Kill Devil Hills, NC Building Setbacks & Zoning: Setback Rules (2026)

101 lays out four separate yard setbacks for the OIR Zone. Side yards scale with lot width: 10 feet from each side on a lot under 75 feet wide, 12 feet on a lot from 75 to 99 feet wide, and 12 feet on a combined development of 100 feet or more, per divisions (A)(1) through (3). Single-family and duplex homes with more than 6,000 square feet of gross floor area owe an extra two feet of side yard under (A)(5), unless the house carries a fire-suppression system the Fire Chief inspects annually, which division (A)(6) accepts as a substitute for the extra setback.

The front yard is fixed at 30 feet under division (B): every oceanfront lot in the OIR Zone fronts on NC Highway 12/Virginia Dare Trail, and every structure on it has to sit at least 30 feet back from that front property line. The rear yard, defined under (C)(1) as the Atlantic Ocean side for lots that border the ocean, runs 20% of the lot's total depth but never has to exceed 30 feet, per (C)(2); for lots directly on the ocean, (C)(3) instead ties the rear setback to the state's ocean-hazard setback multiplier administered under the North Carolina Coastal Area Management Act of 1974.

Corner lots get their own street-side number under division (E): 10 feet on a lot 50 feet wide or less, rising to 15 feet on anything wider than 50 feet, on any side abutting a street or beach access.