Residential districts R-B, R-I and R-U: what can be built and to what measurements

They are Rules 6.1.2, 6.1.3 and 6.1.4 of Chapter 6.1 of Joint Regulation No. 9473, the Qualified Areas chapter. Each defines a residential district — R-B low density, R-I intermediate and R-U urban — in four parts: the district’s purpose, the table of permitted uses, the uses granted only by exception, and the design-parameter table with the minimum lot, the width, the occupation, the gross floor area, the density and the yards. R-U adds two sections of its own on occupation area and gross floor area for apartment-house projects.

The parameters apply to every new construction on a lot qualified R-B, R-I or R-U. A property’s qualification is read on the qualification maps, which this site covers in another guide. The R-U district also identifies residential areas forming part of historic zones: those follow Chapter 10.2 of the regulation and require the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture’s recommendation. And Act 161-2009 provides that municipalities with an approved Territorial Ordinance Plan using different nomenclature must harmonise their districts with this regulation.

• In R-B: a lot of no less than 900 square metres and 20 metres wide, maximum occupation 50%, maximum gross floor area 150%, front and rear yards of 3 metres or one fifth of the height, and two side yards of no less than 3 metres each.Verified against the official source
• In R-I: a lot of no less than 275 square metres and 11 metres wide, maximum occupation 60%, maximum gross floor area 180%, front and rear yards of 3 metres or one fifth of the height, and two side yards of 2 metres each.Verified against the official source
• In R-U: a lot of no less than 400 square metres and 15 metres wide, maximum occupation 50%, gross floor area 250% multifamiliar and 420% in a historic zone, and yards of 5 metres multifamiliar or 3 metres in a historic zone.Verified against the official source
• If the R-U lot is in a historic zone: complying with Chapter 10.2 of the regulation and obtaining the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture’s recommendation.Verified against the official source
• For a guest house by exception: Tourism Company certification, no more than 25 lodging units in R-B and R-U or more than 15 in R-I, giving the structures no commercial characteristics, and the minimum lot the district’s table sets with 60 additional square metres per bedroom above seven.Verified against the official source
• For a religious institution by exception: a lot of up to two cuerdas, a minimum separation of fifty linear metres from any lot with an existing or authorised petrol station, yards twice the size the district requires, no exterior loudspeakers, and a public hearing before authorisation.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: R-B: low density, nine hundred metres

   The low-density district is established to identify areas for future urban growth and to preserve the residential character of developed or developable areas, where different types of dwelling are allowed. Its parameters are the most generous in lot size and the strictest in exploitation: minimum lot nine hundred square metres, minimum width twenty metres, maximum occupation area fifty per cent and maximum gross floor area one hundred and fifty per cent, with the rule that the gross floor area of any storey above the first will not exceed the maximum occupation percentage permitted. Density goes by lot size: on lots under nine hundred square metres, one dwelling unit; on larger lots, one- or two-unit houses. Front and rear yards are three metres or one fifth of the height, whichever is greater, and there are two side yards of no less than three metres each.

2. 2

   Step 2: R-I: intermediate, one unit per 150 metres

   The intermediate-density district is established to identify developed or developable residential areas where different types of dwelling are allowed. Minimum lot two hundred and seventy-five square metres, minimum width eleven metres, occupation sixty per cent and gross floor area one hundred and eighty per cent. Density changes logic: on lots under two hundred and seventy-five square metres, one dwelling unit; on lots of two hundred and seventy-five square metres or more, one basic dwelling unit per one hundred and fifty square metres. Front and rear yards are three metres or one fifth of the height, with a useful exception: on blocks with a public walk six metres wide or more along the centre, the front yard facing the road may be no less than two metres wide. Side yards drop to two metres on each side.

3. 3

   Step 3: R-U: density is decided by the width of the street

   The R-U district is established for existing or developable residential areas with high population density, on land classified urban or urbanisable, near main centres of economic activity, where sewer, drinking-water, power and transport infrastructure exists or can be provided. Minimum lot four hundred square metres, minimum width fifteen metres and occupation fifty per cent. What is distinctive is the density: in the multifamiliar column, the number of units is computed from a ratio to the width of the road the lot faces, in square metres of lot per basic dwelling unit: seventy for a ten-metre road, sixty for eleven to thirteen, fifty-five for fourteen to fifteen, and fifty for seventeen or more. Front and rear yards are five metres or one fifth of the height, and side yards three metres on each side.

4. 4

   Step 4: R-U in a historic zone: a whole other column

   R-U also identifies residential areas forming part of historic zones, which follow Chapter 10.2 of the regulation and require the ICP’s recommendation. The parameter table carries a separate column for them. The minimum lot, width and occupation are the same, but the gross floor area rises to four hundred and twenty per cent and the density becomes one basic dwelling unit per fifty square metres of lot area, never exceeding the units permitted on the lot, and with the gross floor area per storey exceeding ninety per cent of the lot area for the first three storeys or fifty per cent for any storey above those. The front yard drops to three metres, and buildings in historic contexts where the neighbours have no front yard are exempt. From the side yard are exempt structures abutting another parcel where the historic zone’s urban context has no side yards, allowing party-wall development, and a zaguán of no less than one and a half metres may be required instead of the side yard if the property’s width allows.

