zoneoptics
Spotsylvania County Unincorporated, Virginia · District

C-1

Commercial 1 District
CommercialRetailAll Spotsylvania County Unincorporated districts0

Dimensional standards

C-1 lot requirementsSTREETbuildable areaFront 30 ftRear 20 ftMin width 100 ftMIN LOT AREA20,000 sq ftMAX HEIGHT30 ftMAX FAR0.5MIN OPEN SPACE20%
Plan view of the district’s stated lot requirements. Solid line: the property line. Dashed: the setback lines the ordinance imposes; a building must stay inside the tinted envelope. Drawn from the figures extracted below — illustrative, not a survey.

Lot

Minimum lot areaMinimum lot areaThe smallest parcel on which the district allows anything to be built.
20,000 sq ftsq ftSquare feet. An acre is 43,560 sq ft; a typical suburban lot is 7,000–10,000. (0.46 acacre43,560 square feet — about the size of an American football field without the end zones.)
Minimum lot widthLot widthHow wide a lot must be, usually measured at the front setback line.
100 ft

SetbacksSetbackThe distance a building must be held back from a lot line.

FrontSetbackThe distance a building must be held back from a lot line.
30 ft
RearSetbackThe distance a building must be held back from a lot line.
20 ft

Height & bulk

Maximum heightMaximum heightThe tallest a building may be, given in feet, in storeys, or both — whichever binds first.
30 ft
Maximum floor area ratioFloor area ratio (FAR)Total floor area divided by lot area — an FAR of 2.0 permits 20,000 sq ft of floor on a 10,000 sq ft lot.
0.5
Minimum open spaceOpen spaceLand a development must leave unbuilt, sometimes required to be usable or planted.
20%

Housing

Single-familySingle-family dwellingOne dwelling unit on its own lot, usually detached from its neighbours.
prohibitedProhibitedNot allowed in the district at all, short of rezoning or a variance.
Two-family
prohibitedProhibitedNot allowed in the district at all, short of rezoning or a variance.
Three-family
prohibitedProhibitedNot allowed in the district at all, short of rezoning or a variance.
Four-plus family
prohibitedProhibitedNot allowed in the district at all, short of rezoning or a variance.

Uses

Permitted by right32

Conditional / special use18

Accessory1

  • Accessory uses as permitted by article 5, division 3

Extracted standards

2 individual requirements pulled out of this section’s prose, each with the sentence it came from.

Other

  • Minimum distance from residential zone for drive-through windows300 ft

    Drive-through windows and menu boards shall be located a minimum of three hundred (300) feet from a residential zone or use.

  • Minimum screening heightMaximum heightThe tallest a building may be, given in feet, in storeys, or both — whichever binds first. for drive-through4 ft

    Drive-through facilities shall be designed to minimize glare on adjacent residential zones or uses by the installation of dense vegetative screening or a masonry wall of no less than four (4) feet in height or a combination of both.

From the ordinance

Min lot area 20,000 sqft, min lot width 100 ft. Max height 30 ft. Front 30, rear 20, side no requirement. FAR 0.50. Open space 20%.
Sec. 23-6.17.5 - 23-6.17.7