Overview
Traditional Euclidean district-and-overlay code under Chapter 10 of the Tallahassee LDC. Numeric suffix on Central Urban (CU-XX) districts encodes maximum residential density in du/acre; CU-18 / CU-26 / CU-45 derive their dimensional standards from Division 4 of Chapter 10 (the Downtown Overlay Regulating Plan / MMTD master plan), not from a per-district dimensional table. Three structural quirks: (1) Capitol Complex State-owned land creates jurisdictional gaps in Downtown / Central Core; (2) FSU + FAMU campuses likewise occupy state land partially exempt from local zoning; (3) Canopy Road Overlay (§10-302 city / §10-6.707 BCC) is a stand-alone 100-ft-from-centerline tree-protection / setback / height overlay derived from Ord. 92-3 / 92-10. Live Local Act (SB 102/2023, SB 328/2024, SB 1730/2025) overrides commercial / industrial base zoning for qualifying affordable multifamily. | naming_convention_raw=abbreviation-encoded with letter and numeric suffixes (RP-1 / RP-2 / RP-MH / RP-UF / RP-R for Residential Preservation tiers; CU-XX with numeric density ceiling, e.g. CU-18 = 18 du/ac, CU-26 = 26 du/ac, CU-45 = 45 du/ac; CC for Central Core; C-1/C-2 for Commercial; CP Commercial Parkway; CM Medical Arts Commercial; IC Interchange Commercial; OR-1/OR-2/OR-3 Office Residential; MR-1 Medium Density Residential; M-1 Light Industrial; PUD/U-PUD Planned Unit Development; ASN-A through ASN-D All Saints Neighborhood; UV University Urban Village; UT University Transition) ; sub_flags_raw=[state-capital, university-dominated, live-local-active, canopy-road-overlay, joint-city-county-planning, downtown-overlay-mmtd]
- CC Central Core allows 150 du/ac per §10-197 — anomalously high density for a mid-size Florida city; intentional for downtown revitalization but creates the city-wide LLA density floor (any qualifying LLA project anywhere in commercial/industrial Tallahassee is entitled to up to 150 du/ac).
- CU-18 / CU-26 / CU-45 numeric suffix encodes maximum residential density; the three districts share Division 4 / MMTD dimensional standards rather than carrying their own per-district setback / height tables.
- CC, CU-18, CU-26, CU-45 carry stackable density bonuses: 25% per §10-289 (DORP enhancement-based) or 35% per §10-200 (U-PUD); each enhancement under §10-280.7 yields +5% up to those caps. CU-45 with full U-PUD stack → 60.75 du/ac on bonus.
+ 9 more in Quirks & notes
Districts
| Code | Name | Category | Min lot | Height | Coverage | FAR | Du/ac | Parking | Setbacks F/S/R |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RP-1 | Residential Preservation 1 | res_sf | 6,000 sf[4] | 35 ft[5] | — | — | 3.6[6] | — | 25[1] / 10[2] / 25[3] |
| RP-2 | Residential Preservation 2 | res_sf | 6,000 sf[10] | 35 ft[11] | — | — | 6[12] | — | 15[7] / 7.5[8] / 25[9] |
| RP-MH | Residential Preservation Mobile Home | res_sf | 3,600 sf[16] | 35 ft[17] | — | — | 6[18] | — | 10[13] / 7.5[14] / 7.5[15] |
| RP-UF | Residential Preservation Urban Fringe | res_sf | 20,000 sf[22] | 35 ft[23] | — | — | 3.6[24] | — | 25[19] / 15[20] / 25[21] |
| RP-R | Residential Preservation Rural | res_sf | 20,000 sf[28] | 35 ft[29] | — | — | 3.6[30] | — | 25[25] / 15[26] / 25[27] |
| CU-18 | Central Urban 18 | res_mf | — | — | — | — | 18[31] | — | — / — / — |
| CU-26 | Central Urban 26 | res_mf | — | — | — | — | 26[32] | — | — / — / — |
| CU-45 | Central Urban 45 | res_mf | — | — | — | — | 45[33] | — | — / — / — |
| OR-1 | Office Residential 1 | off | 5,000 sf[37] | — | — | — | 8[38] | — | 15[34] / 7.5[35] / 25[36] |
| OR-2 | Office Residential 2 | off | 5,000 sf[42] | — | — | — | 16[43] | — | 15[39] / 7.5[40] / 25[41] |
| CC | Central Core | cbd | — | — | — | — | 150[44] | — | — / — / — |
