Zoning Summary

Overview

Produce a one-page, designer-actionable zoning worksheet for a site at the early massing stage. The skill loads the North American zoning reference and outputs a fill-in worksheet to docs/zoning/<site-slug>.md that names every constraint a designer must look up before sketching mass. If the user pastes raw zoning portal text, the skill extracts and structures it; otherwise it leaves prompts the designer can complete from their own GIS / municipal lookup.

When to use

Trigger on:

• A site address or parcel description paired with intended use (program).
• Pasted output from a zoning portal (US municipal zoning lookup, Canadian zoning by-law text, GIS HTML/text).
• Explicit asks: 'zoning summary', 'site zoning for <address>', 'zoning for <parcel>'.
• Early massing / feasibility phase questions tied to a real site.

Do NOT trigger for:

• Detailed code analysis after DD — that is code-review territory.
• Building-code (IBC, NBC) line-item checks unrelated to zoning envelope.
• Pure precedent or program studies with no site — use precedent-finder.

Workflow

Step 1 — Bootstrap if needed

Check docs/zoning/index.md exists. If not:

python scripts/init_zoning_workspace.py

Step 2 — Identify jurisdiction

Capture the city / county / state-or-province for the site (e.g. "Portland, OR", "Toronto, ON"). Zoning is municipal everywhere in North America, so the city + ordinance/by-law citation is what matters. If no locator is given, ask once.

Step 3 — Load the reference

• Read references/na_zoning.md for the canonical zoning concepts and lookup checklist.
• Always also read references/design_implications.md — it bridges constraint to design move.

Step 4 — Gather inputs

From the user's message (and docs/project.md if present), extract:

• Site identifier — address, parcel/lot number, or short site name.
• Intended use — program (residential / cultural / commercial / mixed-use / etc.).
• Lot info if known — area, frontage, road width, slope.
• Pasted lookup text — if any, capture verbatim for Step 5 extraction.

If the user pasted zoning portal text, parse out values for as many template fields as possible. Otherwise leave the prompts blank with <lookup needed> markers.

Step 5 — Fill the template

Read assets/zoning-template.md. Fill placeholders. Where a value cannot be derived, write <lookup needed: ...> with a hint about where to look (e.g. <lookup needed: city zoning map + ordinance §X>, <lookup needed: Toronto zoning by-law 569-2013>). For each filled or prompted constraint, add a one-line design implication drawn from references/design_implications.md.

Step 6 — Write the file

Use the Write tool. Filename:

docs/zoning/<site-slug>.md

Slug rule: lowercase, [^a-z0-9-] removed, max 40 chars, derived from the site identifier (123-main-st-portland, 45-front-st-toronto). If duplicate, suffix -<n>.

Step 7 — Update the zoning index

python scripts/append_to_index.py \
  --date 2026-05-06 \
  --site-slug 123-main-st-portland \
  --jurisdiction "Portland, OR" \
  --zone "R-5" \
  --use "multi-family residential"

Do NOT edit index.md manually with the Edit tool — table alignment breaks easily.

Step 8 — Report

Tell the user:

• Path to the worksheet file.
• Top 2-3 constraints that will most shape massing (e.g. FAR, setbacks, height, parking, daylight plane) with one-line design implication each.
• The list of <lookup needed> items the designer must resolve before next step.

Rules

• Never write fictional ordinance / by-law numbers, FAR caps, or specific setback values per district. They vary by city — leave them as <lookup needed> with a pointer.
• The worksheet is a thinking tool. Empty fields are fine; wrong fields are not.
• Always include a design implication line per constraint, not just the number.
• If the user pasted lookup text, quote source values verbatim — do not paraphrase numbers.
• If intended use is missing, ask once before producing the worksheet — many constraints are use-dependent.
• Cite the city + district code together (e.g. "Portland R-5", "Toronto CR 2.5"). District labels are not portable between cities.

Anti-patterns

• Filling specific zone limits from memory instead of marking them <lookup needed>. Zoning ordinances change and vary by city.
• Producing a generic checklist with no site context. The worksheet must name the actual site and use.
• Using a district label without the city ("R-5" alone is meaningless).
• Editing index.md manually instead of using append_to_index.py.
• Including detailed code analysis (egress, fire ratings, accessibility). That is post-zoning code work.

Resources

• scripts/init_zoning_workspace.py — bootstrap docs/zoning/ and the zoning index
• scripts/append_to_index.py — append a row to docs/zoning/index.md
• references/na_zoning.md — North American zoning fundamentals (use groups, FAR/coverage/setback, overlays, IBC/NBC cross-ref)
• references/design_implications.md — constraint-to-design-move mapping
• assets/zoning-template.md — zoning worksheet template