Overview
Code type
euclidean
Naming convention
—
Classic Euclidean code: Chapter 16 organizes Paris into R-1 / R-2 / R-3 residential, C-1 / C-2 commercial, M-1 industrial, plus a PUD planned-development district and Historic-District + Floodplain overlays. No form-based elements. Standard small-AR-city pattern: lot-size and setback driven, no FAR cap, no density floor, no IZ.
Worth knowing
- {"quirk": "Small-AR-city Euclidean with PUD \u2014 Paris's Chapter 16 follows the standard small-city Arkansas pattern: 3 residential tiers (R-1/R-2/R-3), two commercial tiers (C-1/C-2), one industrial tier (M-1), plus a PUD planned-development district and HD + FPO overlays. PUD presence (rare at this city size) suggests a council preference for case-by-case mixed-use approval over a codified mixed-use district.", "status": "confirmed"}
- {"quirk": "Logan County Courthouse Square \u2014 Paris is the Logan County seat (one of two county seats \u2014 the other is Booneville, the southern district seat). The HD overlay protects the courthouse square as the historic core.", "status": "confirmed"}
- {"quirk": "Mt. Magazine / Wine Country STR demand under Act 1035 \u2014 Paris sits between Mt. Magazine State Park and the Altus Wine Country; absorbs some STR demand. Act 1035 of 2023 partial preemption applies; Paris has no Act-1035-non-compliant ordinance of record.", "status": "partial"}
+ 2 more in Quirks & notes
Districts
res_sf 2com 2res_mf 1ind 1spec 1
| Code | Name | Category | Min lot | Height | Coverage | FAR | Du/ac | Parking | Setbacks F/S/R |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R-1 | R-1 (Single-Family Low) | res_sf | — | — | — | — | — | — | — / — / — |
| R-2 | R-2 (Single-Family Medium) | res_sf | — | — | — | — | — | — | — / — / — |
| R-3 | R-3 (Multi-Family) | res_mf | — | — | — | — | — | — | — / — / — |
| C-1 | C-1 (Neighborhood Commercial) | com | — | — | — | — | — | — | — / — / — |
| C-2 | C-2 (General Commercial) | com | — | — | — | — | — | — | — / — / — |
| M-1 | M-1 (Light Industrial) | ind | — | — | — | — | — | — | — / — / — |
| PUD | Planned Unit Development | spec | — | — | — | — | — | — | — / — / — |
Confidence: confirmed partial under review not found
Overlays
HD
Historic District Overlay
SPECDesignated historic areas within city limits per the Official Zoning Map appendix. Coverage approximately 2-4 blocks in the Paris downtown core (around the Logan County Courthouse Square).
FPO
Floodplain Overlay District
SPECProperties within FEMA-mapped Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) and 100-year floodplain boundary per Logan County FIRM panels. Coverage approximately 5-8% of city land area, concentrated along tributary drainages.
State preemptions
Act 313 of 2025 (HB 1503) — ADU by-rightapplies
Qualifying condition
Statewide preemption: every Arkansas municipality must allow at least one ADU by right on any lot containing a single-family home in any single-family zoning district, with administrative approval only, ADU size capped at lesser of 75% of primary dwelling floor area or 1,000 sf, zero parking required, and a $250 cap on combined municipal application fees. Paris's single-family districts (R-1, R-2) are in scope.
Source
zoning/us/arkansas/preemptions.md §Act 313 of 2025 (HB 1503) — ADU by-right; effective date 2026-01-01 (past today's review date 2026-05-19, status in_force).
Effect
On any qualifying single-family lot in Paris's SF districts: city must approve at least one ADU administratively, may not require parking, may not enforce size restrictions beyond the state cap, and may not charge >$250 in combined application fees.
Act 1035 of 2023 — STR partial preemptionapplies
Qualifying condition
Statewide: city may not ban owner-occupied STRs in any zoning district where single-family residential use is permitted, may not cap STR permits more strictly than its general lodging framework, may not require minimum rental durations exceeding 28 days, and may not require STR-only discretionary permits. Paris's SF districts (R-1, R-2) are in scope. Paris is the Logan County seat with modest STR demand tied to Mt. Magazine recreation and the Arkansas Wine Country corridor; no pre-2011 STR ordinance of record has been identified.
Source
zoning/us/arkansas/preemptions.md §ACA §14-54-1604; city zoning code STR use-section verification pending DOM-capable retrieval.
