Dorchester County, SC Building Setbacks & Zoning: Setback Rules (2026)

Article VII of the Zoning and Land Development Standards Ordinance (Ord. No. 04-13, effective October 1, 2004) fixes a separate minimum-yard table for each zoning district. In the Suburban Residential (SR) district, Section 7.1.5(c) requires 'the following minimum yards': a 30-foot front yard, a 10-foot side yard and a 35-foot rear yard, on lots of at least 32,670 square feet (three-quarters of an acre) and 120 feet of width. The Single-Family Residential R-1 district drops those numbers to 25 feet front, 7.5 feet side and 25 feet rear under Section 7.2.5(c), on lots as small as 14,500 square feet and 80 feet wide. The R-3 Single-Family Attached district permits 20-foot front, 5-foot side and 20-foot rear yards, and lets the side yard shrink to zero feet where a common wall between two units is recorded on a plat under the county's Subdivision Ordinance.

Section 5.4.5 governs corner lots: they are treated as having no rear yard at all, only two front yards facing the intersecting streets plus two side yards, and 'the second front yard setback is 15 feet.' Section 5.4.3 requires the district's full front-yard depth across the entire street frontage, measured from the street line. Section 5.5.1 lets the Zoning Administrator approve up to a 10 percent reduction in a required yard for a building already built out of compliance, but only if the error was made in good faith or resulted from a Building Permit mistake, will not create an unsafe condition, and will not harm neighboring property. Section 5.4.8 separately sets setbacks along designated future-right-of-way corridors, with an appeal from a permit refusal under that section running through S.C. Code Ann. § 6-7-1270 and exemption applications governed by § 6-7-1280.