Zoning Question

I am considering a rear yard addition and have conflicting opinions from two architects I have spoken with. Its a two family, two story plus basement, R6B and 18′ wide lot. I have the FAR and rear yard depth required but want to build a 8’wide x 14′ deep(projecting off house) forming an out court that is 10′ wide by 14′ deep. One person says yes the other no, due to something about the that 10′ needing to exist the whole lot line. Anyone can help?

jp2

in About Brooklyn 12 years and 2 months ago

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jimhillra | 12 years and 2 months ago

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I’ve been trying to post this all day, but for some reason it wouldn’t go through, so James beat me to it. Here’s the same info with a little more detail: According to the zoning: An “outer court” is any open area, other than a #yard# or portion thereof, which is unobstructed from its lowest level to the sky and which is bounded by either #building# walls, or #building# walls and one or more #lot lines# other than a #front lot line#, except for one opening upon: (a) a #front lot line#; (b) a #front yard#; (c) a #rear yard#; or (d) any open area along a #rear lot line#, or along a #side lot line# having a width or depth of at least 30 feet, and which open area extends along the entire length of such #rear# or #side lot line#. What you’re talking about is a court bounded by building on two sides, the side property line, and the rear yard, in accordance to item c. I don’t see any problems here. However, read further on and you’ll see this: “Narrow outer courts In all districts, as indicated, if an #outer court# is less than 30 feet wide, the width of such #outer court# shall be at least one and one-third the depth of such #outer court#.” Your proposed outer court is 10′ wide by 14′ deep. According to the above, the width needs to be 1.33 x the depth, so a 14′ deep outer court would need to be over 18.5′ wide. Conversely, a 10′ wide court could only be about 7.5′ deep. This is where, in my interpretation, you have a problem.

jcarch | 12 years and 2 months ago

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I’m going from memory here, but I believe that the zoning requires an outer court’s width to be at least 1 1/3 times the depth. So if you had a 9′ depth, you’d need a 12′ width. Since you don’t meet the requirements for a court, then you’re creating a side yard, and for an R6B, any side yard needs to go the full depth of the lot. So you’re not meeting the requirements for a court, or for a side yard. If you go full width with the addition, you’ll avoid the problem all together. jcarch ———————— James Cleary Architecture brownstoner.staging.wpengine.com/jamescleary

Putnamdenizen | 12 years and 2 months ago

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Have you checked here: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/zone/art02c03.pdf