Pittsburgh Zoning Districts - R1A Overview
By Carolyn Ristau
Introduction
Zoning districts are a fundamental building block of zoning regulations and set the base use, height, and density standards. The R1A or Single-Unit Attached Residential is one of five R or residential zoning districts in Pittsburgh. Only 2.5 square miles or 5% of the city falls into an R1A zoning district. In this post, we provide an overview of the challenges when working on a site in the R1A zone. Additional posts will dive into the uses and density regulations for the R1A.
Note: There are additional “special” zoning districts that are also predominantly residential, but they are grouped separately from the “R” residential districts.
Refer to our Introduction to Pittsburgh’s Zoning Districts for the complete list of base zoning districts in the city. Pittsburgh’s interactive zoning map can be used to verify the project site’s zoning district and density subdistrict.
Challenges
The R1A zoning district is almost an oxymoron. Attached single-family dwellings are permitted in this zoning district, however, the base side setback requirement is a minimum 5 ft. It’s hard to build attached dwellings with 5 ft in between. To get around this there is a “bandage” in a later section of the zoning code that permits a 0 ft side setback, with caveats.
However, the 5 ft side setback applies to all proposals that are not single-family attached dwellings. This zoning district is frequently in areas of the city with very narrow lots. With a 5-ft setback on both sides, these narrow lots end up with no buildable lot area. There is a narrow lot “bandage” that permits this setback to be reduced to 3 ft, but that still often leaves an unbuildable site. Many projects are therefore required to pay additional fees and go through additional processes just to establish a buildable lot area.
On the positive side, Community Center (Limited) and Parks and Recreation (Limited) have an easier approval path in the R1A than the R1D. Community Center (Limited) shifted from a conditional use to a special exception, and Parks and Recreation (Limited) shifted from a special exception to an administrator exception. See our R1A Uses post for more information.
Conclusion
The zoning district sets the base use, height, and density standards for any project. The R1A is slightly more permissive than the R1D, but it still has limited uses along with setback and minimum lot size requirements that don’t match the existing conditions. While the zoning district sets the base standards, there may be “bandages” that permit variations, or a project may request variances to these requirements.
Also, keep in mind that meeting these base standards does not guarantee zoning approval as there may be additional zoning regulations that apply - the most common are parking and environmental requirements.
