Killeen, TX Accessory Structures: ADU Rules (2026)

Killeen's zoning code permits an accessory dwelling in only two residential zoning districts. In the "A-R1" agricultural single-family residential district, Section 31-172(b)(1) allows "one guest home per lot" as a permitted accessory use, provided it is a detached accessory use to the principal residence, its floor area does not exceed 25 percent of the principal residence's floor area exclusive of garages, one additional off-street parking space is provided, and the guest house is never rented or leased. 2(b)(1) repeats the identical standard, word for word, for the "SR-2" suburban residential single-family district, which the code describes as intended for larger-lot single-family development compatible with the comprehensive plan.

Neither section authorizes a guest house in the city's standard R-1 or other single-family districts, and neither section allows more than one guest house per lot regardless of lot size. Because the guest house must remain an accessory use to an owner-occupied principal residence and cannot be leased, Killeen's code does not treat it as an independent rental unit or a short-term rental property; a guest house used for paying tenants or overnight guests for compensation falls outside this accessory-use permission entirely. A-R1 lots carry an added minimum-lot-size purpose of promoting a transition between suburban and rural character on at least one acre, so a guest house built there sits alongside the district's other listed accessory uses, such as noncommercial animal pens kept at least 50 feet from a street line.