Albuquerque, NM Building Setbacks & Zoning: Lot Coverage Limits (2026)

The Los Duranes neighborhood along Rio Grande Boulevard carries its own Character Protection Overlay Zone, CPO-6, layered on top of the base zone district. Within the mapped CPO-6 boundary, where the boundary crosses a lot line the entire lot follows CPO-6's standards, and in the R-A (Rural and Agricultural) zone district the ordinance sets a hard building coverage ceiling: no more than 50 percent of the lot may be covered by building footprint. CPO-6 pairs that coverage cap with a front-setback rule built around the existing streetscape rather than a flat number: single-family and two-family homes must sit back at least 10 feet, staggered to fall within 5 feet of the average setback of existing homes on the same block face within 330 feet, so new construction lines up with what is already built.

Multi-family development needs a 15-foot minimum front setback. Building height in the R-A, R-1, R-T, and R-ML districts within CPO-6 tops out at 26 feet, and portions above 15 feet are further limited to 65 percent of the building footprint for single-family and two-family homes (75 percent for townhouse and multi-family), and the IDO's citywide height bonuses do not apply inside this overlay. Los Duranes also carries its own rules for common open space tied to the neighborhood's acequias, drive-pad sharing for two-family dwellings and townhouses, and drive-through orientation away from Rio Grande Boulevard, all administered by the Planning Department alongside the base R-A zone standards in Table 5-1-1.