Black Hawk County, IA Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

010 sets exceptions and variations that qualify or supplement the height and yard limits that otherwise apply district by district. Subsection (A) covers public, semi-public and public service buildings, hospitals, institutions and schools: where permitted in a district, they can be built to 60 feet, and churches and temples to 75 feet, but only if the building adds one extra foot of setback from its side and rear yard lines for every two feet of height above the district's normal limit. Subsection (B) covers houses: a single-family or two-family dwelling can add up to 10 feet of height beyond the district limit if its side and rear yards are increased by at least 10 feet over the district's normal yard requirement, but even with that trade the dwelling still cannot exceed three stories.

The same section lists other height exceptions in the surrounding subsections: chimneys, cooling towers, elevators, fire towers, monuments, wind generators, water towers, spires and radio towers can rise to any safe height not otherwise restricted, and buildings used only for storage can exceed the district's maximum story count as long as they stay within the district's maximum building height in feet. These exceptions apply on top of, not instead of, the base height limits set for each of the county's zoning districts. The height-exception structure governs only unincorporated Black Hawk County; Waterloo, Cedar Falls and the county's other cities set their own building-height limits inside city limits.