Determining FAR
Sports Fans, Hotrodders, do any of you know how to determine how FAR works. Specifically, the wife and I are looking at a little brownstone that has is cited as: R5 B FAR 1.35 We’re not zoning amateurs nor experts, so how do we determine how many added Sq Feet we can build? Thanks
Sports Fans, Hotrodders, do any of you know how to determine how FAR works. Specifically, the wife and I are looking at a little brownstone that has is cited as:
R5 B FAR 1.35
We’re not zoning amateurs nor experts, so how do we determine how many added Sq Feet we can build?
Thanks
Take the land size, multiply by 1.35 and, from the result, deduct the total area of your house (excluding the cellar but including the garden level). For example, if you have a 17ft wide x 100ft deep lot with a 40 ft deep 3 storey house on it the calculation would be:
(17*100*1.35)-(17*40*3) = 255 SF
Whatever your result, you should be aware that there are other zoning rules beyond FAR requirements which may limit your ability to expand, such as height and rear yard constraints.
If there are any mechanical rooms or the like on the habitable floors of your house, you would deduct those from the “17*40*3” area but that’s extremely unlikely to be the case in a brownstone.