Site Planning: Rights, Levels and Movement
Site planning questions test arithmetic and lines: how much may be built, where the building may sit, and how people and vehicles reach it. Answers are expected as numbers and dimensions, not as impressions of the site.
Reading the site
Topography and slope, orientation and sun path, prevailing wind, access and sight lines, existing trees, neighbouring buildings, and the statutory lines: plot boundary, building line and setbacks.
Development rights
Plot area multiplied by plot ratio gives the permitted main area; coverage limits the footprint; height is usually expressed in floors; parking, open space and accessible routes follow the plan.
Movement and levels
Vehicle entry and turning radii for a fire appliance, parking counts including accessible spaces, loading, pedestrian routes, and grading that drains surface water away from the building.
Worked example
A 1,000 m² plot with a 1.2 plot ratio allows 1,200 m² of main area. The existing building has 900 m², so an addition of 300 m² exceeds the right by 100 m². Reasoning: the options are to reduce the addition to 300 m² total, to use transferable rights if the plan permits, or to seek relief within the statutory limits. Submit the calculation table with the permit file so the committee can verify it.
Traps
Measuring setbacks from the wrong line; forgetting that balconies and eaves project and may breach setbacks; ignoring the accessible route from the parking space; grading a site so that it drains toward the building.