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

Section 18.24.040.A sets the building height standard that applies across all three single-unit dwelling zones, R-1a, R-1b and R-1c: a main dwelling cannot exceed two and one-half stories or thirty-five feet, whichever limit is reached first. Detached accessory structures get a tighter cap: garages, garden and storage sheds, and accessory living quarters are held to one story or fifteen feet, whichever is less, and every accessory building has to be architecturally and visibly compatible with the main dwelling; that fifteen-foot cap does not apply to a structure that meets the setback requirements for the main dwelling.

The code then carves out narrow exceptions to the thirty-five-foot line itself: penthouses or roof structures built to house elevators, stairways, tanks, ventilating fans or similar equipment, along with towers and steeples, cannot exceed the general height limit at all, but radio and television masts, camouflaged wireless communication facilities, flagpoles, chimneys and smokestacks may extend up to thirty-five feet above the base limit, meaning as high as seventy feet total, provided they can be safely erected and maintained given the surrounding conditions. Enforcement runs through the standard zoning permit process administered by the Community Development Department: a building permit application that exceeds these limits is not approved unless the applicant obtains a variance under the city's discretionary review procedures.