Gordon County, GA Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

Section 4.01.02(E) of the Unified Land Development Code provides that building setback and height standards are found in Table 4.01.02(E), and the last column of that table sets the maximum building height, expressed in stories for every district except industrial. For homes and farm buildings in unincorporated Gordon County the limits are 2.5 stories in RC-1 Rural Conservation, A-1 Agricultural, RA-1 Residential Agricultural, R-1 Low Density Residential, R-2 Medium Density Residential, R-3 Suburban Density Residential, and R-6 Manufactured Housing Development. R-4 High Density Residential lists 2.5 stories for duplex and detached single-family buildings and 3.5 stories for townhouses. R-5 Multi-Family Residential allows 4.5 stories.

Nonresidential districts climb from there. O-I Office Institutional, C-C Crossroads Commercial, and C-G General Commercial are capped at 4.5 stories, C-H Highway Commercial at 5.5 stories, and I-1 and I-2 at 60 feet. The Mixed Use district sets no fixed height in the table: Table 4.06.02(B) leaves building height to the conditions of zoning, with the exception that buildings in vertical mixed use areas must be a minimum of two (2) stories.

A stricter figure applies in the New Echota Overlay District, east of Interstate 75 along State Highway 225, Craigtown Road, and Newtown Church Road. Section 4.02.01 caps a principal commercial building there at forty (40) feet, measured from the bottom of the base of the structure at ground level to the highest point. The overlay states that where its rules conflict with the underlying district, the stricter standard applies.

Height sits beside setbacks in the same table, so a 2.5-story house in R-1 still needs 25 feet of front setback, 10 feet on the sides, and 30 feet in the rear. The 4.01.03 residential design rules add a 3:12 minimum roof pitch and a 12-inch eave overhang.