Durham, NC Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Density Bonus Law (2026)

6 of the Durham UDO, the joint city-county ordinance administered by Durham City-County Planning, lets a developer trade affordable units for relief from the code's normal dimensional caps. The bonus applies at site plan or subdivision review. In single-family and two-family projects in the RU-5, RU-5(2), and Small Lot Option districts, minimum lot area and width can be cut by up to 20%; in all other residential development the cut can reach 35%, and required yards can be reduced by the same percentages. Infill standards under Sec.

8 still apply on top of any lot or yard reduction the bonus allows. c), the bonus is open to any zoning district that permits multifamily housing, but only projects adding at least 15 dwelling units qualify, and at least 15% of those units must serve households earning 60% of area median income or less: for example, 30 of 200 units. Qualifying projects can then build at the greater of 75 units per acre or the district's own permitted density, and may raise building height where a companion height table applies.

Affordable units have to be built throughout the project and be visually indistinguishable from market-rate units in location, size, or finish, and all affordable units must be delivered before or alongside the bonus units. A traffic impact analysis is still required if otherwise triggered, and bonus units cannot increase the project's required open space. Compliance runs through the city's adopted Affordable Housing Bonus Policies & Procedures, enforced through contracts, restrictive covenants, deed restrictions, or stipulated penalties recorded against the property.