C3-3 Commercial, Manufacturing and Employment District A Chicago zoning district · Title 17
Commercial, manufacturing and employment uses, intended to buffer manufacturing areas from other districts. Does NOT permit residential dwelling units.
Example on a 75 × 125 ft lot. The dashed box is the maximum zoning envelope, the buildable footprint after setbacks, raised to the 65 ft height limit. The solid building is an illustrative example at FAR 3: a 4-story building on a shallower footprint. Every floor covers the full width but only about 75% of the lot depth, so the 4 floors reach FAR 3 exactly rather than the 4.0 a full-depth building would reach. C3 permits no residential use, so it reads as mid-rise flex-commercial/light-industrial: continuous ribbon windows and spandrel panels, no unit-scale glazing, flush to the lot line rather than apartments over a storefront.
Specifications
- Zoning Ordinance reference
- §17-3-0107
View in the Chicago Zoning Ordinance - Floor area ratio (FAR)
- 3
- Maximum building height
- Varies by lot frontage and whether the building has ground-floor commercial space. §17-3-0408.
- Lot area per unit (density)
- No residential density standard (C3 permits no dwelling units).
- Minimum lot area
- —
- Rear yard open space
- —
- On-site open space
- —
- Parking requirements
- No dwelling-unit parking ratio applies — C3 permits no residential use. Its office/retail/manufacturing uses are instead governed by the Ch. 17-10 non-residential parking table, based on gross floor area and use category rather than a unit count.
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
- None required — C3 permits no dwelling units, so the 30 ft dwelling-unit trigger never applies.
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; limited & general restaurants; taverns
- Liquor store; offices; medical & financial services
- Full motor-vehicle uses (sales, heavy-equipment, storage, towing, repair)
- Manufacturing/production: artisan, limited & broader industrial (C3 distinction — buffer to M)
- Contractor storage yard; building-material sales; urban farm
- Day-labor & employment agencies; cabaret
- NO residential dwelling units permitted (C3 distinction)
- Indoor & outdoor participant sports; medium venues
- Drive-through facilities; gas stations
- Adult use; flea market; pawn shop; payday/title loan
- Colleges/universities; detention facilities; cremating
- Outdoor vehicle storage & towing; large venues (PD)
In Chicago, C3-3 allows a floor area ratio of 3 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 C3-3 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 C3-3 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.