2 - Town of Colchester

Carefully Manage Residential Development
5. Consider adopting regulations to review “divisions” of property (also known as the “first cut” of a subdivision) in
order to ensure that regulations are complied with and future conservation and development occurs with reasonable
efficiency and economy.
6. Consider adopting new regulations requiring that any soil testing be done on the basis of the indigenous soil (not
using fill or underdrains).
Interior Lots
An interior lot is a lot without
the required frontage on a
public street. It is also called
a rear lot or a flag lot due to
its typical location and shape.
Promote Open Space Development Patterns
7. Modify local regulations to provide for open space development patterns by:
• using a density regulation rather than a minimum area requirement to regulate development yield,
• modifying the definition of buildable land to delete the word contiguous and include floodplain areas,
• requiring a specific percentage of the parcel area be preserved as open space, and
• providing flexibility in minimum lot size requirements.
8. Consider increasing the lot area and frontage requirements on existing streets, especially arterial and collector streets,
in order to maintain community character by encouraging lots to be developed on new roads.
9. To minimize curb cuts, consider prohibiting rear lots (also called interior lots or flag lots) on arterial roads and
requiring a special permit for rear lots on other roads.
10. Allow other flexible residential developments that enhance the preservation of large areas of meaningful open space
while maintaining a similar density to that currently permitted.
Such lots can inhibit overall
road circulation patterns,
increase the number of curb
cuts (an important issue on
collector and arterial roads),
and detract from other lots
around them.
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