| C-2 | C-2 General Commercial | com | — | — | — | — | 16[48] | — | 25[45] / 15[46] / 10[47] |
| CP | CP Commercial Parkway | com | — | — | — | — | 16[49] | — | — / — / — |
| M-1 | M-1 Light Industrial | ind | — | — | — | — | — | — | 25[50] / 25[51] / 10[52] |
| PUD | Planned Unit Development | spec | — | — | — | — | — | — | — / — / — |
| U-PUD | Urban Planned Unit Development | spec | — | — | — | — | — | — | — / — / — |
Confidence: confirmed partial under review not found
Overlays
Mapped boundaries covering three locally-designated historic districts (Downtown Historic Core; Park Avenue / Calhoun Street area; College Town transition area south of FSU campus) plus 250+ individually-designated locally historic structures scattered citywide. National Register of Historic Places eligibility for two of the three districts. Overlay geometry appears on the Tallahassee zoning atlas and Leon County GIS portal (tlcgis.leoncountyfl.gov).
Mapped boundary covering the Central Core (CC) district + adjacent CU-18 / CU-26 / CU-45 / OR-1 blocks within roughly the Downtown Tallahassee Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) footprint, anchored on the State Capitol Complex and the Adams Street / Monroe Street commercial spine. Overlay geometry available via the Leon County GeoData Hub (geodata-tlcgis.opendata.arcgis.com Downtown Overlay layer) and the Tallahassee Planning Department GIS atlas.
FEMA-designated flood hazard areas within city limits per current FEMA Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map (DFIRM): Zone AE (1% annual chance with base flood elevation), Zone A (1% annual chance no BFE), Zone X (500-year / minimal hazard). Overlay geometry per FEMA DFIRM and Tallahassee-Leon County GIS FEMA Flood Zone map viewer.
All lands within 100 feet of the centerline of an officially designated canopy road (Canopy Road Protection Zone, established by Ord. 92-3 expanding from earlier 35 ft / 50 ft buffers). Eight officially designated canopy road segments (per Tallahassee-Leon County Canopy Road Management Plan): (1) Meridian Road — Seventh Ave. to state line; (2) Magnolia Drive–Centerville Road–Moccasin Gap Road — Seventh Ave. to SR 59; (3) Miccosukee Road — Capital Circle to Moccasin Gap Road; (4) Old St. Augustine Road — East Lafayette St. to W.W. Kelley Rd.; (5) Old Bainbridge Road — Raa Ave. to Capital Circle; (6) Sunny Hill Road — Thomasville Rd. to Old Centerville Rd.; (7) Old Centerville Road — Centerville Rd. to state line; (8) Pisgah Church Road (added 2007).
Mapped UT and UV district areas adjacent to FSU campus (including College Town transition zone south of FSU between Pensacola Street and Madison Street) and adjacent to FAMU campus (including FAMU Way redevelopment corridor and South Side neighborhoods).
State preemptions
Adopted building codes
Statewide — FL Building Code 7th ed
Click a code label to open its state-by-state adoption atlas.
Quirks & notes
- CC Central Core allows 150 du/ac per §10-197 — anomalously high density for a mid-size Florida city; intentional for downtown revitalization but creates the city-wide LLA density floor (any qualifying LLA project anywhere in commercial/industrial Tallahassee is entitled to up to 150 du/ac).
- CU-18 / CU-26 / CU-45 numeric suffix encodes maximum residential density; the three districts share Division 4 / MMTD dimensional standards rather than carrying their own per-district setback / height tables.
- CC, CU-18, CU-26, CU-45 carry stackable density bonuses: 25% per §10-289 (DORP enhancement-based) or 35% per §10-200 (U-PUD); each enhancement under §10-280.7 yields +5% up to those caps. CU-45 with full U-PUD stack → 60.75 du/ac on bonus.
