Hot take: I think the 10 foot rule for studio distance is mostly wrong

I was reading the building code for my town in Springfield and it says you only need a 5 foot setback from the property line for an accessory building under 200 square feet. Everyone online says you need 10 feet minimum from your house, but the actual law here is way less. Has anyone else checked their local rules and found they were way off from the common advice?

2 comments

2 Comments

reese5512d ago

My town's code in Lexington is even more specific, it's only a 3 foot side yard setback for sheds under 150 square feet. The online forums make it sound like a universal rule, but it's totally not. You really have to dig into your own city's zoning document, the one they call the "unified development ordinance." I found the 10 foot advice caused me to delay my project for months over nothing. Those blanket rules are just people repeating what worked for them somewhere else, and it can be really misleading.

wren3012d ago

Actually, those general rules are a decent starting point for most people... saves a ton of initial research time. @reese551 had a weirdly specific case, but for a lot of towns the common advice gets you in the right ballpark. It's better than going in totally blind and missing something obvious.

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