Framingham, MA Building Setbacks & Zoning: Setback Rules (2026)

Framingham layers this buffer setback on top of the base yard requirements set district by district in § 435-27B's Table of Dimensional Regulations. The trigger is adjacency: whenever a nonresidential lot's side line abuts a Single-Family Residential district (R-1 through R-4) or a General Residence district, § 435-27E(4) pushes the side setback for buildings on that nonresidential lot out to 30 feet, well beyond most base district minimums, so residential neighbors get a wider buffer than the underlying table alone would provide. The Neighborhood Business (B-1) District gets a carve-out: the same abutting-residential condition only requires a 10-foot side setback there, reflecting B-1's tighter, more urban lot pattern along village and downtown corridors.

The section is explicit that it targets commercial and other nonresidential uses only. A single-family or two-family residential lot next to another residential district is not subject to this abutment rule at all; it simply follows whatever side setback the Table of Dimensional Regulations sets for its own zoning district. The buffer setback also works alongside the open space buffer requirement in § 435-27F(4)(a), which separately requires a 15-foot landscaped buffer, or five feet in the B-1 District, wherever a nonresidential use abuts a residential district or a single-family or two-family use, so a qualifying B-1 site can face both a 10-foot setback and a five-foot planted buffer stacked against the same property line.