Your Zoning Dictionary
Accessory Apartment
Also known as an accessory dwelling unit (ADU), this term refers to smaller home on the same lot as a larger home. State laws enable this type of housing to be built in a separate building, like a garage, or on the third floor or back of the primary home. Click here to learn more about accessory apartments.
As of Right
As of right means that public review of zoning regulations occurs at the district-level instead of the project-level. Once the requirements for a district is defined, a project application within the district is reviewed for compliance with the zoning code by town staff, without needing to undergo a public hearing, variance, or special permit/exception. If an application meets the criteria outlined in the district’s zoning code, it will be approved.
Diverse Housing
This broad term describes housing options that go beyond single-family zoning, including: accessory apartments, multi-family housing, and mixed-use developments. Here are some examples of diverse housing!
Duplex
A single building that contains two homes. They can be stacked, as shown in the below image at left, or side by side, as shown on the right.
Exclusionary Zoning
Zoning that ends up keeping people, particularly low-income people and people of color, out of certain communities. Scholars usually say that large-lot single-family zoning is the most exclusive. Learn more about exclusionary zoning.
Fourplex
A single building that contains four homes. It can come in many configurations!
Inclusionary Zoning
Zoning that sets aside a percentage of units to be affordable. This is not a term that refers to zoning being inclusive in the general sense.
Infill Development
Infill development means building within an already developed area or district i.e. building “in not out” to avoid sprawl. It could mean reducing lot sizes, building smaller homes or stores, or redeveloping under-utilized properties. The advantage of Infill Development is that it leverages existing infrastructure like transit, sewers/water, sidewalks, or other walkable services and amenities.
Missing Middle Homes
Missing Middle is a term representing the large gap of types of homes between single-family homes and large-scale multi-family developments that are typically not allowed in current zoning regulations. These could be duplexes, triplexes, and other types of small multi-family homes that historically are very common in CT communities and offer more affordable options to own or rent.
Mixed-Use Zoning
A type of zoning that allows for both residential and commercial development, often in the same building. For example, buildings with retail shops on the ground floor and housing on the upper floors are mixed-use buildings.
Multifamily Housing
This term means different things to different people, but when we talk about multifamily housing, we usually distinguish between two units (duplexes), three units (triplexes), or four-or-more units. Here are some examples of multifamily housing!
Overlay Zone
A specific type of zone that can be mapped on top of an existing zone.
Primary Dwelling
Also known as a main unit, this term means a larger home on the same lot as an accessory apartment. Click here for more on accessory apartments.
Sprawl
Sprawl is a broad term applied to low-density, car-dependent land use patterns that dominate our environment in CT. It is as much an economic system (that incentivizes building further out from urban cores) as a social system (that requires you to drive everywhere and spreads people out from each other). In more recent years, is has become commonly understood to be economically inefficient, racially exclusionary, and environmentally destructive.
Transit-Oriented Community
A mixed-use neighborhood centered around existing transit infrastructure. Click here for more on equitable transit-oriented communities.
Transit Station
We define a transit station as a fixed station, like a platform for passenger or commuter rail (Amtrak, Hartford Line, Metro North, and Shoreline East) or bus rapid transit (CTfastrak), or a local bus station. Click here for more on equitable transit-oriented communities.
Triplex
A single building that contains three homes. It can come in many configurations, including the common arrangement, the stacked flats, shown below.
Zoning Enabling Act
The state law that delegates zoning authority to towns and establishes regulations within which towns can zone. Click here for an overview of Connecticut’s laws on zoning.
