Broomfield, CO Accessory Structures: Shed & Carport Rules (2026)

Section 17-34-020 sets citywide yard and setback standards, and subsection (H) creates a specific exception for accessory buildings: they may be located in the required side or rear yard of the principal building, which ordinarily has to stay clear, as long as the shed or other accessory structure keeps at least seven and a half feet of separation from the principal building or from another accessory building. The subsection separately forbids placing an accessory building in any side yard that is adjacent to a street, regardless of the separation distance.

This same standard does double duty elsewhere in the code: section 17-32-160(C)(ii) directs detached accessory dwelling units to meet the accessory-building setback established here, so a detached ADU needs the identical seven-and-a-half-foot buffer as a garden shed. Other subsections of 17-34-020 set the wider yard framework a shed sits within, including the 110-foot major-highway setback in (A), the block-average front yard rule in (B), and the two-foot allowance for cornices and similar features in (D); none of those displace the accessory-building rule in (H). The section traces to Ordinance 149, Article 18, section 9 (1973), last amended by Ordinance 1020, section 1 (1993), with a further 2025 amendment referenced in the code (Ordinance No. 2275, section 4, 8-12-2025).