Kingsport, TN Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

Kingsport Code § 114-182(e) lists the minimum and maximum dimensional requirements for the R-1A Residential District. Under the heading (2) Maximum permitted, the building height is 35 feet or three stories, and lot coverage is 30 percent including accessory buildings. The same subsection sets the minimums: lot area of 10,000 square feet, lot frontage of 60 feet, a 40-foot front yard, side yards of ten feet for one or two stories and 15 feet for three stories, and a 30-foot rear yard.

Other residential districts print their own height caps. The R-1B district in section 114-183 and the R-1C district in section 114-184 each cap building height at two stories, with lot coverage of 30 percent and 40 percent respectively. The R-2 Two-Family Residential District in section 114-185 caps building height at 35 feet, with lot coverage not applicable. Height in these districts is stated in stories in some places and feet in others, so the district section for the specific lot decides.

Section 114-136 is the general rule behind every district table. No building or structure or part of it can be erected or altered to a height greater than the maximum specified for the respective zone, except as the section provides. It excludes from height limits barns, silos and other farm structures on farms, church spires, belfries, cupolas and domes not for human occupancy, monuments, water towers, chimneys, flagpoles, radio towers and similar masts and aerials. Bulkheads, elevator penthouses and water tanks are excluded if they cover no more than an aggregate of 25 percent of the lot area, and if within 25 feet of a street lot line no linear dimension exceeds 50 percent of the street frontage.

Accessory buildings have their own cap in section 114-133: no more than the principal structure's height or 35 feet, whichever is less. That section sends both measurements to the current building code in article III of chapter 22. The zoning administrator enforces these limits under section 114-35, and a property owner who claims hardship can seek a variance from the board of zoning appeals under section 114-67.