Pismo Beach, CA Building Setbacks & Zoning: Setback Rules (2026)

1983 Zoning Ordinance, front yards (§ 17.102.020): twenty feet minimum in A-E, R-1 and R-2, fifteen feet in R-3, R-4 and R-R, and in C-R, M-H and G the setback follows the use permit but is not less than fifteen feet. In R-1 the requirement can drop to the lesser of the average front setback of the nearest improved lots on each side (never less than ten feet, never required to be more than twenty) or twenty percent of the average depth of the property (same ten and twenty foot bounds). Residential lots abutting coastal bluffs need a front yard of not less than fifteen feet.

Side yards (§ 17.102.030) and rear yards (§ 17.102.040) follow the quoted percentages with the printed minimum and maximum. The rear-yard section prints R-T where the other sections print R-R, and this page quotes it as printed. In C-1, C-2 and C-M, lots need not have side or rear yards unless the city's current building standards or protection of adjacent residential uses require them. Section 17.102.050 sends bluff-side and beach-side yards to the local coastal program land use plan and allows no development inside bluff retreat setbacks except public access paths and public stairways.

1998 Zoning Code, chapter 17.22: § 17.22.020 requires every structure to meet its district's setbacks, and no portion, including eaves or roof overhangs, can extend beyond a property line or into an access easement or street right-of-way without an encroachment permit. Section 17.22.040 exempts fences or walls six feet or less in height outside the front setback and decks, steps and similar elements not exceeding eighteen inches above grade. Section 17.22.060(B) lets heating and air conditioning equipment extend up to thirty inches into side and rear yards but no closer than thirty-six inches to any property line, and § 17.22.060(C)(3) sets pools and spas at five feet from side and rear lines. The 1998 district setbacks appear in Table 2-3 of § 17.08.040, which merges cells across paired districts, so they are not quoted here.

Pismo Beach uses two adopted zoning codes. The city's Zoning and Land Use page states that properties inside the Coastal Zone are regulated by the 1983 Zoning Code, and properties outside the Coastal Zone are regulated by the 1998 Zoning Code.