Palatine, IL Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Downtown Design Guide (2026)

Section 11.01(m), Business Standards for the Properties located within the Central Business District, gives every commercial parcel inside the downtown boundary, Wood Street on the north, Smith Street on the west, Johnson Street on the south and Plum Grove Road on the east, a choice: follow the use list and bulk standards tied to the property's own underlying zoning district, or follow the B-3 Central Business District's use list and bulk standards instead. Where the two sets of rules conflict, Section 11.01(m)(1) directs the Village to apply whichever requirement is least restrictive, so a downtown property is never held to the stricter of two competing standards.

B-3's own bulk table, set out in Section 11.04(g) through (k), permits no minimum lot width, a maximum floor area ratio of 1.5, a five-foot front setback, a twenty-foot rear setback, and side setbacks of zero feet or, if provided, at least five feet. B-3 buildings may rise three stories and up to forty-five feet, taller than the thirty-six-foot cap that applies in Palatine's single-family districts. This flexible-standards approach functions as downtown Palatine's development framework in place of a separate architectural design manual: rather than layering a distinct downtown design code on top of existing zoning, the Village lets each parcel's owner apply the more permissive of two already-adopted standards, administered by the Planning and Zoning Division through the building permit process under Section 32-181.