The plan says 'MN' — but the house is designed from six other numbers
'The plot is zoned MN, so a single-family house is allowed' — true, but incomplete. The designation symbol says WHAT kind of building is permitted. HOW BIG, HOW TALL, and WHERE ON THE PLOT it can sit is decided by six parameters written in the plan's text, not on its drawing.
Six numbers worth reading before the symbol
| Parameter | What it limits | Typical range for MN |
|---|---|---|
| Building intensity ratio (FAR) | total floor area of all storeys relative to plot area | 0.1 – 0.8 |
| Maximum building coverage | what share of the plot the building's footprint may occupy | 20 – 40% |
| Minimum biologically active area | how much of the plot must stay 'living' ground — lawn, garden, unpaved | 30 – 60% |
| Maximum building height | height of the building, usually measured to the ridge | 8 – 12 m |
| Roof geometry | roof pitch angle and form | e.g. gable, 30–45° |
| Building line | where on the plot the building may, or may not, stand | often 4–10 m from the road |
Why the reading order matters
Maximum height and coverage ratio, together with the minimum biologically active area, can effectively cancel each other out on a small plot: a plan that theoretically allows a large house may simultaneously require so much biologically active area that it's physically impossible to use much of the nominally allowed coverage. Reading one parameter without the others leads to wrong conclusions about what actually 'fits'.
Building line — the most overlooked parameter
The building line, mandatory or non-exceedable, isn't a number — it's a boundary drawn on the plan's map, usually at a set distance from the road. The building must stand exactly on that line (mandatory) or anywhere closer to the plot's interior than that line (non-exceedable), regardless of what the general boundary-setback rules say. On a narrow, deep plot, it's often the building line — not the boundary setbacks — that decides where the house goes.
The parameters in a local plan's resolution are a legal text, not always easy to find in a readable public form. Centria's parcel report pulls them out of the resolution for the specific zone and shows them together — height, coverage, biologically active area — in one place.
Frequently asked questions
The upper bound is the maximum allowed for the whole zone — your specific project may use less of it. The lower bound is, in some plans, also a mandatory minimum — worth checking directly in the resolution's text.
A missing parameter for a given zone usually means it isn't regulated there — but it's worth verifying directly in the resolution, since it sometimes refers out to separate regulations (e.g. technical conditions) instead of restating a value.
For an already-adopted local plan, its provisions apply — the general plan binds the municipality when adopting NEW local plans and issuing WZ decisions; it doesn't retroactively change plans already in force.
See your plot's zoning parameters in one place
The report reads the designation and all the key parameters out of the local plan's resolution — and shows an indicative outline of what can be built.