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Residential Lot Size Study Results

Brian Kennedy
Lisa Van de Water

In the spring of 2000, the Salem City Council directed staff to research the possibility of increasing the minimum residential lot size from 4,000 sq. ft. to 5,500 sq. ft. The Council requested that staff determine the impact on the ten year buildable land supply and the Urban Growth Boundary. Council also directed that comments be solicited from Neighborhood Associations and that public hearings be held before the Planning Commission and City Council. This study is the first part of that process and staff is currently soliciting comments from Neighborhood Associations. The presentation to neighborhoods is available online as well as the survey.

Click on terms for a definition

Methodology

Staff reviewed recorded subdivisions from 1993 - 2000. Recorded subdivisions have been approved by the City and subsequently formally recorded with Polk or Marion County. Because of record accessibility problems, only recorded partitions from 1998-2000 were reviewed. In total, approximately 146 projects were part of the study totaling more than 2,700 lots.

Findings

These are summary statistics for the study period:

All lots (Subdivisions and Partitions)

Table 1.1
Average lot size	8,029 sq. ft.
Median lot size	6,768 sq. ft.
Standard deviation	10,581 sq. ft.

Lots smaller than 15,000 sq. ft. (Subdivisions and Partitions)

Table 1.2
Average lot size	7,033 sq. ft.
Median lot size	6,640 sq. ft.
Standard deviation	2,019 sq. ft.

Subdivisions only (all lots)

Table 1.3
Average lot size	7,453 sq. ft.
Median lot size	6,679 sq. ft.
Standard deviation	5,431 sq. ft.

Subdivisions - lots smaller than 15,000 sq. ft.

Table 1.4
Average lot size	6,987 sq. ft.
Median lot size	6,600 sq. ft.
Standard deviation	1,981 sq. ft.

Partitions only (all lots)

Table 1.5
Average lot size	17,886 sq. ft.
Median lot size	8,549 sq. ft.
Standard deviation	37,814 sq. ft.

Partitions - lots smaller than 15,000 sq. ft.

Table 1.6
Average lot size	8,029 sq. ft.
Median lot size	7,501 sq. ft.
Standard deviation	2,542 sq. ft.

What these statistics are showing is that new lots being created are smaller in subdivisions than in partitions. This is likely because developers are better able to maximize lot creation with larger parcels of land. Table 1.5 shows that some partitions are creating very large lots that skew the statistics (notice the large standard deviation). What is likely occurring is that land is being partitioned into very large lots that may be partitioned or subdivided at a later date. When all lots over 15,000 sq. ft. are excluded (see tables 1.4 and 1.6) the lot sizes for both subdivisions and partitions are fairly consistent. They also show small standard deviations which mean that the lots under 15,000 sq. ft. are fairly evenly distributed around the average and the median.

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