Westport, CTZoning for Custom Homes

What Is a Zone, and Why Does It Come First?

Every property in Westport sits in a zoning district, and that district sets the rules for what can legally be built there, before any design work starts. The zone determines the maximum size, height, and setbacks of a house, and how much of the lot can be covered by the house, driveway, and pool combined.

That’s why zoning comes first. A design that doesn’t fit the zone’s limits isn’t buildable as is. It needs a variance, a redesign, or a different lot. Knowing the zone before you start design work means the design work is actually usable.

Westport has four single family zones: AAA, AA, A, and B, each with its own minimum lot size, shape, and building envelope. AAA and AA are the larger lot estate zones; A and B are the typical in town lots. Find your zone above, then check the tables for what it allows.

• Accessory building setbacks generally match the primary house setback shown above in each zone — the one exception is Res B's rear setback, where accessory structures may sit as close as 15 ft (vs. 25 ft for the house itself).
• Architectural projections — eaves, cornices, chimneys, window sills, entry steps — may extend into a required setback up to 3 ft, or 20% of the required setback, whichever is less.
• No structure, driveway, patio, or parking area may sit within 25 ft of a wetland, tidal wetland, or the mean high water line of any waterbody — or closer, per the Westport Waterway Protection Lines Ordinance where that line is more restrictive.

Numbers in a table are easy to skim past. Here's what they actually mean on the ground — select a Westport zone to see its setbacks drawn to scale. The shaded band is where nothing can be built; the white area is your buildable envelope.

Illustrative, drawn to scale for A. Lot dimensions are normalized; the envelope shape changes with the zone's setbacks.

Garages, sheds, and pool houses generally follow the same setbacks as the primary house in Westport — there's no separate, more permissive track like in some neighboring towns. The one exception is Res B's rear yard.

Two things are worth knowing before you budget for a pool in Westport, since both differ from what some neighboring towns allow.

Unlike some shoreline towns, Westport doesn't carve out a separate zoning district with different lot size or setback numbers for its waterfront neighborhoods. Instead, coastal and flood-prone properties layer additional review on top of the standard zoning above.

• Structures in the Special Flood Hazard Area may generally add height when elevated to or above the Base Flood Elevation — commonly up to 5 additional feet, capped in most cases at 31 ft overall — provided there's no basement or cellar below the BFE and, in AE zones, the design meets the Elevated Buildings standard.
• Docks, landings, and boathouses accessory to a residence are exempt from the standard rear-yard setback, though they remain subject to wetlands and waterway setbacks noted above.

Many lots in Westport's older neighborhoods predate the current zoning standards above — smaller, narrower, or shaped differently than today's rules would allow. Westport actually publishes a sliding scale for exactly this situation, rather than leaving it to case-by-case judgment.

For a lot that's undersized for its zone, Westport ties the required setbacks and the maximum height directly to how small the lot actually is — the smaller the lot, the more relief you get.

• *On lots under 6,000 sf, the rear setback may reduce to 15 ft for an accessory building or structure only — the house itself still needs the full 25 ft.

• Height may increase up to 5 additional feet for a structure elevated to meet flood-compliance standards, capped at 31 ft in the smaller size tiers.
• Adjoining substandard lots merge. If two or more adjoining undersized lots were held in common ownership on or after March 24, 1956, and combining them would more nearly meet current lot area and shape requirements, they're treated as merged — they can't be sold or built on separately, regardless of later changes in ownership.
• Restoration after casualty has a clock on it. A nonconforming building damaged by fire or other casualty may be restored to its prior condition, but restoration must begin within 1 year and be completed within 2 years of the damage.