Amherst, NY Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

Section 3-4-2B, the R-1 Principal Use Dimensional Standards table, sets the district's core numbers: a minimum lot area of 21,780 square feet per dwelling, 100-foot minimum lot width, a 30-foot front yard, 35-foot rear yard, and a maximum building height of two stories (up to 35 feet), alongside a 35 percent maximum building coverage limit. Section 2-5-4A defines how that height is measured: the vertical distance from the finished grade line to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof, the ridge line of a gable, shed, hip or gambrel roof, or the highest point of a mansard roof's parapets.

Section 2-5-4B(2) allows a narrow exception for chimneys and radio or television antennae that are an integral part of the principal structure, letting them rise above the 35-foot limit up to 65 feet, and lets roof-mounted mechanical equipment exceed the cap if it's set back at least 15 feet from every exterior wall, stands no taller than 15 feet, and is screened from view. The same R-1 dimensional table separately caps detached accessory structures, garages and sheds at 20 feet, confirming the town-wide accessory-structure ceiling set out in § 2-5-4B(5) for every residential district.