Zoning lot

The zoning lot, defined in § 12-10 of the Zoning Resolution, is the unit of land against which floor area, yards, coverage, and the other bulk controls are measured. It often coincides with a single tax lot, but it need not: adjacent tax lots on the same block can be combined into one zoning lot by agreement among the parties in interest, recorded against the properties.

The distinction is the legal foundation of the development-rights market. Because floor area is computed across the whole zoning lot, a merger lets unused floor area from one tax lot be built on another within the merged lot — the mechanics of most air-rights transactions. It also means a lot's history of declarations matters: floor area committed by a prior merger is no longer available, whatever today's arithmetic suggests.