Burlington, WI Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

Burlington City Code Section 315-16E sets the flat height ceiling for the Rs-1 Single-Family Residence District: no building or parts of a building shall exceed 35 feet in height. The identical 35-foot cap governs the Rs-2 and Rs-3 Single-Family Residence Districts. 0 story/15 feet, while the Rm-4 Multiple-Family District, used only with a Planned Unit Development overlay, allows a 70-foot principal structure. Article VI, Section 315-53, then modifies every district's number: architectural projections such as spires, steeples, belfries, parapet walls, cupolas, domes, flues, and chimneys are entirely exempt from the height limitation, as are special structures like elevator penthouses, grain elevators, cooling towers and smokestacks, and essential utility and communication facilities.

Public or semipublic buildings such as schools, churches, and hospitals may rise to 60 feet, but only if every required yard is widened by one foot for each foot the building exceeds the district's normal maximum. Section 315-53B also lets height limits be reduced below the district standard where the Height Limitation Zoning Map for Burlington Municipal Airport, adopted by the Wisconsin Bureau of Aeronautics on April 15, 1994, imposes a lower ceiling; that map is incorporated into the chapter and kept on file at City Hall.