Chicopee, MA Building Setbacks & Zoning: Lot Coverage Limits (2026)

Chicopee defines LOT COVERAGE in § 275-4 as that percent of the lot covered by the principal and accessory structure. Coverage includes the ground area enclosed by walls, together with the area of all covered porches and other roofed portions, including areas covered by building overhangs. A covered porch or a roof overhang therefore counts against the limit the same way the walls do.

In Residential A (§ 275-52(C)(5)) the Maximum Coverage column reads NR, no requirement, for permitted uses, membership clubs, hospitals, charitable institutions, and isolation, drug or alcoholic clinics. Accessory buildings, and garages and stables not accessory to a permitted use, are limited to 40% of rear yard. That cap is measured against the rear yard, not the whole lot. The same table lists the heights in feet: 40 for principal uses and 30 for accessory buildings. Residential B's yard table in § 275-53(C)(5) prints the same NR and 40% of rear yard entries for its rows. The Residential C dimensional standards in § 275-54(D) print no coverage percentage; they control building placement through lot area, a 25 foot separation between principal buildings, yard setbacks, height and open space instead.

Outside the residential districts the numbers change. The Central Business District (§ 275-61(D)(4)) sets maximum building coverage at 80% of the lot. The Commercial A, Commercial A-1 and Business A districts (§§ 275-56, 275-57 and 275-58) each print their own Maximum Coverage column in their yard and height tables, so a commercial lot has to be checked against the section for its own district.

The coverage figure is one of several dimensional standards in the same section. Minimum lot size in Residential A is 10,000 square feet, minimum lot frontage is 100 feet, and minimum lot depth is 100 feet.