Before you buy land or a building to redevelop, the question that decides the price is simple: what does the zoning allow you to build here? This guide explains how to answer it for a property in Ulster or Dutchess County, in the order a broker, an architect or a planning board will look at it.
1. Find the zoning district
Every parcel sits in a zoning district on the municipality’s zoning map. In New York, zoning is local: each city, town and village writes its own code, so two lots a mile apart can have very different rules. Start with the current map, not the code printed on the assessment record, which can be out of date. In the City of Kingston, for example, the 2023 Kingston Forward code replaced the old districts with new ones.
Our property package pulls the zoning district for any Ulster County address automatically.
2. Check the use table
The code’s use table lists what each district allows:
- Permitted uses are allowed as of right, usually with a building permit and sometimes site plan review.
- Special permit (special use) uses are allowed only with approval from the planning board or another board, after a public hearing and conditions.
- Uses not listed are generally prohibited. Getting one approved takes a use variance, which is hard to win.
3. Read the bulk and dimensional rules
Even when a use is allowed, the size and placement of what you build is limited by the district’s dimensional rules:
- Minimum lot size and lot width or road frontage
- Front, side and rear setbacks
- Maximum height and number of stories
- Maximum lot coverage or floor area
- Density: how many units per acre or per lot
- Parking requirements, where the code still has them
Run your plan against every one of these. The tightest rule decides what fits.
4. Know which approvals you need
- Building permit from the code enforcement or building department, for nearly everything.
- Site plan review by the planning board, typically for commercial, multifamily and larger projects.
- Subdivision approval from the planning board if you are dividing the land into new lots.
- Variances from the zoning board of appeals when the plan does not meet the code. An area variance relaxes a dimensional rule like a setback. A use variance allows a use the code prohibits and requires proof of unnecessary hardship.
- County referral. Many applications near county roads, municipal borders or state land must also be referred to the county planning department for review.
- Environmental review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), which can range from a short form to a full environmental impact statement.
5. Check what the land itself allows
Zoning is only half the answer. The site has to support the project:
- Water and sewer. In a city or village you may connect to municipal service. In rural areas you will need a well and a septic system, and septic design depends on soil and perc tests approved by the county health department.
- Access. Legal road frontage or a recorded right of way, and a driveway permit from the town, county or state, depending on who owns the road.
- Wetlands and streams. State and federally regulated wetlands, and the buffer areas around them, can take a large share of a parcel out of play.
- Steep slopes and flood zones. Many codes restrict building on steep slopes, and FEMA flood zones affect design, insurance and lending.
- Easements and deed restrictions recorded with the deed can limit use regardless of zoning.
6. Put a number on it
Once you know what can be built, you can value the land the way a developer does: the finished value of the project, minus construction, approvals, financing and a profit margin. That residual is what the land is worth to a builder, and it is often very different from the asking price.
Let us run it for you
Gene Rios Realty prepares this analysis for buyers we represent. Request a property package on any address and we will send the zoning district, assessment, flood zone and school district right away, then follow up with permitted uses, dimensional rules and a realistic read on what you can build.
General information only, not legal or engineering advice. Zoning and environmental rules vary by municipality and change over time. Confirm requirements with the municipality, the county and a qualified professional before you buy.