Setback (land use)

:"This article is about minimum distances between buildings and the lot line. For regulations regarding step-like recessions in walls, which accomplish many of the same goals, see Setback (architecture).In land use, a setback is the distance which a building or other structure is set back from a street or road, a river or other stream, a shore or flood plain, or any other place which needs protection. Depending on the jurisdiction, other things like fences, landscaping, septic tanks, and various potential hazards or nuisances might be regulated. Setbacks are generally set in municipal ordinances or zoning. Setbacks along state, provincial, or federal highways may also be set in the laws of the state or province, or the federal government.

Homes usually have a setback from the property boundary, so that they cannot be placed too close together. This would not only be psychologically uncomfortable to residents staring though windows into each others' blank exterior walls (or even into windows, causing a privacy problem), but would present a fire hazard, particularly during windy conditions. Setbacks may also allow for public utilities to access the buildings, and for access to utility meters.

Older houses have smaller setbacks between properties, as walking was a primary mode of transportation and the distance people walked to actual destinations and eventually streetcar stops to had to be kept short out of necessity. Distances of one to five feet at most are common in neighborhoods built in the United States before 1890, when the electric streetcar first became popular. Most suburbs laid out before 1920 have narrow lots and setbacks of five to fifteen feet between house. As automobile ownership became common, setbacks increased further, as distance from main streets became less important.

Setbacks also allow for major thoroughfares to be expanded when traffic increases. If a road is widened, thus reducing the setback to less than minimum, the existing structure may be grandfathered into the new situation. If the setback is made so narrow as to be dangerous, the structure may be forcibly taken from the owner via eminent domain. Some homeowners find themselves in the extremely difficult position of having a new highway nearly up to their front door because the setback has been so severely reduced, and businesses may also suffer greatly by having most of their parking lots taken.

Mailboxes, on the other hand, often have a "maximum" setback instead of a minimum one. A postal service or postmaster may mandate that if a mailbox on a street is too far from the curb for the letter carrier to insert mail, without having to get out of the vehicle, the mail may not be delivered to that address at all until the situation is corrected.

Setback can also be important for security purposes. Embassies or other government buildings may be placed further from the street to reduce the risk of terrorist attack.

ee also

* Setback (architecture) relating to a step-like recession in a wall