Land use and encumbrances
Planned unit development
A development approved as one plan rather than lot by lot, mixing uses and densities that ordinary zoning would separate
A municipality approves the whole scheme — houses, common open space, sometimes shops — as a single plan, so the density and setbacks are set for the development rather than by the zoning district each lot sits in. Buyers own their own lot and share the common areas through an association, which is what makes a PUD look like a condominium on paper and behave like fee ownership on the ground.
How the exam asks about it
The distinction candidates lose marks on is ownership, not appearance. In a PUD the buyer owns the lot and the structure in fee, and the common areas are owned by the association; in a condominium the buyer owns the airspace of a unit and an undivided share of the common elements directly. The PUD is also the standard example of zoning applied to a plan instead of to a parcel — which is why it is approved as an exception to the district and governed afterwards by recorded restrictions rather than by the zoning map.
Quick check: Planned unit development
One question. Pick an answer to see the explanation.
Which term is being defined: “A development approved as one plan rather than lot by lot, mixing uses and densities that ordinary zoning would separate”?
Related terms
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