Plans come back from the architect and the second floor is noticeably shorter than the first. It is not a design choice. In Long Beach the upstairs of a house owes three times the rear setback the ground floor does, and on a shallow lot that single line rewrites the whole massing.
Short answer: In the standard single family district, the ground floor keeps 10 feet from the rear line and the second storey keeps 30 feet (Division II development standards). On this 41 by 111 foot lot that is 81 feet of usable depth downstairs and only 61 upstairs. Coverage is capped at 50 percent and floor area at a ratio of 0.6.
The property
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| City | Long Beach |
| Lot area | 4,404 square feet |
| Lot width and depth | 41 by 111 feet |
| Year built | 1947 |
| House size | 1,088 square feet |
| Bedrooms and bathrooms | 2 and 1 |
| Zoning district | R-1-N, standard lot single family |
| Zoning source | City of Long Beach official GIS, live city layer |
R-1-N is the city single family district for standard sized lots, one of twenty residential districts the code establishes (21.31.020, 21.30.040).
Key numbers for this district
| Standard | R-1-N requirement | Applied to this lot | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Side setback | 4 feet | 4 feet each side | Table 31-2A |
| Front setback | 20 feet | 20 feet | Table 31-2A |
| Rear setback, first storey | 10 feet | 10 feet | Table 31-2A |
| Rear setback, second storey | 30 feet | 30 feet | Table 31-2A |
| Maximum height | 25 feet, two storeys | same | Table 31-2A |
| Maximum lot coverage | 50 percent | 2,202 square feet | Table 31-2A |
| Floor area ratio | 0.6 | 2,642 square feet of floor area | Table 31-2A |
| Minimum lot area | 6,000 square feet | lot is 4,404, below it | Table 31-2A |
| Minimum lot width | 50 feet | lot is 41, below it | Table 31-2A |
Two footprints, not one
Subtract the setbacks and the lot yields two different rectangles.
Width is the same on both floors: 41 feet less 4 on each side leaves 33 feet.
Depth is not. Downstairs, 111 feet less 20 in front and 10 at the rear leaves 81 feet, so the ground floor could occupy about 2,673 square feet if setbacks were the only rule. Upstairs, the rear setback jumps to 30 feet, leaving 61 feet — about 2,013 square feet.
That 20 foot difference is why second storeys here are set forward over the front of the house rather than running the full depth.
Then two caps, and they bite in different places
Coverage limits the ground the buildings occupy: 50 percent of 4,404 square feet is 2,202 square feet. That is less than the 2,673 the ground-floor envelope offers, so coverage governs downstairs.
Floor area ratio limits the total. At 0.6, this lot supports 2,642 square feet of floor area across both storeys. With 1,088 square feet standing today, roughly 1,554 square feet remains — and the ratio counts both floors, so a second storey spends it just as fast as a ground floor addition.
Put together: coverage decides how much of the yard disappears, the ratio decides how big the house gets, and the second storey rear setback decides where the upstairs can sit. A design usually meets one of the three before the other two.
The lot is undersized, which changes nothing about the ratios
R-1-N asks 6,000 square feet and 50 feet of width. This lot is 4,404 and 41. Those minimums govern the creation of lots rather than building on one that exists — but because coverage and floor area are both expressed as proportions, a smaller lot simply yields smaller numbers. The 50 percent and the 0.6 do not change; what they are applied to does.
What this does not settle
Several rows in that table carry footnote markers that modify them, and the footnotes are not reproduced here — read them in the section before relying on a figure. Alley-facing lots measure the rear setback from the alley centreline, and shallow lots have their own special standards. Garages and accessory buildings have separate placement rules. None of this covers easements, utilities, or an existing wall that no longer conforms. Confirm with Long Beach planning before drawing. The Long Beach overview collects the rest.
