educational screening tool - not professional advice and not a zoning determination. every number here is a reading of the code until verified. read the full disclaimer.
dallas · development code chapter 51a · read october 2026
what a dallas residential lot allows
pick the zoning district and type in the lot. this page reads back what the dallas development code lets the lot hold: homes, setbacks, the footprint left inside them, height, coverage and parking. a screen, not a feasibility report.
inputs
base district on the city map
street frontage
front to rear
or type it - depth follows
feet the thoroughfare plan's right-of-way line sits inside the lot; 0 if not on a thoroughfare
mf districts only
parking rule
what the lot allows
code checks - the numbers behind the claims
what this page does not check
- overlays and planned developments. pd, cd, nso and historic rules control over the base district (51a-4.401(a)(8), 51a-4.505(k), 51a-4.507). an ordinance building line on the block sets the front yard (51a-4.401(a)(3)). none of them are read here.
- deed restrictions and plat notes. private, and often stricter than zoning.
- the established setback on the block. continuity of the setback along the blockface must be kept (51a-4.401(b)(1)); a blockface split by districts takes the larger front yard (51a-4.401(a)(6)).
- corner lots and double frontage. the shorter frontage is the front, the longer is governed by side-yard rules; a lot running street to street needs a front yard on both (51a-4.401(a)(5), (b)(1)). this page treats the lot as an interior lot with one street.
- residential proximity slope geometry. in ch and mf districts the part of a building over 26 ft is cut by a slope from nearby single-family districts (51a-4.412); the page flags it, it does not draw it.
- trees, floodplain, drainage, utilities, parking layout, fire access - the things that usually decide a project after zoning says yes.
- a plat. dividing a lot or building on an unplatted tract is a platting case with its own rules, including right-of-way dedication to the thoroughfare plan (51a-8.602) and, on tracts of five acres or more, the state's sb 15 small-lot limits (2025).
talk to mark. this page tells you what the code says a lot can hold. whether it should, and what it costs to get there, is the conversation: get in touch and bring the address.