AEC definitions
A site plan shows a building on its lot, seen from above, with property lines, setbacks, grades, utilities, paving, and landscaping. It ties the building to zoning, to the street, and to the civil work. It is not a floor plan.
Definition
Architects, civil engineers, and landscape architects may each issue a site plan with a different emphasis. The architectural site plan locates the building, the entries, and the setbacks. The civil site plan locates grading, utilities, and paving with elevations. They have to agree on the building footprint and the finish-floor elevation. Zoning review and many permit comments start on this sheet, because height, lot coverage, and setbacks are measured here.
In depth
Property lines and easements, the building outline, distances to the lines, north, a scale, parking, drives, spot elevations, and the utilities that serve the building. A vicinity map sits on many cover sheets, not as a substitute for the site plan.
If a dimension to a property line is missing, zoning cannot confirm the setback. Do not make the reviewer scale it. Contract drawings generally say not to scale.
The architect's plan may be diagrammatic about drainage. The civil plan is not. Finish floor, top of curb, and invert elevations have to be the same numbers in both sets. A building that sits 6 inches low relative to civil creates a step, a waterproofing problem, or both.
Utility points of connection belong on the civil plan and should match the mechanical and electrical risers at the building wall. The site plan is where 'the water main is over there' becomes a coordinate.
Setbacks, height measured from a defined grade, lot coverage, and parking counts are site-plan facts. Interior drawings do not save a building that crosses a setback. Variances and conditions of approval should be noted on the sheet the planner will read.
A plan-check comment that cites zoning is often aimed here even when the architect thinks of zoning as a planning problem that ended at entitlement. The permit set still has to match the entitled site plan.
From the public way or accessible parking to the entrance, slopes, ramps, and landings are site-plan and civil information. An accessible entrance on the floor plan that the site plan reaches only by a stair is a broken route.
Show the route. A note that says 'accessible route, see civil' is acceptable only if the civil sheet actually shows it.
An ALTA or boundary survey documents what exists. The site plan documents what is proposed, drawn on that base. Treating a survey as the contract site plan omits the new work. Treating a site plan as a survey overstates its precision.
Datums and benchmarks should be cited back to the survey. A project benchmark somebody set in a kickoff meeting, with no tie, will not survive the first layout.
Examples
The architectural site plan dimensions the building 25 feet from the front property line. The zoning setback is 20 feet. The planner can confirm it without scaling.
Civil finish floor is 102.50. The architectural section uses the same number. The entry landing slope is shown on the civil sheet.
Accessible parking is shown on the site plan with an aisle and a route to the lobby door that the floor plan also shows as the entrance.
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