Zoning commission backs revisions to townhouse rules, including smaller rear setback and return of parking tracks

The Palm Beach County Zoning Commission voted to approve a privately proposed revision to the county Unified Land Development Code (ULDC) that reduces townhouse rear setbacks from 25 feet to 15 feet and restores allowances for on‑site “parking tracks,” staff and the applicant said.

The change, initiated by a private applicant and refined by Zoning Division staff, was presented as a targeted edit to townhome regulations intended to allow more fee‑simple townhouse lots and to reduce a class of existing nonconformities created by earlier code changes.

Zoning Division staff said the applicant asked only for the rear‑setback change; staff drafted additional clarifications and related edits for the commission’s consideration. A staff presentation explained that the ULDC, as adopted in the early 1990s, imposed larger setbacks on townhouses than on comparable…