New Rochelle, NY Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Downtown Design Guide (2026)

Article XXII, adopted by Ordinance No. 233-2015 and amended through Ordinance No. 2024-191, creates the Downtown Overlay Zones (DOZ) covering six to eight designated districts. 03 keeps the underlying zoning in force, but once an owner elects the overlay, its rules control over any conflicting underlying zoning provision. 09 sets the core design mechanics. Every Public Frontage along a street must include a Landscape and Furnishing Zone, a Pedestrian Clearway Zone and a Transition Zone sized to the designated Street Type, and no building may sit within the Public Frontage except through approved projections.

A Build-To-Line, set parallel to the curb, is mandatory on every existing and new DOZ street; where an existing building sits closer to the street than the mapped line, the Planning Board may set an alternate Build-To-Line to let the existing street wall remain. 10 requires any civic space counted toward a Community Benefit Bonus to provide public access at least 16 hours a day, sit at or near ground level with visual connections to the sidewalk, and meet a minimum 60% civic space frontage occupancy measured against the perimeter Build-To-Zone, unless the Planning Board approves a lower figure.

14 sets the process: a pre-submission meeting with the Commissioner of Development is required before any site plan filing, followed by Planning Board site plan review coordinated with any SEQRA hearing, and mandatory review of preliminary architectural facade elevations by the Professional Architectural Review Committee. 11C are being sought; in DO-7, a bonus sixth story requires viewshed and shadow analyses tied to the district's SEQRA Statement of Findings. Approvals expire two years after site plan approval unless construction has started, with up to a one-year extension for good cause, and the Planning Board can revoke an approval if construction stalls more than six months without good cause.