Journal ·
Glendale R1 Floor Area Ratio: How Big a House the Code Allows
On a Glendale R1 lot, the largest house the zoning code allows depends on a Roman numeral that is easy to miss. Table 30.11-B of the Glendale Municipal Code sets three floor area ratio districts: District I allows 0.30 of the first 10,000 square feet of lot area, District II allows 0.40, and District III allows 0.45, with 0.10 for any lot area beyond 10,000 square feet in all three. On a 6,000 square foot lot that is the difference between 1,800 and 2,700 square feet of counted floor area, before the garage allowance. The district is printed after the zone name in the city's own records, as in "R1 II", and that suffix is the first thing to check before anyone prices a lot by what could be built on it.
How is floor area ratio calculated in Glendale's R1 zone?
The formula sits in the definitions chapter, GMC 30.70.070. Floor area ratio "means the ratio of floor area (gross) plus garage area to lot area." Gross floor area is measured from the exterior faces of the exterior walls, and it leaves out exterior balconies and porches, interior parking spaces, and any space where the floor to ceiling height is less than six feet. Attics stay out only when they have no usable rooms and no windows.
Two details surprise owners. The garage is part of the ratio by definition, and only a set allowance of it comes back out, as the garage section below shows. Mezzanines count unless the title exempts them.
The ratio itself lives in Section 30.11.030, Table 30.11-B. The FAR row is written as a two-step calculation, so the arithmetic is simple:
- the first 10,000 square feet of lot area times the district rate
- plus every square foot of lot area above 10,000 times 0.10
A 12,000 square foot lot in District II gets 4,000 square feet from the first step and 200 from the second, for 4,200 in total.
What do District I, II and III mean on a Glendale zoning record?
The district is part of the zone label. The city's zoning layer on its public GIS server stores R1 polygons as "R1 I", "R1 II" and "R1 III", and describes one of them in plain words as "LOW DENSITY RESIDENTIAL FAR DIST II". The same pattern appears in city staff reports. A January 2020 Historic Preservation Commission report on a Rossmoyne house lists the property as "R1R-II-HD": restricted residential, FAR District II, inside a historic district overlay.
The split is uneven. In the city's zoning layer, summed by polygon area on 20 October 2026, about 56% of R1-zoned map area (not counting R1R) carries District II, about 39% District I, and about 5% District III. Those shares come from the city's own polygons and include any overlay suffixes. They describe mapped area, not a count of houses.
The practical step for a buyer is the city's Find Zoning Information for a Property page, which links the interactive zoning map. Search the address, click the parcel and read the full zone string, suffix included. The map that carries legal weight is the one described in GMC 30.10.050, kept by the planning division.
How big a house can you build on a typical Glendale lot?
The table below applies the Table 30.11-B rates to common R1 lot sizes. The figures are the cap on floor area plus counted garage area, before the garage exclusion described in the next section.
| Lot area | District I | District II | District III |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000 sq ft | 1,500 | 2,000 | 2,250 |
| 6,000 sq ft | 1,800 | 2,400 | 2,700 |
| 7,500 sq ft | 2,250 | 3,000 | 3,375 |
| 10,000 sq ft | 3,000 | 4,000 | 4,500 |
| 12,000 sq ft | 3,200 | 4,200 | 4,700 |
| 15,000 sq ft | 3,500 | 4,500 | 5,000 |
Above 10,000 square feet every district adds the same 0.10 per square foot of extra land, so the gap between districts stops growing: a 15,000 square foot lot in District I gains only 500 square feet over a 10,000 square foot lot in the same district.
A cap is a ceiling, and other standards often bind first. Those are covered below.
Does the garage count toward FAR in Glendale?
It counts, with an allowance. Table 30.11-B says that in the ROS, R1R and R1 zones only, FAR "shall not include up to 500 sq. ft. of garage area as specified in the definition of the term" for dwelling units having a floor area of less than 3,500 square feet. For dwelling units of 3,500 square feet or more, up to 700 square feet of garage area is left out.
Worked through on a 7,500 square foot District II lot: the cap is 3,000. A 420 square foot two-car garage falls inside the 500 square foot allowance, so the house itself can use the full 3,000. Make the garage 640 square feet and the extra 140 come out of the house.
The definition also excludes subterranean and semi-subterranean garage areas from the ratio entirely.
What else limits house size besides FAR?
Table 30.11-B sets several other R1 standards, and on narrow or shallow lots one of these can stop a design before the FAR does.
| R1 standard (Table 30.11-B) | Limit |
|---|---|
| Lot coverage | 40%, including all residential and accessory buildings |
| Landscaped open space | 40% of lot area minimum, see Chapter 30.31 |
| Height, primary building | 25 feet, plus 3 feet for a roofed area with a pitch of at least 3 in 12 |
| Accessory building height | 12 feet, or 15 feet with a 3 in 12 roof |
| Accessory structure height | 15 feet |
| Street front setback | 25 feet |
| Street side and interior setbacks | 6 feet |
Coverage is measured on the ground. On a 5,000 square foot lot, 40% coverage means 2,000 square feet of footprint for the house, garage and any accessory building together, so a District III lot reaching its 2,250 cap has to put some of that floor area on a second level.
The hillside-oriented zones, R1R and ROS, work differently. They have their own setbacks in Table 30.11-B and a two-story, 32-foot height limit under Section 30.11.040, and those rules are in our guide to Glendale's R1R hillside zone. Most additions also pass through single-family design review, which has its own exemption thresholds explained in what triggers design review in Glendale.
Does an ADU count against Glendale's FAR?
State law limits how far FAR can reach. Government Code section 66321(b)(3) bars a local agency from setting limits on lot coverage, floor area ratio, open space, front setbacks or minimum lot size that would not permit an accessory dwelling unit of at least 800 square feet of interior livable space, with four-foot side and rear yard setbacks, built in compliance with all other local development standards.
So an owner who has already used the whole District I allowance is not blocked by FAR from an ADU of up to 800 square feet, as long as it meets the city's other development standards. Above 800 square feet, the city's FAR and lot coverage limits can apply to the ADU again. The wider list of rules the city cannot enforce on ADUs is in our Glendale ADU guide.
What should a buyer or seller check before relying on square footage?
Listing remarks such as "room to expand" carry no zoning weight. This checklist turns them into numbers:
- [ ] Full zone string from the city's interactive zoning map, including the I, II or III suffix and any overlay such as HD or H
- [ ] Lot area from the Assessor parcel report linked on the same map, since every FAR figure scales with it
- [ ] Existing floor area plus garage area, measured to exterior faces, against the cap from the table above
- [ ] Footprint of all buildings against the 40% coverage limit
- [ ] Whether the parcel is R1R or ROS, where the hillside rules replace part of this list
- [ ] The amendment history at the end of Section 30.11.030: as of 20 October 2026 it ends with Ord. 6052, dated 19 May 2026
For a seller, unused FAR is a fact worth documenting before listing, because buyers who plan an addition will run the same arithmetic. A home valuation that accounts for it starts from the zone string. Buyers comparing lots can use the same steps while searching for a home, and sellers can see how this fits a listing plan on the selling page.
This article summarizes the Glendale Municipal Code as published on 20 October 2026. It is general information, not legal or design advice; confirm limits for a specific parcel with the City of Glendale Planning Division before buying or designing. Call Alla at (818) 699-5367 or use the enquiry form.
More on the city: the Glendale area guide.