Maximum townhomes that we can build on a vacant land

[Sam Usman]

Hi - I want to purchase a land for development in Dallas-Fort Worth area. I want to develop townhomes. I recently came across a land that is zoned as 'Urban Neighborhood' in Rowlett, TX. I spoke with the city planning department to check if I can build townhomes on this land and they informed me that I can build townhomes for up to 80% of the property and the rest needs to be mixed use (retail/office or apartments). The planning department also emailed me a document with all the details of what can be build on the land.

I want to know how many townhomes I can built on the land and the documents that I got from the city is very! complicated and I am having difficulty understand it.

I want to know what developers do to find out what they can (and cannot) build on a land. I am assuming that not all the developers are fully aware of all the zoning rules and details. Do they hire some one like an architect or some firm for this? If yes, how much they usually charge for this service?