Standardized Zoning

Regrid’s Standardized Zoning product provides detailed, structured zoning data in over 6,000 municipalities nationwide.

Zoning controls the possible uses of a parcel – “what can be”. It can be contrasted with our standardized land use codes, which describe how a parcel is used today.

The spatial data includes zoning polygons with standardized attributes such as zoning type, subtype, and numerical fields like required setbacks and Floor Area Ratio (FAR), along with other pertinent details.

Data delivery

The zoning data is available in all of our parcel data file formats. The data is delivered county-by-county.

Files are available via SFTP in the zoning folder.

If you receive cloud deliveries, the files will be pushed to your bucket when updates are available.

Data details

Data sourcing

Our zoning data partner Zoneomics created and utilizes a proprietary system to extract, process, analyze, and standardize zoning data. As every municipality behaves differently when it comes to zoning and zoning changes, the experts at Zoneomics have configured workflows and technology to cater each municipality, making it possible to keep the data updated at scale. The same processes are utilized to ensure the data is kept up to date.

Updates

Zoning updates will be available monthly.

The Standardized Zoning Add-on is created and maintained utilizing a proprietary system to extract, process, analyze, and standardize zoning data. These workflows include the conservative and careful use of both digital automation to speed the process of geo image processing as well as the use of natural language processing (NLP) to extract relevant data from complicated, and extremely large, legal documents.

Zoning data coverage

The best place to view zoning data coverage is on our coverage report, where we provide a county-by-county breakdown of the data available.

We currently have zoning coverage in more than 1,000 counties. Zoning boundaries apply to over 87.5 million parcel boundaries spanning more than 6,300 individual municipalities.

It is common for significant numbers of parcels within individual counties to not be subject to a zoning ordninance, leading to areas where no zoning data exists.

Zoning data currency

The data, sourced from a platform specializing in zoning data, is updated monthly. Zoning currency is reported at the zoning polygon level in the zoning_data_date field. This date reflects the date the polygon was last updated, but it does not correspond to the official ordinance date.

Currency will vary from county to county. Not every local authority provides updates on the same schedule, and due to the scale of the data, not every municipality can be updated in realtime.

Matching zoning data to parcels

We have linked Regrid’s parcels to the zoning via the zoning_id field, which is present in both datasets.

Regrid's Parcels and Zoning layers are both spatial datasets. You can perform a spatial intersection from the parcel to the zoning polygon instead of joining on zoning_id. We recommend matching the parcel centroid to a zoning area.

Zoning data attached to parcels

We include 4 key zoning attributes in the Parcel Data Premium Schema: zoning_type, zoning_subtype, zoning_id, and zoning_data_date. The zoning_id is the key to joining Parcels with Zoning data. These attributes are also present in the Standardized Zoning add-on.

Technical details

zoning_type vs. zoning_subtype

The zoning type provides a high level view of like zoning type. Subtype provides a greater level of granularity in zoning areas that contain multiple common variations.

A key example of this is within the zoning_type “Residential”. Residential reflects a generalized view of all residential activity regardless of subtype.

The zoning_subtype attribute breaks down the Residential type into all the different smaller zoning subtypes which create that larger ‘type’. The residenital subtypes are Single Family, Two Family, Multi Family, and Mobile Home Park.

Special, Planned, and Overlay districts

These three zoning types reflect the complexity of zoning ordinances. In particular, Special and Planned have key differences.

Special: An area where the intended use of the properties in the zone are not reflected by any other zone. This includes uses like parks and universities.

Planned: A zone that has been established for the purpose of allowing a specific development project, usually at the request of a developer.

Overlay: An area where additional conditions, controls, or permissions may apply beyond the initial zone that was established.

“No zoning” or “NZ” zones

These represent areas that are not zoned.

This distinction serves as a confirmation that no polygons or zoning districts are currently assigned in these areas, and not that the data coverage is lacking.

When a jurisdiction does not have zoning, we verify with the local government that they do not have zoning. Occasionally, online sources may not indicate the presence of zoning, but communication with local authorities reveals otherwise. Once confirmed, data for these municipalities is provided with a zoning designation of NZ (No Zoning).

Negative values

Negative numbers are used in specific cases where: a. The local zoning ordinance is complex within the same zoning area, making it impossible to represent a single numeric value. b. Distinct values for these attributes are not applicable.

Here's what the negative numbers represent:

  • -5555: Refer to the zoning code for details.
  • -9999: Indicates that the attribute is not applicable to this zone.
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