Everett, MA Building Setbacks & Zoning: Setback Rules (2026)

In the City of Everett, Massachusetts, yard minimums sit in the dimensional requirements of each district in the Everett Zoning Ordinance. In a dwelling district, Section 4(B) sets the front yard at 20 feet minimum, reduced to the average of at least two buildings on the same side of the street within 200 feet when those yards are less than 20 feet, but never below 10 feet. Porches can encroach 10 feet onto the required front yard, and stairs are excluded from front yard restrictions. Corner lots need 7 feet minimum on one side of the corner. Side yards are 4 feet minimum with a total of 16 feet. Rear yards are 25 feet minimum, except that open decks and porches can encroach as long as the rear yard is never less than 15 feet measured to any part of the porch or deck.

Apartment districts under Section 5(B) require a 20 foot front yard of which 10 feet are used for landscaping, 7 feet on one side of a corner lot, side yards of 10 feet minimum up to and including three stories and 45 feet in height and 12 feet minimum for four stories and over 45 feet, and a 25 foot rear yard.

Business districts under Section 6(B) require no front yard except for residential uses, which need 10 feet with no less than 5 feet used for landscaping. They require no side yard unless a lot line adjoins a lot used for one, two or three family dwelling use, in which case the side yard is not less than 4 feet for a building proposed to be not more than 30 feet in height and 7 feet above that. The rear yard is 25 feet minimum unless the lot extends from one street to another.

Section 3(N) bars subdividing a lot so as to reduce any yard below what the ordinance requires, and Section 3(E) lets a nonconforming single, two or three family structure be altered if the change does not increase its nonconformity.