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Zoning Information
General Zoning Information
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| The
deadline for application submissions is the 1st of the month. The
applicant should consult with the Urban Development Department to discuss the
feasibility of the request and any additional requirements before submitting an
application.
Zoning
divides the City into districts for the purpose of regulating land use and
development. Zoning addresses items such as the types of uses allowed, building
height, setbacks from property lines, lot coverage and minimum lot area.
A Special
Use Permit (SUP) allows a use, requiring additional review to determine if
it is appropriate at a specific site.
Approval
of a Technical Site Plan by the Planning & Zoning Commission is
required prior to the issuance of a building permit for Multi-Family
development. If the Commission determines that the use complies with the
requirements of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance and is compatible with he
surrounding area, then the technical site plan may be approved. City Council
approval of the technical site plan is not required in most instances. Consult
the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance and the Planned Development District (if
applicable) for the zoning requirements. These requirements cannot be varied by
the Technical Site Plan.
A
Miscellaneous Development request may be submitted for consideration by
the Planning and Zoning Commission for the following items:
- a sidewalk
waiver;
- removing a
deed restriction, if the City of Carrollton is a party to it;
- creation of
a joint parking area;
- classification of a new or unlisted use in accordance with Article V
of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance;
- variances to
specific aspects of the General Engineering Design Standards;
- variances to
specific aspects of the Driveway Ordinance;
- amending the
Comprehensive Plan;
- amending the
Transportation Plan, and;
- other
miscellaneous requests
If the
Commission approves the miscellaneous development application, no further
process is normally required, with the exception of Comprehensive Plan
amendments and alternate facade requests, which must also be approved by the
City Council. |
Application & Approval Process
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Miscellaneous
development requests and technical site plans require approximately 60 days to
be completed (measured from the application deadline). All other
requests require approximately 90 days to be completed (measured from the
application deadline).
All
applications follow the following process: |
| Application |
The applicant must provide a
completed application form, the application fee and correct number of
bluelines, PMT or Stat of the property being rezoned or site plan for an SUP to
the Planning Department. Prior to the processing of an application, any
delinquent property taxes must be paid. |
| Staff
Review |
The request is distributed to city
departments for review. After that review, city staff will make recommendations
to the Planning & Zoning Commission and City Council based on the
appropriateness of the proposed request and its compliance with the
Comprehensive Plan. A copy of the staff recommendation will be provided to the
applicant approximately six (6) days prior to the Commission meeting.
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| Planning
& Zoning Commission |
The Planning & Zoning Commission
meets on the 1st Thursday of each month (meeting schedule) and makes the final decision on
technical site plans and miscellaneous development cases. The Commission will
review the request at a public hearing. The Commission may either approve or
deny the request for a technical site plan or miscellaneous development
request.
For rezoning or SUP requests, the
Commission may either recommend approval or denial. If the request is
recommended for approval, it will be forwarded to the City Council. If the
request is recommended for denial, the application is deemed denied, and no
further action will be taken unless City Council requests a hearing or
the applicant requests an appeal of the Commission's decision to the City
Council.
The appeal must be in writing and
submitted to the Planning Department within ten (10) days after the
recommendation of the Planning & Zoning Commission. A favorable vote of
three-fourths (3/4) of all members of City Council is required to overrule a
recommendation of denial. (See Article XXXI of the Comprehensive Zoning
Ordinance.) |
| City Council |
The City Council meets on the 1st and
3rd Tuesdays of each month and makes the final decision on zoning and SUP
cases. The City Council will review the rezoning or SUP request at a public
hearing. If the rezoning or SUP application is approved, the Council will
ratify an ordinance enacting the new zoning or SUP approximately four (4) weeks
later. In some instances, the ordinance may be ratified on the same agenda as
the public hearing. |
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Property is NOT rezoned and
SUPs are NOT in effect until their ordinance is ratified by City
Council. |
Zoning Verification Letters
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| Please mail or fax a request for
a zoning verification letter which includes the following: |
| ● |
Street address of the subject
property |
| ● |
Legal description of the subject property |
| ● |
Location map showing where the
property is located
(you can use one of our
Zoning Atlas pages if you do not have a
map) |
| ● |
Fee (see fee list
below) |
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Here is an example of
the zoning verification letter. Please note that its language has been approved
by our City Attorney and will not be changed.
