C1-2 Neighborhood Commercial District A Chicago zoning district · Title 17
Neighborhood commercial. Allows more intensive, more auto-oriented uses than B1 — including taverns and liquor stores by-right — with residential permitted above the ground floor.
Example on a 25 × 125 ft lot. The dashed box is the maximum zoning envelope, the buildable footprint after setbacks, raised to the 47 ft height limit. The solid building is an illustrative example at FAR 2.2: a 3-story building on a shallower footprint. Every floor covers the full width but only about 73% of the lot depth, so the 3 floors reach FAR 2.2 exactly rather than stopping a story short at full envelope depth. A taller ground-floor commercial storefront sits below the upper residential floors.
Specifications
- Zoning Ordinance reference
- §17-3-0105
View in the Chicago Zoning Ordinance - Floor area ratio (FAR)
- 2.2
- Maximum building height
- Varies by lot frontage and whether the building has ground-floor commercial space. §17-3-0408.
- Lot area per unit (density)
- 1,000 sq ft of lot area per dwelling unit. 700 sq ft per efficiency unit; 700 sq ft per SRO unit.
- Minimum lot area
- —
- Rear yard open space
- —
- On-site open space
- —
- Parking requirements
- 1 space per dwelling unit. §17-10-0207.
Setbacks
- Front yard
- None required, unless the property borders an R-zoned lot — then at least 50% of that lot's front setback. §17-3-0404.
- Side yard
- None required, unless the property borders an R-zoned lot — then that lot's front setback applies.
- Rear yard
- At least 30 ft where the building contains dwelling units. If the rear borders the side of an R-zoned lot, match that lot's side setback; if it borders the R lot's rear, at least 16 ft.
Allowed Uses
Curated from the §17-3-0207 use table. P = permitted by-right; S = special-use approval required. Always confirm against the full ordinance text.
- General retail sales
- Limited AND general restaurants; taverns (by-right — C1 distinction)
- Liquor store / package goods (by-right)
- Offices, medical, financial services
- Personal services incl. massage establishment
- Auto supply; car wash; vehicle repair incl. body work
- Dwelling units & artist live/work above ground floor
- Hospital; veterinary; kennel; urban farm
- Amusement arcades; wagering facility
- Drive-through facilities
- Ground-floor / below-2nd-floor residential
- Hotel/motel; adult use; flea market; pawn shop
- Detention/correctional facilities; stables
In Chicago, C1-2 allows a floor area ratio of 2.2 and a height limit of Varies by lot frontage and whether the building has ground-floor commercial space. §17-3-0408.. The figures above are the C1-2 standards as the Chicago Zoning Ordinance states them, each citation linking to the section it comes from in our hosted copy of Title 17. What a specific lot allows also depends on its frontage, depth, corner or through geometry, and any overlay it sits in — run the C1-2 numbers for your lot to see those applied.
Reference figures are modeled from the Chicago Zoning Ordinance (Title 17) for general guidance and do not constitute zoning or legal advice. Lot-specific limits depend on frontage, depth, adjacencies and overlays — analyze a specific address for exact figures. Always confirm against the official ordinance.