Hudson, NH Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

Hudson's general height cap, set at § 334-14 and last amended 3-8-2016, 3-16-2017 and 2-2-2019, holds every occupiable structure in town to 38 feet in any zoning district. Height is measured from the average elevation of finished grade within five feet of the structure up to the highest point of the roof, and the measurement excludes unoccupied protuberances such as antennas and flagpoles. Nonoccupiable structures, the ordinance's examples include church spires, steeples, smokestacks, flagpoles and light poles, are allowed up to 100 feet in any district, subject to the special-exception conditions in Article VI, and in every case a nonoccupiable structure must be built so it cannot fall or collapse beyond the bounds of its own lot.

Communications towers, masts and antennas are governed separately under Article XVIII's wireless-facility standards rather than this general cap. Subsection A of § 334-14 carves out one exception to the 38-foot ceiling: in a short, specifically described list of industrial parcels and zoning districts, among them the Sagamore Industrial Park bordered by Sagamore Bridge Road, the Merrimack River and Lowell Road, the General District known locally as the Friar Property, and named parcels along Central Street, Derry Street and River Road, an occupiable building may reach 50 feet, but only in the portions used exclusively for manufacturing, warehouse, distribution or ancillary office space.

That taller-building allowance was expanded 3-10-2020 to add listed G-1 golf-course parcels. Because the extra 12 feet is tied to a specific use and a specific parcel list, it does not apply townwide, and a building over 38 feet anywhere else in Hudson needs a variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment rather than a permit.