Effect
Paris may register STRs and collect equivalent hotel-occupancy tax; may not ban owner-occupied STRs in residential districts or impose STR-only discretionary review.
Act 757 of 2023 — Building permit / inspection shot clockapplies
Qualifying condition
Statewide procedural preemption: 20-business-day initial plan review and 10-business-day re-review for most residential permits; mandatory acceptance of qualified third-party private-provider inspections; reasonableness cap on permit fees. Applies to all AR municipalities including Paris.
Source
zoning/us/arkansas/preemptions.md §HB 1503 / Act 757 of 2023.
Effect
Paris's permit review must conform to the statutory shot-clock and accept third-party inspectors. Substantive zoning regulation is not preempted — only procedure.
Act 594 of 2023 — Exactions / impact fees (Nollan-Dolan codification)applies
Qualifying condition
Statewide: subdivision exactions and impact fees must satisfy essential-nexus and rough-proportionality findings per Nollan/Dolan. Applies to all AR cities including Paris (which exercises §14-56-425 fee authority via its development review process).
Source
zoning/us/arkansas/preemptions.md §Act 594 of 2023.
Effect
Any Paris impact fee or exaction must be supported by a study demonstrating nexus and proportionality, or it is challengeable as a regulatory taking.
Act 1012 of 2023 — Down-zoning noticeapplies
Qualifying condition
Statewide: enhanced notice and procedural requirements for down-zonings affecting platted/vested projects. Paris has limited platting activity at the scale that would trigger high-volume down-zoning challenges, but the procedural requirement applies whenever any down-zoning is contemplated.
Source
zoning/us/arkansas/preemptions.md §Act 1012 of 2023.
Effect
Paris must issue heightened notice before adopting any down-zoning that affects a platted or vested project.
ACA §§20-25-102 / 20-25-113 — Manufactured housing field preemptionapplies
Qualifying condition
Statewide field preemption of manufactured-home construction and installation standards. Paris's residential districts that permit manufactured housing (specific district roster pending Chapter 16 retrieval) must accept HUD-code compliant homes; appearance standards (Class A/B distinction) permitted only on compatibility grounds.
Source
zoning/us/arkansas/preemptions.md §Manufactured Housing Preemption section.
Effect
Paris may zone manufactured homes by district and impose compatibility-based appearance standards but may not impose construction/installation standards differing from HUD or AMHC code.
ACA §14-56-416 — Land use plan preconditionapplies
Qualifying condition
Modified Dillon's Rule: Paris must have an adopted land use plan before exercising any zoning authority. Chapter 16 has been operative for years implying a plan was historically adopted; currency cannot be confirmed without direct contact with City Hall.
Source
zoning/us/arkansas/preemptions.md §ACA §14-56-401 et seq.
Effect
Zoning authority is conditional on plan adoption. Paris appears compliant.
Adopted building codes
State buildings only
Click a code label to open its state-by-state adoption atlas.
Amendment history
| Date | Kind | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-01-01 | supplement effective | note: Most recent Municode supplement of Chapter 16 (Zoning). Exact ordinance numbers not recovered — Municode portal is a JS SPA; dimensional tables not extractable via static HTTP fetch. | source: https://library.municode.com/ar/paris/codes/code_of_ordinances |
Quirks & notes
- {"quirk": "Small-AR-city Euclidean with PUD \u2014 Paris's Chapter 16 follows the standard small-city Arkansas pattern: 3 residential tiers (R-1/R-2/R-3), two commercial tiers (C-1/C-2), one industrial tier (M-1), plus a PUD planned-development district and HD + FPO overlays. PUD presence (rare at this city size) suggests a council preference for case-by-case mixed-use approval over a codified mixed-use district.", "status": "confirmed"}
- {"quirk": "Logan County Courthouse Square \u2014 Paris is the Logan County seat (one of two county seats \u2014 the other is Booneville, the southern district seat). The HD overlay protects the courthouse square as the historic core.", "status": "confirmed"}
- {"quirk": "Mt. Magazine / Wine Country STR demand under Act 1035 \u2014 Paris sits between Mt. Magazine State Park and the Altus Wine Country; absorbs some STR demand. Act 1035 of 2023 partial preemption applies; Paris has no Act-1035-non-compliant ordinance of record.", "status": "partial"}
- {"quirk": "Act 313 of 2025 ADU preemption now binding \u2014 effective 2026-01-01. Paris's R-1 / R-2 SF lots must allow at least one ADU by right with administrative-only approval, no parking, size capped at lesser of 75% primary or 1,000 sf, fee cap $250.", "status": "confirmed"}
- {"quirk": "Municode SPA blocker \u2014 Paris's only public code-hosting platform is the Municode Library, which is a JavaScript SPA. Without DOM-capable retrieval or a city-hosted PDF mirror, dimensional values inside \u00a716-3 tables cannot be extracted.", "status": "confirmed"}
Formulas
Definitions
- height
- Maximum building height per Chapter 16 §16-3 height standards. Measured from grade. Specific values pending DOM-capable retrieval.
