Burlington, VT Accessory Structures: Shed Rules (2026)

Burlington regulates storage sheds under the Comprehensive Development Ordinance (CDO), Article 5 (Citywide General Regulations) and the dimensional standards in Article 4 for each base zoning district. Section 5.2.5 (Accessory Structures and Uses) recognizes private garages, carriage houses, barns, storage sheds, tennis courts, swimming pools, and cabanas as accessory structures customarily incidental and subordinate to a principal residential use. Storage sheds and pool cabanas may encroach into the rear and side yard setbacks otherwise required by the district if they do not exceed 15 feet in height. Total accessory-structure floor area is capped at a percentage (commonly 75 percent) of the ground floor area of the principal structure, so a shed cannot effectively rival the house. Front-yard placement is generally not permitted; sheds belong in side or rear yards behind the principal dwelling. Lot coverage and impervious-surface limits in the underlying district (R-L, R-M, R-H, and Form-Based Code transects) still apply. Burlington's zoning-permit page confirms that 'new buildings, garages, sheds, accessory buildings, and other structures' require a zoning permit from the Department of Permitting and Inspections (149 Church Street); there is no published shed size below which the zoning permit is automatically waived. Properties in design-review or historic districts also require Design Advisory Board or HPC review under CDO Article 6 before a zoning permit issues. State law preserves municipal authority to regulate accessory structures through 24 V.S.A. Chapter 117 (Municipal and Regional Planning and Development), and construction must meet the Vermont state-adopted building code (currently the 2015 Vermont Fire and Building Safety Code) where it applies. Sheds in Burlington's wetland or shoreline overlay districts require additional review and may not encroach into protected buffers.