Auburn, AL Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

Table 5-2 of the Zoning Ordinance sets a flat 35-foot structure height cap across all twenty Neighborhood Conservation District tiers, from NC-150 (150,000-square-foot minimum lots) down to NC-5 (8,000-square-foot lots). 50 ISR, but both are held to the same 35 feet. The Land Use Intensity tables in Article IV (Section 419, Table 4-4) apply the identical 35-foot figure to Conventional Subdivision development in Classes IV and V, and the recreational vehicle and manufactured home park standards elsewhere in the Ordinance likewise cap "conventional structures" at 35 feet, so 35 feet functions as Auburn's default residential ceiling outside the taller mixed-use overlays.

Section 418 allows limited relief from that number without a variance. Steeples, bell towers, clock towers, cupolas and similar ornamental features may rise up to 25 percent above the district's height limit. Chimneys, ventilators, utility service structures, solar panels, flag poles, fire escapes, and stairway or elevator enclosures may exceed the limit by 12 feet. Parapet walls are excluded from the height calculation up to four feet, and balustrades or railings under six feet from the roof line are excluded entirely, though these exclusions together cannot cover more than 25 percent of the ground floor area.

Accessory rooftop structures such as greenhouses or pigeon houses get no such exclusion and are measured at full height. "Structure Height" itself is defined in Section 203. Compliance is checked when the Planning Department issues a Zoning Certificate before construction begins.