Black Hawk County, IA Accessory Structures: Shed & Carport Rules (2026)

100 sets the dimensional rules for garages, sheds, pole barns and other accessory buildings on unincorporated land outside Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Evansdale, Hudson, La Porte City, Dunkerton, Gilbertville, Elk Run Heights and Raymond, each of which enforces its own zoning code. Every accessory building must go in the side or rear yard, never the front, and an unattached shed or garage has to keep a three-foot wall-to-wall gap from the house. A detached accessory building cannot cover more than 30 percent of the required rear yard and is capped at 20 feet in height, though the ordinance carves out one exception: a 440-square-foot garage is allowed on a minimum rear yard even if that percentage would otherwise be exceeded.

For any one- or two-family residence, total accessory building area is capped at 1,000 square feet; a landowner can go bigger, but only up to six percent of the lot, and never more than 9,000 square feet combined, no matter how large the parcel. 010. The current dimensional figures were set by Ordinance 118 in 2013, building on earlier amendments dating to 1995. Because minimum lot area, frontage and yard depth vary by zoning district, a landowner has to check the specific district's yard table before sizing a shed. 130.