Louisville, KY Zoning

9 districts. 4 overlays.
This profile is an earlier edition — some fields may be incomplete. An updated profile is in progress.

Overview

Worth knowing
  • DUAL-TIER system: every parcel has both Zoning District + Form District
  • Form Districts control height/setbacks/design independently of zone
  • Louisville Metro = city + Jefferson County merged 2003

+ 1 more in Quirks & notes

Districts

res_mf 3res_sf 2com 2cbd 1ind 1
CodeNameCategory Min lotHeight CoverageFAR Du/acParking Setbacks F/S/R
R-4Single Familyres_sf9,000 sf35 ft0.3[1]4.84230 / 5 / 25
R-5Small Lot SFres_sf6,000 sf35 ft0.35[2]7.26225 / 5 / 20
R-6Multi-Family Lowres_mf6,000 sf45 ft0.4[3]12[4]1.515 / 5 / 15
R-7Multi-Family Mediumres_mf6,000 sf65 ft0.5[5]22[6]1.2515 / 5 / 15
R-8AMulti-Family Highres_mf6,000 sf-1 ft0.65[7]65[8]110 / 5 / 10
C-1Commercialcom6,000 sf45 ft0.6[9]25 / 10 / 10
C-2Commercial/Retailcom6,000 sf65 ft0.7[10]15 / 5 / 10
C-3Downtowncbd-1 ft1[11]0 / 0 / 0
M-2Industrialind10,000 sf45 ft0.6[12]25 / 10 / 25

Confidence: confirmed partial under review not found

Overlays

H
Historic Preservation
HP

Local landmark

FP
Floodplain
FP

FEMA 100-yr

AZ
Airport Zoning
AP

SDF approach

PC
Parkway Corridor
COR

Scenic parkways

Adopted building codes

Statewide; KY plumbing code

2015
2015
2023
2012
IECC (Residential)
2015
IECC (Commercial)
2015

Click a code label to open its state-by-state adoption atlas.

Quirks & notes

  • DUAL-TIER system: every parcel has both Zoning District + Form District
  • Form Districts control height/setbacks/design independently of zone
  • Louisville Metro = city + Jefferson County merged 2003
  • Middle Housing reform 2024: duplexes/triplexes in R-4/R-5 without rezoning

Formulas

Definitions

height
Grade to highest point of structure.
lot_coverage
Building footprint / lot area.
far
Gross floor area / lot area.
du_ac
Dwelling units per gross acre.
setback_front
Front property line to nearest building face.
setback_side
Side property line to nearest building face.
setback_rear
Rear property line to nearest building face.
parking
Spaces per dwelling unit unless noted.

Capacity calculations

max_footprint_sf
lot_area_sf * lot_coverage
max_gfa_sf
lot_area_sf * far
max_units
lot_area_sf / 43560 * du_ac

Massing explorer

Interactive 3D comparison across every district. Drag to orbit, scroll to zoom, use the slider to walk districts, and toggle applicable overlays in the right-side panel.

Sort by
LOW
HIGH
drag to orbit · scroll to zoom
Max height
ft
Floor area ratio
Lot coverage
%
Setbacks (F / S / R)
ft
Parking
/unit
Max density
du/ac
Min lot size
sf
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District Category Height FAR Coverage Setbacks Parking Density Min lot Overlays

Sources & references

Citations
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Research status

Data quality

75%completeness
Documented gaps
  • Form district dimensions not integrated
  • Commercial parking not extracted

Known issues

schema:v1-legacypriority:lowdata:gaps-present

Other cities in this state

Nearest-alphabetical profiles. Click through to compare zoning patterns side-by-side.