New Braunfels, TX Building Setbacks & Zoning: Setback Rules (2026)

Section 144-3.4, subsection 3.4-2, sets height and area rules for the "R-1A-6.6" single-family district, New Braunfels' standard 6,600-square-foot-lot zone created when the older "R-1A" district was renamed in 2012. For residential uses the front building setback is 25 feet, maximum height is 35 feet, and side setbacks must be at least five feet wide on each side, rising to 15 feet on a corner lot where the rear lot lines coincide with a neighbor's rear line, or 25 feet where they instead coincide with a neighbor's side line. The rear setback is 20 feet. Where a driveway sits in front of a garage, the garage itself must be set back 20 feet from the right-of-way, or the driveway must run at least 20 feet, so a parked vehicle does not overhang the sidewalk or street. Interior lots must be at least 60 feet wide and 100 feet deep; non-residential uses in the same district carry an identical 25-foot front and 20-foot rear setback but only a five-foot side setback, unless the building abuts a one- or two-family lot, where an extra foot of setback applies for every foot of building height over 20 feet.

Section 144-3.2-3 backstops every district's table: no lot area can be reduced or diminished so that its setbacks or other open space fall below the chapter's prescribed minimums, and density cannot be increased except in conformity with those same area regulations. A builder who needs relief applies to the Board of Adjustment for a variance under Section 144-2.2-2, which requires proof of a hardship tied to the land itself, not one the applicant created or based on economics alone, and a four-member supermajority of the board to approve. Appeals of an administrative setback determination go to the same board within 45 calendar days of the decision.