Yolo County, CA Building Setbacks & Zoning: Setback Rules (2026)

Sec. 402 sets siting and development standards specifically for new residences in the county's two most intensive agricultural zones, A-N (Agricultural Intensive) and A-X (Agricultural Extensive), where the goal is to keep new homes from displacing productive farmland or interfering with active operations. Subsection (d)(3)(iii) supplies the baseline numbers: a front yard setback of 20 feet from the front lot line, or 50 feet from the roadway centerline if that is larger, with a heavier 30-foot front setback for any property abutting an arterial or a major or minor two-lane county road, measured from the edge of the right-of-way.

The rear yard setback is a flat 25 feet from the rear property line, and the side yard setback is 20 feet from the side lines. All three of those minimums increase to at least 100 feet wherever an adjacent agricultural operation needs a bigger buffer to accommodate spraying, protecting both the new home's occupants and the farming operation's ability to keep spraying. The same section separately requires new homes to sit back at least 100 feet from watercourses, including seasonal blue line streams, and imposes a 50-foot setback for any permanent improvement from the toe of a flood control levee, with a build restriction zone within 500 feet of the levee toe for uses like unlined excavations, below-grade septic systems, and new water wells.

On flag lots, the front setback is measured from the rear lot line of the forward lot rather than the flag stem, and where a private road serves as access, it's treated the same as a public right-of-way for measuring the setback.