5. 5

   Step 5: Occupation and gross floor area in R-U apartment projects

   R-U carries two sections of its own. The occupation area will not exceed fifty per cent of the lot’s size, but in apartment-house projects it rises with the permitted density: at one hundred square metres of lot per unit, fifty per cent; at seventy, fifty-five; at sixty, sixty; at fifty-five, sixty-five; and at fifty, seventy per cent. The regulation adds that those percentages may be interpolated to fit intermediate lot sizes. The gross floor area will not exceed two hundred and fifty per cent of the lot area, and in apartment-house projects it may rise: at one hundred square metres per unit, two hundred and eighty per cent; at seventy, four hundred; at sixty, four hundred and seventy; at fifty-five, five hundred and ten; and at fifty, five hundred and sixty per cent.

6. 6

   Step 6: Which uses each district allows

   All three districts allow single-family houses, second storeys, micro casas or tiny houses, casas patio, terraced houses and apartment houses. All three allow short-term supplementary lodging and bed and breakfast, and R-I and R-U add guest houses. In services, all three allow specialised lodging and care centres; the nursing home appears in R-B except for patients with mental conditions, in R-I limited to two tenants, and in R-U with no express limit. R-U adds multifamiliares and ground-level or structured parking. And all three allow urban allotments and startups, the latter limited to twenty-five per cent of the structure or property, generating no noise, dust or objectionable odours, and operating only in daytime.

7. 7

   Step 7: The guest house by exception: the three tables

   The guest house is not a permitted use: it comes by exception, and with conditions. Tourism Company certification is required; it will have no more than twenty-five lodging units in R-B and R-U, or more than fifteen in R-I; the structures will be given no commercial characteristics; and the permit will carry the conditions OGPe or the municipality deems necessary to protect the neighbourhood’s health and wellbeing. Where the number of guest bedrooms exceeds seven, the side and rear yards must meet the district’s parameters. And the minimum lot is set by a table per district: nine hundred square metres in R-B, two hundred and seventy-five in R-I and four hundred in R-U, all three for seven bedrooms, with sixty additional square metres of lot per extra bedroom; the maximum bedrooms per holding is thirty-five in R-B, fifteen in R-I and twenty-five in R-U.

8. 8

   Step 8: Food and drink at the guest house, and the hotel in a historic zone

   Guest houses may serve food and alcoholic drinks limited to guests and invitees, with four express conditions: only between 7:00 A.M. and 9:00 P.M.; no exterior signs indicating the availability of food and alcoholic drinks; the dining room seating, in chairs and tables, at most the number of available beds; and any authorisation to sell alcoholic drinks will not be understood as a permit to operate a bar or to set aside a specific place for consuming it. Separately, the hotel inside a historic zone also comes by exception: it requires Tourism Company certification — and in R-B, the ICP’s recommendation too — density is computed assuming a hotel room equals four tenths of a basic dwelling unit, any residential units included will not exceed one per four hotel rooms, the front yard will be no less than six metres and the side or rear ones no less than three.

9. 9

   Step 9: Churches, civic clubs and commerce in the apartments

   Religious institutions come by exception on lots of up to two cuerdas. They may build other related buildings on the same site, such as the minister’s or parish priest’s residence and teaching buildings, presenting a land-development concept; the area those related uses occupy will not count in determining the area required for religious purposes. They must keep a minimum separation of fifty linear metres from any other lot where a petrol station sits or has been authorised, measured between the nearest points. They will keep yards no smaller than twice the district’s; where these cannot be met, sound insulation or other ways of mitigating noise may be required. Installing exterior loudspeakers or horns is not allowed. They will strictly comply with Chapter 8.5’s parking. And a public hearing will be held before authorisation. The non-profit civic club comes in on lots of at most one cuerda, with yards twice the district’s, the ICP’s recommendation in historic sites and zones and a public hearing. The philanthropic institution also requires a public hearing. And light commercial uses are allowed by exception in apartment-house projects of a hundred or more units: five thousand square feet for the first hundred units, increasable at fifteen square feet per unit above the first hundred, on the ground floor, with no single use exceeding fifty per cent of the commercial area, with sanitary installations for no fewer than three of the uses and with parking independent of the residents’.

A property’s qualification is determined on the Planning Board’s qualification maps, and the construction and use permits applying these parameters are processed before OGPe, the Autonomous Municipalities with Hierarchy I to III or an Authorised Professional. Uses by exception are granted in the corresponding process and several of them — civic club, philanthropic institution and religious institutions — require a public hearing before authorisation. In historic zones, the recommendation comes from the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture.

• Computing R-U density without measuring the width of the road the lot faces.
• Applying R-U’s multifamiliar column to a lot in a historic zone, or the other way round.
• Forgetting the ICP’s recommendation when the R-U lot forms part of a historic zone.
• Assuming an R-B lot under nine hundred square metres allows two dwelling units.
• Taking the three-metre front yard without comparing it to one fifth of the building’s height, which may be greater.
• Using R-I’s two-metre front yard where the block lacks the six-metre-or-more public walk that allows it.
• Setting up a guest house without the Tourism Company’s certification, or exceeding the district’s maximum units.
• Serving food or alcoholic drinks at the guest house outside 7:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M., or putting up exterior signs advertising it.
• Treating a guest house’s drinks authorisation as if it were a permit to operate a bar.
• Planning a church within fifty linear metres of a lot with an existing or authorised petrol station.
• Installing exterior loudspeakers or horns at a religious institution.
• Counting on opening a civic club, a philanthropic institution or a church without the public hearing before authorisation.
• Putting light commerce in an apartment project of fewer than a hundred units, or without parking independent of the residents’.
• Running a startup in a residential zone taking more than twenty-five per cent of the structure, generating noise or odours, or outside daytime hours.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Junta de Planificación de Puerto Rico (JP)

  Junta de Planificación

  docs.pr.gov

• Planning Board

  jp

  jp.pr.gov

• OGPe Single Business Portal

  ogpe

  www.permisos.pr.gov