Paradise Valley Residential Zoning and Setbacks: Estate Lots and Where the House Goes

Every zoning district in this town is built around the same idea: large lots, deep yards, and a low profile. The base single-family district, R-43, requires a full acre per home, and the largest district, R-175, requires over four acres. There are no small-lot single-family zones here the way Phoenix or Mesa have them. That pattern is why the setback, the open distance your home must keep from each property line, runs wide and the height limit runs low across Paradise Valley.

What the districts require

Paradise Valley's Article X, Table 1001-A1, sets the minimum lot, yards, and floor-area ratio for each district. Side yards depend on height: a one-story house up to 24 feet can use the smaller side yard, while a two-story house needs the larger one. Here are the published numbers:

• R-175: 175,000 sq ft min lot (over 4 acres), 165 ft lot width, front 40 ft, side 40 ft, rear 40 ft, floor-area ratio 25%.
• R-43: 43,560 sq ft min lot (one acre), 165 ft lot width, front 40 ft, side 20 ft (40 ft for two stories or over 24 ft tall), rear 40 ft, floor-area ratio 25%.
• R-35: 35,000 sq ft min lot, 150 ft lot width, front 40 ft, side 20 ft (40 ft for a second story), rear 40 ft, floor-area ratio 25%.
• R-18: 18,000 sq ft min lot, 120 ft lot width, front 40 ft, side 20 ft, rear 40 ft, floor-area ratio 25%.
• R-10: 10,000 sq ft min lot, 100 ft lot width, yards per the recorded plat or as existing.

Building height is tied to lot size, and it tops out low:

Less than 3 [acres]: 24 [feet] not including chimneys. 3 or greater but less than 4: 26. 4 or greater: 30 including chimneys.

So a one-acre R-43 lot is held to 24 feet, well under the 30 feet allowed in Phoenix, Scottsdale, or Mesa. Only the largest estate lots over four acres reach 30 feet. On a non-hillside R-43 or R-175 lot, an extra rule applies. A building may not break through an angled plane that rises from the 20 foot setback line. This holds two-story mass back from the property edge.

When setbacks come into play

Setbacks and floor-area ratio drive the site plan before you draw the house:

• Build-on-your-lot. For example, on a one-acre R-43 lot, the 40 foot front and rear plus 20 foot sides carve a large border out of the parcel, and the 25% floor-area ratio caps total floor area. The lot coverage idea here is the floor-area ratio, and the house has to pass it and the setbacks both.
• Two-story side yards. A second story on an R-43 lot doubles the side yard from 20 feet to 40 feet, so going up costs you width on the sides.
• Hillside lots. Parcels in a designated Hillside area follow separate rules, so a sloped lot can have a smaller usable pad than its acreage suggests.

A setback miss on the site plan is a common reason a Paradise Valley plan gets corrected at review, so the town confirms each yard distance and the height plane before the permit issues.

What this means for you

Confirm your exact district and lot size first, because height in Paradise Valley follows acreage: under 3 acres caps at 24 feet, 3 to 4 acres at 26 feet, and only 4 acres or more reaches 30 feet. Plan your floor area against the 25% ratio early. On a one-acre R-43 lot that works out to roughly 10,890 square feet, before garages and porches are counted. Decide on one or two stories up front, because a second story widens the R-43 side yards from 20 feet to 40 feet. We map the setbacks, the height plane, and the floor-area ratio together on the first day of a Paradise Valley project, because the town's estate rules, not just the floor plan, decide what fits.

This entry connects to the rest of the Paradise Valley module. The codes your plans are reviewed against are in Paradise Valley Adopted Building Codes , and the filing steps are in Paradise Valley Residential Building Permit Requirements . For the full sequence, see the steps to building a custom home in Arizona .

Source

The per-district lot sizes, yards, floor-area ratio, and the lot-size height limits are published by the Town of Paradise Valley in Article X (Height and Area Regulations), Table 1001-A1, of the Zoning Ordinance, effective February 26, 2021: the ordinance is linked from the Paradise Valley Planning page and the Planning Application Portal .

This page is general information, not a zoning determination. Setbacks, the height plane, and hillside rules change with amendments, so confirm your lot's district and standards with Paradise Valley Community Development before you design.