Tabular Data

To collect information about allowable uses and dimensional restrictions for each zoning district, MAPC reviewed the most current available zoning bylaws and ordinances for every municipality in the region. Before interpreting the code ourselves, we contacted municipal staff in each city and town to solicit their interpretation. That process entailed sending a table pre-populated with known districts, all desired fields, and attribute values from the 1999 MassGIS data, where available. For those municipalities that provided us with data, we used their interpretations as the basis for ours, and then augmented them with a review of their most recent code.

The tabular data describing allowable uses and dimensional restrictions for base zoning districts is far more extensive than the tabular data for overlay zoning districts. The tabular data for overlay zoning districts is limited to identifying information and the classification of the district into one of three types:

• Flexible Districts, which generally relax the density and dimensional requirements of the underlying zone. Examples include overlay zones that allow multifamily housing or mixed-use development in places where it is not permitted, or that permit flexibility in site design.

• Restrictive Districts, which limit development potential so as to protect natural resources or other assets. Examples include floodplain overlay districts and historical preservation districts

• Special Districts, which have targeted application to specific, often legally mandated uses. Examples include telecommunications or adult-use districts.

MAPC has not yet attempted to interpret or standardize overlay zoning districts beyond this classification. The tabular data for base zoning districts are described in the following sections.

The Record Edited Data (EDITDATE) field in the Atlas describes the date the tabular data in the Atlas was last updated.