Montgomery, AL Building Setbacks & Zoning: Lot Coverage Limits (2026)
Key Facts
- R-125 max building area
- 20% of gross lot area
- R-100 max building area
- 25% of gross lot area
- R-85 max building area
- 25% of gross lot area
- Max building height (all three)
- 35 ft. or 2 stories
- Governing table
- Zoning Ordinance App. C, Art. VII, Sec. 2
Summary
Montgomery, Alabama caps building coverage in its very-low-density residential districts at 20 percent of gross lot area in R-125 and 25 percent in both R-100 and R-85, under the zoning ordinance's district regulations table.
Item Districts [R-125] [R-100] [R-85] ... Minimum lot area, onefamily, square feet 20,000 14,000 12,000 / Minimum lot width at building line, feet 125 100 85 / Minimum depth of front yard, feet 50 35 35 / Minimum depth of rear yard, feet 40 30 30 / Minimum width of each side yard, feet 20 12 10 / Side yard abutting a street 50 35 30 / Maximum building area, percent of gross lot area 20% 25% 25% / Maximum building height: Feet 35 35 35 Stories 2 2 2
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 27).
Full Breakdown
Article VII, Section 2 of the Montgomery Zoning Ordinance sets dimensional standards for the city's very-low-density residential districts, R-125, R-100, and R-85, in a single table covering lot area, yard depths, building height, and coverage together. The line item "Maximum building area, percent of gross lot area" lists 20 percent for R-125, the largest-lot district requiring a 20,000-square-foot minimum lot, and 25 percent for both R-100 (14,000-square-foot minimum lot) and R-85 (12,000-square-foot minimum lot). The same table pairs the coverage cap with minimum lot widths of 125, 100, and 85 feet at the building line (matching each district's name), minimum front yards of 50 and 35 feet, minimum rear yards of 40 and 30 feet, and side yards of 20, 12, and 10 feet respectively, with wider side yards required where a lot abuts a street.
Building height in all three districts is capped at 35 feet or two stories, whichever is more restrictive, and off-street parking must provide two or three car spaces per dwelling unit depending on the district. Because the coverage percentage runs against gross lot area rather than net buildable area, accessory structures, garages, and additions all count toward the single cap, so a homeowner adding a garage or sunroom in R-125 must keep total building footprint under one-fifth of the lot.
Violations & Fines
Exceeding the maximum building area percentage for the district, such as covering more than 20 percent of an R-125 lot with structures, places the improvement in violation of the district regulations table in Article VII, Section 2. The city's Land Use Controls Division and board of adjustment handle enforcement and any variance request; noncompliant construction can be required to be reduced in footprint or halted before completion.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of my lot can I build on in Montgomery's R-125 district?
Is the coverage limit different in R-100 and R-85?
Does an accessory building count toward the lot coverage cap?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Montgomery
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