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Zoning Administrator Interpretation 22: Recognition of Existing Record Lots Overlaid by Tax Lots


Friday, February 5, 2021
Reference: 
ZA-022

This interpretation summarizes the standard operating procedure (SOP) between DOB’s Office of Zoning Administration and the Office of the Surveyor regarding the condition of a Record Lot that is overlain by an Assessment and Taxation [A&T Lot or Tax Lot]. 

Section A-301.3 requires a Record Lot for most development purposes, as per this excerpted portion of Section A-301.3: 

Except as provided in the building lot control regulations for Residence Districts in Subtitle C and § 5 of An Act to amend an Act of Congress approved March 2, 1893, entitled “An Act to provide a permanent system of highways in that part of the District of Columbia lying outside of cities,” and for other purposes, approved June 28, 1898 (30 Stat. 519, 520, as amended; D.C. Official Code § 9-101.05, a building permit shall not be issued for the proposed erection, construction, or conversion of any principal structure, or for any addition to any principal structure, unless the land for the proposed erection, construction, or conversion has been divided so that each structure will be on a separate lot of record; …. 

Where a current A&T Lot overlays an existing Record Lot, an applicant shall be able to utilize an existing underlying Record Lot for zoning purposes. The following shall be applicable to the lot(s): 

Steps to ‘Resurrect’ the Record Lot for Review: 

1. The applicant shall research, in the records of the Office of the Surveyor, to determine whether a Record Lot was previously created. 

2. If a Record Lot was previously created, but does not currently appear in the Master Address Repository program (MAR), Property Quest, D.C. GIS Map, or other City records/databases, the applicant will be able to utilize that Record Lot for zoning purposes, if the following apply:  
  a.    The boundaries and areas of the subject underlying Record Lot and overlaying A&T Lot must be the same. 
 
  b.    The Record Lot and A&T Lot shall have frontage on a DC public street or public alley. 

3. The applicant shall submit an application for a building plat to the Office of the Surveyor, for the current lot (As shown in the latest update of the MAR Database or Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) Real Property Database). 

4. The Office of the Surveyor shall issue the building plat showing the current lot (As shown in the latest update of the MAR or OTR Real Property Database). 

5. The applicant shall then present the building plat showing the current lot along with any documentation of underlying record lots to the Office of Zoning Administration. 

The Office of Zoning Administration will process an application that recognizes the underlying Record Lot, for purposes of Section A-301.3 even if the lot is substandard for any lot standards, including width, area, and/or frontage, that is required in the zoning regulations. The Office of Zoning Administration shall place a note on the plat when applicable that the underlying Record Lot was used for approval by Zoning in their review.