Laredo, TX Accessory Structures: ADU Rules (2026)

Section 24-65.7 of the Laredo Land Development Code governs the R-3 mixed residential district, and its second dwelling unit provision is the closest thing the code offers to an accessory dwelling unit allowance. A single-family dwelling or a manufactured housing unit may be added to a lot that already carries an existing dwelling, but subsection (2) sets four conditions that all must be met.

First, the additional dwelling has to be occupied by a relative of the property owner, and the code expressly bars using it for rental income, so a homeowner cannot add a second unit to lease out. Second, the combined lot area cannot fall below three thousand square feet of lot area per dwelling unit, meaning a standard R-3 lot has to be large enough to support both units under that per-unit density floor. Third, the property must provide at least one and one-half off-street parking spaces for each dwelling unit on the lot. Fourth, no more than one manufactured housing unit is allowed per lot even where a second dwelling is otherwise permitted.

Any manufactured or non-manufactured housing unit added under this provision must also be skirted to the standards of the Building Standards Board, with the pulling hitch removed within ninety days of placement, and additions to a manufactured housing unit are limited to items such as porches, carports, and awnings that meet setback and building code requirements. The Board of Adjustment has no authority to grant variances to these addition rules, so an owner who cannot meet the lot-area, parking, or relative-occupancy conditions cannot get a second unit approved through a variance request.