Phoenix Residential Zoning and Setbacks: Where Your New Home Can Sit on the Lot

Before you draw a floor plan in Phoenix, find your zoning district, because the district sets how far the house must sit from each property line. That open distance is called a setback, and it is the rule that decides where the house can go on the lot. Phoenix names its single-family districts by minimum lot size, from R1-6 (6,000 square feet) up to the Residential Estate RE-43 (43,560 square feet, one acre), and the yards get deeper as the lots get bigger.

What the districts require

Each Phoenix residential district has its own development standards in Chapter 6 of the Zoning Ordinance. The required yards, minimum lot, height, and lot coverage all change by district. Here are the numbers the city publishes:

• R1-6: 6,000 sq ft min lot, front 15 ft, side 10 ft (1-story) or 15 ft (2-story), rear 15 ft (1-story) or 20 ft (2-story), height 2 stories and 30 ft, lot coverage 50% (plus 10% for an ADU).
• R1-10: 10,000 sq ft min lot, front 15 ft, side 10 ft (1-story) or 15 ft (2-story), rear 15 ft (1-story) or 20 ft (2-story), height 2 stories and 30 ft, coverage 40% primary (50% total).
• R1-14: 14,000 sq ft min lot, front 30 ft, interior side 10 ft, street side 15 ft, rear 20 ft, height 2 stories and 30 ft.
• R1-18: 18,000 sq ft min lot, front 25 ft, side 10 ft, rear 30 ft, height 2 stories and 30 ft, coverage 30% (plus 10% for an ADU).
• RE-24: 24,000 sq ft min lot, front 30 ft (up to 40 ft on built-up blocks), interior side 10 ft, street side 15 ft, rear 30 ft, height 2 stories and 30 ft, coverage 25%.
• RE-35: 35,000 sq ft min lot, front 40 ft, side 20 ft, rear 40 ft, height 2 stories and 30 ft, coverage 25%.
• RE-43: 43,560 sq ft min lot, front 40 ft, side 30 ft, rear 30 ft, height 2 stories and 30 ft, coverage 20%.

The R1-14 ordinance states the height limit in plain terms:

No building shall exceed the height of two stories, not to exceed 30 feet, and no dwelling structure shall be erected to a height of less than one story.

So a small R1-6 lot and a one-acre RE-43 lot share the same 30 foot ceiling, but their yards are far apart. The RE-43 house sits 40 feet off the street with 30 foot sides; the R1-6 house can come within 15 feet of the front and 10 feet of the sides.

When setbacks come into play

Setbacks shape the build before design starts:

• Build-on-your-lot. Your designer subtracts the front, side, and rear setbacks from the lot to find the buildable area, the footprint left for the house. On a 120 by 200 foot RE-43 lot, you lose 40 feet off the front, 30 off the rear, and 30 off each side, leaving a band about 60 feet wide.
• Corner lots. For example, an R1-14 corner lot carries a 15 foot street-side setback on the second frontage, which can squeeze the pad more than an interior lot with only a 10 foot interior side.
• Patios and garages. The house, garage, and any casita must stay inside the setback lines. Phoenix also sets garage setbacks, like 18 feet from the back of sidewalk for a front-loaded garage in the R1 districts.

A setback miss on the site plan is one of the most common reasons a Phoenix residential plan gets corrected at review, so the city checks each setback distance before the permit issues.

What this means for you

Confirm your exact district before you buy or design, because the jump from R1-6 to RE-43 changes the front yard from 15 feet to 40 feet and the sides from 10 feet to 30 feet. Watch lot coverage alongside the setbacks, since an R1-6 lot allows up to 50% coverage while an RE-43 lot allows only 20%, which can cap the house size on a big estate lot. Phoenix has been amending its R1-6, R1-8, and R1-10 standards, so pull the current section for your zone. We run the setbacks, coverage cap, and buildable area on the first day of a Phoenix project, because they decide whether a floor plan fits or has to change.

This entry pairs with the rest of the Phoenix module. The codes your plans are checked against are in Phoenix Adopted Building Codes , and the filing steps are in Phoenix Residential Building Permit Requirements . For the full build sequence, see the steps to building a custom home in Arizona .

Source

The per-district setbacks, lot sizes, heights, and coverage limits are published by the City of Phoenix in Chapter 6 of the Zoning Ordinance (Sections 605 through 613): view the Zoning Ordinance contents on phoenix.municipal.codes . The city's planning hub is the Phoenix Planning and Development Department , and lot-coverage basics are explained in the city's Frequently Asked Zoning Questions .

This page is general information, not a zoning determination. Setbacks change with overlays, infill options, and amendments, so confirm your lot's district and standards with Phoenix Planning and Development before you design.