail excessive con opinion and the needs and desires of our citizens. version of existing apartments - a practice that has What has evolved is an equitable, modern document, led to the rise of new congestion and slums as fast formulated to cope with existing conditions, yet as the old ones could be eliminated through renewal flexible enough to change when times demand it. and redevelopment efforts. Additional controls (open While it is highly detailed it is also logical and con space ratio and floor area ratio) establish good stand sistent, and has been drawn to provide maximum ards of open space and limit excessive bulk. Factors convenience. used in establishing appropriate levels of density for an area include proximity to rapid transit or com Following are the major features of the new muter railroad lines, availability of community facili Resolution: ties and topographical features. 1. An appropriate place is designated for every 5. Bulk regulations encourage more light, air use. and better design, and permit construction There are Residence, Commercial, and Manufactur economies. ing Districts - each important in