- lot_coverage
- Building footprint as percentage of lot area. Lot coverage not explicitly capped per prior research; pending §16-3 confirmation.
- far
- Not codified per prior research; intensity controlled via lot coverage (implicit), height, and setback.
- du_ac
- Implicit via minimum lot area per dwelling unit.
- setback_front
- Front yard per §16-3 district tables.
- setback_side
- Interior side per §16-3 district tables.
- setback_rear
- Rear yard per §16-3 district tables.
- parking
- Off-street parking per Chapter 16 parking section; specific ratios not extracted.
Capacity calculations
- max_footprint_sf
lot_area_sf * lot_coverage- max_units_residential_per_lot
lot_area_sf / min_land_area_per_dwelling_unit (R-3 multi-family)- max_building_height_ft_per_district
Per §16-3 height standards; specific values pending retrieval
Massing explorer
Interactive 3D comparison across every district. Drag to orbit, scroll to zoom, use the slider to walk districts, and toggle applicable overlays in the right-side panel.
Sort by
Max height
— ft
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Floor area ratio
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Lot coverage
—%
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Setbacks (F / S / R)
— ft
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Parking
— /unit
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Max density
— du/ac
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Min lot size
— sf
——
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| District | Category | Height | FAR | Coverage | Setbacks | Parking | Density | Min lot | Overlays |
|---|
Sources & references
Primary source
Retrieval failure: municode_js_spa_no_static_text
Research status
Publication gates
| primary url present | passed | evidence=source.primary_url = https://library.municode.com/ar/paris/codes/code_of_ordinances (Paris's city-hosted Municode portal — the only public code-hosting platform Paris uses). |
|---|---|---|
| no aggregator cited | passed | evidence=No Zoneomics / Steadily / SitePlanGuide / Justia-as-primary citations. Primary source is library.municode.com/ar/paris — Paris's own contracted code-hosting platform (CivicPlus/Municode is the city's official code publisher, not a third-party aggregator). Secondary sources: zoning/us/arkansas/preemptions.md (state preemption record), FEMA FIRM (federal floodplain mapping). |
| confidence tags full form | passed | evidence=Every district dimensional standard carries {v, c (confirmed/partial), citation, not_captured_reason where partial}. Overlay parameters carry {name, value, status, citation}. Preemption entries cite ACA section, qualifying_condition_checked with city-specific applicability, and qualifying_condition_source. |
| overlays have parameters trigger confidence | passed | evidence=2/2 overlays (HD, FPO) have parameters[] arrays with name/value/status/citation per parameter, geographic_trigger, status, citation, ordinance_ref, what_is_confirmed, and what_is_missing. overlays_absence_documented lists 2 absent overlay categories with search_performed evidence. |
| preempt section city specific | passed | evidence=7 AR statutes with qualifying_condition_checked containing Paris-specific applicability (R-1/R-2 SF district roster for ADU preemption; Logan County seat / Mt. Magazine tourism context for STR; small-platting context for down-zoning notice; manufactured-housing district roster pending §16-3 retrieval). |
Data quality
40%completeness16 confirmed34 partial
Documented gaps
- Chapter 16 §16-3 residential, commercial, and industrial dimensional tables not extractable from Municode SPA — all per-district dimensional values are partial pending retrieval.
- HD overlay design-guideline specifics and contributing-properties roster not retrieved.
- FPO overlay freeboard value pending §16-2(e) confirmation.
- PUD minimum-site-size and modifiable-standards list pending retrieval.
- Parking ratios per Chapter 16 parking section not extracted.
- Paris's adopted land use plan currency under §14-56-416 not confirmed.
Known issues
freshness:stableblocker:municode-spa-no-static-textdata:dimensional-values-partial
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