Commerce City, CO Building Setbacks & Zoning: Lot Coverage Limits (2026)

Commerce City's Land Development Code defines lot coverage generally at Sec. 21-11125 as the percentage of a lot's area covered by buildings, calculated by dividing building square footage by lot square footage, but that section is a measurement formula rather than a numeric cap, and a review of the code's zoning district dimensional standards turns up no citywide maximum building lot coverage percentage; height, setback, and floor area ratio limits govern bulk instead. What the code does cap directly is impervious surface within the front yard.

Sec. 21-7205(2), in the driveway standards, provides that driveways and other impervious surfaces cannot comprise more than the percentage of the front yard set out in Table VII-1: 50 percent for single-family detached homes, 50 percent for single-family attached homes, and 60 percent for multi-family development, with no percentage cap listed for commercial, industrial, or public/institutional uses. Where a residential front yard cannot fit a compliant driveway within that percentage, the code allows parking to be shifted to the rear or side yard or accessed through an alley instead.

Sec. 21-11125(2) excludes some coverage from the general lot-coverage calculation: areas under swimming pools and hot tubs, open decks under 30 inches above grade, and storage sheds under 120 square feet in total area are not counted as building area. Sec. 21-7205(3) also encourages pervious paving alternatives such as pervious pavers in residential districts specifically to reduce runoff, and existing driveways built before June 10, 2023 may be repaired or replaced with the same materials that were originally used.