Ogden, UT Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

Ogden City Code section 15-15-4, titled Site Development Standards, governs the four single-family residential zones: R-1-10, R-1-8, R-1-6 and R-1-5. Subsection D sets building height at a minimum of one story and a maximum of two and one-half stories or thirty five feet. That ceiling sits alongside the section's other numeric standards: minimum lot area runs from ten thousand square feet in R-1-10 down to five thousand square feet in R-1-5, minimum lot width from eighty feet to fifty feet, and front setbacks from thirty feet in R-1-10 and R-1-8 down to twenty feet with a thirty five foot maximum in the East Central Community.

A homeowner in Ogden City who wants to build higher than thirty five feet, such as for a tall accessory structure or an unusual roof design, must apply to the Board of Zoning Adjustment under Chapter 5 of Title 15, which hears variance requests under Utah Code Annotated section 10-9a-707 and may grant relief only where the applicant shows the standard hardship criteria; filing deadlines and fees are set in sections 15-5-4 and 15-5-6. Community and Economic Development's Building Services division reviews every building permit application against the section 15-15-4 height table before issuing a permit, and the Zoning Administrator designated under section 15-5-3 makes the initial determination of compliance.

Because the limit is expressed as stories and feet together, a design that satisfies one but not the other, such as a two-story building that still exceeds thirty five feet, does not qualify.