Each letter will be
accompanied by any relevant zoning or special use permit ordinances, and a copy
of the zoning atlas page on which the subject property lies. |
| Zoning
Verification Letter Fees |
| Mailed
within one week |
● |
$25.00 |
| Mailed
within one day |
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$50.00 |
| Immediate/on-the-spot service |
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$100.00 |
| How can I
find out what uses are allowed on my property? |
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First, use the
Zoning Atlas pages to find which zoning district your
property is in.
Then open Article 5 of the
Zoning Ordinance and look
for the spreadsheets with the uses and zoning districts. Read vertically down
the "types of uses" column on the left until you find a particular use, then
horizontally across the row until you find the correct zoning district column,
and see what is in the cell at the intersection of the use row and the zoning
district column.
A "dot" in the cell means the use is permitted. An "S"
in the cell means you must apply for and receive a Special Use Permit for that
use. A blank cell means the use is not permitted. |
| The zoning map says "PD"
something. What does that mean? |
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"PD" stands for "Planned Development."
Planned development districts are numbered in the order they were created (for
example, "PD-38" was the thirty-eighth planned development created). You should
also see a zoning district category nearby, in parentheses. This is the "base
zoning."
A planned development has additional requirements above and
beyond the "base zoning." Sometimes a planned development changes permitted
uses, adding or removing some. Sometimes a planned development imposes
additional design or landscaping requirements.
To determine what these
additional requirements or regulations are, contact the Urban Development
Department. |
| What do the other initials
and numbers in the zoning district labels mean? |
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The Atlas Legend
explains the initials. "SF" districts are "single-family" residential
districts; "LR" districts are "local retail" districts, etc. Higher numbers
indicate that more intense uses are allowed. |
| What about "SUP" followed by
a number? What does that mean? |
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"SUP" stands for "Special Use Permit."
These are uses that are allowed at a specific location if they meet certain
additional requirements. SUPs are numbered to keep track of them as they are
created. Here is a list of SUP's. |
| How do I know what my
building setbacks or height limits are, or how much brick has to be on the
building? |
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The development standards (building
setbacks, height limits, brick requirements, etc.) are found in the appropriate
article of the Zoning
Ordinance. For example, the standards for the "LR-2" zoning district
are found in Article 14, which deals with the "LR-2" zoning
district.
Parking and landscaping requirements for all zoning districts
are found in Articles 24 and 25 of the Zoning Ordinance,
respectively. |
| EXAMPLE: |
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Suppose you were
curious about the vacant land at the northwest corner of Josey Lane and Trinity
Mills Road (the President George Bush Turnpike).
The Atlas
Page Index
would tell you that this intersection is shown on Atlas Page C-3, and
according to that page the vacant land is in PD-28 and the "base zoning" (shown
in parentheses) is "LR-2."
Since
the Atlas
Legend says "LR" is "local retail," you know this land is generally
zoned for retail uses, and since it is "2" and not "1," it is the more intense
of the two local retail districts.
You can then look in Article 5.2
(use chart for non-residential districts) to see if the use you propose is
normally allowed in the "LR-2" district.
You can go to the
Zoning Ordinance and
download or open Article 14 - which deals with the "LR-2" district - for
most development standards and requirements (as noted above, parking and
landscaping requirements have their own articles).
Since this land is in
a Planned Development, you need to determine what additional development
standards are required and if a particular use has been added or removed from
the list of permitted uses for this area.
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| How do I find out the
particular requirements for a Planned Development? |
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For a quick answer to a simple
question (such as "is use "X" permitted in this Planned Development?")
you can phone, write or e-mail the Urban Development Department.
However, for more complete information you should contact
the Building Inspection Department. It is our
"one-stop-shop" for development, and they will let you know everything you need
to know in order to open a business at a particular location. |
Sign regulations in Carrollton are not
part of the Zoning Ordinance. They are administered by the Building Inspection
Department.
Go the Signs and Banners page.
At the bottom of that page are links to two downloadable versions (Microsoft
Word and Adobe Acrobat PDF) of the sign ordinance. |
On June 6, 2000, the Carrollton City
Council adopted
Ordinance No. 2520 first establishing a tree
protection ordinance. Strictly speaking, the Tree Ordinance is
not a part of the Zoning Ordinance, but it may affect development.
You can download a copy of the latest version of
the ordinance, read
a summary of it or see answers to
ten frequent questions. Each is in Adobe Acrobat (PDF)
format. |
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