Can I build it here?
The City’s use tables for the zoning on the lot, with conditions, overlays, nodes and state law on apartments. Where a rezoning is needed, which districts would fit the City plan.
San Antonio Unified Development Code
Know the ground before you buy it.
ATLAS reads the public record on any lot in San Antonio: zoning, floodplain, aquifer, traffic, fees and permit times. It tells you what you can build there, what it will cost to get approved and what stands in the way.
Public beta, fully built for San Antonio, more cities to come. Every plan is open and free while we test it.
Worked example: coffee shop with a drive-thru on a 1-acre lot
- Zoning
- C-2, allowed by right
- Fits
- up to 10,300 sq ft, one story
- Limited by
- parking, 6.67 per 1,000 sq ft
- City fees
- $3,985 published
- SAWS impact fees
- $15,894
- Building permit
- about 7.7 months
- Not published
- accessibility review, + XX
Fully builtSan Antonio and Bexar CountyZoning rules, what fits, every fee and permit, timelines, parcels and every map layer
Partly built36 more citiesTheir zoning maps and lot lines where the state publishes them. The rules, costs and timelines come later
Anywhere in the U.S.The national layersFlood, environment, Census, traffic, businesses, daytime workers and walkability
More cities are on the way, one at a time, each checked against its own code. See what works where · Ask for your city
One click, six answers
A scan reads every layer under the spot you pick and answers the questions you would otherwise spend weeks of calls and records requests on.
What fits on the lot?
Building size, homes or apartments that fit after setbacks, height, density, parking and the aquifer’s impervious cover cap. A planning estimate, labelled as one.
UDC Table 310-1, City Code §34-930
What will it cost to get approved?
Every City, Fire Department, County and state fee and permit that applies, line by line, from the published schedules, plus SAWS impact fees.
FY 2027 fee schedule, SAWS
How long until I open?
Plat, site and building permit times from the City’s own permit records: the typical case and the slow one.
City of San Antonio permits
What’s in the way?
Floodplain, Edwards Aquifer zones, wetlands, protected habitat, soils, contamination and Superfund sites, with the published fee and time each one adds.
FEMA, TCEQ, USFWS, USDA, EPA
Is there a market?
Households and renters nearby, traffic counts on the road out front and mapped competitors, scored for the building you picked.
Census, TxDOT, OpenStreetMap
Find where it fits, not just whether it fits
Pick a building and a part of town. ATLAS cuts the view into blocks, scores each one the way a scan would, leaves out land the zoning doesn’t allow, floodplain, wetlands and parks, and outlines the best areas.
Turn on vacant lots and it keeps only land that is truly empty: no building value on the tax roll, no buildings carried on another account, no structure on the federal structures map and no new building permit since 2025. Data centers start at 10-acre lots.
- GreatScores 80 and up
- Moderate65 to 79
- Decent55 to 64
- Never drawnUnder 55, or not allowed by the zoning
The cost of getting to a permit, line by line
Plan review, building and trade permits, fire protection, storm water, plats, impact fees, County and state reviews: ATLAS prices each line from the published schedule and shows the page it came from. What isn’t published stays XX, so the total never pretends to know more than it does.
Published figureA fee or rate an agency publishes
ATLAS estimateWorked out from public data, with its assumptions listed
Your numberLand price, site work, design, financing, contingency
XXNobody publishes it, so ATLAS doesn’t guess
From a pin to a decision
Pick what you want to build
Any of the 517 uses in the City’s tables, from a coffee shop to a data center, homes or apartments.
Scan a spot or find areas
Click a lot for its full report, or let ATLAS score a whole part of town and outline where the building fits best, with vacant lots marked.
Read the report
Each answer says where it came from. A published figure, an ATLAS estimate and your own number are labelled differently, and anything nobody publishes shows XX.
Price it and take it with you
Fill in your land price and assumptions, see the cost and schedule, and export a PDF report or a saved analysis.
Built for the person signing the lease
Four plans, one map. Consumer is free; each paid plan adds what the next kind of decision needs. During the beta every plan is free.
PlanForWhat it opens
ConsumerFreeHome buyers, renters, neighborsThe map and the public record for any spot: flood, environment, hazards, crime and what is being built nearby.
Business$39 / month after the betaRestaurants, retail, clinics, gyms, franchisesWill this spot work, and am I allowed to open here? The score, the zoning check and the market around you.
Developer$179 / month after the betaLand, home, apartment and commercial developersWhat fits on the lot, what it will cost to get approved and how long it will take.
Investor$299 / month after the betaInvestors with a budget and a search areaWhere development makes sense: best-fit areas, vacant land under your budget and the money conditions behind it.
Built on the public record
- City of San Antonio
- Bexar Appraisal District
- Bexar County
- SAWS
- TxDOT
- TCEQ
- U.S. Census Bureau
- FEMA
- U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
- USDA
- EPA
- USGS
- Federal Highway Administration
- Bureau of Labor Statistics
- OpenStreetMap