Amarillo, TX Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

Section 4-10-194(a) ties maximum building height to whatever figure Table 1, Summary of Development Standards, sets for the property's zoning district; nothing may be erected or altered to exceed that number. Table 1 caps R-1, R-2 and R-3 single-family and duplex structures at two stories, with a matching non-residential main building cap of two or three stories depending on the district. Subsection (b) carves out narrow exceptions for districts capped at three stories or less: cooling towers, roof gables, chimneys and vent stacks may rise up to forty feet above average ground level without counting as a height violation, and church steeples, domes and spires, school and institutional buildings, water standpipes and tanks, and flagpoles may exceed the three-story cap outright.

That exception carries a tradeoff: for every foot the structure's height exceeds three stories, the project must add one additional foot to its side, front and rear yard setbacks, pushing the building further from every property line as it climbs. Communication and broadcast towers get a separate rule under Sec. 4-10-194(b)(2): they may reach any height, but the tower's site must be set back from every bounding property line by a distance at least equal to the tower's height, so a 150-foot tower needs 150 feet of clearance on every side.