Frederick County, VA Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

03 sets the baseline: no structure shall exceed the height limitations described in the article, and Table IV-2 fixes that limitation at 35 feet for all structures in the RA, Rural Areas District, which covers most of the county's unincorporated land outside Stephens City, Middletown and the Route 7/Route 50 corridors. The Residential Performance (RP) District matches that 35-foot cap on principal single-family detached homes under Table IV-3 with a 20-foot limit on accessory buildings, while attached housing types such as multiplex and townhouse units reach 40 feet for the principal structure under Table IV-4 and still hold accessory buildings to 20 feet.

The ordinance carves out a short list of features the height cap does not reach at all: barns and silos, belfries, bulkheads, chimneys, spires and towers on churches, flagpoles, domes and skylights, masts and aerials, water tanks and windmills among them, but only when the feature is not intended for human occupancy and does not block a neighbor's solar access. 03B(2) pushes its setback out an extra foot for every foot of extra height. Any other height increase, for example in the B3, TM, EM, M1 and M2 Districts, has to go through a waiver from the Board of Supervisors, which can require architectural renderings and extra buffering before signing off, and a waiver can never raise the height of a sign regulated under Article VIII.