Mesa County, CO Building Setbacks & Zoning: Setback Rules (2026)

Chapter 5 of the 2020 Land Development Code sets minimum setbacks separately for each of the county's roughly two dozen zoning districts through a Density and Dimensional Standards table under each district heading. The Residential Single Family - 4 District (RSF-4), the LDC's medium-density single-family and duplex zone, requires a minimum lot area of 7,000 square feet and 75 feet of street frontage, and lists setbacks of 20/25 feet along the street, 7/3 feet on the side, and 20/10 feet at the rear (the paired figures split principal-structure and accessory-structure distances per the table's footnotes 2 and 4).

E, as unobstructed open areas between the furthermost projection of a structure and the abutting right-of-way line (street setback) or the property line (side and rear setbacks); they must stay clear from the ground to the sky except for limited encroachments such as landscaping or bay windows up to three feet. Footnote 2 to the Chapter 5 tables allows a street setback to shrink to 14 feet where rear lot lines back onto a Utility or Landscape Outlot, excluding any garage facing a street, and footnote 1 allows street frontage on a cul-de-sac to shrink to 30 feet.

22, though the Board cannot grant a variance that functions as a use variance or that allows a use not permitted in that zoning district.