Chino, CA Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

Chino Municipal Code § 20.04.040 sets maximum building height for every residential district in two tables, both adopted with the 2010 zoning code (Ord. 2010-05, § 1(exh. A), 2010) and carried through Ord. 2021-001, §§ 3, 4, 2021. Table 20.04-3, covering the single-family RD 1, RD 2, RD 4.5 and RD 8 districts, sets 'Building Height, Maximum' at '2-1/2' stories and '35 feet' uniformly across all four districts. Table 20.04-4, covering the multifamily RD 8, RD 12, RD 14 and RD 20 districts, holds the same 2-1/2-story, 35-foot cap for RD 8 through RD 14, but allows 3 stories and 45 feet in RD 20, the city's highest-density residential zone.

The stated height figure is not the only control on building mass. Subsection C, 'Second stories for single-family homes,' layers additional requirements onto any home using its full height allowance. In new subdivisions of five or more infill homes, 'a minimum of twenty percent of the total number of homes shall be single-story.' Corner and reverse corner lots must provide single-story homes, or two-story homes with a single-story feature on each street-facing elevation, defined as a portion of the home 'where the roof has a plate no higher than ten feet above finish grade' running at least sixty percent of the street-facing elevation's length. New homes and additions must also be single-story where they directly abut an existing single-story home, absent a director- or planning-commission-approved exception based on grade differences, sightlines, or lot orientation.

Subsection D applies the same privacy-driven limits to second-story additions on existing homes: a 'minimum fifteen-foot clearance' is required between a proposed second-story addition and the second story of an adjacent two-story home, second-story frontage cannot exceed 'sixty percent of the width of the first floor street frontage,' and the second floor must be set back 'a minimum of ten feet from the first floor building line.' Two-story homes backing onto a public street also require thirty-six-inch box street trees planted thirty feet apart along the rear property line.