- Tallahassee LDC has NO 'CG Commercial General' or 'CMU Central Mixed Use' districts — v1 profile labels were inaccurate. Actual commercial districts are C-1, C-2, CP, CM, IC; mixed-use intensity is captured by CC + CU-XX + DORP.
- Canopy Road Overlay (§10-302 city / §10-6.707 BCC) imposes a 100-ft-from-centerline Canopy Road Protection Zone (CRPZ) on 8 designated canopy roads (Meridian, Magnolia/Centerville/Moccasin Gap, Miccosukee, Old St. Augustine, Old Bainbridge, Sunny Hill, Old Centerville, Pisgah Church) — hard 100-ft no-development setback without local approval per Ord. 92-3.
- State capital + two state university campuses (FSU, FAMU) sit on state-owned land partially exempt from local zoning — creates Capitol Complex and university-area jurisdictional gaps inside the city footprint.
- Live Local Act self-execution: Florida SB 102 + SB 328 + SB 1730 allow multifamily by-right in commercial/industrial districts at the highest adjacent density — affects C-2, CP, CM, IC, OR-1/2/3, M-1 (and likely CC); LDC has not been formally amended to incorporate the 2024/2025 amendments.
- Hotel-to-residential conversion permitted under Live Local Act SB 328 (2024) provisions; specific Tallahassee implementation procedures unresolved.
- DORP density / intensity bonuses are quantified at §10-280.7: each qualifying enhancement = +5%, capped at 25% (non-U-PUD eligible districts) or 35% (U-PUD).
- Gaines Street corridor transitioning from industrial (M-1) to mixed-use with ongoing comprehensive plan amendments and discussed (but not finalized) HPOD designation — active redevelopment area.
- Joint Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department: city and county share comprehensive planning function, creating coordination on FLU consistency for boundary-adjacent unincorporated land in the urban service area.
- Charter city via 1919 Florida Charter Act — has home-rule authority subject to state preemption (LLA, STR, impact fee caps, building code, Bert Harris, private property rights) but cannot opt out of these state mandates.
Formulas
Definitions
- height
- Measured to highest point of structure
- lot_coverage
- Building footprint / lot area
- far
- Gross floor area / lot area; not the primary form-control in Tallahassee Ch. 10 — most non-residential districts use a sf/acre cap (e.g. C-2 = 20,000 sf gross/acre)
- du_ac
- Dwelling units per acre; varies significantly — RP-1 capped at 3.6, CC at 150
- impervious_cover
- Total impervious surface / lot area; regulated under Ch. 5 environmental management
- setback_front
- Front property line to nearest building face
- setback_side
- Side property line to nearest building face
- setback_rear
- Rear property line to nearest building face
- parking
- Spaces per dwelling unit unless noted
Capacity calculations
- max_footprint_sf
lot_area_sf * lot_coverage- max_gfa_sf
lot_area_sf * far- max_units_from_density
lot_area_sf * du_ac / 43560- buildable_width_ft
lot_width_ft - setback_side_ft * 2- buildable_depth_ft
lot_depth_ft - setback_front_ft - setback_rear_ft- buildable_envelope_sf
buildable_width_ft * buildable_depth_ft- max_stories_approx
max_height_ft / 10- max_gfa_from_envelope
min(buildable_envelope_sf * max_stories_approx, max_gfa_sf)- parking_required
units * parking
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.
