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

Pleasanton's dimensional zoning standards for each district, including base front, side and rear yard depths, are set out in Table 18.84.010, a table referenced by Section 18.84.010 but bound as a separate attachment to Title 18 rather than printed in the ordinance text itself. Chapter 18.84 does not leave setbacks to that table alone, though; it layers additional, fully numbered requirements on top of whatever base yard the table assigns.

Section 18.84.030 sets a floor under every site regardless of district: no site may have less than 35 feet of frontage. Section 18.84.080 then targets front yards specifically. In the R-1-6,500, R-1-7,500, R-1-8,500, R-1-10,000 and RM districts, any garage, carport or required off-street parking space serving a dwelling needs a 23-foot front yard, enough to park a car outside the garage without blocking the sidewalk, unless the garage or carport is entered parallel to the street, in which case the front yard drops to 15 feet. Homes with city records showing an original 20-foot front yard setback in the R-1-6,500 through R-1-10,000 districts keep that 20-foot minimum. Where 40 percent or more of a block's frontage is already built out, Section 18.84.080(B) requires the front yard to match the block average of existing structures, capped by adding 10 feet to the minimum for any unusually deep yard used in the calculation.

Side and rear yards get their own overlay of rules in Section 18.84.090: on a corner lot's street side, the side yard must be at least double the standard minimum and never less than 10 feet; on a reversed corner lot, the rear yard may drop to the standard side yard if the street-side yard meets the adjoining lot's front yard depth or 15 feet, whichever is more; and where a nonresidential use in an I-G district backs onto a residential district, the side or rear yard jumps to 50 feet.