Casper, WY Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

Section 17.40.040 of the Casper Municipal Code sets the dimensional standards for the R-4 High Density Residential district, and subsection (D), Height Limitations, caps every building at four stories or forty feet, whichever produces the lower limit. That cap applies to the multifamily dwellings, condominiums, townhomes, assisted living facilities, and neighborhood-scale commercial uses that section 17.40.020 permits by right in R-4. A project that wants to exceed four stories or forty feet cannot do so as a permitted use: section 17.40.030(F) lists 'high-rise apartments over four stories or forty feet in height, whichever is less, and developments exceeding forty residential dwelling units' as a conditional use, meaning it needs planning and zoning commission approval rather than an administrative permit.

The same section 17.40.040 pairs the height cap with density limits in subsection (F): where an R-4 lot does not abut R-1 or R-2 property, density can reach thirty units per acre; where no more than twenty-five percent of the lot perimeter abuts R-1 or R-2 land, density drops to twenty-four units per acre; and where more than twenty-five percent of the perimeter abuts R-1 or R-2 land, density is capped at eighteen units per acre, tying the vertical limit to a horizontal buffer against lower-density neighbors.

Subsection (G) also requires at least twenty percent of every R-4 lot to remain usable open space, free of structures and parking, reinforcing that the forty-foot cap is meant to keep bulk down even on the district's highest-density lots.