Pittsburgh Zoning Districts - R1D 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 R1D or Single-Unit Detached Residential is one of five R or residential zoning districts in Pittsburgh. Just over 15 square miles or 30% of the city falls into an R1D zoning district. In this post, we provide an overview of the challenges when working on a site in the R1D zone. Additional posts will dive into the uses and density regulations for the R1D.

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 R1D zoning district is one of the most restrictive and pervasive zoning districts. The only residential use permitted-by-right is the single-family detached type of housing. This means that rowhouses require a use variance from the zoning board. This also causes problems for housing of two or more units that was built prior to the imposition of exclusive single-family zoning on a neighborhood. If there isn’t a clear paper trail of the pre-existing use, these buildings will experience delays when seeking permits for repairs or renovations.

In addition, the setbacks and minimum lot sizes set by the density subdistricts often don’t match existing conditions. As a result, multiple “bandages” have been inserted throughout the code to reduce the number of projects that have to seek dimensional variances for trying to fit in with the neighborhood context. Despite these aids, many projects are still required to pay additional fees and go through additional processes to get approval for looking just like the 100-year-old house next door. Also, as will be described in the R1D density post, the Very Low Density subdistrict requires one side to have a 10 ft side setback but provides no guidance on how to determine which side.

Conclusion

The zoning district sets the base use, height, and density standards for any project. The R1D is one of the most common and most restrictive districts with limited uses and large setback and minimum lot size requirements. 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.