Bonner County, ID Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

The height numbers in Bonner County's cottage housing standards are the printed height caps for dwellings in the Title 12 chapters. The definitions section lists the word HEIGHT as Reserved, and the district use and dimensional tables carry no general residential height row, so Table 4-6 in § 12-480(F) is the numeric standard to apply to cottage dwellings in unincorporated Bonner County.

Table 4-6 sets two caps. Cottages with a minimum roof slope of 6:12 can reach 25 feet, subject to all parts of the roof above 18 feet being pitched. Cottages without a 6:12 roof slope, and all accessory structures, are held to 18 feet. The same table sets a maximum gross floor area of 1,500 square feet per dwelling unit, a maximum of 900 square feet on the ground or main floor, and a minimum distance of 10 feet separating structures, including accessory structures.

Height is measured under the building height definition in § 12-802: the vertical distance from the average elevation of the finished grade to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof, to the deck line of a mansard roof, or to the average height of the highest gable of a pitch or hip roof, excepting chimneys and steeples.

Cottage developments are not a single lot permit. Under § 12-480(B) an applicant uses the planned unit development process in subchapter 2.5, the condominium route with subchapter 6.7, or the conservation subdivision process. Section 12-480(E) allows two (2) cottages for every one dwelling unit of density, and developments contain a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 12 dwellings in a cluster group.

Near the airport, § 12-522 sets separate Airport Zone Height Limitations, and where more than one height limitation applies the more restrictive limitation prevails.