| District | Category | Height | FAR | Coverage | Setbacks | Parking | Density | Min lot | Overlays |
|---|
Sources & references
- [1] §10-241
- [2] §10-241
- [3] §10-241
- [4] §10-241
- [5] §10-241
- [6] §10-170(a)(3)a
- [7] §10-241
- [8] §10-241
- [9] §10-241
- [10] §10-241
- [11] §10-241
- [12] §10-170(a)(3)b
- [13] §10-241
- [14] §10-241
- [15] §10-241
- [16] §10-241
- [17] §10-241
- [18] §10-170(a)(3)c
- [19] §10-241
- [20] §10-241
- [21] §10-241
- [22] §10-241
- [23] §10-241
- [24] §10-170(a)(3)d
- [25] §10-241
- [26] §10-241
- [27] §10-241
- [28] §10-241
- [29] §10-241
- [30] §10-170(a)(3)e
- [31] §10-239.2
- [32] §10-239.3
- [33] §10-239.4
- [34] §10-251
- [35] §10-251
- [36] §10-251
- [37] §10-251
- [38] §10-251
- [39] §10-252
- [40] §10-252
- [41] §10-252
- [42] §10-252
- [43] §10-252
- [44] §10-197
- [45] §10-256
- [46] §10-256
- [47] §10-256
- [48] §10-256
- [49] §10-258
- [50] §10-6.652
- [51] §10-6.652
- [52] §10-6.652
Research status
Publication gates
| primary url present | passed | code_source = https://library.municode.com/fl/tallahassee/codes/code_of_ordinances (canonical Municode URL for Tallahassee LDC Ch. 10). source_platform = 'Municode (Municipal Code Corporation)'. Secondary references at talgov.com/Uploads/Public/Documents/place/zoning/*.pdf (live-retrieved district PDFs). Not an aggregator domain. |
|---|---|---|
| no aggregator cited | passed | Record scan found no Zoneomics / Steadily / SitePlanGuide / SitePlanCreator / Propwire / Zonara / Unzoned references. All citations point to Tallahassee LDC Ch. 10 / Ch. 5 §-references (§10-170, §10-197, §10-200, §10-239.2/3/4, §10-241, §10-251, §10-252, §10-256, §10-258, §10-280.7, §10-289, §10-302, §10-6.652, §10-6.707, §10-319), Fla. Stat. §-references, FEMA DFIRM, Leon County GIS (tlcgis.leoncountyfl.gov / geodata-tlcgis.opendata.arcgis.com), or city domains (talgov.com, library.municode.com). Smart Surfaces Policy Tracker is a primary policy-research source, not an aggregator of zoning data. |
| confidence tags full form | passed | All 16 district confidence fields and all 5 overlay confidence fields carry full c§/p§/i§ section-reference form (c§10-170 ×5, c§10-239.2/3/4, c§10-251, c§10-252, c§10-197, c§10-256, c§10-258, c§10-6.652, c§10-165, c§10-200, c§10-319, c§10-280.7, c§10-302, p§Ch.5, p§10-242). 0 bare tags. |
| overlays have parameters trigger confidence | passed | 5/5 overlays (HPOD, DORP, FP, CRO, UAO) carry non-empty parameters[] arrays, explicit geographic_trigger string, status, citation, and full-form confidence. DORP and CRO upgraded from partial to confirmed this pass; HPOD/FP/UAO remain partial with retrieval_failure_reason. |
| preempt section city specific | passed | Tallahassee is in FL (active-preemption state). state_preemptions_applicable[] contains 6 entries (Live Local Act c§166.04151(7), STR preemption c§509.032(7), Impact Fee Caps c§163.31801, Bert Harris c§70.001, Private Property Rights HB 1309/2021 c§70.51 + c§163.3167(8), FBC preemption c§553.73). Each entry has city-specific qualifying_condition_checked and effect_on_city narratives (CC 150 du/ac city-wide LLA density floor, FSU/FAMU/Capitol Complex state-land carveout, SB 1730/2025 mixed-use clarification, joint city-county planning coordination, Wind Zone 2 + Munson Slough FEMA AE/A flood-zone exposure). |
Data quality
- CC + CU-18/26/45 dimensional standards (height, setback, FAR) — partial; depend on Division 4 / MMTD master plan
- FAR not the primary form-control in Tallahassee Ch. 10 — most districts use sf/acre cap instead
- CP / CM / IC / MR-1 / R-1 / R-2 / R-3 / R-4 / R-5 / RA / UT / UV / NB / NBO / SCD / ASN-A through ASN-D dimensional standards — partial pass
- Parking ratios across all districts — partial; MMTD reductions apply downtown
- DORP enhancement list (full 25% / 35% stack components) — partial; §10-280.7(p)–(v) confirmed but full subsection enumeration not retrieved
- Floodplain Overlay city freeboard amount and Ch. 5 section numbers — partial
- HPOD design-guidelines table and contributing-structures inventory — partial
- UT / UV University-area district quantified standards — partial
Known issues
Other cities in this state
Nearest-alphabetical profiles. Click through to compare zoning patterns side-by-side.